Wahl's "MLS Ambition Rankings"

Seems like a reason to print words about how great the Galaxy are while also acknowledging other teams' existence in MLS. Hard to argue with the list, though.

 

This was a pretty good read.

The best part about Red Bulls' situation is that they had Richie Williams. Williams has extensive experience as both a player and coach under, MLS' greatest coach, Bruce Arena, yet they completely disregarded him.

 

Clearly, Grant isn't impressed that we just signed his cousin.

 

Hell, no. He knows that dude sucks.

 

I actually thought he was a little hard on the Crew based on his listed criteria at the beginning. In 2012 the Crew added a jersey sponsor, signed a DP, have been aggressive w/ season ticket sales, hosted a WCQ match, and the youth development programs seem to be doing well.
I'm sure most of this stuff is easy to overlook when it comes to analyzing every team in the MLS, but it was his criteria.
Perhaps he took the Crewzers incident too hard.

 

I think I'd put us above a couple of teams that Wahl puts us behind, like Phats Leon said, we did add a ton of off the field sponsorships and Higuain+Arrieta look like two very special signings. I gotta feel that this list is very much "what have you done lately" which is cut a bunch of players but even then we added Trapp who was a much desired commodity

 

I thought it was reported that HSG paid a transfer Fee of 800,000 for Higuain, I never ever thought I see that. I mean is he upset we went after a 28 year old from Argentina instead of a over 30 player from Europe, or he never played in the EPL. They also put money in the Stadium by covering the fences and putting the Banners up of Crew History and they also installed LED boards this year.

 

Them are internet fightin' words.

 

We still need to win this lottery powerball thing and purchase 51% of the Crew.

I will show them some ambition...

 

I may be in the minority, but I don't think the issue is lack of ambition ("a desire to achieve"). I think the ownership cares and wants long-term success. The problem is one of model or strategy.

We are in the era of transitioning to MLS 2.0, and the Crew is stuck on MLS 1.0. It isn't that they don't care or don't have ambition, its just their plans are based on the 1.0 model. The slow and steady sort of deal. And in their eyes, hey, it worked. We won it all five years ago, keep improving and we'll do it again.

Now, I do see signs of coming out of MLS 1.0. Mainly on the business side. The are trying to shift some from the original "soccer mom" suburban model that MLS started out on. Marketing and what not is starting to focus on Nordecke (18-30 crowd). For the first time in... well that I can remember, they have a business plan with clear goals and steps to achieving those goals.

On the field they learned that investing in an underrated DP talent can pay off and have decided to go for it again.

I think our ownership has ambition. But, shifting institutional behavior and mindset can be a difficult process. We are just slowly (but steadily) catching up to MLS 2.0. Maybe we are at MLS 1.333337 right now. Now, would a new ownership group jumpstart a quick jump to 2.0? Maybe, maybe not.

 

Well, we don't really have an established MLS fullback on the roster with 2 weeks to go to camp. We have a bunch of 6'2 guys that Robert will stick outside, and they'll get eaten up in space by pacier wingers (Williams, Wahl). And aside from Gaven, no real proven winger/outside mid either. Or an established player in CM. Or anyone who can laughably be said to play the #9 role. Nor do we have a particularly good manager (though he isn't particularly bad, either).

Until we have some of those things, it is hard to take the Crew's ambitions seriously. We'll be battling for that last playoff spot in the 4-5 range hoping one of KC, NY, DC, Houston, or Chicago falter a bit, and we can sneak in. That is who we are.

 

Yeah, the on the field stuff was pretty hard to watch all year, but it still is easy to forget that we broke the 50 point barrier with what we had. It was a hard 50+ points to watch, mind you, but that still.

I'm very thankful we don't have TFC or NY's "ambition"

 

Wahl was spot on. It hurts like a sonofabitch but he was spot on.

 

With the way the transfer window works, I'm not shocked. Our transfer window (in) does not open until ca. Jan 21 (that was for 2012--not sure what it is for 2013--but likely the same or almost the same). If we want *good* players (i.e. guys who are under contract) we have to wait until then. Panic on Feb 2 if you like. Again and again and again....

 

I hear what you are saying, but other teams have managed to make some improvement w/out waiting. KC being the most notable.

And I don't necessarily agree about only good players being under contract. Lot's of good players are OOC for one reason or another. Take Bedoya on the USMNT, for instance. If we want a player who is under contract, we'll either have to pay a transfer fee, or take someone on loan. We've got 9 open roster spots (including Duka), and even if we end up signing the three homegrowns we've been eyeing, we are still a half dozen players short of a full boat. Yes, I know, the draft is coming as well. Still, I don't think we are going to be paying 4-5 transfer fees or loan deals.

Which means, despite cutting a VERY significant amount of salary (Hesmer at 181k, Vargas at 175k, Miranda at 140k, Renteria at 133k, Vukovic at 125k, Birchall at 109k, Mendes at 106k, James at 100k, Balchan + Grossman + whatever we saved on Tchani). That's 7 players making over 100k a year totaling over a million dollars gone, + whatever we saved on Tchani + another 150k or so from Balchan, Grossman, and Heinemann.

Yes, I know Higuain and Arrieta will have bigger price tags over a full season, but Higgy can only count 350k towards the cap, and he made at 160k base last year. Cap wise, we are still looking at over a million dollars freed, minus Arrieta's full year price increat, minus Trapp's deal, minus the 60k or so for Wahl.

Bottom line, a lot of unused cash. A lot of unused cap space. Hence, low end ambition rankings.

 

I was more responding to the post(s) I've seen where the "the sky is falling". That may be true--but I prefer waiting a little bit to see what is happening. People really freak out around here when things aren't done "right now". The transfer windows are open worldwide. That means that players have a lot of options and the team got burned in the past with "negotiating in the press"--like with that "Magic" guy. Teams are still figuring out who they want to keep or deal--a lot of the continental leagues are in training camps right now--and there are injuries there. MM keeps things pretty close to the vest with player negotiations, so I'd not at all be surprised if there's an announcement in the next couple of weeks. I'll also not be surprised if there isn't. With a world market and a league that is not at the top of the pack, there will be a lot of possible deals that will fall throught that we'll never hear about. We *have* cleared the decks and are ready for action. We'll see if anything comes of it. But these boards have panicked in the past at this stage and we've always had a pretty reasonable (and full) roster by the time camp comes about.

Speaking about ambition, it's hard to say, but I do agree with the point made that the team did do a fair amount of stuff last season that was not recognized by Wahl, even when similar things were recognized or critiqued for other clubs (specifically calling out Dallas for losing their naming rights while omitting Columbus' jersey sponsor deal--which was a nice coup).

 

6 extra points on the table too, don't forget that.

 

we don't waste enough money like NYRB