CF Montreal - 2023 Season Thread

[Big_M]

.

[red card]

It's no wonder CFM can't have nice things: Joey Saputo.

In July, Joey Saputo, frustrated with the result (vs SKC), goes down to the locker room to speak to the players and/or the coach. But at the door of the locker room, he comes up against a Wilfried Nancy who is insistent; he clearly does not want the owner to enter.

According to our information, the clash was intense. Bad words were exchanged on both sides during this confrontation. Words that, in many cases, leave no room for turning back.

According to certain rumours, which however we were unable to confirm, Saputo did not particularly appreciate the management of the goalkeepers.

One thing remains, however, is that after this meeting, James Pantemis finally took over the position of number one goalkeeper.

 

[narduch]

The Bologna fans aren't happy with him either 

[Kadenge]

CF Montreal counting the FIFA bucks from having 6 players on the CMNT  WC squad. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Kadenge

[An Observer]

10 hours ago, Kadenge said:

CF Montreal counting the FIFA bucks from having 6 players on the CMNT  WC squad. 

They will be counting even more money than that when they transfer Kone after the World Cup and possibly Johnston and Miller as well

[Unnamed Trialist]

11 hours ago, Kadenge said:

CF Montreal counting the FIFA bucks from having 6 players on the CMNT  WC squad. 

As the payout is 10,000 a day, and they say the minimum period would be 14 days, that is 840,000 US to Montreal.

 

[RJB]

New logo for them!?  Third one?  C'mon, figure it out!

https://twitter.com/cfmontreal/status/1592926875093209088

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by RJB

[MM3/MM2/MM]

A big improvement over the snowflake:

[narduch]

The Nancy to Columbus rumours seem to be heating up.

Smyrniotis is also rumoured to be his replacement 

[jonovision]

51 minutes ago, narduch said:

The Nancy to Columbus rumours seem to be heating up.

Smyrniotis is also rumoured to be his replacement 

Yuck.

[phil03]

8 hours ago, narduch said:

The Nancy to Columbus rumours seem to be heating up.

Smyrniotis is also rumoured to be his replacement 

He wouldn't be my first choice in a long run (and Saputo really screwed up if Nancy is going to Columbus) but I am willing to at least give him the benefit of the doubt. He couldn't have done better as his level and he does deserve a chance at a higher one so lets see how he does, even if his lack of experience at that kind of level does worry me.

Of course the caveat to this is language. If he can't speak fluent French then he has no business coaching at Montréal, period.

[jonovision]

50 minutes ago, phil03 said:

He wouldn't be my first choice in a long run (and Saputo really screwed up if Nancy is going to Columbus) but I am willing to at least give him the benefit of the doubt. He couldn't have done better as his level and he does deserve a chance at a higher one so lets see how he does, even if his lack of experience at that kind of level does worry me.

Of course the caveat to this is language. If he can't speak fluent French then he has no business coaching at Montréal, period.

As much as he is a good tactical manager (at the CPL level) Smyrniotis' big assets are his connections and player recruitment. I'm not sure if his connections to that same talent pool will be as fruitful at the MLS level.

[Free kick]

With all the competent managers in the world who can speak French.  Why would Montreal hire someone who cant speak French and who not never coached above CPL?  what or who is the source of this rumor?

[narduch]

Do people know for sure if Smyrniotis can speak French?

[Kingston]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:13 PM, phil03 said:

Of course the caveat to this is language. If he can't speak fluent French then he has no business coaching at Montréal, period.

Honestly, who cares?  Do all the players speak fluent French?  Can we even assume the practices are in French since, if there are a number of different first languages represented, the odds are that the common language is English?  Hire the best person for the job and if they aren't already fluent in French and want to improve their French while they are there, great.

[phil03]

2 hours ago, Kingston said:

Honestly, who cares?  Do all the players speak fluent French?  Can we even assume the practices are in French since, if there are a number of different first languages represented, the odds are that the common language is English?  Hire the best person for the job and if they aren't already fluent in French and want to improve their French while they are there, great.

The fans care, the media care, the wider community care. Most people who are part of the cultural group that is Montréal's main market (French-Canadians) care. Being coach of CF Montréal is like basically any coaching job: you have to handle more then just the day to day coaching of team, you are one of the key faces of the organization and are gonna do a lot of comms stuff. In Montréal that means being able to speak French, both because of what both the city and the fanbase are and because that's what the expectation from everyone is gonna be.

If a coach can't speak French he is failing to check one of the basic requirements needed to do all aspects of his job and therefore he is not, in fact, the best person for the job. Simple as that.

@narduch You are right, we don't. For all we know Smyrniotis is perfectly able to go around having conversations in French and if so then great! We can go on and look at whether he would fit other aspects of what MTL need. If he is not, in fact, able to function in French though then he isn't what MTL need IMO and they should look elsewhere.

Edited December 2, 2022 by phil03

[P-O]

The next coach should speak French for the following reasons:

- He needs to connect with the community.

- He needs to raise the interest towards the team.

- He needs to be part of the Québec culture, or at least, the language.

 

Will we put aside great coaches who would be interested? Of course. But it's the reality of doing business in Montreal.

[narduch]

For the record Smyrniotis is only one candidate.

[Kingston]

2 hours ago, P-O said:

The next coach should speak French for the following reasons:

- He needs to connect with the community.

- He needs to raise the interest towards the team.

- He needs to be part of the Québec culture, or at least, the language.

 

Will we put aside great coaches who would be interested? Of course. But it's the reality of doing business in Montreal.

Hey, as a TFC fan I'm fine with Montreal getting a lesser coach than they otherwise might.  (Although I do think Quebec does harm to itself overall with the "Frenchness is more important than quality" attitude.)

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

12 hours ago, phil03 said:

...Most people who are part of the cultural group that is Montréal's main market (French-Canadians) care...

Have no problem with the concept that their coach needs to speak French because how much patience would people in the GTA have with a TFC coach who needs an interpreter during interviews to answer questions, but wonder to what extent that is accurate and is in tune with where the Island of Montreal is heading demographically in the decades ahead?

Suspect their support is heavily skewed towards people from allophone backgrounds like the Saputos and more recent francophone immigrants from place like the Maghreb or Haiti rather than people whose ancestors came from France and settled Quebec centuries ago and that their support isn't a soccer version of the Canadiens' following any more than TFC's is similar to a Leafs or especially an Argos crowd but don't claim to be an expert on this.

[P-O]

1 hour ago, Kingston said:

Hey, as a TFC fan I'm fine with Montreal getting a lesser coach than they otherwise might.  (Although I do think Quebec does harm to itself overall with the "Frenchness is more important than quality" attitude.)

Yes it hurts us, so does being a French province in a sea of English. 

Does it hurt Bilbao to have an only-basque players policy? Of course it does.

As a Montreal fan, I know we won't perform next year if we sell our assets, but it gives us a chance to develop another gem for Canada, to give minutes to our homegrown and see the whole province benefit soccer-wise with the Impact.

We will always be a small market in the MLS & we understand it.

[phil03]

4 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Have no problem with the concept that their coach needs to speak French because how much patience would people in the GTA have with a TFC coach who needs an interpreter during interviews to answer questions, but wonder to what extent that is accurate and is in tune with where the Island of Montreal is heading demographically in the decades ahead?

Suspect their support is heavily skewed towards people from allophone backgrounds like the Saputos and more recent francophone immigrants from place like the Maghreb or Haiti rather than people whose ancestors came from France and settled Quebec centuries ago and that their support isn't a soccer version of the Canadiens' following any more than TFC's is similar to a Leafs or especially an Argos crowd but don't claim to be an expert on this.

Yes and no. When you look at the diehard fans who would have season tickets and the like then perhaps but if you look at their wider fanbase, the one that allowed them to have perfectly respectable ratings in TVA, come from French-Canada as a whole.

4 hours ago, Kingston said:

Hey, as a TFC fan I'm fine with Montreal getting a lesser coach than they otherwise might.  (Although I do think Quebec does harm to itself overall with the "Frenchness is more important than quality" attitude.)

I mean, how would TFC compete otherwise right?

Banter asside, I do think your wording in quote are not an accurate depiction of Québec's take on it. It doesn't matter if someone is culturally part of the wider French-speaking world but speaking French is a professional skill that is needed in a position who will have a lot of PR stuff to do, simple as that.

[P-O]

Imagine being from Canada, receiving  7 years of French lesson and not be able to speak it.

What a waste of time.

My frenchness gave me Spanish with a minimum of efforts and I can read Portuguese & Italian on top of it.

 

Have a good weekend!

[Bison44]

Oooops! All my grade school french got me was detention.  I did pick up some good swears from the french kids at school though.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

7 hours ago, P-O said:

Imagine being from Canada, receiving  7 years of French lesson and not be able to speak it...

Definitely strange. Four years of O grade level French in Scotland was enough to more or less make myself understood in shops and restaurants etc any time I am in Paris or Montreal, but then I find small town Ontario dudes who must have sat through way more French language lessons than I ever did will start asking me for help any time I am in Quebec as if they had suddenly landed on another planet...