The Second Club Thread

I was about to mention that - is Bear Del Boy?

Yeah don't know what I was thinking there.

I blame watching a French language film last night.

The Bear said:

Yeah don't know what I was thinking there.

I blame watching a French language film last night.

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A la brouchette, Rodney!

Vot is your nem?

A 5--1 away win, making it 3 wins on the bounce and a new seating area ...what a time it is for the Gingerbread Men...

Kenny said:

A 5--1 away win, making it 3 wins on the bounce and a new seating area ...what a time it is for the Gingerbread Men...

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Fuck a box seat, gimme a picnic table all day

You really don’t see enough picnic tables at football grounds.

As good as any place as any to ask, hey @Alan thoughts on the structure of US soccer these days? It seems there's leagues and expansion sides coming from everywhere and even the women's game is growing rapidly. All on the backdrop of no Pro/Rel system.

Is this a case of US soccer (in general) figuring out things? It does seem strange to have so many leagues seemingly running in parallel, but fascinating trying to get head around it all. Is there much connection to building up the amateur setup and then professionally?

Most my current knowledge is based off this:

Gone are the days where MLS was like, 14 clubs you could play on FM.

C.L.D said:

As good as any place as any to ask, hey @Alan thoughts on the structure of US soccer these days? It seems there's leagues and expansion sides coming from everywhere and even the women's game is growing rapidly. All on the backdrop of no Pro/Rel system.

Is this a case of US soccer (in general) figuring out things? It does seem strange to have so many leagues seemingly running in parallel, but fascinating trying to get head around it all. Is there much connection to building up the amateur setup and then professionally?

Most my current knowledge is based off this:

United States soccer league system - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Gone are the days where MLS was like, 14 clubs you could play on FM.

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US Soccer is far from figuring it out. From one crisis to the next. The male ego is rife within footy and MLS is basically corrupt. First Atlanta were allowed to write checks to buy the title and now they are bending the rules for Miami. USL is by far a better product of the game but for now MLS rules and I rather doubt it will change. In short, follow the money. That's all that matters in any US sport.

Squeak said:

US Soccer is far from figuring it out. From one crisis to the next. The male ego is rife within footy and MLS is basically corrupt. First Atlanta were allowed to write checks to buy the title and now they are bending the rules for Miami. USL is by far a better product of the game but for now MLS rules and I rather doubt it will change. In short, follow the money. That's all that matters in any US sport.

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Uh huh.

@C.L.D I’ll try to give you my thoughts when I have a proper minute to sit down.

Squeak said:

US Soccer is far from figuring it out. From one crisis to the next. The male ego is rife within footy and MLS is basically corrupt. First Atlanta were allowed to write checks to buy the title and now they are bending the rules for Miami. USL is by far a better product of the game but for now MLS rules and I rather doubt it will change. In short, follow the money. That's all that matters in any US sport.

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Yeah I've scratched the surface more (lurked on reddit). MLS is trying to create their own Women's league now and USL is putting teams (pro and amateur? not entirely clear) in competing markets, so it's not about growth of the game it's like monopoly but instead of burger chains on every corner, its soccer. Basically: Amerikuh.

Still, no better time than now to have options, curious if it'll help create long term fans.

Terrible start for Antonio Conte at Napoli, losing 3-0 to Hellas Verona with some guy called Mosquera scoring 2.

Meanwhile Salernitana, back in Serie B now, beat Citadella 2-1. The Seahorses were losing from the 8th minute but 2 injury time goals turned the game on its head

A 2-0 home loss to Heidenheim yesterday for St Pauli. Got to get some points on the board quickly.

Union Berlin up next on Friday evening.

Salernitana lost 3-2 to a team called Sudtirol that I've never even heard of but as the name suggests, are located not far from Austria, a long old schlep from Salerno in the south to a team in Bolzano which is almost in Austria for a 6.30pm KO.

Napoli beat Bologna 3-0 last night and are being linked with Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour!

Deutsch Wolf said:

A 2-0 home loss to Heidenheim yesterday for St Pauli. Got to get some points on the board quickly.

Union Berlin up next on Friday evening.

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1-0 to Union and just 1 shot on target for St Pauli.

Ominous early signs.

Deutsch Wolf said:

St Pauli's start:

Heidenheim (H)
Union Berlin (A)
Augsburg (A)
Leipzig (H)
Freiburg (A)
Mainz (H)

Leipzig aside, a decent chance of early points there. Don't get them and it might start looking grim.

When I was a regular attendee in 2001/02 they won 1 out of their first 18 games.

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Three defeats out of three, 3-1 away at Augsburg on Sunday.

At least Bochum and Kiel have also started in similarly terrible fashion but it's not looking good.

Keep forgetting to post this but during our trip around Europe, Mini Langers and I went to see GAK v Blau-Weiß Linz in Graz. What a superb afternoon. First time I've been to a game outside England and it was incredibly entertaining both on and off the pitch.

It was at the Merkur Arena (formerly known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium) and although one of the ends was closed, it was incredibly noisy from the first minute to the last. Only 5,000 fans were there but it sounded like a lot more. It was very nice to have a beer during the game (and get me, @Deutsch Wolf - I actually ordered my beer in German after asking if I could pay by card! Cheers, Duolingo...) and enjoyed relaxing in 28° heat watching a pretty low quality game of football.

The game itself was entertaining enough despite the quality, 0-2 to Linz at half time, with the PES-sounding Ronvaldo the main threat for them up top, but the 2nd half was all Graz and they came back to draw 2-2, so the fans went home happy. Some very interesting methods of defending set pieces (Linz's method of 'stay still and hope the others don't move too quic.... oh fuck, that's 2-2' was never going to work). Oh yes, and although I moan about the refs in England often enough (with due cause - they're shit), I did feel sorry for the locals as it seems that the Austrian Bundesliga is not the place to go to find competent officials. Mini Langers was killing himself laughing at some of the decisions he made, comically bad for both teams throughout. Still - it added to the entertainment.

Could have done with a look around the club shop - some of GAK's retro shirts are pretty cool, I'd have liked a souvenir.

Oh yes, and it cost me a total of €40 for 2 tickets and 2 beers. A bargain. Shame you won't be reading this, Jeff - you twat. That's €40 more than you'll be getting from me this season.

Main highlight? GAK have a club song that plays before the game starts. It's a soft rock classic - think of 'Don't Stop Believing' but with lyrics basically saying that the team in red and white are very good or words to that effect, with a key change for the final chorus. Stunning guitar solo halfway through as well. Absolute tune.

Some really graceful greying on this forum I tell ya

I had dark hair until we re-signed Matt Doherty

You're going to have to come up with a new name for 'Mini Langers'!