Historic First Complaint About Too Much Transparency?
Anyone want to go in with me on the NYCFC MasterCard dinner?
- Thread starter FredMertz
- Start date
Oh no.........
TabascoDiva is going to be so disappointed. He'll be missed. but it will still be a fun evening.
Agree. I've been fortunate to meet Villa twice but the first time was season one and his English and my Spanish were worlds apart. The second time was the City Send Off which goes so fast. I was looking forward to having a chance to just say thank you to him for his dedication to NYCFC.Yep,FredMertz told me last week hours before Villa got the callup, and we were both stoked until we saw the NT news. It's like a cruel joke since this was probably one of the few events he'd be accessible and in a really relaxed environment to mingle.
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I honesty think TMac is one of the most interesting guys on the team. He went Brown, has an MBA, and probably would be on Wall Street if soccer didn't work out.
Oh no.........
He'll be missed. but it will still be a fun evening.
I had kind of figured that our Capitan Villa would be in Spain. I am a bit let down, but I am delighted for him to be back with "La Roja". I have a feeling he had a bone to chew with the former DT.( Director Tecnico = Coach . It was incomprehensible to me during his last games with "La Roja" that Del Bosque would go with El Chino David ( his last name escape me at the moment) than Villa.
I certainly look forward to enjoying the food, meeting more forum members, especially That Suave individual ,
FredMertz ,
and hanging out with my you. lets all Cheers for El Guaje to show off those golden legs and to silence many of those who think MLS is an inferior league.
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Nice seeing so many of you there tonight.
I thought there was one interesting moment of candor when, after a lengthy attempt not to give a direct answer, Claudio said our next DP was not going to be a big-name older players. And if I remember correctly, he was surprisingly absolute about it.
It was great meeting a bunch of nice, friendly people from the forum. And JGarrettLieb.
Fun night, fun company and great event put on by the club and Mastercard. Very interesting to see Samuelsson MC the event and to hear about the locker room anecdotes, just proves and gives us a glimpse on how well of a tight knit group they are.
I thought all the courses they served were very good and we even ended up staying a bit upstairs at the main restaurant after the event. They had a nice Caribbean band playing.
Great to see and meet new forum members, quite a contingent. Got me thinking. As we have a stretch of Away games at the end of the season, do we organize a "Forums Watch Party"? Just an idea.
I thought all the courses they served were very good and we even ended up staying a bit upstairs at the main restaurant after the event. They had a nice Caribbean band playing.
Great to see and meet new forum members, quite a contingent. Got me thinking. As we have a stretch of Away games at the end of the season, do we organize a "Forums Watch Party"? Just an idea.
I went to a top school, have a grad degree and work on Wall Street. None of those things make a person interesting in my opinion.
I have all those things and it makes me excruciatingly boring!
Agreed it was a fun evening, but frankly for me that was more because of the company rather than the event itself. And I'm not just sucking up to you guys. Which is not to say it was a bad event. I agree with
Taurus -- the food was outstanding. Well, except for dessert which was a weird smear of vaguely sweet food things some of which, I am advised, involved blueberry. But the appetizers and the second and main courses of shrimp and grits, and pasta and chicken were excellent. The first course soup was a bit odd, more of a savory mousse texture than soup but good.
It was the NYCFC portion that kind of disappointed. It was just a 30 minute Q&A hosted by Marcus Samuelsson. You get better interaction at a City in the Boroughs event. Samuelsson was a surprisingly awkward host. I've seen him on TV. He knows how to present himself naturally in public but here he was kind of stiff. You also could tell, I think, that he did his homework but isn't really a big NYCFC fan even though he likes soccer. Which is fine, and he didn't pretend otherwise but it just seemed off.
Forum people asked 2 of the better questions. As reported by
Ulrich in another thread,
FredMertz asked Claudio a question that was on the surface about young US academy players but was really about Gio. The funny thing thing was Claudio didn't pick up on it and gave a straightforward non-hedged answer. Then Fred followed up and Claudio actually answered that somewhat directly. JGarrettLieb asked the only "fun" question of the night of who is the best prankster on the team and what has been the best prank. The most notable response was that Tommy turned absolutely red. Their answer was that Rodney Wallace is the primary instigator, though SJ distinguished between that and prankster, and the best prank involved Ugo's car, which he loves, and somebody posting signs around the practice area pretending it was for sale. Which seems kind of lame really and we think they left something out, but fair enough. SJ also said we shouldn't share that but it's such a nothingburger and I didn't sign an NDA so screw it.
We all had photos taken with the NYCFC 3 + Chef Samuelsson, by an event photographer (you could also hand someone your phone) but they didn't tell us how to get the photos taken by the pro. Maybe we'll get an email with a link? We also got a book by the chef and one of those blue NYCFC soccer balls signed by the 3 NYCFC attendees. We are all also supposed to get a ticket to an NYCFC game later this year, which is very nice but also underwhelming to a room presumably full of STHs. Be funny if it's the Hartford game, too. Well, I'm pretty sure they won't do that. But there aren't many options: just 2 games in the next 10 days, then Hartford, then the season ender.
But truly delightful to see forum friends I've met before plus those I have not.
Taurus -- the food was outstanding. Well, except for dessert which was a weird smear of vaguely sweet food things some of which, I am advised, involved blueberry. But the appetizers and the second and main courses of shrimp and grits, and pasta and chicken were excellent. The first course soup was a bit odd, more of a savory mousse texture than soup but good.It was the NYCFC portion that kind of disappointed. It was just a 30 minute Q&A hosted by Marcus Samuelsson. You get better interaction at a City in the Boroughs event. Samuelsson was a surprisingly awkward host. I've seen him on TV. He knows how to present himself naturally in public but here he was kind of stiff. You also could tell, I think, that he did his homework but isn't really a big NYCFC fan even though he likes soccer. Which is fine, and he didn't pretend otherwise but it just seemed off.
Forum people asked 2 of the better questions. As reported by
Ulrich in another thread,
FredMertz asked Claudio a question that was on the surface about young US academy players but was really about Gio. The funny thing thing was Claudio didn't pick up on it and gave a straightforward non-hedged answer. Then Fred followed up and Claudio actually answered that somewhat directly. JGarrettLieb asked the only "fun" question of the night of who is the best prankster on the team and what has been the best prank. The most notable response was that Tommy turned absolutely red. Their answer was that Rodney Wallace is the primary instigator, though SJ distinguished between that and prankster, and the best prank involved Ugo's car, which he loves, and somebody posting signs around the practice area pretending it was for sale. Which seems kind of lame really and we think they left something out, but fair enough. SJ also said we shouldn't share that but it's such a nothingburger and I didn't sign an NDA so screw it.We all had photos taken with the NYCFC 3 + Chef Samuelsson, by an event photographer (you could also hand someone your phone) but they didn't tell us how to get the photos taken by the pro. Maybe we'll get an email with a link? We also got a book by the chef and one of those blue NYCFC soccer balls signed by the 3 NYCFC attendees. We are all also supposed to get a ticket to an NYCFC game later this year, which is very nice but also underwhelming to a room presumably full of STHs. Be funny if it's the Hartford game, too. Well, I'm pretty sure they won't do that. But there aren't many options: just 2 games in the next 10 days, then Hartford, then the season ender.
But truly delightful to see forum friends I've met before plus those I have not.
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Used to be an every week thing season one. Ryan's daughter was our official bar and he started doing the free food and drink specials for our members. Then as everything grew it just became a spot where everyone went for away games and they became an official bar for the club. So I stopped calling them our official bar.
I'll second that the night was fun for the food and company, but NYCFC really failed to engage the attendees. For an event where people are actually paying money to have dinner with the club reps, it'd have been nice for them to actually spread out and sit one to a table or to come around during dinner and enage a bit, even if just to say hello. As it was, they all sat off in a secluded corner and Claudio and Sean arrived late. It all just felt too velvet rope with the separation.Agreed it was a fun evening, but frankly for me that was more because of the company rather than the event itself. And I'm not just sucking up to you guys. Which is not to say it was a bad event. I agree with
It was the NYCFC portion that kind of disappointed. It was just a 30 minute Q&A hosted by Marcus Samuelsson. You get better interaction at a City in the Boroughs event. Samuelsson was a surprisingly awkward host. I've seen him on TV. He knows how to present himself naturally in public but here he was kind of stiff. You also could tell, I think, that he did his homework but isn't really a big NYCFC fan even though he likes soccer. Which is fine, and he didn't pretend otherwise but it just seemed off.
Forum people asked 2 of the better questions. As reported by
We all had photos taken with the NYCFC 3 + Chef Samuelsson, by an event photographer (you could also hand someone your phone) but they didn't tell us how to get the photos taken by the pro. Maybe we'll get an email with a link? We also got a book by the chef and one of those blue NYCFC soccer balls signed by the 3 NYCFC attendees. We are all also supposed to get a ticket to an NYCFC game later this year, which is very nice but also underwhelming to a room presumably full of STHs. Be funny if it's the Hartford game, too. Well, I'm pretty sure they won't do that. But there aren't many options: just 2 games in the next 10 days, then Hartford, then the season ender.
But truly delightful to see forum friends I've met before plus those I have not.
That said, our table had a great time.
TabascoDiva
CatNYC
mgarbowski
FredMertz & JGarrettLieb .To touch a bit more on what I posted earlier about Claudio's comments on youth turning pro: he mentioned playing time was paramount to any kid's decision - if they aren't getting regular minutes then it's not worth it/wrong team. So I'd like to think that as a GM, he wouldn't have extended the offer to Sands if he wasn't ready day 1 to fight for real playing time; albeit, as a midfielder behind Ring, Hererra, and Maxi, it'd be as a primary backup, but we've seen that our primary backup (Lopez) is getting plenty of minutes due to MNT, Yellows, injuries.
It's all reading between the lines, but I think we're going to see Sands next Wednesday.
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With all due respect, neither of you are also professional footballers. And I'm not sure whether either of you have your own Twitter cults
I agree that it would be nice to think that the way he thinks about his son's decisions would translate to the way he thinks about Sands' decisions, but consistency is really hard to achieve, let alone when it comes to family. Also what's in the player's interest isn't necessarily what's in the club's interest. It's gonna be interesting to see how the Reynas navigate this conflict of interests RE: Gio
Maybe they'll be better positioned to find the win-win. But if not, I assume Claudio will screw NYCFC.
I agree that it would be nice to think that the way he thinks about his son's decisions would translate to the way he thinks about Sands' decisions, but consistency is really hard to achieve, let alone when it comes to family. Also what's in the player's interest isn't necessarily what's in the club's interest. It's gonna be interesting to see how the Reynas navigate this conflict of interests RE: Gio
Fireable offense?
It probably should be. I guess the dignified thing to do would be to let Txiki (or somebody further up the chain from Claudio) figure it out.
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