The Tampa Bay Rowdies have had a big week. Coming off a season where the team struggled, new management has quickly made several moves including a raid on the rival Fort Lauderdale Strikers who were inches away away from winning the NASL title last month. The Rowdies announced five new signings between Monday and Wednesday. Three of the new signings have played with the Strikers, one with Orlando City and the fifth grew up in Coral Springs and was the 2012-2013 Broward County High School Player of the Year.
Farrukh Quraishi and Thomas Rongen who built the most successful team in Major League Soccer’s first season have renewed their partnership almost two decades later to rebuild the Rowdies. In 1996, the pair built the Tampa Bay Mutiny from scratch into the best team in American professional soccer. They appear well on their way to repeating a similarly difficult feat this offseason.
Darnell King, the all-time appearance leader for the latest incarnation of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers (the fourth different Strikers organization that has called Fort Lauderdale home since 1977) and a graduate of Florida Atlantic University is heading home to the Tampa Bay Area after making the NASL Best XI team in 2014. Joining King with Tampa Bay will be Martin Núñez who has called Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale home since 2010 with the exception of a season away in Minnesota (2012). Núñez has played in the most NASL title matches (five) of any player in league history and grew up in Miami.
Former Carolina RailHawks players Brad Rusin who spent 2014 down I-4 with Orlando City and
Gale Agbossoumonde (whose pro career began in Fort Lauderdale during the 2009 Miami FC season) also joined the new look Rowdies this week. The fifth new signing, Darwin Espinal was Broward County’s standout High School soccer player while attending JP Taravella High School in Coral Springs.
Tampa Bay’s 2014 season was one of transition. Bill Edwards’ purchase of the team should hasten a new era where the Rowdies reemerge as a major force on the local sports landscape from an imaging and marketing perspective. However, last season did not go the way that was planned on the pitch and the team cut ties with Ricky Hill after four seasons. Hill was the 2012 NASL Coach of the Year and that same season he led the Rowdies to the Soccer Bowl title.
From a personal perspective, Hill was probably the single easiest NASL coach to work with when I served as league’s Director of Communications from late 2009 to May 2013. He is an outstanding tactical manager who prefers a stylish passing game to the type of dour long-ball football you often see come from Hill’s native England. He is also one of the most successful black coaches ever produced from the British Isles.
But this season despite spending lavishly on new players, the results simply weren’t good enough and as the season wore on Hill’s personnel decisions became more bizarrely unpredictable. It became plainly obvious by season’s end that a change needed to be made by the club.
After taking the options for 2015 on just eight players, the Rowdies released Hill the same day that was named President and General Manager. Quraishi’s pedigree is second to none in Tampa Bay area soccer and his appointment was statement of intent about how serious the Rowdies are about getting things right. Perry Van der Beck, a former teammate of Quraishi’s with the Rowdies in the 1970s was reassigned to the role of Assistant GM. The new Team President wants to see the Rowdies become a premier club for player development and on-the-pitch success once again.
Unsurprisingly Rongen, the former Fort Lauderdale Strikers player and coach was named as Hill’s replacement in early December. Teaming with Quraishi in 1996, Rongen led the Tampa Bay Mutiny to the best record in MLS. Rongen also won the 1999 MLS Cup with DC United and led the US U-20 Men’s National Team to knock-out stages of the U-20 World Cup in 2005 and 2007 beating Argentina (with Leo Messi) and Brazil respectively in those tournaments. Rongen’s appointment was a no-brainer and was met with great enthusiasm from the Rowdies faithful.
By bringing in Quraishi and Rongen the Rowdies have sent a statement of intent to the rest of NASL and US Soccer community. I firmly believe our readers would be hard pressed to find a single team in MLS or NASL that have a more impressive duo of hirings this offseason. Rongen’s Florida ties helped secure all five of the new signing the Rowdies unveiled this week. His relationships and knowledge of the state’s youth development and pro games are unrivaled.
With the new ownership in Fort Lauderdale thus far finding this offseason to be a difficult transition period, the Rowdies have a unique opportunity to recapture the crown of top NASL team in the state of Florida. Jacksonville Armada’s entry into the league for the 2015 season coupled with Orlando City’s move to Major League Soccer means more eyeballs than ever will be on professional soccer in this state. That is a good thing as the Rowdies appear poised for big things in 2015.
What is even better is that the Rowdies are honoring their roots AND making themselves a Florida centric team at the very same time. At this level of pro soccer, community ties and relevance are critical. This is not the Premier League or Serie A. Even at the MLS level, it is still critical to have some community orientation and local ties. Orlando City has long realized this and the Rowdies now are building the type of squad that will endear themselves to most who involved in the game in this state. We have heard lots of fluffy rhetoric from the new Fort Lauderdale Strikers ownership about wanting to be a “global brand” while marketing aggressively in Brazil and England. If the Strikers want to really matter, they’ll mimic some of the early moves that Quraishi and Rongen have made and secure the home front first.
The Florida Squeeze 
The Strikers got Ronaldo and might get Ronaldinho. The Tampons signed a bunch local kids who aren’t even good enough for MLS and you praise them!!!!
Get lost fucker. You’ve always been a closet tampon. Go wear purple in Orlando and support OC$C you traitor!
Don’t show your ugly mug in Lockhart this season!
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You sound ridiculous. Can’t believe I’m even wasting my breath to respond to this.
I’m a “show-me” supporter when it comes to our Strikers. All I’ve done is listen to our new FO make promises about “retaining our core players” and “turning us into a global powerhouse”, however until I see some positive steps in that direction I simply won’t be impressed.
What credibility does that Ronaldinho statement carry? Not even sure I’d be pleased with that signing aside from the ticket sales it would drive.
And lay off my fellow F19er Kartik too, ya chump. Guy bleeds red and gold! Bugger off with your attitude unless you have any actual substance to bring to this conversation. We’re all frustrated with the way this off season has gone, but don’t you ever tell any of our loyal supporters to be somewhere other than ol Lockhart.
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The Strikers got Ronaldo and might get Ronaldinho
As far as I know Ronaldo isn’t playing. Ronaldinho rumors are floating, but if you see how things are ending for him in Mexico I wouldn’t call bringing him into a minor league dressing room in the US with lots of young kids a cannot miss move.
I have also heard rumors linking the Strikers with Riquelme. That would be a more interesting move IMO, and one I could embrace if it happened.
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The Rowdies are far from done also.
I look forward to The Kartik Repirt launching. We need a Florida centric site in the worst way.
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I’ve been really impressed with the Rowdies marketing and the desire to rekindle the old days while connecting with a younger more international audience that likes soccer.
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FTL was much better than TB last season. I’d be pissed if I were a supporter of theirs. Extremely.
The Rowdies are the NASL team to beat now in the state.
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Kartik is a crazed Floridian so he takes this personally. He “boycotted” MLS when Tampa Bay and Fort Lauderdale were tossed from the league for low attendance. He jumped on board the USL bandwagon simply because the league was based in Tampa. NASL hired him because they were in Miami and fired him because they were moving to New York. This made him even more Florida-centric. He did all sorts of things while at the NASL that were borderline unethical just to promote the two Florida teams and players with connections to Florida. He cheered for Orlando City aka O¢S¢ even though they STOLE a team from Austin and now will support them wearing purple in MLS. He won’t support the Strikers if they go Brazilian. He does not understand the logic in international marketing even though he is a hypocritical Manchester City fan. Manchester City is a global brand and that’s why he can wear his baby blue uniform everywhere he goes and people recognize it. That is what the Strikers are trying to do with ambitious new ownership. Not be a local Florida and redneck brand like the Rowdies or a complete sham that stole another cities team like O¢$¢ but a genuine transnational team with a following around the world. He doesn’t get that even though he is a HYPOCRITE who supports a team from freaking Manchester England because they wear blue and visited Fort Lauderdale just ONCE per his own e-book on the subject!!!!! But he loves Manchester City so much that he has already gone on record saying he won’t support them in MLS because he wants to back O¢$¢ because they are from Florida. How cute.
As for Darnell King and Martin Nunez they have proven they are just mercenaries not real Strikers. Shawn Chin resigned. I would have expected the same from these two. They don’t want to be part of something bigger that is on the way. Nunez has played with enough teams already so what difference does it make? We move the true Strikers fans. Others like Kartik who have a megaphone and for some odd reason “credibility” on this subject whine and carry on.
Hey Kartik, your Ralph’s Mom and ILF Hooligan membership cards must be in the mail. Don’t try and rejoin F19. You are not welcome.
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You have to be able to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. That’s all I am saying about the new Strikers management. It’s great to have goals and a vision, and they inherited a club that hasn’t done as well as it could off the field. But they have had months to get things together and instead have allegedly disrespected last season’s heroic players and coaches while basing all marketing to this point around Ronaldo. Not sure that is a wise strategy. Hopefully January is different.
As for being Florida-centric I am more a Floridian than anything else in so much that I do. I love this state, have pride in it and go to great lengths to promote it. So I wear your critique as a badge of honor.
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Great article, Kartik. Hate to say it, but the Rowdies are making power moves this offseason.
“What is even better is that the Rowdies are honoring their roots AND making themselves a Florida centric team at the very same time. At this level of pro soccer, community ties and relevance are critical. This is not the Premier League or Serie A. Even at the MLS level, it is still critical to have some community orientation and local ties. ”
This portion could not ring any truer!
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I support the Strikers and agree with Kartik.
This management is more concerned about making a splash back in Brazil and appearing to be a big deal than anything substantial or real. They treated our players and coaches with contempt, disrespected them in contract negotiations and acted unprofessionally as a whole. The Ronaldo roll out was botched badly. Where was the press conference? The social media campaign? Why did it take days for the team to get the schedule on the website?
Good for the Rowdies. They struggled this past year and have fixed things. They did not have to look far for players and coaches. They were all sitting in the 954 and 561!
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This is very revealing Tampa Tribune Rowdies Report blog interview with Kartik Krishnaiyer from early 2010. Read it and understand that he is a Tampon lover. Gushing endlessly about Tampa and how great it is. He does the same thing with Orlando. The sooner he moves the better!
Kartik Krishnaiyer: Very good, we’re definitely going to be able to fill that spot. (Note: Ottawa has already been rumored to be one of the cities the NASL will look to as an expansion franchise in 2012, along with other locations, but none have yet been officially confirmed.)
RR: What do you think of (the Rowdies home opener)?
KK: It’s fantastic, very impressive. You see the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies connecting with the legacy of the NASL Rowdies and the ASL Rowdies, let’s not forget those link years when the Rowdies brand was still important and you had several former Rowdies players who played in the NASL playing locally keeping soccer alive until MLS came in.
There’s just a vibe in town, there’s a vibe about this game and we don’t get that even about games at the MLS level in the United States often. I’m real excited about the crowd, I’m real excited by seeing people not just casually coming out to the game but you’re seeing people in Rowdies’ colors. Whether they’re wearing the new FC Tampa Bay kit or they’re wearing their old NASL Rowdies’ kit, it’s really impressive.
RR: Is this what you were expecting when the Rowdies became part of the NASL?
KK: Yes. I’m a believer, and this goes back to my background covering the sport, that Tampa is one of the best soccer markets in the United States, I’ve always felt that way. Youth soccer is stronger here than just about anywhere else in the country and the interest in the sport internationally and in the old NASL is stronger in the Tampa Bay area than just about anywhere else in the country also. In fact, a lot of the old NASL heritage sites that you see that cover the original NASL, they’ve gotten a great number of their hits from people who remember the Rowdies, followed the Rowdies, even young people who heard about the Rowdies from their parents in the Tampa Bay area.
This is really a soccer hotbed, and always has been. Per capita, this metropolitan area has produced about as many players as any metropolitan area in the country through the youth soccer level. If you look at a per capita list in the history of MLS since 1996 I believe this is third or fourth per capita for the most MLS players produced by a local market.
RR: When you see what has happened with Montreal, with Vancouver, with Portland and Seattle before them making the move up to MLS, how would you feel if the Rowdies worked themselves into making that transition?
KK: I’m not sure what the MLS’s view is of this market, but this is a very strong market and we’re very supportive of our clubs. This is an owner-run league and Montreal, it’s great for them and kudos to Joey Saputo and that club for moving up to MLS, but I think as we move forward our league is going to be a really high-level compelling second division and we’re going to do things at the second division level that haven’t been done before at this level of soccer in this country. I think this is going to be good for the market too, and we’ll see how it plays out with the 20th team, because MLS will have to make a decision at some point on numbers and FIFA restrictions. There are several soccer markets outside of MLS, good soccer markets that are not in MLS, and our league is going to have a lot of those.
RR: There have obviously been glitches in the start-up of the league, you might expect there would be, but how do you feel in the fifth week of the season things have come together?
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[…] week we discussed the steps taken by the Tampa Bay Rowdies to turn around the club after a disappointing 2014 season. The Rowdies as mentioned in the piece […]
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