If I had to guess at what is going on:
-I think the bosses got their heads turned by the momentum in CMNT ratings (158,000 for the Mexico game at the Azteca, 338,000 vs Panama, 713,000 vs CR, 1.153 M for Mexico game in Edmonton)
-I think Manning read the room, he is a canny operator, who had a damn close call on the Curtis fiasco, and knows he doesn't have that long a runway here anymore anyway
-I think he made a battlefield decision to go big and totally switch up his messaging/approach, and become the bald Tim Leiweke
Or something like that
Last edited by ensco; 01-03-2022 at 10:58 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
A 2022 world cup with both USNT and CMNT qualified will give a lot more legitimacy to MLS for North American casuals. Spending now positions TFC as the MLS glamour team before a 2023 jump in MLS viewership.Spend now to ensure you are the North American equivalent of Barca or Man City or insert fav eurosnob club here and enjoy the jersey sales going forward
Last edited by Gringo Starr; 01-03-2022 at 01:19 PM.
MLSE is playing the long game. That's what made them buy into MLS in the first place. Eventually viewership will make their investment worthwhile. In the meantime keeping TFC from sliding into irrelevance is the short term goal.
As fascinating as all the financial talk is, we got a SuperDraft coming! This mock draft has us taking a (probable) GA goalkeeper at 3.
https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/coll...on-10_aid50354
I think this is fairly accurate especially the part where CMNT turned heads. If 1.1m watched live then a big percentage watched on demand or watched highlights. The swing from 338,000 to 1.1m two games later featuring the same teams does it for me. 300k people expected to lose and when it never happened, 800k more people got word and had to tune in. That’s a definite hype and marketing reason.
Anyways I hope all these rumors come to fruition or they better get a few more crisis negotiators on the Ontario government’s payroll as people will be looking for a ledge. You can also hedge that if some of these rumors don’t pan out Manning gone. You can’t pump the tires this much and survive coming out empty handed.
I haven't followed Serie A in years, so I started looking at game sheets from the past couples of months to get a sense of how his current role in the club. It did seem like recently he was coming off the bench more often than starting. I saw in a couple instances he wasn't in the lineup. So I assumed maybe injury? or maybe he's just not in the plans anymore?
If he comes here in June - he's going to be burned out by the time the WC comes along, assuming Italy even makes it.
He's going to finish the grueling portion of the Italian season and he's going to come into the grueling portion of the MLS season (The heat and travel alone are going to kill him if he comes in July) and then right into the WC.
If he comes now, he gets "a break" and he can ease into MLS and the quirks of it all
I mean, coming to MLS is a step down and if that's what he wants, does he step down now or hold off until June? Loyalty's aside, If he's not seen as integral to Napoli's plans, why finish the season there? Why not start being the top dog here where he is being sold as the guy who will lead the club to North American success (MLS and CCL?) as opposed to holding off?
Anyways. I'm with you. He'll be here in July, won't integrate until August. I hope I'm wrong.
Last edited by jabbronies; 01-03-2022 at 12:06 PM.
I doubt we take a keeper. For the 3rd pick, I'd want someone who has a chance at actually being a decent sub, instead of someone never taking the field. For the 3rd keeper, I feel it's more likely we sign Andreas Vaikla from TFC2. He's played in Europe (top tier in Sweden, Finland, and Estonia), 3 appearances in the UEFA Champions League, has 3 national team caps for Estonia (all before age of 20, so he's still eligible to switch to Canada), plus born and raised in Canada so he's domestic. I was surprised he came to TFC2 (even though he played little in the couple of years prior - I think he had injury issues). I could see it as he was promised a first team contract for this season, just had to wait for Silva to expire, so joined TFC2.
My father followed it well enough; some of it rubbed off on me. He was Laziale in a sea of Romanista extended family and siblings; including his twin brother!
It wasn't till his late 60's when a nephew-in-law joined the family did he have some backing and understanding within the clan.
In his youth he had a special place in his heart for two teams... Grande Torino- never, ever Juve, for the original template they gave the National team and Napoli because after the war he did some university time there before joining Italy's reconstituted Air Force under NATO.
I get it and am with you. A part of me too hopes he is more of the mercenary ilk.
I just do not see it. His situation is unique, a local boy, Captain, it is the South, it is Napoli, it is a thing, and with what are pending... the various competition runs. It is a legacy matter, why potentially stain that with the core if nothing drastic has happened to push? He is a / their version of Maldini and Totti.
He's been battling some minor injuries the past month and also just recovered from COVID. Transfermarkt has a good game by game breakdown here: https://www.transfermarkt.us/lorenzo...spieler/133964
Prior to this season he's been relatively healthy. The last time he was out for an extended run of games was 2014/15.
They had two Canadians listed, both from the GTA. Tani Oluwaseyi https://redstormsports.com/sports/me...oluwaseyi/4427 and Mohamed Omar https://und.com/roster/mohamed-omar/.
Neither are Sigma grads, but Omar came up through the TFC academy and played at Berkshire Academy. I think that's where Shaff and Achara played in highschool.
EDIT: Apparently Alistair Johnston's brother is also draft eligible: https://umterps.com/sports/mens-socc...-johnston/9671
Last edited by noxx98; 01-03-2022 at 01:31 PM.
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 01-03-2022 at 11:24 PM.
The problem with the MLS in terms of TV viewers , unlike the other North American sports leagues in the other sports , the MLS has to compete with other soccer leagues in the world and other soccer competitions all over the world . What other hockey leagues for example is the NHL competing with for viewers? There really isn’t any , this is the main problem the MLS will always have. They just did a study in the US and found that soccer as a whole combining all the soccer leagues and competitions in the world that people in the US watch and follow is closing in on baseball which at the moment is fourth in terms of popularity in the US. Therefore soccer as a whole is a top four sport popularity wise in the US and easily close to a top four sport in Canada popularity wise , but the MLS is only a portion of the soccer Canadians and Americans consume , there is so much competition within soccer itself that the other sports don’t have to really worry about.
ensco, great reference mentions of the CNMT and F1 numbers. These are the sort of metrics that would perk the suits.
To be clear, Manning is frosty, but I do not consider him a suit per say in a layer cake sense; he is a cut out.
He well could be the instigator; his hill to die on. I think he is the convenient pawn in this case.
The intensity that Borjan brings with him would be worth every penny. At 34 his age doesn't seem to line up with us though, MTL is likely the team interested in him with Ccl play on the horizon. I hope it is us though. For the draft I hope we just take the best Canadian available and take a flyer on one of our own.
Watching the CMNT I see how easily and consistently Borjan can kick a ball 30 yards or more and land it perfectly at the feet of his teammates. Perhaps Bono has ruined my eyesight and I have forgot this is actually a skill most goal keepers possess but I’d sign Borjan just for this reason and be happy. I just cannot tolerate Bono punting the ball out of bounds over and over like it’s a grenade and he needs to get rid to save humanity.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/Total_TFC/status/1478004886566539265
Thought experiment. What if this was TFC instead of Augsburg buying Pepi?
Which would you prefer? Pepi or Insigne?
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1477997770975895552?s=21[/URL]
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I would prefer Pepi because of age and upside. Anyway we're maybe 30 years away from something like that to happen within MLS.
What's the record for transfer fee(GAM/TAM/SPAM etc.) between MLS teams? Is it even $5M?
Meeting is Rome seems to be re-scheduled for the 10th now, Manning tested postitive for Covid
https://www.tuttonapoli.net/in-primo...ovid-19-491643
Initially scheduled for tomorrow evening in Rome , the transfer market summit between Insigne's entourage and Toronto has skipped. This was reported by Ciro Venerato, Rai Sport 's market expert , according to whom the president of the Canadian club, expected tomorrow in Italy, tested positive at Covid-19. A few hours ago, the molecular test passed and the trip canceled. Bill Manning is asymptomatic and already had a positive daughter for a few days. He hopes to negativize himself in the next few days to set a new summit for January 10th. Covid permitting
(You know, I'm looking at that emoticon & it does remind me a lot of Seba talking to a ref)