I hadn't expected that we would still be part of the RD empire, and still therefore associated with FCC. I will restore the discussion, and perhaps add occasional stuff about German football in general. Of course all are free to contribute, especially our great friends at German Addicks (already Norwich and Peterborough attended this season).
Germany in the World Cup. 'Nuff said. Just leave it, OK!!
A remarkable psf on 28 Jul - QPR 3-0 1.FC Union Berlin. The staggering thing was the attendance. Officially given as 4097, at least half must have been Union fans -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsdIlmGfWIY. A special club whose fans gave 130,000 voluntary hours' labour to rebuild their beloved stadium. Others on here have commented on them in the past. In view of the never-ending turmoil in SE7 we can only admire and envy them. They do like a sofa, though - just before Xmas, hundreds of fans bring their own to the stadium to fill the pitch and together with the packed stands they hold a Christmas Carol concert. It's quite a sight - see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDecsk_FnekLast weekend saw Round One of the German Cup. To make it interesting first and second tier clubs are drawn away, and moreover, the lower tier clubs started their seasons several weeks earlier, giving the edge on match fitness. The Bundesliga doesn't start until this coming weekend, and 2. Bundesliga have only played two league matches. This year there were some batterings - Gladbach won 1-11 and Köln 1-9 - but also some heroic performances - Stuttgart lost at 3. Liga Rostock 2-0 (sorry BFG), Dortmund waited until 90'+5' to equalise and 120'+3' to win 1-2, and Bayern München took until 90' to scrape their 0-1 victory.
FCC have been active during the Summer with departures and also arrivals (remember them ....?) but unless I missed it there has been no mention of RD pitching up at the Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld in recent months. He used to pop in after visiting his factory in nearby Erfurt, and he would be greeted with wild enthusiasm, or least the €26 million that he was expected to put into the stadium redevelopment. Well, as we all know, Roland is not actually the Messiah - he is just a very naughty boy.
FCC to date:
28 Jul match 1 (h) Sonnenhof Großaspach w3-2 90'+6'!! att 4113
4 Aug match 2 (a) Preußen Münster w2-1 att 7234 FCC 2nd on goal difference
7 Aug match 3 (h) Hallescher FC 0-3 loss att 8024 A Saale derby but still a good midweek crowd, lured by the good start. All goals in first half
10 Aug match 4 (a) Karlsruher SC d1-1 att 11530 FCC in 7th spot
19 Aug Cup 1 (h) 1.FC Union Berlin 2-4 loss att 10600 (sold out) FCC made it 2-2 in 42' but a 45'+5' pen (2-3) was the killer blow
Next match at home to Zwickau on 27 Aug
Comments
H/T : FCC 0-1 down to FSV Zwickau, the 3.Liga's toughest defence - only two goals conceded from their five matches to date.
A penalty on 15' did the damage. The match reporter regrets that he cannot explain what happened as someone was blocking his view. The referee has made himself highly unpopular. No protection for FCC's striker, constantly held and/or obstructed, but fouls easily given against FCC. No cards yet for the villainous visitors but two yellow cards already for FCC. Sounds very much like CAFC-Peterborough ....
62' equaliser for FCC by Felix Brügmann who had replaced his brother Florian after h/t. And finally a card for the visitors. And then a second. And later a third.
73' Phillip Tietz puts FCC 2-1 up from the spot. Mad scenes!!
F/T : 2-1!! A thrilling game. Tonight's attendance 7061
Next match at Fortuna Köln 2 Sep
@MadGerman has very kindly been researching recent material concerning RD and FCC.
Curiously, there seems to have been very little activity. But one article from early June is quite interesting.
https://www.liga-drei.de/carl-zeiss-jena-unabhaengigkeit-von-duchatelet-angestrebt/
Any further news will, of course, be posted here.
Video highlights of matchday 5 FCC vs FSV Zwickau
H/T 0-0 Both sides have had chances.
FCC's Cros was shown an early yellow after a rash challenge and he continues to walk a fine line. He may be fortunate to last until the final whistle.
F/T 2-0 to the home side, who were considerably the livelier team in the second half and had goals in 67' and 84' to show for it. This was Fortuna's first home win in six months.
Att : 2150 (350 Jenaers)
Video highlights :
On 9th Sep, in the 2nd round of the Thüringen (State) Cup FCC managed a comfortable 9-0 win at Union Mühlhausen. Three goals in the first 14 minutes were a solid platform. Att: unknown
Video highlights:
It seems that RD has been to Jena. Could someone please translate - this might be of interest.
Very remiss of me .... I have some further notes for previous posts, but first a belated report on FCC's match this weekend.
Match-day 7 - after having last weekend off FCC were back in action on Friday evening, away to Eintracht Braunschweig. Despite their hosts' rock-bottom position an impressive 17.335 turned out for the game, including from Jena a fine 800 or so for a night game. FCC had collected 10 points from their opening 6 games, so naturally this turned into the dreaded banana skin fixture. FCC did reasonably well but as the match wore on they came under increasing pressure culminating in the inevitable goals conceded on 81' and 90+3', sandwiching a straight red card on 85' for Florian Brügmann. FCC remain eighth, but 3 clubs on 9 points have yet to play.
Video highlights to be added when available.
Next up - home to fallen giants 1.FC Kaiserslautern on Sat 22 Sep.
There are some well-known names in 3.Liga with considerably bigger attendances, so perhaps FCC are punching a little above their weight. Goalscoring is a problem with only 8 so far and after selling their top gun Timmy Thiele in the summer - to Kaiserslautern! The Eternal Law Of The Ex is bound to apply, albeit that TT's goals (1) are currently exceeded by his yellow cards (2). In his two years in Paradise he managed 27 ....
The recent video featuring our Dear Owner .... some notes very kindly supplied by @MadGerman (Matthias)
He advises that actually this piece tells us nothing much new.
Financial Assistance
RD has invested 6 million Euros in FCC so far, 2 million as shareholder of the club and 4 million as loans. RD now announces that the loans must be repaid if the club realises an annual surplus of 1 million Euros. That's unlikely. Therefore the money has to be seen as a gift to the club.
At the moment there is an open competitive bidding for building the new stadium in which Roland wants to participate. It's obvious that RD wants football to be played in the stadium. Although FCC wants to become financially independent of RD more money still needs to go from Belgium to Thuringia. Independence doesn't happen overnight."
Additional note - I am sure Matthias told me that as a part of DFB issuing FCC with their licence to take part in the 2018/2019 season RD was obliged to confirm he would underwrite the club's likely financial shortfall. Roland clearly sees investment in the real estate to be his best form of security. The nominal comfort offered by 50+1 is no more than a phantom once an operator like Roland goes for the jugular ....
To continue with this update and to complete the season's record to date, I must dig out a number of video highlights. There is a new channel which does not seem quite so accessible as before. (Edit: poor excuse!)
The first is Match-day 1 vs SG Sonnenhof Großaspach
Match-day 2 - FCC away to Preußen Münster
Video highlights:
Match-day 3 - FCC vs Hallescher FC
Video highlights:
Match-day 4 - Karlsruher SC vs FCC
Video highlights:
Translation: https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/zgt/dritte-liga/detail/-/specific/FCC-Praesident-Berka-im-Interview-Unterhalb-der-zweiten-Liga-ist-der-Fussball-e-1368876541&prev=search
Original: https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/zgt/dritte-liga/detail/-/specific/FCC-Praesident-Berka-im-Interview-Unterhalb-der-zweiten-Liga-ist-der-Fussball-e-1368876541
https://www.liga-drei.de/carl-zeiss-jena-unabhaengigkeit-von-duchatelet-angestrebt/
Apologies - I am reading it in translation but lack the expertise to save it in English, as has been so neatly done above.
Over the two articles - FCC want, and certainly need, RD's backing but they also want independence it seems. Well, they can't have both. ROT will know how the STVVers think about their present set-up, with the separation of club and stadium ownership. RD professes to like football, and he does manage to see FCC from time to time, but as always it is the commercialisation which interests him, not the game itself.
Looks like there's more Bundesliga 2 on BT this season which is handy. That's also a really fun and competitive league.
Video highlights of Match-day 7 - Eintracht Braunschweig vs FCC
Match-day 8
FCC back in Paradise for a much-anticipated match against 1.FC Kaiserslautern. The fallen giants are still a big name at this level and the fixture is a nostalgic one for both clubs. Jena and Kaiserslautern are cities of similar size, around 100000, but the latter's Fritz Walter stadium holds 49780 - half the entire city!!
The crowd of 8093 - a very presentable number - were treated to a highly entertaining 3-3 draw. Wins are rather scarce for FCC these days but such dramatic games will keep the interest alive.
The visitors took the lead on 38' but it took FCC only 6 minutes for Sucsuz to equalise. The match exploded into life in the last quarter of an hour, firstly with Starke putting FCC ahead on 77'. FCK duly equalised on 82' and went ahead in 88'. Felix Brügmann earned a point for the hosts in 90+2'.
Video highlights to follow when available.
Next match - FCC have what the Germans call an "English Week", namely a midweek game, and visit Sportfreunde Lotte on Tuesday evening.
Video highlights Match-day 8 FCC vs Kaiserslautern
At h/t - Lotte 1-0 FCC
Appears to have been an untidy half for FCC. Lotte are playing an aggressive, long=ball game which FCC have struggled to deal with. The goal came in 13' with a strong suspicion of offside. Two yellows already for FCC - expect early substitutions. Attendance 1414 - an estimated 150-200 Jenaers have travelled.
FCC bring on all three subs at the start of the second half!! Early in the half two more yellows. FCC taking the game to Lotte, but until 74' score remains 1-0. Then Lotte score a second, a bitter pill for FCC to swallow.
The game ends 2-0. Despite a much better second half performance FCC fell to another annoying defeat.
0-0 Att: 4571
A most welcome clean sheet, but the worrying goal-drought continues. The summer sale of hotshot Timmy Thiele makes even less sense now. The "investor" cashing in a saleable asset, perhaps - surely not? Five games without a win, and now 12th. To be fair Osnabrück are top, having conceded only five goals.
Next up - a visit to KFC Uerdingen 05 on 6 Oct.
This season, in the unfamiliar surroundings of 2. Bundesliga, HSV got off to a fair start with the first five games producing 12 points, 10 goals scored and only 5 conceded. Matchday 6 brought a catastrophe - a 5-0 home defeat to Jahn Regensburg (currently fourth). Matchday 7 was goalless away to Greuther Fürth (currently second), and on 30 Sep Matchday 8 produced another 0-0, this time to hated rivals and very noisy neighbours St Pauli. Despite three goalless matches HSV remain third but with an unimpressive GD of zero.
The city derby was attended by 1500 police. St Pauli fans were stink-bombed as they came out of the U-bahn station, and allegedly again inside the stadium. At the entrance to the away end the ground was covered in, er, Scheiße. It does not bear thinking about what will happen at the return fixture - yesterday, as always, there was violence and sooner rather than later there is bound to be a tragedy.
HSV's erstwhile Nordderby rivals Werder Bremen have had a decent start to the season but they came unstuck on Saturday against the BFG's old club VfB Stuttgart. This was despite Stuttgart giving them a bizarre own goal - a throw-in back to VfB's goalie caught him unawares, he hacked at the ball but only got the faintest of touches, and the ball ended up in the net. Ouch!!
Matchday 11
KFC Uerdingen 2-1 FCC Att: 3438 (350 from Jena)
The latest of the highly-placed opponents FCC have had to face. The visitors certainly did themselves justice, but 2nd-placed Uerdingen were just too strong. Their wily and experienced striker Aigner got away with a few little tricks, scoring both goals in the process on 35' and 53' which sandwiched Starke's fine equaliser on 39'. FCC now down to 16th, six games since the last win ....
Next match home to VfR Aalen 19 Oct
A local cup game today
SV Wacker 04 Bad Salzungen vs FCC in the Thuringia [State] Cup (eq Kent Senior Cup) 8th-Final
And a remarkably familiar score, FCC winning 8-0!! About 500 Jenaers in attendance out of an anticipated 1500 or so.
Seven different scorers - Florian Brügmann 26' Slamar 28' Tietz 44' Florian Brügmann 49' Felix Brügmann 64' Günther-Schmidt 74' Grölsch 83' Bock 86'. Three goals for the Brügmann brothers - does their Mum get to keep the match ball?
From the FCC official live text commentary : [The FCC fans are singing] Pigs RWE!! Nice Loud, Nice Together, Nice True!! RWE = Rot-Weiß Erfurt, hated and despised local rivals. Bit strong for an official club effort, wouldn't you say?
The video highlights of the weekend's Cup exploits. Bad Salzungen is a town of 20k and lies quite a distance, about 130km, across towards the west of the state. (It is also the home town of FCC coach Mark Zimmermann (1974.) Perhaps the beautiful weather encouraged so many Jenaers to make the trip for a relatively modest Cup game. From the video the home goalie seems to have enjoyed the occasion - just a shame about the eight goals, I guess ....
Enjoy :
Match-day 12
FCC 0-0 VfR Aalen
After FCC's very encouraging and positive first 25 minutes the tempo inevitably dropped and the match fell away. The live text noted in the second half - "this is no longer a game for football fans". Yet another goalless draw, this time at home to opponents lying 19th. FCC, the lowest of 5 teams on 12 points, rise temporarily to 13th. A worrying season seems in prospect. Again the question - why was top scorer Thiele sold in the summer, of all things to divisional rivals??
Oh dear .... this is from FCC's OS today:
25/10/2018
FC Carl Zeiss Jena appoints
The sports court of the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt has our FC Carl Zeiss Jena in oral proceedings for four cases of unsportsmanlike behavior of the supporters with a fine of 24,900 euros occupied.
Originally the club objected to a fine imposed on October 2, 2018 in the single judge proceedings because of the use of pyrotechnics in the home game against Grossaspach in the amount of 3500 euros. At the request of the FCC, several incidents were summarized and assessed in the proceedings.
This concerns on the one hand the burning of pyrotechnic products before and during the DFB cup match against Union Berlin on 19 August 2018, in addition, in the second half a paper roll was thrown in the direction of the assistant referee. These events have now been fined 20,500 euros. On the other hand, Jena shot spectators in the 15th minute of the third division match at Eintracht Braunschweig on 14 September 2018 in a corner kick for the hosts at least three items in the direction of the corner flag, which was sanctioned with 900 €.
Chris Förster, FCC Managing Director: "It was important for us, also with a view to the costs of litigation, to handle all pending, similar proceedings collectively. In addition, it has been found that up to € 8000 of the fine can be used by the club for security, infrastructural and violence prevention measures. "
FC Carl Zeiss Jena can appeal against the verdict and obtain the trial from the DFB Federal Court. Chris Förster: "I will coordinate with the committees and promote sustainable the continuation of the procedure. Ultimately, there is an undeniable legal rule in our community, which is 'no punishment without fault'. After all, the court expressed understanding for our legal position and, referring to the constant DFB case law, stated that it was in a dilemma insofar as that only pyrotechnic incidents could be preventively prevented by punishing the clubs. "
++++
So, more unruly fans to disappoint, anger and impoverish The Guv'nor. Wouldn't blame him if he got rid of the whole darned lot of them, all four lousy clubs, just in time for his birthday would be nice. Mind you, there's one silver lining - as per the above out of the fine FCC are allowed to hold back €8K provided they use it to spend on security-related stuff etc. Always something for Roland in the small print, bless him.