We get closer and closer to having 50 Swiss players on our roster for our expansion team in the European League of Football (ELF). Our head coach Norm Chow and I talk with the management squad and feel we have honed in on the best players we can get from our country in the Alps.
We are feeling pretty good about the Helvetic Guards franchise!
As December rolls around and we work through the first few weeks of the month …things are looking pretty good. Players are signing and we are zeroing in on a few new coaches to fill our staff.
The guys heading up the management group wants to have a welcoming party for the team in Zurich. Sounds like Mukka Erdönmez (primary owner) wants to get some publicity about the Guards.
He also wants to inform the players … and perhaps the media… that the US coaches would be coming to Switzerland for a minicamp and also a Super Bowl party in February. Should be quite an extravaganza!
Well not so fast Kemosabe!
Just a few days before the party is about to take place … our acting GM Toni Zöller asked Norm and I to join into a zoom meeting. So, Norm and I join JC Williams, Matt Hammer, Zeki Öztürk with Toni.
Notably missing is Mukka (owner) and another investor Ferhat Kahraman (Director of Administration).
Well here comes the tidal wave of manure!
Toni … quickly gets to the crux of the matter (college phrase by the way). Our million dollar (supposedly) owner Mukka is going to pull his money out of the franchise. I nearly get up … not to throw up …but to get another beer out of my refrigerator. (Coors Light of course!)
Now I truly am beginning to regret pulling Norm into this (mis)adventure. Hell … I am beginning to have some eerily similar flashbacks of the failed league I was involved with in Australia a few years ago! What a load of BS!
Mukka was supposed to be the golden cash cow.
The guys want to know how Norm and I feel about just hanging on and seeing if we can find some new lead dog for the franchise. Well, what the hell – it’s no skin off my teeth (seriously what does that phrase mean??). I say I am in it til we can’t function. (Remember I have no money invested.)
Norm agrees stay aboard as well.
So… Toni asks us to keep this between our group and not to tell anyone of our problems. No sense in exposing Mukka at this point.
He says he has some investors who might be ready to replace Mukka. We all agree this is best for everyone to keep this quiet. Why create a problem if we might be able to fix it before it becomes public?
Immediately after our zoom call ends Norm and I get on a phone call here in the US. To say we are surprised about this occurrence would be an understatement. We had no clue about this train coming down the track to run us over.
Aside from our trust being eroded… we were just wondering what other fallout would occur. But, we both agreed that we had nothing to lose with hanging on and seeing where the path might lead.
So… we just shut up and continued forward!
Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!