You’d be forgiven to think this anecdote is about Manchester United’s Europa League exploits - instead it is that of FC United of Manchester - the Phoenix club launched back in 2005 as a protest against the ownership of the Glazers and the commercialisation of modern English football.
Things get stranger, still, as soon after they have finished their adulation of their team, the fans strike up another chant: ‘Let’s go Raptors, let’s go’.
This is for their Fenix Trophy opponents, a small yet growing force in Czech football with lofty ambitions and an ideology threaded around inclusion.
Meet Prague Raptors - a team named after a dinosaur, partnered with kangaroos, and with a plan to mix it with the best in Europe.
Two weeks before that cold night in Kobylisy, Prague, Flashscore is at another outpost on the city’s footballing map - Malesice.
It is a gloomy Saturday morning, where the grass on the pitch is being taken over by the mud of autumn, and Prague Raptors Women’s B team are set to play at home.
On the sidelines is the club owner, Daz Moss, a marketing specialist from the UK, who has been based in the Czech capital for nearly 10 years.
This is his first game of the day and he arrives just before kick-off in a branded jacket, chatting to the coach of his side before taking his place behind the barriers. He will go to three other games across the spectrum of his Raptors project before the day is out, just keeping track of his vast empire is tough enough, let alone as a ‘family hobby’.
Moss quipped: “There was a time I knew everyone’s name and everybody’s nationality but I gave up on that a while ago.”
For the team owner, the idea of owning a football club came seven years ago from a throwaway comment from his son, who wondered why they couldn’t have their own football team. It was something a lot of football fans think they would like to do, but not many go out of their way to make it a reality - let alone have 15 teams with more than 200 players.
From humble beginnings with one men’s team in the local amateur league, the club, which centres around the large expat community in the Czech capital, has grown and grown since its inception and it is now the women’s team that look set to take centre stage.
In the summer of 2024, the Raptors signed a partnership with Czech top-flight side Bohemians 1905. The ‘Kangaroos’ did not have a current women’s set-up to go alongside their men’s team, taking advantage of the groundwork put in by the Raptors to give a mutually beneficial deal for both parties. A bigger women’s network for Bohemians, and more awareness for the Raptors.
Explaining how the deal came about, Moss said: “It was a surprise to us. There wasn’t a connection between the clubs really. We had spoken to Bohemians once before, but that was several years ago.
“In the Czech Republic, the people running the (women’s) clubs aren’t always the clubs so sometimes it is like a franchise or something similar. That was the same thing that was happening with Bohemians, so technically it was other people running it using their team name and logo.
“They basically got to a point where the club (Bohemians) as a whole couldn’t agree with the other entity on what direction they wanted to go in, so they decided to go their separate ways in the summer.
“Thankfully, that other club is still going because I don’t like when clubs go out of business, so they have just changed their name.
“Bohemians still wanted a foothold in women’s football, they are interested in women’s football, but at the same point, they are focused - right now, at least - on the men’s team which makes sense from a financial and sponsorship standpoint.
“There’s actually not that many women’s clubs in Prague and obviously they (Bohemians) aren’t going to partner with Slavia, Sparta or Dukla, so it only leaves us and a couple of others.
“As a professional club, they’re probably the one that is most aligned with our values and they have a big expat following in the city, so that fits us nicely.”
The merger is the first step in an ambitious plan to take the side onto a bigger stage than both city and country. The Raptors believe there is enough of a gap in Czech football that they compete with teams for a third Women’s Champions League place within the next few years.
On the face of it, the idea feels fanciful, but when you dig down into it, the objective feels more in reach. In the Czech women’s game - much like the men’s - there is a gap between Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague and the rest. This is where Moss believes his side can fill that void.
“We both want to get into the first division, we both want to be challenging for that third European spot. We have those shared aspirations but we know it’s going to be tough getting there.”
This task, as Moss admits, won’t be easy for issues on and off the pitch. There is a tug-of-war battle between the council, developers and the club over their current home with redevelopments paramount for the security of their future. Another option, should they continue their progression, is to play at Dolicek - the home of Bohemians. This would not only move from the outskirts to the centre in terms of Prague's geography but also in the minds of the city’s people.
Moss explained: “We’ve been basically looking for our own place since we started.
“We got close with a couple but it’s very difficult because there’s not so much green space in Prague.
“And as soon as some green space becomes available, there’s some money somewhere that means that space is going to become apartments or offices or something like that.”
The current fanbase of the Raptors is similar to the makeup of its teams - a group of diverse people who call Prague their home from home. This environment sees individuals from all over the world come together to step over the line and play football. The bi-product of this is that English is the predominant language spoken on and off the pitch, something that hasn’t always been welcomed.
Moss explains: “Before we started (the team), lots of people were coming to us and saying you’re going to have racism every week and it’s going to be horrendous.
“There’s been periods where it has been. We’ve had players called monkeys and all stuff like this. We have had people been told to go back to their countries. I remember in the first year of the women’s team, we were playing in lots of very small towns or even villages and the Czech players that we had at the time were the ones coming off of the pitch crying because they understood what the fans were saying.
“It’s been tough, but I also think a lot of people have been very good with us.
“Sometimes, the way we push ourselves goes against us because I think teams enjoy playing us and get stuck in a little bit more against us.
“Compared to where we started from, there’s more expat teams… which is nice to see.”
Away from the rare unsavoury experience, this side, across all ages, has flourished. More and more players are coming into the fold, and with that, a pathway is forming. From youth ages to the first teams, players are seeing a future in blue and white.
Now with the green and white of Bohemians joining the fold, a colourful future awaits. Prehistoric in name, but certainly not in nature.
