Back when Crew2 were good, and I would occasionally tune in, Jordan Knight definitely stood out. A real athlete. Looked ready, as far as my untrained eye could see. But he, along with many others, got the ol heave ho when Issa Tall made the decision to make Crew2 basically a daycare program for various teens in the area. As many already know asst GM Corey Wray also got the boot, as he wanted to keep Crew2 a competitive team in their division in the short term (ie keep some guys around who can play, regardless of age, in hopes they can still be developed/are more ready to be called up to MLS). Well. Here we are today, with the Crew in a bit of a center back crisis. No one close to being ready to be called up from Crew2. Who knows, Issa’s method could pay enormous dividends way down the road. That’s the thinking behind giving kids a ton of minutes against older, bigger guys anyway. But in September 2025, when we pretty desperately need warm bodies who know the system and are closer to being ready to handle the big time, kids aren’t helping. No, Jordan Knight very likely wouldn’t have made the difference in an MLS Cup push, but he at least maybe would’ve given SOMETHING, as opposed to the roster spots that are being wasted on Camacho and Derrick Jones.
I assumed that the structure and purpose of Crew 2 was a decision that involved Nancy. His preference for bringing in young players that he can train into his system, as opposed to more developed emerging talent that may have picked up tendencies learned in other systems that they have to un-learn first in order to fit into ours seems pretty well established at this point. Especially when Nancy's rigidity when it comes to the types of player he wants, and the many types of players he doesn't want, is taken into account, it's hard to believe that any restructuring of our MLSNP team was Tall's decision alone.
Interesting that you don't implicate Nancy at all when it's been repeatedly shown that he effectively has veto power over any soccer-related decisions. If Nancy wanted Crew 2 to still be a viable pipeline of both veteran stopgaps and academy projects, it would be. Edit: Minnman beat me by a couple minutes
I was initially mad at the way Crew 2 is structured, but ive talked to people who know more, and making it a youth team will likely have more rewards than finding some diamonds in the rough. JRR and Farsi were scouted and known about by other MLS teams. Have there been any other players that came through Crew 2 that were not originally brought in through the academy or draft? I do not believe so. The guy on loan from Africa looks to be an interesting prospect though Edit: Huntsville/Nashville paid a transfer fee to the crew for Knight too. https://www.mlsnextpro.com/huntsvil... 2. MAR-GRA-2024-325_JordanKnightsigning_1920.
Sacrificing the short-term for the long-term benefits also was attempted with the CBJ. It happened in the early years "We don't really care what the other 90s-expansion era teams are doing because we're building for the future" and it happened later on when guys like Sergei Bobrovsky and so many others were making deep playoff runs. The players would want to leave the CBJ for greener pastures and management would tell them to stick around because "we're building great things for the future" or whatever the line was. As we all know, it has yet to work with the CBJ. Hopefully it works this time.
So is it really possible that there are Crew fans out there who still dont accept that this teams championship window is not just closing, but in fact has slammed shut. Whats needed is a complete teardown, a couple years of paying to watch mediocre teams and a whole bunch of gaslighting from a management organization that thinks we're all stupid. And there is almost nothing left.to build around. Anybody left is past their prime, headed elsewhere or.just basically useless.
Wasn't the urban legend at the time that ... Werenski agreed to stay if he got at least $1 more dollar per year than Seth Jones got from the Blackhawks. And the CBJ were open to any demands he had ... not wanting the optics of their top 2 defenseman both wanting out.
The season ticket waitlist is now gone for all the non-premium sections. People are already fleeing a declining product. And maybe it's now viewed as an overpriced product as well. Which is a really tough sell in this economy.
My friend in Crew ... you come across as being sour that you were on the wrong end of our disagreement a couple weeks ago. Badly wrong. I understand the casual/marginal fan who got bought in to happenings at LDC ... and is needed to fill the place. And give the team a chance at being profitable. I am concerned that the Crew ownership has already pissed away the breakthrough in mindshare with the Central Ohio public. Took 25 years to happen. You should be as well. Instead of coming after me.
If the waitlist pipeline was truly robust ... those sections would have never gone to general sale like they are now. At least push some of the waitlist into a few sections, and show those as "Sold Out." All sections being available gives off the optics of a collapse in demand.
I'm not coming after you, I'm just commenting that you have a very dark view of the future of the club. Not just on the field, but the club as a whole. And I don't remember being on any wrong end of anything, so I know not what you are referencing.
I go to LDC as much as anyone here. Love to go. If you stop going ... When I have had enough as a ST and only go occasionally... When STs decline after the schedule changes ... Who replaces us? There is isn't an endless pool of people paying high prices for Crew soccer in Central Ohio. We are already seeing that. If it's "dark" calling out that Crew ownership is pissing away its Golden Era ... on-field and off ... so be it.
I do think $792 is just a touch too much for a view almost exactly identical to the Nordecke, except it comes with a reserved seat. $740-760 is better.
The thing that will frustrate me forever is that it wasn't Father Time or cap math that closed it. Nancy, Tall, and the Haslams killed it prematurely. The future is dark because I don't trust this braintrust and I don't see a plan for getting back to championship caliber. Columbus is a front-running city and they've gotten a taste of what winning soccer looks like in the past few years. There's a limit to fans' patience if the team is raising prices for a worsening product. A lot of the goodwill has already been spent up by the owners before the rebuild has even started. I don't think a strategy of disregarding the 17,000 seats that aren't premium is sustainable and it's not going to allow the Crew to keep pace with the elites in MLS unless the Haslams choose to lose money by increasing their spending while income is flattening. Empty seats and ambivalence beget more empty seats and ambivalence.
How many Golden Eras have we had? I heard these same comments in 2009. I’ll welcome you back when we sign the next GBS or Pipa or Cucho…
I don’t mind paying for non championship seasons. You can’t win every year. What I and probably a lot of fans are upset about is we are paying premium prices for not so talented entertainment. Who lights up the pitch? Who’s got a an infectious passion in their belly that we can’t get enough of? Zelerayan had it. Cucho had it. This current group has no fire and no passion. That is why you hear complaints about the roster. It’s not so much about winning. It’s about talent that is better than college level.
The only times I have stopped having season tickets were times when I could not afford it. Accordingly, the team has now priced me entirely out of having season tickets with the asinine jump in pricing they instated for this last season. I was already struggling to make payments and had to surrender 2024 halfway through. They have FA'ed, and they are gonna FO in the next couple of years if they don't staunch the bleeding that is going to happen the minute Messi leaves this league. They are gonna have to back up a truck to keep him here next year with the World Cup happening already. And if they switch the schedule, they are really gonna face an exodus of people, because you will have the entire CBJ season taking place during the Crew season as well, on top of the whole OSU season. This is not like 2009 AT ALL.