Montreal is talking about the Impact again, but, once again, it's for the wrong reasons. The player in the middle of the storm this time is Colombian striker Miguel Montano, a young player that the club has a hard time with and has struggled to find the right punishment to deal with his antics.
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The latest case: In an unfortunate incident a few days ago a Société de Transport de Montréal employee reportedly refused to serve the player -- returning his money as he was trying to buy tickets to take the subway -- because he was not speaking French. Correctly, Montano and a teammate (ironically a Frenchman) lodged a formal complain with the STM who opened a formal inquiry.
This incident should have never been made public, until Montano decided to vent his frustration on the Web.
"They are so racist in Montreal. They did not want to sell a subway ticket to me because I did not speak French," he wrote (in Spanish) on his Twitter account.
The rest is history. The tweet went viral and was picked up by several news outlets in and outside of Montreal. Montano apologized on Twitter before his account was shut down.
In an official statement sent to the media a few hours later, the Impact talked about an "unfortunate incident" experienced by the player who "spoke out of emotion on the incident via Twitter, but then followed up with an apology affirming that Montreal is not a racist city."
Thanks for the apology, Miguel, but how can the Impact’s French-speaking fans not be aggravated by the club’s lack of punishment for a player who decided to sling mud on the city and its linguistic majority’s reputation on a stroke of keyboard?
A fuss out of nothing you say?
Not when the league is making worthy efforts to charm French Quebecers by hiring stringers to produce French content on its official Website.
Not when a club using the fleur de lys in an attempt to sell tickets since and, more recently, using the famous and historically heavy Je me souviens motto for a match played on the eve of La Fête Nationale.
Do you believe they are targetting New Quebecers and English Montrealers with this advertising campaign?
Nope!
Why not sanction him right away for his flagrant lack of sensitivity at a very bad time of the year, which insulted a large part of the Impact's target market -- a market it needs to fill the new stadium?
It would be interesting also to find out how the club’s current vice president, a former PQ leadership candidate, reacted to the news. The man certainly hasn’t lost all of his political conviction.
A PRECEDENT
Earlier this season, league authorities suspended Houston midfielder Colin Clarke for three games after he called a CenturyLink Park ball boy a "faggot" for not returning the ball conveniently for a throw-in. The slur was caught by nearby television microphones and the comments when viral.
The next day, Clarke was apologizing on Twitter, saying he let "his emotions get the best of him" and he went the extra mile by publicly committing to become an advocate of homosexual rights in soccer.
These excuses did not overturn his three game suspension.
A SECOND PRECEDENT
It is not the first time that a MLS player crosses the line on Twitter this season. In early June, Vancouver Whitecaps’ backup striker Long Tan complained, without naming anyone, of the lack of utilisation by head coach Martin Rennie.
"What are you expecting from me? I do not understand”, he vented. Nothing really nasty, but still a public critique of his coach.
On this basis, the player was indefinitely suspended by the Caps. He resumed play about two weeks later as a sub in the home game against New York.
BEYOND MONTANO
Last week, SoccerPlus learned that Montano punched two of his teammates, including captain Davy Arnaud, at training June 8, as well as making disrepesctful comments to his coach in front of teammates.
Can we remind you that Canadian international and Montreal-based midfielder Sandro Grande was kicked out of the club a few years ago for going against the “club’s philosophy” after a skirmish with his own captain during an away game. The scene was caught by a local photographer and out went Grande.
You don’t need an MBA to understand that this impunity do not reaffirm the coach’s authority within his locker room.
Montano is very talented on the field, no doubt about that, but he’s also out of help’s reach from the positive influence of would-be mentors such as Eddy Sebrango and Nelson Rivas.
The Colombian is on his way out of town, there's no doubt about it. However, the lack of an announced sanction following those two incidents indicates once more that the club’s president really needs to surround himself with advisors that will lead his efforts and investments in the right direction that take place within reasonable deadlines and avoid the masquerades like those the Impact experienced last season and are dangerously popping out again in recent weeks.