Of course they blew the lead. That’s kind of what TFC does. The loss of two points is close to meaningless, but the loss of a brief positive feeling – happy players waving to happy fans as they leave the pitch, cell phones pointed to singing Red Patch Boys outside gate 4, etc – was the real loss.
Toronto FC often makes fans feel vaguely ripped off. Saturday was one of those days. Coming on the heels of the Wednesday/Thursday double dip of frustration in the Champions League made it all the more difficult to process.
There were legitimate reasons for a late game error. If Manchester bloody United played essentially four games in seven days it would be affected. Toronto FC is more comparable to Hartlepool United. It was a tough ask.
Despite that they got a lead, played OK, may have been robbed of a goal and were right there at the end. That’s, within the overall context of this year, actually alright. Except it’s never alright. The late goal winner/equalizer is every bit a regular part of the TFC experience as singing Danny Dichio’s name in the 24th minute is.
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Talk of playoff runs are absurd. Champions League advancement likely now requires a road win in either Dallas or Pumas. It’s bleak. It’s hard to make a pep talk – even two days later.
Thoughts instead start to drift towards wondering what kind of damage this season has done to the base. With ticket prices frozen there will be no repeat of last year’s season seat holder revolt, but what might happen could even be worse. There might not be any yelling and screaming this time. Rather, a bunch of fans might just quietly cancel. Without the buzz around the product – actually it’s more of a smell that surrounds the team now – that was there in the early years, there won’t be as many looking to come on board.
The diehards are also getting burned out. It’s important to remember that many of the single, 27-year-olds of 2007 that filled the stadium then are now married 32-year-olds with a kid on the way. They haven’t completely lost interest, but they also don’t live the experience in the same way. Each year there seem to be less new faces in the supporter’s sections and more old faces that seem to have disappeared.
It will never be the disaster that some suggest. There won’t be regular season crowds of 10,000. However, the days of expecting sell outs are likely long gone. Recapturing the excitement of the early days might not be possible.
Even winning – the ultimate cure all – would likely only provide a temporary bump.
There is a small core of fans – and they are likely reading this – that will always live and die with this club. For them, TFC is more than a weekly 90 minute experience. It’s become an all encompassing lifestyle. They likely represent less than five per cent of the fan base, but get 95 per cent of the attention.
The last two months of the season has to be about the silent 95 per cent. If the Reds can convince enough of them that season 6 will be worthwhile then maybe there could be a second wind to the party.