http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sto...prise-in-orlando-city-s-revolving-door-070716 Heath was given a couple of pounds of chicken and asked to make filet mignon. The evidence of the cultural shift that was happening was perhaps no more apparent than with the signing of Italian midfielder Antonio Nocerino in February. Heath had a three-year plan that involved signing a crop of players 21 and younger who would blossom into their roles at the club. But suddenly, Heath was forced to find room for 31-year-old Nocerino this season, a $650,000 move that hasn't paid off and has frustrated fans. Since May, Heath had increasingly opted to bench him.
A good track record in what? In business he seems to have a great record. One thing I wonder is where is all this proof that Flavio is behind these player transactions? Just rumors at this point. Has anyone, including Phil come out and said Flavio hired this player or that player? Other than Kaka, not sure where the proof is. The only real proof we have about Flavio is as follows: 1) Paid the MLS fee 2) Paid for the new stadium 3) Paid for the Pride 4) Paid for OCB 5) Paid to build a world class training facility in Lake Nona 6) Paid to upgrade Lake Silvan training complex for the Pride What is the Rukus or Iron firms track record?
And this: http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sto...prise-in-orlando-city-s-revolving-door-070716 Especially the part about how the front office (Kaka, probably) forced Heath to take Nocerino over other players Heath had scouted. This is no longer the team you grew to know and love. I'm seriously considering giving up my season tickets.
What would lead you to that? Flavio has a 'world club' dream for this team. People, stop thinking USL. Start thinking North American version of Real Madrid or Barcelona.
That has already been dis-proving this morning. The person who posted it, apologized. Pingalore is a jerk. A proven soccer hater...like listening to Jim Rome talk soccer.
BigData, do not give up your tickets. This had to happen. Heath very much had a mean streak in him. If he did not like something, or someone, he purposely made him look bad (like playing Nocerino out of his position, to make him look bad). Or have you seen the tweet from Esterla? About how the truth is coming out now? (Esterla, who now plays on a Champions League team in Europe, but under Adrian could not beat out Harrison). Kaka could see it in the locker room. The players grew tired of Heath and gave up on him.
Heath was building the team and Flavio's guys came in and took player selection away from him, then they blame him and call him "Minor League". It is a minor league front office, also evidenced by the crap they are putting me through as an original STH. They've screwed up my seats and now there is no way to fix it because they put others in my seats that came on board later. The front office is screwing up over and over again. I've paid good money for years, I don't have to continue to pay for the privilege of being treated like crap. If you want to pay to be ignored and watch the team be torn apart by a front office that doesn't know what it is doing, that is your choice.
Please, do not let Pingalore set your opinion. He is a soccer hater. Listen to him on Mike B.'s morning show and listen the hate he throws at OCSC and the sport in general. Ridiculing their attendance figures, calling US Open games nothing more than a useless friendlies. When they have the over/under segment with Mike and the subject of OCSC scoring over or under 3 goals, his response is usually along the lines of 'who cares' its soccer. It is so bad that when he comes on I usually turn the station for the next 5 minutes until he is off. He was only trying to act like he knows something on his sports segment. Saying Rawlins is growing tried of Flavio is just dumb. Phil has a very small percentage of the team. If you really are tried, call up Flavio and ask him to buy out your small minority stake.
Actually, it was Phil that called him Minor league, not Flavio. I will say that was very poor form of Phil.
Why should I have a say in the running of the team? I can certainly cheer and boo, but I did not put the $250 million + down for everything. I certainly do not have the knowledge to pick which players we should sign and not sign. The team has never treated me poorly. Even the seat assignment in the new stadium is basically the same. I hear some people have had problems but it has worked out fine with me. All I am saying is lets let this play out. These are the growing pains of moving from a small Austin based USL team to a internationally recognized team.
So you have no proof to indicate whether this is true or not. Sure I listen to him on Bianchi's show. But he is a professional journalist, he doesn't simply make things up. When you have some contradictory information you can share, I'd be happy to read it. But what he says matches exactly with the facts and actions we know about. Why haven't we seen Rawlins or Flavio publicly speak and answer questions?
I'm happy that things have worked out for you. I've been given seats that are farther from the pitch, separated from my entire group, and cost 55% more. All without giving me any choice in the matter. If I'm lucky I'll be able to relocate to someplace halfway decent, but the odds of me getting into the section I should be are slim and none. I have a right to be upset after this team good money for years. There were a dozen different ways they could have handled the ticket relocation to the new stadium. The fact is that the front office didn't care to take the time and effort to make sure things were done right, they just let the computer assign things. Minor league operation by what used to be a class organization. The thing is, the small USL team always acted more professionally than the bunch that are in charge now. That should scare us all and embarrass Flavio. "Internationally recognized teams" don't fire their long time coach via email. Minor league teams do.
This is a real shame. Reminds a little bit of when Philly came into the league: Great supporters, good young team, FO that seemed to care and did a lot of things right. Then it went completely off the rails. @BigData I know how you feel. @Guy Everett I was just like you when the Union came into MLS. I was so happy there was a team, and some good players to follow that I didn't see the rot in the overall organization. Hopefully it won't take OCSC 6+ seasons to right the overall ship. The latest edition of Extra Time Radio had some interesting information. Matt Doyle talked about how Orlando had a lot of very good trade offers for Rochez at the end of last season/beginning of this season, but there was no one to make a decision on the offers. Dealing Rochez could have gotten Orlando the defensive help it needs, while opening a DP slot. With Larin, Rochez isn't going to start, or play a lot of minutes anyways. That's a move that's made with long term planning. It's going to be a real shame when Rawlins walks away. There aren't enough guys like him in MLS, or pro sports for that matter. His laser focus and Vision on getting Orlando into MLS was brilliant to watch. From afar, your organization needs to find its' Earnie Stewart equivalent to run the soccer side of things before hiring a coach IMO. There's just too much going on at once without much clear direction: New Stadium construction/Opening, Training complex being built, Academy setup, an expansion USL Team, and an expansion NWSL team. That's a lot going on right there. Flavio might have the Dream of OCSC being the North American Real Madrid, but that kind of recognition only comes after decades of consistent success at the highest level.
Thanks for the comments. But regarding Ernie Stewart, I'm pretty sure that Kaka is running the soccer side of things right now.
LOL...a professional journalist? Well I guess he does get paid. We will just have to disagree on this one. You think he is the next Jim McKay...I think he is the class clown. Everybody has their own opinion.
Jim McKay? I don't recall saying that. But I keep waiting for you to tell me about all the proof you have that his story is bogus. You seem to forget to include that in your posts.
Interesting...Phil said he flew all day Tuesday to tell Adrian after the last OCSC disgrace under Heath in Dallas, which of course followed the previous disgrace against Ft. Lauderdale - not even a MLS team. I guess Phil misspoke. And for all the Phil love, it was he who threw Heath under the bus with the whole 'Minor league coach' or I guess that was misspoken as well.
Not to worry, if Phil walks away it will be with a rather large wallet in his back pocket. I still do not get it. Without Flávio we would NOT be an MLS team. We would still be playing in front of 5 to 6 thousand fans against Charleston, Rochester and Dayton.
Pingadore never withdrew it. The leader of the Rukus, who started the re-tweet campaign withdrew it with an apologe, stating he never should have re-tweeted something that came out of ring-a pings mouth, since ring-a-ping himself never said the names of his sources. Sorry, for the way the post of mine was interrupted.
Sure, because no one else in the world would have bought into the team. People all over the country and fighting for spots in the MLS. There were two dozen other Flavio's out there to be had.
Um, the leader of the Rukus says the story is bogus because Ping didn't name his source? Seriously? Has the leader of the Rukus never read any sports reports before? I suppose Skip Bayless ALWAYS names his sources?
I do agree that we need a 'football director' to run the technical side. They did bring in the Proto Academy director late last year, but then everything feel apart. Not sure the 'real' story behind that, other than the club statement about him wanting to go back to Portugal for personal reasons.