You know, I don't see it that way. It takes more than just desire to own and run a soccer team; that's why so many teams, regardless of the league, have fallen by the wayside. Too bad the fans can't pool their resources and buy a team, like the Packers.
The worst part about Cooper washing his hands of the whole deal is this: the remaining owners, Heemal and Sanjeev Vaid, have no connections to St. Louis. Which means they don't have any local avenues to pursue for funding. And they have no reason to stick around. If running AC gets to be too much of a bother, they can just F off back to London and find a new hobby. I don't see them fighting too hard to stay in business.
Sucks too because awhile back Ralston was so positive about the team. Actually St. Louis was the only team mentioned on FFF-in.
I've been blasted for not trusting Cooper on here before...I really, really hope I'm wrong. Two ways to look at this right now: 1. Positive outlook - no real news outlet has made any official reports as to what's happened. 2. Negative outlook - DII soccer in the U.S. isn't deemed worthy of major news coverage, and we have to accept the hearsay of some blogs. I just don't know..anybody can write anything in a blog without recourse. So I'm still holding out hope.
Tom Timmerman writes for the post dispatch I believe so thats pretty much the nail in the coffin. Tim
When this becomes mainstream news in the next few days, that's exactly what the people that don't follow soccer and who laughed about this minor league team when it was announced are gonna think. Tim
Well, the Post-Dispatch is a "real" news outlet, and Tom Timmermann's saying pretty much what everybody else is saying. Inside Minnesota Soccer and MLS Talk both seem pretty well-sourced to me. We have to accept that this is all for real. The only hope I see is that USSF, or the other NASL clubs, want St. Louis badly enough to keep us afloat for the season. But make no mistake: in that case, AC StL would be a barebones operation. Forget about signing new players, or possibly even keeping all the players we have now. We're talking long bus rides and roach motels with three guys to a room on road trips. I'm sure Ralston, Kreamalmeyer, Kante, etc. can find better jobs elsewhere, and the other clubs won't be too sorry to get their salaries off the books. We'll be lucky to get another point for the rest of the season. Playing out the rest of the season might give the team time to find new investors. Or it might not. And of course, they could always fold both teams before bedtime tonight. This sucks out loud and there's no way around that.
By all means tear into Cooper. Like JasonToon, I have supported Cooper for years, I never had a reason to believe that he didn't have the money or the right vison for soccer in St. Louis, but now, I have now seen the light. I apologize for what I thought of Garber, he was right, Cooper is not right for MLS. I hope Cooper stays away for St. Louis soccer.
If these teams fold, face it: there IS no St. Louis soccer. There is a string of failed teams, the Lions (who deserve a heck of a lot more credit than they've gotten), and SLU. Springfield (MO) would be a better soccer town. These teams had better not fold.
Exactly. "Everybody else" consists of two bloggers. I think we still need more info before we assume the absolute worst.
Nothing but love from up river to ACSTL. Good luck on what lays ahead and may ya survive and get stronger from this hardship.
For what it's worth, I sent the MLS-Rumors link to Timmerman asking him to check it out. He posted his blog about 5 hours later. I'm guessing he made some phone calls and reported what he found. Tom does a great job reporting on and supporting soccer. But I'll wait for this story to develop because at this point, he's basically reported what the blogs have reported and a bunch of "no comments".
Exactly. As an example, you wouldn't go to ACSTL Fanatic for news on the Puerto Rico Islanders. So when this is being reported by other elsewhere I tend to be very skeptical. But if Cooper really did screw this up, this terribly, he better never be associated with any soccer movements in STL. Any chance at seeing professional soccer at any higher level would be screwed for awhile.
Here's how I think it's going down. Cooper really isn't lying about having the money for the MLS bid, however... it's not his own money. The investors he has lined up for the MLS bis will only invest in a D-1 team and not a D-2 team. Maybe Cooper is trying to run both the Athletica and AC with his own pockets and hasn't found any additional investors besides the two brothers. Or I could have it all wrong. It's all just made of rumors at this point. No one really knows besides Cooper and the USSF.
Unless he was/is willing to lie directly to my face, what you are saying is absolutely true. The investors Cooper had lined up for MLS are not the AC-St. Louis investors. We must all remember that Cooper is the MINORITY share holder of AC-St. Louis.
I think it is too early to pin the blame on anyone right now. I do have my opinion of the subject, but I will only express on our site in the more dire of situations. But we shouldn't point fingers quite yet. I think we are only getting peices of the stories.
Holy crap! I hope none of these rumors are true and AC STL stays in business for a long while. It would really be a shame to see St. Louis disappear so quickly after waiting so long to get pro soccer back. Good luck guys!
1. I am sorry to hear about this for all of the fans of AC St. Louis, even though your team does in fact blow (afterall, we are thankful you are in the league so we are not in last place...). 2. Inside Minnesota Soccer has been on the forefront of the entire Div. II story this off season. Brian has some amazing sources well placed in both the NASL and USL and everything he has on his site is as factual as possible. Hell, he scooped the entire TOA breakaway and Edmonton announcement before anyone else. Just sayin' Finally, are we really surprised that AC St. Louis didn't know what it was doing when: a) They hired Claude Anelka as coach b) Started the first game in franchise history with 10 players It is a shame that the amazing fans of St. Louis are being put through this entire ordeal. I am counting my lucky stars that I still have a team after having the Thunder leave after 20 years of history.
This is what I have from a VERY realiable source. 1. The issue is the Vaids, the investor group. So yes, there is a problem with them. What that is is speculation. 2. I was told "we're going to be ok". Take that for what it's worth. 3. An official announcement will be made on Friday. So, my worries are certainly there--especially for Athletica--but I'll breath slightly easier knowing what I know now. We'll see. Oh, and as far as the Athletica go, from another extremely solid source, if the club doesn't pick up ticket sales, you can pretty much guarantee this will be their last year. Obviously I can't say who these sources are and I won't, but I promise you, if they don't know what's going on then this is REALLY worse than we though...but I don't think it is.
I really do hope this info is right.. minus the possible last season for the Athletica. I've literally been feeling sick to my stomach after reading all this tonight.
I'm drunk right now typing all this shit. I had to go out to the pub to deal with the stress. Seriously. But, like I said, the source it came from couldn't be much higher up on the food chain unless his name was "Jeff Cooper", so...unless I'm being lied to for no reason, I'm a bit more calm until the club's announcement later.