Hartford Supporters Frustrated With Poor Results, Lack of Investment
Chairman Bruce Mandell contested some claims, but also promised to do better
At the conclusion of Saturday’s game against Charleston Battery, some members of The Bonanza — one of the main Supporters Groups for Hartford Athletic — raised a banner in the East Stand that read: “100 Losses Well Done Bruce!”
Since Hartford joined the Championship in 2019, only one team — Loudoun United — has lost more games, and with Loudoun currently flying high in the Eastern Conference, fan frustration is, once again, boiling over, with chairman (and owner) Bruce Mandell the primary target.
Prior to Saturday’s game, The Bonanza announced on Instagram that they would conduct a silent protest.
“Due to the poor play on the pitch, the lack of investment in the squad, minimal acknowledgement of the supporters group by the players and coaches and the diminished communication between the Supporters Group and the front office, The Bonanza have decided to watch the game in silent protest,” A statement published by the group read. “We will not be singing, drumming, or wearing club colors or gear for Saturday’s match against Charleston.”
The actual protest was somewhat confused, with some people in the supporters section continuing to sing and drum. Nonetheless, the effect was noticeable, with manager Brendan Burke acknowledging after the game that the players were aware of the protest, but trying to focus their attention elsewhere.
“Well, we spoke after the game, guys saw things, guys heard things and we said, look, we're focused on these what happens in these four walls,” Burke said. “We're worried about our performance. We're worried about the metrics that I measure each week for the players on performance. How many times did we play entry passes? How many shots did we get off? How many corners did we have? Did we execute on those corners? You know, how clean were we defensively in terms of positioning? How many regains did we have in the attacking half? These are the things we talked about. The rest of it's way above our heads.”
Above the heads of the manager and players was where most fans seemed to focus as well. Chris Behlke, president of The Bonanza, picked out investment as the most significant issue facing the club.
“I think probably the biggest thing is a lack of investment in the squad. It's a very thin squad this year,” he said.
“The biggest thing is we have maybe 3 or 4 [players] on the bench every game and usually one of them is a goalie and maybe one or two of the other ones are Academy players [who] probably won't see much time even even on the bench,” he added. They may get a minute or two.”
Burke has continually pointed to his undersized squad as a problem, and it’s absolutely true that in multiple games, Hartford has not had 18 professional players available for selection, for reasons including injury, international duty, and suspension.
For some fans, this lack of investment in the roster seemed like a wasted opportunity, given the run that the team finished on last year. Jamie, a season ticket holder, had this perspective.
“The biggest thing for me with Hartford Athletic is how things went at the end of last season into this season,” they said. “The club made a late season push and very nearly snuck into the playoffs after a successful second half of the season. I was hoping they’d make some moves in the offseason to build on that momentum and end the playoff drought. The months went by and all I saw was who was leaving, not who was coming in as an addition. This year’s team has a tiny roster and it’s shocking when you compare last year’s roster card given out at home matches to this year’s. Seeing that on opening day really set the tone for what’s been a terrible season so far. Some more investment from the top could have turned last year’s team into a playoff team this year.”
The comparison to last season is a useful one. In 2024, Hartford used 30 different players over the course of the season. At this juncture of the 2025 season, it’s a mere 21, and two of those — Kauan Ribeiro and Spencer Gordon —have only made cameo appearances in the U.S. Open Cup.
This situation might not be surprising — Burke was explicitly predicting a small roster for this season even in November of 2024 — but it doesn’t ease fan frustration, as last year’s late-season run to the brink of the playoffs now seems a wasted launching pad.
Last Saturday’s opposition Charleston Battery are a somewhat instructive comparison. In 2021 and 2022, Hartford actually finished with a better record than Charleston. Following the 2022 season, the Battery parted ways with longtime manager Mike Anhaeuser, hired Ben Pirmann from Memphis 901FC, and completely turned things around.
As the Latics collapsed to one of the worst seasons in league history in 2023, Charleston ran to the title game, where they fell on penalties to Phoenix Rising. In 2024, they were conference finalists, and at this juncture, the club sits just behind Louisville City in the Eastern Conference standings.
It’s possible that “investment” is the explanation for the difference between the trajectories of the two clubs, with a anonymous source suggesting that Charleston outspends Hartford “two-to-one,” and further stating that, given the current level of investment that the Latics would “be better off in League One.”
It’s impossible to verify how much any club spends on its roster, but the size of the roster — and Charleston’s ability to bring in players like Cal Jennings and Rubio Rubin, while retaining the services of, among others, Aaron Molloy — gives at least some credence to the idea.
Chairman Bruce Mandell pushed back on this characterization in a statement sent to the Blazing Musket, emphasizing investments beyond the pitch.
“Our long-term strategy is to create a sustainable club that will be here for years to come,” he said. “As such, our investment in Hartford Athletic is wide-reaching. Over the last two years we have spent well over a million dollars to fully renovate our training facilities and club headquarters as well as over a million dollars in stadium improvements for our fans. We have secured use of an indoor full field practice facility for cold weather, as well as grass fields for practice to minimize wear and tear on our players. We have brand new strength training rooms and recovery zones with state-of-the-art equipment to keep our players fit. We have invested in an Academy, which in less than two years has grown to over 350 players, 25 percent of which receive scholarships including full scholarship to our top academy team. We have given back to our community over a million dollars since our inception.”
In addition, Mandell argued against the notion that the club has underinvested in the on-field product and stated that Hartford is quite competitive.
“We are very proud of our investment in our players, coaches and staff (including wages, housing and benefits) and that investment is at competitive levels above the league median.”
The Blazing Musket has not been able to verify any claim, positive or negative, about Hartford’s roster investment, and USL clubs are rarely forthcoming with actual numbers. Additionally, USL did not respond to request for comment prior to publication.
Still, even allowing that Mandell’s assertion is correct, the investment in this particular area has not brought the right results, as Hartford’s on-field product has rarely been above the league median.
As for the question of being better off in USL League One, that’s a complex one but overall competitiveness is relevant in the context of USL’s decision to pursue a first division and to bring promotion and relegation alongside it. Behlke noted this, saying: “Our owner Bruce Mandell seems to have a big plan by wanting us to go up to D1 once there's the promotion and relegation in USL, but doesn't necessarily always bring the necessary players in for the players to fit the coach’s style in.” Manager Brendan Burke made a similar point after Saturday’s game, saying “You know, the league is growing very rapidly, so we need to just be aware of our surroundings and make sure that we're growing just as rapidly.” To fans, this season’s roster moves feel like retrenchment, rather than growth - a hard pill to swallow for supporters of a club that has only one playoff appearance in seven seasons of existence.
This history also underscores a larger point. Even if roster investment in 2025 has been sufficient, Hartford has failed to find results at any point in its history, a fact that has, according to Behlke, contributed to a decline in enthusiasm for The Bonanza, which has lost about half its membership over the past few seasons.
While the on-field performance has been the biggest issue for the supporters — and contributed most to the decline in enthusiasm — Behlke also focused on other alleged problems with the front office, including what he described as a lack of appropriate communication with the supporters groups.
“A lot of members of the front office that were here last year and that had been here for multiple years left,” he said. “I don't know if they were sort of pushed out, whether they just didn't like how things were going, but a lot of them left at the end of last season, One of the major members of their staff that really did a lot of stuff with us and the supporters, David Hirx, left for another job. So they really haven't made a transition.”
For the supporters, the combination of poor on-field performance and a perceived lack of communication and support from the club, has contributed to a decrease in enthusiasm, with Behlke summing up the perspective of supporters.
“It's been tough on us,” he said. “We've lost a lot of members because of the consistently poor results from the team. It's sort of like, ‘why am I going to continue to put in for season tickets if we're going to lose everything?’”
While Mandell pushed back on the idea that the club had failed to invest, he did acknowledge that the results have not been acceptable.
“We are disappointed in our performance on the field,” he said. “It’s frustrating. It hurts. We will continue to invest in our on-field performance. We will not quit until we become winners. This journey is not an easy one and comes with significant investment. I’ve made mistakes along the way; I hope to learn from them and improve. Feedback is always welcome. We have the resources and the will to win. All of us involved in Hartford Athletic choose to keep fighting until we get it right.”
The protest did apparently have one benefit, as the Bonanza posted an update to their Instagram on Tuesday, saying, “After our protest, the front office opened a line of communication with Bonanza leadership to address our concerns, surrounding issues surrounding game day and beyond. While our issues are by no means resolved, we will return this week in full force and at full volume in full celebration of Pride Night and to show our boys on the pitch that we still support them. What happens after that is still to be determined as we continue working with the front office.”
Mandell confirmed this in his statement.
“We understand and respect our supporters’ passion and appreciate their feedback,” he said. “Our supporters groups and their energy and dedication to our club are vital and we are committed to maintaining an open dialogue. We’ve recently had productive conversations with leadership from both The Bonanza and Raza Brava to address communication gaps and work together moving forward.”
Finally, the chairman committed to hearing more from fans.
“I will be hosting a town hall for all our supporters and fans to ask questions and share thoughts in an open and collaborative environment,” he said. “More information to come.”
It’s a step, but it remains to be seen how it will be received by a core constituency of fans and if it will translate onto the pitch, either this season or beyond. Behlke, for one, hopes for sooner rather than later.
“It’s early enough in the year,” he said. Let’s not let this season get away.”