The Only True and Right Way to Be a Fan

Grayson

With the close of the summer transfer window this week, the FC confirmed that it would fight through the rest of the year with two reinforcements: Chidozie Awaziem, the replacement center back signed after Matt Miazga was added to the Season-Ending Injury list, and Nicholas Gioacchini, a young American striker who rode a 10-goal campaign for St. Louis last year to a multi-million-dollar transfer to Como 1907, which was promoted this year to Italy’s Serie A.

Gioacchini’s signing on loan, in particular, led to a strong reaction from the FC’s real fans, who saw that the club’s early-summer swagger and open boasting of its ambitions had come to nothing – the FC ended up with a placeholder forward, a “Designated Player” in name only, who was going to do nothing to improve the FC’s offense and fell far short of what the team needed to keep pace with its competitors in the race for the Supporters’ Shield and the Audi MLS Cup Presented by Audi. Chris Albright, the 2023 MLS Executive of the Year, had failed the window and punted the 2024 season.

But real fans, on the other hand, realized that Albright had done exactly what he needed to do. The Miazga injury left the team in a deep hole, made even deeper by the corresponding season-ending injury to load-bearing piece Nick Hagglund. With other more minor but still persistent injuries, including to reigning MLS MVP Lucho Acosta, it would have been easy for a less ambitious team to cut bait, see out the season, and enter the winter with a new plan and clean books. That decision would have been made even easier by the termination of Aaron Boupendza’s contract, which ensured that ownership would never get back a penny of the $7 million+ transfer fee it paid just last summer.

The FC, however, is not a less ambitious team. Rather than cut bait, the FC went out and got a center back who, on paper, could be even better than Miazga – one who, at the very least, was better in Ligue 1 and La Liga than Miazga was. And although Miazga’s SEI designation can remove his salary from the budget, ownership still had reach into their own pockets for Awaziem’s transfer fee and salary. By bringing a player of that caliber, the FC brought the team back to one that, before Miazga’s injury, was on pace to break the MLS points record.

As for Gioacchini, the FC was able to bring a player in who scored 10 goals last year in MLS – something no one else on the roster has ever done, aside from Lucho. He was then signed for a more than $2 million fee to a team that was good enough to win promotion to Serie A, and he has scored multiple goals for the United States Men’s National Team and featured in a victory over Mexico in the Gold Cup Final. While he might not be one of the names that first came to fans’ minds for a DP signing, he fits a profile that should make them excited. And, since he is on loan, if he does not pan out, then the team can easily part ways and bring a better player in for next season. In other words, real fans understand that this is another Chris Albright masterclass.

But real fans, of course, understand that people are prone to strong reactions and “takes.” The haters ready to give up on the season are too quick to write off a team that currently sits second in the East, has one of the best coaches in the league, finally has its defense together, and can terrorize opponents with exciting players like Acosta and Luca Orellano. Those looking at it with too-rosy glasses, however, are simply being unrealistic. Gioacchini is not the kind of player the team should be targeting for its designated player spots as a rule, but that also does not mean he was a bad signing at this moment.

Yes, everyone wants the club to be ambitious, and it has provided plenty of proof that it is. It sold Brenner and immediately replaced him with Boupendza. It brought in players like Luca Orellano, Pavel Bucha, and Kevin Kelsy on either significant transfer fees or significant promised transfer fees. It found a loan destination for Marco Angulo, after paying a hefty transfer fee to bring him in just a year before. When Boupendza failed to pan out, they wasted little time moving him on. Being ambitious, however, does not mean being reckless. Reputable journalists reported that the FC made moves for Weston McKennie and Josh Sargent, and the grapevine has dropped allegedly other names that would have satisfied even the most cynical fans. Obviously, none of those deals got done, likely for factors outside of the team’s control. Worse than signing no player, however, would have been signing the wrong player and potentially sacrificing your offseason plans. Credit to Albright for nevertheless getting a deal across the line that will help the team win now without tying its hands in the future. Sometimes you throw a 50-yard touchdown, and sometimes you check it to Mixon. Either way, you’re progressing the ball.

Real fans are taking note of the team’s poor run of form. Real fans are reminding them, however, that that run of form has coincided with a spate of injuries, and there’s every reason to believe there will be more consistency the rest of the season. Real fans hold management’s feet to the fire when it fails to meet expectations, but real fans show up and support the players through good times and bad.

But if they sit back and take the larger view, real fans will recognize that the team is in the same position it was when it won the Shield, and the same position in which it started the season: The team will go as far as Lucho takes it. And that is a good place to be.