FC Dallas: The fan's club

In the blog entry of the same title, Hitch tells us what he plans to do.

1) Provide unique content and behind the scenes access to our fans.
This is the blog and FCDTV. Of course, it will be party line information. To paraphrase K Lind, I plan to take this with a sea salt grinder. The team did something like this in Mike Jeffries's last year as coach, I think it was called the coach's corner. It lasted about three games. Perhpas because some of the questions were "Why do you suck," "How can you look at yourself in the mirror," and "How can you actaully be a worse head coach than Norv Turner." No idea who was asking those questions. Once the team gets back to Dallas, Buzz will be observing, and then we will have an independant voice. Someone in the FO has been observing the posts on the blog, however. Accusations of treating Mulrooney unfairly were addressed in Morrow's last post.

2) Provide a great game day experience.
Some good infromation about merchandise is here. Also, the team plans to tackle the problems with concessions. The first year at PHP, I did not really have any problems, and, in my short periods of parole last season, I just bought a beer at one of the little carts. I did read of people having tremendous problems, though. Personally, I think there should be more dollar brat nights, and free beer nights would also be nice. Also, our taligating area should be ours. No moving us around, no matter what is going on.

3) Plan holder benefits.
No information yet.

4) FCD Hoops nation.
Kind of like Gator Nation, without the championships. The infrastructure was in place to an extent last year, with Sala being interviewed over the phone for Argentine radio. Soem of the other international players could do the same thing. Ruiz is worshipped in Guatamala, and Toja and El Generalito would certainly be welcomed.

5) Advertsing and marketing campaign.
The FO plans for the fans to be a part of it, though there are no specifics.

The most important thing is not mentioned at all.

For those of us who suffered Dragon Stadium, I would like to present a scenario. The FO went out of its way to provide us a place to tailgate, which was helped by Chamo's sacrifice of a grill. I wonder if it was still there. Now, say that the team did the right thing, and gave us a resonable discout on tickets for the corner of the granstand, rather than putting us in the bleachers. Though there were still going to be problems, it would have been a little better.

Next, say the Burn, instead of being bottom dwellers for the season, were bullet proof. That the Burn would have dominated the MLS like 1997 DC United. If we went out to Southlake with the expectation that the team would win, it would have been palatible.

The most important issue is whether the team will win.

Though the victory was against an inferior team, I am starting to think the 4-2-3-1 might just work. The team seems to be buying into it. Most importantly, though Morrow said that KCJ is a forward, he is back in the middle now. Morrow has shown enough flexibility to go with what best fits the team.

There is potentially a lot of creativity here. Not from KCJ, though. It is not a matter of talent so much as instinct. KCJ is predatory, not creative, and the same goes for Thompson. Nunez will have to step forward, and, though we tend to think of Ragin' Bob as a striker, he is back in the position he occupied before his move to the MLS. If Toja, further back, is as advertised, getting the ball to the goal scorers in dangerous positions will not be a problem.

There are a couple of "ifs" there, and they are worrisome. IF Nunez steps forward, IF Toja is really pretty good.

The defense is that fatal heel. Plenty of talent there, but little expereince. We might hope that Serioux will be back in June, as good as he ever was. Pity that it is only a hope; we really have no iea when he will be back, nor do we know he will recover fully. If I am to believe what so many have posted about Mulrooney, Serioux may never return to the player he once was.

The potential signing of Pablo Ricchetti would cerainly help, either in the back line or as the d mid next to Toja. There is a problem with that, however. FCD is out of international slots, as Toja took the last one. If Buzz is correct, and Nunez is close to getting a green card, then Toja can take Nunez's vacated YI spot, and Ricchetti can come in as a Senior International. Not until then.

On another website, I have been repeately asked if FCD wants to win this year. Of course they do, whether than can do so reamins to be seen. Colorado is very happy with Vanney, and, though my problems with that gentleman had more to do with his wages than play, he was the leader of the defense. Goodson has the most expereince as a central defender, but had a nightmare of a season last year. I expect that he will snap out of it, and he is the physical defender that Morrow has expressed a preference for.

On the same website, I questioned a very knowledgeable Revs fan on the Joseph situation. He expressed the views of many Revs fans, that they should just play him and ignore the trade request, or make a blockbuster trade. Both options, he told me, are folly. He will have to go, and with only two years on his contract, and interest expressed from no less than Celtic, a huge trade is not in the works. In fact, he suggested that draft picks could be the only thing the Revs could get. With two picks in both the first and second rounds, a partial allocation, not to mention some intriguing young players, FCD might have a pretty good shot at Jospeh. Nicol, however, claims that four teams have called for Joseph, but he is not on the block. Nor an I certian this is a move that FCD would make.

As for the DP, abandon all hope. Again, FCD will, one way of the other, be out of International slots. Buzz reports that Ruiz has started the process to get a green card, but he may not even be close, or he may have lost interest entirely. Even if Ruiz does get the green card during the season, I would not expect a move, not matter how the season is going. One possibility is that the team will wait out the season, decide on the kind of palyer they need, see who is interested and availible, and use the DP slot then. A stronger possibility is that the team will just sit on the DP, and see where the chips fall when the idea is examined again.

The perfomance of the club on the field is the important factor to make FC Dallas the fans team, not Hitch's five point scheme to create the New Soviet Man. If the team wins, the atmosphere will be good, and the concessions lines not seem so long. If the team loses, every little problem will become intolerable.

Right now, I can not be convinced either way.

Dead but dreaming,
Scipio Diabolus,
vox fatum.

Contra.

http://www.contracafe.com

http://www.cato.org

 

Psycho's failures?

He is the first to admit that the reults have not been there. Look at the context of the situation. City will not bring in any new talent. As a matter of fact, they are far more interested in dumping salary. You have seen what Pearce can do with a little talent. Once those players were sold, it would be a fight to avoid relegation. It looks as if he has done that, a feat most managers could not.

Psycho does not need the kind of talent that Feguson and Wegner do. Just a couple of good players will do it. If he had acess to the kind of players that they do, City would be winning in Europe. His desperation to bring in any sort of talent is evidenced by trying to raid FCD.

He will leave City at the end of the season to concentrate on the English youth teams. It is the first step to his inevitible rise to head the English National Team. If you do not support England, the very notion of that should be unnerving. No more out in the quarters. No more draws with little teams like Israel. Just two dozen guys ready to run through walls for Psycho.

He learned from the best.

While there has been a similar salary dump at FCD, there are differences. Thre are new players coming in. Toja and Richetti could be very good players for FCD. Waht the FO must realize, though, is that if FCD fails to perform, it really does not matter what kind of graphics are in the stadium.

Clear eyes, and newly sober.

Dead but dreaming,
Scipio Diabolus,
vox fatum.

Contra.

http://www.contracafe.com

http://www.cato.org