In front of a crowd of 6,000, the Werkself, playing in their orange shirts, made a good start and should have taken the lead much earlier than in the 36th minute. Dieter Herzog set up the opener scored by Gerd Kentschke. It was the goalscorer in particular who repeatedly put the three strikers – Peter Hermann, Norbert Ziegler and Dieter Herzog – in good shooting positions, but the score remained 1–0 at half-time.
On 12 September 1976, Willibert Kremer – who would later lead the team to promotion – fielded a line-up comprising Fred Bockholt in goal, Hans-Jürgen Scheinert, Walter Posner and Jürgen Gelsdorf in defence, and the three players already mentioned – Peter Hermann, Norbert Ziegler and Dieter Herzog – a total of seven players who in 1979 made the ‘fluke’ possible: promotion to the Bundesliga. Even the eighth player, Gerd Kentschke, would play a key role in the promotion as assistant manager. He held that post until 1989 and he was also head coach of the amateur side at the same time. On both occasions, he was succeeded by Peter Hermann – both as assistant manager in 1989 and as head coach of the amateur side in 1997. From 2001 onwards, Peter Hermann then returned to the role of assistant manager for many years.
Centre-forward Norbert Ziegler set up the scouting department at Bayer 04, and Dieter Herzog became a scout for the Werkself in the 1990s. Defender Jürgen Gelsdorf, after retiring from playing in 1986, first became a youth coach and later head coach at the Werkself; he remains head of the football department at TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen to this day.
In the second half of this Bundesliga 2 North league match, Bayer 04 missed the chance to extend their lead to 2–0. The equaliser then came on 67 minutes. Fortuna Köln were now given a boost and put the Werkself under enormous pressure. In the end, both teams were left with a well-deserved point. In their second season following promotion to the Bundesliga 2 North, they managed to stay above the relegation zone in tenth and avoid relegation.
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
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.
Show more
