Shocked Sockers Supportive of Owners

Though they taken by surprise, Socker players said Monday they were supportive of management’s efforts to regroup from dire financial straits after learning the club had filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 in Federal Bankruptcy Court.

“Nobody knew,” Socker midfielder Branko Segota said. “It was kind of shocking.”

But at least the information they were receiving was honest, said defender Brian Schmetzer.

“I went through two owners in Seattle, two in Tulsa and one’s gone here,” Schmetzer said. “I’ve heard these kind of meetings before. You never want to hear your livelihood might cease. But in the past, I’ve heard so many times that everything is fine. I appreciate that they came out and told us the scoop.”

After practice, the Sockers expressed support for Ron Fowler, chairman of the board of Sockers Management Inc. and Socker president Ron Cady. A couple of Sockers pointed out that unlike past seasons, they received all their paychecks on time this season.

“I feel compassion for them,” midfielder Brian Quinn said. “It seems that without them there would have been no Sockers in 1987-88. They put their own money in.”

Defender Fernando Clavijo: “We can’t blame them for everything that is going on. I hope these people stay with the team. “

And Segota hopes he can stay with the team. Segota has said that he would rather play outdoor soccer in Europe than accept a required 15% to 30% salary cut on his $200,000 per season salary, but on Monday said he plans to meet with Fowler and Cady to discuss his situation.

“I do want to stay in San Diego,” Segota said. “I want to try and help and make this work. We have to work together to try to keep the nucleus of this team together.”