Insanity in the City

I had this big post ready to be shipped out, comparing the MLS preparations of Montreal and the Cascadians, as well as mentioning the effect that Joey’s Trash Kicking Tirade is a very poorly planned and immature move. But then I saw just how many people were lining up around the block to kiss his ass for it.

And then I questioned my sanity because surely I slipped into some bizarro world where Montreal fans are happy their asshole team owner blasts his team  without first even attempting to talk to them. I decided it would be a better way to pass my time hitting my head against a wall, because it would cause less damage than hearing why people think Joey yelling about a problem he could have fixed himself privately is a good idea.

In order to save myself the excruciating pain that comes with even thinking about that, let’s switch topics to the hot off the presses coverage of the Montreal Mirror’s look at a game in Kop CXIV with the UM02:

Here it is!

Go to page 10 and check out the goodness!

And also get ready for this Friday Night, where our Gulls take on the Whinos from Rochester! It’s definitely something to keep your eye on, and hopefully the only Friday night crowd of the year will not leave disappointed. They’re coming into Montreal on a six game win streak, so hopefully we’ll send them home with that streak broken.

Here’s the part where I’d tell you all to get tickets and go to 114, but the game is sold out, so I’ll preface it by saying go deal with one of our beloved scalpers… and get your ass in 114! Hopefully this outbreak of insanity leads to a fired up Kop CXIV!

See you there!

Champion Requiem

I was taught when there’s somethin’ you can change around
Keep quiet, you got nothin’ to complain about
You got work to do, I don’t know if that work for you

Fitting that I’m able to contrast my previous use of a Mos Def song with another. For those of you too busy reveling in FCE’s run of 21-1 in their past two games, or busy biting their nails in anticipation of the upcoming Cruz Azul-TFC game. Or, busy doing whatever’s happening in Vancouver, whatever that is. Pot Smoking?  Anyways… For those of you too busy to notice, Joey dropped quite a bomb on Montreal recently, coming out of his hidey-hole to lambast almost everyone in his organisation, except for those that deserve it. Here is the english press release, which was followed up by a statement from the 2.77 Billion Dollar Baby on CKAC.

“Following the recent performances of the team, I wish to reiterate that Nick De Santis, Marc Dos Santos and the other members of the technical staff continue to have my vote of confidence and they will stay in their current functions. They have proved their skills in the last few years and we will continue to build the future of this club with them.”

“The players, veterans as well as newcomers, are the only people responsible for the position of the team in the standings. They have not lived up to expectations so far this season. They have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask if they could have done more. Certain players have yet to convince us that they should be part of this club in Major League Soccer in 2012; as well as in 2011, as we will focus on our MLS preparation.”

“With seven matches to play this season, making the playoffs is still possible, but to do so the players on this team will have to react and find solutions. I cannot accept the results thus far, as the standards set by the Montreal Impact are higher than simply just making the playoffs.”

What a crock of shit, right? Well, to be fair, there’s a few dead-on things in his press release, most notably that Joey will never fire his organisational staff, not even if our lives depended on it. They, coughcoughNickcoughcough will stay and build a future with us, yes. Notice how Joey Saputo shies away from saying a build a GOOD future. Guess we can’t hold Saputo to that one…

“They have not lived up to expectations so far this season”: Partly True. Some have been found wanting.

“The players, veterans as well as newcomers, are the only people responsible for the position of the team in the standings. “: Completely False. Absolute bullshit coming from the master of it himself. Teams don’t organise from the ground up. If many underperform as a whole team, while occasionally having individual flashes of brilliance, the problem is most likely coming from the actual organisation of the team itself, not every single player. And if there truly is a problem among every single player like Saputo says, shouldn’t his brother NDS be able to bring in people who can fit in the system? Shouldn’t MDS be able to try and reorganise to play to the strengths of what he has available?

After the release, Joey himself went on air saying he has not yet spoke to the players in private yet. But then he goes on to name individual players and their problems: It was a mistake to make Pizzolito captain, DeRoux doesn’t perform, Ali Gerba(Zherba) gets paid too much to do nothing, Placentino “thinks he’s the future of the team” but “a guy like Rocco Placentino is cheating the organisation, the club and our fans”.

After those player-centric diatribes, Joey comes close to skirting the issue by saying that the issues and philosophy needs to change, and that a change will come in 2011, but ignoring the fact a clubs “philosophy” is closely tied to the aura exuded from the front office, which right now is a large part of this complacency and stagnation that exists in Montreal. A technical director is in charge of the team, and should that team end up playing below their expectations, one most look towards the technical director for answers. Answers like why does he rely on player Philippe Billy to spearhead our search for talent, rather than earn his money by finding the players himself?

And has it never occurred to Joey that only talking to the Technical staff would paint a picture that is biased towards placing blame on the players? Maybe he should grow up and act like an adult, and hear both sides of the story before going about in public blindsiding his players? But then again, this is a man who calls us Ultras “pieces of shit” and “not real fans” one day, and “great fans” the next. The guy whose team is very totalitarian when it comes to criticism, and keeps his players from their fans when celebrating their championship?

Who can really expect a proper response to a situation from an entitled boy who’s acting not like an adult owner, but more like a boy who is having a problem with his toys?  Even if he says there is a youth movement coming to Montreal in 2011, one must realise that our 2012 will look less like the start of a new era, but more of the same old shit. All this for a team that’s sitting out of a playoff spot, who haven’t won in near on a month, with seven games left. Perfect.

Look for some “pieces of shit” making the trip down to Baltimore, regardless of how badly you mismanage the team, Joey.

Next home game is the 27th vs. Rochester.

You got work to do, I don’t know if that work for you
But thats how Mos work it through

In lieu of the Champions League…

We might have yet another friendly! Woo!

So, according to a link dredged up by every Montrealer’s favourite journalist, Matthias Van Halst, of Impact Soccer/ Quebec Soccer fame, our Gulls might face off against the storied Chilean team, Colo Colo.

According to that link and another one, Colo Colo were offered to play friendlies in Canada. Though my knowledge of spanish is infinitesimally small, the dear readers on IS have started to sift through it, and as it stands now, it looks like Colo Colo have not yet decided on whether or not to trek up to the great white north to face off against Canadian sides(potentially). So it appears as if Joey has chosen to make up for the lack of meaningful games by bringing in the likes of Antigua Barracuda FC and Colo Colo to attempt to placate the fans at Stade Saputo. Nice try.

Also within the link, it does not specifically say the names of the sides they’d be facing, only the cities they’d “disputar cuatro amistosos”, which is to say, Montreal…”y Edmonton”. Aside from that surprising Edmonton bomb, the fact that it might be four friendlies, in the two cities could perhaps mean one game in each city vs. a local side, as well as another international team..

So it appears as if the Faths are really trying to attract some big names, with Portsmouth, Colo Colo(potentially) and Montreal heading to the prairies to play FCE(potentially).

Now if only they start to run FCE professionally, we’ll have another Canadian team to beat on regularly.