OH, that's @#$#ing wonderful. As if our goal differential wasn't bad enough. I don't suppose CCS is lining anyone up as a potential replacement? I'm happy for him personally, but this sucks for us.
CCS hasnt scored a goal at home since June 27!!! Boateng leaving wont help things. This looks like the Browns not scoring a TD in there final six games....and it didnt end too well for that coach
If that is indeed the case, and if no effort is made to communicate to the fans why that is the best option, the urge to boycott the team is going to be overwhelming. As I've stated before, it's hard to give a sh*t about a team that doesn't give a sh*t. ------RM
The team knew exactly where he was heading. @LordRobin, this season was always going to be difficult. The results have not been what we expect or what we deserve. However, there were lots of problems leading up to the season that resulted of the move up. He took over a group of players that had never played together before a week or two before the season started. I'm not going to argue about the results, they have definitely been poor. Still, it's bizarre. We can hang with the top teams in the league, Puerto Rico, Vancouver. But when we play the lower level teams (Miami, Austin, etc) we lose. It doesn't make sense. We have the talent on the field, it's just not being used correctly. I don't see how the team doesn't give a shit. Do you think Underwood doesn't give a shit? Do you think the players don't care? Maybe it's because I've been around the team in practice, but he's in the middle of everything. You can talk about boycotting all you want, but if you want to go along those lines, we won't have professional soccer in Cleveland. Flat out. You'd be boycotting for a long time.
Now I want you to take an objective view point and read that bit of your analysis there. If you were to say that about any team in pretty much any sport who would be at fault? In your attempt to argue for keeping Underwood you've made a pretty strong argument against him. Also, with your excuse pretty much any manager no matter how crappy was going to get a pass this season just because of the situation? That's not the best plan if you ask me. How did we do our very first year under pretty much the same conditions? I'm beginning to realize, however, that one of our problems is that our payroll is probably the lowest in the league. As I said earlier, Rod has had his chance, there are plenty of other guys out there that would love a crack at managing a USL1 team. Let's give one of them a shot. And let's get him in here as soon as possible. Heck, we almost don't right now. If the only restaurant in town is serving shitty food is it the people's fault if they stop going and it goes out of business? Damn, I guess they should have just sucked it up and ate. Now they'll have to cook all their meals at home, those idiots. You can't blame the fans if they don't want to go because they feel the product is unacceptable. These tickets aren't free, you know? If an organization is run so poorly that it drives its fanbase away, then it's the organizations fault. Or are you attempting to argue that it's our obligation to support a team no matter how it's run?
Our payroll is definitely the lowest in the league. And in our first year of existence, planning was under way for the league we would be in before January. Because of the way we got promoted, the team had a lot of problems. I'm not saying that it's an obligation to support a team no matter what. However, changes are being made to the organization. However, these changes were made at times where they won't have much impact on this season. I think next season should be better. All I was trying to say is that a boycott would effectively kill the team, leaving us without professional soccer. And I sure as hell don't want to have to go to Internationals games
Dude, I'm not talking about an organized boycott. I just mean my own personal attitude would be "this team sucks seven kinds of sh*t, I don't want to waste my time, money or gas on them anymore". I've bought more tickets for this team than I have for any other sports team in my life, attended six or seven matches (I actually lost count), but I've reached my limit. Of course the players care. All players care, otherwise they'd find other jobs. I assume Underwood cares. But to me he looks grossly incompetant, so it doesn't matter to me whether he cares or not. As for the FO, well that's made of many people. I assume some of them care. But if the FO as a whole cares, they certainly aren't doing a good job of showing it. Yes, I know this is our first season in USL-1. I know Bedford was nobody's first choice of stadium. I know there were some problems with the move up. Nobody was expecting the City Stars to contend out of the gate. But c'mon -- we sure as hell didn't expect this. The way this team has been playing, especially their inability to find the net at home, goes way beyond "growing pains". Bill Archer made a good point in his blog some time ago when he argued that Osorio's career at NYRB was not long for this Earth. When it becomes blatently obvious that a team has slid off the proverbial rails, eventually the team is forced into making a gesture to demonstrate to the fans that it understands their concerns. And more often than not, this gesture takes the form of sacking the head coach. Now you can argue all you want over whether that's fair. But every coach understands this when they sign the contract. If a team is utterly falling apart at the seams, the first thing to try is always a new coach. Look at what happened to Onalfo over the weekend. That 6-0 drubbing was the last straw. We're buried in straw and nothing is being done. I'm not saying fire Underwood now. What would be the point? Give him until the end of the season to prove he deserves to keep the job. But if he can't do it, if he can't at least improve the performance at home, then he needs to go. If we finish the season the same way it's gone so far, and Underwood is still the coach next March, the message sent will be "we don't care", whether that's actually true or not. ------RM
I have the best solution.....drop back down to USL-2!! We can go back to Krenzler and we will have the most money to spend, not the least. In Cleveland, if your not MLS, it doesnt really matter if you are USL-1 or 2. 90% of the fans have no idea what the difference is, they just know its not MLS. They just know USL are the "minor leagues". Lets drop back to USL-2, buy the best talent available because we have more money than most of the other USL-2 teams, and lets play for championships. Lets face it, its embarrasing playing in USL-1 when you only draw 1,000 fans a game and there are teams that draw 7,000-12,000 a game. USL-2 is where we need to be at. Our fan base will never increase more than it is because USL is considered "minor leagues". Plus, I miss the close driving distances to Pittspuke, Harrisburg and Maryland. The first 2 years we in the GA had a ton of fun kicking the butts of the other teams because we knew we were good and could beat any of the teams all the time. Its time to get back to those times before CCS loses its few supporters.
I think you're dead on, man. Especially with the attendence part. I agree -- we are not going to get USL-1-size crowds. I just can't see City Stars attendence increasing by the factor of five necessary to be respectable in this league. ------RM
All I can say is this...if Odd is coach next year, I'm done. As much as I love a lot of the guys on this team, and I count some of the GA guys as friends, I refuse to spend my money to watch that inept yahoo impersonate a soccer coach. I've been with CCS virtually since day one, and I've had some good times, but with the philosophy this organizatio has, winning games just doesn't seem to be that important, which leads me to believe the rumor might have a whiff of truth.
Well, after having two great seasons and one bad one, suddenly the team doesn't care about winning? Also, it costs $$$ to fire a coach and hire a new one.
It costs money to keep a shitty coach and alienate the fan base. If they keep a coach that this year will probably only win 10% of the team's matches while losing over 60%. That pretty much says they don't give a shit. Find me another example of a coach with that kind of record that didn't get fired. I bet the organization that didn't fire him was in shambles. And if they made such a poor contract that they can't get rid of the guy, well, that just shows more of their ineptitude. The guy has had all year to work out the teams issues. Any of the excuses that he might have had at the beginning of the season have run their course.
Well, they sure as hell aren't acting like they do, are they? And about those two great seasons: When you start a team and have fantastic success off the bat, it says very little about the team's ability to work through problems. Well, now they have huge problems. And they aren't exactly passing the test with flying colors. So "$$$" is more important than winning games? I think I see the attitude. The FO cares an awful lot about winning, just so long as they don't have to make any hard decisions or spend any money. ------RM
. Ultra is part of the FO now. He will defend there inabilities, mistakes, and there carelessness to the death. Just like a good company man should do He loves wearing those rose colored glasses and not seeing reality. CCS are the Dolans now, they will not spend MONEY to bring in a any good talent to compete with the likes of Portland, Montreal or Puerto Rico. If ODD ever decides to develop talent, we will sell it and then we will be back to where we are now. We dont have the money to compete with the other teams. I have 2 wrods for CCS: DROP DOWN!!!