Originally Posted by
RedDevils
The blame for the drop in supporter quality is on Paul Beirne. He got everything wrong on day one and we're reaping the fruits of those errors now. Instead of going with what worked in Chicago and DC, he decided to reinvent the wheel and ignore U-Sector's wish to be in 115.
The only reason ECS in Seattle is the best is because they demanded a real supporter's section behind the net that gives them room for growth. The difference is their FO listened to their supporters and gave them what they needed to succeed. In our case, we had to deal with arrogance. Supporters understand supporter culture, not the suits.
Break down support in North America into three tiers.
Tier 1: Cream of the crop. Seattle, Portland, and when they're on point Chicago. (and IMO when they move into Saputo, UM02. They made us look really bad on both occasions we visited this year, great group vocally. Need to step up their visuals though)
Tier 2: Up and coming, constantly improving. KC, RSL, San Jose, Philly, LA, NYRB, Columbus, Colorado.
Tier 3: Fragmented, unorganized, stagnating. Toronto, Dallas, Vancouver, New England, Chivas, DC (no offense to District Ultras, fantastic group, but this is about DC as a whole, in a SSS with all four groups in one section and DU leading, easily Tier 1.).
Tier 1 and 2 put their groups behind the net where they belong, they almost all follow the guidelines laid out by the Fire and Section 8. Things like listening to supporters on supporter issues (gasp), independence of groups, general admission, and some get rid of seats all together for safe standing areas.
The supporter groups are the beating heart of any stadium. Our heart beat is irregular at best, flatline on most days.