General Football - Weird Results And Other Things Worth Sharing

[TRVMP 3750]

I keep track of the diddy European leagues but I tend not to watch them live, mostly due to timezone issues. I enjoy the leagues of Latin America hugely, even the smaller ones.

[hayfever 8]

Being based in Australia again I try to keep up with the A-League, but it's a hard watch at times. Badly run and takes place during summer when it's far too hot for the game to be played at a decent tempo. Moving to winter is the solution but not sure they will get same TV time (and stadium availability) when the Aussie rules is on...

[Toby 4032]

Our old friends MyPa 47, the club we of course signed Janne Lindberg and Marko Rajamaki from, have already been relegated from the second tier of Finnish football this season and today lost 10-2 at AC Kajaani, having been 5-1 down at half time.

They do however have two games remaining of their season, but I’m sure I remember living out a similar scenario at some point in the past.

I always thought of them as one of the big clubs in Finland, and it seems like quite a fall they’ve had. Anyone know the circumstances around this?

[TRVMP 3750]

1 hour ago, Toby said:

Our old friends MyPa 47, the club we of course signed Janne Lindberg and Marko Rajamaki from, have already been relegated from the second tier of Finnish football this season and today lost 10-2 at AC Kajaani, having been 5-1 down at half time.

They do however have two games remaining of their season, but I’m sure I remember living out a similar scenario at some point in the past.

I always thought of them as one of the big clubs in Finland, and it seems like quite a fall they’ve had. Anyone know the circumstances around this?

Behind the scenes they were bankrolled by a local industry in their small town - the paper mill. When the paper mill got bought out and then closed down by a conglomerate, they lost the bulk of their sponsorship, and eventually went bust. They continued as a community club, away from professional football. This was 2015.

A couple of years later they got back into the pyramid, replacing a dropout club, and then last season they got another administrative promotion when a team from the second tier dropped out. They stayed up by the skin of their teeth last season but this year they went back down.

They're basically a local/community club now. Without the paper mill's backing, and given that Kouvola is a mid-sized down, they're unlikely to ever be a major club again. This is part of a pattern with some of these small town "industrial" clubs. See Atvidaberg in Sweden for another example - a famous old mining club and former national champions, but now they're just a village team in division 3. Clubs that manage to transition from industrial-backed are few and far between. Genk in Belgium did so but that was because the two mining teams (Winterslag and Waterschei) merged into one. Erzgebirge Aue in Germany also continue to punch above their weight due to a traditionally strong fanbase. But MyPa, Metalist Kharkiv - teams like that just collapse when the industrial support does.

Then there are new-style clubs that follow the same model. Sheriff Tiraspol is a prime example. The Sheriff corporation owns half of Moldova (or so it seems) and they keep the money flowing to the club. Over in Asia, Dordoi Bishkek are the biggest club in the country and owned by a retail/wholesale company.

[Cet Homme Charmant 557]

2 hours ago, TRVMP said:

Clubs that manage to transition from industrial-backed are few and far between. Genk in Belgium did so but that was because the two mining teams (Winterslag and Waterschei) merged into one.

Waterschei (full name Koninkrijk Waterschei Sportvereniging Thor Genk, believe it or not) amazingly reached the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup in season 82-83, only to be pumped 5-2 on aggregate by eventual winners Aberdeen.    

FUN FACT! The bloke Clijsters in the Waterschei team in this game is tennis star Kim Clijster's auld fella.

Edited October 21 by Cet Homme Charmant

[TRVMP 3750]

1 minute ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

Waterschei (full name Koninjklik Waterschei Sportvereniging Thor Genk, believe it or not) actually reach the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup in season 82-82, only to be pumped 5-2 on aggregate by eventual winners Aberdeen.    

 

And a few years later, KV Mechelen SWORDED St. Mirren on their way to the Cup Winners' Cup title. Probably the only good thing ever to come out of Belgian football.

[Cet Homme Charmant 557]

12 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

And a few years later, KV Mechelen SWORDED St. Mirren on their way to the Cup Winners' Cup title. Probably the only good thing ever to come out of Belgian football.

Haha, aye, that was in the good old days when relatively small provincial clubs like Aberdeen and Mechelen could win major European trophies. Doubt we'll ever see these days again.

[TRVMP 3750]

Just now, Cet Homme Charmant said:

Haha, aye, that was in the good old days when relatively small provincial clubs like Aberdeen and Mechelen could win major European trophies. Doubt we'll ever see these days again.

Same with teams from behind the Iron Curtain. Obviously it's a good thing that the wall is down and Eastern Europe is free but even within my memory there was something very exotic about teams like Red Star Belgrade and Steaua being so good. They were giant clubs but they could only really have players from their own countries, and we knew next to nothing about them until they showed up and horsed teams like Juventus. A very different time in football. For all kinds of reasons I think today is better but yes, there was something special about it.

I mean, even the commentary of that Waterschei game. The commentator had to admit that he basically knew nothing about them except that three of them were internationals. Not like today when you can get someone's entire career data from his childhood onwards and everyone (who is motivated to find out) can know everything about everyone else.

Maybe the upcoming UEFA Conference League will bring back some of this but I doubt it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_UEFA_Europa_Conference_League

[Cet Homme Charmant 557]

They even wrote songs about exotic Eastern European teams back in the day

 

[TRVMP 3750]

The ISL returns in India next weekend. Erik Paartalu remains at Bengaluru for his fourth season. It's going to be a "bubble" season, with all games behind closed doors in three stadiums in the state of Goa.

Perhaps also of Scottish interest: ex-Celtic nobody Danny Fox is now with East Bengal, and ex-Motherwell defender Carl McHugh (no relation to Bob) is with their local rivals, ATK Mohun Bagan.

On that subject, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are now both in the ISL instead of the I-League. They've been huge rivals first in the Calcutta/Kolkata for about a century now, playing one of Asia's biggest derbies (arguably the biggest outside of Iran and Japan.) Mohun Bagan merged with ATK (the former Atletico Kolkata) and joined the league a few months ago. East Bengal followed.

What becomes of the I-League isn't clear, with their two biggest clubs now having jumped ship. There are other very traditional teams there, such as Mohammedan Kolkata, but the fan interest won't be as great without the two city giants gone. Ex-Rangers man David Robertson is still manager at Real Kashmir. They and the rest of the I-League teams kick off their own bubble season in Kolkata in the New Year.

[pink_panther 12]

their two biggest clubs now having jumped ship

 

We can only pray

[TRVMP 3750]

[Hej 196]

We were superb tonight  tbh. Thoroughly deserved to go through, despite Serbia having us under the cosh in ET. The system Clarke has built over the past few games is impressive considering how awful it looked when we first tried it out against Israel in the nations league. Lets us get our best players out on the pitch and in roles suited to them, even if they're out of position like McTominay and to a lesser extent Tierney. Also getting performances out of the likes of Gallagher who absolutely bodied Mitrovic for the full hour and a half, and Ryan Jack who has gone from a "why is he in the squad" to nailed on starter in the space of a few games.

[TONofmemories 1559]

Get it right up VT and his distaste for the Scottish Nation Team and international football.

 

Drink it in, boy

 

[TRVMP 3750]

22 hours ago, TONofmemories said:

Get it right up VT and his distaste for the Scottish Nation Team and international football.

 

Drink it in, boy

 

There's an old Spanish TV sketch, a couple of guys in balaclavas sitting watching a Spain match. They're both Eta by context - they're going on about how much they hate the Spanish state, and only the Basque team is legitimate, and they hope Spain get pumped. Then Spain score, and for a half second they jump off the couch with their arms in the air, before checking themselves and sitting down. 

Anyone who isn't like that with the Scotland national team, despite their protestations, is an absolute, bona fide wrong 'un. If you are Scottish and can genuinely sit there stony-faced at Christie's goal or Marshy's save (extra time or penalty, it doesn't matter), you belong on a watchlist, no question. Fine, 364 days out of the year, tell people how pointless the national team is, say you're above it all, whatever. But anyone who can genuinely say they weren't moved by yesterday's events is either kidding themselves on or wants their hard drive checked. 

[The Bewilderedbeast 210]

I'm not a fan of international football, but never wish I'll on the national team or hope they get beat.

(Maybe it's something to do with years of watching good players not getting capped unless, or until they signed for one of the bigot brothers)

I agree that if anyone wasn't happy on Thursday night there's something wrong.

[vikingTON 3122]

On 11/13/2020 at 6:54 AM, TONofmemories said:

Get it right up VT and his distaste for the Scottish Nation Team and international football.

 

Drink it in, boy

 

Erm yes, deepest congratulations on joining the illustrious ranks of *checks notes* Albania, North Macedonia, the Failed Statelet and Hungary who have managed to qualify in the 'absolute dreck' category since the Euros expanded to include nearly half of the continent. Shame the open top bus parade was cancelled!

The reality is that Scotland should be qualifying for the Euros roughly 50% of the time - they're now 1/2 - and the fact that Serbia were in the play-off route in the first place pointed to the fact that they are not very good as well. Scotland played well for parts of the game that I saw though I was more involved in laughing at the Failed Statelet for joining their south of the border cousins in getting sworded by the Slovaks. 

The bonus for Scotland fans is that they actually have a very good group as between a derby with England and two entirely beatable opponents they can realistically get out of the group. It doesn't make international football any less of a ridiculous side show though. 

[TONofmemories 1559]

9 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

Erm yes, deepest congratulations on joining the illustrious ranks of *checks notes* Albania, North Macedonia, the Failed Statelet and Hungary who have managed to qualify in the 'absolute dreck' category since the Euros expanded to include nearly half of the continent. Shame the open top bus parade was cancelled!

The reality is that Scotland should be qualifying for the Euros roughly 50% of the time - they're now 1/2 - and the fact that Serbia were in the play-off route in the first place pointed to the fact that they are not very good as well. Scotland played well for parts of the game that I saw though I was more involved in laughing at the Failed Statelet for joining their south of the border cousins in getting sworded by the Slovaks. 

The bonus for Scotland fans is that they actually have a very good group as between a derby with England and two entirely beatable opponents they can realistically get out of the group. It doesn't make international football any less of a ridiculous side show though. 

TL;DR

Who'd have thought that even with such a long wait, Scotland still managed to qualify for a tournament before you popped your cherry?

[TONofmemories 1559]

9 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

Erm yes, deepest congratulations on joining the illustrious ranks of *checks notes* Albania, North Macedonia, the Failed Statelet and Hungary who have managed to qualify in the 'absolute dreck' category since the Euros expanded to include nearly half of the continent. Shame the open top bus parade was cancelled!

The reality is that Scotland should be qualifying for the Euros roughly 50% of the time - they're now 1/2 - and the fact that Serbia were in the play-off route in the first place pointed to the fact that they are not very good as well. Scotland played well for parts of the game that I saw though I was more involved in laughing at the Failed Statelet for joining their south of the border cousins in getting sworded by the Slovaks. 

The bonus for Scotland fans is that they actually have a very good group as between a derby with England and two entirely beatable opponents they can realistically get out of the group. It doesn't make international football any less of a ridiculous side show though. 

TL;DR

Who'd have thought that even with such a long wait, Scotland still managed to qualify for a tournament before you popped your cherry?

[TRVMP 3750]

This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for the fact that Celtic are absolute horse. 

[TRVMP 3750]

On 11/26/2020 at 3:08 PM, TRVMP said:

This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for the fact that Celtic are absolute horse. 

This three-days-after Thanksgiving, my gratitude endures, and now has a Highland tinge to it.