In South Florida there have been several reports about coaches being looked at and hired to take over the position currently held by caretaker Ricardo Lopes after the sacking of Daryl Shore over at the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. Since then the Strikers have been hermetic as far as names. There were local names thrown around such as Ian Bishop, Jim Rooney and Eric Eichmann were some of the names being mentioned up until Monday night.
On Tuesday a news story emerged in Transfermarkt that the Strikers found themselves their replacement- and quite an unexpected one in Villacher SV coach Günther Kronsteiner. Talk about coming out of left field.
The 59-year-old coach was the former boss and sporting director at Austria Wien and according to reports decided to leave because of the financial conditions that his previous club where several players went multiple months last season without being paid. The crisis got deeper when auditors saw the club owed well over €100,000. Kronsteiner resigned on July 2nd and the Austrian papers were already announcing him as the next coach of the Strikers back then when they mentioned his ¨migration to the United States¨. Villacher(approximately 90 miles west of Graz) currently play in the Regionalliga in Austria, in the Mitte region to be more precise. The team ended in 5th place, but because of their money issues most players have left and the upcoming season will be one of rebuilding and avoiding relegation in that portion of Carinthia.
This article was followed up by another one that emerged in Graz-based paper Kleine Zeitung talking about the departure of coach after he was given a contract offer that was not to his liking.
90 Minutes Strong reporter Pedro Heizer also confirmed that there will be a press conference as well as a meet and greet with the new coach.
Kronsteiner was replaced by former Villacher sporting director Wolfgang Meyer, who returned to the club just days after his predecessor announced that he was leaving the club and coming to the the United States. The team has not put out an official statement on this particular issue, although they confirmed 90 Minutes Strong’s report about a press conference tomorrow at 1030am.
THIS IS A DEVLOPING STORY… WE’LL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE ON ANY HAPPENINGS IN THIS STORY
FOLLOW JUAN ON TWITTER
