An Uncertain Donovan

He's more than rested. It's either mental or something else.

I doubt that quote reflects a horse needing to gather his thoughts and the horse debating whether or not to even get back on the road.

 

It's a near-masterpiece and an instant BS classic - I salute you!

 

C'est un dicton très fameux de Racine. It's a very well known proverb by Racine.

 

Well scraped!

 

Donovan as steed?

"The wagon rests in winter, the sleigh in summer, the horse never." ~Yiddish Proverb

"If your horse says no, you either asked the wrong question, or asked the question wrong." ~Pat Parelli

"You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." - English Proverb

"It's a lot like nuts and bolts - if the rider's nuts, the horse bolts!" ~Nicholas Evans

"You think you lost your horse? Who knows, he may bring a whole herd back to you someday." - Chinese Proverb

And, an equine proverb that might explain the coach's affinity for all things German? "An ass in Germany is a professor in Rome. " -Traditional German Saying

 

http://www.soccerbyives.net/2013/02/scrimmage-stephens-donovan.html

 

I know some in the LAG forum disagreed with me, and I see their point of view, but a few months leads right up to the transfer window.

I'm really seriously wondering if Landon is pretty pissed about LAG reportedly backing out of the agreed upon transfer to Everton in Aug, LA refused to let him go in Jan(speculation on my part) and he's simply sitting it out until the next and last transfer window under his contract. It'd be the absolute last chance for MLS/LAG to get anything for him.

But I've heard he'll be back in a little while over a month ago, then last week Arena says "I hope" a couple months from now, now it might be a few months. I could be completely wrong and maybe Landon returns in a couple weeks, but it's possible he's mentally done with LA and is sitting out until the next window and they sell him. Can never fully trust a manager's words publicly and if this were the case Arena wouldn't talk about it publicly. I've also heard Arena say Landon isn't going on any loans and then Landon ends up in Northern England a few weeks later. It's all a game publicly.

 

I doubt he'll be worth anything this summer, age 31, with "career deliberations" on his mind and an expiring contract.

 

I don't think he will be worth much at all, but would that stop him from saying you just had two windows to sell me and get more, you refused, so now I'm sitting out and you guys will get scraps for me? He's wanted to leave before when much more could have been made by MLS/LAG and they have repeatedly refused. You don't think it's possible he's comfortable with sitting it out because he's not into playing for LA after that and basically saying let's see what you get for me now. I won't play, you won't make money off me playing and you'll get scraps for me in July or nothing following the season.

 

Well, he never went for the max dollars. He made enough to be comfortable - presuming reasonable and not Terell Owens-Jevon Kearse-Alan Iverson type spending sprees - and it's hard for the LAG to order him anything because he can just retire for good.

(psychobabble warning for a certain poster)

It's hard to read the guy mental outlook anyway. He's a bit all over the map.

 

In other leagues like the NBA, it's not uncommon for a vet player to threaten retirement if he's traded to a bad team. Shawn Marion just did that a couple days ago and it's not about money. I'm not saying any of this is likely, but it wouldn't be unheard of for Landon to be saying behind the scenes, sell me or I'm retiring.

Tough to get a read though as Landon hasn't said anything since Dec and I don't trust managers, i.e. Bruce.

 

Well what are the MLS rules about this? He can sit and not be paid, or retire and get out of his deal right? And if he then were to jump somewhere else I assume LAG would have something actionable, right?

I don't see how this is about Everton in any way. He did a job for them, and then came back because it was a good story. He wasn't needed at Everton... certainly now. They need to be thinking about replacing Fellaini, not snatching up a 30 year old winger who will be worth nothing after his contract.

Everton is about value for money, a permanent deal for Landon NEVER made sense for them. Not 2 years ago and certainly not now. I'd be curious to see a link regarding an agreed transfer that was nixed last summer, though.

 

Everton ITKer who has a very good reputation. Knew about other loans including Landons well before they happened. BTW, Moyes has repeatedly said he wants Landon. It would be great value for a club which doesn't spend big.

This was all after a lot of talk he'd be coming in Aug, or Jan at the latest. He wanted to go, LA said no. Speculation I also saw last summer was that Everton selling Cahill for a minimal amount was directly tied to the expectation Landon was coming. But I'm not digging everything up.

lilly ‏@LillyAnnFraizer
@THT1878 Do you take LA's words at face value or is there still hope Landon ends up at Goodison? Did LA really back out of deal this summer?

THT ‏@THT1878
@LillyAnnFraizer ... We have to take them at face value atm. It would be up to LD to force the issue.Apparently when he returned there was an understanding that they wouldn't stand in his way last summer but they were a bit obstructive and the deal didn't happen despite everyone believing it would do.

1. THT ‏@THT1878
   @McHobey .. Yeah but he wants to come here ! Tonight showed everyone how important he would be for us !
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2. 6h
   Chris McCrudden ‏@McHobey
   @THT1878 even if he does matey, and I believe you 100% he does, if LA say no there's nothing we can do. Gutted.

 

Other appropriate equine quotes:

Maybe not failing body, but whatever it is he's going through I'm not willing to give Landon that much love.

For God's sake Klinsmann - find some F'n carrots.

 

couldnt laugh,baby's napping,so i pissed myself instead.. bastard lol

 

I am really getting tried of all of this from Landon. Don't drag this out to make everyone speculate. Either retire, or set a date for when you will return.

Its borderline ridiculous at this point. I have always been a big fan of Donovan, but he doesn't deserve this special treatment. How many players are allowed to just take a break and tell the team that they will return when they want?

 

Brett Favre comes to mind.

 

That turned out well.

 

How many people have a favorable opinion of Favre?

 

Folks - Bruce Arena is well known to play games with the press. Don't take anything he says at face value. LA might know the exact date LD is coming back (or week), and Bruce may be choosing to purposefully mislead. Cause it's Bruce.

We probably won't know the story until later, if even then.

 

A crap ton - due to his results.

 

well there was some baby mama drama in 2010 after just 3 months in England...can we be entirely sure he's not guilty of B?