Not that there's much to talk about with Saturday's game. A 2-0 loss that we were once again never really in. With that result FSL wins the Rocky Mountain Cup again with a game to play. That is now 1 win in our last 15 league games, 1 win in our last 18 games in all competitions, and we've been shutout in 9 of our last 10 league matches. We've been shutout in 15 of our 26 league games this season. At least Bassett apologized for the result.
Clearly something had to change, and as expected, the ax fell on Robin Fraser this morning. He leaves the club 3rd in regular season games managed behind Mooch and Pablo and 3rd in pts/game for his Rapids career, behind Smith and Mooch. It was actually just the last 3 losses that knocked him down from first to third in that stat, before the Leagues Cup break he was just barely ahead of Smith for the top spot still.
Assistant Coach Chris Little will manage the team as interim coach. Reportedly the coaching search will start immediately, not wait for the offseason. Still I think we can assume Little will get the last 8 games of the season.
Sadly Fraser had to go. It was apparent watching the last three games that he had lost the locker room. There was no drive or energy from this team, and it looked more like 11 individuals on the field than 1 team. These are things that regardless of talent a coach should be able to implement, and we've seen Robin do this in the past. Clearly something had soured and he wasn't going to be able to lead this team any longer.
That said, those are all symptoms of the bigger problem, the absolute trash fire that this organization has turned into. We've covered off the field issues (stadium quality, communications, etc.) before so I'm not going to get into them tonight, but keep in mind everything I am going to talk about is in the context of the rest of the club being an absolute mess, with the only thing working being Rapids 2. There is no clearer example of this than the letter Club President Padraig Smith sent to season ticket holders today:
Excuse me? This is throwing Fraser under the bus, running him over, stopping, and backing up over him again. Its a ridiculous abdication of any sense of responsibility for Smith's part in this fiasco of a season and really causes me to lose a lot of respect for him. Based on the reaction on social media, I'm hardly alone in this assessment.
Before we get into a detailed analysis of this letter I think its time I be open with anyone reading. Over the last 4+ years going back to the 2019 preseason I've had multiple opportunities to sit down with Padraig Smith one on one and talk to him about the state of the team, his plans, and everything else. I was always clear with him that I wasn't going to carry water for the FO, and he was always clear with me about what was on the record and what was off the record, and I've always respected that. I will continue to respect that, as I gave my word. The opinion I got of Padraig during those one on ones is not the same opinion I get of somebody who would write this letter. It makes me think that he's a great talker, but doesn't back up his talk with actions.
Let's go through this. First of all, the idea that "this isn't a decision we took lightly". Isn't he the club President? Doesn't the buck stop with him? He's also the guy who hired Fraser and was operating as the GM until just a few months ago when the promotions happened. I have a hard time believing that the final call was anyone's but Smith's, and he should step up and say he made the call.
The next paragraph is detailing the success Robin had, which amounts to the club record season in 2021 and one (1!) Rocky Mountain Cup. Listen, as much work as I've put into the RMC I love to see it taken seriously, but a supporter-run rivalry trophy being the second best result in a coach's tenure is somewhat damming. Its even more so when you realize that's the only RMC we've won since Padraig Smith and Wayne Brandt took over in 2017. That 2021 season is also the only home playoff game we've had in that time period as well. So its a bad look when you can only come up with two things to mention about a coach's tenure, but its a disastrous look when you realize that no other coach under the current leadership can claim even those minimal successes.
Smith then goes on to detail out the current situation and how poor it is, and why that led them to make the change. Funny thing is, we just got done with a transfer window where it was clear we needed to make changes to avoid this situation, and the best that Smith and Fran Taylor could do is a solid left back and two loan-to-buy players, and they couldn't even get the latter two here in time to help in Leagues Cup. This after an offseason window that netted us, if we're generous, one MLS quality starter in Maxso. Gersbach was a waste of a signing, Ronan has potential but would be a backup anywhere else in the league, Cabral was a disaster move that will hurt us for years, and we wasted transfer fees and an international slot on a goalkeeper that can't parry a free kick to keep it out of our net against our rival.
Is any of that mentioned when detailing the current problems? No, not a peep. Instead Smith states that this team is capable of "much, much more" than they have shown so far. Notably both this language and the language he used in that press availability a couple of weeks ago is identical to the language he used when he fired Hudson. In that case he was proven correct as both Casey and then Fraser came in and took those players to much higher finishes than Hudson was able to. But now he's suggesting that Fraser is incapable of doing that again? Is it that Fraser changed, or is it that this group of players is not that group of players?
The next paragraph goes on to flog the success in 2021 again, talking about how they had a systemic approach to build on successes each year from 2018 through to 2021. Given that Fraser wasn't even here until late 2019 there's some sell-promotion going on there. The next line is actually admitting that they've deviated from that path since 2021, but then taking no responsibility for that, using a royal "we". Smith talks about how we need to be a team that plays to its strengths. I'm not sure this team has any strengths right now. A team that emphasizes player development. How many chances has Yapi had this year? What happened to Toure? How is Vallecilla's development going? Where exactly is Abe Rodriguez and Adam Beaudry going to play now that you've signed Ilic? The next one is a direct quite from the Rapids Way about approaching each game with urgency, boldness, etc. and a desire to win. Well, I'm not seeing much f a desire to win out of the current players, so I don't know how a new coach is going to change that.
Smith's last line in this section is getting back to being a team that gets results and makes our supporters proud. First of all, this team has never been a team that's gotten results in any sort of sustained way, and the one time we did, from 2019-2021, was under the coach that was just fired. As far as being proud, well, its hard to be proud of an organization that won't take responsibility for their decisions, that runs a substandard game day operation, and who has to be reported to the players union for not keeping the facilities in a state that professional players feel comfortable using them.
The letter ends with typical meaningless niceties after that, but I think the point has been made. As I said at the beginning it was time for Fraser to go, most of the supporters understood that even if we weren't happy about it. But this letter was insulting in how it placed the blame on Robin, how it took no responsibility, and how it continues a pattern of this organization not understanding the fanbase. Its more evidence that the Front Office lives in a bubble where they won't talk about bad things and they hope they can keep their heads down, celebrate the once-every-five-years successes, and keep drawing in the casual fan for their "fun night out" 2-3 times a season. Until that attitude changes nothing else about this team will.
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1 comment:
You pretty much vented my frustrations with Smith. Since the reality is Kroenke is not going to sell anytime soon, I wish there was a way to wake up Kroenke so he would at least get rid of Smith. This disaster is on him.
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