Probably no one has influenced the Stuttgart Kickers as much as Axel Dünnwald-Metzler. And probably no one will ever put their stamp on the Blues again like ADM. April 6th marks the 20th anniversary of his death.
A 1:3 in the regional football league against Eintracht Frankfurt II, a 0:5 at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II, a team that had been in such great harmony for a long time and was in decline. Axel Dünnwald-Metzler would almost certainly have stepped in front of the Stuttgarter Kickers team in this tricky phase. To shake up the team. To breathe new life into it with a fiery appeal. In his own way. “He never shouted, shouted or used expletives,” recalls former player Ralf Vollmer in an interview with our editorial team about the long-time president (1979 to 2003) and patron of the Kickers. “ADM was a gentleman, incredibly charming, but he also pulled the wool over his boys’ eyes,” said Fredi Bobic, describing the blue father in the Kickers book “Auf, die Blaue!”.
April 6th marks the 20th anniversary of his death. He died at the age of 64, just under a year after ADM resigned as Kickers boss for health reasons after 24 years. No one else has shaped the Blues like he has. Dünnwald-Metzler played for the club he loved as a youth, and later also in the first team – he was the first man in the club for around a quarter of a century.
Charm and charisma
“ADM was always present. He was educated, he had charm, charisma, charisma, and he could give extemporaneous speeches in which his subtle sense of humor always flashed,” Vollmer still says with admiration today. ADM was loyal, dutiful, sincere, humble. He could also become short-tempered when he sensed injustice. But he was always forgiving when he encountered small human weaknesses.
One man, one word – that wasn’t just an empty phrase for him. “Everything I did at the Kickers was agreed upon with a handshake. There was blind understanding, you couldn’t imagine a better basis of trust,” says former striker Vollmer.
Legendary statements
Even after his death, the Kickers honorary president is still omnipresent. The ADM Sports Park and the ADM Youth Days remember this nobleman of sport. Some of his statements are legendary. “Do you know how to become a millionaire,” he liked to ask in a fun atmosphere and answered himself, accompanied by a hearty slap on the thigh: “By becoming Kickers President as a multimillionaire.”
It’s just one of so many anecdotes about Axel Dünnwald-Metzler. “Which do you prefer to play, piano or football?”, the Staatskapellmeister Josef Dünnwald once asked his hopeful Filius. “Let me play football,” said young Axel to his dad. A good decision, which later even brought him an invitation from the then national coach Sepp Herberger to a course.
After his football career, which included a brief stint in the youth ranks of VfB Stuttgart, he received his second Kickers socialization from former Kickers president Philipp Metzler. Not only did he entrust his future son-in-law with the management of his optician company, he also gave him the blue virus for good. Of course, Metzler’s daughter Ursi (who died in 2009) also had that in her: in the Kickers stands she supported her Axel with passion and heart and soul – usually with her fingernails painted blue, of course.
ADM fulfilled his lifelong dream in 1988 when he finally – after a few unsuccessful attempts – led the Kickers into the Bundesliga. But he also experienced bitter moments. For example, the relegations from the first league in 1989 and 1992. Or the dismal first league games in front of barely more than 3,000 people in what was then the Neckar Stadium. He is said to have once said that he would pay everyone in the audience a shot of schnapps, but he didn’t know what to do with the rest of the bottle.
ADM will be happy in the blue sky that his Kickers are now attracting more fans even in the fourth league, like 4650 in the 1-0 win against SG Barockstadt Fulda-Lehnerz on Wednesday.
2024-04-05 06:07:09
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