Another point often overlooked today is that Borussia had already become a managerial merry-go-round long before relegation. In essence, Dortmund lost continuity in the dugout after successful coach Willi Fischken Multhaup left in 1966. Up to the 1972 relegation, six coaches came and went in six years at the small stadium Rote Erde. From 1972 onward, eight more coaches tried to restore the past.\n\nOnly Essen native Otto Rehhagel enjoyed limited success, winning promotion back to the Bundesliga in 1976. After Rehhagel's dismissal on April 30, 1978, another 16 coaches came through in just eight years before the club's decisive turnaround in 1986. Famous names such as Udo Lattek, Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, Erich Ribbeck, Pal Csernai and Branko Zebec all got a crack at it.
One low point came in 1983/84, when four coaches - Uli Maslo, Helmut Witte, Heinz-Dieter Tippenhauer and Horst Franz - greeted the press during the same season. Tippenhauer was pushed back into the manager's office after only two games, and supporters in the Westfalenstadion could only just be stopped from climbing the fence. The real turning point came in 1986, when the then only 34-year-old Reinhard Saftig kept the club up via the relegation playoff.