Stevens, as ‘Four-Minuten-Meister’, sympathizes with Roda JC who cheered too early

NOS Football•today, 11:52

Stevens hopes for Roda promotion as ‘Four-Minuten-Meister’: ‘I’ll drink an extra glass’

Roda awaits another rematch against FC Groningen tonight (from 8 p.m.), with at least one point in the Euroborg, Roda has still been promoted. Stevens did not have that luxury on May 19, 2001. The Limburg coach’s Schalke 04 went from four minutes of championship joy to great sadness.

“I won’t forget that,” says Stevens. “We were champions for four minutes. It was a gigantic party. It was cut short in one go. That hurts.”

A week before the climax, things went wrong for Schalke and the Royal Blues lost first place with a 1-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart. Only a miracle could save Schalke in the final round.

Because Schalke turned a deficit into a 5-3 lead in the final phase on that infamous May 19 against SpVgg Unterhaching and Bayern Munich fell behind 1-0 to Hamburger SV in the final minute, that miracle seemed to have happened. Seemed.

Last Friday, stadium speaker Wim Frijns played the leading role after Roda JC-SC Cambuur (2-0) by shouting that the score had become 2-1 at Telstar-FC Groningen, which was not the case, and that the Limburgers were sure of promotion.

In Gelsenkirchen, a reporter from TV channel Premiere was the unintentional instigator. “It’s done in Hamburg, Schalke are champions,” the reporter told Schalke player Andreas Möller in the catacombs.

The news spread quickly. The players were delirious, manager Rudi Assauer was in ecstasy and had the gates of the stands opened after which thousands of frenzied fans stormed the field. Tears of joy flowed over Schalke’s championship, the first since 1958. The first title ever in the Bundesliga, moreover, the highest German football league that saw the light of day in 1963.

But then suddenly images from Hamburg appeared on the big screen in the stadium in Gelsenkirchen. Was this the summary? No, it was live footage. Hamburger SV-Bayern Munich was not over yet. The fans then watched the screen anxiously.

“I went upstairs to the training room,” Stevens said. There the coach met Youri Mulder, among others, who was injured at the time. He looked at the images from Hamburg there. “The moment I walked in, a free kick was given to Bayern. I saw the ball go in. Unbelievable.”

Patrik Andersson shot the indirect free kick into HSV’s penalty area. This made it 1-1, Bayern were champions and Schalke finished second by one point.

“Everyone was completely down,” Stevens says. “I saw Assauer crying on the balcony. Then you have to shed a tear yourself. It was a crying festival in the dressing room. It was also the farewell to the Park Stadium. It was doom and gloom.”

While the (won) cup final was scheduled for Schalke a week later, Roda has to compete tonight in the direct duel for promotion with FC Groningen. “Many players in 2001 were still focused on those four minutes,” says Stevens.

Stevens had quite a job at the time to lift the spirits of his players. Current Roda coach Bas Sibum has fared better in that regard. Sibum: “We laughed about it in the dressing room, closed it down and focused on Groningen.”

Sibum mainly wants to keep the peace. “If he can keep the pressure off, that is a perfect idea,” says Stevens, who managed Sibum as Roda’s coach in 2007. “But can you take the pressure off the players?”