MetroStars
The MetroStars was the name of a soccer club based in New Jersey that participated in Major League Soccer between 1996 and 2005. On March 9, 2006, the club was purchased by Red Bull and re-branded as Red Bull New York with the playing team being known as the New York Red Bulls.
The club played its home matches at Giants Stadium located at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford; the headquarters were located in Secaucus. The team colors were red, black, and gold. During the team's first season, the Metrostars had solid black or solid white jerseys and during all other seasons, the home jerseys had red and black vertical stripes. The MetroStars were known as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars through 1997, after which the NY/NJ part of the name was gradualy phased out and then dropped altogether. Although as recently as October 2005, some members of the media were referring to the team as the "New York/New Jersey MetroStars," and they had that label in the FIFA 06 video game.
Some of the high-profile international players that played for the Metros were Roberto Donadoni, Branco, Lothar Matthäus, Adolfo Valencia, Amado Guevara, and Youri Djorkaeff. The team has had its share of famous coaches as well, including Carlos Queiroz, Carlos Alberto Parreira, and Bora Milutinovic, as well as Bob Bradley and Mo Johnston. American stars Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, Alexi Lalas, Tim Howard, Clint Mathis, Eddie Pope, and Eddie Gaven have all played in the red and black. Mathis set the MLS record with five goals in one game against Dallas, and Howard became the most expensive foreign transfer in MLS history upon his sale to Manchester United. At the time of the Red Bull purchase, the club's all-time leaders (regular season only) were: games, Mike Petke, 134; goals, Giovanni Savarese, 41; assists, Ramos, 36; shutouts, Meola, 20.
The cludgy New York/New Jersey part of the club's name was most likely the result of both New York (Long Island) and New Jersey being granted original MLS franchises.[1] Eventually, the New York plan was dropped, and the New Jersey group, led by John Kluge and Stuart Subotnick, emerged, with the two supposed franchises combined into one. The club's original name was Empire Soccer Club, which gave birth to the name of the team's largerst supporters' group, Empire Supporters Club. Kludge's company MetroMedia gave the team the Metro part of its name; Nike wanted the full name to be MetroFlash, but a more sensible MetroStars was selected.
The MetroStars adopted the colors of Italian superclub A.C. Milan, making a statement that it intended to one day rival A.C. Milan as the predominant U.S. club. The team made the comparisons even more obvious when it signed A.C. Milan star midfielder Roberto Donadoni. With the addition of several other talented players, some of whom had just played for the United States national men's soccer team which lost to Brazil in the second round of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Altogether, the MetroStars had Tab Ramos, Giovanni Savarese, Peter Vermes, the previously mentioned Donadoni, U.S. national team goalkeeper Tony Meola and coach Eddie Firmani of New York Cosmos fame.[2]
When the league began play in 1996, it was expected that the MetroStars would quickly become the league's dominant team. Despite the team colors, famous players and high-profile coach, the team never seemed to gell. Firmani left after eight games (3-5) and was replaced by former Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz who did no better than even (12-12) the rest of the season. The team made it into the playoffs, only to lose to eventual champions D.C. United, something which became an unfortunate club tradition in the years to come.
The team continued to flounder season after season. The combination of talented players and insipid play earned the team the sobriquet, RotMasters, from Paul Gardner, a curmudgeonly columnist at SoccerAmerica. Gardner coined the name by rearranging the letters spelling MetroStars.[3]
Over the years, the MLS front office has attempted to help this club, which sits in the middle of the nation's media center of New York City by bending the rules to move high-profile names to the club.[4] However, that practice was abandoned since the sale of the team in 2001 to the Anschutz Entertainment Group in 2001; in fact, AEG President Tim Leiweke commented on negeltic the franchise during its ownership.[5]
Starting in 1998, the club stopped referring to itself NY/NJ, but it took a few years for the media and fans to catch up. The team went by just MetroStars, with no city or state attached to it, a rarity in American sports.
When the company, Red Bull, purchased the MetroStars in 2006, it decided to completely re-brand the franchise, changing the name, colors, and logo. The team's purchase by Red Bull generated controversy among some fans of the MetroStars, not dissimilar to the situation in Austria, where Red Bull bought SV Austria Salzburg and renamed it Red Bull Salzburg. While some fans were disappointed with the loss of Metro identity, others found fault in corporate branding, or with labeling the franchise as New York, when it plays and is headquartered in New Jersey. Other fans have welcomed the change, in light of the MetroStars' lack of success on the field, and waning support in the stands.
Although most MetroStar supporters decided to follow the re-branded team, a number claim they have abandoned the team altogether. Some fans who are staying with the team would like to keep Metro tradition going, whether it is by singing tradition chants, or continuing to refer to the team as Metro or Metros. Some are attempting to start a new team called AFC Metro, possibly to play in the Premier Developmental League, similar to AFC Wimbledon or FC United of Manchester.
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber has stated that a second franchise in the New York area can come "as early as 2010, but not before that" [6]. Whether that new team will be known as the MetroStars, and whether it would inherit the club's pre-2006 history from the New York Red Bulls, is not known. Although that seems unlikely since Red Bull has announced that it will acknowledge Metro history from the team's inception, regarding the New York Red Bulls as a continuation of that history and not a separate franchise.
See also
- Complete history of the franchise: Red Bull New York
- MetroStars players
External links
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