Of all my travels in Europe, particularly Germany, I have never seen a football mad city so deprived of the beautiful game. For years Leipzig has been starved of the quality football it truly deserves. FC Sachsen Leipzig and 1.Lok Leipzig, the two "top" clubs in this beautiful eastern German city brought the town nothing but disappointment and embarrassment for close to two decades. From dodgy financial accounts, hooligan troubles and shocking football, there always seem to be another excuse on why they bounce up and down between the 5th-7th tier leagues of German football. Whenever the discussion about local football came up, you will always find the normal Leipziger voicing his or her discontent. They are simply fed up with FC Sachsen and Lok's fan hooliganism, bankruptcies, terrible football and name changes that happens so often that they're not quite sure how to call their clubs anymore!
Since the city is currently in football turmoil, one investor is willing to take on the challenge of bringing this city out of football hell. Red Bull for years has been searching for an eastern German club to invest in and take on the mighty west. Due to strong fan protest Red Bull avoided pursuing investment in Sachsen and Lok altogether and settled for a much smaller club in SSV Markranstädt, a club in the outskirts of the city. Red Bull, a powerhouse in world sport picked Leipzig and SSV Markranstädt as it has 500,000 strong citizens ready to support a Bundesliga club.
With plans of a €100million investment over the next 10 years, Leipzig and its football mad people can only benefit from this injection of funds. It will take the new Leipzig club some time to build up its stature compared to its city rivals. Sure, RB Leipzig and its new supporters will be ridiculed for having no history, buying its way to higher leagues and all of the other insults that may come their way. Bottom line is that RB Leipzig will bring entertainment to the city and write football history while FC Sachsen and Lok Leipzig along with their 'die hards' rot on the side with jealousy and further football failure. As one Leipziger said, "Simply, they've had their chance, Leipzig can no longer put up with their incompetence".
Dude, I know that this was posted a while ago, but I have to disagree with you. For me, football should not involve major companies buying their way in to 'promote their brand', which, let's face it, is the only reason Red Bull are on board here. What reason have they got for promoting and backing this team? Other than more people going into shops and buying that red, blue and silver canned stuff, no reason at all.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm just too much of a romantic, but I'd prefer Lok or Sachsen with solid financial foundations to make the journey back up the leagues. Yes, some fans of both teams are an embarassment to the city, but the club is really trying to rectify this and weed out the true troublemakers (see: recent banning orders for the Blue Caps at Lok).
RB can shoot up the leagues for all I care, but it's Lok and Sachsen in Oberliga that will always be of most interest to me.
Dave, http://thefortytwo.wordpress.com