On a heavy pitch, Jülich take the lead on 17 minutes but going behind fails to upset the Black and Reds at all. Matthias Brücken scores the equaliser five minutes later when he deflects a shot from Helmut Röhrig into the Jülich net. On 30 minutes, coach Manfred Rummel replaces the forward Gerd Kentschke with a defensive midfield player and the Werkself control the game from that point.
In the second half, the pitch carefully tended by groundsman Gustav Schmitz, becomes a mud bath. Two battling teams produced a top match and although the surface made it difficult to shine there were chances for both sides to take the lead. Bayer 04 keeper Hubert Makel had a good day and did not concede in the second half. As the game went on, Bayer 04 kept forcing Jülich back into their own penalty area with the visitors only able to mount rare counter-attacks. At the end there is luck on Leverkusen’s side. On 77 minutes, a cross from Manfred Eickerling finds the head of the tireless Hans-Werner Marx and he surprises the visitors keeper Roland Gühsgen with a header that loops into the far corner. Ten minutes later, substitute Manfred Schumann seals the win. After great work by Helmut Röhrig, the centre forward found the back of the net and the gap of three points to the top of the table again makes the season interesting for the Werkself.
A week later, Bayer 04 were away to fellow promotion rivals SC Brühl. Coach Manfred Rummel fielded the team that finished the game against SC Jülich with Gerd Kentschke and Manfred Schumann also back on the pitch. The team started where they finished off: they gave their all and also played some impressive football on a good surface. Matthias Brücken beats an opponent on 17 minutes and sets up Manfred Schumann to make it 1-0. Then the former Bayer 04 player Horst Wielandt gives away two penalties that sweeper Willi Rehbach converts. The half-time score is 3-0. Brühl pull a goal back at 3-1 in the second half of the game that ends in a richly deserved win for the Werkself.
However, there are rumours in Brühl suggesting the outcome of the game had been manipulated by Leverkusen's football boss Hermann Büchel. Giving a calling card to a Brühl player is not to bribe him but instead is about a job at Bayer AG and Hermann Büchel, who is also employed in purchasing at the works, responds to a question from a journalist: "Why shouldn't I help him?" The only time money was on the agenda on that day was the remaining transfer fee for the former Bayer 04 player Horst Wielandt. Football boss Dr. Jürgen Schwericke called such accusations absurd: "We’re not a tinpot club. I wasn’t in Brühl but I firmly reject those allegations."
The Werkself are due to play two more games before the end of the year but the games fall victim to the weather leaving it tight at the top of the table:
There are more exciting games in 1975. The target of promotion to Bundesliga 2 North requires the Werkself to overcome more rivals than was expected before the start of the season. January certainly packs a punch with five games to play.
Bernd Schneider, born in Jena on 17 November 1973, spent his early years in the German Democratic Republic. He took his first steps in football at the two Jena clubs BSG Aufbau and FC Carl Zeiss, the biggest club in his hometown. He played in the second division for six years in the 90s. Bernd Schneider stood out as an accomplished dribbler with his experience from street football always evident. His nickname Schnix comes from the Thuringian dialect: ‘Schnixeln’ is a synonym for dribbling, being able to control the ball. After Jena were relegated in 1998, Schnix went in the opposite direction. Newly promoted Eintracht Frankfurt brought into the Bundesliga. He spent a year there.
Show more
18 June 1950 saw a friendly match for FC Köln, formed from the merger of two clubs in February 1948, against the Werkself at the Stadion Am Stadtpark. The two teams had already faced each other in May 1949 as winners of the Rhine district leagues in the final for promotion to the Oberliga West. The new club from Cologne came out on top in the two games and were promoted.
Show more
In a messed-up season in 1984/85 everybody is happy that the battle against relegation is over before the final matchday. The visitors are UEFA Cup contenders SV Waldhof Mannheim in front of a sparse 6,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The Waldhof lads under their coach Klaus Schlappner are the surprise packet of the season. In their second campaign in the Bundesliga, the team from Mannheim are fifth on 35 points (with two points for a win back then) ahead of the game in Leverkusen and in a UEFA Cup qualifying spot. Two points behind them are Bayer 05 Uerdingen and Hamburg SV.
Show more
Tranquillo Barnetta was born in St. Gallen in Switzerland on 22 May 1985. Quillo, as he was called in the football world, has Italian roots. His great-grandfather emigrated from Italy to the east of Switzerland. Quillo was interested in football early on and he played for the St. Gallen club FC Rotmonten from the age of six. He joined his favourite club FC St. Gallen at the age of 11. There he became a youth international. He won the European Championships with his teammates in the Switzerland U17 team in 2002. The youngsters from Switzerland beat France 4-2 on penalties in the final to become U17 European champions.
Show more
Since the establishment of the Bundesliga on 28 July 1962 for the 1963/64 season, there have been five Regional Leagues: North, Berlin, West, South-west and South. The champions of those five leagues qualified directly for promotion play-offs that were played in two groups of four teams. That included the two second-placed teams in the West and South-west Regional Leagues. The two runners-up from the North and the South played a qualifier for the eighth place in the promotion games.
Show more
