FC Red Star
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- #21
Well it seems Guildford have found their buyer. They have appeared on the VMSL teams list still listed as "Guildford FC" but a closer look reveals that the management and coaching staff match that of FASA FC. FASA have registered a team in Division 3 so not sure why they would not want to build their brand by being "FASA-Guildford", or visa versa, but perhaps that is to come.
My understanding is that head coach Othmane Kabbadj runs an academy out of Adanac Park; "FASA" standing for "Field Art Soccer Academy." FASA currently have two teams playing summer league in the KSL. One is sitting second place in that "Premier" Division, though they are worlds behind run away leaders West Van FC, though ahead of VMSL Div. 1 promotion hopefuls Burnaby Metro. They also have a team in the "Friday Night Lights" Division, where they sit third, about even with recently relegated from VMSL Div. 1 Romania. As a side note it is also worth pointing out that Campo continue to rot and sit dead last in that Friday Night league without a point to their name.
It seems this all came together rather quickly with FASA's website boasting only of starting a Div. 3 team with an eye to climbing the ladder: https://www.fasacademy.ca/mens-open.html#/
At $750 a head, perhaps that explains how they were able to match Guildford's asking price. That team it appears will be based out of Andy Livingston, though no word on if this new venture might establish itself farther East to try an perhaps entice a few Guildford holdovers. I also understand Kabbadj was involved somewhat as a player with Burnaby White Eagles during their Div. 1 Championship and subsequent promotion last season and was rumoured to have been asked to coach that team in Premier this season. Obviously now he will be going in a different direction, but, again, it will be worth seeing if he potentially cannibalizes White Eagles to give his new side some senior players or if he instead opts to go with all academy kids in what you would have to feel is a recipe for disaster. I am told that assistant coach Riad Issa has some connection to Langara, so again, possibly an avenue for player recruitment there. All in all though this new side have to be considered early betting favourites to go down.
Elsewhere, we are rapidly approaching the VMSL registration "deadline" which is listed as today (July 11) on the Excellent Site. Pretty sure teams can still register after, however I believe there is a late fee. There are still three sides missing from the topflight as of this writing, one of which is NorVan, who have not registered any teams in any divisions as of yet, and you feel as though someone in the club may have dropped the ball there, as well as Metro Ford who will surely be back given that many of their lower division sides are already registered. The other team missing at the minute is Pegasus, who I believe just won 13k as champions of BC Tigers Miri-Piri tournament. Of course one would expect their return to the VMSL's top flight, however, they always seem to be loosely linked to the FVSL. I understand many of their players played summer league in the Valley and given the struggles they had last season, there was a rumour floating around near the end of the campaign that the core of Peg was eyeing a move to Masters Premier in the FVSL. It is also worth mentioning that the FVSL's Umbro Premier League is apparently expanding to 10 teams next season (I would post that in an FVSL offseason thread if there was one...). All in all I expect Peg back in the VMSL as usual, but I suppose you never know until it is official!
Am I the only one who thinks that something really, really stinks when VMSL allows those "buy and sell" agreements?
A lot of solid and hard working teams are trying very hard to earn promotions, spend years in one division, work hard, and then see how somebody simply purchases the name of a team that would otherwise fold and, voila, has a team in Premier League!
So, today it is Guildford FC FASA then tomorrow it may be Guildford FC Fraser River, completely new team, new coaches, new management, completely bypasses any competition (through various divisions) and ends up in Premier League.
Does any of this make any sense?