I looked through my “Facebook memories” a lot recently. Many throwbacks to player signings from last year, standing on the Berm freezing to death and the general feeling of excitement that came with our inaugural year. I will still maintain that I think we had good reason to feel excited by the signings and buildup last year despite the struggles on the pitch. The extra year now gives us some perspective on what to expect, even as I try to temper my expectation from what I have seen on the field in the past two preseason friendlies it is hard not to think we’re on the right track.
We always maintained on the podcast last year the we need just a few proven producers in this league to turn us into a seriously competitive outfit. With the cohesion we enjoyed in the last few home games of the season, a couple of additions whom are seasoned veterans in this league would make all the difference.
Now I know that I was just as excited about the signing of Gasecki last year and thought he’d be the lynch pin of the defense. I thought Oskar and Musa would be the center backs and Sam would be on the outside looking in. Turns out I was dead wrong and Fink played every minute of every game.
This season seems different. The spine of the team has been vastly improved. The few proven producers we needed will incorporate the middle of the team. Cochran, Bond and Herrera look a fantastic spine and in the two games against OKC and Indy look very dangerous. There was a definite buzz in the crowd at halftime in Evansville. 6 shots to Indy’s 2 and we all knew it was a matter of time before we broke the deadlock. It was great for Herrera to break the seal and Hardware coming in for Renken looked more threatening.
The big winner was Tyler David for me. He looked a lot better starting alongside Chad in the center of the park against Indy and made a case for him to get a starting spot in Salt Lake. Chad and Tyler ran the game in the first half and considering our creative woes last season it was great to see.
Ok, so we tied both games. However we tied OKC Energy who got to the Western Conference final last year, and tied Indy11 who hammered Arizona United a few weeks ago and tied Western Conference regular season winners OC Blues. However it wasn’t like we were hanging on in these games either. We dictated play, we took the game to them rather than chasing shadows. Which is what we did last year when we played preseason against Indy.
Supporters Groups
I hear it a fair amount actually. “I just don’t understand supporters groups, why the need for them.”
Having 40 of my friends show up in the back end of Indiana on a Wednesday night for a game that ultimately doesn’t matter is why. Proud of you all. The 10 in Springfield and the 40 in Evansville. This team loves us. The players appreciate us. We represent this club in every bit as they do.
I personally don’t care if you “don’t get it.” The players do, and that’s all that matters.
Code of Conduct
Sat at Forget Me Nots talking to a few Indy fans before the game and they mentioned the new code of conduct doing the rounds. I presume they were talking about LCFC’s issuance and the reception it received. I’m not sure if it is league wide and come down from above or not. However at face value, the rules look common sense to me and the Louligans already seem to fall in line with them except for having to designate approved smoke bombers. Not exactly the end of the world.
However the reception it has received elsewhere one would seem it is.
Maybe it’s me. Most of the off season I’ve been more concerned with who the hell will score us some goals, or will the field be repaired in time. I’ve got bigger and better things to bother myself by. It must be nice to have everything go so well on the pitch that signing a waiver to let off a smoke bomb concerns you so much.
Let it go guys. Pick your battles. When you bitch about the crest, then bitch about the owner saying he’s being courted by other cities, then bitch about some plaque, then bitch about a code of conduct…… You will just get to be known as a group of fans who bitch a lot. Pick your battles. They’ll be a time when you’ll need your voices heard over something serious. Don’t cry wolf over every little thing.
Peace.
Being fair, I think understanding why this became an issue for many requires a bit of context surrounding Louisville City. It’s been easy for a few from other clubs to read over the document, shrug their shoulders and say, “looks pretty reasonable, what’s the problem?”
Part of that, for you, is that while in some ways last season wasn’t a dream season on the pitch, you guys are very spoiled off of it. Your FO buys you beer, texts you on the weekends to banter about EPL games, comes out and visits you in your section.
It’s probably fair to say that if a rules change was coming, you’d:
a) know about it in advance, and
b) have an opportunity to offer feedback about it before it was finalized. Which may or may not change anything, but you’d be heard.
Neither of these are remotely true for us. We have a very “corporate” FO, who seems to feel their best chance of getting into MLS is to “act like” an MLS club now. They are remote, distant, and not especially interactive when compared to a number of the other clubs in the league. They’re not a “2 team,” but you could be forgiven for wondering…
So we didn’t get any advance notice. We didn’t get a chance to chat about any concerns we might have, to clarify or even ask questions.
Nope, somebody simply noticed it appear on the website. Seriously, go to Louisvillecityfc.com on the main page and try and find it- it’s not “hidden”, but there’s nothing calling any attention to it, either.
Now, the content. Almost everyone agrees that most of it is fair and sensible, and like you Louligans, it’s stuff we were already doing last season (when there was no CoC in place) on our own. Nobody thinks that having to sign a waiver for smoke is the end of the world (that part’s been implemented poorly, but that’s a different story altogether). But as I mentioned above, there’s some concerns particular to our situation.
Other SG’s can joke about our plurality of SG’s or the “cosplay culture,” those are fairly central to our organically-grown supporter identity. Luchador masks aren’t like Halloween masks you can just put on or take off, so a “no mask except in your seat” policy is a concern for a number of our supporters who put a lot of effort into their gameday dress or costuming. Louisville’s own mayor has gone out of his way for photo ops with those guys, so it’s not like it’s just one numpty in the back.
And having the rules say you only get “supporter exemptions” when you’re part of an “approved supporter group,” and the only approved supporter group is The Coopers, is a real tone-deaf move when a lot of us aren’t- for one reason or another- interested in being Coopers. Making the “exemption zone” the supporter’s section rather than a single favored group would have been a reasonable thing, but of course since they just slipped it out there and didn’t talk to anyone (not even the Coopers) about it, well, fait accompli, right?
I genuinely don’t mind being thought of as a vocal support by the FO. I like that they’ll have to consider the blowback and fallout of anything they do that might disrupt what we’ve built. Because the FO didn’t build it, we did. It’s a symbiotic thing. If we had the trust and relationship you guys do, or an open and receptive line of communication, things would be different. But we don’t, so all we’ve got is torches and pitchforks.
I’ll agree they won’t always be wisely used. LOTS of us ended up feeling used over the Plaque thing when we found out that the reality of the situation wasn’t exactly as the owner had described, and that he was just winding up the mob as a negotiating tactic. Fool us once…
Anyway, don’t mean to blog on your blog, mate. Just want to make sure when we’re being assessed, it’s from a position of understanding, not just a cursory glance and snap judgment.