In front of the north stand at the Bruchwegstadion stood a man in a cream leather jacket and black shirt, constantly reaching for his mobile phone. He was Christian Heidel, then the honorary manager of Mainz 05 and, in his main profession, a car dealer. He was living through the most important day of his career — or more accurately, suffering through it.\n\nMainz were taking on Eintracht Trier on May 23, 2004, with promotion to the Bundesliga within touching distance.
Too much had gone wrong in Wolfsburg, Berlin and Braunschweig in earlier years for Heidel to trust any feeling of joy before the job was truly done.
