
In a preview of this game, the former Bayer 04 player Franz Wichelhaus said he would drop the Leverkusen centre forward Fritz Tiede. The blond Fritz, as he was called under the Bayer Cross, was the strong in the air centre forward for the Werkself. Born in Cologne, he came to Leverkusen in 1951 and scored 44 goals for the Werkself in 57 Oberliga matches in his five years at the club. The lofty Fritz did have one handicap – he was longsighted. More than once he was in the opposition half with the ball and before he made a pass he ensured it was one of his teammates: "Walter, is that you?"
That Sunday was another Tiede day. Mönchengladbach were unable to frustrate the tall blond player even with a number of fouls. On 13 minutes, Emil 'Bubi' Becks crossed into the Gladbach penalty area where Fritz Tiede scored with a wonderful flying header. Just four minutes later, the former FC player Walter Nußbaum scored direct from a free kick from 30 metres out to make it 2-0.
That was the half-time score in front of a crowd of 5,000 spectators. In the second half there was end to end action but the match dropped off initially. The Werkself only really came back into the game when Fritz Tiede scored with a brilliant overhead kick on 67 minutes at 3-0. On 89 minutes, Leo Bering made the most of the many chances in the last 20 minutes with a great long-range strike.
The 4-0 victory did not bring the Werkself closer to rivals SV Sodingen but the way the team played provided hope for the remaining seven games.

Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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On 3 June 1953, Hans-Josef (‘Sepp’) Kretschmann became the fifth coach in the history of Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Born in Allenstein, East Prussia, on 21 March 1902, the football coach first studied to become a teacher before later switching to football. He took over the Werkself from Franz Strehle, under whom the team twice managed to stay in the 1st Oberliga West. However, Strehle did not extend his contract in Leverkusen after these two very successful years.
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After promotion to Bundesliga North 2 in the summer of 1975, Bayer 04 are fighting relegation just eight months later. The club expects full commitment from everyone in this precarious situation. Promotion coach Manfred Rummel is to give up his main job as a teacher at the Mülheim special school and become a full-time coach at Bayer 04. The coach, who is very popular with the team, does not see himself in a position to fulfil the club's request. Despite a 2-0 home win against SpVgg Erkenschwick, Manfred Rummel is put on gardening leave by "mutual agreement".
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Bayer 04, already been promoted to the 1st Oberliga West, played friendly after friendly in the second half of May 1951. And that continued throughout the following month.
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Jacek Krzynowek was born on 15 May 1976 in Kamiensk, Poland, and grew up as a typical country boy. He spent his childhood less in structured training sessions and more on simple pitches, where he spent hours playing football with older boys. He realised early on that he had exceptional shooting power and enormous stamina. But for a long time, he didn't appreciate just how much talent he had. While others dream of a great career, professional football initially seems like a distant world to him that he only knows from television.
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