After the opening goal from the Bayer 04 defender, there were chances at both ends but both the woodwork for Oberhausen as well as the poor conclusion of counter-attacks for the Werkself as the game went on prevented any other goals. The Bayer team were third in the table level on points with Arminia Bielefeld and Rot-Weiß Essen.
Ahead of the next home game on Sunday, 8 October 1967, our team had their first training camp. On Friday night, coach Theo Kirchberg and his players boarded the bus and made their way to the Hotel ‘Bergische Schweiz’ in Engelskirchen to be able to prepare for the next game against Westfalia Herne far away from the noise of the city. From that game on it was part of the preparations although coach Kirchberg rounded off the run-in on Friday with the final training session. The players were supposed to build up power and energy in these two nights of peace and quiet. Saturday was free time for everybody. The great comradeship became ever tighter with games of Skat, walks and football tennis.
For the game against Westfalia Herne, only goalkeeper Hans Benzler was ruled out after collapsing in the previous match in Oberhausen. He was replaced by Friedhelm Renno. The Werkself showed their ability in front of 7,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium: Fitness, commitment and the absolute desire to win the game. The Westphalian team sat back from the start and the Bayer 04 fans had to wait up to minutes 63 before Friedhelm Strzelczyk netted the opening goal with a shot from the edge of the box. Helmut ‘Bello’ Richert netted a second goal on 82 minutes and, as the stadium announcer gave the results from the other matches in the Regional League West and announced that Bayer 04 were top of the league again, there was unlimited joy amongst the fans.
The next Sunday brought another home game. Hamborn 07 in eighth place came to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium and they took the lead on five minutes but Helmut Brücken responded to that goal by putting Bayer 04 2-1 up with goals on six and eight minutes. The Werkself increasingly gained the upper hand but the courageous Hamborn players improved in the second half and put the Bayer 04 defence under pressure once or twice. A counter-attack involving Klaus Görtz settled matters with the score at 3-1.
The Bayer 04 board now thought about promotion for the first time. "Food gives you an appetite" was a quote from sporting board member Heinz Papenhoff in the Stadt Anzeiger. The former Werkself player of the 1950s was very confident that the necessary conditions for a possible promotion to the Bundesliga were possible. At the same time, the coach and players were sceptical with only masseur Hans Bochniak seeing it differently: "Now we are top and we want to stay there!" (Kicker on 16.10.1967)
The Werkself then faced Bielefeld as league leaders. Only a few Bayer 04 fans made their way to Eastern Westphalia including the landlord of the Gaststätte Burghof on Rathenaustraße who hired a bus for the journey to the match. The game became the hoped-for top match and the Werkself were caught napping. The score was 2-0 after ten minutes but Helmut Richert pulled a goal back five minutes later. The Bayer team took control in the second half and bombarded the Bielefeld goal. The reward was a 3-2 lead thanks to goals from Karl-Heinz Brücken and Friedhelm Strzelczyk. The Werkself survived the last 30 minutes with a good amount of smart play and healthy strength as they remained the surprise team in the regional League West. A dry response from Helmut Richert to the unexpected away win: "Now we only need another two or three wins to avoid relegation."
The golden October was to be rounded off with a home win against Lüner SV but the Westphalians refused to play along. A very impressive performance brought Leverkusen to the edge of defeat. With a lot of luck, Leo Wilden netted the leveller on 86 minutes in front of 7,500 spectators. As Rot-Weiß Essen won their away game in Herne 3-1, Bayer 04 dropped to second place as they prepared for the next away game at VfR Neuß.
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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