wheelock interviews a lawyer for the players

[luvdagame]

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3270754
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i'm firmly behind the players after reading this - maybe. i need to hear the ussf's side.

[Deuteriumoxide]

bleh.

[dcc134]

Pretty freakin unbelievable if you ask me.

Everyone, the players and the federation, gets screwed if they ******** up qualifying.

The January camps are going to set the tone for the entire year, and it going to make or break the futures of some of those players reading to break through.

I've ignored this issue since it came out believing it would go away with a little press, but to be sitting here today with the serious possibility that the camp will be cancelled and they will may use replacement players in the Hex.

For the fed to make this type of stand, when players LOSE money to come over and play, is simply unbelievable.

[Serie Zed]

You can expect a lot of emotion-based, rah-rah, good-of-the-game, we're-not-in-it-for-the-money rhetorical garbage if and when the USSF deigns to explain their position to the great unwashed masses outside HQ.

[MarioKempes]

A failure to qualify would set US Soccer back 10 years. It would be simply inexcusable. If the USSF doesn't cough up more money, I think they can kiss goodbye a significant portion of their fan support, including myself.

I will tell you this, if this matter isn't settled by Feb. 1, I will not be supporting the National Team again. This includes not traveling to any future matches. I know they don't care about the gate receipts for one fan, but if we stand together on this, then you can multiply that figure by the tens of thousands.

Is anyone at USSF listening? :eek:

[Caveat Lector]

oddly enough, a slightly older thread on this subject in the MLS N&A forum ....



http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158177




seems a bit out of place but whatever.

[FormerGermanGuy]

Great article, except that the other side is saying the same thing... see the other thread on calling USSF headquarters.

You can't listen to spin. They're both distorting the things they're trying to screw the other ones over on and playing up their good points.

[Bruce S]

I am agnostic on this but keep this in mind: the senior team makes the money that is used for the junior teams. So unless the US Fed starts to charge the U-17,U-20 and U-23 players for playing for teams that lose money, it is inevitable that the senior team will subsidize the other teams.Guys like Beaz,Donovan and Johnson were parts of teams that lost millions of dollars.

[goussoccer]

I am agnostic on this but keep this in mind: the senior team makes the money that is used for the junior teams. So unless the US Fed starts to charge the U-17,U-20 and U-23 players for playing for teams that lose money, it is inevitable that the senior team will subsidize the other teams.Guys like Beaz,Donovan and Johnson were parts of teams that lost millions of dollars.

As a clarification - the players aren't asking for such a big cut that the USSF can't continue to fund it's other programs. They are looking at the $30 million in the USSF's coffers and the $10 million that USSF gave to MLS to fund some stadiums and saying, wait a minute, if there is that much more money coming in, then we deserve a bigger slice of the pie. I have not seen anything from the USSF yet that says, if we give the players the slice they are asking, this is the impact to the soccer programs we have in mind. That would certainly go a long way to substantiating their position if they did that.

[rkeane15]

One thing i learned from the article is that USSF is locking the players out. I was under the assumption that the players were striking. After reading this article I am with out a doubt on the players side. When I go to the game in Birmingham I will make sure to bring a few signsto let ussf know my feelings. Any ideas?

[truthandlife]

As a clarification - the players aren't asking for such a big cut that the USSF can't continue to fund it's other programs. They are looking at the $30 million in the USSF's coffers and the $10 million that USSF gave to MLS to fund some stadiums and saying, wait a minute, if there is that much more money coming in, then we deserve a bigger slice of the pie. I have not seen anything from the USSF yet that says, if we give the players the slice they are asking, this is the impact to the soccer programs we have in mind. That would certainly go a long way to substantiating their position if they did that.

How do other nations pay their national players?

[Davids26]

A failure to qualify would set US Soccer back 10 years. It would be simply inexcusable. If the USSF doesn't cough up more money, I think they can kiss goodbye a significant portion of their fan support, including myself.

I will tell you this, if this matter isn't settled by Feb. 1, I will not be supporting the National Team again. This includes not traveling to any future matches. I know they don't care about the gate receipts for one fan, but if we stand together on this, then you can multiply that figure by the tens of thousands.

Is anyone at USSF listening? :eek:

I couldn't support a Federation that would field scab players. If they go through with this I'd be done with the national team, and it irks me to say that because honestly even as a fan of the game, the national team are the only team I can truly be fanatical about. The only team where when they win I feel like I'm walking on air and when they lose I'm depressed for a week.

I hate that there is even a prospect of this happening and I hope everyday that this gets settled.

[Magpie Maniac]

One thing i learned from the article is that USSF is locking the players out. I was under the assumption that the players were striking. After reading this article I am with out a doubt on the players side. When I go to the game in Birmingham I will make sure to bring a few signsto let ussf know my feelings. Any ideas?

I, too, tend to lean toward the players, but the article influenced me. To be fair, I need to hear the other side. I hope that this mess is cleared up way before Birmingham. If not, we should expect zero points going into the first home match and "Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland."

[Delta Blues]

Maybe this is the only way the dead weight in USSF will be purged. It may be at the expense of 2006, but this rotting, fetid, rank, stagnant, noissome, decaying organization has to be purged. If not for the incompetence of USSF and their abysmal job of promoting soccer (except the women's team, which is a dead horse they've beaten beyond recognition) this country would be miles ahead in soccer acceptance. It's just my opinion, but USSF has been inept at best in developing soccer in this country. We need a whole new organization, or at least a total housecleaning.

[SABuffalo786]

Maybe this is the only way the dead weight in USSF will be purged. It may be at the expense of 2006, but this rotting, fetid, rank, stagnant, noissome, decaying organization has to be purged. If not for the incompetence of USSF and their abysmal job of promoting soccer (except the women's team, which is a dead horse they've beaten beyond recognition) this country would be miles ahead in soccer acceptance. It's just my opinion, but USSF has been inept at best in developing soccer in this country. We need a whole new organization, or at least a total housecleaning.


The truth of this post just enrages me to the nth degree.

[Charles]

Maybe this is the only way the dead weight in USSF will be purged. It may be at the expense of 2006, but this rotting, fetid, rank, stagnant, noissome, decaying organization has to be purged. If not for the incompetence of USSF and their abysmal job of promoting soccer (except the women's team, which is a dead horse they've beaten beyond recognition) this country would be miles ahead in soccer acceptance. It's just my opinion, but USSF has been inept at best in developing soccer in this country. We need a whole new organization, or at least a total housecleaning.


I suspect that most, as I, hope beyond reason that this is not true, but know in our hearts that it probably is. True, I mean.

[Adam Zebrowski]

well, I can recollect the days when ussf was run as a private fiefdom by werner fricker...

the current ussf is a FAR better creature than the one fricker controlled...

I don't believe USSF has much it can do to have soccer MORE CULTURALLY accepted in this country...

Converting anyone over 30 is a sheer waste...

The growth is with MORE kids grwoing up playing the game becoming MORE interested in the GAME as adults...

Converting non-soccer adults into soccer adults isn't a worthy venture.

culture isn't driven from the top but it's grass-roots process....

ussf and players can bungle the 2006 qualifying and it won't affect appreciably the status of the game...

sure too many people in this country see the women claiming titles, and say, if it's so easy for the women, what's wrong with the men....

small pond, big ocean arguement eludes too many...

[Bruce S]

Maybe this is the only way the dead weight in USSF will be purged. It may be at the expense of 2006, but this rotting, fetid, rank, stagnant, noissome, decaying organization has to be purged. If not for the incompetence of USSF and their abysmal job of promoting soccer (except the women's team, which is a dead horse they've beaten beyond recognition) this country would be miles ahead in soccer acceptance. It's just my opinion, but USSF has been inept at best in developing soccer in this country. We need a whole new organization, or at least a total housecleaning.
knee jerk reaction, but thisis the very same Fed that brought the WC in 1994, and started MLS, project 2010, Brandenton.Not too bad.

[petersoccer]

Pretty freakin unbelievable if you ask me.

Everyone, the players and the federation, gets screwed if they ******** up qualifying.

The January camps are going to set the tone for the entire year, and it going to make or break the futures of some of those players reading to break through.

I've ignored this issue since it came out believing it would go away with a little press, but to be sitting here today with the serious possibility that the camp will be cancelled and they will may use replacement players in the Hex.

For the fed to make this type of stand, when players LOSE money to come over and play, is simply unbelievable.

The Union s laying it on a little thick .

[Grah]

Pretty freakin unbelievable if you ask me.

For the fed to make this type of stand, when players LOSE money to come over and play, is simply unbelievable.


How do they lose money coming over from Europe?

European leagues Close down on all official International dates. Any camps not being played on an international date doesn't have to be honoured by the club. So for a player to be released to go to an camp means they weren't playing in the starting 15 any way.
So no loss