—by Andrew Brawley
Anyone following me on Twitter or Facebook knows my feelings are pretty well set on the issue of Gavin Wilkinson and his retention of the General Manager position. While I have intentionally been somewhat vague with my feelings about that topic on this site, I think most people can read between the lines.
In the spirit of fairness, I feel the right thing to do would be to present the other side of the argument. Since I’m not a traditional debater, I’ll allow someone with differing opinions to present that viewpoint. This person (who contacted me via Twitter) chose to remain anonymous, and their words below are presented verbatim, without rebuttal.
At the risk of being labeled a “newbie” or outcast, I feel the GWout crowd is misinformed in their position, and misguided in their expression.
I may have only been going to Timbers games since 2011, but that doesn’t mean I can’t research the history between Mr. Wilkinson and his pre-MLS version of the Timbers and the so-called “best soccer fans in North America” known as the Timbers Army. While I do regularly sit with the TA at the matches I can make it out for, I have to say it’s become a bit more embarrassing to do so in recent months. The match against Vancouver, where all those two-post signs made their one-time appearance, was a low point.
I’m having a hard time finding exactly what Mr. Wilkinson said or did to the TA. I researched using Google, and looked at a few of the local blog and podcast sites. I cannot find any quotes from Mr. Wilkinson that directly called out the TA in a negative way. Apparently only the TA knows, or they have created their own fictional version of history, and they seem to just want to keep those reasons to themselves and their exclusive message boards.
This GWout mob seemingly came out of nowhere. Since there appears to be no real incident conducted by Mr. Wilkinson to cause this type of response, I’m forced to assume this so-called “cause” is only a newer development created by some of the more self-entitled members of the TA. While they can certainly have an opinion about this, their method of expression was out of line.
I heard there was some form of communication between the front office and the TA board that GWout signs would not be allowed in the TA section at the following match against Colorado on August 31st. Personally, I think the front office staff made the right call with that. While the Timbers may not make the playoffs this year, they are doing everything they can to scrape together what’s left of this season and make the most of it. All those GWout signs will do is cause distractions and hurt feelings of the team we love.
I ask the members of the TA: what good will it do to cause even more disruption during this season?
This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the 107ist or the TA.
