FC Edmonton 2016 Season

[masster]

Some nice news coverage from a couple of weeks back:
http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=826305&binId=1.1203428&playlistPageNum=1

http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/soccer/fc-edmonton-building-soccer-culture-on-and-off-the-pitch

[jedinathan]

Ya coverage has been picking up a little in Edmonton.

Couple of notes... Have to say I'm VERY impressed with what the new GM has already done in his short time here. I know there's still a few bumps in the road left (some bigger than others), but he's done a great job at involving fans more and I think there will be more emphasis on the FCEd brand.

Also, FCEd went undefeated in Scottland. Pretty cool, though the club has already said that they'd like a higher level of competition next year.

[masster]

Colin Miller always seems to have nice things to say about his young players, but I'm curious to see Shamit Shome play at this level. Hopefully he will get a handful of minutes this year.
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/soccer/versatile-local-product-has-impressed-fc-edmonton-coach-at-training-camp

[shermanator]

I am curious to see what Shome can do as well. Miller really pumps up his players in the pre-season, and then often shits on them after games, so we'll see if he backs up his talk and gets Shome on the pitch frequently this year. But, good to see that Shome will be in the 18 anyways.

[Blackdude]

Expect Terry Dunfield to sign with Edmonton per Steven Sandor

 

[yothat]

Looks like Marko Aleskic is out with an achilles an injury he picked up with the U-20s. Hoping to see Shamit Shome starting in old spot  first game of the season ... 

[jedinathan]

Highly doubt we'll see much of Shome until injuries start to get heavy. Roberts is out with the flu right now too but I think there's a few above Shome on the depth chart. 

[msilverstein47]

http://sbisoccer.com/2016/03/sbi-nasl-season-preview-fc-edmonton

NASL Season Preview: FC Edmonton

 

[msilverstein47]

http://sbisoccer.com/2016/03/sbi-spotlight-edmontons-ledgerwood-returns-to-expand-game-in-canada

Edmonton's Ledgerwood returns to expand game in Canada

[Unnamed Trialist]

Give us a report, guys. Or tell us where you are doing your "private" Edmonton chats.

[Sport Shaman]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Give us a report, guys. Or tell us where you are doing your "private" Edmonton chats.

Try this:

http://www.edmontonsoccerfans.com/forums/index.php

[jedinathan]

We'll have a review up later tonight as well on the podcast (Loyal Company of the River Valley on iTunes).

[jedinathan]

If you're looking for a well written review of the game on Saturday, here's Tobi from Field Turf of Dreams review, including a ton of gifs showing some of the more important moments of the games.

 

https://t.co/p22DPyKyvF

[Blackdude]

So, no Dunfield to Edmonton. He's getting more money to call TFC & TFC II games.

[BuzzAndSting]

32 minutes ago, Blackdude said:

So, no Dunfield to Edmonton. He's getting more money to call TFC & TFC II games.

Quote from Miller;

“I’d been speaking back-and-forth-between Terry and his agent for some time. And Terry was offered a job by MLSE to do the colour commentating for TFC, TFC2 and so forth. So, there was at one point, a situation where Terry would have missed six games in our season but been able to do both jobs. I was fully supportive of it because of the quality that Terry would have given us.

“He was devastated that, at some point, his playing career was going to come to an end. But I said to him, ‘Terry, you’ve been offered a job that, for many, is a dream job. It would be one of my dream jobs, to be honest, to do some TV work. But you have to face reality that you’re 34 now and that, at some point, your playing career is going to come to an end.’

“Long story short, MLSE moved the goalposts and offered him more money and more concrete an offer. So I spoke at length with him about it and I said ‘Terry you’d be very foolish to turn this down.’ This is job security in an industry that’s growing the TV industry.

“He wrote a fantastic e-mail thanking the club for the professionalism, the direction, the way the players were, the owners. It was very amicable. But, at some point Terry Dunfield has to think of himself and has to come to terms with the fact that his playing career has come to an end because of this offer has been given.”

[shermanator]

Interesting that Dunfield can make more money doing colour commentary than he would have received to play in Edmonton. Is this a case of TFC throwing money at Dunfield, or Edmonton being cheap?

[TRM]

3 hours ago, shermanator said:

Interesting that Dunfield can make more money doing colour commentary than he would have received to play in Edmonton. Is this a case of TFC throwing money at Dunfield, or Edmonton being cheap?

Yes

[SthMelbRed]

11 hours ago, shermanator said:

Interesting that Dunfield can make more money doing colour commentary than he would have received to play in Edmonton. Is this a case of TFC throwing money at Dunfield, or Edmonton being cheap?

Why does it have to be one of those things? It's most likely that NASL player salaries tend to be lower than what many players could earn through an alternative career path.

Hypothetically, if he was offered  $60k/year to do the TV job, we wouldn't say that MLSE has 'thrown' excessive money Dunfield's way, yet it would be more than he'd command as an NASL player in Edmonton. Add in the context of starting to set himself in his post-playing career and there you go. 

[Bison44]

Terry was thinking long term.  Probably more money for 1-2 seasons in FCE, or get the TV job and turn it into a 10-15 year gig.  Goto the next WC as an analyst etc etc.  He has to be better than some of the shit birds with the thick english accent the networks throw out.  Honestly, i think the execs at the sports channels think you cant understand soccer unless you have a english accent.  

[shermanator]

8 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

Why does it have to be one of those things? It's most likely that NASL player salaries tend to be lower than what many players could earn through an alternative career path.

Hypothetically, if he was offered  $60k/year to do the TV job, we wouldn't say that MLSE has 'thrown' excessive money Dunfield's way, yet it would be more than he'd command as an NASL player in Edmonton. Add in the context of starting to set himself in his post-playing career and there you go. 

Because it is both those things, really. The words I used might have been exaggerated, but it's still a case of an NASL club wanting to sign a player, who then turns around and doesn't sign in order to pursue a non-playing career. It happened in Ottawa with Philippe Davies as well. I think both scenarios are a little embarrassing to be honest.

There is also some precedent with Canadian NASL clubs flat out refusing to compete with the richer NASL clubs (Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Miami FC, etc), especially this offseason. We know what happened in Ottawa this last offseason, when ownership refused to open up their pocketbooks to keep the core of the team together. And as a result they looked terrible in their season debut. In Edmonton it's not as pronounced, but they did let their best player walk, despite allegedly offering the best contract they've ever offered a player to stay in Edmonton (what that means in $$$ I don't know).

And for what it's worth, I think Dunfield made the right decision. I thought he was pretty good in the TFC II / Canada broadcasts he did last year "Hey Honduras, how do you like your chicken wings"

[yothat]

How many people is a sell out for Fced?? Should be a sell out with walk-up

[Pqhbv]

5k is the listed capacity for Clarke. I do not know if they added any new temporary seating this year with the addition of the titan or not. We will see tonight.

[shermanator]

A sell out? Ha! I'll see it when I believe it.

The only game with even close to a capacity crowd, was last year's Voyageurs Cup game against the Whitecaps. Not one game at Clarke has come even close to seeing that many people in the stands. The 2014 opener against New York was billed as a sellout, but the stands were about 1/3 full. 

There is a new "supporters section" of bleachers that will go behind the goal this year, I think it's capacity is 150-200. It will be a temporary stand that will be wheeled in on gamedays and wheeled out after, as it would sit in the endzone of the football field. I'm curious to see what it looks like tomorrow, and I'm sure it will be packed.

[Soccerpro]

I had season tickets for a few years I lived in Edmonton. 

The numbers announced ahead of time were never accurate. Sell outs or near sell outs seemed to be no different than any other lower attended games.

[Steedman]

Well I'm hearing over 75% sold out from twitter, go to Clarke or tune in to NASL.com live stream to find out for yourselves. Hope Laing's return to the capital region is an uncomfortable one.