Pre-game.
Meh. This is the most pointless game since our last game and until our next one. MLSE is probably silently thanking the protesting fans for giving people a reason to come out and use their tickets they bought back in the day when we still had hope.
Academy kids, players playing for pride and next years paycheque, and maybe revenge for the annoying theatrics in Panama, that's all we've got to look forward to really. I'll be amazed if the crowd gets over 5,000.
I can't imagine there's many people who read this who don't also read The Yorkies, but they've got a very funny pre-game post up, check it out. It'll be by far the most entertainment you'll get out of this match.
Post-game.
I got to the stadium to find a bird had shat on my seat, but a win, even a meaningless one was a nice way to end the season at home, so I'll keep this post to the positives. Nick Labrocca had a fantastic game, and Academy call-up Ashtone Morgan looked really good, linking up well with the attack from left back. At about the 70th minute mark, he had a great move and one-two with De Ro and forced a good save from their goalie, that would have been a great moment if it had gone in . Nana Attakora's goal was a very nice free kick play, and a clean sheet is always welcome. Another positive, to their credit, Arabe Unido were a lot less divey than most people would have expected. All in all, 8 points and 3rd place in that group really isn't that bad of a result, if only Preki hadn't cost us the game in Panama, who knows where we'd be.
As for supporter protests, the Red Patch Boys and North End Elite were both quiet again, and their sections were very sparse, there was certainly a lot less green that at Saturday's game, though maybe that was due to people having to wear coats. U-Sector was much more heavily represented, and especially towards the end of the game, they provided a good atmosphere, serenading Danny Dichio with Happy Birthday was a very nice touch. The attendance was never annnounced, I'd guess somewhere at about 7,000 or so, under the circumstances more than I would have thought.
Overall, it's probably for the best that there's just the one away game left. I'm personally looking forward to the MLS cup, and hopefully a very productive off-season. I want to believe things will be better next year, I really do.
Showing posts with label Disgruntled fans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disgruntled fans. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
How bizarre, how bizarre.
Saturday's game was, in many ways, a very strange one. The deliberately subdued atmosphere due to the Red Patch Boys and North End Elite protests. Dan Gargan as captain. TFC, without Dwayne De Rosario, Chad Barrett, Adrian Cann and Stefan Frei, arguably our 4 best players this year, playing a decent game against a good team. Maicon Santos scoring one of the best goals in TFC history. Jacob Peterson scoring. Nicholas Lindsay putting in one of the best performances by a TFC winger in a long time. A double sending off after an incident that almost led to a full on brawl. Columbus' two goals both scored by goalies, their first bounced off the bar and then off John Conway's back and in, it was very charitably not given as an own goal, and the second scored by their goalie Will Hesmer, going up in desperation for an injury time corner. The only thing weirder would have been if TFC actually won, but alas we didn't quite get that one.
The game itself was fairly meaningless so I won't talk much about that, but I'd say that was the best game we've played under Dasovic so far. Santos and Lindsay had great games (I feel bad for Lindsay, his substitution got lost in the chaos after the red cards, if anyone deserved a standing ovation off the pitch it was him yesterday) and were ably supported by Nick Labrocca and Jacob Peterson. I was also happy for Dan Gargan to be given the captaincy in De Ro's absence. With Nick Dasovic talking pre game about how players have been showing their character recently, that decision speaks volumes.
The main talking point though is of course the continuing supporter dissatisfaction and the protests, which continue to get attention in the media, even going as far as the New York Times.
It could be argued that the game showed how much of a minority the more hardcore supporters groups members are, an argument used by the Front Office in the recent townhall meetings. Despite the promotion of the "Wear Green" protest by the Red Patch Boys, TFC red was still by far the most prominent colour in the stadium. The silent treatment was in a way also quite ineffective, though U-Sector never made any official decision, many of their members chose not to let their gripes with the front office get in the way of supporting the boys on the field. This combined with most of the stadium continuing their usual support, not singing all the time by any means, but reacting to the play, cheering goals, booing the ref and so on, meant that there was still atmosphere in varying degrees, though in that respect this was one of the more entertaining, incident filled games all year, so probably not representative of the average experience. Probably the best representation of fan anger wasn't any of the organised displays but instead the spontaneous and widespread booing of the announcement thanking fans for coming this season and reminding them to renew for next year, followed by the very audible booing of Julian De Guzman after he skied a shot way over the bar early in the game.
To me though, while not as effective or widespread as many might have hoped it was still successful, and a very good representation of what the could happen to TFC if things continue to slide. It was very reminiscent of the crowd at the Chivas game, and at many other MLS grounds, a small supporters group singing throughout the game, and then plenty of empty seats and sporadic cheering as the game goes on in the rest of the stadium, but often eerily quiet enough for any reasonably big away contingent to be heard, and the Crew fans' "Guillermo" chant could certainly be heard often from my seats in 227.
If the team keeps alienating supporters, this is what it will become, it won't be the end of the world, the crowds won't completely disappear, the club will keep going, and if the team starts winning the crowd size will probably bounce back to be decent, essentially we'll be an average MLS club. But given the potential that still exists (even the angriest supporters desperately want to have something to cheer about again), what it could be, and especially given what TFC started with, average would be a terrible shame and a real wasted opportunity.
The game itself was fairly meaningless so I won't talk much about that, but I'd say that was the best game we've played under Dasovic so far. Santos and Lindsay had great games (I feel bad for Lindsay, his substitution got lost in the chaos after the red cards, if anyone deserved a standing ovation off the pitch it was him yesterday) and were ably supported by Nick Labrocca and Jacob Peterson. I was also happy for Dan Gargan to be given the captaincy in De Ro's absence. With Nick Dasovic talking pre game about how players have been showing their character recently, that decision speaks volumes.
The main talking point though is of course the continuing supporter dissatisfaction and the protests, which continue to get attention in the media, even going as far as the New York Times.
It could be argued that the game showed how much of a minority the more hardcore supporters groups members are, an argument used by the Front Office in the recent townhall meetings. Despite the promotion of the "Wear Green" protest by the Red Patch Boys, TFC red was still by far the most prominent colour in the stadium. The silent treatment was in a way also quite ineffective, though U-Sector never made any official decision, many of their members chose not to let their gripes with the front office get in the way of supporting the boys on the field. This combined with most of the stadium continuing their usual support, not singing all the time by any means, but reacting to the play, cheering goals, booing the ref and so on, meant that there was still atmosphere in varying degrees, though in that respect this was one of the more entertaining, incident filled games all year, so probably not representative of the average experience. Probably the best representation of fan anger wasn't any of the organised displays but instead the spontaneous and widespread booing of the announcement thanking fans for coming this season and reminding them to renew for next year, followed by the very audible booing of Julian De Guzman after he skied a shot way over the bar early in the game.
To me though, while not as effective or widespread as many might have hoped it was still successful, and a very good representation of what the could happen to TFC if things continue to slide. It was very reminiscent of the crowd at the Chivas game, and at many other MLS grounds, a small supporters group singing throughout the game, and then plenty of empty seats and sporadic cheering as the game goes on in the rest of the stadium, but often eerily quiet enough for any reasonably big away contingent to be heard, and the Crew fans' "Guillermo" chant could certainly be heard often from my seats in 227.
If the team keeps alienating supporters, this is what it will become, it won't be the end of the world, the crowds won't completely disappear, the club will keep going, and if the team starts winning the crowd size will probably bounce back to be decent, essentially we'll be an average MLS club. But given the potential that still exists (even the angriest supporters desperately want to have something to cheer about again), what it could be, and especially given what TFC started with, average would be a terrible shame and a real wasted opportunity.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
A mangy flea-ridden pigeon.
My post yesterday called for a Scrooge like epiphany and changing of ways from the MLSE higher ups, and in a way, that's now what we have. Daniel Girard's article in The Star has Tom Anselmi in a remarkable and unexpected mea culpa.
While it's easy to despair on that front, the fair thing to do would be to wait until there's firm action taken before judging too harshly, so instead let's move on to what is being done to fix the "royal screw up" with season tickets.
An email was sent out to TFC's mailing list and posted on the club's website saying how sorry they are, and inviting people to a series of townhall meetings over the next week or so, which could be very interesting, but what did they actually do?
TFC fans know that with two extra teams in the league next year, there were always going to be extra games in the season ticket package and overall prices were going to go up because of that, but what most people are angry about is yet another increase in the per game cost, and the fact that tickets to this years MLS cup final were automatically included whether we liked it or not, whether TFC is there or not. So that must be what they addressed right?
Nope. Instead, with no mention of the MLS final or per game increase issues, we get the news that tickets for 2 Concacaf Champions League games will be taken out of the package and the deadline for renewal extended to October 22nd. So instead of paying for those 2 games, then getting a refund if TFC don't qualify, we don't have to pay until TFC qualify. That's nice, for sure, but really misses the point of what people are angry about, and has in effect made people angrier, giving the impression that they think they can placate everyone with a token gesture like this along with a few compliments about how Toronto has the best fans in MLS, and how they're looking forward to showing the rest of MLS and the soccer world how great our fans are this November.
I suppose it's a start, but it's hardly the big turnaround needed to improve supporter relations. To belabour my scrooge analogy even further and for the last time I promise, they haven't gone out and bought the biggest goose in the shop for our christmas dinner, they've given us a mangy flea-ridden pigeon they found dead on the street, and they expect us to be thankful for that.
This Saturday's game against the Crew should be interesting, the Red Patch Boys will be wearing green rather than the usual red, and the North End Elite are planning a silent protest, no standing, chanting, clapping, no nothing. The Front Office has a long way to go to get people back on side.
First of all, the chief operating officer of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment is “pissed off” about the poor performance of Toronto FC this season, which will see the team miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year. He also admits the club “screwed up royally” with its season-ticket renewals.It seems he recognises the need for action on both the on pitch and off pitch side of things. For me the most important thing for the future of the club is the on pitch product, so let's start there. Anselmi seems alarmed that Mo and Preki made so many changes, as opposed to going with the plan of making“a couple of tweaks that would put us over the finish line” and into the playoffs. I'm concerned that he felt last year's over budget division-riddled squad was a couple of tweaks away, and also very alarmed that he seems to see making the playoffs as the finish line, but I'll let that go for now, as this is the depressing part.
And he vows to “get this fixed real quick” by re-jigging season ticket packages and hiring the right general manager to improve on-field results.
“At Maple Leaf Sports, we’ve been accused at length about suits like me interfering with the team. (This is) proof positive, we don’t interfere.“We had a general manager and a head coach who played together on both sides of the ocean, won a championship together. You would have thought that they were on the same page. We stayed out of their hair and let them do what they did and maybe that wasn’t the right thing.”
Anselmi insisted that he and other MLSE executives aren’t looking to run the day-to-day operations of the team. But rather than a “one-man band” as under Johnston, he said the new GM will have soccer people around him in the front office, including interim GM Earl Cochrane and Jim Brennan, who earlier this season retired to move to the front office as Johnston’s assistant.So the lesson he's apparently learned is that he should be interfering more rather than letting whoever he hires next do the job their way! While the idea of having soccer people around the new GM is a very good one, it seems that Jim Brennan and Earl Cochrane are definitely going to be a part of that, continuing Anselmi's investment in their potential rather than viewing getting whoever it takes to win as a priority. To recap, it seems whoever they hire won't have independence to bring his own people in, will have Anselmi's pet projects pushed on him and won't be left alone to do things their own way. That should get us some quality applicants.
While it's easy to despair on that front, the fair thing to do would be to wait until there's firm action taken before judging too harshly, so instead let's move on to what is being done to fix the "royal screw up" with season tickets.
An email was sent out to TFC's mailing list and posted on the club's website saying how sorry they are, and inviting people to a series of townhall meetings over the next week or so, which could be very interesting, but what did they actually do?
TFC fans know that with two extra teams in the league next year, there were always going to be extra games in the season ticket package and overall prices were going to go up because of that, but what most people are angry about is yet another increase in the per game cost, and the fact that tickets to this years MLS cup final were automatically included whether we liked it or not, whether TFC is there or not. So that must be what they addressed right?
Nope. Instead, with no mention of the MLS final or per game increase issues, we get the news that tickets for 2 Concacaf Champions League games will be taken out of the package and the deadline for renewal extended to October 22nd. So instead of paying for those 2 games, then getting a refund if TFC don't qualify, we don't have to pay until TFC qualify. That's nice, for sure, but really misses the point of what people are angry about, and has in effect made people angrier, giving the impression that they think they can placate everyone with a token gesture like this along with a few compliments about how Toronto has the best fans in MLS, and how they're looking forward to showing the rest of MLS and the soccer world how great our fans are this November.
I suppose it's a start, but it's hardly the big turnaround needed to improve supporter relations. To belabour my scrooge analogy even further and for the last time I promise, they haven't gone out and bought the biggest goose in the shop for our christmas dinner, they've given us a mangy flea-ridden pigeon they found dead on the street, and they expect us to be thankful for that.
This Saturday's game against the Crew should be interesting, the Red Patch Boys will be wearing green rather than the usual red, and the North End Elite are planning a silent protest, no standing, chanting, clapping, no nothing. The Front Office has a long way to go to get people back on side.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A Christmas Carol, TFC style.
I've just returned from vacation, during which I saw TFC games against Seattle and Chivas, two very different sides of the MLS experience, and seeing as how TFC was already out of contention for the playoffs, it really gave me a chance to focus less on the games and more on the overall atmosphere surrounding both clubs, and how it could relate to TFC and their future, and it all seems to have a very Scrooge like theme to me. Think Tom Anselmi as Ebenezer Scrooge, Paul Beirne can be Bob Cratchett I suppose, and Tiny Tim? Young and permanently crocked, step up Emmanuel Gomez.
Anyway, first up Seattle.
1. We have grass, Seattle has plastic.
2. Our kits are better.
3. We don't have advertisements broadcast over the loudspeakers during the game.
That's it. It's been over a week since we played in Seattle, and those are still the only ways I can think of that TFC and being a TFC supporter is better than what Seattle has, and one of those is merely a subjective matter of taste.
A list of ways that the Sounders are better than TFC would take a long long time, but it obviously all starts at the top. Whereas MLSE is very much a business that is expected to make ever increasing profits, Seattle has owners in Drew Carey and Paul Allen that are a) independently wealthy and b) soccer fans, so their main motivation is winning, and profit (and with the size of the crowd and the way merchandise was flying off the shelf, there's got to be a ridiculous amount of profit there) is secondary.
Unlike MLSE's cautious approach, starting with Mo Johnston, and deciding it wasn't worth spending money on a DP right away, right from the start they were committed to winning, illegally luring then coach of the year Sigi Schmid away from Columbus, and signing good players including DP Freddie Ljungberg. The Ljungberg experiment went wrong earlier this year, but they reloaded, including signing striker Blaise Nkufo and Uruguayan world cup player Alvaro Fernandez, and have recovered from a slow start to work their way into a playoff spot again.
The difference in the quality and depth of squads was shown most effectively in the substitutes during the game, Seattle bringing on Fernandez and Nate Jacqua who scored 9 goals last year which is more than anyone except Dwayne De Rosario has managed in any TFC season. TFC? Well we got Nick Garcia, O'Brian White and recent academy call-up Nicholas Lindsay, and our DP striker? Mista pulled himself out of the line-up pre game with a foot injury.
All this ambition, winning, playoff appearances and US Open triumphs (Seattle won their second consecutive last wednesday, beating Columbus in the final) have kept the fans coming and involved, and made sure Qwest field remains a genuinely exciting place to watch a game. With some very noisy supporters groups, joined occasionally in the more simple chants by the rest of the sold out 36,000+ crowd, and with a real anticipatory buzz throughout the stadium, it was a great experience. This was Christmas past, a reminder of TFC's early days when the stadium was packed and fans were excited just to have a team, before 4 years of constant ineptitude sucked the life out of the more casual BMO field attendees. Basically TFC crowd circa 2007 + winning = Sounders crowd. I'm officially jealous, hopefully there's still a chance that sort of atmosphere can return if the right moves are made and we finally start winning.
If Seattle was a great experience, and an example of what TFC can hopefully be again if they do things right, then last Saturday's game against Chivas is the other side of the coin, TFC's depressing ghost of Christmas future, what will happen if TFC continues to stagnate and lose and the front office continues to alienate people with ticket price increases and their seeming indifference to supporter concerns.
It's not all bad there by any means, they do have a couple of supporters groups doing their best, the ones I met were very friendly, as well as amusingly contemptuous of Preki, but they're fighting what right now seems to be a losing battle against a half empty stadium and a barely interested crowd who seemed most excited when the wave got going.
The bit that really scares me, and what I really hope to never see at BMO field, is what the club does to try and get the crowd involved. A mascot, cheerleaders, hundreds of people on the pitch involved with the pre-game stuff, all the usual North American razzmatazz that TFC refreshingly decided to avoid at first. Even worse was loud music and "goooooooooooooooooooooolllll" after each goal, drowning out the crowd at the one time they actually do get excited. Terrible. If the crowds don't come back to BMO and they end up having to resort to that sort of thing to try and attract new fans, well, that might be the moment I decide to give up my season tickets.
So, TFC are clearly at a crossroads, about to start again, with a new management and coaching team to be hired and a squad to be rebuilt. Hopefully this time they don't go cheap, but instead, Scrooge sends a boy to buy the biggest goose in the shop window, copying Seattle's plan and getting the best people, price and legalities be damned. If not, well the future could well be a pretty bleak one.
Anyway, first up Seattle.
1. We have grass, Seattle has plastic.
2. Our kits are better.
3. We don't have advertisements broadcast over the loudspeakers during the game.
That's it. It's been over a week since we played in Seattle, and those are still the only ways I can think of that TFC and being a TFC supporter is better than what Seattle has, and one of those is merely a subjective matter of taste.
A list of ways that the Sounders are better than TFC would take a long long time, but it obviously all starts at the top. Whereas MLSE is very much a business that is expected to make ever increasing profits, Seattle has owners in Drew Carey and Paul Allen that are a) independently wealthy and b) soccer fans, so their main motivation is winning, and profit (and with the size of the crowd and the way merchandise was flying off the shelf, there's got to be a ridiculous amount of profit there) is secondary.
Unlike MLSE's cautious approach, starting with Mo Johnston, and deciding it wasn't worth spending money on a DP right away, right from the start they were committed to winning, illegally luring then coach of the year Sigi Schmid away from Columbus, and signing good players including DP Freddie Ljungberg. The Ljungberg experiment went wrong earlier this year, but they reloaded, including signing striker Blaise Nkufo and Uruguayan world cup player Alvaro Fernandez, and have recovered from a slow start to work their way into a playoff spot again.
The difference in the quality and depth of squads was shown most effectively in the substitutes during the game, Seattle bringing on Fernandez and Nate Jacqua who scored 9 goals last year which is more than anyone except Dwayne De Rosario has managed in any TFC season. TFC? Well we got Nick Garcia, O'Brian White and recent academy call-up Nicholas Lindsay, and our DP striker? Mista pulled himself out of the line-up pre game with a foot injury.
All this ambition, winning, playoff appearances and US Open triumphs (Seattle won their second consecutive last wednesday, beating Columbus in the final) have kept the fans coming and involved, and made sure Qwest field remains a genuinely exciting place to watch a game. With some very noisy supporters groups, joined occasionally in the more simple chants by the rest of the sold out 36,000+ crowd, and with a real anticipatory buzz throughout the stadium, it was a great experience. This was Christmas past, a reminder of TFC's early days when the stadium was packed and fans were excited just to have a team, before 4 years of constant ineptitude sucked the life out of the more casual BMO field attendees. Basically TFC crowd circa 2007 + winning = Sounders crowd. I'm officially jealous, hopefully there's still a chance that sort of atmosphere can return if the right moves are made and we finally start winning.
If Seattle was a great experience, and an example of what TFC can hopefully be again if they do things right, then last Saturday's game against Chivas is the other side of the coin, TFC's depressing ghost of Christmas future, what will happen if TFC continues to stagnate and lose and the front office continues to alienate people with ticket price increases and their seeming indifference to supporter concerns.
It's not all bad there by any means, they do have a couple of supporters groups doing their best, the ones I met were very friendly, as well as amusingly contemptuous of Preki, but they're fighting what right now seems to be a losing battle against a half empty stadium and a barely interested crowd who seemed most excited when the wave got going.
The bit that really scares me, and what I really hope to never see at BMO field, is what the club does to try and get the crowd involved. A mascot, cheerleaders, hundreds of people on the pitch involved with the pre-game stuff, all the usual North American razzmatazz that TFC refreshingly decided to avoid at first. Even worse was loud music and "goooooooooooooooooooooolllll" after each goal, drowning out the crowd at the one time they actually do get excited. Terrible. If the crowds don't come back to BMO and they end up having to resort to that sort of thing to try and attract new fans, well, that might be the moment I decide to give up my season tickets.
So, TFC are clearly at a crossroads, about to start again, with a new management and coaching team to be hired and a squad to be rebuilt. Hopefully this time they don't go cheap, but instead, Scrooge sends a boy to buy the biggest goose in the shop window, copying Seattle's plan and getting the best people, price and legalities be damned. If not, well the future could well be a pretty bleak one.
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