I'm dying for somebody, anybody to tell me why Coach Andrulis should be offered another contract. Additionally, please try to convince me to purchase season tickets. We've certainly had plenty of offerings from the other side of the argument. Let me tell you what I assume the argument is. On Coach Andrulis, I assume that the strength of the argument for retention is going to be based on winning the Supporters Shield and the unbeaten streak. As for season tickets, because it's "the right thing to do." MLS bleeds money so we should purchase season tickets. Also, one should support Crew win or lose. Just curious.
Ya know, I've come to the following conclusion... We could win the MLS Cup with Andrulis at the controls 2-1 and... You'd get 50% of the people in here wondering why we only won 2-1. It's the typical Columbus sports fan. Nothing is ever quite good enough...
While I agree with your opinion that some things are never good enough, what has Andrulis done over two years to warrant keeping his job? I mean if the ultimate goal is trophies than we've not done anything at all. No Playoffs last year, and out in miserable fashion this year. Mind you we were picked to win MLS Cup last year, and where the hottest team in the league this year. Additionally we've been less than convincing in the Open Cup both years, very nearly losing to Syracuse this year.
That is a line of copacetic bull-sh!t. What other Columbus sports team does not have to "face the music" and talk to the fans? We have Martino's crew cuts, some other very vague rumblings from players and the FO, and nothing else. Give the fans some credit and stop treating us like Georgians in a Stalinist state.
I am not disagreeing, I am just sick of coming in here every day to see a new thread saying the same god-damn thing. I think we are all frustrated with the fact that the Crew have not said a single thing since the end of the season. There hasn't been even the slightest "peep" from the FO regarding our Interim GM or our head coach. Hell, many teams have had their GMs available for a "online chat" at mlsnet.com or have had their own town-hall style meetings since the end of the season...that I cannot argue with. I personally am more disturbed by the fact that Andrulis has never answered a single question about the final game at home, than anything else. Sure that night I give you a pass but your ass better be prepared to answer some question a week later and he hasn't...or nobody has attempted to talk to him (his 'appearance' on a radio show where he told us his favorite color not withstanding) But the one thing that won't change for me is my support for the Columbus Crew. They're my MLS squad and I will continue to support them by purchasing season tickets and going to games even if they do frustrate the hell out of me...
I think everyone is wanting answers and the silence is giving everyone not only reason to want Andrulis fired but the whole Front Office. Still...once Andrulis speaks it will just be used to talk about how shít he is and how he should be fired.
I have to disagree with fid's first posit. I've been a Browns' fan since I was old enough to walk and an Indians' fan almost as long. Neither team has won a damn thing in my lifetime, yet I'm as big a fan today as I ever was. It's frustrating, it's sometimes maddening and it can drive you crazy. But I've never for a minute wavered in my support or my interest. As bad as it has been many, many times (Butch Davis resigned today BTW) I have never felt like just walking away forever. Ditto the first six years of the Crew. We came close, we had good teams and bad, we had coaching changes and all the things any franchise goes through. But the last few years have just kicked it out of me. The management treats us like we're stupid, refusing to communicate or be honest or a little open or even respectful. The ownership is distant, seemingly disinterested and detached from our interests. You get the impression they fax over the numbers and that's about it. Players come for tryouts. It's a secret. Players leave the team and are gone for weeks before they ever say anything. Players are injured, players get healthy, players leave town. SIlence. We have the effective first pick in the draft and they refuse to admit what everybody knows (that we're taking Marshall) "for obvious reasons" even though there's no reason not to. The team crash lands and the GM says he's "reevaluating everyone" but then we find out the coach has been off scouting for a week. We suffer crushing defeats and the coac, GM and owner refuse to even issue a statement to the fans. I could go on and on and on, but there's no point. We're treated like absolute garbage and I'm just sick and tired of it. Fans need more. Fans need passion. When the Browns lose, I know that the owner is likely even more depressed about it than I am. When the Crew loses I'm not even sure Clark Hunt knows about it, let alone gives a damn. Ditto Smith (although he started to get it) and now McCullers. Does he care? I doubt it - it's just a career stepping stone for him, like Rootes and Smith. Hell, those guys aren't even in the same SPORT anymore, let alone still with the team. They could care less. With Andrulis it's not just that he loses. He does dumb stuff, makes horrible personnel changes, and then tells us it was "the soccer gods" or "luck" or "the breaks" that beat us. That is when he agrees to actually talk about it at all, instead of hiding out in the locker room. It's just NOT that we've lost games. We lost plenty, had plenty of heartbreaks the first six years. Tore me up for weeks losing those playoffs to DC. But somehow I knew Lamar was on our side and Rootes or Smith or Fitzgerald would get a swift kick in the ass and that SOMEBODY was in charge and cared. Now we're just a branch office of HuntCo, left in the control of an incompetent liar and coward, and nobody will even talk to us fans. We're out on an island here. No one cares anymore. It's not the losing, fid. It's that there's nobody in charge who gives a damn about the fans. We just don't matter. We're not worth the trouble of five minutes with Craig Merz or a post on BS. It's not illusion, it's reality: the people in charge, whoever they are, just really and truly don't give a crap.
why Coach Andrulis should be offered another contract He has the uncanny ability to not lose games that don't matter. He won an unofficial trophy. He made the playoffs. He has learned from his playoff mistakes. Next time, in order to utilize Sanneh's size, Tony goes in the goal and Busch is the attacking midfielder.
I (like Fid) will continue to spend money in support of the Crew because unfortunately for me they are my team. I now have no choice no matter what nitwit is in charge. However, I think Bill's post is right on target. The Crew FO are taking fans, particularly hardcore fans, for granted. They have insulated themselves with the Crew Union folks and others that basically accept anything they say so they then think that the rest of us are stupid as well. I go back to when Jim Smith said "we don't need you" to dissenting fans a couple of years ago and it is symbolic of the attitude that far too many in the FO have right now. I still remain hopeful that McCullers can address some of the issues, but I am not convinced there are people around him that understand and can communicate the extent of the problem. So Zak, all I can offer is the "support the Crew win or lose", but your frustrations are understandable and I would not find fault with fans that choose not to send their money until changes are made. Walt