Football Season Guide

Bayern Munich came close to a historic season last time but were instead left with nothing. They lost in the finals of both the German Cup and Champions League while despite being in a strong position in the Bundesliga, they eventually lost out to Borussia Dortmund. The board have responded to the challenge of overthrowing Dortmund, back to back champions, in the way they always do – by opening their chequebook and spending millions and millions of Euros. A few players have been released to make way for the new additions but only back-ups have departed while Dante, Mandzukic, Shaqri and Pizarro should all really strengthen the first eleven. With the likes of Neuer, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Ribery, Robben, Muller and Gomez still in place – half the German team plus two more top internationals – there is every reason to expect big things from this team. Manager Jupp Heynckes has the hard job of keeping everyone happy and gelling the team together but he is very experienced and should be up to the task. He will be all too aware though that a good start will be needed to stop pressure mounting on his job as another season of failure will surely not be tolerated.