And so it’s come to this. We’ve reached the finale of my Championship Manager 99/00 career with Bayer Leverkusen – football’s princes of heartbreak.
It’s April 2002, and my three-year contract at the BayArena expires in just three months. The DFB-Pokal and Champions League have eluded me, so if my reign is to end successfully, we need to turn on the style in our final seven Bundesliga matches. Anything less, and we shall remain ‘Neverkusen’ forever more.
There will be obvious spoilers from the start of this final chapter, so if you want to catch up before reading on, then please go back to Part 9 first.
APRIL 2002
So here’s the situation, folks. With seven matches remaining, Leverkusen led the Bundesliga on 61 points – two ahead of Borussia Dortmund, and another couple clear of both Bayern München and HSV. If Bayer could go perfect from this point onward, we would be champions.
The good news: we didn’t need to play any of our top-four rivals again this year. The bad news: there were still plenty of difficult fixtures ahead, as you’ll see below…
While our three remaining home games looked very winnable, our last four away outings were unlikely to be picnics. The mid-April showdown with 5th-placed Kaiserslautern was perhaps most likely to trip us up. Before that, though, was an equally troublesome journey to Gelsenkirchen.
Schalke were in 7th, had lost just one home league game all season long, and their squad included the division’s top scorer. Fortunately for us, 18-goal hero Sebastián Rambert had strained his knee ligaments against Dortmund the previous week and thus was unavailable.
SCHALKE 04 vs LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 28)
We quickly took the game to our hosts at the Parkstadion. Though goalkeeper Sander Boschker initially put up a strong resistance, but he was beaten in the 30th minute by Ulf Kirsten. Seven minutes later, Juan Pablo Angel took on three Schalke defenders before doubling our lead.
Oliver Neuville had wasted chances to put us even further ahead at the break, so I replaced him with Thierry Henry. Unfortunately, Henry pulled up suddenly in the 58th minute, shortly after Robson Ponte‘s free-kick had made it 3-0. The French striker was helped off the pitch, to be replaced by attacking midfielder Martin Jørgensen.
That knocked the wind out of our sails a little bit. 21-year-old Portuguese striker Sergio Pinto fired a savage 72nd-minute shot into our net, though we still held on for a precious 3-1 win.
After the match, I sought our physios’ assessment of Henry’s dodgy groin. It wasn’t good news.
There wasn’t much good news in terms of results elsewhere. Dortmund remained two points adrift after a 2-0 win at 1.FC Köln, while Bayern dismantled Dresdner 5-0, and HSV took care of SC Freiburg 3-1. At least Kaiserslautern lost to VfB Stuttgart by the odd goal in five, so they now trailed by nine points with six games remaining.
Over the coming days, two more players announced their departures from Leverkusen at the end of the season. Backup defender Torben Hoffmann would end his three-year stay at the BayArena and return to Freiburg on a free transfer. Meanwhile, reserve keeper Frank Juric decided to sign for regional league side Salmrohr.
LEVERKUSEN vs TEBE BERLIN (Bundesliga – Match 29)
Going into this match, TeBe Berlin were just inside the relegation zone, trailing Wolfsburg only on goal difference. Let me tell you… they didn’t play like the 16th-best team in the Bundesliga in this match.
TeBe really dug their heels in to frustrate us in the first half, as new manager Hans Meyer put plenty of men behind the ball. They also resorted to dirty tactics, with captain Uwe Rösler lucky not to be sent off for a two-footed lunge on Ronaldinho. By half-time, with the deadlock still intact, we needed a hero…
…and not for the first time, the Iceman cometh. On 56 minutes, Icelandic marksman Andri Sigþórsson weaved his way through a stubborn defence before smashing the gate open with a superb finish. He then struck again for good measure two minutes later, effectively ending TeBe Berlin’s hopes of taking anything away from Leverkusen.
Annoyingly, Dortmund were still breathing heavily down our necks after a 3-0 win against Nürnberg. Bayern’s goal machines put another five on Wolfsburg, but it was now HSV’s turn to slip up after being shut out by Duisburg.
Kaiserslautern kept their slim hopes alive after Youri Djorkaeff’s lone strike saw off Werder Bremen. That 1-0 win wasn’t typical of their season, mind.
For a supposedly pragmatic Otto Rehhagel side, the Red Devils were surprisingly prolific, having scored 62 goals from 29 league games – the same total we’d managed. I knew, then, that we would face a real battle at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion. If we were going to drop points at any stage in the run-in, it was likely to be there.
KAISERSLAUTERN vs LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 30)
As I suspected, though, Rehhagel adopted a more cautious approach – for the first half, at least. His defence was rock-solid throughout the opening 45 minutes, defying several scoring attempts from Sigþórsson. Just like in our previous match, we would go into the break still looking for a breakthrough.
Our wait didn’t continue for much longer in the second half. Not even a minute after play resumed, our tenacious midfielder Emerson brilliantly slide-tackled Kaiserslautern left-back Martin Wagner. He then sought out the run of Angel, who got above home captain Ciriaco Sforza and headed in the opener.
Several attempts to enhance our lead went to waste, and as full-time loomed, the Red Devils sought an opportunity to equalise. My heart was in my mouth as Wagner ran onto goalkeeper Uwe Gospodarek’s long punt upfield. Was Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries about to end with our hearts being broken?
No, it wasn’t. Massimo Taibi tipped the shot behind for a corner, and Emerson’s clearance dispelled the hosts. We had held on.
Kaiserslautern were now effectively out of the title race, and HSV’s hopes looked dead after they only drew 1-1 at Köln. It was the same scoreline between 7th-placed Schalke 04 and holders Bayern, who now trailed us by six points. There was still no shaking off Dortmund, though, as they ground out a single-goal win at Stuttgart.
Dortmund’s winning streak continued on Friday evening, when Fredi Bobic scored a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Frankfurt. That took BVB top of the table, meaning we would be under pressure to beat mid-table Nürnberg at home on Saturday. Just one small, little, tiny problem…
So we now faced having to play the final four games of the season with Holger Hiemann guarding the net. That’s an unhappy Holger Hiemann who was moaning about wanting a new contract but didn’t believe we could meet his demands. This couldn’t possibly go wrong, could it?!
LEVERKUSEN vs NÜRNBERG (Bundesliga – Match 31)
While we had an ageing reserve in ours goal, Nürnberg had a World Cup-winning veteran of over 600 league matches in theirs. At least for the first 11 minutes, anyway. Ponte’s fancy footwork was too much for 39-year-old Andreas Köpke to handle, and he clipped the Brazilian’s heels in the penalty area.
As Köpke headed down the tunnel with a red card, Nürnberg’s number 1 was replaced in goal by their number 2. No, not their right-back. Backup goalkeeper Darius Kampa literally was their number 2, and I could use similar words to describe his attempts to save Kirsten’s penalty.
The floodgates burst wide open, as Ronaldinho curled in our second goal after 16 minutes. Ponte then provided a couple more assists for Nowotny and Kirsten to send us into the break 4-0 ahead. Game over already.
Unfortunately, Ron came off after an hour, having hurt his ribs in a collision with Nürnberg defender Markus Lösch. Taking Ron’s place on the left wing was Jørgensen, who later completed a five-star Bayer display by scoring from Sigþórsson’s free-kick.
Bayern returned to form against Duisburg, recording a 4-0 win that pushed the division’s bottom club to the brink of relegation. Meanwhile, 4th-placed HSV were narrow 1-0 winners over TeBe Berlin, whose own survival hopes took a hit.
MAY 2002
As Robert Kovac had collected his fifth league booking of the season against Nürnberg, the Croatian defender was suspended from our penultimate away game. Our previous two home encounters with Köln had seen us win 9-0 on aggregate, but would we face more of a struggle at the Müngersdorfer Stadion?
1.FC KÖLN vs LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 32)
Yes, we absolutely would. We dominated every statistic all those pundits bang on about: shots, possession, passes completed, throw-ins, fouls, offsides (okay, maybe not that last one). But there was one man in the Köln goal who just wouldn’t give up, and his name was Robert Enke.
I counted up all the saves Enke produced out of nothing to keep the likes of Angel and Siggi off the scoresheet. One, two, three, four… by the 73rd minute, Enke had made TWELVE saves, and we were STILL yet to beat him!
Eventually, though, our persistence paid off. After receiving the ball from Jørgensen, Ponte played a first-time ball into the area for Neuville, who blasted it into Enke’s top-left corner. Oli had at last broken the deadlock with his 16th goal of the season, which in turn gave Robson his 19th assist!
It had been a valiant performance from Köln’s 24-year-old goalkeeper, who made four more saves to keep the final scoreline at 1-0. The Billy Goats had only mustered one shot at goal throughout the entire game – a wayward effort from Matthias Gerhardt, who twisted his knee late on.
Our latest win officially eliminated HSV from contention while also effectively ending Bayern’s reign, though their 2-0 win at Freiburg at least gave them a mathematical chance.
As for Dortmund, they were busy lifting the DFB-Pokal in Berlin, where they’d beaten Hamburg 4-3 on penalties after an ill-tempered 1-1 draw. They thus didn’t play their next league game until midweek, when Michael Skibbe took his charges to Kaiserslautern.
Dortmund won 3-0. Obviously.
With BVB refusing to falter, we needed to keep up our own momentum in the final two weekends of the season. Goal difference meant we realistically only needed a win and a draw against Frankfurt and Stuttgart to wrap up the title, but anything less would surely spell disaster.
Of course, there was a chance we could be crowned champions before the final day. If we beat Frankfurt in our last remaining home fixture, and Dortmund failed to do the same when they hosted Werder Bremen… well, we would be Neverkusen never again!
LEVERKUSEN vs FRANKFURT (Bundesliga – Match 33)
Talk about making the perfect start! After just six minutes, Emerson lit up the BayArena with a superb defence-splitting pass to Kirsten, whose pot-shot sent our fans into ecstasy! For the time being at least, Leverkusen were on track to become league champions!
There was more joy to come in the 11th and 43rd minutes, when Neuville continued his resurgence by finishing a couple of Jørgensen passes. This was not a good afternoon for Frankfurt’s goalkeeper Gabor Kiràly, who probably regretted wearing shorts for the first time in his career.
But that wasn’t all. Ponte might not have set up any goals in this match, but he did score his eighth of the season midway through the second half to rubber-stamp victory. Frankfurt had, frankly, offered little resistance, and our fifth straight clean sheet was a comfortable one.
3rd-placed Bayern were now gone, forgotten, dead to us. We awaited news from the Westfalenstadion, where anything but a Dortmund victory against Werder Bremen would confirm us as champions.
Dortmund won 4-0. Obviously.
So it all came down to the last day of the season. If we could come away from VfB Stuttgart with at least a draw, we would win the Bundesliga for the first time in our 98-year history. If we lost, and Dortmund were victorious away to Wolfgang Wolf’s Wolfsburg, then they would steal the trophy from us at the death.
For my 157th, final and most crucial game with Leverkusen, I faced a major selection dilemma. Jørgensen had strained his calf and couldn’t play, but both Taibi and Zé Roberto were back in training. Would I keep Hiemann in goal, or would I gamble on Taibi’s fitness? Would I start this match with a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3?
Just one more match. All or nothing. Don’t let me down, lads.
VFB STUTTGART vs LEVERKUSEN (Bundesliga – Match 34)
Worryingly, it was Stuttgart who had the first chances to score. After six minutes, Manel had a pop from distance, but Taibi shrugged off any issues about his shoulder by beating it away. The Italian was also equal to a vicious strike from Krisztian Lisztes in the 19th minute.
About halfway through the first period, news filtered through of a goal at the VfL-Stadion. Against all expectations, Russian striker Maksim Buznikin had given Wolfsburg the lead against Dortmund! If the Wolf pack stayed ahead, or even if BVB only pulled one goal back, then our result wouldn’t matter!
Back in Stuttgart, the Bayer players ignored events elsewhere and focussed on the job at hand. After 28 minutes, Ronaldinho – back in the starting line-up after injury – headed the ball across the penalty area for a bona-fide club legend. This would be Kirsten’s final match for Leverkusen after 12 years of service, and he marked the occasion by half-volleying in his 172nd league goal!
We carried a 1-0 lead into the second half, where Manel messed up an early chance to draw Stuttgart level. Shortly after that, Neuville took a knock to his knee, effectively ending his hopes of adding to his club-best 18-goal haul for the season. It wasn’t severe enough to force a substitution, but I wouldn’t take any chances on Oli, so Siggi replaced him for the final half-hour.
Boy, did that final half-hour feel much longer. Pacing up and down my technical area like an expectant father whose wife was in labour, I watched Ronaldinho and Sigþórsson blaze over chances for 2-0. The tension was almost unbearable.
Stuttgart were in 5th place and had pretty much secured a UEFA Cup place, so they weren’t under huge pressure to attack. Even so, I always felt that Ralf Rangnick’s team would spring a couple of late surprises to ruin our day. I waited, and waited…
Wolfsburg had held firm to beat Dortmund 1-0, but we didn’t care about that result anymore. After finishing the season with seven straight wins, and six clean sheets on the trot, Leverkusen were the champions of Germany!
For what it’s worth, the three teams relegated at the end of the season were Duisburg, Aachen and TeBe Berlin. Coming up from the second division were 1860 München, Karlsruhe and Unterhaching.
But that’s for next season, and next season will be somebody else’s problem. I had given myself three years to shake off this club’s ‘Neverkusen’ tag, and a maiden league championship had most certainly done that. I could now leave the BayArena a proud man.
SEASON REVIEW
Well… what can I say? After another penalty shoot-out defeat in the DFB-Pokal, and another early exit from the Champions League, this looked like yet another frustrating season was on the cards.
When it came to the Bundesliga, though, we were on fire! Not only did we win a record 26 matches, but we also matched Dortmund’s record of 82 points from two seasons ago! In 21 years of playing Championship/Football Manager, I can count all my top-flight league titles on one hand, and this has been the most dominant league campaign I’ve ever had.
There’s no doubt that adopting the 4-3-3 as our main tactic had a huge impact. Utilising as many of our quality strikers as possible led to a goal glut, though a lot of credit should also go to the midfield. This title win wouldn’t have been possible without the energy, drive and creativity that the likes of Emerson and Jørgensen provided.
And then there’s the defence. Only Dortmund shipped fewer than the 20 goals we yielded our opponents this term. Nowotny was as solid as ever at centre-half, ignoring constant rumours about his future to keep us watertight. When the DFB gave out its award for German Sweeper of the Year, there was no doubting Jens would win it for the second consecutive season.
Meanwhile, Massimo Taibi consistently showed why he was one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. Now that’s a sentence I never expected to write!
Now let’s look at my top three players from 2001/2002, of which Sigþórsson is the first. Though often used as a substitute, the Icelander (who has finally been capped aged 25) worked tirelessly whenever called upon to provide us with 13 goals. With Kirsten bowing out in the summer, I’m sure Siggi will step up to be Leverkusen’s main target forward.
After his sophomore slump in 2000/2001, Neuville returned to form during his third season at Leverkusen. Oli sharpened his act and cranked up the pace en route to finding the net 18 times – more than any other Bayer player. He’s just turned 29 and could stay at the top for some time to come… but will his resurgence lead to renewed interest from major clubs elsewhere?
I’m sure Real Madrid and Manchester United will be glancing enviously at Ponte – our Fans’ Player of the Season. The dribbling dynamo exploded into life on the right side of our midfield, reaching double figures for assists by October and eventually finishing on 19. Robson also found the net quite regularly himself as the 24-year-old took huge strides towards future superstardom.
And these are all our players’ stats from the season just gone. I’m sure you’ll find it ironic that Ballack – the figurehead of Leverkusen’s real-life 2002 team – actually has the lowest average rating amongst our regulars!
| GOALKEEPERS | APPS | CON | ASTS | YC | RC | MOM | AVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holger Hiemann | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6.92 |
| Frank Juric | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8.00 |
| Massimo Taibi | 43 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7.07 |
| OUTFIELD PLAYERS | APPS | GLS | ASTS | YC | RC | MOM | AVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Pablo Angel | 32 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 7.22 |
| Michael Ballack | 24 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.38 |
| Thomas Brdaric | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.00 |
| Emerson | 42 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 7.19 |
| Thomas Fröhlich | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 |
| Vratislav Gresko | 18 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.44 |
| Markus Happe | 32 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7.16 |
| Stephane Henchoz | 19 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6.53 |
| Thierry Henry | 21 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.10 |
| Torben Hoffmann | 14 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6.57 |
| Martin Jørgensen | 42 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6.90 |
| Ulf Kirsten | 45 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7.09 |
| Robert Kovac | 48 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 6.81 |
| Oliver Neuville | 43 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7.30 |
| Jens Nowotny | 36 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 7.11 |
| Robson Ponte | 48 | 8 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7.71 |
| Carsten Ramelow | 34 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6.65 |
| Ronaldinho | 34 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7.06 |
| Stefan Schnoor | 47 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 7.04 |
| Udo Schrötter | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.25 |
| Andri Sigþórsson | 39 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7.51 |
| Darioush Yasdani | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.11 |
| Zé Roberto | 17 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6.88 |
| Boris Zivkovic | 44 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.73 |
DAS ENDE
I’d inherited a squad with great potential, but also with some glaring weaknesses (*cough* Adam Matysek *cough*) and a worrisome mentality. It took some shrewd transfer business to plug those gaps and build a side that could consistently battle the best.
Okay… maybe we were disappointing in Europe. There was no repeat of the real-life 2002 Champions League Final, where a brave Bayer side went down fighting against Real Madrid. Heck, we didn’t even make it to a continental Quarter Final under my management!
We were runners-up once in the DFB-Pokal and twice in the DFB-Ligapokal, and enjoyed a couple of 3rd-place finishes in the Bundesliga. Thankfully, we finally delivered the goods at the last time of asking, fending off our old nemeses Bayern, Dortmund and HSV to claim a maiden Bundesliga title.
And so the nearly men are no more. We’ve made champions out of Emerson, Kirsten, Neuville and Nowotny. We’ve fallen in love with Sigþórsson once again on CM99/00. Heck, I’ve even turned Taibi into a goalkeeper who can catch a ball and keep hold of it!
So yeah, it’s been fun. I’ll miss you, Leverkusen. Auf wiedersehen, pet.
And that brings my first Championship Manager 99/00 story to a close. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading every chapter of this adventure, and I promise there’ll be a new one on the way later in the year.
I’ve also got a new Football Manager project currently in the works, which I’m hoping to share with you soon. If you want to stay informed, don’t forget to hit the ‘Follow Fuller FM’ button on the sidebar and/or follow me on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
“Danke fürs lesen.”
Fuller FM 
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