This particular story came from the USL website. It was interesting as well since it mentions a Super20 team in Austin, in addition to the PDL squad. Very interesting read, and if true, would mean we'd have 2 teams in 2012. As far as blogs, usually Twitter is the place to hear stuff. Invariably, folks find out stuff there first. The challenge is wading through what is real and what is not.
Wow, really cool! A reserve team for a PDL team, and during the first season? It just feels so unreal. In a good way, but it's just all so surprising. I follow the Aztex (and EA) on Twitter, but it looks like there was no announcement about this yet.
The way I read that, the Texas Dutch Lions and Texas FC will only be fielding Super20 teams, not PDL teams. But, yeah, I'm a bit surprised that we're fielding a Super20 team at the same time as starting a PDL team.
Just a heads up, that I hear there's going to be some new information coming out regarding the Austin Aztex PDL club this Wednesday.
Not a big surprise IMO: Paul Dalglish is the new Coach: http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/scripts/runisa.dll?M2:gp::72014+L3/Display+E+NDX+NDX+579692
Not a surprise, thanks to that apparent leak several weeks ago, but good news nonetheless. I enjoyed Dalglish's interview on Futbol en Vivo the other week. I wonder if he'll manage the Aztex according to the same principles that he brought to the Dynamo Juniors.
I never heard anything about what fell apart in Tampa. Maybe he blew it, I have no idea. But there are a lot of factors besides the level of play that could derail a manager. Ownership, money, players, etc. IIRC, that was right in the midst of the NASL/TOA split as well.
I thought Tampa had a good side in 2010. Certainly, they always played the Aztex well. Tampa didn't make the playoffs, but on a first year of existence it would be hard to hold that as a standard. Pretty sure the Mob was surprised that he was sacked, prior to the end of the season.
I have heard some thoughts on why Dalglish was dismissed from FC Tampa Bay in 2010, but don't know for sure why he was sacked. I had some of the same worries when I first heard that he would be named Aztex coach. However, I spoke with some folks that have been very close to coaching and the Aztex since 2009, whom I trust (including Adrian Heath and John Nelms). All of them gave him great marks for coaching amateur players, and getting the most out of them. So for a PDL squad, I'm less concerned if we were going straight to the professional level (whether it's Div 2, 3 or whatever). So for me, I'm giving Paul the benefit of the season. Personally, I don't hold any positive or negative towards him based on his familial history and coaching. I'm going to judge him for what he puts on the field as a product. I'll then make a decision on whether I like him or not as a manager.
Last year I thought the FCTB management felt that Paul wasn't up to par with coaching despite the team's performance (in my opinion) was a positive result for their first season. Now after FCTB's second season, perhaps it's the management and not Dalglish that is the problem. Considering that they played their 1st season at a minor league baseball field which was bad. And them move their home games to St. Petersburg in their 2nd season made it even worse. Now with USL trying to put an USL PRO Team in Tampa in 2013 and the comments made after that move, it's no wonder why local Tampa fans are feeling pessimistic right now. Perhaps I'm wrong about that, but I would like to know what opinions do the Tampa Bay fans' have about the Dalglish-FCTB management situation 2 years ago.
We spoke to Steve Holler (President of Ralph's Mob) last year on "In the Mixer" just after Dalglish had been sacked. You can listen to the podcast at the Eberly's Army website.
I'm really happy for you guys that you're going to have your team back after only one year without! The very best of luck to you! I didn't experience it directly, but it must be awful if your team disappears all of a sudden, this could actually happen in DC in the very next future, and makes me very nervous (hopefully it won't). PDL is not all that bad, especially it's better than nothing at all. A few months ago I was in El Paso and I went watching Chivas El Paso vs Laredo Heat, it was a good game and they had a crowd od some ~2200, which I think is really good for PDL. I hope you can have success and possibly move up of category in the future!
We've got some new information on the 2012 Aztex PDL and Super 20 teams at the Eberly's Army site. We'll update it as we get information coming out of the USL AGM, which will be attended by Aztex owner, David Markley.
To be honest, I think that's a fair and better way to determine the qualifying process for the PDL clubs to get into the US Open Cup. Use the clubs' last year's complete standing in the table instead of using only the early first few matches of the PDL season.
I think it's hard to say. Often teams don't have their full roster for the first few games, so those first few games aren't necessarily much of a reflection on the quality of the team. Then again, it's also pretty typical to have a good amount of turnover from one season to the next at this level, so the previous season may also not be much of a reflection on the quality of the team that goes to the Cup. Then again, what better solution is there? It's probably a decent enough decision.
We're working on a Aztex scarf, and wanted to reach out to this group for thoughts on what you would like to see on it. Conversely, are there things you do not want to see?
I wouldn't mind the new logo pluse a couple of "Come and take it canons." I've got an idea in my head (images, relative locations, proportions color and striping). I hope I don't lose it before I can talk to somebody get a good graphic representation. Generally light blue with some intermittent white striping and space for the graphic logo in center space. The stipe closest to the logo on both its left side and its right side will be a much darker blue than the background blue. Too tired. Hope to have something (an actual image file) to post on this Wednesday. But I'm depending on somebody else to illustrate, so I can't make any promises.
For a scarf design, it would be cool to see "Austin" on one side, and "AzTeX" on the other. It would also be good to see graphic(s) that are representative of Austin, like the capital building, bats, or something else unique to Austin (or commonly associated with Austin). I'd rather not see an Aztek pyramid on the scarf, but an Aztek eagle (like this one) would be cool: http://artcentergallery.com/tattoos/gallery-1/aztec-eagle-batoo-art-print-ortiz-99 .jpg Maybe have 2 bats on the ends of the "Austin" side, and an Aztek eagle on both sides of the "AzTeX" side. While I appreciate Texas History, and I'm proud to be a Texan, I am not a fan of seeing "Come and Take It" or some other symbol or slogan that doesn't directly relate to Austin. I very much get the Eberly thing. I don't get the Battle of Gonzales thing.
For those of you who are interested in volunteering with the Aztex this summer, there will be a meeting with David Markley this Saturday (January 7th) from 10:15 - 11:00 at The Lion and Rose pub off of 360 and Bee Caves. The topics of discussion will be: Introductions Vision & charter for volunteers Committee organization Brainstorming I will be there as a few other members of Eberly's Army, to throw our support behind the team. Now that we're in 2012, we'll start to see things really moving on this. Be a part of it!
I think you'll like what we've done. In the latest draft of the scarf, we've got a silhouette of the capitol dome. No Aztec pyramids or stuff. In fact the model is very clean. We should be able to get a view out for the forum next week, after we run it by some more folks.