I am thinking he's been on the target list a while. Unlike their British counterparts, most American footy reporters don't just make things up. They may be off now and again, but when something persists for as long as this has, I think there is smoke behind the fire.
I would not be surprised if Mix had this outcome in mind when he torpedoed the Crew deal. It just so happened that he probably got some added leverage because NYC needs a win, big time.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's the reason the "super max DP" was floated by the league. And here's the first upshot from the Lampard debacle. CFG owes us and MLS owes us. We may actually come out ahead here by getting a super-sub that we supporters can rally behind hating, providing the impetus for us to "find our voice", who also should be useful on the pitch, while also banking quite a few IOUs from the club, ownership and league.
Seriously, us ECs may have actually (if unwittingly) taught all of our counter-parties quite the lesson regarding game theory. Namely, to hell with Texas, NYC is who you really don't want to mess with. Our willingness (hell, eagerness) to eat our own means engaging us requires the understanding of our unique paradigm. It's like trying to fight the Viet Cong. If you want to beat us, you have to have an appetite for disregarding normalized mores that discourage scorched earth tactics and be willing to inflict and incur massive collateral damage.
Basically, we are narcissistic sociopaths who've grown acquainted to disregarding others and giving no fucks what anyone else thinks. So good luck in making us shut up.