My anger at Köln never truly faded. I developed a near-pathological ambition whenever we faced them. My Foals enjoyed following those targets and gave everything on the pitch.\n\nThe 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.\n\nI 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nI 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.