^ Hate that!
just my observation:
it sounds like there's a shift in gears from the FO. BDKs role in the organization, as he's explained it, is to put emphasis on youth that they weren't getting before, to bridge the gap between the youth and the first team. from those of you who've met or spoken to BDK, we can all agree that he has a fantastic football mind, specifically in terms of youth development, one that was essentially wasted on the sidelines. with the increased emphasis on youth, and the new academy/training facility being built, it appears that the FO are realizing that youth is the way to go. you build up players on the cheap (compared to purchasing) to adhere to your system, and if they don't fit, you sell them. putting people in bed with winter that have "MLS experience" is a stop-gap measure being used to make sure that we're still semi-competitive during this period. this move was made to solidify our development system, i think when it's firmly in place we're going to be the envy of the entire league. LA/NY have their "glamour factor", which we can never hope to match, so instead we're going to bypass that with a strong youth presence, as evident by us currently having the youngest roster in the MLS.
thoughts?
That's today's problem only, hopefully.
If the youth movement works out as *hoped* and TFC turns into a regular, successful football factory we could see younger players (such as the oft sought after South Americans) wanting and desiring to come to Toronto because they know they will be developed and this is a good gateway to success.
Hopefully.
The Academy looks to have plenty of focus on it and the number of kids to come out of there should grow but I think that expectations must be realistic. If we have kids to stock the bench for the senior squad and then keep a competitive level in CSL for now we can hope for maybe one starter growing every season but we have to get past the fact that there will be cases like Aleman's that go to other MLS teams since not all our going to be suited for our team. After that we should hope for 1 every 4-6 seasons to grow to a level that could do well in Europe.
Ajax wasn't built in a day and we should aspire to be the Ajax of NA first. It's a jungle out here with competition from the NA tradition of NCAA and then you have NA Academies in the US PDL which doesn't do as much for building a semi pro path for Canadian kids to stay in Canada for as long as they can.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
Well hearing all that makes me feel a little bettter about what's going on in the FO that I was earlier in the week. It looks like everything will probably come to a head after Bell/Rogers takes over. If they're smart, they'll look at both competing philosophies and pick one, going with the FO staff that adhere to that vision. I'm hoping its the attacking football style, but you never know...
I wasn't sure where to put this... seemed somewhat relevant in this thread...
Total PR with TR & BDK:
http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2012/0...-1-may-16-2012
and
http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2012/0...-2-may-16-2012
He said something at 2:00. Said "but the people - the fans, didn't ???????? ???????? in one or two years, so thats why you were brought in here." (or something along those lines)
Not sure what he said there. Could be a dig, maybe not?
I think they believe that the Academy is the answer and I believe it is just part of the answer.
If all BDK does in his new role is roll out some new drills, small sided games and bring in new coaches it will be a success for youth development in the province but it may not be a success for TFC for a long, long time.
The idea of finding a steady stream of reliable and top level talent that is developed locally is like embarking on a plan to go fishing for Alaskan King Crab in Lake Muskoka. The kids that have progressed under the OSA's development plan are years behind many, many countries. To play catch up in their senior years is a lot to ask. I think that the real value will come from the U12-13's that are in the system now but manyU8-U11 players that form the pool from which the Academy draws are playing for associations that in the past have been playing for relegation/promotion not for development. Even within the OSA, a key piece of the the Long Term Player Development model won't be implmented until 2014 with the OPDL and even then, it will be phased in starting with the 2001 birth years.
I am in favour of an emphasis on some youth players BUT I would hope that BDK is not limited to a geography. The move in MLS to look for Designated Players under the age of 23, is something that we should get behind. That said, there will always be a place for experience on a roster to inject confidence and to teach these "assets" how to parlay their game into something that could be transfered out... every kids' dream. My hope is that BDK's role requires a significant amount of time, with the supporting funds, to be invested in developing one of the most robust North American and International scouting networks that the MLS has ever seen.
Last edited by Pookie; 05-19-2012 at 06:53 AM.
^ And developing players and retaining them on TFC are two different things - there's still the salary cap to content with. And TFC does not have a great track record of keeping players for very long now, let's hope that gets better, too.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
^ denime would know. I trust his information.
The one thing is Ives wasn't just blowing smoke about Mariner's and Winter's relationship being disfunctional. I know I laughed at Ives seemingly jump to conclusions at the time, but it turns out there wasn something there.
time to re-arrange the deck chairs before the ship goes down
The person I talk to wasn't so eager to talk about whole TFC/FO situation,I managed to get some info and nfortunately we were interrupted when JB question came around,so I don't know much what the deal is with JB.
As it is right now BDK is PM boss and that I was told from two different people and one more thing I was told is that thing will change for better,meaning pragmatic approach to the first team,while keeping the philosophy of the club and going on with academy programs as planed.