Especially when the guy he's replacing just went on an impressive run. I'm sure the fans will be tolerating the nosedive in performance as the team acclimates to "Nancyball".
That's Jim Smith He's the guy that wanted circus performers and dog tricks at half time. But we did get Mascot Soccer so it's all good Plus he was significant in saving the Crew...so his story arc came back in the end.
A classic moment when Mark McCullers was making amends - or doing penance - for botching the whole Supporters Shield presentation by seizing it and awarding it to some old broad who went to a lot of games or something. Nice recovery though - that's a prime group of miscreants if ever there was one.
He's also the guy who announced that all the supporters section meant to him was a bunch of cheap tickets. He never lived that one down. Always nice to see a shout out to Fitz though. A great, great guy.
Luckily I didn't try to search the way back machine for that picture. May it die in the same internet dumpster that contains pictures of any aspiring North End Divas out there (no please don't post the pics, Bill).
Wasn't he the guy who gave us the Buck-a-Brat nights? Who was the one who fumbled the Supporters Shield moment? IIRC, Jim was the one who basically told Zak that he wasn't needed/wanted at Crew games even though Zak spent countless amounts of his own dollars on banners, flags, tailgates, etc. I've only seen Zak at one or two games since and at least one of them was the Flogging Molly game, FWIW. If that "We don't need you here" comment never happens, it's anyone's guess if Zak still comes. We all know what they say about negative feedback traveling farther/faster than positive. I believe it was also Jim Smith who saw the team in so big/bad of the doldrums that the advertisements were not much more than "Come see OpposingPlayer take on your Columbus Crew this Saturday at 5pm. Good seats still available!" We didn't have many name players on our team and basically had no choice but to advertise the opposition. Imagine if the Bluejackets did that. "Come see Sidney Crosby this Tuesday!" Yes, he was instrumental in helping save the team, but that was obviously much later and I do thank him for stepping up when we needed big voices. I put him in the same boat as Robert Warzycha. I can separate the GM from the STC-era Jim like I can separate Robert the player from Robert the coach. Mark started out by opening up the stadium club tent for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and finding sponsors to give us all the complimentary food/drinks AND making it so large that it received national TV attention plus visitors from (IIRC) Florida. Mark also came down to talk to some of us about Nee after the one game when there weren't many people left in the stadium besides random employees and a security guy keeping eye on us. He finished his term by giving us that terrible TV deal. He gets mixed reviews from me.
Well, some of ours are older---Fenway and Wrigley to name a couple. Though given how much Wrigley has been rebuilt.....
Most of the stadiums in the Bundesliga are pretty new or very heavily renovated. They're often reconstructed in place. The one that's relatively old is Berlin's Olympic Stadium, and that's not even a BL stadium at this time. Their stadia are pretty up to date.
At the same time, I remember getting text messages saying how "The Crew wouldn't be under the threat of relocation if we had pro/rel." I'm still trying to figure out the connection between the two. AFAIK, there's nothing preventing European teams from moving...of course, many of them have so much local support, it's probably comparable to big-name pro teams here, if not even much greater. Nobody would ever think about moving the Yankees or Cowboys just like nobody would ever think about moving the top-level European club teams. At the same time, what's preventing a fifth-tier European club from moving to a new city?
The main thing preventing relocations in most other countries, specifically Europe, is the fact that ever other town or city has at least one team already fully entrenched in the local market. Many mid-sized cities have 2-3 first or second division clubs. Look at Rotterdam for example. The metro area is a similar population to Columbus and they currently have 3 clubs - Feyenoord, Sparta, and Excelsior - playing in the Eredivisie. So it's not really even feasible to relocate a club. The other big factor is that fans simply will not support it. Americans are used to relocations. Fans in the city a team relocates to welcome them with open arms. That would not happen in Europe. Look at MK Dons. Lower tier semi-pro or amateur clubs are known to move around though, and there have been numerous instances of clubs merging together throughout Europe.
View in browser A MESSAGE FROM GENERAL MANAGER ISSA TALL We are proud of our team’s efforts in 2025 because we showed resiliency when facing adversity and remained committed to authentically being ourselves – we are the Crew, and we hold ourselves to a special standard and core values. This was clear during the final stretch of the season, including the expectation and desire for more after three hard-fought playoff matches. While we fell short this season, our goal every year remains to contend for championships for our supporters and Columbus. The Columbus Crew is a truly special Club. We have exceptional leadership who are consistently investing in our roster and world-class facilities, a core group of players and support staff who know the commitment it takes to win in this league and a fan base and city that are incredibly passionate about our sport. We knew Wilfried moving to another club was likely at some point, and we are well positioned for the future. As part of this process, we had an evolving list of top talent readily available and have also been directly contacted by a significant number of interested prospects. We have already started discussions with candidates for the Crew’s next head coach, all of which have consistently expressed it’s a coveted position in our league. It speaks volumes to the success we have collectively built, alongside our fans. As we prepare for 2026 and what’s next for our Club, our players are working hard on their offseason programming, and the support staff is diligently planning to ensure everyone is ready for the start of the year. We will not stand still. We will continue to push our Club forward in every way, on and off the pitch. We look forward to kicking off the upcoming season with the league’s best fans. As always, thanks for your Massive support. Issa
There are quite a few Bundesliga stadiums this season that are lower quality than LDC...I mean Scott's Field. Here's a few quick examples. Union Berlin: Heidenheim: Mainz: St. Pauli:
Probably right before they win the league, so we won’t get our million buck bonus. Another press conference with Nancy today and multiple reporters (fan media was banned). When asked about what type of players he’d be looking for in the January window, he specified that the “player would need to be able to play 2 positions at minimum” ,be “a good person” and “humble”, and have a “diversity of cultures on the team”. There was no mention of the player’s skill level or style of play.
True. I've been to the one in Florence. They keep trying to rebuild it but they can't get any money from anywhere for it. Yet they can build some of the best high speed trains in Europe. Go figure.
Heidenheim is the stadium of a minor team in a very small town that got lucky. The other three were built or rebuilt in the last 10-20 years. Having been to Sankt Pauli, the atmosphere is pretty amazing. These stadia also, except, Heidenheim, are as large or larger than Scotts.
Red Bull kinda did that to get RB Leipzig into the league, by buying up a very minor team from the outer area around the city. Now in Eastern Europe, this was done a lot to get an advantage for a team or city one of the "Comrades" loved. One example was Dynamo Berlin. which was the Stasi team, moved from Dresden.
Even if an American team moves, that absence may not be entirely permanent for either the team or city. How many times have the Rams and Raiders moved? How many times has LA been with or without an NFL team? There's constant chatter about Seattle getting a new NBA team. It's highly possible St. Louis gets another NFL team. In a worst-case situation, had the Crew moved to Austin, who's to say MLS wouldn't have been back in Columbus by 2030? 2045? As far as the European mergers, how many "United" teams are the results of such a merger?