When Shit Hits The Fan - Tr

NYCFC_Dan

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Mar 17, 2014
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So Billy from TR posted this. I wasn't going to share this here as it's not my intention to fuel war. But it's already on Twitter and reddit.

After monitoring the boards response to Monday's backlash and seeing no visible progress being made, I am officially calling for the resignation of Chance Michaels and Andres Felipe. Listed below are some of the main reasons I believe this change in leadership is necessary. For those of you who do not know me, I helped start this club 2 years and a month ago and was one of the original board members. Nothing about this message is rash, this is months in the making and goes back to late 2014, Monday's message from Chance and the response from the members was just the final straw on the camel's back.

I will start with Andres because his case is easier to make. Simply put, we've had a person filling the Director of Community Service and Charitable Outreach board position for a year and a month officially, and even longer than that before we were recognized. In that time, Third Rail has held ONE! charity or community service event. Our lack of production in this area has been brought up by myself at every board meeting for months now. I have made a Third Rail Philanthropy group, populated it with members willing to volunteer their time and efforts, and included an EXCELLENT idea for a huge charity event that ties in a great cause with some big names. I've provided the contact information and details months ago, have given constant reminders, and NOTHING has happened. Members have emailed Andres and received no response. One charity event in 2+ years in absolutely unacceptable. However, it does not end there. Andres now works for MLS, which is a HUGE conflict of interest and jeopardizes our INDEPENDENT supporters club status.

Chance's case is much harder to make, because he has done SO MUCH for this club that may not all be public knowledge. Chance get's A LOT of undeserved shit for a number of different things, and as someone who's been on the inside since Day 1 I can tell you A LOT of what is said is either outright untrue or a misrepresentation in one way or another. I think Chance did a fantastic job of getting this club off the ground and up and running. I would love to see him still involved in the board as a spokesperson or a club liaison, but I truly feel we are at a pivotal moment in our short history and are in need of a more hands on leader both on the board and in the stands. Some of the major issues I have are with the direction we are being led in and the manner in which the board is being run, details given below.

  1. I will start with the final straw, Monday's announcement regarding smoke bombs. While I fully understand the reason why Third Rail cannot condone the use of smoke in the stadium, the inclusion of the anonymous tip line was an abomination to football supporters culture. It turned my stomach and was an embarrassment on the 2+ years of work I've put into this club. To see the president of the only official supporters club post such a think was outright disgusting.

  2. Not sure if this has become public knowledge yet, but I feel members have a right to know. In response to Monday's post about smoke, both Vice Presidents Brian and Chris stepped down from the board within 12 hours. In addition to them, myself and Jonathan Sanchez have decided we will no longer be putting in the leg work in the stands or with tifo under this current regime. That's 2/3 of the upper leadership and nearly half of the board walking away at once. If that's not a wake up call I don't know what is.

  3. Our board lacks any type of real leadership. In our beginning, either Chance or myself would post a weekly breakdown of what we would like to accomplish and who should be doing what to achieve these goals. I have not seen a post like that in over 6 months. There is little coordination going on and it as if one man if trying to juggle 20 balls at once. Things like working on the formation of chapters, starting community service projects, addressing issues like Billy's being WAY too expensive, and countless others are consistently brought up and consistently brushed aside. The board only acts in a reactive way when something falls to shit and the members make a fuss. We need to be more proactive, identifying problems BEFORE they become giant issues and dictate responsibility and plans of action accordingly.
4, Our board has gotten WAY to close to the teams front office. I know these rumors have been circulating for a while, but I can personally vouch for the fact that we were pushing back against the club in numerous areas in our early days. More recently however, it has become a few TR board members pandering to the wishes of the Front Office. They say jump and our only question is how high. At this point I truly do not believe the actions taken by the board represent the wishes of our members, but rather the wishes of our Front Office, as sad as that is to say. Prime example : At Thursday's meeting the team basically said they're forcing us to work with City Beats. I highlights the survey they put out and its negative feed back, the difference between club bought and provided atmosphere and fan produced atmosphere true to real football supporters culture, the fact that we are already known as a FO sponsored supporters group, and the fact that we already have drummers within our ranks and want more. The club's final say was work with them this next game and see how it goes. I outright refused, but I didn't see any support coming from our president.

  1. Financially I could not even tell you where our club is at. While I'm spending THOUSANDS of dollars on tifo's and other projects, I have never been given a budget or seen a bank account, and not for a lack of asking. This on became more mind boggling when I discovered our VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS hasn't either. I do not know the exact laws regarding our 501 organization, but I've heard a lot about providing details about where everyone's $30 is going. The fact that one person has sole access to these numbers and the money is astonishing. The fact that our VP of Business has not been given access to our accounts, or even just the numbers is disgusting. I truly do not understand how that is happening, or what role the VP of Business has served in this system the way it's been run.
  2. As much as it saddens me to say, and this is not a major reason why I feel we need a change in leadership, Chance is not a leader in the stands. We all see who the people putting in work capoing are. Astonishingly, not a single one are board members and have no vote on issues that effect them. They don't even see or contribute to convos discussing the area they're pouring their sweat into. Chance has also not shown up to a single tifo painting session, we've had about 9 total. No hand in songs and chants, no hand in tifo production, two of the most noticeable game day functions. I don't blame people who say Chance is not a leader.

  3. We have been losing members like crazy. Not just any members either. A majority of them are people who have either been here since Day 1 or people who put in incredible amounts of work in tifo, Third Rail FC, capoing and creation of songs and chants, away days, volunteer work, ext. This has not even been addressed by the board outside of me constantly bringing it up. The last time I mentioned it, I was told I was being unproductive and this information was not beneficial to the board. I don't want to start naming all the names of quality members who have left, but I'll Eoghan as an example as he was the most recent I've seen. Eoghan put 30+ hours into making our tifo this last week, shows up to TRFC practices, gets his girlfriend and family members, younger brothers and sisters involved, ran for Light Rail President, started the Bronx Chapter, and is now attempting to head the charity event I mentioned earlier since our board member who should be doing this is nowhere to be found. He has also stated the he is on the verge of leaving the Third Rail, a sentiment I hate to hear but agree with. The fact that us bleeding high quality members like Eoghan doesn't phase the board, to the point where I was actually asked to stop mentioning it is a fucking disgrace. At this point it really seems like you are just a number to some board members. They have your $30, which you cannot see where it is going, and they believe if you leave 2 more will take you place. It's heartbreaking to see. I will leave this post to these 7 points for now, but please believe me when I say this is not the full extent of it.I could go on all day but this post is already way to long and if these 7 issues do not make you see the light I doubt another 15 will. I will always have a spot in my heart for this club, the last two years have been a whirlwind of great experiences and great people. I also have no personal problem with either of the board members mentioned in this post. It hurts me to write this after working so close for two years now, but I cannot watch this club go under and say I did nothing to stop it. I am both heartbroken and disgusted at where I see this club heading. If I do not see MAJOR satisfactory changes happen by Monday morning I promise you I will be out the door checking out Hearts of Oak and NYC12 to figure out where I will be dedicating my time and efforts moving forward, and I encourage everyone here to do the same. If you've made it this far, thank you for your attention, Hail the Rail, and let's hope the right decisions are made.
Sincerely,

THE Billy Howell
 
  1. I will start with the final straw, Monday's announcement regarding smoke bombs. While I fully understand the reason why Third Rail cannot condone the use of smoke in the stadium, the inclusion of the anonymous tip line was an abomination to football supporters culture. It turned my stomach and was an embarrassment on the 2+ years of work I've put into this club. To see the president of the only official supporters club post such a think was outright disgusting.

  2. Not sure if this has become public knowledge yet, but I feel members have a right to know. In response to Monday's post about smoke, both Vice Presidents Brian and Chris stepped down from the board within 12 hours. In addition to them, myself and Jonathan Sanchez have decided we will no longer be putting in the leg work in the stands or with tifo under this current regime. That's 2/3 of the upper leadership and nearly half of the board walking away at once. If that's not a wake up call I don't know what is
If that letter is what caused these folks to get their panties all twisted, especially when you list it #1, it's hard to support this guy. WHo gives a fuck if they included a resource in the letter? I'm glad Brian and Chris stepped down over this, because clearly they don't belong.

I didn't really read the rest of it much because i'm not a member, but the part about the lack of transparency in financial records is a serious concern.
 
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Oh boy, I am not sure how to interpret all this. I do or did had some criticism of HOW the TRL runs things , mainly that sometimes I felt that we the little guys and girls were only good for our 30 dollars... and in all honesty what drove me crazy is the lack of communication and information when they planned events. I would email them and never got a response. the final straw to me was when elections came early this year , I wanted some info of who were the candidates so I could make an educated vote. I heard from them after the elections was over, and that really put me off . I was planning to pay my missing dues for this year this month because I got over being angry about not being able to vote. I don't personally know the elected officials but have met some of the members and they are just like most of us here in the forum . Lovers of football and dedicated loyal fans of our teamNYCFC
 
Honestly the only thing that bothers me about this whole thing is Brian and Chris stepping down. Two great guys who who put a lot of work into the TR. You can make fun of hey baby all you want, the same people mocking our chants are never the ones making suggestions for new ones. No pressure being a backseat driver, I'll keep supporting from 236 like I've been doing since the home opener.
 
I'm glad someone finally has the balls to call out the leadership. I hope things change for the better. I signed up with TR in 2014 and didn't renew until three days ago because even though I don't agree with everything they've done, they're still the biggest SG in town and I want them to be successful. With that being said it does not surprise me in the least bit that member numbers are dwindling. I really hope things can be turned around for the better.