Living through the simulation

Coping with a wasted season.

Four months ago I wrote an opinion post on this here website about how I thought Atlanta United needed to make drastic changes to turn the club’s fortunes around.

My bad, y’all.

Garth Lagerwey must’ve read that post and took it as a challenge. Because he took all of the bold steps I asked for and then some, to basically hit the full reset button on this club.

I fully stand by those opinions in that post and I believe Garth has made the correct decisions thus far to set the club up with a virtual fresh slate heading into 2025. We’re more than five years into this team being mired in mediocrity and disappointment, drastic measures needed to be taken and I’m glad they have been set in motion.

Don’t worry. This isn’t a trust the process or “let Garth cook” post.

If it hasn’t become painfully obvious by now, the club has punted on 2024. I don’t care what they say publicly or what other media outlets may be telling you. This season is done. Maybe they somehow sneak into a 8th or 9th seed play-in spot with a few wins, but it will just be prolonging the inevitable.

What I’m learning through this process is just how harsh the realities of these decisions can be for the folks who follow this club every day. It’s extremely easy to sit behind a computer screen in Football Manager, click some buttons to trigger a massive rebuild and say that they are smart and pragmatic long-term decisions for the betterment of the club. Worst case scenario is you get a notification saying your fans are growing unhappy and you laugh in their soulless, digital faces as you sim through months of terribleness.

Unfortunately, in real life, there is no sim to next season button. You, the supporters, have to deal with the ramifications of these critical decisions for months on end. Whether it’s going to matches, watching them on TV, or however else you support the team, doing so when chances of success are minimal is understandably soul-crushing.

I can’t sit here and tell you how to deal with the team being a complete disappointment currently. Everyone is different. It’s easy for me to try and tell you to think about the big picture and ignore the short-term misery but it’s just not as easy as that. Personally, I’m excited for the offseason and the possibilities that come with starting fresh on multiples fronts. But I can’t expect everyone to feel the same with how bad the last five years have been with promises of changes being made and unfulfilled along the way.

Frankly, I have no idea what Garth Lagerwey has planned or if he’ll deliver on turning around this club that has nosedived into irrelevance. What has me optimistic is that we haven’t ever seen these drastic of changes made to set up the team to remake itself. These last five years I’ve seen a club I don’t recognize both on and off the field. If it takes six months of excruciating soccer for a chance to see Atlanta United finally turn the corner and become fun to watch again, then I’m willing to give Garth that chance.

Everything is rotten right now and it’s not going to get any better until the offseason hits. Saying this and believing it does not make you a bad or disloyal supporter. Whether you buy in to the idea of a full rebuild or not, it’s the reality we live in. My only advice would be to latch onto whatever you can outside of the match-to-match results to give you some happiness and hope for the future.