Bye Bye Claude – Sacking Ends AFTN’s Fun

With all the World Cup shenanigans going on at the moment, we didn’t have a moment to report the ‘sad’ demise of Claude Anelka’s latest managerial appointment towards the end of last month. So since we’ve been following his progress for you in the blog, we thought we’d bring you up to date with what’s been happening.

One of AFTN’s favourite figures of fun, Claude Anelka managed to last longer at AC St Louis than he did at Raith Rovers and also managed to make much less of a cock up of proceedings in the process.

On June 24th, the NASL club announced that “Claude Anelka finalized an agreement to cease his responsibility as head coach” and with that Claude the Fraud left another struggling club in his wake.

Claude left St Louis just ten games into their inaugural NASL season and left them not just sitting well adrift their NASL conference, but the entire USSF Division 2 as a whole, with just 7 points to their name.

As we reported before, Anelka’s record at Raith Rovers was shocking, managing just one solitary point in eight games.

His record at St Louis saw him gain his first win as manager (for which we at AFTN were gutted!), in fact he managed two in his ten leagues games in charge. His first came five matches into his reign, a 1-0 win against Baltimore thanks to a first minute goal, and his last came five games later in his last league game in charge, with a shock win away to Puerto Rico Islanders on June 12th.

Anelka’s departure ironically came when he actually had the team winning. In fact they were on a three match winning streak, for not only did they win that League match in Puerto Rico, they also recorded a 1-0 win away to PDL side Des Moines Menace in the First Round of the US Open Cup on June 15th and followed that up a week later with a 1-0 win away to fellow USSF-D2 side Minnesota.

That win set up a trip to LA to take on a David Beckhamless Galaxy side. A trip Claude was not to make as he was “relieved of coaching duties” two days after taking his team through.

Very bizarre circumstances to sack an albeit struggling manager just as he seems to be turning his side around. Very little has been written about the full reasons behind Claude’s departure, but gone he is, taking away part of AFTN’s fun for when St Louis come a calling to our Vancouver Whitecaps this evening.

Initial reports suggested that the St Louis players weren’t happy with Anelka’s training sessions and game management. His removal, along with the other matters detailed in the report, may well secure a footballing future for AC St Louis after all. Things were looking bleak, so good luck to them.

Claude’s deaprture came just five days after his more successful footballing brother Nicolas was sent packing from the French squad at the World Cup. That wasn’t a good week for the Anelka household.

Claude Anelka went to St Louis with the feeling that he deserved another chance to run a football club (no the ‘i’ isn’t missing). He got it. He failed again. Will he get another one? Stranger things have happened.

So a fond farewell Claude and just for one final time…

Claude Watch: New Club, New Crisis

Now we don’t like to kick a man when he’s down, but in Claude Anelka’s case we’ll make an exception.

A few weeks ago we reported on Claude the Fraud’s inglorious return to football with AC St Louis in North America’s NASL. Well it hasn’t got much better for poor Claude.

St Louis’ league campaign is now seven games old and the team find themselves with a record of one win, one draw and five defeats. They’re sitting on 4 points and are bottom of both the NASL Conference and USSF-D2 single table standings. Hmm, this all seems a little bit familiar!

Now we will be fair for a second. St Louis just recorded a 1-1 draw last Saturday in a very tough place to visit, Portland Timbers PGE Park. They also recorded the team’s first ever win on May 1st when they beat the equally poor Crystal Palace Baltimore 1-0, thanks to a goal in 52 seconds from Manuel Kante, the player that caused Claude to start the game mentioned in the post above with just ten men!

We were saddened by this victory of course as it was also Claude’s first ever victory as a senior football manager. We hoped he’d just have plodded along without ever winning, like his spell at the Rovers. If Baltimore hadn’t been caught so cold, he’d still be awaiting that first win. Damn them!

In this time St Louis have seen their attendance fall from 5,695 in their home opener to just 2,985 for their second home game against Baltimore. With another home game, against Tampa Bay, tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how much more it has fallen. The Club can’t afford for this to be the case.

Now to give you some background, St Louis used to be a hotbed in US football. We kept being told that it was a “great soccer city”. The current AC St Louis side is the city’s first outdoor professional men’s side for 30 years. They had the Stars for ten years in the old NASL. Hopes were high for the franchise and they had even been bidding for MLS membership before settling on the NASL. There has been talk of building a brand new, state of the art 18,500 seated new stadium if they were to get a MLS franchise.

The Club were expected to be a huge success story. The future for the growth of football clubs in the States. Now they appear to be in a very perilous position with reports coming out that they may not have enough money to see out the season and they may have to fold. Other reports suggest they will see out the season but then fold, possibly with the help of a buyout from league management.

For more details and background surrounding these problems, check out these excellent articles at Inside Minnesota Soccer and St Louis Globe-Democrat.

It’s a shame for the true football fans in the city who have desperately been waiting for a team to return. They deserve much better but clearly there hasn’t been as many of those as expected to keep the team as a viable proposition. Some are already commenting that they should have known that the writing was on the wall from the start when a man with no pedigree like Claude Anelka was appointed manager!

Claude’s position is also now rumoured to be under review and he could be set to leave the club, having failed once again to show that he has what it takes to be a football manager. I do feel for the St Louis fans though through all this. They didn’t deserve to start of their team with a man like this at the helm and if the Club does go to the wall it’s a huge blow for growing the game in the States.

We asked last time, why would someone give him another chance to fail? I’m sure the St Louis fans will soon be asking this in numbers. Of all the football managers currently looking for work around the world, why would someone give this clown a job? That’s what the St Louis fans need to be asking now.

Interesting resume Claude now has. 2004 nearly helped to ruin Raith Rovers Football Club. 2010, different country, different town, new club in crisis.

I know that St Louis’ current problems lie way deeper than Claude Anelka but it’s the manager at the helm that is ultimately responsible for bringing the crowds in through performances on the pitch. St Louis badly need to get the crowds in at the moment if they are to save their future as a club and Claude’s team don’t seem capable of giving the winning performances on the pitch that are needed.

Claude Anelka’s Magic Wand. Everything it touches turns to shit.

Caps Remain Unbeaten But Still A Work In Progress

Vancouver Whitecaps ran out 1-0 winners against AC St Louis this afternoon to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

The first ever meeting between the two sides was far from being an entertaining encounter but the most pleasing aspect was that the Caps kept their third clean sheet in a row.

The Caps starting line up saw enforced changes and by the time the game ended the Caps are going to be testing their squad depth quite early in the season.

The difference between Vancouver and a very poor St Louis side was a 19th minute Mouloud Akloul strike. The French Algerian defender couldn’t enjoy the moment of his first goal for his new club though, breaking his ankle in his fall as he put the ball in the net.

Despite the Caps outshooting St Louis 11 to 1, there was very little dangerous goalmouth action from the home side, with Jay Nolly virtually a bystander at the other end.

Greg Janicki had the best chance to add to the advantage on 31 minutes but his header from a Wes Knight throw crashed off the bar.

There wasn’t a lot more to take from the game than the three points. We’re certainly looking more solid at the back, but I just don’t see where our goals are going to come from when we come up against a team that may actually be able to score one in return.

With Portland away the next stop on Thursday, we’ll face our toughest test of the season so far. These are the games when we get to see who are our key guys and hopefully see them step up.

With possible MLS contracts on the horizon for both teams’ players, it should be an interesting encounter.

Claude Anelka – Still Not Very Good But Still Providing Hilarity!

In 2004 Claude Anelka put out an offer to football clubs. He would give them a £300,000 investment to become their manager.

The brother of the rather better known Nicolas, Claude was a football agent and a DJ, with some semi-pro experience as a player in France. He was quoted at the time as being fed up with the “crazy things” he saw as an agent in football and wanted to go into management. He had no senior coaching experience.

So, with no track record to speak of, only one Club was stupid enough to accept – Raith Rovers FC – and his appointment, along with other factors, was nearly the death of them.

All hail King Claude – East Fife hero!

Appointed both Manager and Director of Football at Starks Park for the 2004/2005 season, he was in the hotseat for a grand total of 8 games, managing just one solitary point in the process, leaving them firmly rooted at the bottom of the Scottish First Division (they eventually got relegated, thirty points away from safety).

There were a slew of strange signings. Unknown players, with no pedigree that anyone in Scotland knew of. Some of them were even from the Paris 7-a-side League!

He was removed from his role as Manager of Raith in September but continued in his role as Director of Football. This itself only lasted a matter of a few more weeks and by the end of October he was gone from Stark Park, the Club was in serious trouble and the Rovers Board was in turmoil.

His departure was much to the relief of the Raith fans and the hilarity of the East Fife ones.

When he left he was quoted as saying “It has been very hard to listen to the abuse and jeering that the fans showered upon me, week in, week out”.

He then pretty much disappered from the radar, although did pop up to manage French youth side FC Trappes. I’m sure there were others dotted about.

In May 2008, the Guardian newspaper named him as one of the ten worst football managers of all time (see HERE).

Quite an accolade! Surely with that kind of track record no one would give him the chance as a manager again. Well, apparently someone would!

Step forward new NASL expansion side AC St Louis.

Anelka was appointed their new Head Coach in December last year. He hasn’t brought over a bunch of Frenchies to the new St Louis squad, like I thought he might, but he has already made his hilarious mark in the team’s first competitive match at the weekend away to the Carolina Railhawks.

So let’s look at the situation. It’s your team’s first ever League match. In fact, it’s the team’s first every competitive match in their history. You want to make an impression. Well, Claude certainly did that!

With the game approaching kick off and the teamsheets already handed in, the referee was checking each players ID cards (as required in the League there). Slight problem. St Louis player, the experienced Manuel Kante, had left his ID card at the team’s hotel!

So Claude was faced with some decisions.

As the teamsheets were already submitted with Kante’s name on them it was too late to switch players and have Kante on the bench. He could be subbed out though as soon as the match kicked off, leaving St Louis at full strength. In the NASL/USL each team is allowed five subs anyway, so no big deal.

The other, ridiculous, option would be to start the game with ten men until Kante could recover the ID from the hotel, return to the stadium and join in the game.

I know, I know, it’s a no brainer.

Well, apparently not, as Claude chose option two!!!

Kante eventually got his ID, satisfied everything to the ref that he could play and came on after around thirty minutes! Yes, THIRTY!!! By the time he came on, Claude’s masterstroke had seen his team go two down after goals in the 4th and 28th minutes, and they went on to lose their first match by that exact 2-0 scoreline.

You couldn’t make this up! It looks like it’s going to be a fun season in store for St Louis fans. You’ll need to follow him!

Claude and his team will be coming to my Vancouver Whitecaps a week on Saturday. I don’t know whether to abuse him or sing his praises for fucking up Raith.

Probably both!