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Dear supporters,
It’s the eve of our seventh season, one week away at the time we hit “post” on this letter. In a lot of ways it feels unlike seven individual campaigns but one big block of time (or at the least two or three distinct eras).
So many of you have been with us through the whole thing; from a couple hundred fans at home games in Year One to consistently surpassing 1000. There was a time early on where one of you joked that you’d get our crest tattooed on your body if we broke 1000 once. Now it’s almost a given and several folks have us inked on their bodies, which is a marvelous responsibility we carry with us every day.
Seven years ago, we bet on soccer in Buffalo together. We promised to give it all to build a winner here, and we’ve seen our share of joy and heartbreak.
[ MORE: Catching up with Coach Murphy ]
That pact we made to represent you well lives in our minds through every offseason, “downtime” that once had us working on the team once a week. Now it’s daily, whether September or March, hoping we find another critical cog in the push toward championship, professional soccer.
We were one of 20 clubs to join the fourth tier in 2010. Less than half remain, and overall the tier has seen a remarkable 82 teams fold or withdraw from leagues since we first kicked a ball in the NPSL. Believe it or not, that’s a conservative number which doesn’t annex teams joining nascent leagues or moving up to the third or second tier.
[ FCB: 2016 schedule | 2016 roster | History ]
This year has the potential to be remarkably special, on and off the field. We’ll start with the stadium experience, which now has a plethora of food options to go with the fun you bring inside the walls of Robert Rich All-High Stadium. Heck, some of your kids will be learning soccer while our players warm-up.
While a lot of big budget professional teams will use terms like, “And we couldn’t have done it without you”, there’s not even a hint of baloney when we say it. Even putting aside the dollars you spend on merchandise or tickets, the atmosphere you create at All-High is what makes this experience so intoxicating to the interested observer. You dare new fans to dream.
The quality and depth of players this season should have you dreaming, too. We’ve invested more money than ever before in player accommodations, training and registrations, and we would put that industry up with any team at our level.
Our staff has worked as hard as ever to find the best and brightest team-oriented players to help our run toward a championship. We expect a playoff run, and look forward to watching our brilliant head coach Brendan Murphy put the pieces together in his fourth year on the job. He’s the boss for a reason, and the right man to lead a great battle to win the Midwest Conference.
All of that would be spectacular, but won’t be much of anything without your support.
Here’s to one week from now, around this time, when we all pull together for the blue and gold.
Indebted to you, for our city,
The ownership group of FC Buffalo
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