Guten tag, und willkommen to a brand new series on Fuller FM. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be bringing you updates from my new save on Championship Manager 99/00, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that game’s release.
A couple of months ago, I was thinking about teams to manage on CM99/00 that would provide interesting short-term challenges. After racking my brains throughout the evening, I suddenly had a Eureka moment… which took me off to Germany.
It’s the summer of 1999. The United States have just won their first FIFA Women’s World Cup, and Brandi Chastain has become an icon for female athletes everywhere. Alex Ferguson has been knighted after winning an historic treble with Manchester United. The UK Number 1 single is “9pm (Till I Come)” by ATB, which will soon become familiar to anyone who plays the critically-acclaimed FA Premier League STARS.
Oh yes, and I am the new manager of Bayer Leverkusen.
INTRODUCTION
During a six-year spell at around the turn of the millennium, Bayer Leverkusen were one of THE top teams in German and European football. Unfortunately, they never won a single trophy during that period, instead acting as perennial bridesmaids.
From 1997 to 2002, Leverkusen finished 2nd in the Bundesliga on four occasions. The 1999/2000 season was especially heartbreaking, as Christoph Daum’s side had one hand on the trophy before the final day. Needing a draw against Unterhaching to claim their maiden championship, they somehow lost 2-0 before watching Bayern München overtake them by beating Werder Bremen 3-1.
Two years later, Leverkusen – now coached by Klaus Toppmöller, after Daum was fired for taking cocaine – held a five-point lead with three games to play. Alas, they blew another big chance, losing to both Werder and Nürnberg, while Borussia Dortmund surged ahead at the death.
That was part of a miserable treble of runners-up finishes in major competitions. On 11 May, young Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov gave them the lead in the Final of the DFB-Pokal (Germany’s FA Cup) against Schalke 04, who battled back to win 4-2.
Four days later, Bayer arrived in Glasgow for their first Champions League Final against the mighty Real Madrid. The match was nicely-poised after Raúl’s early Real opener was cancelled out by centre-back Lúcio… and then the legendary Zinedine Zidane did this.
Leverkusen’s constant misfortune led to them being dubbed “Vizekusen” (second-kusen) by the German football media, and “Neverkusen” by the English-speaking press. They nearly got relegated in 2003, and though they became a consistent top-four team again in the 2010s, trophies continue to elude them. The 1988 UEFA Cup and the 1993 DFB-Pokal remain their only major honours.
But what if I could change that? What would happen if I stepped into Daum’s shoes before their first major collapse? Can I turn ‘Die Werkself’ (The Factory XI) into winners?
For this challenge, I’m giving myself three seasons to bring at least one major honour – the Bundesliga, the Champions League or the DFB-Pokal – to the BayArena. I have until the end of the 2001/2002 season to stop Leverkusen from becoming ‘Neverkusen’.
SQUAD & TACTICS
Here’s the first-team squad I’ve inherited. We’re certainly not short on attacking talent, though I might need to pay some attention to the defence. I’ll now give a quick run-down on the players, as well as taking a closer look at some of our more key ones.
30-year-old Adam Matysek is Poland’s number 1 and will remain ours as well. His reflexes, handling and positional awareness are all excellent… and he is also a surprisingly competent tackler, which is handy, I guess. Long-serving understudy Dirk Heinen and Australia international Frank Juric will share backup duties.
Every team needs a general at the back, and captain Jens Nowotny is ours. The commanding centre-back has been one of the first names on the Leverkusen teamsheet since joining from Karlsruhe in 1996. He will regularly be partnered by the fearless Robert Kovac, whose Croatian compatriot Zoran Mamic provides adequate cover along with Torben Hoffmann.
Left-back Markus Happe is one of our longer-serving players, having first pulled on the red-and-black in 1991. He’ll be backed up by Vratislav Gresko – a 21-year-old Slovak with some potential – while Boris Zivkovic and Jörg Reeb will battle it out to play at right-back.
And here’s our big new signing from Kaiserslautern. Michael Ballack is a young creative midfielder with the potential to become a mainstay for club and country. Indeed, we’ve got more than our fair share of German international midfielders, from the tough-tackling Carsten Ramelow and the flamboyant Stefan Beinlich to the very skilful Bernd Schneider.
But here’s our main midfield man – Emerson, a 23-year-old Brazilian superstar in the making. The elegant and hard-working box-to-box player is our most valuable player, and with good reason. We just need to keep him fit…
Out wide will be another member of the Seleção – unpredictable left-winger Zé Roberto, who possesses exceptional crossing and dribbling abilities. Bayer’s third Brazilian – 21-year-old Robson Ponte – is similarly dynamic on the right flank, and American Frankie Hejduk is a fine alternative. We also have Hans-Peter Lehnhoff, but he’s old and useless, so I won’t bother with him.
We then come to Oliver Neuville, who recently moved to the BayArena after scoring 14 goals for Rostock last season. Born in Switzerland but now regarded as one of Germany’s top attackers, Neuville has plenty of pace and technique, not to mention finishing ability. Contrary to popular belief, he is not Gary and Phil’s even more talented older brother.
Finally, we meet 33-year-old club legend Ulf Kirsten, who celebrates a decade in Leverkusen this season. With such clinical finishing ability, it’s no wonder that ‘Der Schwatte’ (The Black One) has over 100 Bundesliga goals to his name. While Thomas Brdaric and Thomas Reichenberger are pretty decent strikers themselves, neither can really hold a candle to Kirsten.
Tactics-wise, I’ve gone for a very basic direct 4-4-2 to begin with. While we’re blessed with quality midfielders, we’re perhaps strongest on the wings, so I’ll want to get plenty of use out of Zé Roberto and Ponte.
This is also a team which works hard and possesses plenty of stamina, so I want my players to put pressure on the opposition whenever they have the ball. Think of this as a very early ‘gegenpressing’ blueprint – from a decade before Jürgen Klopp decided to grow a beard and put on some spectacles.
PRE-SEASON
The board gave me around £12.5million to spend on transfers if I so wanted. I wouldn’t be taking my chequebook out of my drawer just yet, though. For starters, I was satisfied with the depth we already had in our squad and wanted to give every player a chance to prove their worth.
Instead, I decided to focus my summer rebuilding efforts elsewhere – the backroom, to be specific:
| COACH | NAT. | TRAINING | KEY ATTRIBUTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roland Koch [Assistant Manager] |
GER | Fitness Shooting |
Coaching Outfielders – 19 Determination – 12 Level of Discipline – 10 |
| Paul Ashworth | ENG | Tactics | Coaching Outfielders – 20 Determination – 20 Level of Discipline – 20 |
| Luciano Castellini | ITA | Fitness | Coaching Outfielders – 19 Level of Discipline – 20 Man-Management – 19 |
| Jan Fleuren | HOL | Shooting | Coaching Outfielders – 16 Determination – 14 Level of Discipline – 18 |
| Werner Friese | GER | Skills | Coaching Outfielders – 19 Determination – 10 Level of Discipline – 18 |
| Jörg Schmadtke | GER | Goalkeeping | Coaching Outfielders – 20 Determination – 16 Working with Youngsters – 20 |
My new broom swept the backroom clean, with only Roland Koch keeping his place in the coaching set-up. You can never go wrong with having an assistant manager named Roland.
Koch was joined by five new coaches, including goalkeeping coach Jörg Schmadtke, who was on Leverkusen’s playing staff just two years ago. If our current custodians start the season poorly, I might try to coax Schmadtke out of retirement. (I can’t actually do that, obviously.)
| SCOUT | NAT. | KEY ATTRIBUTES |
|---|---|---|
| Stefan Berger | GER | Judging Ability – 17 Judging Potential – 20 Tactical Knowledge – 20 |
| René Brinkmann | GER | Judging Ability – 20 Judging Potential – 20 Tactical Knowledge – 14 |
| Bob Clayton | ENG | Judging Ability – 17 Judging Potential – 19 Tactical Knowledge – 17 |
| Markus Kaufmann | GER | Judging Ability – 16 Judging Potential – 17 Tactical Knowledge – 13 |
| Stefan Schumacher | GER | Judging Ability – 18 Judging Potential – 18 Tactical Knowledge – 13 |
| Arthur Van Haren | HOL | Judging Ability – 19 Judging Potential – 17 Tactical Knowledge – 16 |
| Jörg Wirsching | GER | Judging Ability – 16 Judging Potential – 20 Tactical Knowledge – 17 |
The scouting set-up underwent a complete overhaul. Our seven new scouts arguably represent the cream of the crop, and they’ll play crucial roles in our new recruitment strategy.
If you think my idea of recruitment on CM99/00 is to just buy Bakircioglu, Moukoko, Sigþórsson and David Collins and then relax, think again. That would be far too easy. In this career, I won’t sign anyone unless they’ve been scouted first and received a good recommendation from my talent-spotters.
With my new backroom staff in place, my reign could begin in earnest. I took charge of my first match on 10 June, when we resoundingly thumped third-tier Düsseldorf 4-0. Beinlich and Hoffmann both scored in the first half before a late brace from Zé Roberto wrapped it up. What a way to prepare for my competitive debut, which took place just 48 hours later!
In a pre-season tradition dating all the way back to 1997, Germany’s six best teams take part in a League Cup competition a few weeks before the Bundesliga season kicks off. Think of the DFL-Ligapokal like the Charity Shield, but even more convoluted and arguably even more pointless (indeed, the DFL scrapped it in real life in 2007).
We got a bye to the Semi Finals, where we would play Kaiserslautern (who knocked out Hertha BSC on penalties) in – for some reason – Köln. Despite being the reigning league champions, Bayern had to get past Dortmund in the Quarter Finals to set up a last-four clash with DFB-Pokal holders Werder Bremen.
LEVERKUSEN 0-0 KAISERSLAUTERN (4-1 PSO) (DFL-Ligapokal – Semi Final)
You’re a lucky boy, Emerson. The Brazilian’s reckless two-footed lunge on opposing wing-back Marco Reich in the 31st minute left us having to play an hour with just 10 men. Though we struggled to create scoring chances without him, Matysek staved off whatever Kaiserslautern threw at him and forced a shoot-out.
The Red Devils crumbled from the penalty spot, as Michael Schjønberg and Martin Wagner each blazed efforts over the bar. By contrast, we were consistently spot-on, and Zivkovic’s successful fourth penalty secured our place in the Final at Berlin’s Olympia-Stadion, where we would play…
…Werder Bremen, who scraped a 1-0 win over Bayern. This was a fantastic chance to claim a trophy – in just my second week as Leverkusen manager!
LEVERKUSEN 1-2 WERDER BREMEN (DFL-Ligapokal – Final)
Aw, fiddlesticks. Matysek might’ve played like Jan Tomaszewski vs England in the Semi Final, but our Polish goalkeeper turned into a clown in Berlin. He was easily beaten by Werder striker Aílton just before half-time, and then watched Rade Bogdanovic’s second-half hit-and-hoper fly past him to leave us 2-0 behind. Though Ponte did grab a goal back four minutes from time, it was too late to stop the trophy heading to Bremen.
After licking our wounds, we headed off to Croatia for a three-match tour. None of our three Croats got on the scoresheet, but Neuville stole the show with a hat-trick in a 4-0 thrashing of Cakovec. We then brushed aside Slaven Belupo by the same scoreline before recording a surprisingly dull 2-0 win against Ossie Ardiles’ Croatia Zagreb.
Unfortunately, our final friendly – my first match at the BayArena – didn’t go so well, with PSV beating us 1-0. Turns out that Ruud Van Nistelrooy can hit a mean free-kick. I know Sir Alex has just bought Filippo Inzaghi for £19.25million, but maybe he should think about taking this Dutch lad to Manchester as well…
AUGUST 1999
Our Bundesliga campaign began on 14 August, when we were thrown in at the deep end immediately. We were off to the Westfalenstadion to face Dortmund, who were European champions as recently as two years ago. They still had several of their Champions League heroes: Jürgen Kohler, Andreas Möller, Lars Ricken, Matthias Sammer… and, of course, backup goalie Wolfgang De Beer.
DORTMUND 3-1 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 1)
That could’ve gone a lot better. We were far too careless in possession, allowing Dortmund to run riot in the first half. Future Bolton legend Fredi Bobic netted twice in the first half, with Victor Ikpeba adding a third goal direct from a free-kick just before half-time.
Just like in the Ligapokal Final, Ponte got on the scoresheet in the second period but couldn’t bring about a proper comeback. The damage had already been done by an inept defensive display – particularly from Kovac, who was fined a week’s wages.
For whatever reason, we had the following week off, as our trip to SC Freiburg was postponed until mid-September. At least that gave us a little more time to put things right before travelling to Kaiserslautern.
Meanwhile, we found out our opponents for the Champions League’s first group phase. We were paired in Group A with Brøndby (that’s good), Mallorca (that’s… not so good), and Ibrahima Bakayoko’s Marseille (uh-oh).
KAISERSLAUTERN 3-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 2)
Ponte picked up where he left off by scoring after just seven minutes. Unfortunately, so did the Leverkusen defence. Wagner equalised six minutes later, and Jörgen Pettersson later half-volleyed Kaiserslautern into a 2-1 half-time lead.
Neuville got us back on terms early in the second half, but he was undermined by more diabolical defending. Red Devils striker Youri Djorkaeff (another of Sam Allardyce’s future buys) dribbled past Nowotny before hammering the ball beyond a hopeless Matysek.
A second league defeat left us in the Bundesliga relegation zone, as one of only two teams yet to register a point (the other being Duisburg). Oh yes, and Ramelow strained his calf in the post-match warm-down, putting him out for around four weeks. Brilliant.
SEPTEMBER 1999
Ramelow wasn’t the only Leverkusen midfielder expected to miss most of September. Beinlich had strained his groin just before the Kaiserslautern defeat, leaving us short of cover. That led me to promote Darioush Yasdani – a 22-year-old Iranian with great technique – from the reserves. (As far as I’m aware, Yasdani never played for Bolton… unless he secretly changed his name to Andranik Teymourian in circa 2006.)
Yasdani was on the bench for our first league match at the BayArena this season, against Frankfurt. Our pursuit of our first points had been further hampered when strikers Kirsten and Neuville both picked up injuries on Germany duty. While Neuville was just about fit enough to start, the former wasn’t so lucky.
LEVERKUSEN 1-0 FRANKFURT (Bundesliga – Match 3)
That’s a bit more like it! My maiden league victory came through a 44th-minute half-volley from our new right-wing hero, who was brilliantly set up by Ballack. At this rate, Ponte will be this decade’s most successful Robson since that Geordie fella off “Soldier Soldier” briefly forged a music career with his mate Jerome.
My new motto was – as Messrs Green and Flynn used to sing – “I believe.” Would I still be singing that after our Champions League opener?
BRØNDBY 2-2 LEVERKUSEN (Champions League – Phase 1 Group A, Match 1)
So much for Brøndby being the weak links in Group A. Peter Madsen put our Danish hosts ahead from a corner after just six minutes, shocking us into life. After watching their compatriot Ponte’s recent exploits, Emerson and Zé Roberto decided they wanted in on the act and put us 2-1 ahead at the break.
That should have put us on course for victory… until Matysek the Clown clipped Mattias Jonsson’s feet to concede a penalty midway through the first half. The spot-kick was scored by Brøndby’s aptly-named superhero striker Turbo (or Bent Christensen, as his parents call him), and two points went down the drain.
So that’s one win from my first six competitive games with Leverkusen. What did I need? Ballack twisting his ankle to put him out of our visit to early Bundesliga pace-setters VfB Stuttgart, that’s what! Perfect.
VFB STUTTGART 2-3 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 4)
Kirsten might have returned to action from the bench, but Leverkusen had a new striking star. Reichenberger was on target twice in the first 14 minutes, either side of a fantastic free-kick from Stuttgart playmaker Krassimir Balakov. Unfortunately, Matysek plays like Jerzy Dudek on steroids, and so Balakov got his second equaliser in the 22nd minute after our goalkeeper nobbled Ioan Viorel Ganea in the penalty box.
Zé Roberto repaired the damage in the 61st minute with a pinpoint ball to Neuville, who broke free and put us back in the ascendancy. Matysek was thankfully on his best behaviour for the next half-hour, allowing us to see out a hard-fought away victory.
After the match, our unused transfer budget was swelled further by the £6.5million sale of midfielder Andreas Neuendorf to Blackburn. The 24-year-old had started the season on loan at Hertha BSC, where his recent performances had caught the eye of the new Rovers manager… a certain Berti Vogts.
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 MALLORCA (Champions League – Phase 1 Group A, Match 2)
Our Champions League campaign really was up and running now! As soon as Emerson breached Mallorca’s defences with a lethal 11th-minute header, we were in control. Surprisingly, we didn’t score again until four minutes from full-time, when Neuville converted a penalty after Reichenberger was fouled by visiting keeper Germán Burgos.
That result put us top of Group A with four points – ahead of our next opponents Marseille on goal difference. Victory against Les Phocéens would put us in a fantastic position to qualify for the next phase. Before that, though, we hosted winless Unterhaching in the league.
LEVERKUSEN 4-2 UNTERHACHING (Bundesliga – Match 5)
Now that’s a scoreline. Forgotten men Mamic and Hejduk each proved their worth by scoring on their first starts of the season, before Alfonso Garcia pulled a goal back for Unterhaching.
Kirsten also got off the mark in the second half, netting a couple of penalties – the second of which was his 200th career league goal. Unfortunately, Hejduk blotted his copybook with a couple of yellow cards, and Garcia grabbed another away goal shortly after his dismissal. Not that it stopped us finishing the month in 8th place, mind…
Now to bring on Bakayoko and Marseille…
LEVERKUSEN 1-1 MARSEILLE (Champions League, Phase 1 Group A – Match 3)
The good news: we managed to shut Bakayoko out. The bad news: we couldn’t keep Seydou Keita quiet, as the Malian teenager blasted Marseille into the lead 15 minutes from time. Schneider and Kirsten had already missed chances to break the deadlock for us, but it was Neuville who saved us a point with a crucial last-minute goal.
Mind you, Mallorca are hot on ours and Marseille’s heels, so a slip-up in the rematch at Stade Vélodrome next month could be costly. With that in mind, let’s end this first chapter on a bright note…
Yep… that’s Nowotny and Zivkovic both out for three weeks with thigh and foot injuries. Does anyone have the phone number of Darren Anderton’s physio, by any chance?
So I’m off to a solid if unspectacular start in Germany. I hope you’ve enjoyed the first chapter of this retro Championship Manager career and are looking forward to more. I will post a new chapter every Monday evening at 6:00pm GMT over the coming weeks.
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