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Petke not keen on upcoming Supporters’ Shield celebration

Mike Petke

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

HANOVER, N.J. — The New York Red Bulls have planned a Supporters’ Shield celebration for just before their home opener this Saturday, and head coach Mike Petke is not all that keen on it.

A long-time member of the club who knows exactly the kind of struggle the Red Bulls went through to capture their first piece of silverware, Petke admitted after practice on Wednesday that he is not too thrilled about the banner presentation that will precede New York’s home opener vs. the Colorado Rapids this weekend. The celebration will happen while the players are in the locker room and prior to them coming out on the field for the national anthem, but Petke is still not fond of it and thinks it could serve as an unnecessary distraction for his players.

“To be quite honest with you, I think we really need to move on,” said Petke. “I’m very happy that it happened, I’m very happy that they’re having a celebration, but it’s in the past. We can’t rest on that. I know it’s great for the fans, the supporters, the organization, but I want my players focused on Colorado and that’s it.”

While Petke might not be completely on board with the idea, the Red Bulls (0-1) have planned the presentation of the banner as a way for the fans to celebrate the capture of last season’s Supporters’ Shield and the end of an 18-year trophy-less drought one last time.

The club is also planning to include a Red Bull component in the pre-game celebration, but specifics have not been made public.

New York raised the Supporters’ Shield trophy and celebrated with its fans last year following a 5-2 win over the Chicago Fire in their regular-season finale.

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Agree with Petke that this celebration could serve as a distraction and the Red Bulls need to move on? Think there is no harm in it seeing as how the players will be in the locker room when it happens? Was the 2013 celebration enough to commemorate the milestone?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think Petke is right. We had our celebration last year. If we want to hoist a banner, ok. This is a new season. We need to focus on the games at hand. We need to focus on winning Saturday. We got our asses handed to us in Vancouver. We need to keep the shield and we need to get The Cup. Quite frankly we were very lucky to get The Shield last year. A lot of things worked in our favor. We won the Shield and we fell apart when it was playoff time. So YES, I do agree with MP!

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  2. I’m going to disagree with Petke here, though I have liked most of what he’s done at NYRB. I’m an SKC fan and we’re going through one hell of a run right now. I think that part of what has kept our momentum rolling is that we are constantly celebrating what we’ve accomplished the past few years. The videos, ads, banners and celebrations have kept us all itching for the next cup to play for. Our front office gave the MLS Cup a schedule because it was making so many events around the city.

    I guess it all probably depends on the tone of the celebration. Is it all slaps-on-the-back, we’re really awesome kind of stuff? If so, not worth it. Is it something that will get the fans stoked and ready to cheer their faces off for another few months? Will it cause some frenzy in the crowd before the game? If so, I say let the players watch. Let them see what winning a cup brings to the fans and make sure that every game they play, they are trying to bring that frenzy back again.

    Having said all that, I hope Petke shits a brick with NYRB this year and SKC win the Supporter’s Shield. 🙂

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  3. A Supporter’s Shield is meaningless for a league that doesn’t play a balanced schedule. Can’t MLS do anything that doesn’t feel contrived and phony.

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    • It’s an award created by the fans. It’s super important to those of us who’ve been following the league for years. So, no, the exact opposite of “contrived and phony.”

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    • Exactly. It’s worth a little more than a bucket of warm spit, especially when you choke so hard in the playoffs after earning the shield.

      The rapids also have a former mls and usmnt player as coach and he’ll want nothing more than to pour cold water on nyrb. Rapids will win.

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  4. Didn’t the fans get to experience the trophy award being resented live last year in the season finale? Why are they having a second celebration planed for winning a fan created trophy, 5 months after the fact? Im with Petke, you won the SS..big deal, it was nice but lets stop pretending we won the world cup.

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  5. I alway thought that the tradition of celebrating previous year’s championships the following season was tacky. I mean the players change, sometimes coaches, etc.

    i guess its the next time they can plan a big event in the stadium for the fans.

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    • Fans don’t change from year to year, generally; that is mainly who these celebrations are for. Players and coaches are paid to win, so they have to take that viewpoint on every situation, considering their livelihoods depend on it. However, sports is also an entertainment business; that is why you have all the promotions, extra events, etc. Not everyone that comes to a game is a diehard, so you have to hold everyone’s attention one way or another. Plus, if you base success in athletics solely on championships, then most players and coaches are abject failures. If fans go home happy, then part of the job is done.

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  6. As much as I love the Supporters Shield, it’s not considered a championship. (Unless the Red Bulls move to Europe). If you win MLS cup, can raise the banner before the home opener.

    SS was great, the celebration fantastic, but move on. Agree with Petke here.

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    • +1

      Watching the highlights against the Fire and listening to the final call by Steve Cangialosi on MSG is one of the best soccer moments I ever had and even I cried a bit. The spontaneous celebrations with the shield on the field was amazing. The team finally got a real trophy. Nevertheless, the Red Bulls did not win MLS Cup, so its time to move on.

      IMO, they have to celebrate it and get as much cred as they can because the team in Blue is coming next year and the other one wearing Green in LI aint too far away. This is the time to create a winning legacy, I guess.

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    • If they won MLS Cup, they’d do some sort of banner raising. I think this trophy is a better accomplishment so a little celebration is fine, especially since it’s the first trophy in club history.

      If this ceremony, which the players won’t even witness, “distracts” them, then the team has some real problems.

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  7. Shut the hell up, Petke.

    This isn’t for you. It’s for the 10s of thousands of paying fans that support the livelihood of you and the players who after an enormous existence of futility finally won something important.

    Couldn’t care less about the Red Bulls, but this is the nonsense you hear from somebody who just doesn’t f***** get it. Shut up and let the fans enjoy the win you self-important prig.

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    • The coach that the players all highly respect, and who led them to the best record in MLS, doesn’t get it? Ok, duder…

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      • Which has absolutely nothing to do with why they would hold a celebration at the first home game for winning the table last year.

        Thanks for the straw man though, you REALLY knocked it out.

      • HE doesn’t know what he’s talking about? You just admitted you don’t care about NYRB so how the #$@$ do you know how the fans feel? Petke’s a lot more connected with the situation than you are. Duh.

      • i would argue that the fans (who already celebrated the supporters’ shield last year) care greatly about the team’s success this year. petke’s saying that a re-celebration of last year’s accomplishment (that the fans already celebrated) may distract the players from this year’s objectives–which, again, the fans really do care about.

        so Vnice’s comment that petke 1) has good rapport with his players, and 2) knows what it takes to be successful in mls, absolutely has something to do with your accusations of him not “getting it”.

        you can’t just yell “STRAW MAN” and expect people to shut up. (or maybe you can, but that’s just disappointing.)

      • Petke is more of a fan than 99.9% of red bulls fans. And he’s the coach of the team and desperate for them to do well. You can disagree with him, but to say he doesn’t get it is complete ignorance.

    • nah, they already had a celebration…last year, when they finally won something. another celebration makes it sound like they think they won’t win anything again for a while.

      petke’s head is in the right place, even if it isn’t the nicest thing for long-suffering fans to hear.

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    • Is this supposed to be a joke? There are literally 0 Red Bulls fans who think Mike Petke “just doesn’t f***** get it”.

      We enjoyed it plenty last year after the win over Chicago, and he was right there enjoying it with us.

      The banner’s nice and all, but this will probably mainly be an extended Red Bull advertisement.

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    • As much as I enjoyed last season and our first piece or real silverware, THAT WAS LAST SEASON. Petke gets it. We didn’t start off on a good note last week. We got blown out last week and the Colorado match hasn’t been played yet. What is there to celebrate? LAST SEASON?

      You’re not part of the NYRB/Metros family. Keep it moving, kid.

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    • So wait, we’re counting the Supporter’s Shield as a trophy now? I mean, really?

      And yes, I know that in Europe it would mean blah blah blah. But here it means “focused more on winning the regular season than worrying about resting for the playoffs” or “couldn’t win in the pressurized setting of the playoffs.”

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      • You couldn’t be more of a troll if you tried. The Supporter’s Shield has been an important part of MLS for years, and definitely a trophy, so your “now” comment is moronic. Either you’re remarkably ignorant or deliberately starting crap.

        Take this garbage to the ESPN comments section.

      • As and SKC supporter, I will tell you right now that I REALLY want that thing sitting next to our MLS Cup trophy. Created by the supporters (originally in KC, by the by), The Shield is a Real Trophy, and We’re Coming To Get It.

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