Football team demises

[Winston Biscuit]

Italian football is great for this kind of stuff as they regularly have clubs in financial crisis that plummet. take a look at Serie C or Serie D tables and you will see a bunch of teams that you recognise from the 90's or 00's now playing low level regional football

Bari were the best example as in 2019 they were down in the 4th tier, which I believe is way below the standard and facilities of 4th tier here, but they have the 58,000 seater stadium, the 4th largest in Italy.

[NathStPaul]

I used to have a bit of a liking for Foggia in the good old Channel 4 days. Hope they are ok.

[Winston Biscuit]

I used to have a bit of a liking for Foggia in the good old Channel 4 days. Hope they are ok.

Foggia are the perfect example of Italian financial mismanagement.

Glory years up in Serie A in the 90's.
financial problems and thrown out the league in 2011
new business called Foggia Calcio starts in 2012 and is approved to enter at Serie D
financial problems and thrown out the league in 2018
New business called Calcio Foggia 1920 starts in 2012 and is approved to enter at Serie D






unrelated - I have quite always liked that Italians call football 'Calcio' (cal-cho), which just means 'kick'

[RFCMod]

Sad to see both Torquay and Yeovil on the freefall
Obviously Torquay have been dicing with relegation over the seasons but always had a soft spot for the West Country teams
That and the fact I remember the Torquay badge being so bad but looking so good on Helen Chamberlains arse

[From Despair To Where?]

Sad to see both Torquay and Yeovil on the freefall
Obviously Torquay have been dicing with relegation over the seasons but always had a soft spot for the West Country teams
That and the fact I remember the Torquay badge being so bad but looking so good on Helen Chamberlains arse

8 of the bottom 10 in the Conference National are former league clubs.

[NathStPaul]

Sad to see both Torquay and Yeovil on the freefall
Obviously Torquay have been dicing with relegation over the seasons but always had a soft spot for the West Country teams
That and the fact I remember the Torquay badge being so bad but looking so good on Helen Chamberlains arse

8 of the bottom 10 in the Conference National are former league clubs.

Horrible hole to fall into. Unless you get lucky like Wrexham and Notts County with ownership you are in real trouble.

[6ft Kerplunk]

But better than the pretty much closed shop getting into the football league used to be.

[NathStPaul]

Oh no doubt, would like three to go down from League 2 to be honest.

[Mr Angry]

Another Scottish one - Cowdenbeath were in the 2nd tier in Scotland as recently as 2014/15 - now 15th in the Lowland League where they play alongside the new Gretna, Berwick Rangers and East Stirling.

They also have to play the B sides of Celtic, Rangers and Hearts.

I was in a pub quiz a couple of weeks ago and stunned my team mates by knowing the answer to the question "which Scottish football team have the nickname, the Blue Brazil"....

[From Despair To Where?]

Devised because they play in blue and carry a level of debt similar to Brazil.

[From Despair To Where?]

But better than the pretty much closed shop getting into the football league used to be.

I only mentioned it because in the first few years of automatic promotion, the relegated teams benefitted from maintaining full time professional squads in a largely semi professional league and were usually there or thereabouts.

Definitely not the case any more and I guess having 2 promotion places also helps in a decent turnover of clubs.

[Dirk Gently]

Another Scottish one - Cowdenbeath were in the 2nd tier in Scotland as recently as 2014/15 - now 15th in the Lowland League where they play alongside the new Gretna, Berwick Rangers and East Stirling.

They also have to play the B sides of Celtic, Rangers and Hearts.

I was in a pub quiz a couple of weeks ago and stunned my team mates by knowing the answer to the question "which Scottish football team have the nickname, the Blue Brazil"....

A really odd ground, too - just like Berwick Rangers (who suffered the same fate the year before 'Beath), it's primarily a speedway stadium with a football pitch in the middle.

[Mr Angry]

Devised because they play in blue and carry a level of debt similar to Brazil.

I suspect it was an ironic nickname given by the fans that suddenly morphed into the club's official nickname.

I had a client up there many Years ago who told me the nickname (though not the origin of how they got it)

Ok, so I had to look it up....................................

There are a couple of fan theories as to why Cowdenbeath are called the Blue Brazil. One of the more obvious reasons is that their home jerseys are indeed blue. A popular theory is that the name provides a heavy dose of irony towards a football team that has never found much success. It has also been suggested that the name arose due to the club’s financial plight during the 80’s which was humorously compared to that of Brazil’s national debt. There is also a rather long winded story on fan website, http://www.thebluebrazil.co.uk, which suggests three Brazilians illegally played for Cowdenbeath on the last game of the season against Dunfermline in which Cowdenbeath won the game 11 – 1 with the three Brazilians claiming all the goals. The fan forum goes concludes, “The Cowdenbeath community hailed these 3 lads as heroes and as they didn’t know their names they were christened ‘The Blue Brazilians’.” It is rumorued that the Rio Trio left Scotland to play football in their native Brazil for then champions, Santos.

Have a read. (http://www.cowdenbeath.free-online.co.u ... uebrzl.htm)

This was from the following source: https://sportshistoryculture.blog/tag/the-blue-brazil/

Oh, and congrats to From Despair to Where for the reason!

[From Despair To Where?]

The amount of useless football information you pick up as a subscriber of 30 years' standing to WSC should never be understated.

I also used to do a monthly trip up to Sportspages as a teenager to buy the latest fanzines. Increadible to think a club like Cowdenbeath with a,supporter base in the hundreds could sustain a fanzine.

[Loafer]

10 year's ago Yeovil beat Brentford in the League One playoff final

Brentford are now top 10 PL and Yeovil will be 5 divisions below

[Dirk Gently]

The amount of useless football information you pick up as a subscriber of 30 years' standing to WSC should never be understated.

I also used to do a monthly trip up to Sportspages as a teenager to buy the latest fanzines. Increadible to think a club like Cowdenbeath with a,supporter base in the hundreds could sustain a fanzine.

ISTR they have an amazing number of overseas fan clubs, too.

[From Despair To Where?]

I know Stenhousemuir have a ridiculous number of overseas fanclubs.

[Sutekh]

Furthest falls of former league clubs:

Aberdare Athletic are now called Aberdare Town and play in The Highadmit Projects South Wales Alliance League - that's something like division 4 of the Welsh pyramid but have a confused history with merges and de-merges with Aberaman Athletic. Their failed re-election is also controversial with talk of interested parties and vote rigging.

Workington are now playing in the Northern Premier Division 1 West (I think that's tier 8/step 4) and are probably the current lowest ranked former Football League club that is the same entity that was in the Football League.

[paultheroyal]

But better than the pretty much closed shop getting into the football league used to be.

I only mentioned it because in the first few years of automatic promotion, the relegated teams benefitted from maintaining full time professional squads in a largely semi professional league and were usually there or thereabouts.

Definitely not the case any more and I guess having 2 promotion places also helps in a decent turnover of clubs.

Team i always felt sorry for was Altrincham. They were always winning the title or around it as far as i recall and as soon as it went to promotion critieria they were hardly ever seen again!!