For years, it was the most authentic experience Major League Soccer had to offer. In many ways, they were US soccer’s marquee club. The usual derision thrown at American teams, the kind that mocks the plastic rivalries and contrived narratives of a soccer-sphere still establishing itself, never stuck on the Seattle Sounders with their decades of history and average home attendance of over 40,000 fans. They set the precedent for what a soccer team could achieve in the States.

Making it to the MLS Cup final in back-to-back seasons, winning their first championship in 2016, underlined the stature of the Seattle Sounders. But despite that second MLS Cup final appearance coming just five months ago, a lot has changed. An insipid start to 2018 has seen a groundswell of frustration that had been bubbling under the surface for quite some time. The club is on the brink of a supporter uprising.

While disappointing results have been a factor, this unrest has its roots in much more fundamental issues. As some fans see it, the ambition that once saw the Sounders sign a peak Clint Dempsey in a watershed deal for both the franchise and the league has dissipated, encapsulated by comments made by general manager Garth Lagerwey this month. “I think the days of Seattle being the biggest spender in the league are probably behind us,” he said.

It was what many supporters feared to be their club’s party line behind closed doors. Lagerwey went on to suggest that Seattle could no longer compete with teams in bigger markets, expressing his view that “the landscape is shifting, it’s changing, and it forces us to be more efficient with some of our decisions, a little bit more strategic.”

For many, terms like “more efficient” and “more strategic” read as “cheaper.” This admission from Lagerwey prompted a backlash from some sections of the Sounders support, with the man himself eventually admitting that he “screwed up”. His backtracking did little to appease a wound tight fanbase, though. “The reaction was born out of a larger sense that the Sounders just aren’t doing as much to compete as they once were,” explains Jeremiah Oshan, host of Sounders-focussed podcast, Nos Audietis. “I don’t know if I agree with that sentiment, but Lagerwey didn’t exactly deliver the latest package of frustration with much care.”

No fan wants to hear that their team will no longer spend big on players. But perhaps Seattle are looking at how the New York Red Bulls implemented a similar strategy following the introduction of the glitzier, more glamorous New York City FC to MLS in 2015. Thierry Henry was never replaced, with the club focusing on bringing through young talent instead. But they have remained successful, winning the Eastern Conference in each of the two years that followed Henry’s exit, also lifting the Supporters’ Shield in 2015.

Some fans see this. “We saw the success Garth had with this at Real Salt Lake,” says Cameron Collins of the Gorilla FC supporters group. “It just takes years to build, so we have yet to see the benefits of it here in Seattle. Because of that, many of the fans are okay with mortgaging the future of the club by signing a DP now who may not be the best fit, and who may leave the club hamstrung when trying to make other moves. My hope is that the fans trust in the system being built and see that the club is trying to create success for years to come. It’s not worth throwing that away in the name of a quick fix now.”

All this feeds into a wider discussion around the role of the Seattle Sounders as soccer in the United States and Canada moves into a new era. The introduction of the two Cascadia rivals, Seattle and Portland, was a landmark moment for the development of the league. The Sounders in particular signalled a shift into the third phase of MLS’s development but now, it almost feels as though they have been left behind by the growth they helped push along.

Atlanta United and Los Angeles FC have taken MLS to new places, particularly in the case of the former who have replaced Seattle as the seething hotbed of the American game. The sight of 70,000 fans performing the Viking Clap, giving Atlanta United the highest average attendance in MLS in their expansion season, has at least made the CenturyLink Field experience that little bit less novel.

From that has born an insecurity in some Sounders fans. “The Sounders are not the team who are the focus of so much outside attention and as much as many of us find that to be a relief, there are others who I think miss being the envy of everyone else,” says Oshan. Indeed, the viral videos of sell-out crowds, of jaw-dropping TIFOs, are not from CenturyLink Field anymore. They’re of a packed out Mercedes Benz Stadium, of ‘The Wall’ at Orlando City games and even of LAFC’s shiny new Banc of California Stadium, with all its mod cons and fancy bathroom fixtures. Seattle is no longer the front MLS puts on for the world.

The poor start to the 2018 season isn’t necessarily a reflection of the wider problems the Sounders are facing. Injury has struck down a number of their key players, with Clint Dempsey struggling for fitness, Nicolas Lodeiro suffering a foot injury and Jordan Morris potentially out for the rest of the season. So far, they have been denied the chance to build any sort of rhythm. Will Bruin says Seattle have become “too predictable,” while head coach Brian Schmetzer has confessed to being “pretty frustrated” at the way things are going for his team at the moment. He and about 45,000 home fans.

But these are sporting problems, things that can even themselves out over the course of a season, especially one with a playoff format. There is a more fundamental debate taking place at the Seattle Sounders right now, one that concerns the identity of the club as a whole. The crowds still turn up at CenturyLink Field like they always have, despite their poor start there’s still just six points between them and the playoff places, Seattle remain an MLS superclub. But for some, that’s not enough.