Phil Majority Owner according to Wikipedia.

This is the smoking gun that clearly shows Phil pulls the strings on this entire puppet show. He can act like he tried desperately to find investors to keep the team in Austin but the reality is he orchestrated the move in the hopes of becoming a MLS team owner. I know the chantico sheep will rally to his defense say that his majority ownership of this consortium is not indicative of any premeditated move, but the facts speak for themselves.
Phil contended that he was getting intense pressure from the league and needed outside investors to prove that he had the financial resolve to keep the team solvent for 3 seasons. That is absolutely ridiculous given the fact that his personal resources dwarf those of any other team in the league, and even some MLS teams. The reality is that the USL is desperate for survival and is willing to make back room deals with teams like Austin and Rochester in the vain hope of surviving as a professional league. Phil was all to willing to listen to the whispering in his ear and is playing his hand in a way that he hopes will end up in his favor.
I remember when the Austin Posse disolved overnight and their owner, Johnathan Langer, ran off with the gate receipts. Famous players like Roy Lassiter and Ezra Hendrickson were left with no income, not even a bus ticket back home. He must be chuckling to himself (as the goalkeeper coach of St. Johns, with a resume of fake accomplishments) as he reads about it happenning all over again. I remember when Phil came to town and had his first public meeting at Sherlocks. He said he had heard about how Austin was hesitant to embrace a new team because she had been burned by speculative football owners who were all too quick to pack up when things started to get tough. He assured us how it was all going to be different now. After all, he was from Stoke, the second oldest team in the World, had professional experience and real capital. He outlined plans for a professional woman's team, a youth development squad, and a real future for soccer in Austin. After the first year in the PDL the youth squad was mysteriously dropped. The women's team was never mentioned again. And now our pro team is going to Disney World to join the Mickey Mouse Club. Meanwhile, the rank and file supporters are left with drums in hand and banner around neck without a team to support. It pains me to read the excuses they make for Phil and his good intentions. But I have to give them credit, they are true supporters until the end!

 

FrogHammer, I take great exception at this. How many conversations have you had with Phil, the coaches or others around the leagues? Have you talked to players? I don't believe Phil Rawlins is guiltless in this by far. I feel that there've been a number of mis-steps. However, I don't think there were any "black helicopters in the night". If that's your opinion, you have your right to it. However, to refer to the Army, anyone in it, or myself as "...chantico sheep..." is out of line.

 

What concerns me more from a purely ethical point of view is that he and Kay asked people to invest in the team in other ways, and inspired a large group of people to work toward a common goal. Many of the volunteers did that with a common understanding about the circumstances under which they invested -- about the nature of the owner's commitment -- that turned out to be false. To then leave without a word to those volunteers (except Matt) is bush league, and IMO unethical. Irrespective of whether any of the volunteers could have fixed the club's financial problems.

When you do that sort of thing to people, it's only natural that you're going to take some heat.

 

So now he's part of the Donner party. I wonder if that will end well?

 

Well getting tired now of all this talk about who owns what and who know this and etc etc. What happen has happen and it's all done dusted now and truth might or might not come out one day but who care's.

I want to see soccer back in Austin i want to go to my home team game's and shout and cheer. I want to be part of something to be proud of and know that i had a hand in making it grow and become strong.

Yeah thing's have been done in the past that have not work but this time we all can make sure they are done right this time.

Lets not get hang up on what league a team will be in first there got to be a team. Plus we do not know how many people want to even get together to talk about it.

So lets stop all this talk about the past and lets move on to the future.

Oh and by the way i am no chantico sheep and no one eles is in the army either froghammer.

 

I apologize, I was way out of line. If it wasn't for Matt and the Chanticos army the games would have had zero atmosphere. You are right, whatever was in the past is over and if we are ever going to have a successful team in town we will need fans like them, and not bitter old men like me.

 

oooo...."part of the Donner party".....well, at least in FL, they can't get snowed in!!! They could still resort to eating the flesh of their...fans???

all aside, Phil is running a business - a startup, at that. Change is inevitable in this stage of the business and Phil is interested in success. If success means he takes the business to FL, then that's what he should do. Does he care about the "little people" in Austin - heck, yes! Is he willing to sacrifice the long-term prospects of the team and club for us? Heck, no! Nor should he.....lots of big fat whiny cry babys on here that should be thankful we got a taste of a truly professional club in Austin.

If we're REALLY interested in getting a club here:
1) SS stadium, funded by some local gov't entity
2) ability to sell beer!

It is very much a chicken/egg proposition...no team, no stadium....no stadium, no team........

 

If that's true, he'd be kind of stupid. You don't have to go through those machinations to get an MLS team. And you have as good a chance of getting into MLS as Orlando does through the D3-and-hope-to-go-up-later strategy. That's senseless. You want to get into MLS, write a frigging check. MLS isn't going to be impressed with Orlando getting 3,500 people a game.

Also, how do you get "he didn't try to find investors to keep the team in Austin" out of "he's the majority investor in Orlando?"

And if that IS true, how is your life different from having gleaned this information? Does it get you your team back? Does it change anything at all? If this guy's a d-bag, aren't you better off without him?

Are you people EVER going to just let this shit go? Your team moved because when they gave the tickets away you STILL couldn't get more than 6k there, you had no viable stadium situation, no one was going to invest, and despite the fact your average attendance was up over last year, it was 3,700 a freaking game.

Welcome to America. Sports shits on you sometimes. Quit ********ing whining about it and looking for smoking guns. It's a business. That's all it is.

 

Or you can do what FCUM did and take matters into their own hands and start a community owned club. Nice win in FA Cup...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-DTluaEPxA&feature=player_embedded#"]YouTube - Rochdale AFC vs FC United of Manchester post game celebrations on the pitch[/ame]!

 

It's not just a matter of writing a check. It has to be in a market the MLS deems viable. Besides, Phil states his primary reason for moving the team to Orlando is the hope of moving the team to the MLS in 3-5 years.

Its' obvious he doesn't need money or investors and was not getting any audit pressure from the USL..which is the stated 'reason' for moving the team.

You're avatar indicates you are a West Ham fan? How would you feel if Egg head put the team in administration or moved them when he went bankrupt? Would you feel better off without West Ham to support because Eggbert was a d-bag?

This is not Europe and not the first division, 3,700 is more than they will get in Orlando in the Citrus bowl.

Sports is a business for the owners but it's not not for the fans. If you don't understand that you should do something else with your spare time for fun. When you get done watching a great soccer match do you leave thinking, 'What a great business transaction that was! I bet the revenue generated will make the board members very happy at the next quarterly meeting!'

 

You are a delight. Your brand of tough love is just what we need. But I imagine that there are other boards who are also in need of the kind of wise and firm moral direction your provide. Perhaps you'd consider telling them how to feel for a while. Just a thought. A**hole.

 

The Orlando City Supporters group claims to be founded in September 2010. That's great foresight considering the fact that the move to Orlando wasn't announced until Oct 25th.

 

I'm not surprised if Orlando fans knew about this before we did. I received an "anonymous" notice from someone on October 1st who brought the news that the Aztex were moving, with all expenses paid by USL.

BTW, the team website still has Austin Aztex images up on it, as does the USL website for the team. I call on the organization to get those off. It's a slap in the face to Austin fans to put our team and it's colors on your website. It also does nothing to quell the feelings that Orlando stole the Aztex.

 

Orlando soccer fans were treated to a press conference back in early March in which Mr. Donner and USL officials announced that pro soccer was coming to Orlando for the 2011 season. Big announcement, lots of excitement, supporter's groups taking shape and then NOTHING for 7 months except speculation and growing frustration. There was never any mention of Austin anywhere in the equation. In October up pops Phil Rawlins and news that we get the Aztex. Orlando people don't really care much about where the team came from, but there is a lot of talk going around about how we got it and it's not sitting comfortably here. What happened to you can certainly happen to us. I personally think that the aforementioned prediction of 3500 in the Citrus Bowl is optimistic. I sure hope I'm wrong.

 

A slap in the face to Austin fans? Seriously? Its their pictures of their team, they have every right to use them if they want. Considering the team hasn't even released a new crest, let alone new kits I think they would be hard pressed to replace them with less "Austin-ish" pictures.

This happens in sports. It sucks, but its something that happens time and time again. Teams fold or change cities, entire leagues suddenly cease to exist. Heck DC United with its long MLS history and strong fan base could find themselves in Baltimore or even further away because of their stadium situation. All you can do is cheer for the teams you have while you have them and recognize that its a business and owners will act in their best interest.

I'm happy that Orlando will be getting this team. I will be moving down there just in time for the season to be starting and I already have my season tickets ordered. I know that anything can happen, and the team could do anything from change cities or die after one season, or actually live up to the owners' supposed goals and be in MLS in a few years. As long as I am in the area I will enjoy it and attend as many matches as I can, though.

 

Oh man! LMAO Thanks for the most entertaining post I've seen in these forums in a long time! Kenn loves to look down his nose at the rest of us soccer fans as if we're a bunch of mentally handicapped children, and he is the Stephen Hawking of soccer in America. It's a real shame he didn't muster up the courage to come back and respond to your points, which were all quite good.

At one time MLS entry was simply a matter of writing a big enough check, but not anymore. Kenn tends to be a USL apologist most of the time, so your points about the back door dealings of Donner and Holt who seem to have hoodwinked Rawlins and Clark (again!) are probably spot on. We'll never know because none of those clowns will ever admit to any of it, but if it looks like a duck, and sounds lilke a duck.......

 

There are a lot of options other than using team photos. Use pictures from the press conference, use pictures of the logo that is already there, use pictures of the coach. Do they own the copyright to the pictures? Sure. This is not about a legalistic ownership arguement, it's about trying to do the decent thing to the fans that supported you madly for 3 seasons.

I also agree that this happens in sports. However, as fans who do more than customers of a typicaly business do, we have the right to over the top in our support and to complain about things when that business up and leaves with no warning. The money that many of us in Austin spent in supporting the team beyond just a season ticket price is significant. As such, I've earned the right to ask them to remove the images. Do I expect them to? No.

So enjoy my...er...your new team. You've got a good coaching staff and player corps. Plus, if you don't want to deal with the Austin posts, then you may want to pass on our forum.

 

Fair enough, I understand the disappointment. I think I've had sports in general wreck havoc on my emotions to the point I'm kind of numb to it at this point or at least try not to be too disappointed .

 

Ticket to the Orando City games are set at only $5.50. It will be interesting to see how much that boosts attendance.

 

That is the way to go. I think we'd have hooked more people with prices like that.

 

Which probably clarifies exactly how out-of-whack the prices our local school districts are charging for renting their stadiums. If Orlando City can charge those prices when they're renting the Citrus Bowl...