Podcasts
Does Khiry Shelton deserve the booing?
No. He doesn’t.
No.
Khiry Shelton doesn’t deserve to be booed for simply entering a match. If you want him to play better, I’m with you! But surely hearing his own fans boo his existence isn’t the way to inspire it.
Keep all that in your group chats. That’s where I have my meltdowns. Like an adult!
What were those fans actually booing? Is it Khiry himself… or is it the entire situation? The new contract, the reported salary, Peter Vermes, and the fact he’s playing defense for some reason. That’s our big question on this week’s episode of Shades of Blue.
To back up a second, the booing heard on the broadcast wasn’t very loud. It may very well have been a handful of well placed voices & microphones. But many Sporting KC fans do share the sentiment. For good reason.
He makes mistakes (although they do probably get overblown more than others at this point), he’s poor in the box, and some of the positives he used to show seemed to have disappeared. The biggest being his strength on the ball and ability to keep possession.
It’s such an ugly look for a club. I would be on cloud nine to hear that the Seattle Sounders were in such peril, their fans were booing their own players. That’s why booing Khiry is wrong. The fans in Kansas City should support the players on the field, who wear that crest, no matter what.
The show starts off figuring out what went wrong in Sporting KC’s 1-0 loss to the Chicago Fire. SKC has come back down to earth with a 1-2-2 record in the June.
Dany Rosero’s absence made a big impact in the physical battle on set pieces, as well as with our old friend Kei Kamara. Daniel Salloi has gone quiet the past couple games, and we need more from our star player.
It’s time to switch back to Pulskamp in goal. If he’s the man for the future, he needs the experience. Kendall McIntosh isn’t the hot hand anymore.
New reports out of Mexico (as always, remember that hefty grain of salt) that Alan Pulido will finish out his contract with SKC this MLS season. But time is running out before other clubs can sign him to a pre-contract.
1st Segment: What went wrong vs the Fire
2nd Segment (18:10): Khiry Shelton gets booed
3rd Segment (27:30): Around the league & MLS Standings
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He’s a net negative to the team. He’s overpaid–until 2026!–and Vermes continues to trot him out over players who need minutes and opportunities.
What are fans supposed to do? Be happy to see more of him? This isn’t college or High School. And Khiry Shelton is on a serious money deal. And he isn’t just average, he’s statistically among the worst at his position in MLS. And has been for quite some time.
In a very real sense, he’s the symbol of what’s gone wrong with Vermes. Players who aren’t producing, overstaying their welcome and making far too much money for “intangibles” that aren’t there.
So here we are: #VermesOut
Everything you say is fair. But still, I would rather we save the boos for abusers and cheats. I was embarrassed for us when that happened on Saturday.
As a co-worker once told me, “you don’t need to always open your mouth when someone does something stupid. Most other people in the room will also know it’s stupid. Just let it hang there”. Everyone in that building knows Khiry’s strengths and limitations. The club is going to sink or swim on PVs decisions. And at this point PV is aware and doesn’t care.
What’s a fan to do, you ask? Boos aren’t going to sway Ilig or Vermes. But not attending or watching will.
Sports is entertainment. Khiry Shelton is not being paid anything like a day job. If he fails to entertain, and fails to produce, the fans have the right to express dissatisfaction.
This is not college, or high school. These are not amateurs who need coddling. He’s been a professional most of a decade. He knows the score.
This is mild compared to what he’d face in Europe. And he knows it.
So i agree that Khiry is truly awful and an example of why we’re struggling.
Where i have to disagree ie booing a guy onto the pitch. I’m also not happy to see him sub in but it’s got to be demoralizing to be booed before making a single touch. Boo him after? Sure.
What’s clear to me is that Khiry and the fans have reached a breaking point. It’s not healthy for a fan base to be booing their own players. It represents a problem with the performance on the pitch. Sporting can improve by moving Khiry’s salary off the books but Khiry needs a fresh start somewhere too.
Who would take Shelton’s salary?
If we released him and someone signed him, it would be for the $80k and we would be on the hook for the remainder (i.e. Ben Sweat).
It was mentioned the contract could be front loaded. Even if it is and he is getting the minimum (approx $80k), that would still average out to over $200k per season. That is still way too much for Khiry. This contract never should have happened. We could have got got a better player for the same money.
It was a brutally bad signing. He’s below replacement level.
But in Khiry’s defense, what’s he supposed to do? Decline the contract? Refuse to go in the game?
This is entirely on PV. He missed on the talent evaluation and he continues to put Khiry in positions to fail.
I do not disagree. I am #VermesOut, after all.
Bingo. There’s a team and play style that puts Khiry — and many other players, both starters and not — in positions to succeed. Vermes doesn’t do it with him or many other players, from starters to the bench to the SKC2 call ups.
If Khiry played like JFR the past game or two, people would still be upset at him. JFR has not been great recently!
He’s not “truly awful.”
I was so excited to be a STM this year. Every time he steps on the pitch with plenty of other viable options makes me feel like I have wasted my money.
It isnt Shelton directly. He just epitomizes the issues and represents the problems with Vermes so perfectly.
More damning is the fact that afrifa sits, tzionis sat (until Johnny got hurt), hernandez sits over Roger, sweat got dropped (now for more comparatively minor offenses), our creative playmakers arent on the field at the same time (thommy and kinda), and we CONTINUE to have the same injury issues over and over….
But yea, focus on my boos more please.
Net negative because Vermes makes him so. Good on Khiry for taking what will not be the last foolish contract.
Put a few other starters under the Khiry lens and they look just as bad.
I’m still shocked we haven’t signed Dom again. Haha!
We are a bunch of Philly fans. We broke Ben Simmons brain, we are trying to run Andy Reid out of town for his clock management, and we’d probably boo Santa Claus if the season extended to Christmas.
Andy Reid did well leaving the Eagles; as did the Eagles…
At least drop an HBD if this is to be released on his birthday!
I’ll try not to be too harsh on Khiry today since it’s his birthday. Look, is he an objectively poor player? Yes. But we’ve known that for years. Booing individual players is not a good look in my opinion, even though I completely understand and feel the frustration myself. I think if anything, silence is a more effective option that sends the message without being crass.
I think the real blame (and boos) should be directed at PV for not only continuing to play him, even though he is far below MLS standards, but also for giving him a contract extension and raise despite his near-zero level of production and age. The situation is just one of many examples of how PV has gone completely out of touch with the current MLS landscape.
I agree the frustration should be directed at Peter Vermes since he’s making the decision to play Khiry each game, and he gave Khiry the extension/raise. As others have said, it’s not up to Khiry to reject the contract, and if someone offered me his contract, I’d take it as well. It’s really an unfortunate position PV has put him in. Playing him out of position, of course, he’s going to make mistakes. I feel bad for him because he seems like a great guy. I want him to be successful, but at this point, I don’t think he will find success on this team.
In regards to booing, it’s unnecessary. Plus, I don’t understand how that reaction from the fans gives him the confidence to go on the field and play his best. I understand the frustration, but there’s gotta be a better way to project how we’re feeling. Plus, I’m not sure how much of the hatred is aimed at Shelton, or if it’s the decision PV made to sub him on and it’s being misdirected.
If he’s the emergency RB, they should loan him down to SKC II for a few games to help him get comfortable in the position, or maybe we should consider signing an SKC II RB to the team for a few games. The execution from PV has been poor the last few weeks, and it shows in our record.
It isnt directed at Shelton. I have not met anyone that says so or at least admits it out loud.
People are fed up with vermes. Ownerd have our money, so they need to hear the dissatisfaction. They need to rationalize the decisions being made and change things to get results.
The frustration with Shelton goes away when we at least win. But that isnt happening and decisions to play him are actively costing us multiple games at this point. It is compounded when so many other players deserve play time over him.
Here’s a real human saying this out loud. 💀
Anonymous internet comments are not the same as discussions.
Much like how a previous podcast mentions: the internet is full of hyperbole and extremes. People state the extreme when they really don’t mean it.
If you were to engage in an actual conversation (not a comment thread) would this person still hold those feelings? Hard to say.
I stand by my experience in that people that actually discuss their issues relate it to vermes and how Shelton singularly represents so many of his poor decisions, because he is the cliff notes version of the whole thing.
Yeah man I had just seen this tweet and then read your comment so I added it. Wasn’t arguing with you.
I agree. Fans are frustrated with Vermes. At the same time these are professionals and when you’re losing booing comes with the territory. It’s an easy way for the fans to show their dissatisfaction with what’s going on.
Shelton shouldn’t be on the field. If this was any other player they would be in the dog house with PV. I struggle to understand what Vermes sees in Shelton as a player. As you said, there are so many other players who deserve play time over him. It’s unfortunate they aren’t getting the chance to play.
I’m 100% with this. A Shelton sub at RB, especially after his recent AND long-term poor run of form, is just a very aggravating symptom. PV is the problem.
It seems like PV the coach brings out the worst of PV the technical director, and vice versa. It’s a mutually detrimental relationship. I still believe the franchise would be best served if he were to yield on one of the two fronts. I know that will never happen though.
I want him to succeed but he does lot seem capable. I haven’t been to a game this season so I haven’t booed anyone but I can’t say Khiry doesn’t deserve it. Yes, PV and the ownership group are responsible for trotting him out and paying him but fans booing when he comes onto the pitch or does something a U10 player knows not to do isn’t just directed at him, it’s an acknowledgment of all of those factors. Sean said it best, this is supposed to be entertainment and putting in your worst player out of position when you’re behind is only entertaining for the away fans.
I didn’t boo. But if I did it would be that PV is putting Khiry in at right back. That’s a boo-able action. That we don’t have another right back. That’s boo-able. Zusi old and injured is no shock. Pierre injured is a shame. But ya gotta figure we should have had someone else. Playing Davis out of position there has been fine. Not great but fine but he’s not 90 minute fit? Boo to that too. There’s where my boos are, not that Khiry isn’t good at doing a job that he never signed up for, but because the team doesn’t have valid solutions for RB.
This is a more than fair take.
Not Jake Davis’ fault he isn’t 270mins in a week fit. That’s more to ask of any modern fullback.
But the fact that fullback is perhaps the most demanding position in the modern game makes it all the more inexcusable not to have your starter be closer to my age than the beginning of a pro career, and an unfit backup. That Jake Davis emerged is lightning from a bottle in itself.
Most if not all discussions around booing when Shelton enters the pitch are directed at the decision to put him in, rather than at the player. Everyone has repeatedly acknowledged what a nice person Khiry is. BUT.
Optics be damned. Playing Khiry at this point is a contentious act on Vermes’s part. It is inflammatory and frankly detrimental to the outcomes of the game. Last year someone analyzing SKC said something to the effect of “the pass map to Shelton shows that his own team doesn’t even trust him and is where the attack goes to die”. This was after a loss to MNUFC.
The issue isn’t Shelton anymore. It is Vermes. We cannot arbitrarily boo at random moments, but we can boo when we disagree with a decision. You cannot tell us the measuring stick we use for when booing is acceptable. Especially when it seems you so not fundamentally understand WHY we boo.
At least we are present. They have my money for the season and I will cheer on the team. Hell, I am often one of the louder ones compared to those around me! I support the players and wish them success. What is my alternative? Not go? They have my money. A boycott looks worse than any booing heard on a broadcast. And is harder to ignore.
I paid to be entertained and will boo when I see things that detract from the value if my purchase – especially if the same mistakes are made over and over.
This run of games had no excuses. We muffed points versus lafc with poor tactical decisions. We muffed points vs la galaxy and we didn’t show up in our own stadium. Vermes blamed the refs and unfortunate circumstances with Shelton on lafc, the ref versus la galaxy and had no excuses for this last one that I heard. He is running out of options and excuses.
The players… Johnny doesn’t look ready to come back or just looks checked out. He is without passion and isn’t even coming to the defense of his teammates anymore. When he first signed, he was there any time someone wronged one of ‘his guys’. I wonder if he was really just done after that famous quote of his.
Salloi isn’t our star and if he is our star we have much bigger problems than his fading into obscurity. He has no aerial threat and finishing. He poaches well and has an occasional good shot but is no where near the consistent production based on his salary. There is a reason he never broke into Hungary’s international team.
Rosero would have been nice, but we played horseshoe of offensive death. That was the bigger issue. Focusing on his absence and our GK is detracting from the larger issue. If you are relying on the GK to change the game you are probably using too much cap space on that position (cough Melia cough). Whoever said the issue was midfield not tracking back hit it on the head.
There is so much more to say about these losses, but that focus on the GK and whether or not we boo Shelton is missing the mark in my opinion. Plus the podcast didn’t really dive into the midweek game at all.
Murse, that was a helpful perspective on the booing. I couldn’t understand why someone would boo their own team. I want CMP to be the energetic fortress it use to be when I first got tickets; the fans part of the team. “12th man”, to borrow from football. It sounds like you want that that “12th man” to hold the club to a threshold of performance and entertainment value . I can get behind that. You boo from your seat, I’ll keep quiet or leave from mine. And I’ll at least understand what’s being conveyed by the boos.
Yeah, MacIntosh isn’t my idea of a #1. And I get wanting to play Pulskamp. I’ve argued he should be starting. But anyone saying he is why we lost is deluding themselves. He made at least 3 good saves and didn’t have much chance on the goal. You want to blame someone on the goal, blame Fontas, for clearing it straight up the middle and low, so it could come right back at goal, faster.
But regardless, we created nothing in the 1st half. In the 2nd, Salloi had no less than 3 chances from point blank. He failed to get a shot on ANY of them. But it’s the goalkeeper’s fault. Russell has been a non-entity since his return. There is one player on this team in the attack who has played with any consistency, and he’s probably out the door at the end of the year.
Frankly, I can’t blame him.
Appreciate the feedback!
No we didn’t dive into the midweek game very much as it was days away. But it’s good to know people listenening still care to hear those discussions later on. So thank you again.
I wouldn’t say we “focused” on the goalkeeper situation. At least that wasn’t my intent. It was a conversation being had on our slack and I wanted to give those people a few minutes to talk about it.
I did choose to make the article headline about Khiry and we had a long talk about it. That is what people were talking about after the game. It’s a rare, sad thing that happened and it’s entirely relevant.
And that being the topic ended with much more engagement, as you can see. We spoke about the ins and outs of this game as well. But the Khiry thing is definitely the headliner over a 1-0 loss.
But for real thanks for the comment and will keep all this mind. We genuinely don’t get it often so this helps.
Maybe I am confusing pods, but I thought the pulskamp/Macintosh had been hashed out multiple times already (play the future not the guy that likely has capped) which turns into how we (vermes) lack development of young players and that they waste away on the bench. How it runs counter to the history of vermes wanting “a starting 11 of academy players”. If so, I apologize for confusing my SKC content.
I don’t also think it is super rare regarding shelton. I hear it every time he has stepped on the field this season. I hear it every time his name is announced. It isnt always an outright “boo”. It is more often a collective groan, followed by people just leaving or checking out of the game depending on time left.
I love the behind the scenes content of training, the tactical variances that I can’t see from the cauldron, and the team insight as you have more of a relationship with the team as a group than I do. I keep listening for that stuff, as I don’t want an echo chamber of repeating content.
Khiry is bad. Khiry has pretty much always been bad. I’ve been upset about his signing since the first go-around. He’s also been done a disservice by PV with the positions he’s been put in and the salary the he’s given (which of us is going to say no to $600k even if we know we don’t deserve it?).
I hear the arguments that the boos are more about PV than they are about Khiry. I can respect that from those of you who have commented. But can you say the same is true of everyone who is booing in that stadium? And how is Khiry supposed to know the difference between PV boos and boos for him? I cannot emphasize this enough—I strongly dislike Khiry as a player. That being said, the boos feel too much to me.
And I won’t say you should boo as well. I cannot empirically say that everyone has the same reasons, but anytime I discuss with fans (friends and strangers, random people I sit next to) it does come back to vermes and the decision to play him.
It isnt fun, but as someone else pointed out, what about our experience? I paid to be entertained and support a winning team. I have no shame in admitting that success on the field makes life look better and reinforced my support for the club. I went in on season tickets, something that I have always wanted to do but have never been able to justify (and still really can’t to be honest) before. Now I get to watch this? And knowing vermes decided he was worth an unjustifiable amount? To hear how Shelton should have rubbed in his singular goal to the fans? I’m not condoning European fanatic behavior, but what is being displayed here is so much tamer than they would put up with and what shelton would be subjected to over there. When you choose the life of a professional athlete you know what you open yourself up to, good and bad. It isnt a new phenomenon. If khiry does follow any social media (not advised), he would also see every asterisk that goes with the comments: *he is such a great human (and all other variations that people try to soften the fact that he just needs to move on)
Just trying to make an account.
You’re in!
I found this article about Jordan Lyles and couldn’t help but think it could maybe be changed slightly to be about Khiry
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jun/27/jordan-lyles-kansas-city-royals-mlb-baseball-era-losses
Sooo… I’ll preface this by saying I wouldn’t boo Kirby (maybe if one of us was drunk) and I agree that most of the boos are really pointed at PV. However, no one is talking about one of Shawn’s points: He’s a professional player making over half a mil per year. Just because he plays like an inept 12-year-old doesn’t mean we should treat him like he is. Devil’s advocate – isn’t not booing when he plays badly kind of patronizing? It’s like saying, “We know you’re trying your best, my special guy!” and then patting ourselves on the back for being so compassionate that we’re willing to trade winning for the smile of a child. You could argue that booing him when he’s earned it is a sign of respect. Don’t teams say that as the reason when they pummel some D2 team 7-nil?
My argument is that booing him is appropriate post match but not as he enters.
That’s fair. At least give him a chance to earn it.
I won’t get into it, but if Khiry is an average player, how Vermes uses him makes him below average.
He has undeservingly become the crest for #VermesOut and fans frustrations.
We should be booing Vermes.