Borussia Dortmund officially parted company with their coach Otto Rehagel this morning. BVB suffered a 12-0 defeat at the hands of Borussia Moenchengladbach at Düsseldorf’s Rhein stadium yesterday in their last game of the season. Borussia played so woefully that one’s heart went out to reserve keeper Peter Endrulat between the sticks. This result almost contrived to win Gladbach the Bundesliga but 1FC Cologne’s 5-0 win over St Pauli was enough to spare the Bundesliga an almighty scandal.

Rehhagel had been in charge since June 1976. In a proper cloak and daggers move, he had been coaxed away from a job at SV Werder Bremen and, having taken over from Horst Buhtz, taken BVB into the Bundesliga with home and away wins over 1FC Nuremberg.