Lampard Out? Frank Doing Analysis for Euro 2016 on BBC.

[FootyLovin]

Do you have any insight into that? I've been around some industry-specific famous and c-list just famous people, and I honestly don't have a clue beyond what I read into the fact that by-and-large, they do not act or interact or relate to people in any sort of "normal" way. Were that they way before or is it a product of that fame?

I mean, do big-time fund managers and executives walk around elementary school with a general air of superiority/cockiness/arrogance? I don't mean a little arrogant. I mean, the kind of "I'm giving you the treasure of my presence" that I just couldn't pull off.

Really interesting diversion, anyway. If you care to elaborate and share your insights, I'd be curious to compare.

This is a pretty strong nurture effect. Athletes tend to be very driven, but a lot of people are very driven. They become doctors or lawyers or phds or executives or artists or ...

They aren't all completely out of touch with the experience of normal people.

But something happens when you stop having any normal experiences. Normal experience examples:

• Meeting someone who doesn't want you to talk endlessly about yourself.
• Finding something in a store/online that you want but can't afford to buy.
• Being encouraged to care what people think of you and say about you.

When every packed restaurant wants to find you a table and people constantly hit you up for money and media and fans drag you through the mud and ...

Your psyche changes. Of course there are exceptions. But this is what it is.

 

[mgarbowski]

I won't respond to all of your points as I think they are all fair and reasonable ones. First, generally, I understand that an old guy can get injured, and I believe that he was/is hurt. That's not my point. My primary point is (or should be) clear from my prior post as to how his public actions suggest a lack of care and/or awareness.

As for the number of fans who "hate" Lampard, first of all, I wouldn't use that word. I don't hate him, and would assume that most don't really hate the guy. I do think that a greater number than you think not only do not like the situation and the circumstances, but also do have hard feelings towards the way he has conducted himself. There is a large contingent on here, but also in various other online forums, all over social media, and evidenced by the boos he received at a recent game when they showed him on the big screen.

As for a disappointed and angry fan base, I was specifically referring to disappointment and anger on this particular issue, not about anything else. I agree with your assessment on the strength and happiness of the fan base otherwise.

I don't know whether or not he cares that he's not playing, but I am sure that he would prefer to be playing and hope that is the case. What I don't think he cares about is how anyone feels about it. He knows how much of a debacle his affiliation with the team has been with everything that has happened from day 1, some of it his doing, some of it likely just bad luck. With that, you would think that he would have some sense as to how to best conduct himself publicly in a way that would not further disappoint or upset the fan base (and even his teammates and owners), however large or small a contingent that is. So in my mind, he either doesn't care, or he has poor recognition.

And I'm not and have never been one of the fierce ones on the Lampard issues.

I think Frank and the team could defuse a lot of this by letting it leak that Frank had an opportunity to do something -- anything at all really -- and after consulting with the team they mutually decided he should concentrate instead on his rehab.

 

[Seth]

That raises an important/interesting question. Any successful company cares about its customers. But who should they value more - the average customer or the evangelist? Most companies are desperate to create evangelists. That's who we are. And I suspect that in terms of buying power and market impact we each are worth anywhere from 10-100 "average" fans. Think in terms of number of tickets, amount of merchandise, people you've encouraged to come to games, etc.

If we aren't the NYCFC fan base, I think they are making a significant business mistake. Not a "they'll crash and burn mistake" but a "they could be doing much better" mistake.

I was going to mention that but didn't have the extra hour for writing I'd've needed. In a way this is the same as Apple's problem. They used to make computers for the Apple evangelists but now as the largest and most successful company in the world they're making devices for everyone. So what happens? Turns out the evangelists are starting to get annoyed because their "high-end" pet projects are getting ignored in favor of computers and phones for normal people. So the Mac Pro tower hasn't been updated for almost three years and the "pros" are annoyed, but meanwhile they're selling billions of phones and making more money than anyone thought possible. And yet, the narrative is that Apple's software quality is declining, and they're not making the brilliant computers they used to make.

The problem with this is that the 25,000 people who go to the macintouch.com site, say, every day who are complaining about the quality issues and the lack of tower computer updates are, well, us. They're the evangelists, and their needs may not be getting met. And big, evil Apple is ignoring them, the ones who made them successful. Except that 25,000 Mac fans mean nothing to Apple as they sell tens of thousands of iPhones a day. So is Apple now bad because they're ignoring the biggest, most important fans? Not really. They're just this huge world-leading company that makes millions of people happy, even if the old pros who were there from the beginning are getting grumpy.

And that's us. We're 1,000 superfans here, and maybe the club's not exactly meeting our needs. Except they're selling loads of season tickets and literally tons of hot dogs, and yes, piles of chicken buckets too. There will always be critical superfans, but I'm just not sure the club should focus on keeping us happy as that's not their job. Their job is to keep the stadium full and to have people want to watch the matches on TV. I think they're doing pretty well at that, at least so far.

 

[NYCisBlue_]

Everyone here should just tweet at @NYCFC "Where's Lampard? We need answers now! And it better not be day-to-day"

 

[Ulrich]

That raises an important/interesting question. Any successful company cares about its customers. But who should they value more - the average customer or the evangelist? Most companies are desperate to create evangelists. That's who we are. And I suspect that in terms of buying power and market impact we each are worth anywhere from 10-100 "average" fans. Think in terms of number of tickets, amount of merchandise, people you've encouraged to come to games, etc.

If we aren't the NYCFC fan base, I think they are making a significant business mistake. Not a "they'll crash and burn mistake" but a "they could be doing much better" mistake.

Yeah, because when the long sleeve training jersey arrived yesterday my wife could only shake her head - "you know that's a mock turtle neck and it's now officially warm out?!?" She then also reaffirmed that with me she's sometimes living the movie Fever Pitch.

This of course while she's watching the Kardashians.... But I digress...

I can handle her label, but I draw the line at being labeled an evangelical because I am less the proselytizing fan and more the monkish fan that is very content in my own enlightenment and others' football footy troubles are none of my concern. If only I could make my own distilled spirits...

 

[Ulrich]

I think Frank and the team could defuse a lot of this by letting it leak that Frank had an opportunity to do something -- anything at all really -- and after consulting with the team they mutually decided he should concentrate instead on his rehab.

I'm not sure if want to hear that because it means his level of concentration flat out sucks if that's been his focus and he can't even get results.

Everything about the NYCFC/Lampard marriage has been a cluster-fuck from a marketing-PR-on field performance perspective. I was a big proponent of Lamps having a bounce-back year, but the timeline of sound bites that the club has made regarding when Lamps will take the field has become offensive and I have no patience for his DO spot to be held hostage. At this point I'm pretty sure I don't ever want him to step on the field again for us, and if he does, as long as we don't lose because of him, I hope he gets abused every game by the average MLS player that dispossesses and megs him - just like Grella did last year.

 

[Amon]

How much money does he have left on his contract? About to start this GoFundMe to buyout his contract.

 

[canchon]

Maybe tomorrow is time for Lamps to show up and do his weekly 30 mins of training on the practice field and then say he is "day to day" and "hoping to be on the field soon".

 

[FootyLovin]

I think Frank and the team could defuse a lot of this by letting it leak that Frank had an opportunity to do something -- anything at all really -- and after consulting with the team they mutually decided he should concentrate instead on his rehab.

I actually thought about this right after I wrote my post. You're totally right. While some of the rich and famous can totally lose touch with normal people, some leaders view it as their responsibility to keep their players humble and in touch.

Best example I know is the San Antonio Spurs. The combo of Duncan, Robinson and Tomjanovic never would have allowed the antics we've seen with Lampard. And they would have orchestrated exactly what you described. Decline the TV opportunity. Subtly publicize that they had declined in order to focus on what was "important."

 

[Ulrich]

Maybe Frank isn't on the team any more and has just been at practice as a guest player. NYCFC et al have simply been talking about him at pressers the same way they talked about George John last year, when in effect he wasn't even on the team. Hell, MLS didn't even set the record straight with GJ even thought they knew there was no contract - I wouldn't put it past the league to go along with the faux injury reports listing Lamps' questionable status.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I think Frank and the team could defuse a lot of this by letting it leak that Frank had an opportunity to do something -- anything at all really -- and after consulting with the team they mutually decided he should concentrate instead on his rehab.

Wait, what does that solve other than his image problem? He's still a drain on our very limited resources.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I actually thought about this right after I wrote my post. You're totally right. While some of the rich and famous can totally lose touch with normal people, some leaders view it as their responsibility to keep their players humble and in touch.

Best example I know is the San Antonio Spurs. The combo of Duncan, Robinson and Tomjanovic never would have allowed the antics we've seen with Lampard. And they would have orchestrated exactly what you described. Decline the TV opportunity. Subtly publicize that they had declined in order to focus on what was "important."

We are no Spurs. And Lampard is none of the three people you mentioned.

I just don't see the benefit of CYA'ing here. Sometimes, you come clean and cut bait. Or don't come clean, and just cut bait. I'm fine with either.

 

[mgarbowski]

Wait, what does that solve other than his image problem? He's still a drain on our very limited resources.

Oh I still want him gone. Failing that I want him healthy, scoring 15 goals, and then spontaneously combusting after the season is over. I'm on the record with that.
But, for people like JayH and Seth were discussing, who are inclined to like him but are tiring of him not playing and yet doing everything else, this could help.
Even for me, it would be heartening to have some sign that someone in the organization stood up and said, "Hey, optics are important. We have to at least pretend that we're putting fans ahead of something FF wants."

 

[SoupInNYC]

and I have no patience for his DO spot to be held hostage.

This is a funny typo. Because he isn't DOing anything for us.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Oh I still want him gone. Failing that I want him healthy, scoring 15 goals, and then spontaneously combusting after the season is over. I'm on the record with that.
But, for people like JayH and Seth were discussing, who are inclined to like him but are tiring of him not playing and yet doing everything else, this could help.
Even for me, it would be heartening to have some sign that someone in the organization stood up and said, "Hey, optics are important. We have to at least pretend that we're putting fans something ahead of what FF wants."

Eh. Wouldn't help me. It just doesn't do anything at all. Call me myopic on the topic. I've been called worse.

 

[Ulrich]

This is a funny typo. Because he isn't DOing anything for us.

I guess autocorrect decided I mistakenly hit P and meant to hit O since DO is a real word. It's kind of like Reyna asking CFG to sign a useful midfielder and CFG autocorrected it to be useless and here we are.

 

[Amon]

Starting the name an number removal of my Lampard jersey tomorrow.

 

[Ulrich]

Eh. Wouldn't help me. It just doesn't do anything at all. Call me myopic on the topic. I've been called worse.

You realize your twitter handle in your signature is now bubkas?

 

[Midas Mulligan]

You realize your twitter handle in your signature is now bubkas?

Yes. I should have monetized that, too. I mean, I knew I killed it. I didn't remember it was still in my sig.

 

[NYCFCfan]

Starting the name an number removal of my Lampard jersey tomorrow.

Document it for us to share on social media.