Fans harass Rayados’ players leaving training, threaten to egg their cars

The Rayados fanbase have seen their current status and situation drag on long enough. After a disastrous performance in UAE for the Club World Cup, along with a subpar start to the Clausura 2022 season, they’re ready for a major overhaul if the current players and coaching staff don’t start showing a bit of heart on the pitch as well as much needed results, especially considering the expensive payroll the club takes on season after season, not to mention elevated cost of tickets and team merchandise, higher than in any other stadium around the league (along with Tigres).

The funny part is, Rayados didn’t look half bad vs. Puebla on Friday. They created countless opportunities which simply couldn’t find the target. More importantly, they looked menacing in the way you’d expect a team as expensive and talented as they are to look. Now, to be fair, Puebla also had their fair share of opportunities they let slip. Not as many as Monterrey, however. What did in Aguirre’s club ultimately was their slow start. They were already down by the 3rd minute thanks to wretched defending on the part of Jesús Gallardo on Puebla’s corner kick. They even got a penalty call which Funes Mori failed to convert.

Earlier today following the club’s training session, fans hung posters and signs openly criticizing players such as Vincent Janssen and newly re-acquired Rodolfo Pizarro. They even took aim at head coach Javier Aguirre with a sign that read “You’re going to respect Monterrey.” And it didn’t stop there. As the players were leaving El Barrial, the protesting fans gathered around Funes Mori’s vehicle to try and “speak” with the Argentine striker, only to see their attempts end there, as the truck wasn’t stopping nor did it have its windows rolled down with an intention to speak. The leader of the bunch yelled out: “You don’t want to speak, but then speak on the pitch. Not even scoring 200 goals will you get fans to love you.”

Others were stopped by the fans as well, one of them being Rodolfo Pizarro. In this case, the player did stop, rolled his window down and listened respectfully to what the leader of the group had to say, which was basically him not doing enough on the pitch. He respectfully disagreed by arguing that not everybody has been a champion here and he has won two titles. Maxi Meza also answered back and voiced his opinion to these fanatics. Other players simply listened with no response.

Did the fans have a right to gang up on the players as they were leaving? Heck no. Did they have a right to intimidate them? Heck no. Does the club’s bad state at the time justify these actions? HECK NO. In no way was this acceptable behavior and I was a bit surprised not to see security helping the players get past the angry group. It’s absolutely reproachable and embarrassing to see this sort of action by anyone, no matter the cause. They should be ashamed of themselves and never allowed to step foot near El Barrial or the stadium again. It’s not acceptable within any realm of normality. Never is an instance of hostility a solution to anything. These people call themselves “fans” when in reality, all they are is fanatics or hooligans that have nothing better to do with their lives than to cause disruption elsewhere. Threatening to throw eggs at a player’s car or intimidate is in no way a simple protest. Violence or intimidation is NEVER acceptable.

With that being said, it does speak volumes as to what the fanbase thinks of the club and how fed up they are with the non-response they see week after week out on the pitch. This is the equivalent of a Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Juventus finding themselves in the bottom third of the table and players almost being okay with it. With this level of economic investment and the amount of talent these players carry, it’s just unacceptable they perform at the level they do and furthermore, find ways to justify themselves. Someone must hold their feet to the fire, not through violence, but through organizational change. This is the result (unjustifiable as it may be) of five years of bad leadership and failure to demand anything of his staff by Duilio Davino and company. Despite that, ownership has yet to take any action. Expect tensions to continue to rise within the organization if a change isn’t made soon, because we know this team led by Aguirre isn’t going anywhere. They’ve already proven that. Things could quickly spiral out of control if they allow this to drag on much further,