NEW YORK — If New York City FC could be considered a TV series, then its fans perhaps left a little teaser on Sunday night.
Unfurling a small banner that read, “The best is yet to come,” the club’s supporters cheered on their team despite its 3-1 loss to New England Revolution to conclude its inaugural season — a season considered disappointing on most measures for a team with high expectations.
NYCFC did not make the playoffs despite the names on its roster, nor did it close the season out on a high note with Sunday’s loss being its third in a row. Yet, the message from the team afterward remains positive with a central theme: the fans.
“We are obviously disappointed that we couldn’t bring you success this year on the pitch,” Frank Lampard addressed the crowd after the match, “and I can promise that it’s not being for not trying, everyone has given everything this year. What I can say is that the one big success of this season has been you, the fans. I think to that, to the club and the city, that is amazing. We depend on you, and every week, you come back to support us.”
What was left of the 34,150 in the stands on Sunday roared back in response.
“And all I can promise you from the players is that for all of us who have been here this year, all of us that will be here next year, we will work so hard to bring you, fans, and this city the team that it deserves,” Lampard continued. “I promise next year, we will be back better and strong and we will bring success to the city.”
NYCFC’s product on the pitch may have left much to be desired of, but as one of the newest functioning members of MLS, the expansion club has been a smashing hit.
The club averaged more than 29,000 fans per home game, and just last week, it announced the Founding Members — those who have purchased season tickets — have surpassed 20,000 in count.
“I think the first and foremost, the brightest, the positive thing about this club right now is our fans,” head coach Jason Kreis said. “The support that we have gotten all year long has been absolutely fantastic and I think puts the team automatically in a good place to succeed. If you have a loud fanbase that’s there, a supportive fanbase that’s there for you every game, it provides you a great atmospheres to have an advantage at home.”
For the players, the support they receive also adds a chip to their shoulders moving forward.
“The fans were an absolute success and we can’t thank them enough for that,” Chris Wingert said. “It was a real honor and pleasure to plya for this club and play with these guys and in front of everybody all season long. It’s up to us to make sure that we do everything to continue to get better on the soccer ends and then we can reward everybody with some more wins and playoffs next year.”
The outlook on the team for the next season and beyond is overwhelmingly positive from those involved with the club, and apart from the support this team receives, its roster’s cohesion is expected to improve as well.
“There are other things that I think we have, we obviously have three fantastic Designated Players on this team, we have some very exciting young talent that will develop into great MLS stars and I think we have identified a core group of players to stay here next year and built off of,” Kreis said. “Because my opinion is winning takes continuity.”
In other words, the march toward success for NYCFC is to be continued.
Well, for their sake, I certainly hope the best is yet to come.
The season off the field was a great success, on the field it was a disaster Kreis has no clue what he is doing his player acquisitions were terrible all these bad RSL players he brought over and continued to play. The defense never got better and really was bad all year. The DP’s Pirlo really did not do much , lampard was horrible form his playing to not showing up too late to help and out of shape. Villa was really good, he scored and gave you all he has.
Let’s see what happens in the off season, hopefully Kreis will be fired and a better coach and talent evaluator will be hired.
Is this a reprint of a team press release? Seems to me the season was a big failure. Having Villa, Pirlo, Lampard, Mix, Kreis, and not even making the playoffs? A bust.
Pretty harsh. As expansion teams go- they did better than most. Think you are missing or ignoring one of the points that makes soccer great. That interplay, cohesion and effort between players can make up for much in a disparity in talent. As well a lack of it can adversely effect, eliminate an advantage in talent. As well… a lack of cohesion adversely effects effort as a player has to think, look, react rather than act. As well…. being a new team, the supporting players around the “talent” is not balanced or up to par.
Yeah, I was probably too harsh for a 1st year club. It is amazing that with all of the big name talent, they just didn’t mesh well enough to win more.
It’s a tough assignment building brand new team and a fanbase simultaneously- especially in NY. I think ideally, it would be better to build a base with lots of younger solid players, get them playing hard and together within a system and then work in star players complimentary to your style. looking at a couple year process and eating lots of impatience and criticism and in the big apple- damage to “your brand”. NYFC definitely needs to fill that roster up with solid hard working talent. Get a preseason in to build some rapport. Pretty sure t
hey’re a playoff team next year.
…but not it’s coach.