According to Bob Hunter's "Rumblings" column in "The Dispatch," Jeff Wuerth was sacked. I guess he was primarily responsible for the poor results the last two seasons.
No buzz about the team. Crazy comments to the Other Paper about not needing casual fans. A surly attitude towards nearly everyone. Allowing him to pursue other options in the circus.
I think it's cause he never responded to my PM about offering the wallpaper I made on the official site
I thought whatever personality shortcomings he was accused of were more than equalled by the rank hypocrisy of a bunch of self-styled internet "journalists" (if that's the word for who and what these guys are) who shamelessly sucked up to him in order to keep their precarious "press credentials" and access to the "press box" etc. and then did nothing but trash the guy behind his back. What annoyed them most was when he'd refuse to do their work for them. Most of those guys ought to try seeing what kind of respect their half-assed excuses for "Websites" would get them with an actual big-time pofessional sports franchise. Wuerth was way, way nicer to them than their place in the overall scheme of things would allow them anyplaceelse on Earth. For all of that, they did nothing but denigrate the guy behind his back, which was convenient considering how much time they spent with their noses up his ass. I have no doubt that this same little "Cool Kids Club" is breathelessly swapping snarky phone calls and emails and doing their Snoopy Happy Dance over this. I'll be interested in any comments some of these guys may have on this move. Very interested to see if they have the manparts.
I always like Weurth, but you have to look at it from a realist's perspective. Crew games were not covered by the Ohio media, or even the Columbus media (Dispatch excluded) period. They need someone with the relationships in place to get the coverage. That said, there's probably a bit more to the story that immediately meets the eye.
A PR guy can't manufacture interest in a lousy product. It's like I always say to people who want to wank on endlessly about how MLS and the Crew need to do more advertising, have more billboards, etc. Well you can put a billboard on every corner in town advertising fresh dogshit sandziches 3-for-a-dollar but until you find someone who enjoys Fido-flop nobody is going to buy. "PR" is not the solution when the problem is a lousy product.
I liked Jeff a lot and am sad to see him go, he was a part of this organization for the better part of 9 years - so it's going to be interesting to see what the organization plans to do as a replacement(s) either within or from outside the Crew/MLS- seeing as how most other MLS teams have at leats 2 people in the PR department (and some like RBNY seemed to have 16).
If Jeff Wuerth was fired for lack of placement in the media than it is a travesty. Stan Sanders from WCMH and Clay Hall from WSYX have told me that the Crew have become irrelevant this year and they saw little reason to cover it. Reasons include: Lack of wins Lack of any personality on team (coach or player) No viewer interest (see above) If Jeff was let go for other reasons I understand but I know he did all he could to promote the team to the media. The organization did not produce a product that was worth covering.
My question is who let the media know of his firing? In all seriousness, it is sad to see him go and wish him all the luck in his future. As for the Crew, well Artie Lange seems to be getting popular, maybe they can hire his guy. He definitely has experience somehow turning massive piles of crap into something marketable.
By the by, was Wuerth the last guy working for the Crew who was there from the beginning? He was part of the FO from day one in 1996. He may have been the last one.
Probably Wuerth. He had a good relationship with Hunter, reflected by the fact that Hunter's columns were one of the most consistent sources of Crew coverage.
I am unhappy about this move. I have always liked Jeff and he has always done everything in his power to make players, info and video available for the media. If you thought that you weren't getting enough coverage in the media here... you should see the other markets. I wonder if its just a situation where his contract was up at the end of the season and McCullers wanted to get "his guy" in there... wouldn't be the first time. I just hope that Jeff will be able to look back at this when he gets his next job in the NFL (like his predecessor) or with OSU (like many former co-workers) and laugh... and laugh... and laugh.
The way I hear it, Sigi showed up late to a meeting, and JW had eaten the last doughnut. Enraged, Sigi demanded his immediate firing.
Jeff didn't start in the initial year as the PR Director. I think he took that title in 1998. Adam Lowe (?) may have been the initial PR guy for the team, I just cannot remember for sure.
Yes, that is correct...Adam Low was the first PR guy, with Jeff beginning as an intern. Taken right out of the '96 Crew Media Guide.
No he didn't. I didn't say he was. I said he was in the FO in 1996, which was, and is, correct. I wasn't asking for anyone to verify what I already knew was correct. I was asking if there is anyone else still left in the organization from 1996.
I heard about it a couple of days ago, but I haven't talked to Jeff yet, so I don't know what happened. If it was a scapegoat move, then Mark deserves the slings and arrows. If it was some other reason that none of us know about, I hope Mark keeps absorbing the slings and arrows anyway. It is weird to contemplate a Crew without Jeff. His first year as PR director was my first year covering the team, so he's been part of my Crew experience forever. In the past, I know I've written about how Mais and Fitz were incredibly helpful and gracious and friendly, etc., when I first started covering the team. I had no idea what I was doing and they put me at ease and it meant the world to me. Of course, the overlooked portion of that story is that it was Jeff who grabbed me and took me over to those guys and introduced me. Over the next year or so, I was on the receiving end of several lectures from Jeff, some of which were the result of me having no clue what I was doing, while others were just Jeff and I butting heads over my "work." (Such as it is.) But for anyone who has enjoyed any of my drivel at any point over the years, it almost never happened. The legit mag I was writing for in '98 folded up shop, so my goal was to start a 'zine for '99. Jeff originally shot me down...and really, with McBride, the new stadium, the Crew being a major player in the media around town, what did the Crew need with some dopey newbie and some crappy homemade magazine? But I annoyed him to the point where he relented.....which led to more fun debates after every issue. He could have pulled the plug on me anytime he wanted, but he didn't. Maybe he just liked yelling at me. Haha. Heck, he probably would have done me a favor by killing my 'zine as I was in way over my head anyway. But then I got my out after all......which was working for the Crew site. So then I was kinda indirectly working for Jeff. Who woulda thunk it? And by the following year, I was pretty entrenched in doing what I do, and my professional relationship with Jeff has been more or less on cruise control since then, with only the occasional hiccup. Most of our interactions involved busting each other's balls about something or other. Occasionally he'd do me a favor, occasionally I'd do him a favor, but mostly we just busted each other's chops about Cleveland/Cincinnati, etc. I was small potatoes in the grand scheme of Jeff's job, but if there was anything I truly needed, Jeff took care of it. So when it comes to my working relationship with Jeff, I may have some stories, but I have no real complaints. And I owe him some thanks. Jeff kept me around when he didn't need to, which gave me the opportunity to eventually find my footing and my teeny-tiny little place in the Crew universe. Jeff broke me of all my ignorant newbie faux pas, which, aside from making his life easier, also meant that I was later able to blend in while doing NHL and MLB games. And once I was fairly self-sufficient with my schtick and didn't need much from him, the occasional favor was still taken care of. (This usually involved making sure I was set on the rare road trip.) Jeff's job was far bigger than my little world, so I don't know the half of it. I don't know specifically what was expected of him and if those goals were met, or if they could have been met, or what his working relationships with far more important media-types were like, or what the office culture was like, or what his relationship with Mark was like, or any of the million other X factors that could possibly be in play here. Or if he was indeed a scapegoat due to insufficent turd-polishing skills. But I can tell you my writing career would have been exceptionally brief if Jeff didn't cut me some slack in the early days. And I intend to call him to thank him for that, as well as his role in a major favor for a family member a few years ago. I just realized that I've now known the guy for a quarter of my life, so it is going to be weird being at Crew games without him. I hope he lands on his feet soon, and hopefully with his beloved Buckeyes, Bengals or Reds. And with that, this self-styled internet "journalist" is going to bed. Sirk