Goalkeeper Fred Bockholt is the most prominent newcomer. The 32-year-old came from Bundesliga club Kickers Offenbach and he became the number one keeper the Werkself for the next two years.
Peter Klimke was signed from Bonner SC. The hard-running and battling 22-year-old defender was brought in to strengthen the defence.
Hans-Jürgen Scheinert is the youngest new signing at the age of 19. He came under the Bayer Cross from Olympia Bocholt.
Norbert Ziegler was brought in to play up front. The 21-year-old previously played for the Fortuna Düsseldorf second team.
And Bayer 04 also signed a champion of Germany: Defender Walter Posner only played two games for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the previous season but did get to hold the Schale. Like the four previously mentioned, he too became an important part of the Werkself over the next few years.
Peter Fleischheuer (24), a defender from SC Leichlingen, Willi Quasten (19), a midfielder from Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, Hermann Klebs (21), a striker from FSV Frankfurt, and Wilfried
With these signings, Bayer 04 followed the established direction of not signing expensive new players but instead relying on proven reserve players and players from Bundesliga 2. The only exception was goalkeeper Fred Bockholt, who together with Hubert Makel formed the goalkeeping duo for the Werkself over the next two years.
Football boss Hermann Büchel and coach Manfred Rummel are happy with the squad for the new season. Hermann Büchel dictates the following sentence for the journalists:
"No player who comes to us exceeds the financial limits we have set ourselves. There is no need for additional money as we have covered all expenditure from our reserves."
And coach Manfred Rummel says:
"We have strengthened our squad so much that our immediate future looks secure. Above all our attack will gain in penetration and we have two players for each important position."
The two directors Dr. Jürgen Schwericke and Dr. Udo Schulten come to welcome the players to the first training session. They also go into the new season in confident mood and hope for a solid mid-table position. But above all they want a good relationship between the team and the fans. People realised things are significantly better together back then too.
On the first day of training on 14 July 1975 there was only a practice match. And none of those present could have guessed that these new signings would be the first foundation for a rosy future under the Bayer Cross.
Bayer 04 started the new season on 20 July 1950. To the applause from almost 2,000 spectators, the Werkself stepped onto the pitch at the Am Stadtpark stadium and the season target was clear to the supporters: finally achieve promotion to the Oberliga West. Under the direction of new coach Raymond Schwab, who brought one of his Essen players with him in the shape of Karl-Heinz Spikofski, the team did a couple of laps. Coach Schwab gave a speech in front of all the fans where he clearly imparted his request for calm in the stands and he said he hated nothing more than heckling or laughing when mistakes are made. He hoped the Bayer 04 supporters would follow his advice.
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Horst Knauf was born in Cologne on 16 August 1960. As a teenager he played for PSV Köln before signing for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen U19s as a talented midfielder in 1976. He made the move up from the second team to the Bundesliga squad in 1980. Over the following three years he played 39 Bundesliga games and scored two goals. Above all in the difficult 1981/82 season for the Werkself with the play-off games against Kickers Offenbach, he played a big part in saving Bayer 04 with 21 appearances. But under the new coach Dettmar Cramer he rarely made a start and he decided to move on.
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Holger Aden was born in Hamburg on 25 August 1965. He learned all about playing football and, above all, scoring goals at the two Hamburg clubs Niendorfer TSV and TSV DuWo 08 Hamburg. After progression from the youth teams, he played for other Hamburg clubs. One after the other he appeared for Concordia Hamburg, Altona 93 and SC Norderstedt. The centre-forward regularly found the back of the opposition net. He scored 22 goals for SC Norderstedt in the 1988/89 season.
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Michael Ballack was born in Görlitz in the GDR on 26 September 1976. He displayed his talent for football at a young age. After his family moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt, now called Chemnitz, he started playing for BSG Motor ‘Fritz Heckert’ Karl-Marx-Stadt where he constantly continued to develop his ability on the pitch. From year seven he went to the children and youth sports college and there he received systematic support in sport that led, against the background of his increasing ability, to a move to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. At the age of 16, he had to take a six-month break due to growing pains, but then there was no stopping Michael after that.
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In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of August. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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