The picture that the success of BFC Dynamo relied upon referee bias has been challenged by ex-coach Jürgen Bogs, ex-goalkeeper Bodo Rudwaleit, ex-forward Andreas Thom and others associated with the club. Some of them admit that there might have been cases of referee bias. But they insist that it was the thoroughness of their youth work and the quality of their play that earned them their titles. Jörn Lenz said in an interview with CNN: "Maybe we had a small bonus in the back of referees' minds, in terms of them taking decisions in a more relaxed way in some situations than if they'd been somewhere else, but one can't say it was all manipulated. You can't manipulate 10 league titles. We had the best team in terms of skill, fitness and mentality. We had exceptional players". Also former referee Bernd Heynemann, who has testified that he was once greeted in person by Erich Mielke in the locker room at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark with the words "Welcome to the capital of the GDR. As football champions, the BFC also welcomes the referees and is looking forward to a high-quality game management", said in an interview with the Leipziger Volkszeitung in 2017: "The BFC is not ten times champions because the referees only whistled for Dynamo. They were already strong as a bear."