How Fans Saved the LA Galaxy
The LA Galaxy overcame the New York Red Bulls, 2-1, to win their sixth MLS Cup on Saturday, December 7th, 2024.
This is the story of how the Galaxy’s fans saved their club and made space for a family that found a way to win it all.
The 2025 MLS season is nearly upon us, but the supporters of the LA Galaxy are still basking on that championship feeling.
Their team made history by beating fellow MLS original New York Red Bulls in the 2024 MLS Cup Final to win their sixth league title, exactly 10 years after their last conquest in 2014.
That final between the LA Galaxy and New York ended a campaign that began nearly a year ago, now in February 2024.
A year before that, in 2023, the Galaxy had what could easily be argued as their worst season. They finished the regular season in 13th place in the Western Conference after conceding 67 goals, tied for the most in club history.
The jump from just about the bottom of the league all the way up to MLS Cup Champions in just one year was made possible by the organized effort of America’s most dedicated fans. They removed themselves from the club they loved, and their martyrdom paved the way for a group of strangers to join their team and become a family that banded together to make history.
The True Beginning of the Road to Glory
PHOTO: Andre Bannis/LAXSportsNation
In the eyes of some, the Galaxy’s road to redemption began at the 2024 season opener against Inter Miami. It was surprising to see a team who had narrowly escaped finishing in dead last the season before competing against, and sometimes dominating, a team that many expected to be runaway favorites to take the title with the help of the best player the game has ever seen.
In the eyes of others, namely those who had participated in the fan boycott, the Galaxy’s road to their sixth MLS Cup began more than a year before the 2024 season even began.
It’s no secret that the past decade has been disastrous for the LA Galaxy. Under the leadership of ex-President Chris Klein and ex-Technical Director Jovan Kirovski, who each assumed their positions in 2013, the LA Galaxy failed to lift a trophy, but even worse, were caught cheating, tarnishing the name of what should be the league’s proudest institution.
The Galaxy were banned from the transfer market for using illegal methods to fund the transfer of Cristian Pavón. Despite dragging the Galaxy’s name through the mud, parent company AEG rewarded Chris Klein with a contract extension on January 12th, 2023.
Seeing the man responsible for their club’s decade of mediocrity handed even more time at the helm was the final straw for the Galaxy’s most die-hard supporters.
The Boycott
The very next day, January 13th, all of the LA Galaxy supporter groups released a joint statement promising to boycott every home game until satisfactory changes were made at the highest level.
The LA Riot Squad, Galaxians, Galaxy Outlawz, Ghosts Ultras Galaxy, and Angel City Brigade (who eventually pulled out of the boycott after agreeing with club representatives) were led by LA Riot Squad President Andrew Alessana. They formed a united front, leaving Dignity Health Sports Park looking like a hollowed-out husk of its former self in their absence.
As if the largely bare stands and silence, almost reminiscent of lockdown-era matches, weren’t enough to convey their message, the supporter groups also held multiple demonstrations at the stadium’s entrance.
They flew banners for the entire city to see their protest against the administration they deemed unworthy of such a historic club.
Flying above DHSP right now. #KleinOut #KirovskiOut #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/Gsw3Uc7BUe
— LA Galaxy 310 𝕏 (@LAGalaxy310) April 16, 2023
Despite their best efforts, it didn’t take long for the “noise” to become impossible to ignore for those in charge.
On April 11th, 2023, just a few days before a match against LAFC, Chris Klein emailed an open letter to season ticket holders, promising to step down should the team fail to achieve their vague goal of “advancing” in the playoffs that season. Not to be so easily appeased, fans immediately identified the lipservice and knew that their boycott was having its intended effect.
On April 12th, Andrew Alessana released an open letter of his own, calling out Klein’s consistent lack of transparency and how suddenly staking his future on the team’s performances placed undue pressure on the already struggling staff team and staff.
LA Riot Squad President, responds to the Chris Klein letter. #LAGalaxy #MLS pic.twitter.com/OtmbEST6MO
— Corner Of The Galaxy (@GalaxyPodcast) April 12, 2023
The following 2-3 loss at home against hated rival LAFC only seemed to compound that pressure. The Galaxy had failed to win a single game the entire season up until that point, and giving up El Tráfico resulted in their third consecutive loss in as many games.
The rest of the season continued in the same embarrassing fashion as the Galaxy picked up just eight wins throughout the entire MLS regular season, an all-time low for the club.
Fortunately, it didn’t take the entirety of that miserable 2023 season for the decision-makers to respond to their supporter’s cries finally.
Success and a New Era
On May 30th, 2023, hardly more than a month after Klein’s poorly received open letter, the Galaxy’s ownership group, AEG, announced that they had finally decided to part ways with Chris Klein.
The resilience of most supporter groups was fruitful in forcing those most responsible for the Galaxy’s middling status out of power. The family in the stands succeeded, and their club would soon succeed.
Klein’s departure was a watershed moment for the club as it finally opened the door for a new set of more competent hands to take the wheel of the MLS’s most globally known team.
On April 7th, 2023, the LA Galaxy announced Will Kuntz as their Senior Vice President of Player Personnel.
After previously spending six years at LAFC, Kuntz cruised down the freeway and immediately showed how his administration would do things differently.
Greg Vanney was almost immediately relieved of most of the extra responsibilities he had picked up during the Klein era (including running all soccer operations, from the first team down to the academy), freeing him up to do what he was hired to do in the first place: coach.
Besides making obvious calls like that, Kuntz also proved his transfer strategy was much more involved than signing the most available and most marketable name. In his first transfer window in charge, he gave fans a taste of his scouting and recruiting acumen by signing the team’s new captain, veteran World Cup defender Maya Yoshida, and other pieces who added much-needed depth in key positions.
Family Matters
Soon enough, the cloud of pressure that previously weighed on the team dissipated and was replaced by a spirit of brotherhood. With signings that valued a player’s character as much, if not more than their footballing ability, the spirit in the locker and across the team’s offices only grew better and better.
The best proof of the incredible energy in the locker room came when Joseph Paintsil compared Greg Vanney to a father in the way that he speaks to his players as if they were his own son. Vanney’s manner with his boys gave them the courage to be themselves and shine in ways few expected when they originally joined.
The team that Kuntz and Vanney built together became a family that grew more united with each passing week
The Return to Form
With such a great vibe surrounding them and the awfulness of 2023 well and truly behind them, it seemed only natural when performances and results drastically improved in 2024
The first half of the 2024 campaign immediately reflected the positive change, with the team earning points in fourteen of their opening 16 fixtures. They continued that good run by finally undoing one of the darkest blemishes against Greg Vanney’s reputation during his tenure as LA Galaxy head coach.
Besides the road loss to the Chicago Fire on the 1st, Greg Vanney coached his team to a nearly perfect June with four consecutive victories.
This achievement marked the first time a Vanney-led Galaxy claimed three wins in a row, finally achieving what many fans speculated would never be possible under the ex-MLS All-Star.
👏👏👏👏
Head Coach Greg Vanney winning three matches in a row is our @kinecta Moment of the Match! pic.twitter.com/BTmO7mtbKN
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) June 23, 2024
The rest of the season continued equally positively. The remaining 13 regular-season games yielded an 8-0-5 record, and they ended the year tied for first place in the Western Conference. Just a single goal placed them behind LAFC in the standings.
From there, the LA Galaxy exploded into the playoffs. They announced their return to the postseason by forcing 9 goals past the Colorado Rapids across two matches in the first round.
They continued their goal-scoring frenzy in the following rounds, scoring 9 goals in the remaining three games. In doing so, the Galaxy made history by breaking the record for most goals scored during the playoffs with 18, besting the record previously set by Greg Vanney’s 2016 Toronto FC.
Two record-breaking goals came in the MLS Cup Final hosted at Dignity Health Sports Park. Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic’s early goals helped the Galaxy defend their undefeated record at home. They allowed captain Maya Yoshida to lift the long-awaited cup at the end of 96 minutes.
The celebrations put an end to the team’s decade-long drought as the supporter groups who held the line during the tragic 2023 season let what was left of their beer fly into the air, and the team flooded the locker room floor with much more.
How it started and how it’s going…
My first sideline interview with Greg Vanney , in his first season as manager in 2021 had to be socially distanced…
In 2024 he’s doused in champagne. @LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/SPP8CQ4uUs— Nikki Kay (@NikkiKaySN1) December 8, 2024
The images of the team celebrating their success with the fans who backed them through the trials and tribulations of the previous ten years couldn’t be more fitting.
The family in the stands sparked the change that was needed to form the family on the field, and together, the LA Galaxy family reminded the world who America’s most legendary club and supporters are.
Now, the locker has been cleaned of all evidence of the recent celebrations, and the team has made room for new faces to join the family after the departure of some beloved members.
A new season quickly approaches, and it’ll be up to Greg Vanney, Will Kuntz, and the rest of the staff to replicate their cup-winning bond in 2024.
Only time will tell what 2025 has in store for the LA Galaxy and its supporters, but if they can create a new family together, there is no limit to what they can achieve.
PHOTO: Andre Bannis/LAXSportsNation
Discover more from Los Angeles Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:Galaxy Unique Column