Special Moments — Gladbach

1. FC Köln was my first home, my

1.

first station as a player-coach. Rheydter SV was a stopover, Viktoria Köln a step backward. Borussia Mönchengladbach was my great stroke of luck — the “Buuren,” the farmers from the Lower Rhine.

I started in Cologne with grand ambitions. As a founding member and player-coach, I wanted to turn the newly created club into a force. I believe I would have managed it too, had they let me work in peace.

But “the boss” did not leave me alone — certainly not to do things my way. I wanted to gather young players from the region around me and shape them into a side that embodied my footballing ideas. Kremer wanted established stars, backed by the local economy, and he got them, usually without asking me.

That arrangement was never going to work.

When success failed to materialize and we repeatedly

When success failed to materialize and we repeatedly missed the championship end rounds, I had to go.

missed the championship end rounds, I had to go. First to Rheydt, then after a second attempt with Köln to Viktoria on the other side of the Rhine, and when that did not work either, to Mönchengladbach. By then I had not achieved any major coaching success.

Yet the new president Helmut Beyer, his deputy Helmut Grashoff and Alfred Gerhards gave me complete freedom and backed my “kindergarten concept” — the idea of building around local and regional talent. They had little alternative anyway, because money was tight. Albert Brülls had already been sold.

But there was an outstanding youth side and several young players they wanted to sign. So I came to the Lower Rhine, and Franz Kremer had no idea what that would ultimately mean for him and his Köln.

In the 1950s the rivalry between our neighboring

In the 1950s the rivalry between our neighboring clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia was still one of peaceful coexistence.

clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia was still one of peaceful coexistence. There was limited interest in one another, but no deep dislike. Borussia were even the first team to visit Köln’s new Geißbockheim.

For Köln, the main Rhineland rivals came from Dellbrück; against Gladbach they still generally had the upper hand. But my quarrel with Franz Kremer changed everything. We carried our private conflict into our football clubs.

What had once been a manageable local rivalry slowly hardened into something far more poisonous.

I had served in the war and was

I had served in the war and was captured near Danzig.

captured near Danzig. I do not like to talk about that time, though it probably shaped me more than any other. Football kept me afloat.

After returning home in 1945, Franz Kremer persuaded me to play for my old club in Köln-Klettenberg. He was the new chairman, and I was ready to help. Later, after training courses under Sepp Herberger and various coaching experiences, I found my way to Mönchengladbach on April 27, 1964. Sepp Herberger had recommended me again.

I arrived with ideas, with bitterness, and with a deep desire to build something of my own. Günter Netzer was already signed; Jupp Heynckes and Bernd Rupp came for 1964/65, Berti Vogts after promotion had been secured. The rest is history: we became the number one club in the Rhineland and in 1969/70 the champions of Germany.

My anger at Köln never truly faded. I

My anger at Köln never truly faded.

developed a near-pathological ambition whenever we faced them. My Foals enjoyed following those targets and gave everything on the pitch.

The Köln reactions amused me — everything from stubbornness to outright aggression whenever my name came up. I delighted in needling the “Billy Goats” before derbies. Verbal clashes on the field had always been part of the derby, but in time so did violence between supporter groups outside the stadiums.

I confess: that was never my intention. I never imagined the Rhineland derby would one day become a high-security operation, complete with water cannons and mounted police. And yet here we are.

The conflict, in truth, was never primarily between Cologne and Gladbach. It was between me and Franz Kremer. When I later returned to Köln as coach in 1976, they finally let me work.

I moved Heinz Flohe into the center, won the cup immediately, then followed it with the double — ahead of Borussia Mönchengladbach and my intimate rival Udo Lattek.