Toli Sous le Manguier

In 1996 and 1997, the Freiburg miracle appeared to be fraying around the edges. Some of the unknowns had become stars of sorts and were sought by bigger clubs. There was unrest when Jörg Heinrich pouted and moaned until he was let out of his contract to join Dortmund. It also seemed as if Finke was losing direction: when the team found itself in last place in late 1995, he signed the kind of all-out goal poacher he'd so far avoided at all costs, the Dutch striker Harry Decheiver.

Decheiver did score the goals that helped avoid relegation, but a season later, Freiburg paid the price for having diverted from their formula. Decheiver and another well-known signing, the Swiss international Alain Sutter, considered themselves stars and played accordingly. ('Harry had this leave-me-alone attitude,' remembers midfielder Jens Todt.) In May of 1997, Freiburg were relegated back to where they'd come from.

Just another failed fairy tale, many people surmised, expecting Finke to lose his job. But they still did some things differently at Freiburg. 'The only man who can fire Finke is Finke himself,' chairman Stocker declared. Finke did not fire himself. Instead, back at square one, he did it all over again! As you'll find out in the next column.