Vancouver FC - 2024 Season Thread

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

A league home game or a summer series type friendly.

Probably this.

And a good thing, I might add.  I have said before that CPĹ is a cross-country league but clubs seem parochial in nature.  Getting more regional exposure helps and having a sampler in Kelowna is a step in seeing if it is a viable franchise landing spot.

 

 

[K Edgar]

international defender Allan Enyou to Vancouver on loan

https://vancouverfc.canpl.ca/article/the-eagles-bring-international-defender-allan-enyou-to-vancouver

[nolando]

59 minutes ago, K Edgar said:

international defender Allan Enyou to Vancouver on loan

https://vancouverfc.canpl.ca/article/the-eagles-bring-international-defender-allan-enyou-to-vancouver

"World-class potential" seems a bit rich, no? Somehwere between meh and somewhat promising for me.

In the absence of any actual independent media that regularly follows the team, I guess this leaves fans like me to speculate that Norman is seriously injured and/or Anthony White has been jettisoned or sent on trial somewhere. 

But adding another body (a non-Canadian) to an already huge list of available and underutilized players is interesting. Ghotbi likes big bodies and may be lamenting the loss of Bakare somewhat. But we are left to speculate that this 189 cm loan is somehow the answer.

[Big_M]

uganda uae spain latvia canada...playing in his fifth country at age twenty...thats a lot

[Watchmen]

3 hours ago, nolando said:

"World-class potential" seems a bit rich, no? Somehwere between meh and somewhat promising for me.

In the absence of any actual independent media that regularly follows the team, I guess this leaves fans like me to speculate that Norman is seriously injured and/or Anthony White has been jettisoned or sent on trial somewhere. 

But adding another body (a non-Canadian) to an already huge list of available and underutilized players is interesting. Ghotbi likes big bodies and may be lamenting the loss of Bakare somewhat. But we are left to speculate that this 189 cm loan is somehow the answer.

We just watched an L1 Quebec team beat Halifax and a local L1 BC team almost beat Pacific, so it's disappointing Vancouver FC didn't give the chance to a local Canadian player to fill the depth role. Surely there must be one.

Edited May 7 by Watchmen

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Big_M said:

uganda uae spain latvia canada...playing in his fifth country at age twenty...thats a lot

The Rick Steves of football!

[Watchmen]

10 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Friend grew up in Kelowna, I think it is a compelling factor for his interest.

I think he's indicated he wants there to be a team there, he just doesn't want to be the owner. Maybe they're able to sell Pacific he'd be interested. But I can't see the group taking on a 3rd team.

[nolando]

15 hours ago, nolando said:

If I were in charge, I would schedule two matches between VFC and Cavalry, early July and maybe early September after school is back in session. Better to find out now what the temps, smoke, and realistic expected crowds could be before possibly investing in there further. Two different windows, though, and two different days of the week. Fine to promote through local soccer groups but no school freebies as you'd want to find out who might genuinely pay for this product.

June 16 is a league date, a home match that was already advertised and ticketed for Langley. I would have predicted an exhibition match, an "extra" that might have given the squad players a run out. This is quite a bold statement, actually.

Edited May 8 by nolando

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, nolando said:

June 16 is a league date, a home match that was already advertised and ticketed for Langley. I would have predicted an exhibition match, an "extra" that might have given the squad players a run out. This is quite a bold statement, actually.

I guess they don't think it will upset enough people.

[saladroit]

13 hours ago, nolando said:

"World-class potential" seems a bit rich, no? Somehwere between meh and somewhat promising for me.

 

i suppose that's just ghotbi's thing at this point. he said nima would "soon be recognized by many as one of the best midfielders in Canada", and that jeremy zielinski could "become one of the top goalkeepers in Canada" who could develop into a "world-class goalkeeper". over the course of the season nima played ~900 minutes, zielinski played 90 minutes, and both were released at the year's end

[CDNFootballer]

18 hours ago, nolando said:

June 16 is a league date, a home match that was already advertised and ticketed for Langley. I would have predicted an exhibition match, an "extra" that might have given the squad players a run out. This is quite a bold statement, actually.

I'll be asking for a refund for this game, as others in my group of season ticket holders plan to as well.

They really should have done a friendly for this Kelowna game instead of taking away a league game from their local fan base.

[BearcatSA]

4 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

I'll be asking for a refund for this game, as others in my group of season ticket holders plan to as well.

They really should have done a friendly for this Kelowna game instead of taking away a league game from their local fan base.

I hear ya.  As  i posted in the other thread, it just seems so spur of the moment as opposed to being planned out and announced well in advance.  I am glad that you and other STHs are asking for a refund on this one.

 

[masster]

As a STH, I don't have a problem with it. Its for the greater good. Especially if this will be league initiative moving forward, like Touchdown Atlantic for the CFL. Sure they could have announced ahead of the season, but who knows what logistics were at play.

The email from the club has already offered tickets to a different match as a make good. I will try to get to Kelowna if I can.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

If you look at the date, June 16 (not sure the time, is that 2pm local?), it coincides with Eurocup matches including England-Serbia at 12 noon that day. 

So there could be a calculation that VFC might have a weak gate that day competing with the Eurocup on a Sunday. Now of course they could schedule later in the afternoon and it'd work fine, if you are up to spending a morning watching Euros, then go to a live match. 

Maybe I'm reaching a bit here.

A June date gives them a chance to gauge local interest before more tourists arrive, including people from the rest of BC, the Lower Mainland. Maybe that is reaching again.

I'm glad Noonan came out saying they need a facility, hope Kelowna understands what it means to give the city a facility that is better than anything existing in CPL.

[nolando]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If you look at the date, June 16 (not sure the time, is that 2pm local?), it coincides with Eurocup matches including England-Serbia at 12 noon that day. 

So there could be a calculation that VFC might have a weak gate that day competing with the Eurocup on a Sunday. Now of course they could schedule later in the afternoon and it'd work fine, if you are up to spending a morning watching Euros, then go to a live match. 

Maybe I'm reaching a bit here.

A June date gives them a chance to gauge local interest before more tourists arrive, including people from the rest of BC, the Lower Mainland. Maybe that is reaching again.

I'm glad Noonan came out saying they need a facility, hope Kelowna understands what it means to give the city a facility that is better than anything existing in CPL.

I would guess it's more a combination of very slow tix sales and perhaps a warning shot fired to Langley. Frustration and a little desperation showing.

This feels a bit like the missus getting pissed, suddenly packing an overnight bag, and saying she's leaving. And you're like, "To Kelowna?!? On Father's Day?!"

[Mihairokov]

47 minutes ago, nolando said:

I would guess it's more a combination of very slow tix sales and perhaps a warning shot fired to Langley. Frustration and a little desperation showing.

This feels a bit like the missus getting pissed, suddenly packing an overnight bag, and saying she's leaving. And you're like, "To Kelowna?!? On Father's Day?!"

It doesn't bode well for Langley, IMO. I've got a feeling this is the first step towards VFC moving on from Langley. Happy to be wrong on this, but teams very rarely move schedule dates out of their own home stadia without good reason. 

[jdheid]

On 5/7/2024 at 8:20 AM, BearcatSA said:

Probably this.

And a good thing, I might add.  I have said before that CPĹ is a cross-country league but clubs seem parochial in nature.  Getting more regional exposure helps and having a sampler in Kelowna is a step in seeing if it is a viable franchise landing spot.

 

 

Looks up parochial. Agrees.

[SpursFlu]

One thing I have to say about Friend and his group..  they put their money, time and energy where their mouth is. These guys make things happen and seem to just roll with the punches. Ain't nothing gonna break their stride, ain't nothing gonna hold them down. I hope in 20 years these guys have built and sold 3 amazing football clubs in British Columbia and made a big fat profit because they deserve it.

 

Edited May 9 by SpursFlu

[Watchmen]

I think the June date is mostly a case of ensuring they get in before the wild fires hit this year. Because there'd be nothing worse than moving a home date the way they have only to have to cancel that game.

I also doubt it's a shot at Langley. Langley city council won't care if they move, considering the new council didn't want to build the stadium in the first place.  But if it is a shot at Langley, I think it would continue a pattern they've established of fundamentally misunderstanding their market. Be it naming the team "Vancouver" while playing in Langley, marketing as representing the whole GVRD, holding all their first season pre-season games as far from Langley as possible, or overly relying on youth teams to show up on a regular basis, they've never really seemed to understand what their market is or have a realistic expectation of what they'll draw.

[HochelagaFC]

On 5/8/2024 at 4:55 AM, saladroit said:

i suppose that's just ghotbi's thing at this point. he said nima would "soon be recognized by many as one of the best midfielders in Canada", and that jeremy zielinski could "become one of the top goalkeepers in Canada" who could develop into a "world-class goalkeeper". over the course of the season nima played ~900 minutes, zielinski played 90 minutes, and both were released at the year's end

The new Jeff Paulus. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

All these comments about it being a problem for VFC and Langley. Makes no sense: they are not anywhere near replacing Langley with Kelowna. And less so when the investment in Langley is from winter 22-23, what sort of business plan would that be, bailing out after 14 months?

Kelowna is not a proven market either, does not have a proper stadium, has relatively weak local soccer scenes (not as good in the Okanagan as Vancouver Island, don't think), is more isolated geographically. It may have a local press that is more specific and would get behind, and it'd be Kelowna's first big step into a national market. But we are talking about building that for 2-3 years from now at the least.

Then has even more demands on facilities because in Kelowna you either play under lights or put roofs over top of stands, as otherwise they'll fry (average highs in July and August are in the high 20s, meaning plenty of days even higher). 

What we need to see, in my view, is much harder work from the CPL to get behind the clubs.

As I see it, CPL is still feeling things out and is far from threshold pretty well everywhere except Halifax in terms of getting fans out. None of the teams are pushing capacity, few have really connected with the local sports scene and most are still seen as small league and a bit residual. That says to me there is a hell of a lot more work to be done.

In my view, one of the biggest fails is that the CPL does too little to support a global branding and marketing for the league, it is left up to local efforts, usually a couple people in a ticket office at each club. The social media is weak, contact with the press is weak, no French, relying on One Soccer for broadcasting and buzz, on the CSA for reffing and discipline. The CPL is actually bare bones and as an organisation does far too little.

Probably there are three things that are good, in terms of getting a passing grade, in CPL: one is the relationship with Macron, for whom it is probably not even worth it, since they must sell in very low figures; the other is that they have garnered sponsors, added to them, and seem set to build on that when the interest increases. The final is that the product on the field is solid, they compete in Voyageurs Cup and in Concacaf even, and it has given our players an amazing path.

[SpursFlu]

I won the Lottery!

Voyageurs forum - You know how much taxes you'll have to pay?

[Unnamed Trialist]

26 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

I won the Lottery!

Voyageurs forum - You know how much taxes you'll have to pay?

Non taxable.

[SpursFlu]

37 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Non taxable.

I don't know if it's a hate on everything BC thing or it's just across the board but I just don't know how everything gets spun in to a negative around here

We're playing a game in Kelowna because we're trying to bring an expansion team here

Somehow translates in to

Vancouver fc is moving because they're a disaster and it will never work in Kelowna because there are wildfires and it's too small of a place!!!

[CDNFootballer]

VFC is at the LEC in Langley for the long haul imo.

As for Kelowna, I hope I'm wrong, but if a CPL team eventually ends up there, but don't think it will be successful - too small a market. Let Kelowna have a League 1 BC team and show sustained support over a couple of seasons at least. A one off game or two won't mean much as a market analysis for long term support.