The youth from a working-class background that captivated FC Bayern Munich
Hermann Gerland celebrated his 70th birthday recently. Born into a working-class family in Bochum, he rose to become a prominent figure in German football. His early years were far from easy.
Gerland is an excellent storyteller. Once, during a speech with an eager audience, he told a tale of meeting a former Bayern star, Mehmet Scholl, who shared how he wished to play against Gerland. Hermann responded, "I can't even imagine anybody wanting to play against me."
As a player, Gerland was not simply uneasy but feared. Willi "Ente" Lippens, a legendary figure in the Bundesliga in the '70s, still vividly remembers his encounters with Gerland: "Whenever I saw him, I'd say, 'Here comes Quasimodo!' I could never play against him. I still don't understand why, but he was incredibly fast. He'd come at me, make a move like an arrow, and get past me every time. I'd tackled him at midfield four times, even near the six-yard box, and he'd somehow manage to retrieve the ball."
Gerland was already deeply passionate about football at that time – a man who tirelessly strived for the top: "When someone got tackled during training, I'd think to myself, 'Hermann, how can you lose in a two-on-one situation? That doesn't even exist!'" The "Tiger" often reminisces about his earlier days in Bochum. The atmosphere then was different from today: "When a player arrived before practice, it was traditional for him to shake hands with everyone instead of just muttering something."
It was a practice the Tiger took seriously: "Even after a loss, everyone could look each other in the eyes because everyone knew, 'We've both given all we had.' And after a win, the Bochum youth anthem would be sung on the bus or in the locker room." Following defeats, their president, Ottokar Wuest, would often enter the locker room and say, "Gentlemen, I've seen some great moments today." To which Gerland's response remains unchanged to this day: "You're blind!"
Gerland has always been a hard worker. At first, he didn't know where his path in football would take him: "Lots of people talk about their dreams. I didn't. I'm not a dreamer; I'm a worker. I worked and hoped, but I didn't ever dream." This approach earned him the moniker "Sergeant with Heart" by "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung."
His childhood memories in Bochum-Weitmar hold a special place in Gerland's heart: "It was in Bochum-Weitmar in the 1950s and '60s that I started my lifelong love for football. It took me from the rough backyard, where we'd kick the ball against the wall, to the biggest stadiums in the world. It never left me, my passion for football. It must've been put in my cradle."
A particular incident in his life underscores his love for football and his source of strength: "There was a time when I missed a report on Pelé on 'Sportschau' in May 1963. Instead, I'd eaten half of an apple cake with cream. When I told my father about it, he asked me to give it to my sister. I was banned from watching Pelé on TV that night. After my father's death, I still think of that day and feel, 'If I met him now, I'd say, Dad, that was unnecessary. If I'd ruined something for you, it was fine, but taking away an entire evening of Pelé was uncalled for.'"
This experience, along with his blue-collar roots, shaped Gerland into one of the most beloved football figures in Germany: "I'm from Bochum. That's my city, and that's where I want to return – even at my funeral. I was born here, and I want to be laid to rest here." His hometown has molded the man: "Bochum-Weitmar in the '50s and '60s was where my football journey started. It took me from the dusty backyard, where we'd kick the ball against the wall, to the grandest soccer stages on Earth. It never left me, my love for football. It was, perhaps, placed within me from the moment I was born."
In the early days of playing for VfL Bochum, the love among the team was crucial, as those years were challenging. The never-ending relegation battles could have torn the team apart, but the opposite happened. They became a unified group: "We've encountered some rocky roads but always continued. Why? Because we were a team that pulled in the same direction!"
Things were different back then at various away matches than they are today. Gerland recollected an incident vividly: "When I played in Kaiserslautern, bats were flying through the stadium. And then there was a linesman. One of the Lauterns was three meters offside, he dared to raise the flag. But only once. At the second time, he was six meters offside. Then the old man with the crutch, who was unhappy about the first instance, said to him, 'Raise the flag again, young man, I'll knock you down with my crutch!' And he didn't make a mere threat."
After 14 years as a player and co-trainer at VfL Bochum, Hermann Gerland started his role as the head coach in 1986. When he was suddenly referred to as "Mr. Gerland" by the seasoned business manager Otto Stratemeier, "Tiger" Hermann found the formality amusing: "Otto, are you pulling my leg?"
"This was the beginning of his second life. It was the life of a football coach. At the time, Gerland defined his motto for himself: 'When I became a coach, I decided: You can lose one game, you can even lose five games. But you must never lose your dignity.' He stuck to this belief throughout these years, more or less successfully, but the tiger remained steadfast. As a club coach in the relegation battle, he declared: 'I can't lose. Losing energizes me. This season we've lost a lot. Then, seated on the bus, in the first row behind the driver, I'd remain silent. This didn't sync in my head. When I arrived home, I'd stare at the blank wall. My family knew they couldn't engage in conversation with me now."
Perhaps this aversion against losing was also one of the reasons Hermann Gerland inevitably associates with FC Bayern Munich. During his tenure at Bayern, Gerland gained notoriety for discovering talented young players. One publication once described this in "11 Freunde" magazine: "The Almighty has granted me an eye for this. I can even purchase a dress for my wife, and she'll receive compliments: 'What a beautiful gown you've picked out for me.' I once sat with my wife in front of the TV and asked her, 'What do you notice about Philip Lahm during practice?' She was clueless, and probably no one else noted it, but he was missing a finger."
And so, Gerland proceeded to discover and nurture numerous talents at Bayern for many years. However, he became particularly fond of one player: "There have been instances where I came home from training and told my wife, 'Gudrun, watching Philipp Lahm in practice is a delightful experience, like a sausage festival." In these years, he often said to Uli Hoeneß: "If he doesn't become a great player, I'll become a water polo coach!"
But the Bayern brass were initially unimpressed by Gerland's passion. They wanted to sell Lahm, but it was a problem: "No one was interested. I even attempted to offload him like stale beer." Gerland persuaded Lahm to play on loan at Stuttgart, and he came back as a world champion.
Gerland expressed something rather surprising one day: "I'm a coach - if I ever profit from a transfer, I'll expire on the spot. I'm employed by FC Bayern, I'm overweight (by ten kilograms) and can only eat one schnitzel a day." This statement captures the kind of individual Hermann Gerland is and why he earned his popularity so honestly and justifiably.
In regards to Bayern Munich, Hermann Gerland was able to experience a victory he had previously missed in his career at Bochum: a championship. He once remarked, "I always say, 'My wife has become a grandmother, and I am the German champion.'" Hermann Gerland recalls the first week of May in 2010, "On May 8th, we received the championship trophy. On May 15th, Paul was born, our first grandchild. This German championship is the most beautiful of all the successes I've been part of since joining FC Bayern." When Hermann Gerland, the young man from Bochum-Weitmar, departed from the record-setting champions in 2021, he had accumulated a total of 25 titles. However, one moment stood out above the rest for him. The morning after the championship, when Gerland awoke and the entire situation seemed unbelievable, "I picked up the pear and said, 'Is that true?'"
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Gerland's love for soccer extended beyond his time at VfL Bochum. In his role with FC Bayern Munich, he discovered and nurtured talents like Philip Lahm, earning praise for his eye for talent.
Despite initial reluctance from the Bayern brass to keep Lahm, Gerland's persistence paid off. Lahm went on loan to Stuttgart and returned as a world champion.
