Not all Bayer 04 fans are likely aware that Peter played for the club for eight years. He is probably better known for his many years as assistant coach. That started in 1989 when he is brought to Leverkusen by his former teammate and then head coach Jürgen Gelsdorf. In that role over the next eight years up to 1997, he wins the DFB Cup in 1993 and he saves our club from relegation as head coach for the last five matches in the 1995/96 campaign.
After that season, Christoph Daum is appointed head coach at Leverkusen and he brings Roland Koch with him as his assistant. Peter Hermann takes a back seat but he is not satisfied in his role as second assistant coach. In 1997 he became head coach of the Bayer 04 Reserves. Four years later, Peter again takes charge of the first team. Together with Klaus Toppmöller, he leads the Werkself through probably the most successful season to date in 2001/02 when the club finished runners-up three times. He also worked well with Klaus Augenthaler and Michael Skibbe up to 2008. When Bruno Labbadia brought his assistant coach Eddy Sözer with him to the Rhineland, Peter decided to change clubs.
He was assistant coach at FC Nürnberg for a year but returned to Leverkusen in 2009/10. He started his very successful partnership over four years with Jupp Heynckes. The duo take Bayer 04 to the runners-up spot in 2010/11 and back into the Champions League for the first time in seven years. Heynckes accepts an approach from Bayern Munich and Peter Hermann joins him in the Bavarian capital. The duo win the treble in 2012/13 with FC Bayern becoming champions of Germany, DFB Cup winners and Champions League winners.
Last season, Peter Hermann again took charge of the Werkself together with Hannes Wolf for the last eight games of the season and succeeded in leading the club into the Europa League. Today he is assistant coach of the Germany U20 team and sporting adviser to his former club Alemannia Aachen. Dear Peter, I've always liked working with you and I wish you all the best on your 70th birthday.
Harry Gniech was born on 14 October 1951 in Leverkusen-Schlebusch. At the age of six, he joined SV Bayer 04, initially in the athletics section. The boy actually wanted to play football, but was only allowed to switch to the football team when he turned nine. Harry quickly established himself as a playmaker in midfield. Despite his talent, the path from the youth team to the first-team squad was a long one back then. In the 1973–74 season, his former U19 coach, Friedhelm Renno – who was by then in charge of Bayer 04’s first team – selected him for his first match with the professional squad.
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Henrique Adriano Buss, known as Henrique, was born on 14 October 1986 in Marechal Cândido Rondon, a town in the Brazilian state of Paraná. At the age of 13, he joined Coritiba FC and made the step up to the first team in 2006. Henrique helped the team gain promotion to the Brazilian top flight and then moved on to Palmeiras FC. After just five matches for his new club, the 1.85-metre-tall centre-back was signed by Barcelona in 2008 for ten million euros and loaned to Bayer 04 for one year for a fee of €400,000.
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Constant Djakpa was born on 17 October 1986 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He started playing football at the age of five. He took his first steps in professional football at Stella Club d’Adjamé, before moving on to Sogndal IL in Norway. His path eventually led him to Germany via the Romanian club Pandurii Târgu Jiu.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of October. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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In the first week of October 1966, professional footballers decided to take an unusual step – they went on strike. They felt compelled to resort to this action, which was relatively uncommon until then, to give greater weight to their demands for fair pay. They reasoned that, with three draws, they were entitled to a bonus; at the very least, a points bonus of 75 Deutschmarks that was agreed before the start of the season.
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