Season 2003/04: Manuel Neuer’s interview has caused a lot of excitement in the last few days. That’s exactly what Peter Neururer did twenty years ago – but in a completely different way. His conversation as a successful coach at VfL Bochum is legendary. At that time, the cult coach was still waiting for a call from AC Milan!
There are these journalistic moments when everything fits together. Henning Sußebach and Stefan Willeke from the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” experienced this unique moment almost twenty years ago in the phenomenal 2003/04 season for VfL Bochum together with coach Peter Neururer, who was in a great mood. At the end of the season, VfL reached the UEFA Cup for the second time in its history – and, as you can imagine, the atmosphere was really good. And in front marched a trainer in absolute parade condition. Peter Neururer at the peak of his creativity. It was not for nothing that the legendary conversation was entitled “Called for something higher”.
Interviewer: “Now you’re up. Is it nice to be a popular man again?” Neururer: “Why again? I’ve always been asked since 1986.” Interviewer.: “Well, you were unemployed for a total of three years during your coaching career.” Neururer: “But even when I was sitting at home, I was asked. But I misjudged my situation for too long out of arrogance. When the first, second, third first division club in dire need called, it wasn’t my thing. There Peter Neururer was destined for higher things! When only the second division teams called, I was even more destined for higher things. At some point, unfortunately, no one called anymore. I fell into a damn hole.” Interviewer: “And what was in that hole?” Neururer: “Silence. The phone doesn’t ring anymore. It just doesn’t ring anymore. I thought: ‘What’s going on here? Now something has to happen!’ , but it’s only your own mother.”
The interview that Peter Neururer gave at the time is one of those rare moments when you can still feel that modern football still has its very personal, human moments. The then successful coach of VfL Bochum answered the question of whether the most intellectual in the team should always be the captain with these completely unadulterated and wonderfully honest sentences: “For God’s sake! I once had a player, a captain, who was like that what of stupid, he was stupid as … stupid as … (Interjection of the interviewee: “Bread?”) Oh, he had an IQ that could be classified as the temperatures we have outside at the moment, he was almost stupid. But an outstanding footballer! I didn’t have to explain anything to him, he always did everything right. Intuitive. His football intelligence was sensational. But his normal intellect: catastrophic. He honked his horn when he hit a tree is.”
They also honked at his club, VfL Bochum, at the end of the season. The Neurur club was able to qualify for the UEFA Cup almost sensationally. Because Dortmund couldn’t get more than a draw in the last game of the season in Kaiserslautern, while VfL beat Hannover 96 at their home Ruhrstadion at the same time, it was enough for fifth place in the table. Bochum’s trumps were above all the foreign players Vahid Hashemian, Raymond Kalla and Sunday Oliseh. In order to strengthen the team spirit, coach Neururer had forbidden them to talk in their native languages. German should be spoken at VfL, according to the wish of the trainer. And the players took coach Peter Neururer’s instructions to heart. When Oliseh chose another language, Kalla reprimanded him with a faint-hearted smile at the corners of his mouth: “Hey, Sunday, speak German, you asshole!”
Until his suspension (he headbutted Hashemian at half-time in a game) Oliseh was Bochum’s most important player and a close confidant of Neururer. Before the season, the Nigerian told his teammates in a dressing room speech: “Guys, let’s just play and not try the Maradona!” And was then very happy about the reaction of coach Neururer: “The coach said: ‘Exactly!’ I will never forget that.”
In the 2003/04 season, the championship question was almost decided on the 29th matchday. Although Bremen drew 0-0 at home with Hannover, Bayern failed to get closer to Werder. On the contrary. They lost 2-0 at BVB and were eight points behind leaders von der Weser five games before the end. There, the Frenchman Johan Micoud played an outstanding season and was the celebrated star at Werder. His team-mate Ivica Banovic described him as follows: “Micoud always wants to win. When things don’t go that way, he becomes a different person. But he has to be like that to be so brilliant.” In Bremen they remembered their old coach Otto Rehhagel in the times of success. Manager Klaus Allofs: “He always said to the players: ‘Guys, if you’re top of the table, there’s only one thing: get on the sofa, have a beer, turn on the TV, ARD teletext table 253, look at the table and leave it on all evening – and then just enjoy.'”
Thanks to a streak of 23 consecutive games without defeat, Bremen pulled away from the competition after the winter break and could no longer be caught. The team secured the championship on matchday 32 with a comfortable 3:1 win over their direct competitor and pursuer Bayern Munich. In the relaxation pool, goalscorer Ailton stripped naked in front of the cameras and presented himself to the television nation in all his glory. Outside on the Olympic Stadium’s tartan track, Ailton had earlier spoken effusively about his plans for the rest of the day: “Champagne, water, Brazilian beer. I have to do everything today. Everyone.”
Incidentally, one is still puzzling to this day who exactly Peter Neururer could have meant in his legendary interview back then. In this passage, too, one can only guess who the coach had in mind. Interviewer: “Are there players who are too smart for football?” Neururer: “I had one once. A really wonderful guy! But he thought a lot about his own situation, about the situation of his opponent, about the social structures in his team, he dealt with everything bilaterally and multilaterally in the middle of the game – the ball was always gone.”
