This is incredible. Major, major props to the Front Office. From GoSounders.com: Josh Mayers of the Seattle Times, tweeted earlier today…Sounders to give fans their money back after LA loss. Season ticket holders will be credited with a game for next year. And Don Ruiz of the News Tribune has noted:General manager Adrian Hanauer said the only thing impressive about yesterday’s game was the full-90 showing of the fans, and therefore he suggested the idea and it was accepted.
Btw, I was reminded of this from earlier in the EPL season: Wigan stars count cost of refund Wigan's players are to personally refund hundreds of supporters who bought tickets from the club for the 9-1 hammering at Tottenham on Sunday. The maximum total pay-out to fans who bought tickets at the DW Stadium would be over £15,000, BBC Sport understands. "We feel that as a group of players we badly let down our supporters," said Wigan captain Mario Melchiot via the official club website. "This is a gesture we have to make and pay them back for their loyalty."
Quotes from Adrian Hanauer: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soundersfcblog/2011823740_sounders_fc_to_pay_back_its_se.html This one stuck out a lot: "It just wasn't good enough. It's not a precedent. We don't plan on giving people money back every time we have a bad game. But as the owners of the club, we reserve the right to do whatever we think we need to do to treat our fans the way they've treated us." We have a solid Front Office, ladies and gentlemen.
More awesomeness from Hanauer: "When you look at the results you see the Seattle Sounders in last place in the West this morning. And that's just not frickin' acceptable. Just not while I'm involved. I hate to be the 'if heads have to roll' kind of guy, but we're just not going to remain in last place. Not if I'm involved."
Hanauer on potential team changes: "Short term - and we do this already - but short term we can get more aggressive in our conversations when teams call us and say 'Is this guy available?' or 'Are you interested in that guy?' Maybe losing a guy with a little more talent and gaining a guy with a little more passion and heart is going to be worth the trade. I know that our fans care abour heart and passion and results, and again possession is certainly part of the game. And I'm a big fan of the beautiful, but the beautiful game ain't so beautiful for the home team if they're losing. Especially if they're losing like that."
I apprecitate the gesture by Hanauer and the FO to give the fans their money back, but what I like most are the quotes where he's not happy about being in last place, and willing to make changes, even if it means losing some talent and gaining more heart. I don't want to be complacent with being average. And it seems neither does Hanauer. Good. I think the odds of losing Montero in the summer transfer window, are now 100%.
The money is meaningless. The sentiment is also meaningless unless they do something about it. Keller, Hurtado, Riley, Vagenas, Sturgis and Evans could all not play next week and that would be very fine with me. Also, abandon the 4-3-3 unless you have a center forward, which we do not have today. Montero is not capable of that position and Evans is not a forward, so it doesn't make sense anyway. My preferred lineup for next week: ----Jaqua---Montaño-------- Zak----Ljungberg----Noonan ----------Ianni------------ Wahl-Marshall-Graham-Scott ----------Boss-------------
Hmm. Not sure I'd axe our entire backline like that. That looks like an Open Cup roster. Especially because Gonzalez is 80 times better than any of those guys. But I suppose we're all still angry about how shitty Hurtado played.
This is dumb. So are they going to keep giving refunds after the next few home beat downs? I'm wondering if they are basically just giving a refund now that they were going to give season ticket holders anyway. But doing it with a PR slant to make it look like they care so much about the fans..?
I swear you're saying something, but I'll be damned if I can make it out. At any rate... props to the front office. This is how you develop a fan base to stick with you through thick and thin. Yeah it's been a bit frustrating so far this year, but I believe they want a winner on the field, rather than be a welfare team a la FC Dallas.
Wow.. Keller and Gonzalez have one bad game and you want to throw the grenade into the line-up? Talk about your overreaction. That line-up guarantees a loss against NYRB and a very bad loss as well...
I like it, even though it might be a little too early to really start panicing. I dont want to support a club that thinks they can put out a bad product onto the field and think the fans will show up regardless. I'm glad the FO is making sure we know that isn't the case. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but I also view this as a bit of undermining of Sigi. The FO is stepping in to deal with some locker room/motivation issues.
I suppose it depends on what your definition is of "necessary". Will we see another 4-0 loss at Qwest? At some point, most certainly, whether it's this year or ten years down the road. So this isn't a precedent by any stretch of the imagination. But clearly the play on the field of late has been chock full of mental mistakes to out and out laziness of some. Perhaps the goal is to remind the players that the fans have shown the team a tremendous amount of respect and patience, but the players haven't earned it. It's a carrot for the season ticket holders and a stick to the players. To make this work, there has to be a shake up on the field. Somebody, maybe two somebodies, who has a cemented position, has to sit (my votes go to either Marshall or Montero, but what do I know). At any rate, Schmid has to do something or else this gesture will be nothing more than a PR stunt. A PR stunt that benefits us season ticket holders, but a PR stunt nonetheless.
I think galaxy gal just earned LA a ton of bad karma. Those kinds of comments are unwelcome. It just doesn't rub off well...your team just embarrassed us yesterday, there's no need to rub our noses in it. It's not about the loss. It's about how the team mailed it in after the 3rd goal. There was no honor in the way the team performed. Just as they appreciated the fans' gesture of staying the full game, we appreciate this gesture of restitution.
I think this is more than just because the team lost 4-0, it's because pretty much the entire team stopped giving a rat's ass about the game after the second goal. 99 times out of 100 Keller will get the save on the first goal and the second goal I don't think anyone could have stopped or prevented, but the team's reaction to that second goal is what was unacceptable to the ownership. Keller just slapped his hands and made an "Aw shucks" expression, while the rest of the team basically said "******** it, we're done for the day." The third goal was an outright bullshit goal that should not have happened to a professional team. It looks like the team was more interested in yelling at the ref about Donovan wasting time than they were about actually marking their men or even making an effort to stop the ball. The complete lack of caring by the team in the second half is the reason for the refund/credit towards a future game. If the team had continued to press and actually make an effort in the game and still lost 4-0, I doubt the refund would have happened.
Let us know when Merritt does anything like this. It's a gesture, nothing more. You Portland idiots are in for a wake-up call when you actually start playing in MLS. Let me know when you make the playoffs in your first season. Yesterday's game was pathetic.............. and the front office acknowledged it.
mbar, that's not fair at all to Hanauer. He said much more than what you posted. He was simply saying how yesterday's game could have gone completely differently if Keller would have saved that SOG and if we would have caught a break on that offsides call. In the rest of his comments, he blames everyone BUT the refs for how we've been playing all season. Don't selectively pick-and-choose quotes to be sarcastic/snarky about. That does no good. I thought Hanauer had a lot of really good things to say today, and that's why I posted some of his quotes earlier. "When you look at the results you see the Seattle Sounders in last place in the West this morning. And that's just not frickin' acceptable. Not while I'm involved. I hate to be the 'if heads have to roll' kind of guy, but we're just not going to remain in last place. Not if I'm involved." Rock on, Hanauer.
I haven't read a post on any forum that tries to take away from the ass kickin' LA gave us yesterday...... They came in and did their job. Seattle did not do theirs. Offering season ticket holders a rain check is smart business. Sounds like none of the ownership group is too happy about it, however. I also like the fact that Adrian is calling out the whining to the officials. Freddie Ljungburg is really coming off as a bitchy prima donna this year.