Fan favorite Mike Petke will return t🅺o Red Bull Arena on Saturday, essentially making his first visit back to the building since his shock firing as coach before the 2015 season touched off protests, billboards and open revolt among the supporters.
It’s not so much the prodigal son returning as it is the olive branch accepted, amends for the most divisive day in team history. He’s returning for the same reason he stayedꦛ away – he loves the club.
“The reason why [I stayed away] early in the year – I said it all along, I truly meant it and I still mean it – I didn’t want to be any distraction to a team I still have in my heart,’’ Petke told the Post. “The worst thing would b🔯e me walking around, seeing people, going into the South Ward and seeing people. That would’ve been a distraction.
“ꦍWhat happened, happened. It’s not about me, about the new coaching staff or the front office at all. It’s about the players on the team moving forward and what’s in their best interest.’’
The Red Bulls, under new coach Jesse Marsch, lead the Eastern Conferenඣce with 48 points and became the first team to clin꧙ch an MLS playoff berth.
Petke – who led the Red Bulls to their first trophy (the Supporters’ Shield) in 2013 and within a goal of MLS Cup last November – will be honored at Red Bull Arena during a match against Columbus for the 20 in 20, denoting the 🤡20 greatest figures in club history. Other than a five-minute ESPN cameo during an April match against the Galaxy, it will be the first time he’s set foot in the building since being let go in January.
Sporting director Ali Curtis, just two weeks onto the job, fired Petke with essentially no tangible explanation, just vagaries about going in a different direction — the professional equivalent of “It’s not you, it’s me.” Whether that decision was really made by Curtis or a directive from absentee ownership in Austria, it sent the supporters into revolt.
Many called demanding refunds on their season🤪 tickets. They planned in-game protests, formed a RedBullOut movement to demand ownership divestment, crowd-sourced billboards and forced the team to put together a town hall meeting that promptly turned profane. Curtis was accosted by a supporter in front of his young son at a reserve match.
“What goes through my mind🅘? I’m cringing,’’ Petke said. “I’m not cringing that the people who I’m loyal to and who’re loyal to me had my back. That was phenomenal. That’s what you do for a friend. But I was uncomfortable. It’s not what I wanted. The thing I put out the day after I got fired was 100 percent true ✱and from the heart. The last sentence I wrote was I’ll always support the team. The primary part of the team was players that I had. I’ll always be loyal to them.
“The second thing I’ve expressed to those friends and family that wanted to sign off on the Red Bulls is if you believe in something like I have, when something bad happens, you don’t stop believing. The passion I have for this team, these supporters in this area, I don’t think that’s something I’ll ever lose. I don’t think I’ll ever say I don’t support the Red Bulls. As a father, I have two young kids who play in this area and they have a pro team here. Why wouldn’t they support this team? I’ve had this argument with my 7- and 11-year-old. I didn’t make them support the Red Bulls.”
Petke, a Long Island native, declined 🌄the club’s earlier invitation to come back to the stadium, but accepted this one partly out of respect for the team’s director of community relations, Christina Giunta, partly at the prodding of his wife, Kim, and partly for ༒the simple reason he still loves this club. Always will, even if it confuses his elder son Dylan.
“It hit [my 11-year-old] very hard,’’ Petke said. “He’s in a position where he plays very high-level competitive soccer, in school he’s interacting with older kids on social media. He’s come across people saying things. It hit him hard. After talking through it, he understands my m𒆙essage.”