Good to Know
Werder Bremen are known for their Hanseatic, solid financial management. Less well known is that this was not always the case, and the attempt to turn Werder into a top team of the 1970s ended in disaster.
For the 1971/72 season, SV Werder not only changed their shirt colours but set out to become German champions again with an all-star squad. Instead of their traditional green-and-white, the SVW played in "Speckflaggen" kits. The colours of the city of Bremen adorned the shirt; instead of the Werder-W, the Bremen key appeared on the chest of the striped jerseys. With help from the city and Bremen's business community, the club's debts were written off and they received a share of the stadium advertising revenues. And Werder went on a spending spree. Willi Neuberger and Werner "Acker" Weist (from Borussia Dortmund) plus Herbert Laumen (Borussia Mönchengladbach) now wore the Bremen shirt. What few know: Laumen's Gladbach teammate, superstar Günter Netzer, almost signed for Bremen in 1971/72 too. Player and club had already agreed terms when Netzer made it a condition that he be allowed to publish the stadium programme, just as he did in Gladbach. Werder refused — Netzer was not allowed to publish the "Werder-Echo" and initially stayed at Gladbach. The championship venture failed. Werder finished a mere 11th in 1971/72 and were mocked on all sides. The new sponsors withdrew. Crippled by debt, the club stumbled towards the 2. Bundesliga.
Werder in HSV shirts? Impossible? Not quite! Referee legend Walter Eschweiler deemed the kits of northern rivals HSV and Werder Bremen too similar in colour at half-time in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion on November 27, 1971. Since Werder were playing that season in Bremen's city colours of red and white rather than their usual green-and-white, and had no truly distinguishable away kit with them in Hamburg, the consequence was inescapable: Werder had to play the second half of the match — which they lost 1-2 — in HSV shirts. Humiliation doesn't come much worse…
Barely back in the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen suffered their heaviest defeat in the top flight in 1981/82 — still a record to this day. They were thrashed 2-9 (1-4) at Eintracht Frankfurt on matchday 14. „Ronny“ Borchers scored three for the Frankfurt side. Less well known is that a car accident partly contributed to Bremen's heavy defeat. Substitute goalkeeper Hermann Rülander, deputising for regular keeper Dieter Burdenski, had sustained a concussion in a car accident before kick-off and was seeing double. Out of misplaced pride, he told his coach Otto Rehhagel nothing about the injury. A disastrous debut — Rülander never played in the Bundesliga again.
