It was a good Season. It was a bad Season.

By: Jan | May 26th, 2008

It’s season review time to bridge the gap between now and the Euros or the next Rafael van der Vaart transfer saga.

It was a good season for…

Money. The three biggest spenders this season – based on their transfer deficit – were Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and second division side Hoffenheim. Bayern’s millions bought them a double, Wolfsburg’s millions bought them a UEFA Cup spot and their best ever Bundesliga finish and Hoffenheim’s millions bought them straight promotion to the Bundesliga.

“Unique” Goals. All credit goes to Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez and Dortmund’s Sebastian Kehl. They expanded the repertoire of body parts which players can use to score goals.

Schalke. This team didn’t receive a lot of love from this blog, but they couldn’t care less I guess. Schalke have reached the Champions League quarter final for the first time in their history. Schalke could secure back-to-back Champions League qualification for the first time in their history. Schalke massively improved their financial results with a record turnover of €150m. Schalke eventually got rid of the coach they never really liked in the first place. Only mean Dortmund fans will point out, that this year also marked Schalke’s 50th anniversary, since they last could call themselves German champions.

Job Safety. Just four coaches had to go during the regular season compared to ten dismissals last year. The count went up to six recently, as Dortmund’s Thomas Doll and Leverkusen’s Michael Skibbe got the axe after the season had ended. Anyway, maybe there’s a trend in there.

Height limited Players with unlimited Skills. There were three to be exact: Hamburg’s Rafael van der Vaart, Werder Bremen’s Diego and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery all added a few new tricks and goals to their highlight reels. Too bad each of them had their little dips in form, so we hardly got all three working their magic during the same weekend.

Ivan Klasnic. Werder Bremen’s striker returned to professional football after receiving two kidney transplants. If that wasn’t amazing enough, he also set up three goals and scored seven goals himself in the 16 matches he played until the end of the season.

The Bundesliga Offside. Self-congratulatory, but it’s worth mentioning that the Bundesliga Offside has expanded like crazy throughout the season. All the teams getting blogged here qualified for Europe. That’s no coincidence, even if it looks like one.

It was a bad season for…

Title Holders. Bundesliga title holders Stuttgart crashed down to the Intertoto Cup spot, following a topsy-turvy season marked by injuries, heavy goalkeeper rotation and shambolic defending. On top of that, they crashed out of the Champions League as a distant fourth. Cup winners Nuremberg’s European record was much better in comparison, but their season ended in tears / the second division.

Title Races. There was some hope that there would be something like a title race, after Bayern and Bremen ended the first half of the season level on points. But after a few weeks into the second half of the season, one had to realise that there wasn’t even one suitable competitor, who could or even wanted to challenge Bayern’s dominance. That the Bavarians weren’t playing up to their potential makes it all the more frustrating. Maybe the previous season had spoiled us.

Circus Football. Fantasy football, or whatever you want to call it. Bayern Munich started out to offer all of that. They played in front of sell out crowds as a reward, even when they were playing some unknown team in the UEFA Cup in the middle of the week. But for some reason the Bavarians returned to their old ways of grinding out results, as if they were still playing with the likes of Jens Jeremies and Carsten Jancker in the starting line-up. They still played a couple of great matches, but the overall quality leaves you wanting some Klinsmann, even if he should turn out to be a flop. As for the other teams: Werder Bremen were once again free-scoring, but overall couldn’t emulate their performances from the previous season. In general, most teams’ performances were just too inconsistent – in sync with their title challenge – to consider them must-see teams.

Bremen’s medical Department. They had to cope with an overdose of injuries. They had to cope with players blaming their injuries on them. They had to cope with Ivan Klasnic blaming them, that they misdiagnosed his malfunctioning kidney. Klasnic has now taken them to court and Klasnic decided not to renew his contract with Bremen because of their team doctors.

Promising Youngsters. Or better, it was a bad season for those who wanted to see more of promising youngsters. The Bundesliga clubs have filled up their squads with some of the finest talents around, but most of them were stored away on benches or reserve teams most of the time. Hamburg’s 19 year old highly skilled defender Jerome Boateng was a notable exception, as was Schalke’s Ivan Rakitic.

OK, I’m aware that this list is far from complete, so I invite you to add your entries for the two categories in the comments section.