By IVES GALARCEP
New York City FC will have to begin its MLS existence without the team’s marquee player for half of the NYCFC’s inaugural season.
That is the verdict facing the MLS expansion team after Wednesday’s announcement that Frank Lampard would extend his loan with Manchester City through the remainder of the English Premier League season, which runs through May.
It remains unclear just when Lampard would be able to join NYCFC, but he could wind up having to wait until July to make his MLS debut.
“Frank is a star and it is no surprise that Manchester City is rewarded by his contributions on the field every single day,” NYCFC Director of Football Claudio Reyna said in a team-issued statement. “He is eager to get to New York once his commitment ends in England and will be available to play on arrival as a permanent member of the squad given he will come to us having played at the highest level.
“We are all committed to making sure we build a winning team and that our fans get to enjoy great soccer at every single game,” Reyna said. “The opportunities open in the immediate transfer window combined with our recent successful draft ensure that we can continue to assemble a world class team that will make New York City soccer fans proud.”
Lampard will miss at least the first three months of the season, and could wind up missing as many as four months of NYCFC’s inaugural season. Spanish striker David Villa is slated to be with the club from the start of the 2015 season, which kicks off on March 8 with NYCFC visiting Orlando City in a clash of MLS expansion teams.
Lampard will remain with Manchester City as City mounts a challenge to Chelsea for the English Premier League title, while also competing in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
What do you think of this development? Feel like NYCFC has been given a raw deal? Don’t seeing it as that big of a deal?
Share your thoughts below.
This is ridiculous and I hope every NYFC season ticket holder asks for a refund. This is one of the most BS deals I have ever heard of. Lampard will be playing in the MLS in August or September. And even so, will be burnt out.
Its not about NYFC being a good club or not. It is the principle and this is a BS move.
Great article on Goal.com, Ives. MLS fans need to stand up against this – we deserve better.
Where are you, Don Garber? You were mad over Jurgen’s comments. This is a blatant action that undermines the integrity of the league. If this is how Man City is going to do business in MLS, no thanks.
The problem here is Don’s willingness to lie to fans outright.
In addition, MLS’s comfort with 2nd rate status offends mw.
Fans of second fiddle league mad when second fiddle team plays second fiddle. Yea, welcome to MLS fandom…
Fair point, but, let me ask you, as a hardcore supporter, should you accept this from MLS?
I’d rather warch a 2nd division that aspires to be a 1st division than a 1st division which behaves like a 2nd division.
Well I’m a RBNY supporter so what do I care about this, other than as a form of amusement? You’re saying I should go watch worse players in a worse stadium much further from my house? What did I do to deserve that punishment?
I think people are overreacting a little with this. Anyone who thought NYCFC was some sort of independent entity with a say in this was deluding themselves. It’s like Pellegrini said, this is all one team and what’s better for Manchester is what’s better for everyone. If Villa has a great year next season, he’ll be at the Etihad too. Don Garber has done great things for MLS so I cut him some slack but I don’t even think MLS needed a second NYC team so I’m not sure this whole thing was necessary. But at this point, as long as Sheikh Mansour own both teams this is what you’re going to get.
I also think it’s a joke to blame Lampard, who’s doing as he’s told, or complain about Reyna. I’m sure all the folks criticizing Reyna go around publicly feuding with their bosses all the time. They must have really stable careers.
This episode is getting play in other countries’ sports pages. This is a huge embarrassement for MLS. If it turns out that Lampard never signed a contract with MLS, but rather Man City, then Garber and company looked fans in the face and lied.
This is huge.
If true, either Don goes or fans should shift their support to their nearest NASL team until or unless Don Garber goes.
This whole episode should be called Lampard-Gate (as in “don’t let the gate hit your arse on the way out”)
Some reasonable points except the urge to switch to minor league soccer. MLS is too important to the growth of the game in this country for this to have a major impact. Let’s be honest, the people who frequent site are mostly hardcore fans. 95% of the people inside MLS stadia won’t even be aware of this stuff.
If I were a NYCFC season ticket holder, I would call to cancel my season tickets ASAP for false advertising. What a PR disaster for MLS. Not sure how they allowed this to happen. If in fact, the rumors are true that Lampard never signed with MLS, then MLS are some serious con artists.
Haha, good luck getting that cash back!
Gotta hand it to lampard.. Like a real player he’s not calling her up on Friday; spurning her advances .. By the time he arrives in nyc the groundwork will be laid and he will get his way even long after his productive days are past.. We’ll played
NYCFC fans shld hold up lampard has no class ahole banners at the first home game. he signed the contract to be the face of this team and then not be at the start of their first season, low life. What a slap to nycfc fans.
I can’t stand Frank but I don’t understand how people can blame him. He’s just doing what his bosses are telling him. And as a footballer, what do you think is more appealing – possibly winning another Premier League title and playing in the Champions League or trotting out at the baseball stadium in front of some hipsters and soccer moms? Please. And I’m an MLS season ticket holder writing this, not a Euro-snob in the least.
True, but that doesnt make Dishonest Don right here
It also doesnt mean that he hasnt outlived his usefulness to MLS
All the people hammering Garber. He makes mistakes like anyone, but in order to keep some perspective… Three words for you:
Doug
freekin’
Logan.
You all are missing the most scandalous part, mls and NYCFC announced lampard as a signed player last summer, now it turns out that he wasn’t actually signed and still isn’t. Yet mls and NYCFC plastered him all over the place to get people to buy tickets. Mls straight up lied to everyone to trick them into buying tickets. Wow
exactly
It is the outright kying by Dishonest Don that is apalling and galling
Still better than watching a minor league club that probably won’t exist in five years play in a college stadium on Long Island.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lampard was indeed signed by NYCFC but when he became important to Man City that deal was modified. His contract probably said New York but the sheik crossed that out and wrote in Manchester
All of the above is over reaction. As others have pointed,….Lampard is playing on a Championship level team at MC and the team is in the hunt for an EPL Championship with Lampard contributing nicely. Sorry folks,….but I’d don’t see issue with letting him stay at MC until May to see the season out and and possibly win a Championship.
Red Bulls,…Ali and Mike,…you better get off your asses and get something going for 2015!
Great. He can stay in England. No worries. MLS can find somebody else to fill his near 40 year old boots.
I`m a Fool for the City….
Lampard just scored a nice goal to bring Citeh up 3:2 v. Sunderland.
Lampard is playing for a real team, in a real league, on a real stadium, with real fans.
As opposed to playing for a “franchise” (puke), at a baseball stadium, at a 4th rate “major” league, with no fans. Hey, they got playoffs (even more puke).
What a way to start the New Year.
I look forward to NYCFC getting Chivas’d in a few years
Nice work, Don. Go back to the NFL.
How to turn this into a positive:
Yankees, sensing fan-frustration and feeling their own indignation as sports champions and part-owners being treated like small-time chumps, flex their own muscle—and wallet—by buying out Man City’s ownership stake in the team, divorcing NYCFC from Manchester (and it’s Emirates owners) altogether, to come out looking like soccer’s best supporter. Yankees use that goodwill to secure a stadium location within NYC now that it would be an “American-owned” stadium and not built by some foreign moneybags. Within the US, MLB and MLS are seen as true partners—unlike NFL (cough! Seahawks) and MLS (ahem! Sounders).
Oh, and Lampard “injures” his hamstring in a Man City versus Chelsea match when he “accidentally” drags down Costa in the box, earning a red card for himself and a penalty for Chelsea. A truly disloyal move—but Man City should be familiar with that concept.
WOW! This comment section will stand alone for years to come as a monument to panic, overreaction, and self-defeating pessimism. I promise every one of you Debbie Downers that this will have exactly zero quantifiable impact on the growth if either MLS or NYCFC. None.
Uninspired loser talk….. you won’t notice a blip
a freakin joke. arrogant frankie will limp into mls season if his eurotrash ass even ever gets here. even henry limped into action in his first year. what a message they are sending the minor league baseball team
Bet the Yankees are not very happy right now. They can’t be happy with the team they are part owners of and who are going to be playing in their stadium shafting them and the fans. A team without the marquee star they have been promoting for months isn’t going to be filling the stadium they way Yankee bosses thought.
It would be poetic if old Frankie L. got injured in todays game. Bet Man City would change their minds if Lamps was going to be out for a couple of months.
If Frankie’s contract really is with Man City does NYCFC still have to sign him when that contract is up? Could NYCFC refuse to sign him now? Only problem I see with that is you’ve spent months and money hyping F.L. only to look like a joke because he was never your player(supposedly) to begin with.