S.O.S: The New England Revolution

Once again stepping away from my normal routine of writing about Italian football, I wanted to give my brief opinion on the status of my MLS team, The New England Revolution. Currently sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with only 19 points, it seems like decades ago when the Rev competed in three straight MLS championships. The biggest problem facing the revolution is goal scoring. New England have a goal differential of -11, worst in the league. The defense, although not great, is not that bad. Allowing 27 goals puts them 3 goals back on the league average of 24. Offensively, the Rev are the worst team in the MLS. They have scored a total of 16 times in 19 games, failing to score in almost half of them. The only word to sum that up is pathetic. The club is in a sad state, which makes a move closer to Boston that much more necessary.
I can't stress the importance of fan involvement in relation to the overall performance of the team. Watch any of the teams from the Northwest and you can't help but feel the atmosphere. The Sounders are an absolute inspiration to all MLS teams. Not only does the team sit in second place, but they are getting over 35,000 people a game, that's over 14,000 more than the Juventus average (that will surely change with the new stadium). Portland may be second to last in the Western Conference, but the atmosphere at any given home game is simply electric. Speaking on their record, they are only one win out of 6th place with two games in hand on current sixth place Chivas (a conference worst 31 goals against also doesn't help). The Revolution have the fan base. In 2008, they average over 17,000 a game and still have two very solid support groups, The Midnight Riders and The Rebellion. By building a small stadium, maybe 25,000 seats, accessible by the T, you can create the same atmosphere that comes from the support group section at Gillette, throughout the stadium. Ask any player and they'll tell you that having solid support makes you that much more determined to win. I guarantee moving the Rev to a soccer specific stadium near Boston will bring about better results.