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Borussia Dortmund in the 2. Bundesliga and more: Interview with former striker Alfons Sikora

By Benjamin McFadyean

DORTMUND, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 14: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Supporters of Broussia Dortmund doing a choreography during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt at Signal Iduna Park on February 14, 2020 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Ralf Treese/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
DORTMUND, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 14: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Supporters of Broussia Dortmund doing a choreography during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt at Signal Iduna Park on February 14, 2020 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Ralf Treese/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) /
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MUNICH, GERMANY – JULY 07: The West Germany squad celebrate after their 2-1 victory over Holland in the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final at the Olympic Stadium on July 7, 1974 in Munich, Germany, Manager Helmut Schön and captain Franz Beckenbauer hold the trophy (Photo by Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)
MUNICH, GERMANY – JULY 07: The West Germany squad celebrate after their 2-1 victory over Holland in the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final at the Olympic Stadium on July 7, 1974 in Munich, Germany, Manager Helmut Schön and captain Franz Beckenbauer hold the trophy (Photo by Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive) /

“The 1974 World Cup put the game back on its feet”

BM Let’s talk about Borussia Dortmund, you joined in the 1972/73 season, BVB had just been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. In 2001 the biggest BVB Fanzine Schwatz-Gelb, in a review of the 2. Bundesliga era, described the relegation of the club as “a fall from grace”. It took 4 years for BVB to get out of the 2 Bundesliga. Paint me a picture of how life at BVB was then. What do you think was crucial in getting the club out of the 2nd tier?

AS In one word – the Westfalenstadion!. You have to realize that the 1974 World Cup was a miracle for German football. German football was in a bad way due to the match fixing scandal in 1971/72. The 1974 World Cup put the game back on its feet. As part of the fallout of the scandal 52 players were penalised or give lengthy bans by the German Football Association (DFB) at the time including internationals like Manfred Manglitz, Klaus Fischer, Reinhard Libuda, Rolf Rüssmann and Zoltan Varga. Hertha BSC Berlin, the clubs Arminia Bielefeld and Kickers Offenbach were also relegated to the second tier by the DFB as a punishment for their part in match fixing.

There was a tremendous loss of faith at the time. Attendances dropped massively. Imagine in season 71/72 at Borussia Dortmund’s last championship game against Preußen Münster there 1500 fans were in attendance. BVB won the game 7-0, but can you imagine a BVB game with that few fans in attendance now? Even the BVB U23 team now regularly get crowds of over 3000-5000. For BVB the early 70s were very different times to the current era. The club had to make a new start with young players. There was very little budget to work with. 9 players left the team, among them all the well-known stars like Siegfried Held, Reinold Wosab and Willi Neuberger. They were replaced by unknown talents like Reinhold Mathis from Sportfreunde Siegen and Friedel Mensink from OSC Bremerhaven.

BM Where did the club’s problems stem from?

AS The player’s BVB signed had talent, but these were hardly ‘Die Fetten Jahre’ (the golden years). Many of the problems arose because Walter Kliemt, the president of Borussia Dortmund was not the man for the task. Kliemt was a politician when what BVB needed was a businessman to raise money for the club. To me it felt like the club lacked a clear sense of direction thank God that era was overcome eventually with promotion back to the 1.Bundesliga in the 1975/76 season.