New York City FC 2015

     We have known for months that another New York club will be coming to the league in 2015.  For those who like to troll, I am including the Red Bulls as a New York club.  New York City FC will be joining the league under the ownership of superclub Manchester City and the New York Yankees.  The ownership group is an odd couple, despite their commonality of being flush with cash.  This is where my first problem comes in.  I long have been an advocate for another team in the city proper if it is done the right way, but having another soccer club own another club is worrisome.  This is not like an FC Barcelona B being owned by FC Barcelona, where the team is obviously a development team in the same soccer pyramid.  This is an actual outside ownership of a club in another top flight league and could be seen as a Chivas USA situation.
                           
     The mere mention of Chivas USA causes American soccer fans everywhere to cringe.  We all have seen the horror that the second LA club has endured, mostly by their own doing.  Chivas USA is a marketing nightmare.  The original club owners merely adding a "USA" to the new club and have the team playing in the exact same uniforms as the Liga MX side.  Chivas USA even began a racist policy of only employing Mexican or Latin American players.  This racial or ethnic discrimination is not unheard of in soccer.  The La Liga side Athletic Bilbao only allows Basque players to represent the club.  There is one key difference in the situation of Chivas USA and Athletic Bilbao.  Athletic Bilbao is actually located in the Basque region of Spain, while Chivas USA is trying to only include players from a country the club isn't even located.  The new club was suppose to gain legions of followers from LA's large Mexican population.  What they didn't anticipate was that not every Mexican in LA supported Chivas.  The end product was complete alienation of the majority of the Mexican population of LA and the other ethnic groups and races the club would not employ.
     Chivas USA aside, NYCFC is seemingly being made in the footprint of Manchester City.  There is  no club crest yet, but everything on the new website is Manchester City driven with contests about the club and the club's game results.  The contests are luxurious, with trips to England and UEFA Champion's League games, but shouldn't the new club be trying to implement an identity for themselves?  In my opinion, trips to NYCFC games or season ticket packages would be much better suited for club's contests.  The club must embrace the New York public and represent the city.  New York fans will dismiss any team that doesn't represent the five boroughs or at least one of them.  This farce must stop and in this year before they take field, a sound effort must be made to get their own identity away from the ownership club.
      New York City FC does have many things going its way, however, that lend me to believe that the league and Manchester City are aware of the problems that currently plague.  The team appointed American soccer legend Claudio Reyna as their Director of Football Operations.  This hire gave the club instant credibility and hope that local identity and not foreign will reign.  Furthermore, the club also has pried Jason Kreis away from Real Salt Lake to be the club's first head coach.  Kreis is widely held to be the most promising soccer mind in the game and the next generation of great American coaches.  His club's playing style is some of the most appealing in MLS and it seems to me that club owner's have scored big time.  It is interesting that the club owner's are having him spend time in England to seemingly learn the Manchester City way.  Hopefully, this isn't an attempt to influence tactics, but merely training workshops both conditioning and technical.  One thing we do know is that Kreis will have limitless access to top talent around the world.  The cap will not allow a true superclub to be made, but we do know the club will have big name stars.