As for going down, the season did not provide anything really big, so West Germans are chosen to represent disgrace here. Tough choice – both relegates have ‘merits’. Have them both then…
Eintracht Braunscweig ended 17th, which was very bad for their goalkeeper. 
Bernd Franke was a national player, a backup for Sep Maier. It is hard to tell who was really #2 in West Germany – the competition was stiff with Nigbur and Kleff playing strong. Franke, however, already managed to push away another national player – Horst Wolter, from the World Cup 1970 selection. He actually made him redundant and Wolter moved to Hertha. Which was good luck for Wolter – Franke continued to play reliably, but the rest of Eintracht was not much and down they went. And Franke was not called to the national team for a while and missed his chance to become champion of the world. But it would have been extravagant to include a third division player in the national team… West Germany did not have Second Division yet and Franke sunk to the semi-professional regional championships…
Bernd Franke was a national player, a backup for Sep Maier. It is hard to tell who was really #2 in West Germany – the competition was stiff with Nigbur and Kleff playing strong. Franke, however, already managed to push away another national player – Horst Wolter, from the World Cup 1970 selection. He actually made him redundant and Wolter moved to Hertha. Which was good luck for Wolter – Franke continued to play reliably, but the rest of Eintracht was not much and down they went. And Franke was not called to the national team for a while and missed his chance to become champion of the world. But it would have been extravagant to include a third division player in the national team… West Germany did not have Second Division yet and Franke sunk to the semi-professional regional championships…
Rot Weiss Oberhausen finished last. They did not have any player worth a note, yet the club deserves a line – this was their very last top division season. So far, they were not able to earn promotion and judging by the current football situation it is unlikely a club from a small town to climb to the universe of the rich and famous. And with this sour note 1973 has to end.
