Football (Soccer) Thread

[Jacob]

To be fair, BC is just the 4th west coast state anyway.

Is California part of Cascadia?

[PDH]

Pshaw - California has more than enough failed state ideas from home-grown ijits.

[Syt]

Heh.

https://www.lafc.com/news/lafc-receives-approval-to-invest-in-austrian-club-fc-wacker-innsbruck

LAFC Communications

Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023, 10:15 PM

LAFC of Major League Soccer today officially received approval to invest with the Austrian club FC Wacker Innsbruck from the FC Wacker Innsbruck Board and Association.

"This is an exciting moment for LAFC and FC Wacker Innsbruck," LAFC EVP of Corporate Strategy and Development Benny Tran said, "We are humbled and honored to invest in this Club and work together on this long-term partnership with legendary fans and supporters to rebuild this team and return the Club to top-level, winning football."

FC Wacker Innsbruck currently plays in the Hypo Tiroler Liga, the fourth division of Austrian football and has previously won 10 championships in the top Austrian league, the Bundesliga; the Club also boasts one of the top fan (supporter) clubs in the country.  The 2022 MLS Cup Champions, LAFC has represented the greater Los Angeles area in MLS since 2018.

Wacker was in the top tier only 3 years ago, but dropped down the tables, and with their finances a shambles lost their license and had to go down to the 4th tier. They've been looking for investors for a while now. Did not expect an MLS team to invest in them, though.

Tbf, as stadiums go, Wacker Innsbruck has one of the more scenic views.

[Barrister]

Wacker was in the top tier only 3 years ago, but dropped down the tables, and with their finances a shambles lost their license and had to go down to the 4th tier. They've been looking for investors for a while now. Did not expect an MLS team to invest in them, though.

Tbf, as stadiums go, Wacker Innsbruck has one of the more scenic views.

That seems right out of the Wrexham playbook - but a storied team with deep fan support but terrible ownership problems and see if you can turn them around.

[Josquius]

Much worse than Wrexham. Wrexham have never been that big of a team. Pretty much their entire history in the bottom professional leagues.

Leeds on acid is the closest parallel that comes to mind for me. Struggling to think of a bigger fall outside of unstable leagues.

[Syt]

Much worse than Wrexham. Wrexham have never been that big of a team. Pretty much their entire history in the bottom professional leagues.

Leeds on acid is the closest parallel that comes to mind for me. Struggling to think of a bigger fall outside of unstable leagues.

Glasgow Rangers? Though they obviously crawled their way back to the top.

Actually, looking over German leagues, it's not uncommon to have a team that used to be in the top or second tier of German football to drop into 3rd, 4th, sometimes 5th tier. Those drops are usually connected to - obviously - financial issues.

Most extreme example is probably KFC Uerdingen (KFC stands for Krefelder Fußball Club ). Chemical corporation Bayer used to sponsor two teams: Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Bayer 05 Uerdingen. In 1995 Bayer stopped sponsoring Uerdingen. The club renamed, and ... well this is their league history:



Stuttgarter Kickers used to be a solid second league side, making it into the Bundesliga twice in the late 80s and early 90s. They're in the 5th tier now.

[Sheilbh]

Much worse than Wrexham. Wrexham have never been that big of a team. Pretty much their entire history in the bottom professional leagues.

Leeds on acid is the closest parallel that comes to mind for me. Struggling to think of a bigger fall outside of unstable leagues.

Once again reminded that Leeds Days is a Korean phrase for your peak years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doing_a_Leeds#%22Leeds_Days%22

[crazy canuck]

To be fair, BC is just the 4th west coast state anyway.

Finally someone on the opposite side of the debate makes a valid point.  Damn you.  And ban PDH

[Josquius]

Much worse than Wrexham. Wrexham have never been that big of a team. Pretty much their entire history in the bottom professional leagues.

Leeds on acid is the closest parallel that comes to mind for me. Struggling to think of a bigger fall outside of unstable leagues.

Glasgow Rangers? Though they obviously crawled their way back to the top.

A good one. Though if I understand right these guys just fell apart rather than being punished for corruption?

[Barrister]

Much worse than Wrexham. Wrexham have never been that big of a team. Pretty much their entire history in the bottom professional leagues.

Leeds on acid is the closest parallel that comes to mind for me. Struggling to think of a bigger fall outside of unstable leagues.

I meant it more that since the buyers are Los Angeles FC (one of the owners are involved in developing League of Legends) they were probably inspired by Wrexham.

[Gups]

Much worse than Wrexham. Wrexham have never been that big of a team. Pretty much their entire history in the bottom professional leagues.

Leeds on acid is the closest parallel that comes to mind for me. Struggling to think of a bigger fall outside of unstable leagues.

Yeah Wrexham are traditionally a League 1/2 team. Brighton and Bradford both went from top div to league 2. Stockport from Championship to NL. Probably lots of others who have dropped 4 divisions. Can't think of any who have dropped 5 off the top of my head.

[Josephus]

A good one. Though if I understand right these guys just fell apart rather than being punished for corruption?

Yeah, I don't think Rangers got relegated through play but were puished. It's hard to work up then, because you lose a lot of money.

I think Juventus also got relegated that way some years back.

[Admiral Yi]

Hey Shelf, is there an accent line in Wales?  I've watched a few Wrexham videos and none of the people talking had what I would consider a stereotypical Welsh accent.

[mongers]

Hey Shelf, is there an accent line in Wales?  I've watched a few Wrexham videos and none of the people talking had what I would consider a stereotypical Welsh accent.

It's North East Wales and Wrexham is very close to Cheshire/Merseyside, to the east of any Welsh mountains, so historically has a lot of economic ties with English industry and commerce.

So not too surprising that North or South Walian accents aren't that evident.

[Josquius]

Weird that it's even in wales tbh.