Welcome back to my Championship Manager 99/00 blog career. My first season at Bayer Leverkusen is coming to an end, and while our European expedition hasn’t gone too well, we’re still fighting on two fronts. Can we add the DFB-Pokal and/or the Bundesliga to a trophy cabinet that’s not received so much as a second glance since 1993?
This next post will take us through the entire second half of the 1999/2000 season, so an advance warning: it’ll be quite a long read. You can revisit Part 2 right here if you want to catch up first.
FEBRUARY 2000
We entered the second half of the Bundesliga season still on course for Champions League qualification. We occupied 3rd place, sitting only below Dortmund and Bayern, and three points ahead of SC Freiburg in 5th.
Next up, though, was a tricky home game against mid-table Kaiserslautern. They posed a real attacking threat, having edged a five-goal thriller in our previous meeting last August.
LEVERKUSEN 3-0 KAISERSLAUTERN (Bundesliga – Match 18)
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that! The side who put three past us last time out only managed one shot on target in the rematch – a late first-half Olaf Marschall header which was tipped over by Massimo Taibi. By then, we had taken a 3-0 lead through a resurgent Ulf Kirsten and the explosive Zé Roberto.
We further strengthened our advantage nine minutes into the second half. Kirsten’s delivery into the box was nodded home by Oliver Neuville, securing him his 15th goal of the campaign. Unfortunately, midfielder Emerson picked up a fifth yellow card – and a one-match suspension.
Also absent from our trip to Freiburg was right-back Jörg Reeb, who strained his thigh in training. With Boris Zivkovic also injured, that meant Robert Kovac had to play on the right side of our defence.
SC FREIBURG 1-0 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 19)
Freiburg are jammy so-and-sos. Despite being the better team statistically, we fell victim to a 14th-minute cross-shot from Alexander Iashvili that left Taibi helpless. At the other end, a stunning display from Freiburg’s keeper/captain Richard Golz ensured we wouldn’t score any in return.
Despite that, I was still happy with Taibi’s performances in his first dozen matches for Leverkusen. Iashvili’s goal was just the seventh he’d conceded in that time. We certainly weren’t missing Adam Matysek, who was rotting in our reserves and looking forward to a new challenge in Switzerland with FC Sion next term.
For our next challenge, we hosted Dortmund, who were now four points clear at the top with a record of: Played 19, Won 15, Drawn 4, Lost 0. Mind you, we had beaten BVB already this season in the DFB-Pokal, so we were hopeful of causing another surprise.
LEVERKUSEN 2-3 DORTMUND (Bundesliga – Match 20)
Urgh. Here I am praising Taibi, and then he finally has a stinker at the worst possible time! His afternoon got off to an inauspicious start after six minutes, when Andreas Möller’s volley bounced past him. He also conceded twice more to Lars Ricken and Fredi Bobic just before half-time, after Zé Roberto had equalised for us.
Frankie Hejduk got a second goal back for Leverkusen in the 56th minute, albeit only after Zoran Mamic had hit the bar. That was as good as things got for us in a feisty encounter which saw 11 yellow cards. Two of them were issued to Dortmund right-back Stefan Reuter, who played the final few minutes a man light but still held on for victory.
Though we narrowly stayed in 3rd place despite that defeat, it was still very costly. Kovac and captain Jens Nowotny were also now on five yellow cards for the season, meaning that they would have to sit out the journey to Frankfurt the following week. We really would be down to the bare bones in defence for that game…
…but before then, we had the small matter of a DFB-Pokal Semi Final. If we could beat Hertha BSC at home, we would be potentially 90 minutes away from winning a major trophy – and shaking off that ‘Neverkusen’ tag.
LEVERKUSEN 3-1 HERTHA BSC (DFB-Pokal – Semi Final)
Stefan Beinlich will have an awkward introduction to his Hertha team-mates in the summer. Standing in for the tired Zé Roberto, the left-winger put us 1-0 up against his future employers after just two minutes. That was followed six minutes later by a vicious effort from Mamic which stretched our lead.
Things were too comfortable for us in the first half, so it was no surprise that Hertha battled back after the restart. The Berliners pulled one goal back through Ali Daei, leaving our fans on edge. That was until Nowotny headed in a whipped Robson Ponte corner five minutes from time to secure a place in the Final.
There were jubilant scenes in the home dressing room at full-time, but one player wasn’t smiling. Reserve goalkeeper Dirk Heinen decided that now was the time to demand a transfer to a club who would give him first-team football. I turned down his request, as well as another immediately afterwards.
Victory meant we could clear our diaries for 6 May – and a Cup Final showdown in Berlin against Kaiserslautern, who battled to a 1-0 win against a brave 1.FC Köln side.
In the meantime, we switched our attentions back to the Bundesliga. With four defenders unavailable and midfield enforcer Carsten Ramelow nursing a bruised shin, it was a much-weakened Bayer side that travelled to Frankfurt. Reserve-teamer Mario Nacev was making his senior debut at right-back, for goodness sake!
FRANKFURT 1-1 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 21)
Our midfield dominated the first half, which we ended 1-0 up courtesy of Hejduk’s lethal header from Beinlich’s cross. Struggling Frankfurt came back at us after the break, but our makeshift defence held firm until the 72nd minute, when Bachirou Salou broke free to level. With that, another two points went down the drain.
Oh yes, and our substitute striker Ersin Demir was sent off late on for headbutting Frankfurt defender Uwe Schneider, copping himself a seven-match ban. That’s no way to stake a claim for more action, Ersin…
And here’s some breaking news: Dortmund have LOST a league game! At the 21st time of asking, it was Freiburg who inflicted BVB’s first Bundesliga defeat this season, prevailing 2-0 at the Dreisamstadion.
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 ULM (Bundesliga – Match 22)
How was this ‘only’ 2-0? Kirsten got us off to the perfect start shortly after kick-off, but we wouldn’t find the net again until the in-form Hejduk struck once more on 64 minutes. Ulm midfielder Oliver Otto injured himself in the build-up, and his relegation-threatened side never recovered.
And so, despite a few wobbles in February, we finished the month still in 3rd. Mind you, both Schalke 04 and Freiburg were only a point behind, so we certainly couldn’t take our eyes off the ball.
MARCH 2000
Our March began against rock-bottom Unterhatching, who were stranded at the bottom of the table with no wins – and just eight draws – to their name. Would they be easy pickings at the Stadion am Sportpark?
UNTERHACHING 0-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 23)
Surprisingly not. Kirsten and Neuville struggled to find the target, so it was our centre-backs who contributed goals instead. Torben Hoffmann headed in a Kovac free-kick after 27 minutes, with Nowotny also finding the net from Neuville’s corner eight minutes later. Jens in particular defended valiantly at the other end to secure a shutout victory.
Unfortunately, our injury woes returned shortly afterwards. Michael Ballack strained his groin – putting him out for two months – after shoulder injuries sidelined full-backs Nacev and Markus Happe for a month apiece. Happe’s absence meant an extended run in the team for young left-back Vratislav Gresko.
LEVERKUSEN 0-0 VFB STUTTGART (Bundesliga – Match 24)
This was a poor match, to say the least. Both teams constantly sprayed shots wide, and I’m pretty sure half the crowd fell asleep before full-time. Let’s move on.
HERTHA BSC 1-3 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 25)
Here we go! Both teams scored in the opening six minutes in Berlin, as Hejduk’s opener was quickly countered by Hertha frontman Kai Michalke. We then survived a home onslaught before Neuville ended his goal drought to restore our lead just before half-time. Emerson secured victory early in the second period by putting a third goal past the trouser-wearing Gabor Kiràly, whose performance was… well, pants.
Here was hoping our next visit to the capital in May would be just as successful!
There was an 11-day international break before our next league game, against 6th-placed Schalke 04. After playing in three Bundesliga matches (and being sent off in one of them), Demir was surprisingly rewarded with a first cap for Turkey – and he scored in a 3-0 away win over Greece. Word.
In the meantime, I dismissed a cheeky offer from Dortmund to sign Kovac for next season. Croatian Bob was also attracting interest from Hertha, while Nowotny had been linked with Juventus. This summer could be an interesting one for Jens and Robert…
LEVERKUSEN 1-0 SCHALKE 04 (Bundesliga – Match 26)
…but this match WAS an interesting one for Jens and Robert. Nowotny was named ‘man of the match’ after a spirited captain’s performance that shut out Schalke, who lost forwards Gerald Asamoah and Michaël Goossens to injury. Our real hero, though, was Kovac, who drove in a 22nd-minute long-ranger after Neuville’s initial shot was parried by Oliver Reck.
That result left Leverkusen in a pretty good position to finish in the top four. Of course, there were still eight games to play… and our next one took place just 48 hours later, on the final day of the month.
1860 MÜNCHEN 2-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 27)
1860 München had 10 days’ rest before this match and we had just one, so no prizes for guessing who made the quicker start. The Lions bore their teeth after 18 minutes, when Australia striker Paul Agostino hit a fantastic low finish. Neuville got an equaliser in response, but the hosts went back ahead just before the interval. Markus Schroth was tripped in the box by Taibi, who conceded Thomas Häßler’s subsequent penalty.
In the end, we were thankful for Neuville’s class. Oliver levelled the scores again on 65 minutes, rifling in a half-volley from Emerson’s cross to save a point. Unfortunately…
APRIL 2000
…unhelpful results elsewhere the following day didn’t turn out to be April Fools jokes. For starters, Kaiserslautern’s 4-1 dismantling of Frankfurt took them ahead of us on goal difference, dropping us to 4th.
HSV were now only three points behind after battling past Bielefeld – and their goal difference was also better than ours (thank you, Adam Matysek). That meant Hamburg would knock us out of the Champions League places if they beat us at the BayArena.
LEVERKUSEN 0-1 HSV (Bundesliga – Match 28)
That could be a costly slip. While we failed to take our chances, Hamburg’s left-winger Bernd Hollerbach most certainly took his in the 27th minute. Though the visitors later had right-winger Martin Groth and striker Vahid Hashemian injured, Hans-Jörg Butt’s heroics in goal took them up to 4th at our expense.
On a side note, I’m pretty sure I caught a glimpse of the No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani in the VIP box at full-time. Gwen looked pretty glum, so I’m guessing she ain’t no Hollerbach girl.
Bayern München certainly were into Robert Kovac (whose brother Niko was, incidentally, part of the HSV side who’d just done a job on us). Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side offered us £4million to sign the younger Kovac sibling next summer, but it’ll take A LOT more than that to prise Croatian Bob away.
WERDER BREMEN 1-0 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 29)
We’re throwing this away! Werder’s Rade Bogdanovic had an early goal disallowed for an offside call against his strike partner Claudio Pizarro, but the Yugoslav made sure to find the net again on 24 minutes. We couldn’t conjure up a response, as even Neuville was a long way from his prolific best.
To make matters worse, HSV beat SC Freiburg 3-0 to go three points clear of us. For the first time in months, there was distance between us and the top four. And then there was this…
That unfortunately looks like the end of Kirsten’s season, and possibly his 10-year Leverkusen career. The 34-year-old’s contract expires this summer, and having only scored eight goals from 32 appearances, he appears to be past his best. Such a shame.
We also lost Hejduk for a month (also a groin strain), and Nowotny for at least a week (gashed head). Injuries really were the bane of our existence.
LEVERKUSEN 2-0 BIELEFELD (Bundesliga – Match 30)
HSV lost 2-0 at Dortmund the following weekend, which meant we went back level on points with them after dismissing Bielefield by the same score. Ramelow’s first goal of the season after nine minutes got us underway, though Neuville fired blanks before doubling our lead early in the second half.
While Demir’s shooting wasn’t lethal on his first Bundesliga start, he did find the net again on his second Turkey cap during the international break. Then again, it was against Scotland, so no surprises there. Unfortunately, Ersin damaged his shoulder after returning to Leverkusen training, so we won’t see him again this season.
Add to that a shoulder injury for Beinlich, and we had five players out for the trip to second-from-bottom Rostock. With our options further reduced, I brought in an 18-year-old American reserve striker. You might have heard of him: Landon Donovan.
ROSTOCK 0-2 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 31)
After a stressful first half, we eventually showed our class in the final 30 minutes. A fabulous solo goal from Zé Roberto was followed by Neuville’s clinical 20th goal of the campaign. Rostock gave as good as they got, but they will join Unterhaching in being relegated out of the Bundesliga.
There was good news from Hamburg, where our biggest top-four rivals had capitulated against Bayern München, losing 1-0 after having two players sent off. Kaiserslautern stayed 3rd after a comfortable win at 1860 München, but that left the table looking like this:
MAY 2000
The latest in a long line of injuries didn’t augur well for our final three league games. But before that run-in, we faced THE defining match of our season – the DFB-Pokal Final against Kaiserslautern. Could we see off Otto Rehhagel’s side and replicate our 1993 cup winners?
Nowotny had recovered from his injury and ready to lead us to glory… hopefully. Thomas Reichenberger got the nod to start up front alongside Neuville, with Thomas Brdaric on the bench. Thomas the kitman would have been next in line.
KAISERSLAUTERN vs LEVERKUSEN (DFB-Pokal – Final)
Rehhagel surprisingly left out his midfield talisman Youri Djorkaeff, but his team still made the brighter start. Olaf Marschall drew an early save out of Taibi after just 11 minutes… and there was more to come.
The momentum shifted firmly towards Kaiserslautern on 24 minutes, when Ramelow lunged in two-footed on Marco Reich. Ramelow was dismissed, and Bernd Schneider replaced Reichenberger to fill the midfield gap. When the dust settled, Reich put a free-kick into our box, where Danish defender Michael Schjønberg fired our opponents into the lead.
So we were a man down AND a goal down at half-time. What did we need six minutes into the second half?
With Nowotny gone and Leverkusen down to NINE men, the jig was basically up. Aside from a Schneider effort that Uwe Gospodarek tipped away, our much-weakened side could not threaten Kaiserslautern. The final whistle blew with the score still at 1-0, and another trophy escaped our grasps.
Defeat in Berlin meant our place in European football next season came down to our league placing. By my reckoning, 6th place would be enough for UEFA Cup qualification, but I was focussed on staying in the top four – and getting back into the Champions League. These final three games would decide our fate.
LEVERKUSEN 6-2 WOLFSBURG (Bundesliga – Match 32)
What a game! We led 2-0 at the break after Reichenberger chipped goalkeeper Claus Reitmaier, who was then beaten by Neuville. Krzysztof Nowak got one back for Wolfgang Wolf’s Wolfsburg in the 52nd minute, but the excitement really began three minutes later.
Firstly, Reichenberger was felled in the Wolfsburg area by Reitmaier, who was sent off for a professional foul. Holger Hiemann came off the bench and saved Neuville’s penalty… but the referee ordered a retake, which Oli did convert.
The final half-hour saw four more goals. Captain Emerson’s howitzer was followed by a brace from Ponte to put the result beyond doubt. Though Jonathan Akpoborie’s 20th league goal of the season sent Wolfsburg home with another consolation, we claimed three vital points in our push for Europe.
Meanwhile, HSV won 2-1 at Kaiserslautern to keep themselves in the Champions League hunt. With two games to go, we moved up to 3rd on 61 points, Kaiserslautern dropped to 4th on 59, and HSV leapfrogged Stuttgart into 5th on 58.
DUISBURG 0-1 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 33)
We’ve not seen much from Schneider this season, but hecame big just in time. After 26 minutes, the ‘White Brazilian’ trapped a Ramelow cross and slammed in just his second Leverkusen goal. (Bernd’s first was against… Duisburg! He must hate zebras.)
Duisburg did everything they could to try and equalise in the second half. It took a brave defensive effort from the likes of Nacev and Kovac to keep them at bay and grind out what proved to be a vital win.
Much to our delight, Kaiserslautern suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Rostock, and HSV were beaten 3-2 at home by Frankfurt. Those results meant we had qualified for the Champions League in 3rd place. That was just as well…
…because our final match was at Bayern, who needed a win to have a chance of completing an incredible comeback in the title race. From being nine points behind Dortmund with four games to go, Hitzfeld’s giants had closed the gap to just two.
Oh, and did I mention that we would be missing Kovac, Emerson and Ramelow through suspension, Nowotny with a chest injury, and Reichenberger with a broken toe? Christ. At least Kirsten’s groin had heeled just in time for him to captain us on possibly his final appearance in a Leverkusen jersey.
BAYERN MÜNCHEN 1-0 LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 34)
Taibi had a final-day blinder, defying a series of Bayern shots – and a knee injury to Zivkovic – for almost half an hour. Alas, Elber eventually got the better of him to claim a 27th league goal, the Top Goalscorer award, and three points for Hitzfeld’s title-hunters. Whatever.
For a while, it seemed as if Bayern would do a Bayern and nick the Bundesliga title at the death. Unluckily for them, Dortmund twice came from behind to beat Wolfsburg 4-2 and reclaim the spoils.
At the other end of the table, Ulm were the third and final team to suffer relegation alongside Unterhaching and Rostock. They would be replaced by newly-promoted Greuther Fürth, Nürnberg and 1.FC Köln.
SEASON REVIEW
I suppose that wasn’t a bad first season: runners-up in the DFB-Ligapokal and the DFB-Pokal, plus 3rd place in the Bundesliga. Yes, we were a long way off the championship pace – finishing 18 points adrift of Dortmund – but the signs are there that we can enjoy success next season.
It’s clear that both Dortmund and Bayern are stronger than us defensively and going forward. I’ll have to make plenty of moves in the transfer market over the summer… but I won’t be short on funds, with £17.5million currently in my budget.
While Taibi has done a fine job in goal since arriving last autumn, he needs protection from the back four. Greater depth at full-back would be useful, as would a strong central defensive alternative to Nowotny and Kovac. In midfield, both Ballack and Schneider need to prove their worth after difficult first seasons, and the excellent Neuville could do with a similarly prolific strike partner.
I’ll now look at our three best players from 1999/2000. First up is captain Nowotny, who personified our never-say-die attitude at centre-half. Mind you, the 26-year-old did sometimes get carried away, collecting 13 yellow cards and two reds.
Zé Roberto established himself as our chief creator by providing nine assists, most of them through his exceptional crossing ability. The skilful Brazilian also chipped in plenty of goals and is set to become one of world football’s top wingers.
And then we come to Neuville – our Fans’ Player of the Season. The Swiss-German netted 19 Bundesliga goals, and he could’ve had more had his form not dipped towards the latter stages. Neuville was also 2nd in the German Striker of the Year and 3rd in the German Player of the Year standings behind… Kaiserslautern forward Marco Reich, who scored TWICE. Hmm.
Finally, let’s have an in-depth gander at some player statistics. If you’re a clownish goalkeeper from Poland, look away now:
| GOALKEEPERS | APPS | CON | ASTS | YC | RC | MOM | AVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dirk Heinen | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.50 |
| Frank Juric | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6.43 |
| Adam Matysek | 13 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.08 |
| Massimo Taibi | 29 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7.07 |
| OUTFIELD PLAYERS | APPS | GLS | ASTS | YC | RC | MOM | AVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Ballack | 23 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.22 |
| Stefan Beinlich | 26 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.27 |
| Thomas Brdaric | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.22 |
| Ersin Demir | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.57 |
| Landon Donovan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 |
| Emerson | 41 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7.24 |
| Vratislav Gresko | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.67 |
| Markus Happe | 44 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6.84 |
| Frankie Hejduk | 21 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6.90 |
| Torben Hoffmann | 22 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.59 |
| Ulf Kirsten | 33 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6.91 |
| Robert Kovac | 41 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 6.85 |
| Zoran Mamic | 21 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.29 |
| Mario Nacev | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.25 |
| Oliver Neuville | 49 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 7.88 |
| Jens Nowotny | 37 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 7.24 |
| Robson Ponte | 40 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7.03 |
| Carsten Ramelow | 37 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6.86 |
| Jörg Reeb | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.68 |
| Thomas Reichenberger | 36 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.75 |
| Bernd Schneider | 33 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.27 |
| Darioush Yasdani | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.33 |
| Zé Roberto | 39 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 7.41 |
| Boris Zivkovic | 32 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6.88 |
So… what did you make of that first season? Are Bayer well-equipped to challenge for major honours next season, or are there any areas that need attention? Feel free to let me know, either in the comments below or on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
I’ll be back next week to kick off the new season. Until then, auf wiedersehen.
Fuller FM 
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