I'm going to make myself pretty unpopular this week which probably isn't such a great idea since I've really only been back in the good graces of you folks for about a week or so now. Oh well, as I mentioned last time out there have been a number of things that have caught my attention of late and some of them don't make me happy in the least. I've got news for you folks too; it's not just stuff that has happened at the upper levels of some clubs that have made me a little agitated.
Let's face it, guys and gals, sometimes we can be a really fickle lot and a lot of times we start throwing around accusations or looking for fires where there may or may not be smoke where it concerns our beloved A-League. We're used to the worst case scenarios that always seem to crop up in the A-League with teams being mismanaged, folding, and who knows what else. Then we turn on the USL itself as we try to blame them for several of the shortcomings of certain franchises that have gone to pot.
I think we can all agree that any league that admits franchises that wind up imploding is somewhat to blame in those cases but how much is it reasonable to assume that they may be responsible for some of the problems of those clubs? Also, when is it safe to assume that the league is or is not doing enough in dealing with problems such as failing franchises or difficult contract situations? I'd really like to know what you folks think about this because, honestly, I think that some of us tend to jump on the league itself as soon as something goes wrong and assume the absolute worst. I think we also jump to assume that the powers that be don't care what we think and are only interested in their own pockets.
How many times have you heard other fans say that the league doesn't care or that they let bad situations continue merely because the league is lining its pockets with franchise fees and the like while others get screwed? What we all need to understand is that there is a lot of legalese that is spoken between the clubs and the league. This is due mainly to the fact that we are talking about nineteen separate franchise owners here. These people own those franchises and have their own autonomy in most if not all situations. Imagine the amount of red tape this causes when the league does indeed need to step in.
If a problem comes up like a team runs out of cash but that club's management was able to sign some sort of document or agreement that makes the league almost powerless to take certain actions then fans need to understand that sometimes it takes a painfully long time to work these issues out in the best way possible. I say painfully because it is. For fans and, many times, players as well as office workers you're talking about a gut-wrenching situation that involves demolishing the team they care about and on top of that seeing their livelihood taken away in the case of employees and players. They're not only looking for the best way possible for just the league or only that club to solve any problems but for all the teams, fans, players, and the league itself. Unfortunately, if you're a fan or player for that club you're going to be left out of the loop on what's truly going on behind the scenes in too many cases we've seen.
So can the league better inform fans and players? They probably could but what do they risk, legally speaking, if they let something slip that they shouldn't? Maybe the thing that causes many of us the most frustration with the league and some teams is that we are left out of the loop and we assume the teams and league don't care about what we think or feel because there isn't a direct pipeline from the front offices to the fans in each A-League town. The league does care, whether or not the same is true for some clubs when a crisis hits is up for debate. Sometimes, though, the easiest thing for an entity in the position that the league is put in is to keep mum until the cookie has completely crumbled.
Now, does that mean that fans should be silent on any of these issues? No, no, NO, not at all! I wouldn't want anyone to ever remain silent in the face of any sort of the issues we've seen around OUR league. At the same time, though, consider the large loafers that our friends in the Florida offices are walking around in and maybe even the large piles of brown stuff they have to walk through on too many occasions.
No matter how long the A-League is around we may have to accept the fact that there may always be a group that wants to own a soccer team and that is great. That group, however, may not realize just what it takes to run said team. If potential owners are more intent on readying themselves for the long haul and the league increases their ability to judge those candidates for franchises we'll all be better off because hopefully we'll see less and less of troubled teams with troubled fans in the future. Just remember to thank the folks in Florida once in awhile for keeping a league around for us to complain about, okay?
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