A former – and recently departed – employee of the grounds that NYCFC call home was famous for reminding fans that it isn’t over until it is over. Or until the fat lady sang. Or maybe both. I don’t know.
And yet, barring a declaration of war by Canada upon the United States (or vice-versa), which thus would prohibit the free exchange of goods, services and soccer clubs, New York City FC’s inaugural season will come to an end when that final whistle blows on October 25th.
So let us turn our thoughts to 2016.
Or rather, let us let the fans turn our thoughts that way.
Back to the Future: New York City FC Fans Wishlist
We asked a handful of fans – via twitter, facebook, email and special delivery mail (we’re still waiting to hear back from those) – what they’d like to see different next year.
It’s hard to know where to begin, because the comments were so wide-ranging and passionate, so let’s begin on the field.
We need one. We need one of our own. Almost every one of the fans said, essentially, thank you very much Yankee Stadium, you’ve been very nice (“especially the crab legs in the Legends Suite” said John), but really, we need our own pitch. And more importantly perhaps, we need, as one fan put it “transparent public announcements on all details regarding progress and status regarding the politics and decision-making concerning the location and the building of a stadium.”
Which Cathy C. – Belfast native, and United & Celtic supporter who comes down from New Paltz for the matches – echoes: “I would love to see a commitment to and real progress made, with regard to building our own stadium!”
So we need our own pitch. And then, we need to upgrade some of the players on it.
“I know that defenses are not as sexy to MLS fans” says @FansinBlazers, “but we need some serious work in the back.” And Andrew (season ticket holder in Section 29) concurs: “A consistent back line both from a player perspective and approach perspective. A team gets better by understanding each other. Not only is it different players every game, but the different players bring radically different styles.” One solution is to hold on to what we have. Jonathan Densa, an undergrad at Lehigh University who comes up for the home games, wants Angelino and Facey to stay in New York. That would certainly add a bit of stability along the back line.
Ah but the stability of what is seen and felt beneath our feet is an illusion, for this life is not as it seems. Just ask our Designated Players.
“What do I want most next year? How about Frank Lampard on the pitch from March on” requests Leigh, a lifelong Spurs fan whose been to better than half NYCFC’s home games. “This year was frustrating from a DP perspective” adds Tony Larsen (“a converted Red Bull supporter”). “That created a lack of rhythm sadly.” And Densa is right there with them both: “Designated Players playing for the full year” is at the top of his list for 2016.
But perhaps the most important – and troubling – change that fans want in 2016 is to the deaf ear they feel the front office has turned towards them this season. For a team that has enjoyed massive support – with the third best attendance in the league this season, averaging over 28,000 at home and drawing big numbers on the road – to a supporter the fans feel hard done by management. Sure, Kreis and the players acknowledge them at almost every match, but what about the suits? “We want respect” say the Blue Ladies. “We want a team that values us and our contribution.”
And that cuts across all the sections, all the backgrounds and all the specifics.
Fans feel disrespected when it comes to the suppression of the kind of classic supporter demonstrations that soccer is famous for, that international players and fans expect, and that other teams enjoy (“More supporter engagement. Let us use instruments, flags, etc.”). And they feel unvalued when we’re talking about season ticket holder management (“Literally the only time I heard from NYCFC in a non-autogenerated manner is when they wanted money.”). And, as we noted above, when it comes to the stadium, they are tired of the obfuscation, half-answers and vagaries surrounding the place they will call home.
In short, the fans aren’t seeing the support from the organization that they see the players give every match, or that they themselves are giving.
And you may say “so what?”
But I would contend that while there are many measures of success for an MLS club, the most important measure for NYCFC as far as MLS was concerned was not wins, was not DPs was not hardware. It was fans. Having endured a Red Bull team that, until this year, struggled to capture the imagination of the locals – for a wide variety of reasons which we all can argue about at another time – they were desperate to have a successful team in the nation’s top media market. Especially having just shuttered a team that never got traction in the nation’s SECOND top media market.
That 28,000 average home attendance in the first season – a season that was without Pirlo and Lampard for most of the matches, that experienced an 11 game winless streak, that missed the playoffs, that was played on a baseball diamond? That, as one local boy likes to say, is huge. The fact that NYCFC have already sold over 19,000 season tickets for next year? That’s even bigger.
But they’re not guarantees. And the front office would be wise to remember that.
