#DankeRudi – Calmund: ‘Where would Bayer 04 be without Rudi Völler?’

Reiner Calmund, general manager at Bayer 04 from 1978 to 2004 as well as director of football later on, describes how Rudi Völler became the sporting director at Bayer 04:

"The photo of Rudi putting his arm round the crying Andreas Brehme in consolation after the relegation thriller against Kaiserslautern in May 1996 still touches my heart today and it has long since become iconic. Rudi's farewell match was just 72 hours later – with the Germany team. In the same week we set off on a tour of the USA and Mexico where Rudi had to play for the very last time.

When I asked Rudi a few months earlier if he could imagine a new job at Bayer 04, he was rather reticent. He had offers to carry on playing at the age of 36. His former club AS Roma and, above all, the Major League Soccer, who wanted him to bring in the crowds in New York, were all after him. Bernard Tapie, then the president of Rudi's former club Olympique Marseille, told him of approaches from Paris and Lisbon. His wife Sabrina helped us to convince him. It was exactly the right decision for Bayer 04 as well as for Rudi Völler. With his great knowledge of football, Rudi was much more than an apprentice manager from the start. We all recognised that in the first few weeks. The first job in the summer of 1996 was to appoint a new head coach. We had three candidates in Giovanni Trapattoni, Nevio Scala and Christoph Daum. Some of the club management were in favour of the two Italians but I was more for Daum. I said to Rudi: 'If you want an Italian then we'll do it. You speak perfect Italian.' But he gave a short and sharp answer: 'I prefer to take Christoph.' That marked a swing in the club to Daum.

His job with signing players was not initially negotiating wages or transfer fees. Rudi was worth his weight in gold for us as an international legend as a player and that certainly helped us to convince lads like Emerson, Ze Roberto, Michael Ballack and Bernd Schneider to sign for Bayer 04. Beyond that, he again and again suggested changes over the years and the current outstanding infrastructure at the club on the footballing side is primarily down to him.

Rudi had both his feet on the ground as a player and as sporting director. Today, I have to say bringing him to Leverkusen as a player in 1994 and making him sporting director two years later were two of my best decisions. Let's be honest: Where would Bayer 04 be without Rudi Völler?"

#DankeRudi – Part I: Hermann: "A slick operator full of ambition"