TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW, THIS IS NOT OVER.

Picture the scene, it’s around 11pm on Monday October 16th. I finish the show I have been watching and say to myself, one more check of social media then bed. I open Twitter and see tweets of outrage, sadness, uncertainty, then I see THE tweet for myself, Sports Illustrated Grant Wahl telling us that unless Columbus crew get a new state of the art stadium in downtown Columbus, Owner or business operations manager, or whatever he is calling himself this week, Anthony Precourt may move the team to Austin Texas. My head goes into a haze, this doesn’t happen in this beautiful game of ours, sure teams have folded in the past due to mis-management, over spending, illegal tax programs, but it’s rare, and never because an owner just wanted to move to a hipster new city. By now it’s almost 1am and I decide I really should go to bed, maybe it’s fake news and everything will be cleared up by the time I wake up. It wasn’t!

Next morning my online feed was full of others confirming that I hadn’t just had a nightmare, this was happening and Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV) were having a press conference later in the day. Precourt announced via telephone, as he was too chicken to actually show his face in Columbus in front of the local soccer media who’s very Jobs could be effected by his actions, that attendances were down, the stadium was outdated and there was no support from the local business community. Most of the facts he was coming out with we would later find to be false, and it would become clear as time went by that this was just an owner trying to bypass the large fee  that would have to be paid to MLS to own a new club by moving an existing one he had bought on the cheap. A clause was revealed that he wasn’t allowed to move the team until he had owned it for ten years, unless…. wait for it, surprise surprise, an opportunity arose in, yup you  guessed it, Austin Texas. This could happen after he had owned the club for three years, which by this time he had. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. As the haze left the heads of the Columbus community , determination took over. #savethecrew was born, This is not over, tell everyone you know, would become the battle cry. Shirts, scarfs, community kit, lawn signs, car magnets would appear all over Columbus and beyond sporting the #savethecrew logo. The grassroots movement quickly got to work, getting the support of other supporters groups, contacting MLS owners, MLS sponsors and local businesses to get sponsorship support and possibly new local owners.

The next few months would be like a rollercoaster, for every high point where we were like we have them we are going to save the crew there would be a counter action or statement and we were back to square one. I even thought MLS will step in and stop this nonsense, I remember when Rangers in Scotland were being put into administration and then liquidated the league and Scottish FA were doing all they could to help them, they didn’t want one of their oldest clubs disappearing into oblivion. Columbus Crew are one of the founding members of MLS, in fact they were the very first team to be announced. When MLS was struggling and looked like it was going to fold, Columbus Crew owner Lamar Hunt built  Crew stadium now known as MAPFRE stadium, which is now in the words of Anthony Precourt, not fit for its purpose, it was the first soccer specific stadium in MLS. This helped move MLS to the next level and the league survived. Now in its time of need MLS commissioner Don Garber has turned his back on its founding member and is not only allowing the move but encouraging it.

Between the trouble PSV are having finding a stadium site in Austin and the law suit that is going on after Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine found a law known as the Art Model law, which was made after the former Cleveland Browns owner moved the Browns under the cover of darkness to Baltimore. The law in basic terms says that any Ohio sports team which has received government funding is not allowed to move before giving six months notice and must listen to any reasonable offers for the team. Columbus received government funding when Anthony Precourt paved the parking lot at MAPFRE stadium which is situated on the fairgrounds. We are kinda in limbo right now.

There could possibly be an announcement this month but who knows how long this will drag on for. But in my mind, for the integrity of the game in the USA, this move MUST not happen, if it does, myself and many others are done supporting MLS as a league, they will not receive another penny from us, and could lose many fans from the game completely. As one my friends points out MLS is not really interested in trying to grow the game in this country, but instead want to grow their profits and the profits of all the team owners.

visit savethecrew.com for more details and updates, to buy merchandise or to check out the many sponsors who support save the crew. Lastly  tell everyone you know, This is not over.

Back for one last scare

You know when you watch a horror movie, at the very end the bad guy has been shot, stabbed, hit with a heavy object, the survivors are standing hugging, relived to have reached the end of the ordeal and the camera pans out and the bad guy gets up and gives us one last scare?

Well that’s how I feel today, the clubs and fans have spoken and Sevco are in Scottish Division 3. It’s all over and we can get back to talking about the game we all love.

But can we?
Talk is of a rushed league reconstruction to make SPL 2 or the SPL saying we changed our mind you can play with is.

Who is to blame? Well the Oldco Rangers for one, their overspending and shady dealings of the past killed them.
Then we have Neil Doncaster who signed a deal that allows Sky to cut the the tv money by like 75% if there are no old firm games.
The people who are not up blame are the SFL clubs who voted Sevco into Division 3, ICT are bang out of order to suggest this.

The SPL meet on Monday supposedly to decide who gets into the SPL or atleast decide how to decide who gets in. But will SPL 2 or a u turn be discussed? I certainly hope not and of it is I hope it is quickly put to bed.
What I hope does happen is a vote of no confidence in Stewart Regan Neil Doncaster, who have been an embarrassment through this whole shambles.

As for the death of Scottish Football attendances for today’s games seemed quite good, especially at Dens park where the game against Dundee United attracted a sell out crowd of over 11,000. If the fans can stick together and come out in support maybe we can get through this with little or no casualties.

Stand Free

Scotland’s Shame

Those who follow me on twitter or Facebook will know I have been quite vocal about the Sevco Saga recently.
Some might say it is just cause it Is about Rangers, but no I would feel the same no matter which club it was and that includes Aberdeen.

In the past anytime a team has gone into liquidation and have come back as a Newco they have had to apply to the SFL and having been accepted then started in the lowest division, which in this case is the 3rd division. In Gretna’s case they are now playing non league football and Meadow Bank are now a team called livingston, the only other case is Airdrieonians who bought Clydebank and became Airdrie United.
So why the sudden change of rules.

The argument that Scottish Football cannot survive without Rangers in the SPL or at least Div 1 is a non starter.
Rangers FC are dead and this Sevco or Newco have never been a football club or been in any league. Any talk of relegation down 1 division is a joke.
Just ask UEFA who say any newly registered club has to have 3 years of audited accounts before they can play in any UEFA run European competition.
Actually the SFA has the same rule which seems to have been swept under the carpet.

This should be no surprise as the SPL, SFA and now the SFL all seem to be breaking every rule in their own book and in UEFA’s book to try and help the team who think they are still Rangers.

Where does the corruption end? Why do Rangers seem to be bigger than the Scottish game? Will the refs be told to help them out if they are struggling to get into the promotion spot in what ever division they end up in. If they go to Div 1 and don’t win it will there be league reconstruction to make sure they get back into the SPL.

Yes I am in touch with reality and I realize that teams may struggle and may even fold, but if your business plan is a plan based on certain teams being in the league then that’s your fault, and I include Aberdeen in that criticism.
Maybe Scottish football will benefit from being melted down and rebuilt.

Talking of rebuilding there has to be major changes at the top of Scottish Football. Stewart Regan, Neil Doncaster, Campbell Ogilvie and David Lobgmuir all must go. Ogilvie should have gone as soon as we found out he was up to his knees in this EBT scam.
The others seem hell bent on doing anything they can to save Sevco and get then back in the big time ASAP.

While many people have been silent I must say well done to Stewart Milne for his stance on the Newco situation and also to Raith Rovers Turnbull Hutton and Dare I say it Falkirk manager Steven Pressley. I agree 100% in the comments made by both recently.
I hope that Hutton will be involved in any reconstruction at the top of Scottish football.

By this time this week we should know the outcome of this farce, I just hope the SFL clubs stay strong and demand a vote instead of letting David Longmuir and puppet masters Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan make it for them.

Then maybe we can get back to talking about the actual game of football.

Standfree

Still unbeaten in 2012…..Just

A few months ago if someone had said on February 11th Aberdeen will still be unbeaten in 2012, I would have thought they should be in a padded cell along with mad Vlad.
But fellow Dons fans this is indeed the case.
Some of the performances have not been pretty, but Craig Brown has done what he was brought in to do, make us a hard team to beat.

Hibs have made major changes in the transfer window, and have been showing some improvement under Pat Felon in recent weeks, I said before the game I would settle for a point.
The game itself by the sounds of it was a big improvement from the previous 2 games between the teams, Aberdeen had some chances in the 1st half and started the 2nd half off well, then let Hibs into the game and never really created much after that.

Hibs will also be kicking themselves for a number of missed chances, especially with Dunfermine losing heavily to Rangers in the early kick off.

As I said earlier I would have taken a point before the game and as Hibs piled on the pressure as the game drew to an end, it was a relief to hear the final whistle.

It is back to Scottish Cup business for the Dons on Tuesday, lets hope there is no romance of the cup stories for Queen of the south on what will not be an enjoyable Valentines day for the Aberdeen travelling support.
What a difference 4 years makes, 14th Feb 2008 Aberdeen were hosting Bayern Munich at Pittodrie in the UEFA cup and got a credible 2-2 draw, 4 years on we are away to Queen of the South in a cup replay.

Stand Free

Aberdeen gain point in the league but lose points in the entertainment ratings

As the snow falls here in North East Ohio the Aberdeen game did little to lift me from the winter doldrums.
I always knew it would be a tight game, but our lack of chances was just unbelievable, we really need a couple of wingers to give us some width.
Yes we have a little unbeaten run going and have got well clear of the relegation place, but the entertainment factor will not have the fans flocking back to Pittodrie in the future.

Our next game is against Rangers at Ibrox, will we ever have a better chance to end our unwinning  streak at Ibrox. If we are do to it we need to create more than we did today.

There is not much that can be said for today’s game, very few chances for both team’s, Jason Brown had a great save near the end to keep us level.

Maybe by next week we will have had some more activity in the transfer market, other than the news that Russel Anderson has rejoined us.

 

Stand Free