There's obviously much more pressure in open league's. In closed leagues there is no pressure on coaches to succeed, as there's always next year! **looks at the past week of MLS coaches** Never mind, turns out that that trope is bollocks too. In the past 9 days THREE MLS coaches have been fired less than a third of the way into the 2019 season...
Do you think that most people whose first choice us euro soccer feel that way? I dont. I think youre describing a soccer troll, who is not representative of any faction of American soccer fans
Europoseurs? Probably. There's always some reason for a lot of these people to blow off watching MLS or USL. Neither league needs them though. I know this is anecdotal but I have a friend who lives in Seattle who is a Liverpool fan (he claims to be a supporter but whatever). Anyway, I specifically asked him if he had checked out any Sounders games and his reason for not doing so is a laundry list of anti-MLS/US Soccer taking points. MLS doesn't have pro/rel (the dude is a Liverpool fan, did I mention that), MLS isn't high enough quality, MLS needs to play in the Euro calendar, he won't go because the SGs in Seattle are all posers and don't understand true "football" (again, he's American). He's not the only person I've had these interactions with when I was a regular soccer pub patron. Eff 'em. MLS and USL doesn't need people like that but those types will be more than happy to scream online about why they don't support their local team (unless of course it's the soccer version of a college wood bat summer league).
Ive met one or two people like that but i dont think they are representative of any faction of American soccer fans. And by American i mean anyone living in the US that is a soccer fan. Ive been around the “soccer pub” scene since before MLS’s inception and MLS went from generally considered to be “mickey mouse” to being accepted and appreciated. I know far more people who watch epl, usmnt and mls and who like pro/rel than i do the people you are deacribing.
Two of whom were basically canned immediately after throwing their players under the bus and the other one said that reason his players weren't motivated enough is because fans weren't waiting by their cars in the parking lot to beat them up. If FdB had been canned, you'd have an argument. He wasn't.
It's very early for anyone to have been canned. Including interim coaches, the Galaxy are on their 5th since Bruce Arena left in 2016.
I think there was enough evidence to make the determination that those three coaches were not going to "get better".
So what you're saying is that this team who are awful, who are so appallingly run, have finished in the top half of the table 4 of the last 9 seasons, including a title-winning season & a second place. The fact that you can readily pick out 2 teams that have made the playoffa fewer times doesn't really help your case. Especially as one of them had a title, 2 dominant regular seasons, and one of the most dominant final performances by a team that wound up losing, that I've ever seen. Those a comparable fluctuations to Leicester City's last decade & they're the poster child of the pro/rel movement. Like I said: MLS are held to different, often harsher standards. Nobody bitches when the Camp Nou has empty seats for midweek league games against lower-midtable opposition.
But nonetheless, the pressure is there, even if MLS GMs aren't going full "Jesus Gil" on their coaching staff.
Ok, so it sounds like maybe they would have been promoted back up, then. I mean, I don't see anything contradictory here. Those other teams, by and large, suck and the way they've been run would not permit them to stay in the top flight elsewhere. The argument that 3 other teams of the 24 are just as bad or worse doesn't really help your case, either, I'd say.
*4 of the last 11. They made it more often up to 2006, because 75% of the league qualified for the playoffs.
In Smith's case we had rumors that it was coming in 4 weeks 4 weeks before it happened. Throwing the players under the bus isn't what got him fired, he threw the players under the bus because he knew he was about to get fired.
The vast majority of American soccer fans are like this. Hell, I'm like this minus the liking pro/rel part. The vast majority of American soccer fans who also support their local clubs or are just casual fans of USL and MLS can enjoy it without pro/rel and are obviously not voting with their wallets or eyeballs against our closed system. That's why there's no debate or even a conversation about pro/rel. It's obviously unnecessary for soccer's popularity and most people are content without it. Edit: Sorry misread this. I'll freely admit that I'm in the minority of being fervently "anti" pro/rel. It's an outdated and idiotic system that has evolved into a scam to prop up the richest teams and has little to do with actual "merit". That being said, I think that a lot of American fans, if faced with their team going down, wouldn't be so keen on it either. It's no surprise that the most popular soccer teams world wide are also the richest clubs that have little or no chance of being relegated based on wins/losses. Based on how professional sports are set up in the US I'd say never. Again, it's unnecessary but implementation would severely hamper soccer's development here. Sure USL could try it but I'd argue that they're not likely to try and they face even bigger hurdles towards implementation than MLS.
Oh it was argued all right, maybe not by you but nonetheless somebody tried that particular argument as a reason pro/rel doesn't work...............and its nonsense, as history has proved time and time again! As somebody with as many years as I have in English football I know things WILL change again and again, I've known Nottingham Forest to be the best team in Europe, I've known Manchester United as a second division team, I've known Aston Villa as the best team in Europe! I've been through a relegation scrap at the bottom of the Championship and I've known my club lift the Champions league, I've known Watford or Bournemouth as Division 4 bottom feeders and I can well remember when Notts County were plying their trade in the 'premier' league of England! Football isn't a 'one season wonder' here where you 'tear it all up and start again' every year, its a life journey! Somebody argued with me that Spurs would never challenge again and I was specifically told that Leicester were doomed to failure before they even started and yet 2 years later they were Premier League champions! I couldn't have been proved more right! Since then they have finished mid table and bottom half but get this............don't be surprised if they finish top 6 next year, there you've heard it here first! If anything Pro/Rel has actually made the football journey far more 'fluid' than if we didn't have it, I don't know the exact number but I imagine well over 50 clubs have plied their trade in the top English division over the years! Top 6? Ask me again in 5, 10 and 20 years time!
I wonder if there is some tipping point with pro/rel. Ten years ago it was sort of a fringe idea with Ted just annoying people on the internet. But it’s pretty mainstream today. A lot of mainstream pundits are for it. Mainstream candidates for USSF Pres were for it. Grant Wahl, who is probably the most read soccer journalist in the US is for it. I wonder if like in like 5-8 years or so if USL has blown up to be a popular league and you have all these factions: fans, SGs, media, lower division clubs calling for pro/rel if there is this point where mls and USSF and broadcasters get together to make it happen. I always have a hard time getting past seeing MLS owners wanting to do it. Unless there’s a broadcast offer they can’t refuse or if there’s a influx of owners who are open to the idea anyway, it seems like it’s an issue that doesn’t have any easy solution.
Pro/rel can happen any time at any level. You don't have to wait for every league to agree. It will happen when there's a good business case for it, not out of sense of pity or social justice. FIFA, CONCACAF and USSF will not impose it either, not least because they can't afford years of litigation.