Hello!

Before we dive into my thoughts on the offseason and upcoming Whitecaps FC season, and having shared the thoughts of some really awesome contributors, I’m genuinely curious - what thoughts do you have?

If you’re up to it (and this is sitting in your inbox), I would love for you to reply to this issue with them!

Are your expectations on the season stratospheric? Do you feel uneasy at everything that’s come out over the stadium & ownership situation? Do you wonder if poutine will be back on the menu at BC Place? Is the new kit fire or do you wish they’d bring back Arbutus Brown?!

Not only would I love to hear what you have to say (and with your permission share these thoughts next week), every reply you send to an newsletter issue helps enhance its trust level. Even a simple “Hi Chris” would suffice!

I look forward to hearing from all y’all and can’t wait to see a flood of replies!

The View

As I shared briefly last week, my original idea was to have a few thoughts of mine mixed in with a few thoughts of some brighter minds - I figured it would help hide my ignorance and hot takes.

But Jordan Minamimaye, Matthew Hall, and Mark Goodman provided some absolute gold and I dared not sully their content with the random musings of a Dad in his mid-40s.

But it would be unfair of me to ride their coattails without contributing reflections of my own of the past couple months and what I expect to take place as we dive into the season.

So here we go…

• Ryan Gauld - in what was the longest “couple weeks” we’ve experienced as Whitecaps FC supporters, it was good to see Gauld get a few minutes at the end of the season and into the playoffs. While I understood that he was still on the road to recovery with those guarded minutes, I truly hoped he’d be match-fit to kick of 2026 - in fact, I banked my hype on it. Figuratively drooled over the thought of Gauld/White/Müller together on the pitch.

  The problem - match-fit he’s not.

  While I’m nothing close to a medical professional, I’d have to guess that Gauld having the arthroscopic debridement procedure on his knee so late in the offseason was more a response to treatment & recovery hitting a wall.

  Fingers crossed the squad is deep enough to weather the initial storm of his absence.

• New Player Announcements - I can’t say I’ve paid much attention to how other sides announce new additions to their squads, but the use of the Whitecaps FC equipment team to tease out all the signings & transfers was some top-notch content!!

• Cheikh Sabaly, Bruno Caicedo, Aziel Jackson, & Oliver Larraz - speaking of new additions, I trust Axel & Jesper and therefore have full faith they’ve identified talent that will ease the pain of the departing Ali Ahmed, Jayden Nelson, and the injured Ryan Gauld. That said, I’m also a Whitecaps FC supporter who’s been burned before and still suffers from overhyping myself of any new addition not named Thomas Müller. Consider me holding opinion until we have a few matches under our belts.

• Depth - prior to penning this note, I did a quick search to see if anyone prognosticated the 2025 season as one where the Whitecaps FC had significant depth. And while I won’t suggest my search was an exhaustive one, couldn’t find anything that suggested they were close to being “Challenger Deep.”

  Much like Mark suggested last week, injuries are likely a constant concern this season (compressed schedule, busier-than-all-can-be schedule, away-for-the-Summer schedule, all-the-competitions schedule… you get my point I imagine) so I do wonder if the bench is deep enough.

• Ownership Sitch, Stadium Sitch - this entire thing is an absolute mess.

  While I’m not as pessimistic as some are at the longevity of the Whitecaps FC in Vancouver, it does concern me to no end that we hear nothing but doom & gloom from a league commissioner out-of-touch with the market and hear absolutely diddley squat from the current ownership group (with all due respect to Axel Schuster who speaks on their behalf).

  As someone who considers himself a pretty pragmatic guy, it’s hard for me to understand how Axel will suggest the team doesn’t wish to negotiate in public when Garber is going off about Vancouver every chance he gets and the team is putting out “not good enough” press releases to offers made by the Province.

  And from a public relations perspective, how does casting a dark-as-all-can-be cloud over the upcoming season straight off the best Whitecaps FC season we’ve ever had make any sense?! Instead of the news cycle breaking down how Ralph Priso is the “best centre back we never knew we had,” we’re instead constantly bombarded by THE CLUB & LEAGUE that the end is nigh.

  I’m not certain what to make of it all and really hope a hot start to the season dulls the pain of that constant cycle of dread that the club I support could be gone as soon as next year.

• Don Garber - do not like.

• The Coastal Kit - do like. It’s not Arbutus Brown (bring it back you cowards!!), but it’s not too bad when you see it in person.

• Don Garber - still do not like. At all.

I’m already counting the minutes until the Whitecaps FC match gets underway down in Costa Rica (7pm PT kickoff) - I just want to get my brain off all the what ifs & what will be and on to ‘Caps action. Note for those who don’t already know, you’ll need to subscribe to Fubo TV or OneSoccer to watch it.

And I’m also counting the minutes to the actual kick off to the 2026 season when the ‘Caps take on Real Salt Lake this Saturday (4:30pm PT kickoff). You’ll find me in my usual seat with a view from section 231 if anyone is interested in stopping by to say “hello.”

Look for Around the Pitch to return next week, as well as all the usual trappings of this humble newsletter. I also look forward to your replies to this one and hope to be able to share your thoughts too!