The Werkself made a good start to the season. On matchday 7, top of the table Bayern Munich faced second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. However, Bayern already have a six-point lead over the Werkself, so the omens are clear. But Bayer 04 played a good game and held a deserved 0-0 scoreline until the 89th minute, when Bayern player Mehmet Scholl fell in the penalty area and the referee awarded a more than dubious, if not unjustified, penalty. Jürgen Klinsmann converted to give Bayern a 1-0 win and the Werkself went home without any points.
After the last game in the Hinrunde, a 1-0 defeat at the Lauterer Betzenberg, Bayer 04 are sixth in the table, one point behind fifth place, which entitles them to participate in the UEFA Cup, and nine points ahead of the relegation play-off spot. Nobody is thinking of a rapid decline at Christmas in 1995.
three red cards at the royal blues
The first two games in the Rückrunde are postponed due to the weather. It was not until Friday night, 23 February 1996, that the Werkself started the second half of the season with a 0-0 home draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the following weeks, however, the Werkself did not win a single game, picking up just three points and, ahead of matchday 27 at fifth-placed Schalke 04, were seven points behind the Royal Blues, but also just five points away from the drop zone. And the game at the Royal Blues will go down in Bundesliga history with the three red cards against the Werkself, a defensive battle with eight players from the 63rd minute onwards and a very unfortunate equaliser in the 89th minute. Never again has a team that has been shown three red cards managed to pick up a point.
After another draw against Fortuna Düsseldorf at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium - Bayer 04 still haven't managed a win by the eleventh game of the Rückrunde - the Werkself's trajectory is clear: relegation beckons. Not so for coach Erich Ribbeck. After yet another draw at Hamburger SV, he is working out with his team ahead of the home game against Karlsruher SC as to how the UEFA Cup place can still be achieved. The team took the opposite view.
Ribbeck departs – Hermann takes over
And it all comes to a head - the home game against KSC is lost 2-1 and the coach is sacked. His assistant coach Peter Hermann takes over the team on an interim basis until the end of the season. And the team went down 3-0 at bottom-placed Bayer 05 Uerdingen, who were almost certain to be relegated. The worries under the Bayer Cross are growing and fear is playing a part.
Five matchdays before the end, Bayer 04 are fifteenth in the table, three points away from relegation. But after goals from Rudi Völler and Ulf Kirsten, the Werkself beat TSV 1860 Munich 2-1. The first and only win in the second half of the season. Three days later, Bayer 04 travelled to Dortmund for a rearranged match and lost 2-0, with goalkeeper Dirk Heinen, who had played an outstanding season up to that point, looking unlucky with both goals. The next morning I had a conversation with Peter Hermann and he told me he intends to put me back in goal for the next game on the penultimate matchday away at SC Freiburg. I advise him not to do so because, I reason, if I don't perform well on Saturday, Peter will have two goalkeepers who are unsettled in what will probably be a decisive game for Bayer 04's season and future. My advice to him: "Let Dirk play in Freiburg on Saturday. Then we'll decide afterwards whether I'll line up against Kaiserslautern."
nerves on edge
Dirk plays well at Freiburg, but we lose again. And I embark on my longest bus journey home with Bayer 04. The worries on this five-and-a-half-hour return journey from Freiburg grew with every kilometre towards the city of colours. So begins the decisive week in the 1995/96 season.
Manager Reiner Calmund and coach Peter Hermann decided we should prepare for the all-important match on 18 May 1996 in Much, a small town in the Rhein-Sieg district, starting on Tuesday. Four nerve-wracking days followed. Training consists only of a relaxed run in the forest to clear the mind. The focus is on eating, sleeping and rest, which is disturbed on Friday evening by a delegation of Bayer 04 employees. That evening, even the last person realises that there is more at stake than the club's existence. It's also about jobs, and not just ours.
Markus Münch, the great saviour
On 18 May 1996, the relegation battle against FC Kaiserslautern takes place at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. A draw will be enough for Bayer 04, while the team from the Palatinate would definitely say goodbye to relegation worries with a win. In the event of a defeat, we can still hope for a defeat for FC Köln, who travel to Hansa Rostock, who are still fighting for a UEFA Cup place. In the week before the ‘final match’, the Lauterer, who are travelling to Leverkusen with 10,000 fans anyway, try to get standing room in the south curve, which has not yet been expanded.
