Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Relegation place, fists flying
Hooligan attack on Polish “Bavaria”
By Thomas Dudek
Legia Warsaw is the Polish Bayern Munich. But the record champions from the Polish capital are sinking into chaos this season. The result is a relegation zone and hooligans beating the pros. At the weekend, those of the team lie in wait.
Coming back from a lost game away from home is not a pleasant one. The mood is bad, the players are silent, some may even criticize their colleagues. Sometimes even a two-hour bus trip, as the pros from Legia Warsaw had to complete on Sunday after their 1-0 defeat at league rivals Wisła Płock, can turn into a never-ending journey.
But for the Legia professionals, the bus trip from Płock also turned into a horror trip. To a trip that the players of the prestigious club from the Polish capital were more than happy to have survived reasonably intact. Because angry fans, if you like to call them that, made for an involuntary stop just before the “Legia Training Center” in Książenice, a town on the outskirts of Warsaw. They broke into the bus and used their fists to show the players what they thought of their performance on the pitch. This was what the news portal did on Sunday evening “Interia“public.
Since then, more and more details of this new scandal in Polish football have become public. Accordingly, the angry Legia hooligans are said to have split into two groups. One was waiting in front of the training center, the second group followed the bus. The worst injured in the incident were the foreign professionals Mahir Emreli, Rafa Lopes and Luquinhas, whose head had to be cooled with ice packs, according to media reports. Emreli and Luquinhas were also released from the team doctor for the final games of the year this week. Nobody knows why it hit this trio so hard. And maybe the number of victims would have increased if the police hadn’t already been on the way to the crime scene. And while you’re with the police: According to them official opinion of the club, which was only released hours after the incident, the bus is said to have been escorted by the police.
Export hit hooligans
Incidents of this kind are not new in Polish football, whose hooligans are probably the second best-known export hit after Bayern stalker Robert Lewandowski. And certainly not with Legia Warsaw. The “Żyleta” (razor blade) is one of the most notorious curves in Europe. In 2011, one year before the European Championships, which were jointly held by Poland and Ukraine, Legia capo Piotr “Staruch” Staruchowicz made headlines around the world. After a 2: 3 home defeat against Ruch Chorzów, he slapped the then Legia professional Jakub Rzeźniczak in front of the cameras. The right-back was apparently so intimidated that he said at the later trial that he did not know who hit him in the face. Four years ago, Legia hooligans were waiting for the team bus to give the team a few “slaps” on the back of the head after a defeat at arch-rival Lech Posen. However, compared to the events of Sunday, the incident should take place four years ago according to eyewitnesses both events would have been harmless.
Supporters of Dortmund’s Borussia can also sing a real lament for Legia fans. At the Champions League guest appearance in Warsaw in 2016 one heard not only “Jew, Jew BVB” from the stands. TV viewers across Europe witnessed Legia hooligans attempting to storm the Dortmund bloc. But what should have nothing to do with hatred or aversion to the club from the Ruhr area. Allegedly, the hard core of “Żyleta”, some of which has connections to organized crime, wanted the Legia management to participate in the revenue from the sales of fan articles.
An incredible crash
This time around, however, the events are more than just another outbreak of violence by Legia hooligans. Rather, they represent the lowest point so far in a season that is sportingly disastrous for the “best football club in Poland”, as Legia prides itself on social networks. Because of the 16 league games it has played so far, the “Polish Bayern Munich” has only won four games. All remaining 12 games were lost. Thus, the club, which has won seven championships and six cup titles in the last 10 years, occupies the inglorious last place in the table. Even the two respectable successes Legia celebrated this season in the Europa League against Spartak Moscow and Leicester City are no consolation.
It would be too easy to attribute this horror season to just the hooligans or just some bad luck. Rather, this dramatic decline is the result of a club policy that has failed for years, the focus of which is club owner Dariusz Mioduski. Since a power struggle with his former partners, the businessman has been the sole owner of the traditional association founded in 1916 since March 2017. Which led to calm in the club management, but at the same time to the reduction of professional competence.
23 trainers in 21 years
Because Mioduski corresponds more to the cliché of the rich businessman who interferes but has no idea about football. Since assuming sole responsibility in 2017, the club has signed over 50 new players, according to “Transfermarkt.de”. The young players promoted to the professional squad are not included. The number of outflows is in the same range. And when it comes to coaches, there is a fluctuation at Legia, against which even Hanover’s President Martin Kind seems like a great friend of Constance. Almost every season the club started a new start in the coaching bench, which sometimes ended after a few weeks.
But with which Mioduski continued a certain sad tradition. Aleksandar Vuković, the new coach of the capital city club since yesterday and the third coach this season, is the 23rd Legia coach in the last 21 years. Which is a cheap solution for Legia in this case. The Serb, who previously played for Legia for eight years, is still on the club’s payroll anyway. Vuković was only fired in September 2020 after a year as head coach and has not found a new job since then.
It is already certain that Vuković will have to vacate his chair next summer. Desired coach Marek Papszun did not get approval from Raków Czestochowa. But whether one was asked at all is questionable. According to media reports, the cup winner last season should not have received a request from Warsaw. Which would only suit a club that is sinking more and more into chaos.