I was hoping my son's old clubs (Ottawa TFC) was invited, but it looks like they just invited the closest teams. I'm surprised they didn't choose the furthest clubs because this sounds like a perfect opportunity to scout players that might not get seen frequently otherwise.Originally Posted by rydermike
I have a feeling just about every Canadian would've said that about the Stanley Cup, especially after not having a Canadian team win it after a drought of 5 years, or even 10 years.
Well, here we are 30+ years since a Canadian team won Lord Stanley's Cup, and I don't think it's even talked about these days, save for the odd article on said subject matter here and there.
The ESPN headline isn't what is happening....USSF has ruled that the MLS Next clubs can't play in the US Open cup as the reps of the MLS teams
They have not said MLS teams must participate.
The ‘why’ to MLS ‘must’ play in the US Open Cup…
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/MenInBlazers/status/1737935634231099831[/URL]
https://theathletic.com/5153798/2023...do-villarreal/
Good article on reffing experience at MLS Cup final
The Athletic sub required
That's incredible. Ajax have really fallen off this year.
With his brand-new contract at Napoli, world-class striker Victor Osimhen is making $4M a year less than Lorenzo Insigne.
Ouch. And more evidence that Insigne is going nowhere else.
Overpaying massively has been the method to get certain players to TFC who otherwise wouldn’t be here. Very unfortunately, in this case (Insigne and Bernie) Manning and Co, really didn’t understand what they were doing (method aside).
As budgets rise and prestige rises for the league, this should be less and less necessary. But that would also mean a serious scouting department capable of finding young players who want to use the league for advancing to Europe, as well as identifying the less young players playing in Europe, Mexico and the Americas who would be willing to come and would fit well into the league. Other clubs have done this well… Bez seems to be good at some of this. So far we haven’t seen any evidence of this kind of stuff at TFC with the exception maybe of Pozuelo… but we paid through the nose for him and then he was discarded by Bradley.
A fixed style of play wouldn’t hurt either for TFC.
A reminder that roster discussions are in a different thread.
Abouttime! Tunnel alternative/relief…
And another angle…
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/DJFuzzboy/status/1721966157740081171[/URL]
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 12-30-2023 at 03:29 PM.
https://thecup.us/2024/01/02/comment...t-us-open-cup/
Lots of details on US Open Cup, reference the MLS not wanting to send first team to US Open Cup
RIP ‘Der Kaiser’. The OG ‘Libero’. Bayern great. Germany giant. International footy ambassador and protagonist; NASL/NYCosmos.
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 01-08-2024 at 02:21 PM.
Henry reveals why he didn't come back to Montreal in 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/football...sion-struggles
Respect for this...
I seem to have missed the stunning intra-league MLS news that at the beginning of DEC23 Will Kuntz left LAFC and simply ‘strolled across the street’ to LAG into a role as their new GM! Let’s see how the firm of Kuntz & Vanney progresses.
Yup.
Went through the same thing for decades until I got help in my mid-forties. Depression is brutal, especially when it's pervasive and persistent. You just assume your two emotional norms are "neutral" and "unhappy."
Astonishingly effective medicine out there these days, though. That's a good thing.
Got to say I really really hate the marketing campaign TFC is on with selling ticket packs that features the Miami game. It is so pathetic. It was acceptable in the Beckham days because really they were newly building something. Now they just have zero to advertise from a TFC perspective with nothing positive happening with our team so they are back to trying to grasp at selling tickets due to another team's popularity. I am not surprised. Just saying it turns my stomach with each ad I see. Screw Miami or any other team....get our team back on the map and you will sell tickets.
yeah i think that's just the hallmark of a desperate head office and their corporate office ways being blind to their own need to full-fill some marketing objective so they feel like they can generate hype from something - even tho its disingenuous as fk to basically anyone who really watches this club as a real fan. But I agree with ya.
Maybe i'm naive and live in an social and work bubble that enables this train of thought... but to me their best marketing call after so many years of being shit would be to lay on a thick layer of humble pie and really show it to the fan base and prospective ticket buyers. Acknowledge how brutal everyone in the organization has been. Acknowledge terrible cap management. acknowledge piss poor academy product. Acknowledge years of trying to get up on a shoe box and sell all the suckers who can, tickets to see the mega DP wonders they've brought in town to join the circus - only to fall flat in disorganization and embarrassment. Acknowledge the Ego, and excessive pride in being unable to be agile in decision making and unwilling to complete an about face on a team strategy or build because a few people needing to save their own image. Acknowledge the fundamental organizational shift, and that there's no cutting corners here - they need to simply put an organized winning product on the field to get our attention and hype back. It worked with Philadelphia + Curtin; they held no marketing and promises. They just preached they were gonna be shit, and it would be a process. Were not gonna go big name or flash - were gonna focus all resources on academy pipelines and organizational excellence and create a club thats sustainable... Well...
Maybe it's when a corporate entity can't see the forest for the trees because all they see from the mlse board members to the marketing/operational interns are the yearly annual goals/objectives and milestones they gotta plan for and hit, so they can prove to their superiors they're worth keeping in the organization. But they clearly don't understand the psychographics of their market - and what behaviourally drives soccer fans to come watch this club.
Or maybe they do, and like Flo Perez in Madrid - the die hard day oner's are now seen as 'legacy fans', and all they care about are event/spectacle consuming younger markets who care only for the consumption of the energy of a matchday experience and not actually 'being a fan' and the journey that comes with it. For that they can market Messi coming to town or any other player who's washed up but used to show up on the kids' FIFA FUT teams, and they'll sell tickets.
Last edited by FiveThreeTwo; 01-09-2024 at 03:31 PM.
I am OK with them marketing the hell out of Messi in a ticket package - it gets bums into seats for other games. If they were not, at lot of people, including the MLSE board would be thinking they were incompetent for not taking advantage of the opportunity.
Our need for "fan service" is not what is involved with this.
Don't get me wrong - they don't treat us well enough.
&
that doesn't mean MLSE doing packs for Messi games is a bad marketing thing
Now...if they were only marketing that one match - that would be different.
....bring back the Marlies packs....LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByFN...ature=youtu.be
Sapong confirms in a podcast that Bernardeschi vaping stuff was true.
Last edited by jloome; 01-09-2024 at 06:40 PM.
Someone should send a copy of that interview where Sapong is talking about how terribly misaligned the organization is from top to bottom over to the board.
Manning’s house is a raging inferno and the board can hear the sirens and smell the smoke.
EVERYTHING wrong about US soccer in one tweet
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/tombogert/status/1744893294172348758
nepotism
incompetent owners
coach falling upwards
Yep. A college coach with zero pro experience hired as a div 1 assistant.
Ridiculous.
(And coaching Maguire isn't a feather. They kept Maguire in college until he was 23, when he clearly has the natural talent to have become a pro a lot earlier.)
This shit ends in European players wondering why their manager only knows one tactical approach and one set of drills.
Keith Pelley will be named president of MLSE. He was most recently in charge of European golf tour and formerly of Rogers and Bell. He seems to be media friendly person and I imagine will put himself out there speaking regularly. Hopefully he has big ambitions for the organization like Tim Leiweke.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/mlse-to-hire-keith-pelley-as-president-chief-executive-1.2060702
Last edited by benito; 01-10-2024 at 06:00 PM.
Started as an editorial assistant on TSN Sports Desk in 1986, I kid you not.
Did the TV executive rounds for a while before moving up to senior brass. Definitely a sports background guy, but also probably pretty financially ruthless, given that he's the guy who wrote the PGA/LIV sports deal and was their key negotiator with the Saudis.
I doubt he'll suffer our situation long. He doesn't strike me as inattentive.
Isn’t that the truth. The management of this team has been circling in the drain for years now and the hire-ups either don’t care or don’t know.
Maybe the management change will spur action. We shall see.
He's also a CFL stalwart - Manning's best work is the Argos.
I also understand he's old school sports journo thinking about soccer but others may prove me wrong on that.
I suspect Pelley gives TFC until early August, looks at the ROI then & begins to gather the data necessary to prove his point (he has to be seen to be neutral - if Rogers dude is throwing tantrums, Pelley can't feed that) - if we are doing bad on field or in ROI, moves to change things in September.
Most likely move if just ROI not good? Asks Manning if he is OK with just Argos - unlikely - parting of ways after Argos season.
If TFC bad on field - move changes to early September.
IF ROI good & TFC good - not sure he cares enough about soccer to call out things if results are good but the fundamentals are bad underneath.
IMO, if you see a shark fin, expect a shark. And there is blood everywhere in MLSE water. At an initial glance one may suspect Keith Pelley should provide the most allegiance to Rogers. However, his CV is unique enough that his experiences have assuaged the concerns of the other shareholder factions. He is here to help navigate MLSE’s performance over the next few expected turbulent years of particular challenges to and required transitions for most of their holdings, as well as, probable control of the parent company itself.
Just read in the Athletic that the Loons have not yet hired a manager to replace Heath.
They hired a CSO - Swedish guy most recently with Barnsley - he is showing up "after the holidays", which are apparently not done yet.
Soooooo.....could be worse people....could be worse.
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