When success failed to materialize and we repeatedly 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.\n\nYet 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.\n\nBut 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.
