View Full Version : BIg Transfer
RobtheAggie
20 Jan 2003, 01:31 PM
Boris Smiljanic has left Grasshoppers and has gone to Fc Basel for a three and a half year contract!!! What had the Grasshopper management done to him. Smiljanic was the captain for them in thr first half and the season. He can not play in the Champions League, I wonder what his motives were. If any of you can read german, check the newspapers in Zurich and Basel to see if there is any reason. To compensate for the loss of Smiljanic, Grasshoppers signed Fernando Gamboa an Argentinian who has 12 caps for his national side. He is 32.
http://www.uefa.com/footballcentral/news/Kind=2/newsId=50412.html
SwissGCZ
22 Jan 2003, 03:26 PM
http://a.blick.ch/PICS/HBOWCYQaiWy.jpg
Basel is really starting to piss me off. Can't they get their own players? It seems to me Christian Gross is trying to reunite his '96 Grasshopper team. FC Basel? Why not just call 'em the GC retirement home...
SwissGCZ
22 Jan 2003, 03:40 PM
And here is Smiljanic's replacement:
http://a.blick.ch/PICS/HBLPDUBbWtY.jpg
Fernando Gamboa
Age: 32
Country: Argentina
Clubs: Boca Juniors, River Plate, Oviedo (ESP), Colo Colo, and Chacarita (last club)
Caps for Argentina: 7
RobtheAggie
22 Jan 2003, 09:49 PM
Any word on why the tranfer??? I can't imagine what the Swiss press is doing with this one. That would be like Shaq being traded at the all-star break to Dallas or Sacramento for some money. I don't get it.
SwissGCZ
22 Jan 2003, 11:47 PM
Well, it was Smiljanic himself that wanted to leave. GC-coach Marcel Koller was against it, but in the end didn't want to keep a player against his will. Smiljanic thinks his "career possibilities" are better in Basel. He also wants to play in front of huge crowds in the St. Jakob Park. Smiljanic already signed for Basel once, in 1999 - but apparently the contract was not completely legal, and GC threatened to sue Basel. Transfer fee was about 2 mio CHF btw.
All I know is that Smiljanic won't exactly get a warm welcome the next time he sets foot in the Hardturm.
RobtheAggie
23 Jan 2003, 10:19 AM
That game should be nuts. Aside from the fact that GC and Basel fighting for the top spot, add the reaction of the crowd when GC went to Basel in the Fall, and the Smiljanic transfer. Wow!!! Try and get tickets to that one. I think the steryotype of the calm/reserved Swiss people will be gone during that match.