Thanks! This will be fun. David Markley and Rene Van De Zande (hope I got that right) picked up a couple more really good owners.
The news is really exciting, but who is Rene van de Zande and when did he come into the picture? I must have missed it due to being away this year.
Congratulations to Austin and to Eberly's Army. Your patience and support has finally brought forth results. As a former season ticket holder of the Aztexs, I look forward to seeing the new and improved team. BTW I didn't like the old team's jerseys (not a Stoke City fan). I also look forward to the new shield and colors.
Yes, where is this talk about a change of colors and crest coming from? Our current look is great. I'll also be severely disappointed if our kit changes substantially, as it's easily the best kit I own.
I'm sort of new to the Aztex (went to my first game about two weeks ago) and the USL in general. Can someone explain to me how big the jump in quality next year might be? And what does this mean in regards to any future potential for a stadium and/or facility upgrade? Also, are there any good sites to follow that have news about the Aztex or anything like that?
I'm going to give my somewhat heretical theory about this, as someone who's been a fan of MLS, USL-Pro, and PDL. I think a good case can be made that the quality of play on a good PDL team is better than the quality of play on a good USL team. The Aztex are a perfect example: we had players on our team that are now major contributors in MLS (Manneh, Powers, Tyrpak in his limited minutes with Chivas...) whereas a typical USL-Pro team is made up MLS washouts (or loanees from MLS, at least) and players who can't quite make the jump to top-flight. That said, the US Open Cup, a great competition to know about if you're not already aware of it, tells a different story. USL and NASL teams regularly advance and beat MLS teams through the first several rounds, and PDL teams usually don't. Since the Aztex have had so much success finding talent with the PDL model, I think we'd have to consider a USL-Pro team of equal quality to be a success, and one of greater quality to be a really substantial accomplishment. At the same time, I think we can expect the quality of our opposition to improve markedly, since not all PDL teams are as talented as the Aztex have been. I expect narrower scorelines and more difficult stretches. My pessimism and the love I've developed for the PDL model notwithstanding, I'm eager to support a USL-Pro team again and I'm hoping for the best. Welcome, and I'll let more knowledgeable people answer your other questions.
It's a valid point that Parrothead brings up, that PDL is younger players trying to make their way up, whereas USL-Pro (and arguably NASL to some extent) has a lot of journeyman players who haven't broken through to MLS. That does makes things quite different. It's easy to get caught up with the potential of young players. I'm a software developer, and I see something similar all the time: when the program is still being built, everyone thinks the new program will do everything they want it to do. But by the time it's finished, compromises have had to be made, features left out (at least to start with), etc. I see promising young players the same way. Julian Green's performance for the USMNT so far, relative to the total minutes he's been on the field, is almost unbelievably great. But we've seen promising players fail to pan out lots of times; who knows whether Green might not be in, say, Freddy Adu's shoes a few years down the road. Manneh, Powers, Tyrpak, Kafari (who had minutes against Manchester City last week with SKC!), those stories are awesome, and it's definitely great to be able to say I saw those guys running around at House Park for a couple summer months. But there's also players who didn't get drafted, who didn't make it, who we don't hear about anymore because you don't hear about them anymore. In USL Pro, I think we'll still see some great players making their way to a bigger stage, though their rise may not be as dramatic as Lake Travis High School directly to Vancouver Whitecaps. I think the general level of play will be noticeably better, because these guys will be more experienced, more practiced, have a longer season to run through, and be, well, paid professionals. I do like PDL, and it would be great if the Aztex got to the point someday of having both PDL and pro teams again, but if I could only have one, I'd take pro. For where to follow news, honestly the Aztex organization itself is your best first bet. Aztex website Aztex Twitter feed Aztex Facebook page Aztex email newsletter Other places to look: Eberly's Army website (which hosts the weekly "Futbol en Vivo" podcast), Twitter feed, Facebook page Soccer ATX website & Twitter feed
Well, the first question has been answered. Paul Dalglish is the new head coach for the Aztex, with Manuel Buentello reverting back to assistant coach, like 2012-13. http://austinaztex.com/2014/08/04/austin-aztex-name-paul-dalglish-as-usl-pro-head-coach/
Anyone get season ticket prices yet? It says on the website you can purchase season tickets at the game, but no price is listed. It has click on here also that takes you to the long center for tickets, but shows absolutely nothing for season tickets for aztex.
That information is for the just-ended PDL season. I haven't heard any news about ticket prices for next year.