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Revolution fan group releases statement calling for Caleb Porter and Curt Onalfo to be fired
"Enough is enough."
The latest and most direct call for change in leadership of the Revolution came on Wednesday in the form of a statement from “The Rebellion” supporters’ group, which called for the immediate removal of team head coach Caleb Porter as well as sporting director Curt Onalfo.
Citing the team’s poor record (New England is 11th in the Eastern Conference, with just one win in its last 14 league games), and a lack of reciprocation of fans’ “passion and dedication” from players, coaches, front office staff, and team ownership, the Rebellion statement called for “the immediate release” of both Porter and Onalfo.
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“It’s time to bring the fight back to the Revolution and give the dedicated supporters something to cheer for — and no longer be embarrassed about,” the group’s statement concluded.
It’s the second statement made from the club’s two highest-profile supporters’ groups in the span of 48 hours, following the version issued by “The Midnight Riders” on Monday evening.
The main difference in the two statements was that The Midnight Riders avoided making an immediate appeal for change, stating instead that “if the results continue to go down this path, ownership needs to part ways with [Porter and Onalfo], then begin conducting an exhaustive search for a new sporting director and coach who can restore faith and accountability in the team.”
With both of the team’s largest independent supporters’ groups now on the record amid the current crisis, it makes the already hot seat that New England leadership sits on turn even hotter.
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The club itself has yet to officially acknowledge the statements, with Porter and Onalfo remaining in charge at the time of publication.
New England, which made large-scale changes to its roster prior to the start of the 2025 season, has struggled to consistently achieve positive results for most of the year. Following a briefly promising nine-game unbeaten run from mid-April through the end of May, Porter’s team has now achieved an ignominious inversion: Nine straight games without a win.
Things came to a head following the recent 3-1 defeat at home against CF Montreal. The visitors entered (and left) the night firmly entrenched in last place of the conference, yet were able to overcome an early Revolution goal and notch a fairly manageable road win.
Losing to a last place team at home in the midst of what should be a playoff push elicited boos and chants about firing Porter from supporters.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Porter said after the loss. “I do my job every day to the best of my ability. I’m not always perfect. I make mistakes, but I always reflect on those. My message to the group is we stick together, we keep going. It’s not the time for pointing fingers and blaming people, but we’re all accountable. We all need to take ownership. That’s a normal process.
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“In the end, I don’t ever focus on external factors. I focus on doing my job, always to the best of my ability,” he added when asked about fan opinion. “I’m very disappointed that the results haven’t been there. This is my livelihood. This is what I live, eat, breathe, sleep, and not much sleep in the last couple months with the results the way they’ve been. I’ve been grinding and I’m going to keep grinding. Like I said, there’s no quit in me, there’s no quit in the locker room, there’s no quit in those players, and we’re going to keep going.”
Porter was first appointed prior to the 2024 season following the unexpected departure of Bruce Arena (who officially resigned midway through the 2023 season after an MLS investigation into “insensitive and inappropriate remarks” he made while employed by the club).
Porter’s team followed a similar path in 2024 to the trajectory it’s currently on, missing the playoffs (finishing 14th out of 15 teams in the East). And despite his earnestness in addressing the lack of results, fans’ patience has worn thin.
“This isn’t something that was done on a whim,” said Rebellion president David Rodriguez in a Wednesday interview following the issuing of the statement.
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“It’s nothing against them as people,” Rodriguez added of Porter and Onalfo. “They’re both wonderful people. It’s been great to be able to get to know them in the time that I’ve been a part of the Rebellion leadership. But just like any other job, sometimes the fit isn’t right. Sometimes things have to change. They both have had their time with the team to be able to implement things, and it hasn’t worked unfortunately.”
The Revolution are not participants in the Leagues Cup in 2025, meaning that the team is currently in a two-week gap before MLS regular season games resume later in August. Had New England ownership wanted to make changes, the time following the Montreal defeat and the upcoming game against D.C. United (on Aug. 9) would’ve made a natural moment to go through the process.
Yet amid statements from supporters’ groups, and a lack of on-field results, no changes appear to be looming. The Kraft family, which has owned the club since its founding, has usually refrained from making in-season alterations to team leadership (though that did happen in 2019 when both head coach Brad Friedel and general manager Mike Burns were fired in May prior to the hiring of Arena).
The case of Friedel and Burns was an earlier moment when supporters’ groups showed their voice. After the club initially removed only Friedel, The Midnight Riders issued a statement formally calling for Burns’s ouster (which eventually happened shortly before Arena was brought in to occupy both head coach and sporting director roles).
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Whether or not the dual statements will have a similar effect in 2025 remains to be seen.
“What is their goal?” Rodriguez asked of the Kraft ownership group. “What do they want? What does success look like to them? Is it just selling season tickets? Is it winning? Is it trophies?
“[The club] told us 100-percent that they [the Krafts] want to win trophies and bring home an MLS Cup, that they want to be one of those great teams in the league. But it hasn’t happened.”
Rodriguez concluded by expressing his desire that, if nothing else, team ownership needs to take the current situation seriously, and show it can do better for its most loyal supporters.
“My hope is that through our statements — with ours and the Riders’ — that they see that this is a team that is valued by the people who live here and who show up game after game, and that we want better.”
Editor’s note: The article was updated to clarify that Mike Burns was not removed from his role in 2019 due to a specific supporters’ group statement.
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