The merger had been decided two weeks earlier. 15,533 spectators attended the Gugl. The blue and white swan song took place with free admission under great security precautions, riots were feared. But there were only tears in the FC Linz annex, despite the 3-0 win.
The then presidents Franz Grad (FC Linz) and Wolfgang Rieger (LASK) had engineered the one-two that played off the blue-white fans. “There were only two options: either I liquidate a club that the public didn’t want. Or I’ll see that 250 youngsters from FC Linz are taken care of,” Grad explained at the time, explaining the reasons for the quick conclusion, which was tantamount to wiping out the former SK Vöest. “If it weren’t for Franz Grad, FC Linz would probably have disbanded last year,” said FC Linz manager Jürgen Werner at the time. “I’m a blue and white through and through, I’ve been there for over 20 years, of course this end hurts a lot.” The merger club started promisingly – until Riegers Bank went bankrupt in November 1998. That also brought LASK to the abyss, in 2001 the club, which had been bled dry, was relegated to the second division.
20 years later, Werner wrote at LASK for every success story that one had dreamed of at the merger. And the blue-white fans dream of the continuation of the derby story in autumn 2022 – if the successor club Blau-Weiss Linz is promoted to the Bundesliga.
Source: Nachrichten
