To many Philadelphia Union supporters, the Bethlehem Steel FC are precisely what the Union technical staff has repeatedly stressed that they are, a development squad for the first team.
But for diehard soccer fans in the Lehigh Valley, the team is far more than just a development squad for an out-of-town top flight club. So when the Philadelphia Union announced on Monday that they would be moving all but one or two of the team’s games for 2019 to Chester, the news didn’t go over too well.
“To put it bluntly, this sucks,” Mark Cole, founder of the East End Army supporters group, said.