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.
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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Carsten ‘Calle’ Ramelow was born in Berlin on 20 March 1974. He began his football career in the youth teams at Tasmania 73, Tennis Borussia, SC Siemensstadt and, last but not least, Hertha Berlin. It was here that he reached the DFB Pokal final in 1993 with the Hertha Bubis team, the amateur team at Hertha Berlin, against his future employer Bayer 04 Leverkusen. But even he was unable to prevent the Werkself's 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Ulf Kirsten.
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The 1995/1996 season brought some innovations. For the first time, each player was given a squad number with his name printed on the back of the jersey. For the first time, coaches were allowed to make three substitutions and for the first time, three points are awarded for a win. And for the first time, I am no longer my team's number 1. I wear it on my back, but Dirk Heinen has taken over me in goal. So at first I sat on the bench a bit offended, but in the Rückrunde I realised I also had to make my contribution to the success of a team.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of May. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen, promoted to the Oberliga West, welcome VfL 99 Köln for the last game of a successful season. This time, the crowd of just 2,000 spectators saw more of a friendly than a championship match. Little fight, little goalmouth action and few moves in midfield to warm the hearts of the spectators. It takes a corner to give Bayer 04 the lead. Peter Röger is on hand with his head and nods home on 43 minutes for the half-time lead. When Karl-Heinz Spikofski increased the lead to 2-0 a quarter of an hour after the restart, the result was settled. The team from Cologne were able to reduce the deficit to 2-1 in the final minute, but in the end the spectators went home looking forward to the first season for a Bayer 04 team in Oberliga West 1.
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