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McBride to Chicago Imminent
On the heels of reports yesterday which confirmed that former US target man and Mike Segroves humiliator Brian McBride had turned down a one year contract extension from Fulham of the EPL and planned on returning to MLS COMES THIS REPORT FROM SHAWN MITCHELL of the Columbus Dispatch which pretty much confirms what most people suspected all along: that a deal for a move to the Chicago Fire is in the bag.
McBride's principle concerns in all of this center around his family. If it were strictly a soccer decision, it's long been known that his heart is with the Columbus Crew.
However, he and his wife Dina have two young daughters and they want a permanent home for them. The Chicago area is where both of their families live, and it's where they want to live when Brian's playing career is over, to be near grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, cousins etc.
As such, there was never much of a question about where he would end up.
(Plus, this will provide many more opportunities for BMB to remind his former little league coach that he once advised him to give up soccer because he'd "never get anywhere" with it. This conversation is made much easier because that former coach is now his father-in-law.)
As for the details of how this will all be done, we can pretty much toss any notion of "MLS Rules" out the window.
While the league will put some nice-sounding legalities up as window dressing, with someone trading something for something else in flurry of players, DP slots, allocations and the like, the bottom line is that there won't be much of anything like negotiations between teams.
No one will be allowed to hold up the process in an effort to sweeten the deal for themselves. No team will spend a lot of time on the phone demanding this or that compensation.
Ivan Gazidis will figure out how it's going to go down, work out the details and then send the teams involved an email. No further discussion will be permitted and everyone darn well better put on a happy face about it all.
Which will render the hundreds of BigSoccer posts regarding who will trade what to whom and how the salary details will work out completely moot. Throw it all out the window. Ask not what your team will decide to trade, but what Ivan Gazidis will decide you can have.
And you know what? I don't have a problem with that.
If there's one good thing about MLS and it's "Single Entity" structure it's precisely this kind of a situation: something needs to happen for everyone's sake and so the league makes it happen.
Some people may grumble, but at the end of the day there are certain guys, a very small handful, who have earned the right to decide where they want to play rather than get dumped into the allocation pile or put up in some bogus draft and sent to Real Salt Lake.
Brian McBride is one of those.
The next job is convincing Peter Nowak that McBride, universally acknowledged around the EPL as "the consummate professional" and "the classiest of class acts" is precisely what the US Olympic team needs to lead a bunch of kids who badly need some examples in just those two areas.
But that's a discussion for another day. Right now, even Columbus Crew fans - maybe especially Columbus Crew fans - are just happy for a guy who is, indeed "the classiest of class acts".
Welcome home, Brian. Good to have you back.
McBride's principle concerns in all of this center around his family. If it were strictly a soccer decision, it's long been known that his heart is with the Columbus Crew.
However, he and his wife Dina have two young daughters and they want a permanent home for them. The Chicago area is where both of their families live, and it's where they want to live when Brian's playing career is over, to be near grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, cousins etc.
As such, there was never much of a question about where he would end up.
(Plus, this will provide many more opportunities for BMB to remind his former little league coach that he once advised him to give up soccer because he'd "never get anywhere" with it. This conversation is made much easier because that former coach is now his father-in-law.)
As for the details of how this will all be done, we can pretty much toss any notion of "MLS Rules" out the window.
While the league will put some nice-sounding legalities up as window dressing, with someone trading something for something else in flurry of players, DP slots, allocations and the like, the bottom line is that there won't be much of anything like negotiations between teams.
No one will be allowed to hold up the process in an effort to sweeten the deal for themselves. No team will spend a lot of time on the phone demanding this or that compensation.
Ivan Gazidis will figure out how it's going to go down, work out the details and then send the teams involved an email. No further discussion will be permitted and everyone darn well better put on a happy face about it all.
Which will render the hundreds of BigSoccer posts regarding who will trade what to whom and how the salary details will work out completely moot. Throw it all out the window. Ask not what your team will decide to trade, but what Ivan Gazidis will decide you can have.
And you know what? I don't have a problem with that.
If there's one good thing about MLS and it's "Single Entity" structure it's precisely this kind of a situation: something needs to happen for everyone's sake and so the league makes it happen.
Some people may grumble, but at the end of the day there are certain guys, a very small handful, who have earned the right to decide where they want to play rather than get dumped into the allocation pile or put up in some bogus draft and sent to Real Salt Lake.
Brian McBride is one of those.
The next job is convincing Peter Nowak that McBride, universally acknowledged around the EPL as "the consummate professional" and "the classiest of class acts" is precisely what the US Olympic team needs to lead a bunch of kids who badly need some examples in just those two areas.
But that's a discussion for another day. Right now, even Columbus Crew fans - maybe especially Columbus Crew fans - are just happy for a guy who is, indeed "the classiest of class acts".
Welcome home, Brian. Good to have you back.
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Indeed.
Is being sent to Real Salt Lake now the American equivalent of being "sent to Coventry?"
Of course, I'm not sure Chicago needs him. Scoring goals doesn't seem to be a problem for them right now. I'd trade Carvalho, Peralta, Burch, Dyachenko, Franco Niell, Emilio, Wells, and Quaranta for to get McBride on DC's roster.Posted 29 May 2008 at 08:13 AM by Clint Eastwood 
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Maybe Chicago has to trade Cootiemac to somebody in return. I wouldn't be surprised to see The Aztec Avenger relocated to someplace warm. Say, Dallas, where the GM is on the hot seat for lack of ticket sales and the team has a DP spot with "Mexican Superstar" written all over it.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 08:30 AM by SabreKhan
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Riiiiiiiiight. Chicago will trade Blanco to Dallas because, y'know, it's warmer. And there's more o'them dusky funny-talkers down there, or something.
I'd look for some dispersal of Chicago's stockpiled depth. Someone in the pile of Barrett/Rolfe/Frankowski/Herron/Carr/Nyarko; maybe a couple of someones. Possibly Conde moves now that he's gotten one good game in the shop window under his belt.
But the idea that McBride arriving means Blanco is leaving - uhhh, no.Posted 29 May 2008 at 08:38 AM by ionprovisioner
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The trade will like be either Marmol or Conde. Both are good, young, solid defenders and both have had issues with playing for the Fire. It will likely be one of them going to TFC for the top allocation spot and then the league just 'allowing' the Fire to sign a second DP.
Any suggestion of trading Mr. White is foolish as Blanco clearly wanted to come to Chicago and is now a fan favorite. No way the league forces the Fire to give him up.
Don't forget that the league has already 'allowed' LA to have 3 DPs spots without having to trade for one of them. This would be no where near as pathetic in regards to ignoring their own rules.
Welcome back Brian! My favorite USNT player of all time! No one could ever question your heart or desire. You are a player that MLS sorely needs.Posted 29 May 2008 at 08:48 AM by Monkey Boy
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I really do wonder if TFC will use up its allocation seeing as they probably have a DP Striker lined up for the summer.
Maybe RSL will give their DP slot and the allocation to Chicago for Conde, Nyarko and draft picks? Then send Conde to New York for Richards/allocations?Posted 29 May 2008 at 10:21 AM by MarkRFC_
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You really think that NY would give up Richards and allocations for Conde after everything that went down? Doubt it.Posted 29 May 2008 at 11:05 AM by metros11
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I will say Conde is Gone.Posted 29 May 2008 at 12:00 PM by santeroatomico
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After last weekend, I think it is clear NY is desperate for some defense. I think Osorio would give his first born child for Conde and/or Marmol if it was a real option (but it's not going to happen)
Posted 29 May 2008 at 12:49 PM by stickfigure
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Blanco, Rolfe, and now McBride? The Fire are looking gooood.Posted 29 May 2008 at 01:32 PM by Sachsen
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Um, excuse me, but are folks really that impatient for Armageddon and the End of Days to descend? Because how, pray tell, is the pairing of McBride and Blanco not tempting annihilation by the forces of the universe?
Geez, like I have to spell it out for everyone.Posted 29 May 2008 at 01:48 PM by Crimen y Castigo
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