The former Berlin Bundesliga team Tennis Borussia visit the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for the first home game of the season on Wednesday 9 August. Around 8,000 spectators enjoy a football first at the ground on Bismarckstraße. Bayer 04 are on fire and end up with a clear 5-2 victory. Coach Willibert Kremer fielded the same starting line-up for the third time in succession. In addition to the two midfielders Klaus Bruckmann, who nets a brace, and Thomas Hörster, substitute Matthias Brücken scores two goals again with the first just one minute after he comes on. And both Bayer teams, our Werkself as well as Uerdingen, are top of Bundesliga 2 North with four points and eight goals for and three against.
Arminia Hannover are helpless three days later. This time it just took a good first half for everything to go right. Brilliant moves coupled with excellent and successful finishing put Bayer 04 top of the table on matchday three, a position not relinquished for the rest of the season. When coach Willibert Kramer draws a critical conclusion at the post-match press conference, he heard something at that moment that he did not like at all: A fan club stage a huge show of support at the exit to the stand and the unmissable chants from the first half of "Bayer will be champions, Bayer will be champions" are not music to his ears. He prefers to put the brakes on euphoria and highlight a rather weaker second half performance.
In the night of Tuesday 15 August, the Ulrich Haberland Stadium receives an unwelcome visit. Supporters of another football club leave behind their own calling card: They break open a gate, then with incredible force one of the two aluminium doors, smash the windows of a new ticket office and smear '1 FCK ' on a wall. Whether the destructive fans came from the Pfalz or a club from the other side of the Rhine is something I leave to each and everyone to decide
In spite of all that, the Bayer team focus on the next away game. The newly promoted side from Kiel are considered to be underdogs but coach Willibert Kremer says he will be satisfied with one point in the build-up to the game. Kiel's coach Kuno Böge says he will put a marker on Matthias Brücken when he comes on. But that does not help much as the substitute only needs seven minutes after his introduction to score the winner at 2-1 with five minutes to play. Norbert Ziegler levelled the opener from the Storks earlier in the game.
On 25 August, a Friday night, VfL Osnabrück are the visitors to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Where less than 1,000 supporters were a year earlier, there are now 8,000 enthusiastic fans at the stadium. An almost unchanged team had succeeded in attracting back supporters within a very short space of time. The fans provide passionate support for a Bayer 04 team that give the side from Lower Saxony no chance at any point in the game with the same line-up as in the most recent matches: Bockholt – Posner, Gelsdorf, Klimke, Scheinert, Hörster, Bruckmann, Ziegler, Gniech, Szech, Herzog
After an impressive 3-0 win with two goals from centre forward Peter Szech and a penalty from team captain Dieter Herzog, the Werkself are on their own at the top of the table in Bundesliga 2 North with a maximum ten points. And again coach Willibert Kramer warns: "Enthusiasm yes but no euphoria. We want to keep our feet on the ground." But that feeling of being top of the table is obviously felt by every Bayer 04 fan in August 1978.
Wolfgang Vöge was born on 15 September 1955 in Ahlen, Westphalia and he was the fourth of seven children of a miner. His father, Erich Vöge, was a football referee as well. At an early age, Wolle, as he was called by his friends and teammates, developed a great passion for football and was an enthusiastic fan of BVB. His first success in football was achieved in the amateur game at his hometown club of SV Ahlen. He scored 26 goals in the first season and he came to the attention of scouts. That led to his move to Borussia Dortmund in 1975.
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Andreas Thom was born on 7 September 1965 in Rüdersdorf near Berlin in Brandenburg. Andreas displayed an exceptional talent on the ball even as a child. Early on, he joined the youth section at BFC Dynamo Berlin, one of the leading football clubs in the German Democratic Republic. There he received targeted, performance-oriented training as part of the GDR sports system. His talent, his vision and his technique led him to make his debut in the first team at BFC Dynamo at the age of 17.
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Jens Melzig was born in Cottbus on 28 September 1965. Melle, as he was called at Leverkusen, started his playing career at his hometown club Energie Cottbus. As a young player there he soon stood out thanks to his strength in challenges and his ability to read the game. He was in the Energie Cottbus first team in 1984 and he played for the club in the GDR league and the Oberliga. With 144 appearances and twelve goals he became one of the big players in defence. He made a major contribution to the club during this period – as a strong-tackling central defender who also displayed leadership qualities.
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Lucio, full name Lucimar Ferreira da Silva, was born on 8 May 1978 in Planaltina, a suburb of the Brazilian capital Brasília. He showed his passion for football even as a child. On the dusty streets of his neighbourhood he spent hours chasing the ball – often in bare feet like many Brazilian children. Despite the simple conditions he grew up in, his family always supported his dream of one day becoming a great football player. He made his first steps in club football at small local clubs before moving onto the youth set-up at the club Guará and later he singed for the big club Internacional Porto Alegre. Bayer 04 signed the internationally completely unknown defender from there in January 2000.
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In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of September. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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