“There have only been two world-class goalkeepers. One was Lev Yashin, the other was the German boy who played in Manchester”
Who would have thought that a former member of the Luftwaffe would end up pursuing a football career in England? Well Bernhard ‘Bert’ Trautmann was one of those men that has this amazing story to divulge. This account is going to overview Bert Trautmann’s amazing story and gaze how he ended up playing for Manchester City even with the battles he had to face for acceptance from football supporters not only at his own football club but also other followers from other associations around the country.
This man originally comes from Bremen where he grew up in the 1920’s and eventually decided to join the German Luftwaffe firstly as a radio operator. This however was not what Bert wanted to fulfil with his time in the Luftwaffe, so he moved to Spandau to become a paratrooper. In his first posting Bert Trautmann was sent to occupied Poland but was far from the action as Mr Trautmann became very bored and often created practical jokes to keep himself busy. One practical joke resulted in one of his Staff Sergeant’s burning both of his arms due a car backfiring, which resulted in a three-month prison sentence.
After his prison sentence and suffering from illness, Bert Trautmann re-joined the Luftwaffe in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine as the Nazi army tried their utmost to take on the Soviet Union. However, their efforts ended on a sour note as they were halted on many occasions that resulted in seven hundred of Trautmann’s unit being killed as his team were crippled. Trautmann received five medals for his efforts against the Eastern Front, one being the Iron Cross First Class.
He was promoted from Corporal to Sergeant as his division was formed with others due to the major loss of life in the previous battles against the Eastern Front, as this was preparation for the allied invasion of Normandy. In the year of 1944, the lower Rhine-region of north western Germany, Kleve was bombed heavily and with ‘Bert’ being one of the few survivors he decided to travel back to his hometown, Bremen. However, there was a major problem as the Nazi army were shooting their own troops if they did not have valid leave papers, as they would be branded as ‘deserters’. This was a problem for ‘Bert’ as he now was on his own having to avoid soldiers from each army.
American soldiers eventually captured Trautmann but he escaped as he thought he was going to be executed. He managed to get away from their advances to only jump over a fence to land right in front of a British soldier. It was said that the greeting from the British soldiers was, ‘Hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?’. He was then transferred around a few prisons, as he was known as a ‘Category C’ prisoner before being downgraded to ‘Category B’ where he ended up at PoW (Prisoner of War) Camp 50, situated in Lancashire. This is where Bert Trautmann started his footballing career, however originally starting as a centre half; he went in goal due to an injury he suffered in a game for amateur club Haydock Park.
Bert Trautmann refused repatriation back to Germany as he settled in England with him going on to work in Huyton, Liverpool as a bomb disposer. This is where ‘Bert’ steadily grew his reputation as a great goalkeeper when he played for St Helens Town. These performances then resulted in football league clubs showing interest as he eventually signed for Manchester City. This led to mass protests from the Manchester City supporters as season ticket holders threatened a boycott and many groups around they city sent in protest letters as they did not want the replacement of their famous goalkeeper, Frank Swift, to be a former member of the Luftwaffe.
In 1950, Manchester City travelled to Craven Cottage to play Fulham and this game was hit by huge media devotion. This was Trautmann’s first trip to London as a Manchester City player and it was predicted to be a tough match for ‘Bert’ as a lot of London was flattened by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Due to previous performances, Bert Trautmann managed to win over the fans at Manchester City but he then suffered a lot of abuse from opposition fans. At Fulham he was subject to taunts that included to names ‘Kraut’ and ‘Nazi’. He played a fantastic part in keeping the score down to only 1-0 as City were defeated which then steered to a standing ovation for the goalkeeper. In that same season, Manchester City was relegated to the second division.
Trautmann played in a number of cup finals however, with his first one in 1955 making him the first ever German to play in the FA Cup Final but Newcastle United beat ‘The Citizens’. The following season proved much more promising for Manchester City as they finished fourth in the league and reached the FA Cup Final once again having to face Birmingham City on this occasion. Trautmann received the FWA Footballer of the Year award making him the first goalkeeper to ever be awarded it. Manchester City beat Birmingham City 3-1 at Wembley but it would be famous for something quite spectacular.
After a collision with a Birmingham City player, Bert Trautmann was kneed in the neck and during the game thought nothing of it as he played on through the pain. Later on that week, ‘Bert’ visited Manchester Royal Infirmary as he was advised that he had dislocated five vertebrae in his neck. Due to this injury Trautmann was given time to fully recover from his heroics, but he never got back to his best as he was lacking confidence. He made a few appearances in the 1956/57 season but struggled majorly. The following season he played thirty four times for Manchester City but suffered a few embarrassing performances in goal, one being an 8-4 defeat to the hands of Leicester City.
In 1964 Bert Trautmann decided to end his Manchester City career and a testimonial was arranged for him as a joint Manchester City and Manchester United XI played against an England team. Just fewer than sixty thousand supporters turned out for the game that included players such as Dennis Law, Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews and Bobby Charlton being involved in the match. After playing over five hundred times for Manchester City, Bert Trautmann moved to Wellington Town where he briefly played. In his final game for Wellington Town he was sent off for violent conduct that resulted in him calling quits on his football career. Trautmann enjoyed some roles as a manager that included Preußen Münster, Opel Rüsselsheim, Pakistan, Burma, Liberia and Stockport County but gave this up in 1983.
Bert Trautmann is a man that will simply never be forgotten and a gentleman that had major influence all around the world; he was simply one of a kind. In July 2012 Bert Trautmann died at the age of 89 after never really recovering from two heart attacks earlier in the year, football has lost a real legend.