In the end everyone – with the exception of Yaya Touré – got what they wanted. The Vancouver Whitecaps high profile friendly with Manchester City went off in dry conditions, under a bright sky. The Caps got a goal, City got a run out and a win and the fans got to see some world class finishing with Shaun Wright Phillips scorcher of a winning goal.
Even the visiting English journos – always noted for their subtlety – were kind, referring to the pitch as “heavy” rather than a swamp destined to destroy City’s title chase.
As mentioned, Touré might think differently after he twisted his ankle early in the match. However, the early returns suggest that it’s a minor concern, with the man who scored the goal that ended the 35 years likely to be back in time for the Community Shield Aug 7.
So, you’d be forgiven for thinking that all had been forgotten in regards to the Caps decision to cancel Saturday’s league game against Salt Lake. And, it’s likely that the casual Caps fan is already well past any ill feelings they may have had.
However, there is at least one Salt Lake fan that is not ready to turn the page on the decision to seemingly prioritise the City game over the league (it must be noted that the Caps strongly deny that the decision to cancel the game Saturday had anything to do with Monday’s game).[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Taylor Fugate was one out of as many as 20 RSL fans that made the trip to B.C. for the game. He says that the need to cancel could have been avoided by Vancouver with better planning, and because of that, those fans that traveled should be compensated by the club.
Basically, it was not an unforeseen act of God that caused the game to be postponed, but rather it was a direct result of several decisions that Vancouver made.
Fugate is preparing a letter that he is sending to the Caps front office. He’s included an invoice for about $90 in the letter, the cost of his transportation from Seattle where he had been visiting friends last week.
“It’s a bit of a pipedream,” he said via phone from Utah yesterday. “I’m not hopeful anything will come of it.”
However, Fugate said that he wanted to make the request because he felt that it was the right thing to do.
“For me, I’m not out that much, but to think that a game could be cancelled to protect the pitch for the Manchester City game – although the Whitecaps said that wasn’t the case – seems wrong. The game would have been played if their normal pitch was available.”
In addition to financial compensation, Fugate says he’d like the Whitecaps to be “open and transparent” about the role the City game played in the decision.
“I work in business. I understand that this was a business decision and I get that,” he said. “I think I deserve to hear that from (the Whitecaps) though.”
On Tuesday, CSN asked the Whitecaps whether they were planning any sort of compensation to SLC fans that travelled. As of noon EDT Wednesday, the club has not returned the correspondence. CSN will update this story when and if they do.
Fugate said that he was approached by several Whitecaps fans while in Vancouver and all were empathetic and apologetic.