I just watched the Eagles victory parade and I’m mad as hell.
At the “Philadelphia” Union.
I’ve been a Philly sports fan since By Saam lulled me to sleep with his dulcet drone on languid summer Sunday afternoons. I listened to my dad’s radio as Bill Campbell went wild when Chuck Bednarik sat on Jim Taylor to make sure the Eagles won the NFL championship in 1960. I’ve celebrated Bobby Clarke and the Bullies, Wilt and Dr. J. And I stood for hours at Dilworth Plaza waiting to watch the green buses go by the first time.
In winter my blood runs green. In spring it used to run red. But since 2010 it turned purple. And right now, it’s bad blood.
You see, the Eagles have a commitment to excel and a plan to match. Same thing for the Phils. Neither organization is afraid to do what they need to do to compete for their championships.
We’re all grateful to Jay Sugarman and his organization for bringing the Union to Philly’s soccer fans. But is he a Jeffrey Lurie type of owner? Can he rival John Middleton’s commitment? In other words, is he the owner of a team worthy of the identifier “Philadelphia?”
Lurie and Middleton run organizations that win championships. Sugarman runs an organization that diffuses its resources to drive diverse revenue streams like developing talent for sale, sports and entertainment complexes and parking lots. And I almost forgot – an MLS team.
The Union talk a good game. I believe the organization wants to win. And Ernst Tanner has been hailed by many as a cunning dealmaker who tries to build the Union the “Right Way,” eschewing the temptation to win fast by importing aging superstars. And the Union’s spending habits are hardly parsimonious.
But is this organization’s first and overriding priority the winning of championships for the senior team? Are the Union truly a Philly team, sharing the burning desire for excellence shown by the Eagles and Phils? Or are they just a sports enterprise that plays in MLS on a field in Chester?
The next time I stand for hours in Dilworth Plaza with my sons and grandsons, I want to be wearing blue and gold. I’d like ownership to commit to that goal, unreservedly, unequivocally and invariably, while I’m still on this side of the grass.
I watched the Philadelphia Atoms when they won it all in their inaugural year. Fifteen years in, the Union need to earn the right to be called a true Philadelphia team.
Spot on Mr. Custer!
You could be my brother as a life long Philly Fanatic.
But I am a DELCO GUT PUNCH guy
Meaning, I’m always waiting for one of my Philly team to hit me with that gut punch.
And the Union did exactly that when they let Jim Curtain go.
I too am Founding STM but this will be the last season.
Enough said.
Spot on Mr. Custer!
You could be my brother as a life long Philly Fanatic.
But I am a DELCO GUT PUNCH guy.
Meaning, I’m always waiting for one of my Philly team to hit me with that gut punch.
And the Union did exactly that when they let Jim Curtain go.
I too am a Founding STM but this will be the last season.
Enough said.
Yeah I bailed when they changed to watch on TV. Really, I love soccer and I watched the Union games all the time until they acted all uppity and pulled that pay to watch crap.Wonder how many other fans felt the same way. Too bad. I can watch the Premier league and not pay any extra on my cable bill. Same goes with Eagles, Flyers, Phillies(most times) and Sixers. Where in the pecking order do the MSL think they are.Premier league is better by far anyway. But I do miss watching the Union.
You don’t have a clue. Mls changed the TV deal and nothing the Union. Real fans belong in the stadium, not on free tv
Not everybody can afford or is able to get to every game. They need to cut ties with Apple TV. It’s a paywall behind a paywall.
You can’t blame the Union for the TV deal. That was MLS. We had a good thing going with TV with JP Dellacamera, now we have to watch the idiots on Apple TV who know nothing about the Union. I have season tickets so I’m good for TV because it is included in my ticket price.
A loquacious article sir, please let us know how i feel…..thanks
Well said
I fully understand building a solid infrastructure but it’s difficult to get excited about a team whose philosophy has actually winning so down on their list
The team is all about developing players and then selling them. They will never win a Championship the way they are going. Founding STH here.
This is selective memory at best. A cherry picked rose-colored propaganda piece at worst. To be a “true” Philadelphia team, you need decades of futility. You need to have had an owner that takes the fanbase for granted. You need the agony of going to the final and losing, repeatedly. It was 20 plus years into Lurie’s ownership of the Eagles before they won. The Phillies are the franchise that has lost the most games across any sport in any league around the world. If anything these championships are anomalies. The Union are just as Philadelphia as any other team.
!!!
Pray, accept mine humblest apologies for unwittingly usurping thy noble PSP name. Henceforth, I shall with all due reverence restore it unto thee.
Good piece. Especially liked the skewering through revenue streams. We were never going to rent a Gareth Bale with this ownership and got beaten by one that did. Until that commitment, this team will join the ranks of the Phils in mediocrity.
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What I truly want is when this team is sold, they immediately compete or even win the cup the following season
I agree with everything that’s been said so far but I’m not a curtin fan how many years do you keep a coach ? Enough with the boys club bring in the outsider and see what he can do. I quit watching them when they went woke
I love you Matt. I love your contributions. But this article features more cherry-picking than a July day at Linvilla. The recent successes of the Eagles and the Phillies are anomalies given the histories of both teams, although I, like you, hope they continue, but it is statistically likely that they will not. How ’bout them Sixers? Flyers?
We have an actual, professional club in a FIFA-sanctioned league. Nothing more was promised in the era of ZOLO. As it turns out, the Union are a selling club. It was never likely that Philadelphia, or Chester, was going to become some sort of Manchester On The Delaware.
Cheer for the kids. Or not, that’s fine. Cheer for the laundry.
I’m not grateful to Jay Sugarman for bringing the Union to Philly’s soccer fans. I’d be grateful if someone else with a true commitment to winning did, and I’ll be grateful if he sold it to someone with that commitment.
. . .
There’s more than one path to win a championship trophy in soccer due to tournaments, and we have none (Supporters Shield is not a championship, and that was during COVID). Our journeymen have made it interesting and close in recent years, but that’s due to them, not ownership. It’s now back to the old days.
. . .
I don’t expect to regularly win trophies. That’s unrealistic. I do expect that we win them from time to time like other teams do. That’s rightfully expected.
. . .
The prospects this season are bleak. After finishing 12th in the East, we’ve added nothing of notable value, and traded players that we needed. That’s what ownership thinks of us.
The Atoms won it all with college kids and American players mostly and really didn’t have any foreign stars. They lasted a minute in the Philadelphia soccer world playing at the Vet. The last season was played at Franklin Field after they were brought by owners of Mexican teams and had mostly players from Mexico. As one of the few fans that went to watch the team as they drew less than 12K a year the Union are light years ahead when it comes to being a Philadelphia team.
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One thing this proves is that in the minds of Philadelphia soccer fans, a Supporters’ Shield isn’t recognized as a championship.
Slight correction if memory serves: the driving force on the pitch for the Atoms were nine journeyman Brits who were imported to form the backbone of the Atoms. They showed the American “college kids” how to get it done. Compared to MLS, the NASL was house of cards. Not enough money, poor marketing, a hostile media market and not nearly the fan base we have today. The Atoms were ahead of their time and fated to flame out.
My memory is indeed selective and I’ve cherry-picked my facts (would that the Union had a cherry-picking striker or two!) My point about the Atoms is that we once saw comparative greatness from a team that caught lightning in a Leyden Jar, and I long for an organization that dedicates itself to catching that kind of lightning again.
When the outcome is a flash in the pan, I think it was more spark than lightning. They had more than few Americans with Casey Bahr the son of Walt Bahr being one. Yes, they had a bunch of Brits but mostly journey men and no real stars. There is a great article on this website about the team.
https://phillysoccerpage.net/2011/10/28/flashback-philly-in-the-1973-nasl-playoffs/
I’m more about they have a plan and are sticking to it. MLS is a crossroads right now between trying to buy a championship and flaming out when high priced players don’t pan out. For every LA Galaxy there is a Toronto FC and Chicago Fire. When you go out and spend you better hope that the player with the big price tag stays injury free for the season. I don’t think spending on players for a few rental seasons is going to move the league much further along than where it already is now. The league needs to be more NFL and less MLB when it comes to spending on the roster.
So Bruno Damiani is a U. Big whoop.
The Union need money to stay afloat…that’s why the sell off talent. The Sullivan kid is a perfect example….develop him as far as they can, then sell him for big $$ to a EPL team, put the money in the bank so they can survive another season…..The Union will not win a championship because they will never keep the talent long enough.
I think the real undercurrent of Curtin being let go is that he didn’t use Ernst’s players the way Ernst wanted them used. Now Ernst has his own guy in there and probably gets two years to prove that he was right all along.
If not, he’s gone and we get the rebuild on the rebuild – which is perhaps the most Philly thing.
In spite of how all we ‘mericans were raised, the “Supporters Shield” competition is the closest to the way most countries determine their winning team.
Watched a good Union Team with no superstars win that by playing as a really good cohesive unit.
Hopefully this season we can move back towards that.
Otherwise we’ll have the rebuild on the rebuild.
Still a Founding STM, but think the rebuild on the rebuild will be more than I can stomach.