Birthday boys of the month: Dieter Bast and Helmut Winklhofer

Dieter Bast was born in Oberhausen on 28 August 1951. He started his Bundesliga career at Rot-Weiss Essen as a striker. Over the years he dropped back and later ended his career as a sweeper. In 1977 he moved for the then record transfer fee of 800,000 Deutschmarks from relegated Essen to VfL Bochum. Only Paul Breitner was more expensive that year when he left Bayern Munich to join Real Madrid. Dieter Bast became the organiser of the defence at Bochum and was the embodiment of a skilful, attacking sweeper.

When Dettmar Cramer was able to bring him to Leverkusen in 1983, he became a fixture in the Bayer 04 defence in his first two years. In 1984 Bast was the captain of the Germany team that went to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In his third year at Leverkusen, he lost his place a sweeper to Thomas Hörster and, at the age of 35, he was transferred to Rot-Weiss Essen in the second division after 71 Bundesliga appearances and two goals for Bayer 04. Dieter Bast will be 70 at the end of the month. Many happy returns, dear roommate, I'll raise a glass of red wine to you.

Winklhofer: from Bayern to Leverkusen and back

Helmut Winklhofer was an important member of our Werkself for three years from 1982 to 1985. His move from Bayern Munich to Leverkusen was intended to give the youth World Cup winner of 1981 important match practice. Under coach Dettmar Cramer, he makes 90 appearances for Bayer 04 and scores five goals. He is an attack-minded right-back who stands out above all with his runs down the wing and his rapid acceleration.

He returns to FC Bayern in 1985 and achieves undesired fame in his first match: Winklhofer fails to find his keeper Jean-Marie Pfaff with a back pass from 35 yards out and the own goal is voted Goal of the Month on the ARD Sportschau. In the following five years, 'Winki' battled with a lot of injuries but still ends up champion of Germany four times with Bayern and twice wins the DFB Cup. Helmut will be 60 on 27 August. Many happy returns and all the best.