Nashville Metros & Middle Tennessee Soccer Supporters Comprehensive Discussion

It's baaaaack.

Looks like it is a back-up. The story about the recent additions to the staff is missing.

 

Have they already had tryouts for the 2012 season? Seen on the facebook page a mention of a combine in January, but can no trace of it online anywhere???

 

I would be surprised. Don't they usually have their tryouts later on, like in March or something? I'm trying to remember.

 

I found the following on the internet tonight:

http://www.thedenimkit.com/2011/12/16/us-soccer-nostalgia-desmond-armstrong-circa-1988/

Here is the money quote from the site:

"Back to present day. Last I heard, Mr. Armstrong skipped town on Rocket City United (great club name), an NPSL team in Huntsville, Alabama, leaving considerable debt and broken promises in his wake."

I don't know what to think except I'm expecting another disastrous season.

Does anyone know anything about Brent Goulet? Is he replacing Ricardo Lopez entirely? I can't find what he has been doing recently, although I note that he and Desmond were both on the USMNT in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

 

Folks:

Any previous discussion about the likelihood or desirability of moving to the NPSL? Much easier to get excited about (and perhaps road trip to, anyone?) Chattanooga, Knoxville and Huntsville. No offense to our friends in Jacksonville, Orlando, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, etc.

 

Talked to a Metros player the other day. First try-out has been held. Games may move to Rose Park, the city park in Edgehill that Belmont University uses. At least the field would be in better shape than Ezell!

I'm hoping against hope we see an improvement on and off the pitch from last year's disaster, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Time to get some pre-season chatter going!

 

Brent Goulet - UEFA Pro badge coach. First American to coach a professional team in Europe (Elversburg). Great guy, excellent trainer and manager. Team will play with better style.

From what I heard about Desmond, good guy, professional. I heard some stories about the RCU stuff, but I've also heard negative about the club before and after Des got there.

NPSL - should be a no-brainer, but the NPSL plays so few games, but if they both played the same amount, I'd do it.

I'm looking forward to going to see the Metros.

 

There are pros and cons to both PDL and NPSL but definitely a big pro for NPSL is the nearby competition. A Nashville team playing games against Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Huntsville would be excellent. It was nice when there was a Memphis team Nashville could travel to a number of years ago. Didn't the Metros play an (embarrassing) friendly against Chattanooga FC not too long ago? At the very least, more preseason friendlies against close NPSL teams would be nice.

 

Thanks for the info on Goulet, Panic. I just hadn't seen anything on where he's been recently. Elversberg let him go in 2008. What's he been up to since then? Was he with Des in Hunstville?

Like I said, I'm hoping against hope, but I'm the eternal skeptic. It couldn't get much worse than last season's performance on and off the pitch, could it?!

 

I think he was finishing up his UEFA Pro badge.

 

Thanks. What do you think about a move to Rose Park?

 

Ezell Park is a dump. I have no idea where Rose Park is, but it can't be worse than Ezell.

 

http://belmont.prestosports.com/information/facilities/rosepark

 

Guess they'll bring in portolets and concession trucks.

Looks nice, but limited seating.

 

I don't know. It's a Metro Park, so if the club has managed to tick off the city in any way (rent, upkeep, etc.) you can bet it'll be another season at the Rock Pile that is Ezell.

 

The rock pile is a Metro park as well. If they have ticked off the city they would have been kicked out of there too.

 

Was the first tryout a secret? Nothing on the webpage or the facebook page. Any idea when the next tryout is?

 

Right you are, Titanole, but I sure don't think Metro would let them just walk over to Rose Park. A nicer facility with added wear and tear on the new field might mean a rent increase, and since they didn't bother charging admission last year other than for the Monterrey match, have no merchandising, and limited corporate sponsorships who knows where the added money would come from.

 

And I think part of their deal at Ezell is that they take care of the fields.

 

Hehe... the main field looks very bad at Ezell.

 

Regarding moving from Ezell, field conditions, sponsorships, etc., have we already forgotten?

Fifth Third inks deal with Metros

Folks, the Metros ain't going anywhere. They have a whopping 40-year lease with the city to play at Ezell Rock Quarry. And the Fifth Third sponsorship signed this summer is supposedly meant to help finance upgrades to their facilities. Upgrades that - according to the article - are meant to help the team move up the soccer pyramid. Seems to me they've dug their heels in and we better just all start accepting Ezell Park is it for the long term. Until they build their own stadium, the Metros are probably plenty happy putting along on government land with cheap rent.

 

. . . and the club will continue to play down to its expectations. I can't say as I blame Lynn and Devinder for wanting to turn over day to day control to someone else. They had been running the club a long time, and fresh blood and ideas may be what's needed. Based on current management's/ownership's usual shoe-string or worse operation last season, however, I don't expect much this season. Makes me wonder who at Fifth Third got sold a bill of goods. If I'm proven wrong (and for the sake of the sport in Middle Tennessee I hope I am) I'll step up and admit as much. For now, the ball is squarely in Desmond's and Brent's hands (or feet, as it is) to prove to the supporters that improvements on and off the pitch are forthcoming.

 

Let's not forget that there once was a nice facility planned for Ezell Park that went down the tubes back in the 90's. There's nothing inherently wrong with the location itself and no reason facilities cannot be improved. Hell, just getting an operational scoreboard would be helpful.

The main field is overused. It used to be in pretty good shape, but the club wants to be able to rent it out to local leagues as much as possible. The resulting wear and tear on the pitch is too much. I wonder if one of the improvements would be an artificial surface.

 

It's those little things (scoreboard) that have me questioning the club's level of commitment. They announced at the first match of last season that it had been struck by lightning and they were working on getting it fixed. BS, I say.

They took a crack at building, what, two or three other fields last year. Why does the main field need to get over-worked? At some point last year there were rolls of old "AstroTurf"-type artificial turf on a trailer parked out at Ezell? Is that even still there? If I were a player I'd be leery of setting foot on it for fear of wrecking my career.