Bayer 04 Leverkusen: A New Era

16th May 2002

The piercing noise of my alarm clock woke me from my deep slumber. I didn’t want to be woken; I just wanted to sleep and forget. How had it all gone wrong? We nearly had it all. We nearly won the Treble, following in Manchester United’s footsteps only a few years earlier. Leverkusen’s very own golden era, with their own chance to make history in German and European football. Taken. Gone. Destroyed.

I rolled over in my bed to rummage around for the TV remote that I knew was somewhere on my mess of a floor. BBC Breakfast was rambling on about some new film that had come out, and it was giving me an even worse headache than the previous night had. Drinking in Glasgow was a very unforgiving place, especially when the barman could tell you were a disgruntled and upset Leverkusen fan on the night of the Champions League Final. In fairness, to lose to that goal was understandable, but to throw away a five point lead in the league with four games to go! That was simply unheard of.



Nevertheless, I had to stumble into my shower and get ready for the day ahead. I was coming to end of my third and final year at Glasgow University, and today was the day that mattered the most out of three years in the city. Today was the day that I could forget about Leverkusen’s season and move on in life, hopefully with my degree in psychology. My whole year’s study had been ruined by travelling all over Europe to watch Leverkusen play: the mighty cauldron of the Nou Camp, the hostile Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul and of course the Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford. What a fun year it had been. But now it was time to move on.

And like myself, God thought the same thing of the Leverkusen team, with little luck being given to them the following year. A disappointing 15th place in the Bundesliga, and only getting to the 2nd Group Stage of the Champions League only helped to compound the misery of the fans from the previous season.

Schmidt only lasted a year at the BayArena

Bayer Leverkusen have announced this morning that manager Roger Schmidt has left the club by mutual consent. It is said that the board were disappointed with Schmidt’s ambition for the club, with one unnamed source accusing him of ‘using the club as a stepping stone’. Schmidt has already been touted for a number of jobs, including Manchester United’s heaping pressure on Louis van Gaal.

Schmidt took over in July 2014 hoping to advance the club both in the Bundesliga and the Champions League. However, he only managed to finish 4th in the Bundesliga, scraping Champions League qualification with a spirited final day performance, and failed to make it past the the Round of 16 in Europe.

Schmidt’s departure is being seen as an opportunity for Leverkusen to kick on and finally apply some pressure to the unstoppable Bayern Munich. With Pep Guardiola entering his final season at Bayern, and Jurgen Klopp leaving Borussia Dortmund, there is an opening for a new young manager to come through and try to take Leverkusen on to new heights.


Hakan Calhanoglu and club captain Lars Bender will surely play a role for the next manager

The current frontrunner to take over the job is former Leverkusen player Bernd Schuster, while Saudi Arabia boss Bert van Marwijk has also expressed an interest in returning to Germany, after he managed Dortmund and, more recently, HSV. Leipzig boss Ralf Rangnick is also being heavily touted to take over, although he has distanced himself from the new opening in the Bundesliga.

In other news, Leverkusen have been busy in preparation for their new managers arrival, with Leverkusen’s chief scout Jonas Boldt being spotted in Argentina, watching South American youngsters Emmanuel Mammana and Rodrigo Bentancur. It doesn’t seem as though Leverkusen are waiting around for an appointment, and it looks as though whoever is coming in has an eye on being big in the future.

24th June 2015

‘Selena, who’s up next?’ I asked, as I peered round the door at my office. 13 years on from that morning overlooking Glasgow, I was working for the huge pharmaceutical company Bayer, based in my hometown of Leverkusen. I had aced my exams on that day in Glasgow, and I had come out with a top degree – nowadays I was a top psychologist studying the effects that drugs had on different people, but also as a therapist.

‘Mr Schade is next Carl, I’ll bring him in once he is here’ Selena replied, before continuing her phone call. Wonderful, I thought to myself. Michael Schade was CEO of my boyhood club Bayer Leverkusen, and often came to me to chat. Originally he came to discuss circumstances of his marriage, however, once we got onto the topic of football we had formed a friendship. Michael regularly hooked me up with tickets for all the big games at the BayArena, and he still came once a week to sit in my office, enjoy a beer and discuss football with me. And there was plenty to discuss this week: Roger Schmidt had been sacked only 3 days before, and I wanted to get the inside track on who was going to be hired as the new boss.

A knock sounded, and the glass door swung open to reveal Michael stood in a long overcoat and his suit. At 62 years old, Michael always dressed impeccably, and looked incredibly smart at all times. ‘Michael! How are you my friend? Selena please take Mr Schade’s coat will you?’ I chimed as I stood up from my desk. ‘I’m afraid that really won’t be necessary Carl. I come with important news Carl, but I can’t stay long’ Michael replied. Immediately my ears perked up, as though I was a dog listening for the whistle of an owner.

‘Now Carl, I want you to hear me out fully before you reply, and you can reply whenever you want to what I’m going to say; you needn’t decide now,’ Michael said. ‘Of course, yes please, just tell me!’ said Carl, with eyes as wide as a kid in a candy shop, knowing that the news was about his beloved Bayer Leverkusen. ‘Carl, I’ve spoken to the board and we want you to take over as the new manager. We feel the club has become stagnant in our approaches to football, and we need an outside face, someone who hasn’t been in football before. You have told me before about your coaching badge from university, and you also are a top psychologist. The board and I believe that you have a good combination to take over.’

I stood flabbergasted. I was completely in shock. My childhood dream of managing my home team was becoming true in reality, and I was stood with my mouth half open not replying. ‘YES! YES! ACCEPT IT!’ my brain screamed at me, but I couldn’t get the words out I was so elated. ‘I know that your footballing knowledge is tip-top, certainly better than mine, and we’d give you all the support you need: you can hire all your own staff, buy and sell the players you want to, anything you like.’ I still stood in shock. ‘So what do you say?’ Michael asked, as if he was unsure of the answer I was about to give. ‘Of course, Michael, of course! Thank you so much! I will make sure I take the 04 to new heights!’ I replied, with the biggest smile one had ever seen.

My wildest, most unlikely childhood dream had just become true. I had been offered the job at Bayer Leverkusen, the club that I had followed since my birth. The club that I had watched every weekend of childhood – and my years at university for that matter. The club that meant more to me than my wife and parents. I was going to take the job, without a shadow of doubt.

Really nice start here, Leverkusen have become the best team in Germany on my save and are a nightmare to face... I hope you can create something similar!

Lovely write up

Good writing thus far, Leverkusen are a promising side so this could be a good story to follow!

Griffo: Cheers! Hopefully I will be able to take over be a nightmare for all teams!

BeanyUnited: Cheers, trying a new style of writing for this save, so glad you like it.

ScottT: Thanks

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/bild_zps5ae0bee8.jpg



Leverkusen’s new boss has no previous experience

Bayer 04 Leverkusen have today announced the shock appointment of new boss Carl Schutz. The German formerly worked as a psychologist at Bayer’s headquarters in Leverkusen, but has now joined the football club of the same name and been appointed as the new manager.

‘I know that nobody will know me, and the media will go on about me being inexperienced, but I’m here to prove people wrong and I’m serious about taking Leverkusen to the next level’ Schutz said, in his opening press conference for the club, where he was joined by Leverkusen chairman Michael Schade. When asked over the decision to appoint Schutz over managers like Bernd Schuster and Bert van Marwijk, Schade said that he ‘had the utmost confidence in appointing Schade’, and that he persuaded the rest of the board to go with him on choosing him. ‘We did have a lot of other names on our list, but I believe Carl has the skills and the knowledge to be a real success here.’

Schutz, who has a university degree in psychology, said that he felt his balance of mental skills and his passion for the club he had been supporting since the age of two would help him, and that hopefully he could push the club to new heights. ‘I remember back in the 2001/02 season when I was studying in Glasgow; that season was incredible until the last few weeks, and we all know what happened there. I want to make sure that our season is incredible for every single week of the season.’

Fans were critical of the decision by the club’s bosses to appoint a man who has never even had a job in football. ‘We talk about moving to the next level as a club and progressing, but it feels like we are stepping backwards by appointing this man’ said one fan, while another said that ‘It is silly to choose a man who doesn’t know football.’

However, some fans have defended the club’s decision. ‘I think that we should see how Leverkusen are doing at Christmas, then we will know whether it was a good decision or not.’ Either way, it will take a highly impressive start to the season for Schutz to win over most fans, and with the long-term injury list mounting at Leverkusen, Schutz will surely be keen to get to work on preparing the squad ahead of the season.

Really looking forward to seeing how you progress!

Hopefully you can get the best out of Chicharito, one of my favourite players. Good luck

Same as ninja, Hernandez is easily one of my favourite players and I hope you get the best out of him!