Payne is bringing 17 years of MLS experience where he's worked for like 7 different bosses sometimes with the deck stacked against him. He has strengths and weaknesses, but one thing you can count on is that TFC won't be hiring a new coach every 6 months. You also won't see multi million contracts going to 35 year old European players with a "name" His stability alone will be loads better than what TFC's had so far.
Not sure ... but TFC's DP adventures as a whole have not really worked. To be fair neither have DC's, but DC's DPs have been a lot cheaper than Toronto's. And frankly the parameters of the DP use under Payne have been very responsible. The targets have been affordable and in the 26 to 32 age range. The reason they haven't worked out is more due to the execution of Dave Kasper and the coaches. But that's a whole different story. Dave Kasper has been a disaster recruiting players players in the foreign market. It is alarming that Payne stuck with Kasper even after 5+ years of abject failure.
Payne will do whatever TFC's ownership wants him to do. He was great for DC United, from 1995 (helping to form the team) through about 2001 (when Etcheverry's decline was completely obvious to everyone but him). After that, anything good that ever happened to DCU was in spite of, not because of, him. His biggest failure, IMO, was the inability to work with the DC City Council then the PG County Council in getting a stadium built. My grades on a year by year basis 1995 - A+ 1996 - A 1997 - A 1998 - A 1999 - A- 2000 - B+ 2001 - D 2002 - D 2003 - D 2004 - C+ 2005 - D 2006 - F 2007 - C 2008 - F 2009 - F 2010 - F 2011 - F 2012 - D Overall, I'd give him a C-/D+ over his 18 years with the league (from before the time the league officially began) Good luck, TFC. You're going to need it if he's leading the front office.
Which is another reason Payne sucked. He should have gotten rid of Kasper a long time ago, but he kept him around in spite of horrible results. And bring back former players, as if they could somehow rekindle some of the old magic from 1996-1999, or the 2004 MLS Cup. Raul Diaz Arce, Roy Lassiter, Carey Talley, Richie Williams, Christian Gomez, etc. The only DCU retread that worked out was Jaime Moreno, and that was because the coaching staff had enough sense to play him differently after Etcheverry was gone. And Etcheverry is another major problem. I loved the guy, but he was clearly past his prime from the beginning of the 2000 season, yet it took Payne and company another four years to figure that out. If you're going to give Payne credit for picking up good DPs (which I don't agree with - what's the point of hiring a DP that rides the bench?), then you have to criticize him for holding onto bad DPs (and I'll put Etcheverry in that category, since the DP rule didn't exist during his decline) far too long. As I noted in my last post I'd give Payne a C-/D+ over his entire MLS career. He's already lying to the TFC fan base by telling them that this move was entirely his decision. He shouldn't admit he was fired, but he also shouldn't try to pretend he wasn't pushed out. A statement that "I am looking forward to new challenges" would be a lot better than a statement that "moving to TFC was my idea because I needed a change of scenery" would have been a lot more appropriate. Good luck, TFC. If Payne is really going to be running your front office, you're going to need it. I'm not a Redskins fan, but if I was to use an analogy, I'd say that Kevin Payne : Vinnie Cerrato :: Soccer knowledge : Football knowledge
One other thing I forgot to mention When Onalfo was fired during the 2010 season, Payne said that Olsen was just the interim coach, and would finish out the season, but that they'd find a new coach for 2011 because Olsen wasn't ready. At the end of the 2010 season, Olsen actually retired from soccer completly, and Payne and company tried to find a replacement, and looked at about at least 10 candidates, all of whom said no. After a month or so, suddenly Payne told the media that Olsen was going to be the head coach for 2011, Olsen "unretired" and has been the coach ever since. And Payne tried to claim that hiring Olsen as head coach was his idea. The only reason Olsen is coach today is that the front office that was run by Kevin Payne were unable to find a replacement. Unless he's changed his ways, he'll lie to TFC fans the same way he did to DCU fans. PS - Poplar Point Stadium Renderings (Google image search) Prince George's Stadium Plans (Washington Post Article)
Gotta add some 5'3" forward no one who has ever heard of, but who scored three goals for a second-division mid-table Argentine second division team. A guy who's not good enough for the Argentine national team, but who has has a lot of potential.
I really can't see how anyone, especially DC United fans, can say that Payne is a good GM. What am I missing here?
You're 100% right. My posts were tainted by a combination of nostalgia and abject pity for Toronto's misery.
Honestly you joke here, but I have a feeling that KP will make a move for someone in DC that we actually like one day. For example I can see him trying to pluck Jaime Moreno from our U23 team.
I think he was a great when the league started, but went downhill in a big way when he took the whole stadium deal for granted, and greenlighted (greenlit?) the "Win Win Trophies" campaign. IMO, he should have been fired as soon as Poplar Point fell through.
I don't think Moreno would ever leave DC United. Far too many ties to the DC area. And I seriously doubt that Jaime and Kevin are exactly friends.
You might want to look at Koevermans strike rate before he went down with the injury (which was not really age related)...
Kovermans, like Hassli, is terrible value for money. When he got here he was overweight but we all figured during the offseason he would ..... you know get in shape to justify his salary but he came to training camp even fatter than before. Also, no way Cochrane should have been the one picking up Hassli's option a day before Payne arrives. It's bad enough that the trade was even made in the first place. All the DP's should have been purged from our roster.
"Terrible value for money" is someone like Kris Boyd, who played in 26 games and scored 7 times. "What if" is Danny Koevermans, who played in 9 games and scored 8 times.