GÜNTER NETZER: THE REBELLIOUS LONER WHO BECAME A HERO

It was a warm summers day in Düsseldorf on June 23, 1973. The DFB-Pokal final had entered extra time as old adversaries Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Köln refused to be separated. Gladbach supporters bellowed the name “Netzer, Netzer, Netzer!” and the television commentators seemingly only mentioned him. Gladbach players looked around for their star man to guide them to victory, but Günter Netzer wasn’t there.

Instead, Netzer was sat upright on the substitutes bench, his right hand clasped to his chin pensively. Manager Hennes Weisweiler decided to leave Gladbach’s totem out of the starting line-up for one of the club’s biggest ever matches, a decision which shocked fans and confused pundits. They would discover that only a few days early Netzer informed Weisweiler that he was signing for Real Madrid. Coupled with the death of his mother in the build=up to the final, Weisweiler felt Netzer wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play.

At half-time, with the game level at 1-1, Weisweiler approached Netzer and asked him if he wanted to go on. Netzer refused and responded dejectedly, “they don’t need me”. So Netzer remained on the sidelines, brooding and sullen.

On the stroke of full time, as both sides were preparing for extra time, Gladbach’s Christian Kulik collapsed with cramp and could not continue. Netzer strolled over to Weisweiler and muttered “Ich spiel dann jetzt” (I’ll go and play now).

Netzer removed his tracksuit top and went onto the pitch of his own accord as Weisweiler watched on. Three minutes into the extra period, Netzer received the ball for the first time. With his back to play, the German sharply turned to his left and paced forward with the leather attached to his right foot.

He passed into the feet of Rainer Bonhof and sprinted towards the edge of the box. Bonhof threaded it back between two Köln defenders into Netzer’s path. Gladbach’s number 12 connected perfectly with his left foot and rifled a shot towards the top corner.

Köln keeper Gerhard Welz was rooted to his spot, statuesque as Netzer’s drive whizzed past him like a comet into the roof of the net. Gladbach were 2-1 in front and would keep that lead intact to secure their second German Cup.

He leapt in the air in jubilation and was quickly engulfed by team-mates at the final whistle, as the commentator shouted “Günter Netzer – superstar!” Netzer’s parting gift to his hometown club was Roy of the Rovers like, the dream ending for a footballer who regularly transcribed his own narrative.

Günter Netzer was born and raised in the city of Mönchengladbach, west of the Rhine. Contrary to popular belief, his initial foray into football was with the lesser-known 1. FC Mönchengladbach, whom he played for until the age of 19. Transferring to Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1963, Netzer honed his skills as an effervescent attacking midfielder in a youthful team that achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 1965.

The late-1960s transitioning towards the early-1970s was an extraordinary time of change and exploration throughout the globe. Television converted from black and white to colour.

Music doubled up as an expression of artistic and political endeavour. The bands of the 60s LSD-fuelled era The Beatles and The Rolling Stones stepped aside for the anarchic attitude of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, who captured the imagination of a disaffected youth.

Broad shouldered and handsome, armed with a flowing, blonde mane, Netzer neatly fitted with that caricature. An individualistic rebel, who marched to his own tune, he had a domineering aura. Netzer was single-minded, opinionated and brash – a rock star. He excited and thrilled football viewers with his confidence and phenomenal free-kicks, but there was more to Netzer beneath the veneer of brilliance.

As a footballer, Netzer possessed an extraordinary repertoire of passing. Short, long and medium range made no odds.

A YouTube compilation showcases Netzer’s unique ability to manoeuvre, manipulate and shape a pass in whatever direction he so desired. There is footage of him whipping pinpoint crosses onto forwards’ heads on the run, arrowing 50-yard cross-field diagonals and splitting defences like a knife dissecting a watermelon with threaded through-balls from deep into the feet of strikers.

In the early 1970s, Gladbach were embroiled in a tit for tat rivalry with the giants of German football Bayern Munich. Between 1969 and 1977, the two dominated the Bundesliga, with Gladbach claiming five titles to Bayern’s four. Bayern also won three successive European Cups, but domestically they were inseparable.

They traded championships and created a duopoly not witnessed again in Germany until Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund briefly challenged the Bavarians.

It was depicted as good versus evil, the demonic FC Hollywood against the loveable Foals, a nickname bestowed upon Gladbach due to the youthful profile of their squad. It was Netzer, Vogts and Heynckes versus Beckenbauer, Müller, Hoeness and Breitner. Uncertainty surrounds exactly where the disdain for Bayern initiated.

A few accounts detail Bayern’s growing awareness of the technological advances in sport, coupled with the love of winning and money, as reasons for cynicism. Gladbach, by contrast, were perceived as innocent entertainers.

In his stunning historical book of German football Tor, Uli Hesse challenged the myth: “The problem with all this transfigured romanticism is that the naked facts don’t bear it out.

The ‘pragmatists’ from Munich actually scored more goals than the ‘reformers’ from the Rhineland. They also conceded more, which means that over these nine seasons, attending a Bayern game was the safer bet if you wanted to see goals.”

Easier to decipher was the disparity in popularity between the two star players of both clubs. Everything came naturally to Franz Beckenbauer, blessed with supreme talent and instinctive genius.

As Hesse pointed out, though, his nickname, Der Kaiser, suggested “aloofness” and “conservatism”.

Netzer was the total antithesis of Beckenbauer. His first biography was titled Rebel am Ball (Rebel on the Ball), but his middle-class background belies any such tales. Still, his playing style endeared him to the masses.

The clash in personalities extended to the international arena. While there was never any palpable animosity between Netzer and Beckenbauer, there was reluctance on the part of West German coach Helmut Schön to play them together, despite the positional differences. Schön simply preferred Köln’s Wolfgang Overath to the Gladbach player.

Netzer played a vital part in his country’s European Championship win on English soil, but he only finished with a paltry 37 caps.

In the 1974 World Cup, Netzer played just 20 minutes, and they came in the most infamous of West German defeats, a 1-0 reversal to their East German counterparts.

Still, Netzer has two international medals to show for his troubles.

Netzer’s move to Real Madrid was a political one, as Los Blancos signed him alongside his old adversary Paul Breitner to counteract Barcelona’s purchase of Johan Cruyff (a trend that still continues in the second decade of the 21st century).

He added two Copa Del Rey’s and a La Liga title to his collection during three years in the Spanish capital. Netzer’s time at the Bernabeu wasn’t as ordinary as it would later be suggested, but he would never be able to hold a candle to the legacy of Cruyff in Catalonia.

Netzer has developed into a mythical figure as the years have passed. In his post-football career, he became a well-respected television pundit, still clad with his distinctive long hair and sharply dressed.

As a player, he is remembered for his marauding, carefree intent, but that shouldn’t discard Netzer’s desire to win. “There are 11 businessmen on a pitch,” Netzer said, “each looking after his own interests.” That was why Netzer was so special; the perfect blend of individualism, talent, expression and a cold-blooded thirst for victory.

By Conor Kelly. Follow @ConorPacKelly

www.thesefootballtimes.co

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 20242 yr by erskblue

Günter Netzer: The Bundesliga’s original superstar

22.03.2013.    www.bundesliga.com

Munich - Over the course of its 50-year existence to date, few players to have graced the Bundesliga have done so with quite as much natural talent as Günter Netzer.

Günter Netzer was a key component of the great Borussia Mönchengladbach side of the 1970s

Business and pleasure.

The creative heart of the great Gladbach side of the 1970s, Netzer was a true original on and off the pitch. He was also arguably the first German footballer to cultivate his own media personality, a process accelerated by the opening of his nightclub Lovers’ Lane when he was at the height of his on-field powers.

That and his penchant for fast cars earned Netzer something of a playboy reputation, although as he described it later, the nightclub enterprise was born of “financial necessity” rather than personal inclination.

Be that as it may, Lovers’ Lane instantly became one of the busiest night spots in the city, attracting revellers from all over the surrounding area. Even the stately Sepp Herberger, legendary coach of West Germany’s 1954 FIFA World Cup winning side, paid a visit.

Gladbach’s coach at the time, Hennes Weisweiler, was one notable absentee however, saying of Netzer’s extra-curricular activities at the time: “He’s gone completely mad.”

While enjoying the trappings of stardom to the full, Netzer was simultaneously displaying the business acumen that would stand him in such good stead over the years.

In addition to ‘Lovers Lane’ he also established the Gladbach stadium magazine and in the early stages personally oversaw its distribution on match days. 

The gifted playmaker’s love of high-end cars contributed further to the celebrity image. He would routinely turn up for training with a flashy new set of wheels which, naturally enough, would get the assembled photographers’ flashlights popping.

Ferraris were a particular favourite, as indeed they still are – a passion shared with his wife, although he joked: “Driving Ferraris with her is just too much for my nerves".

Stylish farewell

All of which was of course peripheral to Netzer’s phenomenal ability out on the pitch. He led Borussia Mönchengladbach to back-to-back Bundesliga titles before departing for Real Madrid CF in the summer of 1973, going on to win a further two league titles with the Spanish giants. 

The moment that perhaps best defines Günter Netzer, however, came in his last game for Gladbach prior to making the switch to the Spanish capital - the 1973 DFB Cup final.

Apparently short on fitness and form, he started the showpiece event against 1. FC Köln on the bench. In extra time, with the sides level at 1-1, he substituted himself into the game and minutes later duly hammered home the winner for the Foals.

There could hardly have been a more fitting note on which to take his leave of a club he had joined a decade earlier and helped to the heights of the German game.

Debuting for the national team in 1965, Netzer vied for a place with another stand-out midfield talent, 1. FC Köln’s Wolfgang Overath, for much of his career.

Netzer was the playmaker of choice in the team which flamboyantly triumphed at the 1972 UEFA EURO.

Two years down the line, however, he watched most of the action from the dugout as hosts West Germany won their second World Cup. 

Success with HSV

Hanging up his boots in 1977 after a season with Grasshoppers Zurich, Netzer was back in Germany soon afterwards, kicking off a hugely successful period as general manager of Hamburger SV.

His recruitment of first Branco Zebec and then Ernst Happel as head coach inspired HSV’s most successful era to date, during which they won three Bundesliga titles and, in 1983, the European Cup.

Netzer’s next new direction was to set up an advertising agency in Zürich and work on TV rights. He is currently the executive director of Swiss marketing agency ‘Infront Sports & Media AG’.

He was also a long-time football analyst for German national broadcaster ARD, striking up a congenial, prize-winning double act with presenter Gerhard Delling.

A true original

A man of many parts, Netzer’s abiding legacy is that of a football great. With his mane of blonde hair in full flow, he effortlessly determined the tempo of matches, landing inch-perfect passes at the feet of his team-mates and scoring all manner of spectacular goals. 

One of the game’s true entertainers, Netzer lit up the first decade of the Bundesliga and while he may have been regarded by some as a renegade, he was a player who personified the term ‘beautiful game’. Fittingly, a reminder of his golden locks is still present at every Mönchengladbach home game - ‘Jünter’, the Foals’ cheerful mascot, is named after one of German football’s most gifted players and greatest idols.

Career statistics:

Date of birth: 14.09.1944
Bundesliga Appearances: 230
Bundesliga Goals: 82
German Champion: 1970, 1971
DFB Cup Winner: 1973

Season, Club, Appearances/Goals:

1965/66 M'gladbach 31/13
1966/67 M'gladbach 31/11 
1967/68 M'gladbach 34/13 
1968/69 M'gladbach 27/10 
1969/70 M'gladbach 29/6 
1970/71 M'gladbach 32/9 
1971/72 M'gladbach 28/17 
1972/73 M'gladbach 18/3

Johannes Fischer and Bernie Reeves

Taking a free kick against England at Wembley in April1972.