Will those who attended please let those of us who could not make it there tonight know what was presented and discussed. Thanks
The Bent Musket @TheBentMusket Bilello says there's not much Supporters can do about SSS. It isnt political at this point; it's financing #NERevs
If Kraft doesn't have the money to make this happen, why is he still an owner? This guy is possibly the biggest anchor in the entire league. He's destroying one of the four biggest markets in the country. How long will the other owners tolerate this?
How would they or could they force him out? They can't. As much as I standby my username, and want the ********er gone, it is never going to happen. The only likely scenario is he gets a good offer from another owner in another city to sell and relocate the team.
The other owners find/assemble a new ownership group and make Kraft an offer he cant refuse. Move the team to a new city. Or the current ownership groups could buy out kraft together and move the team down to Queens.
I think the Bent Musket tweeted last night that they'd be posting a recap at some point today. If you haven't, I'd recommend checking out their live tweets from the event. They were pretty thorough.
Yeah ... good idea. I found this interesting... So there were people blaming the league for having the Revs home opener the day after a qualifier ... but the Revs actually chose that?
I'm le I'm learning that reading a random pile of tweets is like picking through junk at a yard sale.
Bilello has said in a few different mediums now that they want to have as few weekday games as possible due to the poor attendence. He also referenced this in his Reddit AMA. Last night he mentioned this and the schedule only having so many dates as the reason to play during/after US matches. That was all me paraphrasing from tweets last night and memory, couldn't make it to Foxboro on a Monday.
they were, but the subject they were reporting on were rubbish, as has been the case since this franchise started.
Actually, I'll take the blame as not having a good attitude about reading short snippets, when I want more elaboration about one little thing, rather than constructing a verbal tapestry made from little pieces in my mind.
I attended last night and did my best to put their feet to the fire. I was not motivated enough as I was last year to tape record the whole thing again, I guess the apathy has already crept in... They were evasive at best about a whole host of issues. They did not answer any questions directly, and tended to make excuses. One thing I will give them credit for is their explanation of why they thought at this point it was a smarter move for player development to affiliate with Rochester, than to operate their own Reserve independently. They indicated that of the Reserve teams, all are playign the standard short Reserve schedule with the one extra home and home game vs. a USL Pro side, and that although a third option was technically on the table for a MLS team to field a Reserve team to independently play a full 30? (not researched) game USL PRO season, for 2013, not 1 MLS team is making the commitment to go this route yet, as this is still subject to a lot of tinkering moving forward. The case was made that it would be better for player development to have a minimum of 4 players play that full season schedule to really get game action than for a reserve team to just play 2 extra games. On questioning why they don't field their own PDL team for a U-23 squad, they said explicitly that they are entering into an agreement with the new Real Boston Rams this year in that capacity, but it was unclear as to exactly the extent of their relationship and involvement. On questions as to why they don't get involved more with adult leagues (LUSA, NELASA, D-One, BSSL, etc.) and ethnic communities (Portuguese, Haitian etc.) relations, I was surprised to hear a pretty direct admission of misunderstanding and negligence over the years from Bilello, and even more surprised to hear that he actually met in person with the national president of the USASA to discuss these matters explicitly and develop a plan of community involvement for the first time ever this year. I will be following up closely on this matter and remain skeptical. I blasted them for the US Open Cup debacle last year, claiming to take it serously yet refusing to run out anything close to a Best XI, and they made a lot of excuses and said indicated they willstick with the plan to play to play a game at Harvard provided they can get out of the first round this year... There was a series of questions about how to get the Morgue more involved and using video boards and programs to put up song lyrics, and facilitating sections where fans who want less than the Fort and more than the Morgue can cheer and get involved without being chastised. This was met with acknowledgement of a problem and they talked about a plan to pocket groups of season ticket holders by sections, according to cheering preferences and season ticket reps, sounds good in theory but also sounds difficult to actually execute. There was talk about providing MLS standings, weekly highlights, around the league features onthe video boards at halftime, and this was met with a noncommittal, i think dismissive response. They still do not have any full time scouts and excuses were made that no one int he league does and we cant afford it. Scouting is still YouTube, and they basically just field incoming calls from agents, picking out from what comes to them, rather than what they go out and identify. There was also more specific talk about the 12 Discovery slots and how they can be used in the securing of international players. They said they are looking for one more forward in the international market. Positive news on the injury front, Toja and Nguyen both almost 100% and will be ready before Arizona next week for full camp participation and they seemed very convinced about Sene and his coming back sooner than later, they were very adamant about Sene, seems wont be ready for hte first game, but definiteley April. They said reports of Sene being out longer are basically false, and that he will not miss many games at all, with his recovery significantly and tangibly ahead of schedule. SSS is a Dream,a nd we are never getting one. Krafts are not involved in the organization, except for Bilello's annual organizational budgeting presentation, and whatever farcical SSS talks are or are not taking place. Bottom line is ther eis not plan for SSS and is not going to happen. They all but indicated that this is just not a reality. They did indicate Jonathan meets with Garber on League level issues, and Krafts are consulted on major marketing implicated moves like face of franchise moves as in trading Shalrie Joseph, but anything short of that, they are not involved. There were a lot of softball questions as well, for which I tuned out for long periods of time. Thats all i got.
Thanks for the detailed report, I know I appreciate it, and I'm sure others do too. This part above is a real concern to me. Not that I have any YouTube videos of Bilello running around trying to find a bucket of water to put out his blazing behind, but I find this very hard to believe. Maybe they are fine-tooth-combing it with the emphasis on "full-time scouts," but there are other MLS teams who do, in fact, have scouts working for them identifying talent and helping them sign players. It is obvious, just by the results. Whether they work "full-time" for the club, or they also do something else on the side like coaching or selling Amway, who knows, but the results speak for themselves. Even the most parched kool-aid drinkers will admit that scouting/signing/integrating significant starter-level players from outside the league has been the single weakest-performing thing that the Revs do. Considering how bad they are in many other areas, this is a pretty tall statement, but I digress. How can Bilello (I assume it was him) say that with a straight face? And he obviously doesn't think much of the intellegence of his fanbase if he thinks people will believe that straight-up.
That was a nice recap, appreciate it, but there's a lot of interpretation going on there as opposed to just quotes or whatnot. Hope people don't take that as exactly how things went down. Highly suggest people check out the tweets from @TheBentMusket or @MidnightRiders for more straightforward commentary.