Bold soccer thesis:

“Anton Bruckner would be a blue and white fan today!”

Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896).(Bild: FC Blau-Weiß)

Surprise! Not many people expected FC Blau-Weiß to snatch two points from Austria in Vienna with a 0-0 draw. Nevertheless, a theory put forward by the managing director of the Bundesliga newcomers caused much, much more astonishment . . .

"I don't know where Christoph Peschek got this idea about Anton Bruckner. I prefer to listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers - that's my band," says FC Blue & White coach Gerald Scheiblehner. On the day after the 0-0 draw at Vienna Austria, however, a call from Ronivaldo sounded like music to his ears. "Although my knee is still slightly swollen, everything is okay - but it was just a knock," said the injured goalkeeper, giving the all-clear.

Which was at least not a new setback for the striker and therefore for the club. Nothing like this year's points split after 22 rounds, without which the promoted team would have been saved long ago. None like not being promoted as second division champions in 2020/21 due to the lack of first division infrastructure at the time. And, of course, none like the obliteration of predecessor club FC Linz through the merger with LASK in 1997 . . . 

This is one of the reasons why Blau-Weiß managing director Christoph Peschek recently congratulated the Brucknerhaus Linz on its 50th birthday with these sentences: "Bruckner was a traditionalist and an avant-gardist. He experienced numerous setbacks, but always got up again and became one of the most important composers of his time . . ."

We can therefore identify with his artistic career in particular.

Christoph Peschek über Anton Bruckner

And further: "We also combine tradition with innovation, have always had to deal with setbacks, but never give up and consistently go our own way. That's why we can particularly identify with his artistic career . . . " before concluding: "We are convinced that Bruckner would be a fan of FC Blau-Weiß Linz in this day and age!"

The team would have suffered in Vienna despite the 0-0 draw with the Linzers, as Blau-Weiß missed too many chances. Nevertheless, the draw was not a setback for coach Scheiblehner, but "a point gained."