
A week later, the Werkself played at Cologne club SC West. In front of 2,000 spectators, the West men dominate Bayer 04 at will in the first quarter of an hour. Leverkusen goalkeeper Helmut Rennen had to make several saves. But then the visitors get going. The attacks on the Cologne goal were constant, but their defence held firm until half-time. After the break, Bayer 04 seemed to be on the verge of winning the game, but Paul Wiorek and Karl Heinz Spikofski missed their best chances. The game ended goalless after 90 minutes.
On 18 February 1951, Marathon Remscheid visit the Stadion Am Stadtpark. Once again, 5,000 spectators support their team and once again the Werkself lay siege to their opponents' penalty area. However, a young keeper who would later become a legend in Leverkusen was in their goal: Fredi Mutz. And this Fredi Mutz saves everything, including a penalty from Richard Job. However, Bayer 04 defender Jakob Kaiser also had to make a clearance off the line for his already beaten goalkeeper Helmut Rennen during two Remscheid counter-attacks, so it was a fair 0-0 scoreline at half-time. In the second half, left winger Paul Wiorek scored the timely and much-acclaimed opener on 60 minutes, but as the Werkself were unable to add to their lead, they conceded a goal at 1-1 in one of Remscheid's few counter-attacks. However, because the competition also failed to win their games, Bayer 04 now have a commanding five-point lead at the top of the Oberliga West 2 table.
The last game in February takes the Werkself and their supporters to the Grotenburg-Kampfbahn. Their opponents there are Preußen Krefeld. After an initially evenly-matched game, Bayer 04 took the lead on 13 minutes. A free-kick shot by Paul Wiorek can only be parried by the Krefeld keeper, Karl Heinz Spikofski follows up and puts the ball over the line. Twenty minutes later, Paul Wiorek again initiated an attack and played Richard Job in to make it 2-0. After the break, the game is in full swing. The scenes in front of both penalty areas change at lightning speed, with the Werkself producing the more creative play.
In the 56th minute, Richard Job hits a powerful shot, again the goalkeeper is unable to hold on and this time right winger Theo Kirchberg is on hand - 3-0 for Bayer 04. The Krefeld team's follow-up goal does not upset the Werkself. In the final half hour, the visitors from Leverkusen dominated proceedings and increased their lead to 5-1 with goals from Hans Flohr and Karl Heinz Spikofski again. After this commanding away win, the Werkself are top of the table on 35 points, six ahead of second-placed SSV Wuppertal. The Bayer 04 fans are already in Oberliga West mood and are eagerly awaiting the next home game against their direct rivals from Wuppertal.

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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