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.
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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