West Germany – ranked 2nd by UEFA. A season of changes and records. One can say now, that the foundations of today’s football were laid down at this season: the coaches of the top three German teams left them right after their success: Udo Lattek, Ernst Happel, and Jupp Heynckes left Bayern, Hamburger SV and Borussia (Moenchengladbach). True, all of them announced their leave well in advance, but it was new approach – at the time, it was highly unusual in the top European championships and certainly not in such numbers. Meantime two new records were set: the first was that Bayern finished with only 1 lost match. The second was set by Borussia (Moenchengladbach) – 10 wins in a row. Borussia had incredible season – it started with 7 losses in a row and it looked like they were going down to relegation, but then they did not lose a game in the next 9 rounds and won every match in the last 10 rounds of the championship, which not only set the new record, but elevated them to bronze medals. They also scored the most goals in this season, but high scoring was nothing new for them. The third news was from the dark side and rattled the national team: it was the book written by Tony Schumacher, revealing the nasty side of inside life of the national team and other dark secrets of German professional football. The book, true or false, was bitter pill to swallow and retaliation followed right away: Schumacher was expelled from the national team and, to a point, the scandalous book eventually removed him entirely from the Bundesliga. Meantime Beckenbauer was trying to build a new national team and experimented with many new players – new goalkeeper was not his goal, but he had to introduce new keeper anyway because of the ban on Schumacher. Since he was the captain of the national squad, a new captain had to be chosen as well and that immediately created a problem, for Klaus Allofs was going to play in France and thus not always available for international games, particularly for the friendlies. Behind all that Bayern dominated and was expected to lead and there was considerable gap between Bayern and the rest of the league – nothing new, but quite alarming, because German teams were losing their edge and new generations were not as talented as those from the late 1960s and 1970s. Frugality was well known feature of German football, but now it was something to think about: yes, it was great to be successful without spending fantastic amounts of cash, but the top stars were leaving for higher salaries in Italy and Spain. It was still possible to be strong and successful club with only 18 professional players (Bayern) – especially when compared to clubs with huge rosters (Manchester United had 35 players on the payroll and Aberdeen – 38) – but Bayern lost the final the European Champions Cup and Dieter Hoeness announced his retirement. Bayern, with its small roster, was seen as unquestionable leader in West Germany, but it was also because the other clubs did not have even half the stars Bayern had: it was nothing like the previous decade when Bayern not only had bigger stars, but also great competition of similarly strong teams. What remained intact was the good youth system and steady introduction of young talent from it – Bayern proudly boasted that 6 regulars were product of their youth system, which was pretty much as it was in the 60s and 70s. The mood was fairly optimistic, yet… there was Schumacher’s critical book and the need to build a new national team, and the exodus of top stars, and less competitive teams, and the fact that West Germany was no longer desired destination for foreign players.
Third level. The champions of the 9 regional semiprofessional leagues went to their promotion tournament. Let say that the negative side of the current state of West German football was perhaps most visible here – there were quite a few former Bundesliga members playing here and not very successfully: Hertha (West Berlin), MSV Duisburg, TSV 1860 (Munchen), Tennis Borussia (West Berlin), Kickers (Offenbach). Of course, teams relegated from the Bundesliga played in the regional league before, but that was when those leagues were second tier, not third. Now such teams were unable even to climb back to Second Division…
Wuppertaler SV,
TSV 1860 (Munchen),
MSV Duisburg. Top row from left: Buddeit, Dronia, Fecht, Friebel, Haremski, Kober, Meuer
Middle row: Telljohann, Notthoff, Puszamszies, Rohr, Ronden, Semlits, Struckmann, Trainer Pirsig
Front row: Zeugwart Schotte, Strunz, Müller, Vossnacke, Kellermann, Macherey, Zils, Canini, Masseur Hinkelmann.
Those three clubs failed to climb up – clubs, which used to play in the European tournaments.
The two promotion groups were divided geographically as ever and the top two teams in each went up:
Gruppe Nord.
BVL 08 (Remscheid) finished first – 3 wins, 4 ties, 1 loss, 11-5 goal-difference and 10 points. Great success for them and also something to think about: third level teams were officially considered amateur and competed for the German Amateur title. But this squad had 2 Yugoslav and 1 Japanese players – more foreigners than the Bundesliga teams had and the foreigners were hardly amateurs.
SV Meppen – 2nd and promoted with 10 points from 2 wins and 6 ties. 13-10 goal-difference – which place them bellow BVL 08.
Hertha BSC (West Berlin) – 3rd with 9 points from 3 wins, 3 ties and 2 losses. 11-10 goal-difference. Failed to climb back to Second Division, from they were relegated in the previous season.
SpVgg Erkenschwick – 4th with 6 points. 1 win, 4 ties, 3 losses, 7-12.
Arminia (Hannover) – 5th with 5 points: 1 win, 3 ties, 4 losses, 10-15 goal-difference.
Gruppe Sud:
Kickers (Offenbach) -1st and promoted with 7 points from 3 wins, 1 tie, 2 losses. 13-7 goal-difference.
SpVgg Bayreuth – 2nd and promoted. Lost top position on worse goal difference, but going back to second level from which they were relegated the previous season. 3 wins, 1 tie, 2 losses, 10-11 goal-difference, 7 points.
Eintracht (Trier) – 3rd with 6 points from 3 wins and 3 losses. 9-8 goal-difference.
SV Sandhausen – last with 4 points. 2 wins, 4 losses, 6-12 goal-difference.
So, BVL 08 Remscheid, SV Meppen, Kickers Offenbach, and SpVgg Bayreuth earned promotions and only BVL 08 did not play second level football before.