Sure, why not. what the hell else am i gonna do?
Hells no! not giving these MOFO's another penny!
maybe... no , yes.... I'm sooo confused.
That's pretty standard for merchandise at the end of the season.Originally Posted by ensco
Besides there are rumours that they will be rebranding next season, including a new badge.
They need to get rid of the old merchandise.
Plus I would assume this was their worst season for merchandise sales.
They really need to know what it will take to keep people buying tickets or to get them back once the apathy has set in. In a way we did this to ourselves by saying things like, "I don't care if we win as long as we play attractive football." That left them vulnerable to hucksters (I'm not saying Klinsmann is a huckster, but I have some doubts about that Soccer Solutions company...).
Of course, it is true, the fanbase is divided between those who would prefer attractive football and don't mind losing and those who would prefer to win anyway they can - even if it means winning boring. So, likely until the fanbase can deliver a unified message to these guys, they won't know what to do. Or at least they won't know who to hire to do it.
This may be on the whole for the season but I was noticing over the last several games that there is a pretty steady flow of sales happening still which always baffled me given the lack of enthusiasm these days overall for the game that is being played. You would think sales would dry up but I guess their 30% off for most of the season is helping things along.
I have never understood this "split" at all.
It seems to me that this "beautiful football" vs "winning" distinction only arises when your a pretty good team that hasn't won anything lately (ie Seattle, or Arsenal). For everyone else, it's about winning enough games to even be in the beautiful football conversation.
It's only about wins and losses (unless you're on a football forum where a few people like us overanalyze everything!)
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Exactly. Staying away and not buying tickets is the most effective way to protest the current situation of TFC. Sad but true.
To be honest, I haven't seen much pay-off yet for my boycott of the Montreal Expos for trading Gary Carter to the Mets. But I'm patient ... sooner or later ...
Chelsea & Abromavich would probably disagree with you.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. AND how the non-mighty have risen!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...ccess/1608527/
"As recently as 2010, Kansas City and San Jose were the cannon fodder of MLS. But both squads have witnessed a renaissance over the last two seasons, and this year the teams sit atop the divisional standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season."
"For both clubs, winning has erased bitter memories of local anonymity and empty grandstands. It's also boosted ticket sales and TV ratings, and attracted scores of casual fans. Since 2010, Kansas City has nearly doubled its attendance and San Jose has seen a 40 percent jump."
"Heineman pointed at the club's merchandise sales as proof. In 2010, Wizards merchandise ranked last in the league in sales, ranked below two expansion teams that had yet to play a game, as well as the generic MLS branded gear. In 2012, Sporting Kansas City's merchandise ranks third in league sales."
This FO is as business saavy as any FO can be. I would imagine they are prepared to take the risks of their 2013 SSH prices.
Didn't the town hall crap circa 2011 say that 2013 prices would be capped at 2012 prices for all that had 2011 seasons tickets? Did I say that right?
Herein lies the problem.
When it comes to product on the pitch.....the fan base should not be influencing or determining anything. Placating the masses is crazy when you're trying to win soccer games.
They need people who have a vision and say "trust me. I know what I'm doing"
And if/when they fail we oust (or keep) them ala Seattle based solely on whether or not they delivered results.
That being said, there needs to be some patience if trying to achieve a long term goal. That's where I think they dropped the ball with the "possession based, attacking soccer" plan that has obviously been abandoned.
Meh. All this talk of apathy... it's so boring.
*yawn *
I think when they ask if you'd prefer attractive football to winning football, what they really want to know is how long you're prepared to wait for success.
What makes me angry is that by going with Winter they were taking the long road, but then bailed early.
And now we have unattractive football that doesn't win.
Nice going.
So true!
But we threw beers at him insead!
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os1yUP0FCbg
That's verging on genius.
But way to clever, and will go over everyone's head.
Especially F.O.
Sadly, reluctantly, disparagingly.... agree.
EXACTLY.
Incompetence to it's very extreme.
You're off by a year. It was fall 2010 town halls (when Mo & Preki had been dumped) that they promised 2012 prices would be frozen at the 2011 prices. They did that, on a per-game basis I believe. Probably 2013 was the year they were hoping to jack up prices again.
Read that article (NY Times) today, and could only feel anguish and jealousy. What could have been here had we a FO who had a single frigging clue.
Say WHAT?!?!! Everyone knows it's impossible to achieve - and irresponsible to ask for - a club turnaround in just a couple of seasons!!! The road to success must be long, winding, unclear and littered with many manager and player corpses, as the success of TFC clearly demonstrates."As recently as 2010, Kansas City and San Jose were the cannon fodder of MLS. But both squads have witnessed a renaissance over the last two seasons, and this year the teams sit atop the divisional standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season
"For both clubs, winning has erased bitter memories of local anonymity and empty grandstands.
I really think they are waiting for some good news on the PR front before releasing prices for season seats, the team started with a cult following in Toronto and thought it would last. However, if anybody noticed the hate that the waving of service fees for last two home games caused on facebook and in the media the team can not buy any good PR at the moment. I firmly believe they will release the prices after the last home game just to create some positive feelings about the team after a win over Montreal.
After a win over Montreal?What if we don't win?
TFC FO run out of ideas how PR their product,and it's understandable,it is difficult to PR BS,they will wait unil last game and hope for another miracle against Montreal.
A win over Montreal won't get people to renew. There probably won't even be that many fans there to witness the final match.
Reading the comments on various sites, its amazing the number of people that claim they will only renew if Mariner is fired.
I think the delay in announcing renewal prices is because they haven't figured out what they might be able to get away with. I imagine one or two people within the FO fighting bitterly to lower prices to a level where they will actually sell vs a whole bunch of bean counters who don't understand the relationship between the product on the pitch and the desirability of the tickets. I expect the lack of long term vision we see in their football is mirrored by a lack of long term vision on the business side. They had early success financially and their expectations are horribly skewed by it.
I truly hope we lose to Montreal... I want this organization only to be able to look itself in the mirror and see it's own reflection.
No potential. No lies. Just it's own, ugly, hopeless, stupid expression looking back at itself.
In the manner that a forest fire is required in order for complete regeneration, TFC needs a total cleansing. Just like what was going on under Winter.
Only this time don't dump napalm on it at the first sign of green.
Stupid. Fucking. T.F.C.
a ha ha heh he hoo.. ha
Fixed
Has this been posted somewhere? I do not see it anywhere yet!
I'd like to think that for most fans, it's not a "I'd rather lose playing beautiful than win ugly." For us it's "we just want to win." The reason why there was a more favourable lean towards playing beautifully is because those styles tend to make winning teams look better. Teams that play beautifully, tend to have more control in their games and when they do lose, it's usually an anomaly (ala Barcelona). Meanwhile, by playing ugly, you tend to allow the other team to bring it to you. Inviting pressure can lead to many losses if you don't know how to absorb that pressure and counter, for example. You can still win playing Preki-ball and I'm sure if we were indeed winning with Preki, we'd still be happy. But we weren't winning! And that's the danger with playing boring/ugly football.
I'd take us winning by 0.5 goals to 0 every game, if we could do that. But even teams that do that, have a proper system. You have to be very organized and tactical to win with that style.
The reason why many hate Mariner's style is because it's not even organized. So you can't even hope to scrape wins. There seem to be no real tactics. Just kick and run and hope for the best. The reason, why Winter's system was more appealing, is because if done right, it will win you games. It's possession based. Chances are you won't be scored on often if you always have the ball. On the other hand, Mariner's system (if you can call it that)..well that's the thing. What is it supposed to look like when done right? Because if kicking the ball long is the way it's supposed to be played, then chances are you won't win many games because teams have evolved and know how to defend it. So there is really little potential to actually get a winning product from that system.
Last edited by PAOK17; 10-04-2012 at 02:06 PM.
It could be, as suggested elsewhere, that the reason they are delaying releasing next year's renewal prices is because they don't want people protesting in the stands for the last two home games because next year's renewal prices will be the same or marginally less (reduction would be seen as token at best) than this year's prices. Just a thought.
^^It's probably this. Just remember how bad they looked when messed up renewals in 2010 with the MLS Cup and all of the different protests on those last few games. It was bad enough to get the media's attention then. Though this time around they are preaching patience? It's as if the media is convinced that the firing of Winter didn't mean the team had been blown up...again.
They could also be holding off just in case of a "Miracle in Mexico". Not going to happen, but probably worth a punt on their part just in case.
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Great love does not exist without joy and without great suffering ,that's why One club is worth only as much as its fans !