Ray Hudson breaks his silence.....

[Cweedchop]

http://www.soccertimes.com/oped/2004/madbrit/apr23.htm


About half way down to the section that is entitled "Where's Ray"..

Not exactly very flattering comments about the typical American player, Convey and Olsen in particular..

I'm not saying he is wrong, just that he is very honest about his feelings..

Good to hear from Ray but he could have been more diplomatic without dumping on Bobby/Bennie, but, that's Ray.....

[banbaseball]

in the words of t.soprano, "c0ck sucker."

[szazzy]

Olsen maybe, but Convey? Whatever. The kid is way too young and shown way too much poise in international matches to be brushed aside like that. He's athletic, yes, but does that mean he has less vision? I've think for the role and responsibility he gets from BA at this young an age says more about his skill than the lack of quality on the American side.

[McGinty]

Yeah, screw quick and athletic. I want fat, slow, over the hill players with terrible attitudes. :rolleyes:

[onefineesq]

you guys are taking this way too personally. he didn't say that Convey was bad. he just basically said that the guy is not someone who brings any special or out of the ordinary skills to the table ........ which he doesn't. he has good skill with a tremendous work ethic, tons of hustle, and great athleticism. there is no shame in that.

ps by the way, i just read the link that was provided. I was going off of this by memory, because someone yesterday or the day before had provided the link to the more complete interview with Hudson. The site provided in this thread only gives snippets. in the full story, he is not railing on Convey and Olsen. he is talking about the specialness of Adu and then kind of floats back into how his skill level is on another level than everyone else, including those guys. the quote on the site provided here has no context to soften the blow of what he said in that one sentence.

[ChrisE]

Yeah, I really think Ray Hudson is the guy who we need to be listening to about young American talent, considering his judgment on the subject has heretofore been pretty much infallible.

[greatscott]

Yeah, screw quick and athletic. I want fat, slow, over the hill players with terrible attitudes. :rolleyes:

stoich and marco are gone man, but you could try to get gazza

[McOwen]

This is eaxctly why I defended Ray.. people going off on him for all the wrong reasons...

What he said (in case people are too lazy to click the g-damn link):

"He is an awakening for soccer. He is the first one to come out with a different manner in the way he plays. The vast majority of players look as though they've come off a conveyor belt. They've been fashioned in a certain way, cobbled, dictated to by their college coach or whatever. Freddy is the first one where even the kids are going 'Wow!' "

And how about this one: "There is something special there, for sure, but he is far from a finished. This is not the Rembrandt of soccer here. He is an exquisitely gifted little footballer, but he's still a little chicken coming out of the egg. It's just that he's the first player in America to reach this height of attention, so the expectations are tremendous."

Or how about this: "He isn't your cookie-cutter, Bobby Convey-, Benny Olsen-type of player who's just athletic, very good, but without that extra dimension to them. This kid has that X factor in him. He's the first one in this country that people have said, 'Whoa.' "

I love Olsen and I STILL think he is right. Adu (and even Quaranta) are special because they are not the generic (but good) hard working US type player. Adu (and Quaranta) can actually take a ball through defenders with the ball at their feet. That is the type of player we rarely if ever see in the US ranks. Thats what I see Ray saying here. It also supports my long standing belief towards Convey. He IS special. But far more special in a JOHN HARKES way then a Marco Etcheverry one. Apples and oranges really... but many people around here dont seem to know the difference.

[Sanguine]

This is eaxctly why I defended Ray.. people going off on him for all the wrong reasons...

What he said (in case people are too lazy to click the g-damn link):



I love Olsen and I STILL think he is right. Adu (and even Quaranta) are special because they are not the generic (but good) hard working US type player. Adu (and Quaranta) can actually take a ball through defenders with the ball at their feet. That is the type of player we rarely if ever see in the US ranks. Thats what I see Ray saying here. It also supports my long standing belief towards Convey. He IS special. But far more special in a JOHN HARKES way then a Marco Etcheverry one. Apples and oranges really... but many people around here dont seem to know the difference.


exactly. He even said Olsen and Convey were very good. He's not saying those players aren't skilled, but that they lack flair. I think it's a perfectly fair assessment.

[DigitalTron]

Not exactly very flattering comments about the typical American player, Convey and Olsen in particular. F Hudson. He proved that all he could do is hold onto Preki's coattails and play thuggish uber-defensive bore-ball. He took one of the better teams in the league scoring-wise (United) and made them challenge for the leagues all-time futility record offensively then tried to cover it with a smeared layer of BS. When Convey played in the middle, Hudson's teams SCORED. Yet, Hudson has his pre-conceived notions so freaking set in his mind that he can't see the obvious, and it rightfully cost him his job. This man is so set in his ways that he'd cut off his nose just to spite his face. He's a great quote, but one of his many faults was that he didn't know when to keep his pie-hole shut. It's no wonder we landed ZERO transfers under Hudson.

He comes in preaching that we have talent and he only wants to "tweak" the roster, then he completely remakes it in wholesale changes and he hides behind the weak excuse that we didn't have enough talent. Face it Hudson, the problem wasn't Convey or Olsen, it was YOU!

Look at what we were begging for you to do for so freaking long ... it's what Nowak is doing! Guess what dipstick, it works! Pizz off Mr. anti-American Brit. Our nation of "cookie-cutter" players outplayed your beloved England in the World Cup, so we must not suck as badly as you think. I, for one, am DANG GLAD you are nowhere near Freddy.

-Digital

[shawn12011]

This is just another "Paul Gardener Style" arguement.

"Too much coaching stifles creativity"
'There is an untapped group of players hidden in the inner cities of this country"


Hudson is just repeating the same mantra he used at United. He just threw what he believed to be the most talented players and give them only minimal direction. He believed that superior talent would win out over organization most of the time. Well his record showed that that was not he case in MLS, since you could not simply buy 11 extremly talented players with a salary cap to work within.

[geordienation]

Two things:

1) WHY did you link to a Mad Brit column and not give fair warning?!?!?!?! This guy's a complete idiot who can't spell. (Gary Nevill?)

2) F Ray Hudson.

[geordienation]

Just finished reading the rest of it . . .

Patrick Viera is now playing in Italy??????

What a moron.

Soccertimes: Worth exactly what you pay for it.

[Funkfoot]

Yeah, I really think Ray Hudson is the guy who we need to be listening to about young American talent, considering his judgment on the subject has heretofore been pretty much infallible.

He actually had a good draft last year, he just didn't play the guys...

[vivaelbolivar]

Yeah, screw quick and athletic. I want fat, slow, over the hill players with terrible attitudes. :rolleyes:


Oh when o when will we stop bashing Marco.

[MikeLastort2]

I guess Hudson thought Eskandarian and Carroll were just run of the mill Americans judging the amount of time he gave them on the field. He was a bad coach in MLS because he doesn't understand the most important aspect of it - the fact that there are mostly run of the mill American players on every team's roster and that they're not going to get any better if they're sitting on the bench.

And yeah, that article was a piece of crap, just like everything else "The Mad Brit" writes.

[supermanuno]

Oh when o when will we stop bashing Marco.
They won't ..... they think Convey is great player......(work rate and he LOOKS dangerous) lol that all they are left saying about this golden boy! 4 years of ********!

[GrillMaster]

Oh when o when will we stop bashing Marco.We are not bashing Marco! There are some morons here who do, but thanks goodness it's a free country so that locos make themselves self-evident.

(Of course, from their point of view, they are thanking God that it's a free country, too!) ;)

GM

[C. Ronaldo7]

I agree with him, but I have yet to see the "X-factor" in Adu. Except for the lind he drinks. To tell the truth, I haven't seen anything. That goal was frickin luck to get through all of those players on the ground. So far even, even though I know about the pressure, Freddy's been suckin it.

[owendylan]

This is eaxctly why I defended Ray.. people going off on him for all the wrong reasons...

What he said (in case people are too lazy to click the g-damn link):



I love Olsen and I STILL think he is right. Adu (and even Quaranta) are special because they are not the generic (but good) hard working US type player. Adu (and Quaranta) can actually take a ball through defenders with the ball at their feet. That is the type of player we rarely if ever see in the US ranks. Thats what I see Ray saying here. It also supports my long standing belief towards Convey. He IS special. But far more special in a JOHN HARKES way then a Marco Etcheverry one. Apples and oranges really... but many people around here dont seem to know the difference.

You're right they're special lazy American players.