I have my concerns about Atalanta. It's just not a great sports city in general outside of the Falcons and SEC/ACC football. The Braves in good years but they don't have many 90% full games. Soccer is quite different from from other sports like basketball, you can develop a niche following. Here's my fallback with Atlanta, while I have my concerns MLS has to try, bottom line. For the league to grow their cannot be off limit markets in the top 30-ish media markets in America and Atlanta is #8. People should remember that 24 likely will be the end of expansion for a little while, but not forever. The league could very well have 30 clubs, maybe 32 but 2030-ish. As I explained earlier growing the sport both financially and through the grassroots is effected by having presence in markets. Putting a team in Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and another in New York is targeted to gradually improve national TV ratings. When that's the case it makes all the sense in the world to push for southern expansion. My biggest concern with Atlanta is on the surface it feels like again we're settling for the redheaded step child of an NFL team and as a league we thought we were past that. Arthur Blank is one of the better owners in the league but the same was said about Robert Kraft. Also I would much rather prefer each new club build a SSS. I'm going to be open minded though, don't know why but I trust Blank and upon much consideration playing in a NFL stadium wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. These new dual purpose stadiums have improved the tarping. Vancouver play in a tarped stadium and honestly on TV your rarely notice it. It's less noticeable than Seattle when they close off sections, like you can clearly see they've reduced capacity in areas, Vancouver that rarely crosses your mind during a match.
This Atlanta move is such horseshit, since they didnt even contact the Atlanta Silverbacks at all during the process.
Bob Kraft has made a large bit of the money for his current net worth from the NFL's rise to the business it is now. He bought the Patriots for some 15 million back in the 90s, and now they're worth almost a billion. It's a pretty popular opinion among the Patriots/Revs community that the Krafts are holding onto the Revs in the event that the MLS becomes the next big thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Blank was in the same boat. If they can break even on their MLS franchises, it's a waiting game while they roll in the swimming pools of dollar bills from their NFL ventures.
I always enjoyed when Pana gave people scares in the knockout round of the CL. Their crowd was electric.
That's what I would define as crappy owners. I don't care what he's done with the Patriots. Kraft is one of he biggest culprits now that Vergara is gone for hindering their franchises. It makes no sense to buy something for a potential benefit and do nothing to improve it. It would be like if Pallotta bought Roma, didn't build a new stadium and just sat on the asset in the hopes Serie A would return to glory and raise it's value.
Not sure how you got that. There's a segment of fans who never saw him play other than a few times out of position for AVB who haven't taken to him but most fans want to see him play, hence why a small number put up those posters, probably kids. It's more directed at the situation than the player. People love conspiracy theories but I'll say it again I know for a fact, he's not bullsh-tting about the injury and neither are the club. I know personally one of the physical therapist who has been working with him. Like always people take lack of information and invent stories but he genuinely was injured, and has been recovering. He's just starting getting fit recently but there really hasn't been a good time to integrate him.
I don't disagree. By all accounts, the Revs are given crap facilities and resources. The Patriots get criticized by fans for not ponying up in free agency, but that is a misguided opinion of their refusal to pay outsiders more than their own stars. They spend up to the salary cap, save a couple mil, every year. However, they are absolutely cheap on the Revs front. It's a shame that they're basically just hoping to break even until further notice.
One major difference I see with Blank and Kraft are the costs. Kraft could get away with investing little, giving the small carrots of "future projects" and keep people happy. I think his expansion fees were very small initially, so he's never really had to invest much. Nobody within MLS seem to have the balls to call him out because to be fair to him, at least his club isn't consistently bad like Chivas USA. With Blank though from jump he's already investing $100m in expansion fees and he's investing a lot of money to make his stadium convertible for MLS matches. I mean there's some question about how he will approach owning an MLS franchise but he's already ahead of Kraft. Here's the thing though, it's quite possible Kraft turns a profit with the Revs which is the most infuriating thing and I'm not even a fan. It's not just a case of him breaking even. New England's revenue is in the bottom half of MLS franchises but they have an estimated operating profit in the top half, around $2.6m. MLS finances are quite different that Europe. Clubs, especially ones like New England don't actually have many expenses by comparison. Remember those are profits after New England gives it's deducted revenue to MLS. So for Kraft I just don't think he cares that much, he gets a minimal profit and he can focus on his NFL team were people claim he's the best owner in America. Every time I hear that as a soccer fan it drives me up the wall. MLS should lean on Kraft to either build a new stadium or sell up. When you look at clubs like DC United who's owners are trying every trick in the book to keep them in DC and build a new stadium, the "effort" from Kraft whose been around from the beginning is a joke. New England/Boston could be a huge market for MLS. For growth of the league we need them to be good and pushing the envelope like Toronto in fact. Columbus Crew recently were sold for $68m. Boston is in a much bigger market with more potential, they would easily be sold for $100m. Whoever buys Chivas USA will likely be the benchmark, Chivas USA might sell for $125m-ish. I say he should sell up and count his money and GTFO. Hopefully Pallotta will buy them. The Krafts Are the Worst Owners in the League
He can train though but if he got hurt again, he could be out much longer and there's no reason to risk that. I'd much rather have him come back next season, with a new manager like Van Gaal (or Pochettino), and start over with a full preseason.
I know, but how do you rate him? How is he in 1v1 situations, converting chances, dribbling, passing, pace?
He's a poacher. He has a good shot, he's quick but nothing crazy. I think he is a good finisher, but he still has a lot of work to do. He isn't good enough in the air even though he has decent size (1.86m). Basically like Whill said he is still raw at this point and could use some more seasoning with a team like Sampdoria. He could be a pretty good striker, but he needs to develop more of his overall game. As far as Poachers go I think he will be a good one. The kind of guy that will score from anywhere inside the 18. As far as dribbling goes, that isn't a strong part of his game, don't expect his to dribble past guys.
For MLS fans..... https://vine.co/v/M1hA9pzBnJ9 Galaxy HG prospect Bradford Jamieson IV has the potential to be a lot better than most of the forwards the Galaxy have produced (even though he spent most his time with CUSA). He's probably the most technical MLS forward I've seen developed from the academies so far and he's a hell of an athlete as well. Shame he's being coached by Onalfo and he only has Bruce Arena to look forward to when he gets into the first team. The level of coaching at the Galaxy is just annoying.