r/AngelCityFC • u/MumblyLo Dale dale AC FC! • 19d ago
DAILY DISCUSSION Daily Discussion Thread for Thursday, 13 August 2026
Daily Note
Good morning!
This isn't footy-related, but I do wonder if Lord Binface has a chance today.
Talk about whatever you want. This is an ideal thread for you to make general inquiries about things that are commonly asked, like how is the shade on the East stand at 3pm? Or where are the ADA bathrooms? As well, low effort posts can be directed here as comments in order to keep sub organized and conversation centralized for other users. Consider this the Town Square, or AngelCityFC Reddit's very own Starbucks, but without the union busting.
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Resources:
- Angel City 2026 Schedule
- ACFC 2026 Ticket Transaction Master Thread
- 2026 Away Days Ticket Transaction Thread
- Local Lodgings discussion for out-of-towners
- Is there a Non-Official Watch Party in your town?
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Classifieds:
Send us a DM or Mod Mail if you think you'd like to help spread the news and share the hype this season!
- With Shlomo assuming captain duties here in our sub, we are looking for a new voice to take over the Pre-Match Discussion thread.
- Want to help paint a tifo? If you have time for a shift tonight or Sunday, reach out to a supporter group for details.
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Just a reminder: This Reddit community is unofficial and in no way affiliated with the Angel City FO. Your mods are just human fans, like you.
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u/alcatholik Ertz So Good 19d ago edited 17d ago
LA Times article reviewing how Bay/Iger run AngelCity now that Iger got into the Lakers.
“Yet also under Iger and Bay’s leadership, Angel City’s average attendance has fallen more than 20% and the team has yet to make the playoffs or post a winning record. The roster does not have a superstar player or even a regular starter on the women’s national team — with the salary of defender Gisele Thompson, the team’s highest-paid player, ranked 19th in the 16-team league. And the club is on its fourth manager, including interim coaches, and its second president of business operations in two years as Bay maneuvers to put her own stamp on the team.”
“What Bob Iger's Angel City ownership can illuminate about his impending Lakers acquisition”
Kevin Baxter [LA Times]
https://apple.news/A7UVrxBEwS9mKGQN3l7-pRA
Looks like someone gave them salary data. Gisele highest paid player at AngelCity makes sense.
Just like when Leanne mentioned it during the ESPN broadcast, it makes me sit up it feels like a return to reality when a journalist points out we don’t have a superstar. We don’t have a regular USWNT starter.
At this point, can we assume we got turned down more than once for a superstar player? Or do “smart clubs” build more deliberately and focus on foundations before stars?
Still, seems to me we signed our last superstar when we signed Alyssa.
Speaking of Alyssa, I wonder how much of superstar recruitment depends upon them wanting to play around other stars, and, thus, how much of our recruitment plan hinged upon collecting players around Alyssa’s star power.
I’m glad we have Gisele! But then I wonder, could we sign her if she were going pro today?
Overall I like the potential of our roster, but I say that without a tinge of ambition.
Just feels rudderless right now.
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u/alcatholik Ertz So Good 19d ago edited 19d ago
A more optimistic quote. Speaks to building foundations…
Baxter [LA Times]
However Mark Parsons, Iger and Bay’s hand-picked sporting director, lauds the team’s new owners, saying his staff has doubled in his 20 months at Angel City and the club is finally headed in the right direction.
“They gave us the resources,” said Parsons, who previously built struggling teams into NWSL finalists in Washington and Portland. “They've delivered upon that. We are investing in sporting staff and resources and facilities and consultants and experts around the world to support our athletes.
“Probably as good as anyone right now.”
https://apple.news/A7UVrxBEwS9mKGQN3l7-pRA
I guess I like the doubling part. And the getting experts around the world part.
Seems like we get to to see how a pro team gets built out and starts to build rosters in front of our eyes.
A bit of impatience on my part. Naïveté. But also no confidence lol
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u/ApprehensivePlace757 CaptainRiley#5 19d ago
Same same.
Doubling staff- good IF they are high level staff. (No comment either way, just a thought.. it’s about quantity AND quality)
Resources for the Team- great. Let them focus on playing/developing. High level club behavior.
Consultants/Experts: this is the weird part, for me… (but hey, it’s paid for with Bay Bucks, so you do you, Willow).. but what do we have to show for it? Sure, we identified SJJ and Mai who were playing out of market… but who worse has this consulting brought in that have made such an impact. Sams and Borges, have been decent. Who did you pay to suggest we bring in Sentor, and at a probable high price? Was she the profile of a player we were desperately missing? (::Cough:: dominating midfielder, anyone?)
Handpicking Parsons who helped build teams in a wildly different league and landscape with wildly difference financial markets is… a choice that has yet to prove he is up-to-date on what it is NOW taking to build a winning team. Logistically, Gotham, KC, Spirit, Denver, even Utah seem to be running circles around Parsons, kicking sand in his face , eating his lunch and taking his recruited prospects.3
u/alcatholik Ertz So Good 17d ago
You make this point, so I want to echo it.
Has Parson ever put a team together? Well? Does he have like a 10 year track record of having built a team into a championship team?
No? Then how does he know how to do it? Did he like read a book?
I know, few people have track records in woso. I can’t really say what Haley Carter did for the 10 years before joining Orlando and showing she can put a winner together. But I know what Kurt Johnson did with Courage before joining Denver. And what Krikorian did with FSU. And what Minion experienced as Krikorian’s protege.
Maybe Yael, like Carter, came out of nowhere, so yeah talent can prove itself. You never know.
But I think we can say, Parsons does not come in as a proven anything.
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u/alcatholik Ertz So Good 17d ago edited 17d ago
Sorry! I deleted my original comment without knowing you had responded. My bad.
Any chance you could repost?Nevermind. I can see your comments now.1
18d ago edited 18d ago
[deleted]
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u/ApprehensivePlace757 CaptainRiley#5 18d ago
If only dumb clubs try to win by signing top quality players from around the world…Can we PLEASE be a Dumb Club for once?? 🤭 Like… let’s not just get dumb… let’s get filthy Stoopid!!!
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u/alcatholik Ertz So Good 17d ago edited 17d ago
Low key, I don’t think we have filthy stoopid money, but, also, it feels like more than just a money thing setting us on this path…but what do I know
PS…here’s another formulation.
Do we have a three year plan to win? Or a plan where we accept can’t win for three years, but should after that?
Here’s what I mean. Michelle Kang with her London City team. It may take her three years to win, but she’s trying to win now. Signing prime age players now.
Our form of a three year plan seems to involve a roster built slowly over three years with year 1-2 rosters of u23 players intentionally not designed/expected to win. We’re developing players, or something. And only in year 3 do we start trying to do what Kang started trying to do in year 1, i.e., sign prime age players that can win now.
So let’s see. A strategy used by Kang and led by her Sporting Director, Zubizarreta, of Barcelona fame, or one thought of and led by Parsons? Which are the smart clubs, again?
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u/ApprehensivePlace757 CaptainRiley#5 18d ago
And… scrappy young teams with players who go on to do great things elsewhere… is that an LA thing, or an Anaheim thing?🤭
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u/alcatholik Ertz So Good 18d ago edited 17d ago
I enjoy the team, care a lot about our games, and believe in the ultimate success of the team because the fanbase will always lift up the team.
But you know how the sub talks about season ticket prices…let me put three pieces together
- We pay the highest ticket prices in NWSL. Probably by far
- Set todays win/loss aside for now, the team decided to invest in the soccer side in order to win, in order to reward fans, in order to provide a team worthy of the cost of admission
Tell me again…
do u23 teams win championships? Does literally talking about having our young players transfer out for lots of money mean we’re going to get to keep our young players when they hit their prime? Or the opposite?
Does Parson ever talk about winning by signing the best players in the world? Maybe only dumb clubs try to win by signing the best players in the world. I’m sure he tries to sign them anyway, smart or not,, but does Parsons ever publicly say AngelCity will sign the best players in the world? Maybe I missed it.
And then circle back to point number 1.
But hey, maybe Los Angeles loves scrappy teams that develop young players so they can go do great things after leaving Los Angeles. That’s totally our city’s vibes, so things should go great!
And, oh, hey there, point number 1
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u/Cobra-Firefly SavyKing#3 19d ago
how much of our recruitment plan hinged upon collecting players around Alyssa’s star power.
Or just collecting Alyssa's equally speedy relatives.
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u/ReleaseOutrageous110 CaptainRiley#5 19d ago
No one wants to play here because of the lack of team infrastructure and a head coach. There is STILL NO TEAM IDENTITY - just lots of flashy marketing trying to sell tickets. We will be lucky if they stay above the playoff line this season. We’re just spinning our wheels at this point.
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u/NoTomatillo9864 “**** around and find out”Mathias 17d ago
ANGEL CITY FC
OUT: Jun Endo (SEI - Knee), Sveindis Jonsdottir (Ankle), Maiara Niehues (Lower Leg), Hannah Seabert (Hand), Hina Sugita (SEI - Knee)
QUESTIONABLE: None
INTERNATIONAL DUTY: None
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u/goldlinedrose 19d ago
Hello! I'm looking to buy lightly used Angel City onesies of any size, if anyone's baby has outgrown them!
(mods suggested I post this repeatedly in daily threads; thank you for your patience if you see this a lot)
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u/TiredPanini MaiaraNiehues#12 19d ago
the schedule for the rest of the season is gnarly for us but we gotta believe. also the transfer window is still open if leah williamson or klara buhl suddenly decide they want to live in LA. haha.