Attendance for the RailHawks game was 3506, second best of the season. The average after 8 games at home stands at 3124, down from the 3800-ish average from last year. Not really that terrible considering losing the two best sales guys and the reduced budget. Plus with the team controlling Lockhart this year they are probably doing more or less the same financially. Supposedly the PMI folks are involved again with the club(they are basically running San Antonio, and were helping here in the first half of last season). Whatever they do seems to work pretty well, so hopefully we'll see some kind of benefit from that as the season wraps up. Through 14 games, the team stands in 5th place at 5-4-5, 19 points with a -2 goal differential(the first tiebreaker this year). That's 8 points clear of Edmonton and missing the playoffs, and just 6 points away form San Antonio in first. 4 points from PR and the bye that comes with 2nd place. Minnesota is at 20 points and Tampa Bay at 21, so we could potentially jump up to 3rd place on Wednesday with a win. Could be better, but not a bad spot to be in. Hopefully they get a nice run going and go strong into the playoffs.
Good recap as always dr. Now time for my rant.... First off, let's be honest, attendance has been dismal this season. Embarrassing, really. After a good first year we all hoped for improvement, and I think there's no denying that the attendance has a major disappointment and we can't keep making excuses or pointing fingers. However, there is something to be optimistic about and that is that PMI is back. This is something I am very excited about. I'm critical of our FO who I often accuse of complacency, however, I think they realize their shortcomings because this is a signal of intent. With the right people (PMI), things can change. They WILL get people out to games, we just need to convince them to come back. On the field, the football isn't bad to watch, in fact, I think the team plays really well. My frustration is that the results must be better. Too often do we let teams back into the match when we have had opportunities to kill the game off. The team needs to start finishing their chances, and Anderson seems to be the only one who can do that on a regular basis. Defensively we have to improve as well. The lineup rotation is still infuriating! The injuries by now are pretty well known (currently Polo, Granado, Laing, Stewart) but somehow it is impossible to know who's going to play. I'm really struggling to understand some of Shore's selections. How does a player start a game, then completely drop out of the 18 for the next one (Otte, Gebor, Ramos)? Or how does someone (Nagime) make the 18 for the first time in a month, see playing time in that match, but then drop out of the 18 for the next one? It baffles me. How many different players have played right back this season? Center mid? Up top? TOO MANY is the answer. There is little chemistry between the players because they're playing with someone different each week. Please Shore, PICK ELEVEN PLAYERS AND STICK WITH THEM! We got our best results at the end of last season when he finally settled on a lineup of: Glaeser; Gordon, Lancaster, Stahl, Laing; Arguez, Mayen, Palacio, Restrepo; Shriver, Thompson. When he deviated from those 11 guys our form suffered. When he played Coudet or Arrieta, or Pecka or Polo, even when he "rewarded" Nunez with a start, we didn't get results. It's a fact. He needs to decide where Shanosky plays best, keep Stahl in the center, and make up his mind on a right back (I thought King was very good there, actually). And I'm sorry, but there's no excuse for our form on the road. ATLANTA won a game on the road, why the hell haven't we. With Wynalda as their coach, Atlanta will start winning. I'm sure of this. They are an under-performing side with some very good players, (O'Brien, Paulini, Turcios, Navia) and if he can get the most of them, expect the standings to get pretty tight. Anyway, I can't complain any more. The season has been good so far. We've seen some entertaining games. Things are looking up, and we're in for an exciting few weeks. Apologies to anyone who read all that.
No need for apologies at all Steve. Every one of your points was valid and presented fairly. Here's what I'd say. Despite all of your nail on the head negative points, we still find ourselves in a very decent position going into the second half of the season. Here are some of my thoughts... While I think it is great that PMI is involved again, I'm troubled by what I heard on the Ultras Alive podcast I just listened to. If PMI's Michael Hitchcock, a man who is already the President of the Scorpions if my understanding is correct, is now controlling the Strikers FO....I'm not real pleased. Nothing against him personally, but factor #1 is how do you operate two teams without a conflict of interest? If PMI is just down here helping with marketing and selling tix, sign me up all day long for that! As Steve mentioned above, our FO has been severely lacking in marketing and sales. Now, this could be blamed on lack of budget, which is what a lot of us have chalked it up to. But something tells me that PMI is going to make a difference, and that we're going to see that average go up from 3,100 by the end of the year. In speaking with a Strikers employee prior to the Carolina game, he said they were already feeling the effects of PMI coming in and that they were expecting the largest crowd of the year for the July 14th game against the Scorpions. I certainly hope he's right. But anyway, my main concern with PMI being invovled in anything beyond sales and marketing comes down to one thing - Tim Robbie. No one should underestimate the importance of him being a part of this rebrand. He lends credibility to this organization with people in the tri-county area the way that NO ONE else invovled in this team currently could. My guess is that the sponsor page on the website being as full as it is, is largely due to him. The Strikers having worked out a deal to not only stay at Lockhart, but now have control over the facility is most likely due to him. If Schlitterbahn ever happens and a solid deal is made to renovate Lockhart and keep the team here long term with a good deal - it will be due to him. He's the right guy to be at the top of this organization. I hope we aren't seeing the beginnings of his departure. I would call on Ultras Alive to get Tim on their next show and ask him the ramifications of some of this stuff directly. On the field, we're seeing too much inconsistency from game to game, and of course some weak performances on the road. We've been criticizing Coach since he got here about the musical lineup. I'm beginning to actually believe the whole roulette wheel method of lineup selection on "his" Twitter account. LOL Everyone who reads these boards knows I've had some strong opinions about his lineup choices. Part of our befuddlement has to do with the fact that we never know anything about injued players. Coach, this isn't the NFL, and you aren't Belichek! Give the fans injury news! Steve says above that Stewart is hurt. That's the first I've heard about it, and was clueless as to why he wasn't in the final 18 for Saturday's game. I thought King played well at right back. Coach continues to show he prefers some massive speed on the outsides in order to make runs forward, as well as getting back quickly to defend. Thank God he ended the Stahl to left back experiment. Stahl is a NASL Best XI center back. Don't "tinker" with him anymore. Keep Lorenz plugged in until Lance can come back. One thing bothering me the last few games is Hassan seems to have lost his confidence. Herron and Restrepo yell at him a lot, and I wonder if it is affecting him. Herron actually yells at everyone a lot, but you see some guys tough enough mentally to yell back at him. Hassan seems lost lately out there. He needs a goal badly to get his confidence back I think. We need a nice unbeaten run now to solidify our playoff standing. Top two finish might be hoping for too much, but making sure we get that home field in the first round should definitely be a goal to set. Top four should be an easy accomplishment if we can just start getting some road points. Hoping the second half improves on and off the field! Go Strikers!!!