If anyone wants me to educate them on why the Crew was ignored by the local business community when owned by the Hunts I can lay it out in detail. We need to remember our history. It was not a fan problem.
The last two posts rightly delineate the issue, which was always ownership. Despite Clark Hunts pathetic lies about searching high and low for someone to purchase the team, there was never any real.effort to come up with a solid buyer to take over and build a better franchise. (I know most of you know the story of how Clarkie Boy hired a small real estate outfit in Cleveland to try and find a buyer because one of the partners once "attended Ohio State". Sure because obviously anyone who ever lived in a dorm on campus knows all the Columbus movers and shakers. It's too ludicrous) But as we all know now, it was a blatant lie. Garber and Cootermunch had Precourt all picked out back before any of that. The whole thing was just Kabuki theater for the rubes, staged so that Hunt could claim he'd tried so. ery hard but nobody wanted this shitty little team. Too bad, so sad. So while yes it's true that none of the good stuff was going to happen under the previous ownership, a serious search led by serious people instead of some clowns who were specifically hired to fail would have come up with the Haslams - who were right there in town with the puppets - or someone similar. I do not agree that we "had to go through" what we did to end up where we are. Rather, the reason we went through what we did was because Garber and Hunt orchestrated it.
This is why every piece of hardware,every final played in,every playoff game or cup tie,every sellout,every chant ,every Nancy tactical masterclass-every T shirt sold,every beer drunk,every first time fan with a toddler size Cucho jersey-every one of these is a punch in Dong Arber's nutsack,long may he writhe in pain. And long may we laugh at Austin.
I also forgot to mention Tim B. and K.B. in my thankful group. 20 years ago there were two places to buy Crew gear in Columbus. The team shop and Soccer Plus. Almost 10 years ago there were more places to buy FC Cincinnati gear in Columbus than our team. Today, it is pervasive. Precourt and Garber are not responsible for saturating the market with a logo and letting people know that, yes, we do have a professional soccer club.
I'm still riled up. This team was not marketed at all for many, many, many years. No discussion on the radio and no advertising. Does anyone else remember Jim Smith telling us the Crew couldn't advertise upcoming matches from the stadium because of Ladybird Johnson? Yet we were still pulling decent crowds. 17k people - butts in seats as opposed to tickets sold. The apathy started with Clark and then picked up after a concerted effort to destroy the team. We had a solid base. If we had people like Tim and Kristin Bernert 20 years ago without leashes around their necks, we would have more stars above our crest and a bigger stadium downtown.
Austin will be eliminated from Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs contention if: Austin lose/draw at Portland https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/matchday-36-who-can-clinch-playoffs-or-be-eliminated-x3547
Not sure if this has been posted before (and maybe this belongs in the ex-Crew thread), but Clark's sleaze has extended to promoting the ownership/management of a summer camp near Branson MO that has a long track record of employing & protecting pedophiles... https://www.threads.net/@nancyjanefrench/post/C3QmNypuYko
I can't speak for or against Hunt in the debacle that led to Precourt buying the team. But I do recall Hunt's speaking out about how he had a no-transfer clause included in the sale, and shortly after Garber and Precourt modified it to allow a transfer to Austin.
Hunt didn’t sell to Precourt. He knew the plan to move so he sold the team to the League and the league sold it to AP. That way Clark could cover his ass.
And that was the out for Hunt. He could honestly say that there was no Austin-out clause in the deal when he sold the team. He then got to claim that his hands were clean. But as you say, he sold it to MLS, at which point Garber added the Austin clause and sold it on to Precourt. Hunt is telling the truth, but there's no way he didn't know what was going on. It was all just a show for the rubes. Have fun screwing them over, Tony. Just remember I don't know anything about it.
Well, ATX has to win, and PDX has to lose, their final two matches. And in doing so, ATX has to make up / PDX give up a combined 18 goal differential (ATX -9, PDX +9 currently in goal differential). The next tiebraker being goals scored, PDX is currently ahead by 19 there. (They would be even in W-L-D).
Oh yes. My favorite tiebreaker: The drawing of lots. (I believe there was a CONCACAF tournament in the early 2000s which actually used this, or at least came damn close.)
I think it did happen at the Euros this year or there was a point late in the in the last group stage matches that if the results held it was going to happen and then someone scored.
Austin FC eliminated with 2-1 loss at LA Galaxy. In the final seconds ... an Austin player gets a red card for clearly trying to injure Riqui Puig. Austin FC's Guilherme Biro shouldn't see the field for a long, long time after this horrific tackle on Riqui Puig.Gross. Absolutely gross. pic.twitter.com/AkXcdiYlQB— Joseph Lowery (@joeclowery) October 6, 2024 Trashy end to the season for a trashy team.
To be fair, it does look like he was going for the ball and was just a tad late. The slow motion of the video makes it look like he was later than he was.