Hi there,

I apologize if this is not the right place to post this, didn't know exactly where to post this.

A couple of my buddies and myself have been tasked by our soccer team's head coach to take over the Manglers, the schools soccer supporters. The problem is that none of us really know exactly where to start and we really could use some advice from people with more experience.

The Manglers began in 2006, and have been a pretty big success. They've successfully gotten our schools soccer attendance to be in the top ten nationwide every year since then, and have boosted our rivalry with UC Santa Barbara to possibly be the best soccer rivalry in the nation. Our school lacks a bit of school spirit, as football and basketball attendance are lacking to say the least. Soccer is the sport the school rallies around, and the Manglers probably had a lot to do with that.

Now the few people who began the Manglers have graduated, and we have to take over and continue the tradition. The coach asks that we be much more organized, attract new members (the previous group had a small core group but a lot of outsiders who wore the shirts but weren't really included), and be more creative with chanting (the previous group really only did one).

I am familiar with supporter groups (mostly just from youtubing and watching MLS and Premiere League games), but I don't understand how they come to be so organized. As I watch the Sounders games, it amazes me at how unified the crowd is and how passionately they follow the team. Obviously the Manglers will never grow that big, but our ultimate goal is to bring that sort of atmosphere and feel to our university that the Sounders have, just on a smaller scale. We could really use some help from the people who are doing it right.

The current website: http://www.cpmanglers.com/Mangler_Natio ... ation.html
As you can see its a bit outdated.

Article about UCSB rivalry: http://mustangdaily.net/blue-green-riva ... y-vs-ucsb/

Those in the yellow in the photos on the websites are the Manglers.

We really could use any help or advice you have to give. We do have some plans and ideas, but we want to take into consideration what people with more experience have to say before we go into actions. Also if you have any sort of advice on how to possibly get some firsthand experience on a tight budget, that'd be appreciated too.

Thank you so much, we really really appreciate it.

TL;DR: Taking over a successful university soccer support group, not entirely sure what to do. Need help and advice.