A new book claims to reveal a story of an old club that went bankrupt after being shut down in 2015, but its release is being disputed by a number of former members.
The Hockers, who played in the Premier Development League (PDL) from 2013 to 2019, are not the only soccer club that were forced to shut down after being taken over by private investors.
The Miami-based Miami Fusion have also been left with a bill for the cost of running their soccer club, the Miami Fusion FC, but that is a separate issue, according to the book, which is written by author Mike Litt.
The book’s author, Litt, has said he was initially contacted by the Hocker’s former supporters group after the book’s publication in November.
He has since been contacted by Miami-Dade County, which has asked him to cease publication of the book.
The Fusion have refused to comment on the book and the Miami-dade County Government, which owns the club, has declined to comment.
The city of Miami, however, has stated that the Fusion’s owner, the University of Miami’s Miami Fusion University, has been in financial difficulties and is unable to pay bills on time.
The club’s owners also refused to provide documents about the club’s finances to the authors, but Litt claims they are “clearly” the ones responsible for the club closing down.
Litt’s book claims that the Hocks, which have been a part of Miami-area soccer for more than a century, were taken over in the 1990s by a group of investors led by a billionaire called David Beckham.
The book says that the team’s owner had the backing of billionaire John Tesh, the former owner of the New York Yankees.
Littering around the Hocking club’s stadium, the book alleges, were “bundlers of money, drugs and guns” and a man who used to work for a drug dealer named Kevin Hock.LITT said he and his friends found the club after the collapse of a local nightclub, a place that was called the “Cigarette Alley”.
The club, however failed to survive the financial crisis that ensued after the club closed down.
The club was forced to seek bankruptcy protection in 2013, but it was eventually reopened and the HOCKS have not played since.
The fusion’s owners have also denied any connection with the Hogs, and Litt says they were never the original owners of the club.
“It’s just not true that they had any connection to the club,” Litt told The Miami Herald.
“The Fusion never had any financial relationship with the club.”
The Fusion’s owners had previously denied any financial involvement in the club and had claimed that the club was being taken down to make way for a new club.
