First of all, this isn't about Lilly so leave her out of it. Second, last season was a major disappointment. Moderately successful may apply to the first 8 games or so. This season is simply an inexcusable disaster on the field. I think there are a lot of factors that have led to the Breakers being relatively successful at the gate, most of them demographic, economic and geographic. An accessible urban location is one, a strong youth soccer community driving group sales is another, skyrocketing event prices for other pro sports in the area another, and certainly a somewht higher degree of appeciation of soccer and womens soccer in particular another. I think that the percentage of fans drawn to the game because of Tony is absolutely deminimus. Heather Mitts was a far bigger draw for a lot of reasons, and a far better known name and personality than Tony could ever hope to be. Many of the fans, especially the younger ones, most likely only know who Tony DiCicco is because of Breakers PR or because some old guy like me told them who he is. You are giving him way too much credit for his importance to the attendance figures or for the growth of womens soccer for that matter. The best way to keep and grow your fanbase is to put a good product on the field. I am not even asking for a winning team, but how about one that looks like it has played together before? That isn't lost and confused in the final third? One that is entertaining instead of painful to watch? One that seems to have upside, not one that is dazed and disheartened? I think the Breakers would gain fans, gain back fans, and gain tons of credibilty in the general public and media by actually acting like a real professional franchise and cutting him lose. Do you have to make it a humiliating spectacle? And does he deserve that? No. But he deserves to be removed from the pitch as quickly as possible. Special assistant to the GM maybe? VP of Soccer Operations? Make Lil the player/coach let Lisa stay to manage the game from the side and you don't even spend any extra money. AMBreakers, your tremendous insight into Tony's thoughts and feelings is very impressive, as is your steadfast but horribly misplaced hero-worship, leading me to believe you have a very close personal relationship with him that extends beyond the bonds of the Breakers current situation and prevents you from seeing the reality of this season.
I'll agree that Tony has done a lot for the sport in his time and should be recognized for that in some manner (to me the banners should be reserved for players). But AMBreaker and I will have to agree to disagree on what fans come for. In my opinon, and what I come for is the players and the game. The core fans are there for the team and the players, not the coach. I could care less who the coach is. His/her poster is not hanging in my daughter's room. She does not have his jersey. She has not created a banner to bring to the field with his name on it. And she is not all that interested in his autograph. And when she's playing, she's not pretending to be him, well at least I hope so . His effect on attendance is simple. Putting a successful team on the field. If he does that then attendance will rise for those who only come to see a winning team. If he fails to produce a winning team then attendance will fall. Now to be fare, management must give him the players to work with. I think there is little argument that this team has talent. It is just not performing to its full ability. In any profession sometimes you take a job that for any number of reason does not work out. I think this is one of those situations. As you stated earlier, Arod was let go because it was not a good fit allowing her to find success somewhere else. Why doesn't the same logic hold true then for Tony? For me it is all about the players. They are what is marketed. They make it happen. They are what the fan base dreams of becoming. Just my opinion...
No worries. While I was just looking for a match report, I appreciate the more involved discussion going on here. I don't know how productive it ultimately is, but I understand the need to vent and to move beyond the repetitive "maybe next week" posts.
I'm done posting here. And the more complaints that I get directed at me, the louder I will get. I have nothing to lose. If management tells me to shut my mouth, thats $130 back in my pocket. Not to mention savings on gas and food.
I read this thread, felt the need to respond, then saw that socfandan summed it up excellently. Most of the young girls at Breakers games weren't even alive for the 1999 World Cup. They likely don't know who Tony is, and I doubt they'll start refusing to come to games if a coaching change is made. The team's losing record and uninspired play is keeping more fans away than whatever Tony's bringing in. I was really looking forward to encouraging all the bandwagon world cup fans to come to a Breakers game and see some live soccer. But, I can't in good faith say "You like the world cup? Then you'll love the Breakers!" They can't score goals, and they haven't won a home game since last July. I love this team, have loved them since day 1 nearly a decade ago, and will continue to support them until the end. But there's no denying the fact that there's something fundamentally wrong here, and something has to be done about it. The parallels to the WUSA Breakers are spot-on. Who's going to be our Pia Sundhage this time?
If the Breakers can pull this off, I will be the happiest girl in New England. Andy, are you listening?
Say it ain't so (or that you only mean this thread). I quite enjoy your posts & POV whether or not I agree w/ you. MRAD is right to point out that the Tony has to go talk is similar to the CRS threads for the 3 or so weeks b/f Hayes got fired, only w/ more venom. It isn't really my place to start a thread in this forum but I'd be interested to hear who the Boston area fans think would be reasonable candidates for the coaching job were Tony to be fired/resign/spend more time w/ his family. the other question is what would it take to buy out his contract if he is guaranteed money? Boston has 14 games left (if I can count). There is time to right the ship and make the playoffs. But is that possible w/ the current head coach? Maybe yes, maybe no.
Lilly would be reasonable to finish the season. Her soccer brain has more experience than Rampone and all she did was win a title... So I would not be upset with Lilly taking over. As for outside of the organization, I have to admit, my knowledge is extremely limited.
Maybe a thread on "Who should replace Tony" would get some good suggestions (along w/ the crazy). Rampone was player-coach b/c there was so little time left in the season. Would/could Lilly do both jobs for over half the season?
I’m not sure it’s Tony specifically or 1999 specifically that brings fans through the gates, more the larger picture of women’s soccer that he and the major players on the team, i.e. the fundamental chemistry that’s been here the past two years, represents. A coaching change wouldn’t necessarily stop people from coming, but it would create a far different atmosphere around the team and fans. Whether it was their primary reason for coming or not, many fans would be quite heartbroken to see Tony straight up fired. I still think there is time for the Breakers to salvage a respectable record with him at the helm. The Chicago game was by far their worst performance of the year, and the more confidence they lose through negative chants and such, the more you’ll see of that. I didn’t realize that the Lilly idea was actually serious. The obvious counter, as Kool Aide said, is that Rampone was only player/coach for a few games in a stretch run. It was a one of a kind story…won’t work with half a season still to go. However, I did like socfandan’s suggestions of moving him to a different position in the organization if he agrees to it and it is done respectfully…...that said, I’m still not sure there’s a better replacement out there. The fact that the Breakers came out with their best performance right after halftime in the last game still makes me wonder if the problems go beyond Tony himself. Real fans support their team when they need it the most. If you think your money is being wasted because the Breakers are struggling, then I have serious doubts about you being “loyal, true and forever blue.” You‘ll never see Tony, Lilly, Smith and Scott together ever again….each game is something to cherish. I have no personal relationship with Tony DiCicco. My loyalty is to the Breakers team over him individually. My loyalty is to WPS as a whole……which we might not have beyond this year. My loyalty is to the ambience of the Harvard Coliseum, the great songs from Riptide and everything else that makes the Breakers a special experience. Let’s keep it that way.
I'm surprised to read that; the only times I can think of fans being heartbroken over a coach getting fired are when it's a long time coach who's lead the team to success (i.e. Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys for those who are familiar with the NFL). I'm also doubtful that it's either Tony or 1999 bringing fans in the gate; I suspect a winning, scoring, fun to watch team would do more to bring fan in the gate honestly.
I think another thing to consider if changes aren't made is if the some of the internationals are really going to want to sign a new contract for 2 more years of losing when there is the prospect of a new summer league with 2 teams around the corner from their house in London. And while I am sure there are twenty internationals out there willing to take their places there won't be any with with the same kind of recognition and fan pulling power.
A few years ago Tony was giving a lecture to my daughters club team. He was talking about Michelle Akers, Tisha Venturini etc and then said something along the lines of "you ladies are too young to remember them". My daughter, who was 12 or so at the time was kind of offended, she was like "Dad how can he say that! How can anyone who loves soccer not know who they are". I asked her if the kids sitting next to her knew who they were and she slowly began to realize about 3 people did..... You aren't going to lose the younger generation by changing coach's but you are going to lose them if something doesn't change for the better
I have never read anything so utterly strange without a thread of good reasoning in a discussion forum. Why should we offer DiCicco another postion in Boston when he has done nothing for the team? May be if someone loves him so much as this poster, she can hire him instead and remove him from all the suffering fans.
AMBreakers, your tremendous insight into Tony's thoughts and feelings is very impressive, as is your steadfast but horribly misplaced hero-worship, leading me to believe you have a very close personal relationship with him that extends beyond the bonds of the Breakers current situation and prevents you from seeing the reality of this season.[/QUOTE] I share your feelings. May be AMBreakers is not related but is actually AMDiCicco. How can anyone state so definitely that TD will leave at the end of the season if he is not TD himself or somebody closely related?
.............. I think the majority of true women's soccer fans can look at Tony in terms of a bigger picture of lifetime achievement even if they do think he should be fired.[/QUOTE] Yeah. He nearly desproyed a valueable player (ARod) for the US National Team and WPS.