Interview with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on Dettmar Kramer: The football tutor

The man who won everything, a world-class player developer, and a cosmopolitan: 4 April marks what would have been Dettmar Cramer's 100th birthday. In an interview with club members' magazine 51, our iconic striker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge reminisces about the former FCB coach - talking about cognac, the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, samurai swords and training sessions at red traffic lights.

The interview with Rummenigge on Dettmar Cramer

Herr Rummenigge, Dettmar Cramer once said in front of the whole team that he would kick your backside until you were a global star. How did that motivate you?
(laughs) "First of all, I knew Dettmar Cramer wasn't a blatherer! If he said something, he meant it. So I knew that he would follow through if I didn't give it my all straight away. He trained me. In weeks with no Wednesday game, I completed up to ten training sessions - twice as many as players do today. We worked specifically on my technique, for example shooting training with the third goalkeeper, who would be called in specially. I didn't have a day off for a year and a half. But that didn't bother me, because I realised how I was constantly improving."

Cramer was well known for his ability to run his players ragged on the pitch during the day and mesmerise them with tales from around the world in the evening.
"He could tell the most incredible stories because he had travelled more than half the world as a development worker for football, on behalf of FIFA, the DFB or the Federal Foreign Office. For us, especially for me, he was more than just a coach, almost like a second father. After Sunday training, he would invite us to the Italian restaurant 'Eboli', where he would regale us with stories, like hunting lions in Uganda, for example. We would hang on his every word. Franz Beckenbauer also held him in high esteem. At Bayern, no coach was hired without his approval - that applied to Udo Lattek as well as Cramer, who was already Beckenbauer's national coach at youth level and later assistant to Helmut Schön."

His training methods were extraordinary: crosses from both flanks, shooting technique drills or exercises in Kaufingerstraße for peripheral vision. He even provided training stimuli in road traffic...
"Cramer's credo was that he constantly wanted to develop his players - regardless of the situation. Even in the car at the traffic lights, he would turn it into a competition: ‘You have to be the first to go!’ he would suddenly shout. So my foot waould already be on the accelerator, and as soon as it turned green, he would make his judgement: ‘Well done, lad!’ It was like an endurance test. He transferred things from everyday life into training to teach us to think ahead on the pitch. Everything he did had a goal. He always said to me: ‘The good Lord has given you a lot of talent - now it's up to you to get everything out of yourself’. When he came to Bayern back then, he said: ‘I come from Geseke, a neighbouring town to Lippstadt - 15 kilometres away from your home’. From day one, he really worked intensively with me."

What was it like to train with him on the pitch?
"The other day, Bulle Roth said to me: ‘Can you still remember how Dettmar used to call your name about a hundred times in every training session? ‘Kalle! Kalle! Kalle!’ boomed out constantly across the pitch.’ I still remember that today - and that it sometimes made me uncomfortable. Every training session was intense and there was one drill that everyone hated, including Franz: eight vs. eight, man vs. man. The worst thing that could happen to you was if Sepp Weiß was assigned to you. Our marathon man. He ran like a machine and was tireless. At one point, I was completely exhausted and said to him: ‘Sepp, will you stop running or you'll have an accident!' Cramer heard it and blew his whistle immediately, saying: 'If I hear that again, you're heading to the dressing room!' He had a natural authority and knew when to be firm and when to be lenient. Carrot and stick, that was his style."

Ahead of the 1975 European Cup final against Leeds United, Cramer spent six weeks preparing at the Grünwald [stadium] with no media access allowed. Did you already have the feeling back then that this meticulousness was a decisive factor in winning the trophy?
"You mustn't forget: The 1974/75 domestic season was not very successful - we finished in tenth place. But when we played under floodlights on Wednesday evenings, the stadium was not only full, but the atmosphere was also completely different. I always had the feeling that there was a world of difference between the Bundesliga on a Saturday afternoon and a floodlit game during the week. The team was able to improve enormously, so we battled our way to the final and won with goals from Bulle Roth and Gerd Müller. The win was hugely important - not just in sporting terms, but also financially. It was our last chance to stay in Europe. As defending champions, we qualified for the next European Cup, which was essential for the club financially."

Ahead of the 1976 European Cup final against Saint-Étienne in Glasgow, you were given a glass of cognac.

"The cognac wasn't Cramer's call. We were at the stadium almost two hours before the game and I was extremely nervous, I really wanted this trophy, my first major success. I'd played in all the European Cup games the year before but was on the bench for the final. I was white as a sheet as I walked through the corridors. Dettmar asked: 'What's up with you? You're really pale. Are you okay?' I just said: ‘Yes, I'm just a bit nervous. Then Schwan said, ‘Give the boy a cognac,’ and I was promptly given one. Five minutes later, Schwan asked if I was feeling better. I said yes, a little - then he said: ‘Then you should have another one!’ So there was a second round. Cramer was aware of it, but he didn't mind."

There was a legendary incident in the team hotel in Glasgow: Mick Jagger burst into the match briefing, wanting to hug Beckenbauer - and Cramer politely but firmly turned him away. How did you experience the situation?
"On the afternoon of the final, we had the team meeting at around 3 o' clock. Dettmar had prepared everything - flipcharts, tactics, line-ups. And suddenly Mick Jagger lurched into the room. He knew Franz and wanted to say hello him. But before he could, Dettmar grabbed him by the waist and said in his best English: ‘Mick, everything's fine, but I have to prepare for my game now - and you have to prepare for your concert. So I wish you every success, please wish us the same!' Mick was briefly perplexed, but turned straight round and left. Dettmar was like that: he lived only for football, really only for that. There was nothing else for him. His most boring time slot was Sunday afternoon, because there was no football on TV back then. He would probably already be working on the week's training schedules then."

Cramer established FC Bayern on the international stage. Do you see him as one of the architects of today's global club?
"No coach before him or after him in the 125-year history of FC Bayern has managed to win the European Cup or the Champions League twice in a row. None. That shows just how important he is in the history of FC Bayern. He never described himself as a coach, but as a football tutor. He made us players better and therefore also the club. If you could do 'better', 'good' wasn't good enough. That was his motto. I've never seen another coach who was so intensively involved in everything. And I don't know a single player who ever had a bad word to say about him - on the contrary, everyone had the greatest respect for him."

After his time in Munich, Cramer worked all over the world as a trainer and consultant - what do you know about him from that time?
”His influence reached far beyond Germany. In Japan, he's almost iconically revered to this day, having sensationally led the Japanese Olympic team to a bronze medal. Emperor Hirohito personally awarded him a medal for this and he also received a samurai sword, a symbol of the highest esteem. He was often ahead of his time, coached in Saudi Arabia at the end of the 1970s and was active in over 90 countries. A cosmopolitan. Dettmar was not only an outstanding football expert, but also an extraordinary person. We once organised a party for his birthday and all of his players came. All of them. Until his death, Franz and I visited him often and he always wore his tracksuit, even in his old age. I owe him a lot - he laid the foundation for my footballing career."

If you could pass on one lesson from working with Dettmar Cramer to a young player today - what would it be?
"Today, I would like to see more coaches who really want to teach football. Because in addition to the goal of winning games, it's at least as important to develop players and thus ensure a continuous generational change."

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has just been made an honorary member of UEFA