Freddy could put a few butts in the seats for the Loudoun County Hounds (Release the Hounds!) in the USL, if it comes to pass. Then he will get discouraged by the lack of playing time.
As I run all the Barra road trips, we make sure the FO doesn't get involved. Jimi and I talk to all the other clubs ourselves and keep our FO out for so many reasons. Lindsay keeps promising us she will promote the Barra and SE roadtrips but never does. A lot of times people come up to our section and ask how we all got tickets in one section since a lot aren't in the know or affiliated with a SG. Orlando and SLC I am missing, doing most of the others. A bunch of people are staying at the Residence Inn for the Atlanta trip FYI if your looking for a hotel.
DP just means that the owners have to pay the excess salary out of pocket right? no complaints if they have a way to have 4 players of that level and only pay for 1
I doubt if the hounds are that dumb, and their fans might show up for one game but that's a season's work for Freddy. 20 mins of playing time and then a year ending mystery injury. Only one team has a FO dumb enough to sign him again.
Yeah but every other team in MLS also has this "way," aka allocation money. They're all availing themselves of it, buying down contracts to fit under the DP cap. But unlike many other teams, we're not also using the second and third DP slots. Our total payroll will certainly be in the bottom third of the league yet again. Except this time ownership and those who like to uncritically parrot their rationalizations won't be able to trot out the "RFK losses" excuse. We won't know for sure until the player's union releases salary figures in the spring, but don't think I'm wrong here.
Total payroll is interesting, but doesn't necessarily correlate with success. RBNY had a payroll in the lower half last year and did well, same for Columbus. Sure, Toronto won with a huge payroll, but I also remember years when Toronto had both the highest payroll and worst record. Put another way, NYCFC paid Pirlo a metric shit ton of money last year, but that money essentially was pissed away on a player way past his sell by date. Nevertheless, the NYCFC payroll was high because of that expense.
The word "again" is the tipoff. But in DCU's defense, young Freddy put a lot of butts in the seats back in the day. Of course they were mostly screaming pre-teens, but hey, they still bought tickets (or their parents did).
Right, the team that spends the most money doesn't always win it all, but that's not what correlate means. Total salary certainly correlates abroad in leagues with no salary cap -- teams that spend more tend to win more. And now that the cap is becoming more porous in MLS -- witness the new "discretionary" TAM this season, where owners can voluntarily (or not!) sink more of their own money into payroll -- total payroll continues to increase in importance. Quickly sticking some numbers into excel in 2017 the correlation coefficient between total salary and points was .50. So at least based on last season how much MLS owners spend in payroll is pretty significant when it comes to sporting success. Or in our case, lack thereof.
Atlanta is paying a transfer fee that is higher than our entire roster including fees and incentives. That may not correlate into wins directly but it shows the fan base that the ownership is actively working to better the team. That allows the fans to have faith in the club and overlook some losses occasionally as the payoff potential is high. Sometime perception is more important than results. James
Spending money is at least a sign of ambition. Anyway, for the folks who don't think we need to spend big money to win, just look at Toronto and Seattle. Besides, if being cheap was the way to win we'd be champions many times over during the Olsen reign.
The Soccernomics takeaway was that for the European leagues they looked at salary was positively correlated with results, but net transfer spend (sales - purchases) wasn't at all. No clue how that may or may not be different for a league with a salary cap (albeit with diminishing importance) like ours.
I would like to see a study of the correlation (if any) between monster transfer/purchase spending on foreign superstars on the road to retirement and any uptick in attendance, regardless of the effect, if any, on the team's record.
How many teams are going after the old guys anymore? Aside from Schweinsteiger I can’t think of another from last season. It seems like most of the spending is on Youth DP or younger internationals. James
Goalies play for a long time and Howard is arguably the best American keeper ever. Guzan is 33. That’s a goalies prime. Senderos makes 243k according to Goff that’s pretty close to avg for a starting center back. Spector was 30 when Orlando signed him for 500Kish. Not sure you’ve identified a trend.
El Apache Teves set the market at 10 million per goal (40 million, 4 goals) during his side trip to China between Boca gigs. Having money doesn't mean you're smart.
D.C. United drafts Afonso Pinheiro and Rafael Andrade Santos #dcu #mls https://t.co/gWu2xMOypc— The District Press (@DistrictPressDC) January 21, 2018
We got our striker!! Saw him play against MD, he didn't play very long, but will need a season or 2 in Richmond. Not with an Intl slot yet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...eran-to-training-camp/?utm_term=.5a0213a315f3 I kind of expected one of Alston, Sarkodie, or Williams to get a camp invite.
I’ve always wanted Alston in a DCU uniform, but only if he still has the legs. Not sure what his recent form looks like so I’m gonna trust the FO evaluations
Goff also confirmed odoi-atsem is in camp. I still don't get why he's on trial, but hopefully he'll make the team too.