foreverthursday Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 Was anybody happy with it? Was it above or below expectations? Did you have any ideas on how to improve it? Was the team itself satisfactory? What do you think the 2011 season has in store? What can we expect from FC Edmonton and the Fath Group over the winter time in terms of plan announcements and news? WILL FC EDMONTON SURVIVE FOR AT LEAST A FEW YEARS TO COME? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I think this was an awesome learning experience for the team and the fans. From the sounds of it, there wasn't a bad turnout last night, and when you consider that FCE was going head to head with the Eskimos (regardless of how badly the eskies are doing) vs the Roughriders, that says a lot of how Edmonton is responding to a new team. I think that the group has handled itself well, and hasn't folded yet, which is a huge improvement compared to several years ago with the Edmonton Aviators/FC. The team actually really suprised me. I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I went to go see them play Colo-Colo. I actually was telling the client I was with that it should be a blow-out because it was a long-term professional team vs a newbie local team. The way that the players have stood out is pretty cool to me. I'm really looking forward to 2011, especially watching FCE play Miami last night. It was pretty competative, and if we hadn't had a bad deflection off the wall, there was a serious chance for a win. Regardless of Miami's standings this year, I think the showing that FCE had only proves that we can hold our own, and stand a chance of avoiding the basement next year. I'm not sure what to expect out of the Fath group, but I hope that they are able to market the team well. I think that using word of mouth will only work so far, and that we've seen almost the extent of that this year. Next year will have to see some marketing in key areas, such as youth soccer organizations, post secondary schools, and more mass press. I'm glad to see the team being talked about and advertised in the papers. This year was good, but I think that next year will be the real proving ground for the team. If they can be compative against both NASL teams and against other Canadian pro teams (if we aren't eliminated first off in the nutralite cup for example) and get some really interesting friendlies matches, I think that people will take notice. I really like that the group is staying solid about their promise to stick out this inital period. It will be a year to year thing for the fans for at least the first few years, but I think that after 3-5 years, FCE will be here to stay. Its all about getting through the difficult initial period until then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreverthursday Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 I was very happy that we had a team that had groundwork. By groundwork I mean that they brought in excellent coaches and veteren players to compliment the local talent they have obviously had their eye on already. I was very dissapointed with Edmonton media as a whole. The local Shaw channel, 630CHED, 1260 AM, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton SUN, all the music radio shows for never mentioning scores or upcoming games like they do with every other team in Edmonton. If I worked for FC Edmonton I would be whoring myself to every type of media that exists, and if they ignored me I would "yell" louder. I am sure that if the whos can get an angry kangaroo to hear them, then a fairly well funded sports team with a following of a few thousand just from word of mouth should be able to do more. Did no one else notice that in the "sports calender" of the Journal and Sun, that they advertised every event including thoroughbred racing, everything except FC Edmonton. In fact I google news searched "FC Edmonton" and no one other than the FCEdmonton.com and MiamiFC.com websites had any stories on the game last night. Wakeboarding was appearently bigger news then our last game this year. I would be pissed (I am pissed) if I were the owners. There are paying fans out there that want to come, but first they need to know we exist, and they need to know that it is worth taking seriously. And they won't get that impression if every media outlet in Edmonton cares more about Tiger not getting into any holes now more then an impressive freshmen effort of a pro soccer team. I don't have any real dreams of big announcements this winter, but I have a great imagination and I have a job were daydreaming keeps you sane. I won't even mention what I would like to see the Fath group do, because I have no sense of reality of soccer in Canada. These forums have been extremely (EXTREMELY) depressing for me. I hope I stay far more positive then the rest of you. I hope they completely whore out the FC Edmonton brand to the public and make it a household name. I hope kids wear the jerseys and scarves as normal clothing like oiler tshirts and eskimo hats. I hope that they add a thousand more seats by putting up temporary bleachers for the next season, and that every game sells all 4,500 tickets. I hope that a good company sponsers the team and pays to have their logo on the front of our jerseys. I hope a lot of things. But mostly I hope I don't get let down and end up as cynical as the rest of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 lol keep your chin up man! I think that this winter will be good for the team, even if it involves some of the ESG going to their former schools (high schools included) and posting a few posters around to get the word out. Speaking of that, I think that using the ESG for tasks like that would be a good thing... We're excited about the team, and already talk about it to everyone around us, so let us get the word out to the greater public! I think that starting around March/April, the team really needs to hit the streets with promotions. The worse the Oilers do the better for FCE too... If its another horrific year, build up the fact that FCE beat teams 14-0 (no offence to Spokane!) and are ready to wreak havoc on the NASL! I agree completely about the press coverage. I think that the only thing that fans can do is write, email and otherwise badger the papers and news shows to start covering it. The fact that this season wasn't competative may have effected the coverage, but I think that after the Aviators fiasco the papers are a little wary of Soccer in Edmonton. If there are any big developments in the winter, its up to us to make sure that they get promoted and talked about. I think we all dream of that man. If we didn't, there would be no ESG. I have "dreams" of taking over one of the shuttles on the LRT and putting up flags and generally making it black and blue in there for the fans to ride to the game. I want to see people marching down to the field as a group chanting and singing. I don't know if FCE will get that kind of following in the next 10 years, but its nice to dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I was impressed with the on the field product, a little disappointed on the off the field side of things, but happy to see the commitment level on the part of the owners remains high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreverthursday Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 I just sent an email to the Sports Section Editor at the Journal asking why they never advertised upcoming matches and why they only wrote a couple of articles after some matches, but ignored others altogether. I hope I get a response, because I am very curious. This was my letter: Why doesn't FC Edmonton draw any interest from Edmonton media outlets? I noticed all summer that in your "sports calender" for local sporting events you had everything but FC Edmonton. Why is that? They just had their last game of this advertising "season" and there wasn't even a sentence in your sports section. I want to see this team succeed, and it is hard to get Edmontonians behind something when they have already taken notice that the local media is writing that something off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 Any response from the Journal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreverthursday Posted August 31, 2010 Author Share Posted August 31, 2010 Any response from the Journal? *laughs* Of course not, I just did it to be heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 fair enough. I'm going to go on my campaign when things start picking up in the spring.. Its easy to ignore people when there's nothing going on, but we may have more luck when stuff is going on daily with the organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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