User:Fußballfan1993/Dietz

Bernard Dietz (nicknamed Enatz or Ennatz; born 22 March 1948 in Hamm, West Germany) is a forman German football player and manager. Between 1970 and 1982, he played for MSV Duisburg and was the team captain during several years. In addition, he was a member of the West German national team and won the European Championship 1980 in the function of the captain. From 1982 to 1987, he belonged to the team of FC Schalke 04. Afterwards, he worked as a manager for various clubs before finally returning to MSV Duisburg, where he has an operational function since 2010.

Dietz started his professional career in 1970 at the age of 22. After being a left winger in the first time, he moved to the position of a left full-back in 1972. By scoring 77 goals, he became the best scorer among the defenders in the history of German Bundesliga. In December 1974, he made his debut for the West German national team. He participated both in the European Championships of 1976 and 1980 and in the World Cup of 1978. From 1979, national team manager Jupp Derwall entrusted the role of the team captain to Dietz. The win of the European Championship in 1980 became the most important success of his career, but the following year meant the end of his national team career.

In the Bundesliga, his clubs Duisburg and Schalke were often threatened by the risk of relegation; the resulting number of 221 defeats is more than any other player in this league had to accept. With MSV Duisburg, he reached the German Cup final in 1975. During the season 1978-79 he reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup with the same club. In 1982, Duisburg was relegated and Dietz signed for FC Schalke 04, where he stayed for four seasons in the Bundesliga and one year in the second league.

As a manager, he worked for VfL Bochum since 1994 and was mainly responsible for junior teams but also took the professionals in two cases. From 2002 to 2006, Dietz was the coach of the second team of MSV Duisburg and temporarily had the responsibility for the first team.

His beginnings in football
Bernard Dietz was born in 1948 as the son of Franz and Helene Dietz. His birthplace Bockum-Hövel meanwhile belongs to the city of Hamm. He was the ninth and youngst child, though three of them died in the Second World War. Because of his father's low wage, Bernard grew up under bad material conditions. Thanks to the good relationship towards the other family members, he still felt happiness during this time.

He began playing football on the streets during his early childhood. There existed a minimum age of ten years to enter a club at this time. His neighbourhood was dominated by the mining industry and a great part of the population depended on this sector. His nickname 'Ennatz' already existed at this time. It formed due to a little girl who was not able to properly pronounce his first name. This name remained throughout his career and is alternatively spelled with a single 'n'.

Shortly after his tenth birthday he entered SV Bockum-Hövel and chose this precious club due to his uncle who played for the senior team. He stayed there during his youth and did not acquire the reputation of being talented; that's why he never received nominations for regional or national selections.

After leaving school at the age of 13, he started a formation as a blacksmith. He completed his formation with 17 and moved to the senior team of Bockum-Hövel nearly at the same time. According to different sources, this happened when he was 16, 17 or 18 years old. It can therefore be said that his entry to the senior level occurred around 1965.

Player on amateur level
In the 1960s, SV Bockum-Hövel belonged to the Landesliga Westfalen which was the second highest league of the westphalian football association. In the first time after his debut for the senior team, Dietz was not really remarkable. Like in his youth, he usually played as a forward. He often rearranged working shifts in order to have enough time for his training and the matches. At the age of 18, he had a severe work accident that made him lose two fingers on his right hand. However, he decided to continue his sports career.

There was a turning point in his career when he scored 19 goals in 10 matches at the start of the season 1969-70. Dietz who had hardly been noticed during the past years now became a member of the regional selection of Westphalia and participated in the Länderpokal. With the selection led by manager Walter Ochs he travelled to East Africa and was used in matches against Ethiopian and Sudanese teams. Furthermore, he joined the West German amateur national team for a match against Austria but only was a substitute during this event. As the most important thing, he was contacted by two Bundesliga clubs: Both 1. FC Köln and MSV Duisburg offered him the possibility to pass a test training.

Signing of his first professional contract
After having passed a test training in Cologne, the executives of 1. FC Köln refused to offer him a contract for the Bundesliga team. Instead, they proposed a contract connected with an immediate loan to Lüner SV that belonged to the second level Regionalliga. Dietz rejected the offer.

Few time later, he could present himself at MSV Duisburg. This club wanted him for his professional squad and made him sign for the Bundesliga season 1970-71. He had nevertheless a reason to hesitate because signing in Duisburg would take him the possibility to participate in the 1972 Summer Olympics; this tournament was reserved to amateur footballers. With regard on the chance to have a long-term career in professional sports, he finally signed in Duisburg. The contract defined a standard wage of 1,200 DM per month plus 100 DM for each win. His former club Bockum-Hövel received a compensation of 25,000 DM.

First years in Bundesliga as left winger
In Duisburg, Dietz was initially destined to play at the offensive position of a left winger. He began his first season in the highest German league as a substitute. As a result, he missed two matches at the start but then debuted in the third match against SV Werder Bremen on 5 September 1970. He even contributed an own goal to the 2-0 win of his team.

During the following months, he broke into the first team that was much more successful than in the previous season when it had scarcely evaded the relegation. Dietz and his team mates did not lose a single home match in Wedaustadion and could beat FC Bayern Munich by 2-0 in the last match which made the guests lose the championship to Borussia Mönchengladbach. This was the start of a series of wins against the top team Munich which helped MSV to attract attention during this time. Dietz himself commented this fact:

„If the season had been composed of 34 home games against Bayern, we would have easily won the German championship.“

These victories against Munich frequently appeared between 1970 and 1979, whereas the home matches of the three following years were lost. Dietz always was involved when Duisburg reached seven wins in nine matches and lost only once.

At the end of the season 1970-71, his team reached the seventh rank. In the following summer, the squad was reinforced by Klaus Wunder, Rudolf Seliger and Ronald Worm who were all young talents and future members of the national team. The following year in the Bundesliga was rather weak but the relegation was clearly evaded.

New role as a defender
An important change in the career of the previous left winger occurred in summer 1972. During the preparation for the new season which was spent in England, manager Rudi Faßnacht had the idea to use Dietz as a left full back for some friendly matches. The reason was that Wunder, Seliger and Worm represented strong competitors in the offensive, whereas there was not such a competitor on his new position. He presented himself as a good defender during the following matches and therefore permanently stayed in this role. However, he kept joining in the offensive actions of his team while being a defender which was considered as one of his special strengths. During the season 1972-73 being his third in the Bundesliga he already was one of the central personalities in the team. Duisburg had a good start and finally reached the tenth position.

His team had a bad start into the season 1973-74 and temporarily was on the last place. As a result, Willibert Kremer was engaged as the new manager and he directly confided the role of the team captain to Dietz. He thereby became the successor of the previous captain Detlef Pirsig. Due to a row of wins at the end of the season, he and his teammates could evade the descent.