What was going on in the 1989/90 season? Borussia Mönchengladbach had only had four coaches since their promotion in 1965. Hennes Weisweiler (1965-1975), Udo Lattek (1975-1979), Jupp Heynckes (1979-1987) and, since July 1987, Wolf Werner.
Although the glory days were long gone and the UEFA Cup victory in 1979 was the last title ten years ago, manager Helmut Grashoff stuck to his principles: “I would rather fire players than the coach.”
In this oasis of well-being, Wolf Werner had also set up a deceptive security when the great crisis broke out in his third season in office. The club had put more emphasis on talent than on experience in the summer and sent a particularly young team into the race, the departures of national player Michael Frontzeck and Haudegen “Schorsch” Dreßen were not replaced equally.
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Effenberg escapes from the training camp
In the training game young versus old, you were already with the old at the age of 24. “Good food or young vegetables?” Commented Rheinische Post skeptical about the personnel policy of the five-time champion, who apparently lacked primarily offensive strength.
There was a crisis even before the crisis, four of the first six games ended 0-0. In September the football world was still laughing at the antics of the youngsters Stefan Effenberg and Jörg Neun, who ran out of the training camp before a game and wanted to go golfing in the jeep of masseur Charly Stock.
As soon as possible. Too bad that their shortcut leads over a steep garbage dump where the car is left lying and has to be recovered by the ADAC. The two outliers are suspended for one game.
Werner can still afford that, but three weeks later the historic downward slide begins. With a 0: 2 in the home derby against 1. FC Köln it starts, Borussia falls to eighth place. This is followed by a 2: 4 at Waldhof Mannheim, now she is ninth, a 1: 3 against HSV (13th), a 0: 3 in Frankfurt (15th), a 1: 2 against Bochum (16th) and a 0: 4 in Stuttgart. (Bundesliga schedule and results)
Gladbach bottom light for the first time
It was precisely in this game, when sensational transfer Igor Belanow, Europe’s Footballer of the Year 1986, made his long-awaited debut, that Borussia slipped to last place for the first time in their Bundesliga history, in the 832nd game.
Grashoff – what a parallel to Max Eberl – is still steadfast: “If necessary, we will relegate with the trainer.” There are other times. In football, as in world politics, where new things are just beginning.
The old order is collapsing, glasnost and perestroika are the words that especially people in Europe carry on their lips and in their hearts. The Cold War ends. The wall is falling in Berlin, what does a lost soccer game mean?
So Wolf Werner can keep losing. On November 10th, the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Borussia had to go to the second division Kickers Offenbach in the cup and after 90 minutes finally didn’t leave the field as a loser. But also not as a winner, if 0-0 there is extra time and only the kickers meet.
Kamps, Effenberg, Bruns, Neun, Belanow – big or promising names exposed to ridicule. Seven defeats in a row. What now, Borussia? President Dr. Beyer replies to the critics and angry fans who want to see heads roll: “Helmut Grashoff stays, the coach stays, I stay.”
“We only have one problem: the strikers don’t hit the goal!”
Grashoff simplifies the situation: “We only have one problem: the strikers don’t hit the goal!” Goalkeeper Uwe Kamps sees the matter more difficult and raises the alarm: “We have split up into groups, not a real team.”
This heterogeneous bunch should at least beat Bayer Uerdingen on Saturday, November 18th, which has only one point more. Defender Thomas Eichin gives in to an illusion: “I think that by now the last one has understood what Saturday is about.”
Only 16,300 spectators want to see it for themselves, the support from the fans is crumbling. They don’t even see a bad game by their foal team, but it is like always last, “again a lot of chances were missed, the hectic ruled the midfield”, analyzes the kicker and “Belanov kept waiting for long passes to show off his speed – they didn’t come.”
What is certain to come in those days is a clean sheet. Marcel Witeczek, who will also wear the Borussia jersey again, puts the guests in the lead (34th). It’s the gate of the day.
One thing is enough to beat these Borussia. To make matters worse, they lose defender André Winkhold by being sent off. Then it is over and the eighth loss in a row, seven of them in the league, is perfect.
Only the older ones can remember a longer series, in 1956/57 Borussia lost the first 15 games of the season, but that was still in the Oberliga West. It’s a sad premiere in the Bundesliga and it screams for unheard-of consequences that are part of the business, but not part of the Bökelberg. (The table of the Bundesliga)
The journalists smell the morning air when Grashoff replies to the obligatory question about the coach’s future this time: “I’m not going to speak about that in a press conference, we’ll be discussing it internally.”
The 3rd chairman, Alfred Gerhards, a doctor, becomes clearer: “If I had produced ten corpses while I was in hospital, I would also have been available. The time has now come for me to change coach.”
At least now Werner has to suspect that the oasis of well-being for coaches no longer exists on the venerable Bökelberg. After all, he still has captain Hans-Günther Bruns on his side, who hisses at the reporters: “You really want to get rid of him, and the coach gives everything. The team is largely behind him.”
Hitzfeld turned down a coaching job at Borussia
If so, she will be largely disappointed on Tuesday, November 21st. The board of directors releases Werner and hands over assistant trainer Gerd vom Bruch the suicide mission, which a certain Ottmar Hitzfeld, in the service of Grashopper Zurich, turns down.
The break will create relegation – on the last day of the game. Werner admits meanwhile mistakes, for example “that I allowed that we only started the season with a top that was suitable for the Bundesliga. And I did not prevent the sale of regular players like Rahn, Dreßen or Frontzeck.”
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Out of loyalty to a board member who is now dropping him. Of the kicker writes: “The last taboo of the Bundesliga has been broken. Borussia Mönchengladbach, who have never fired a coach prematurely in 25 years, has separated from Wolf Werner.”
After a series that nobody in Mönchengladbach has managed to achieve since then. In the middle of a turning point, a turning point in social coexistence that puts football in the shade. Anyone who is angry with Rose will recognize the parallels to the present. Do not lose!
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