Of course it is reasonable, from a financial perspective. If you are a businessman, I'd expect just such an answer. If you are a sportsman (as Doc likes to claim Kraft is), I'd expect an answer like the one Vermes gave.
Ah yes, the old "we really don't know with 100% absolute certainty if it is Burns or those holding the checkbook, so we can't criticize the team for their nothing-short-of-colossal failure" canard. Well played, sir. We haven't seen that one in a while Your'e probably right on that count. So whose fault is it that the Revs don't have anyone to scout other leagues on their behalf? One of their own ex-players, Evans Wise, does this for Seattle. Don'tcha think that they might be able to find a few guys who used to play here with connections who can do this sort of thing? So why haven't they had anyone at all trialing this year, especially since they are all so aware of how important the situation is? There was the Brazilian guy early in the season and Packwood, and IIRC, no one else! That is their own idiocy, just because one player didn't work out, they are going to stop signing new players. They have to sign more players like Bengston: mid-late 20s, decent club/international pedigree, no serious injury history and inthe right price range. Sure, but there are lots of guys who can help the team win, and a winning team draws more fans and interest. By contrast, the one player on the planet that fit the Krafts eye-of-a-needle criteria, Jermaine Jones sure sells a lot of jerseys, but as we've seen, if you put every single egg in his basket and don't bring in another almost-Jones player to pick up the mantle when he's done, it will be the first and only time we will ever sign a player of any significance from outside the League.
We may have stumbled onto the root cause of Burns' struggles. Do you think he might be trying to look OFF PLANET for his next signing? It would explain a lot.
That sure makes sense to me. But, and I don't have the time to look up data to prove it, I felt that when SN had winning teams (MLS Cups runs 2, 3 and 4) they kept seeing attendance drop!
That explanation (right or wrong) would sound better if Heaps were the coach/gm. Is the thought that Burns has no role beyond negotiating the occasional contract and making sure bobble-head nights go off without a hitch? He's supposedly in charge of player acquisitions. Is he somehow too busy to involve himself in the process?
Except we really did see some amazing crowds last year after JJ was signed. And then the largest ever Revs road trip (outside of the DC Cup).
So basically the rule for signing a DP hasn't changed. The DP must be: 1) a very high level player 2) a very well known player who will "move the needle" aka pay for themselves in jersey sales and increased tickets 3) willing to play on Gillette turf 4) proactively contacting either the Revs or MLS to signal their interest in playing here (due to our lack of scouting and other ties to the global soccer world) I humbly submit to you that there are zero players that fit those criteria, which is why we were only able to get Jones via a coin flip. And I bet that if Jones hadn't scored against Portugal, Kraft wouldn't have thought that he would move the needle, and he'd be a Chicago player.
This is where the FO says that most teams in the league don't have a scout, so why should we? Of course, most teams actually have a full coaching staff.
We need to find diamonds in the rough and scout them - especially while they are in season. Those are the ones we need to create depth and is a good strategic vision. But that is hard to do without a scout, but you better create a scouting network/relations with people who can help (even if off the payroll). Revs "seem" to not have Bringing in trailists can be a crapshoot and not strategic, so I am not bothered they don't have any. The draft is the draft. But what is the vision to bring in players that don't need to be scouted - ie, Jones level players - players that are 1 year out on contracts. Are they working those deals? (even if like a Gerrard or Lampard - they announce they will be joining in Jan 2016 or June 2016....) We can't wait for players like Jones to suddenly become free without a host of people chasing them already. That was almost a one-off.
With the Revs holding onto a car load of Allocation money would it be possible that they could be looking for a big name for the roster. Since Chicago is looking at Didier perhaps we should throw our name into the running? What about Johannsson? He is looking to make a move to MLS. Would it be a possible landing spot for him? Or is he looking at Atlanta since he is from Alabama.
A resounding maybe. At times it has and at times it hasn't. When did I ever say "we" can't criticize them? I have and you and anyone else can. My feeling is that Burns has failed to do enough, regardless of the constraints or limitations he may work with. But, beyond that, if their are constraints/limitations that prevent him from doing a better job, then there is more blame to go around. It's the Revs' organization's fault. You state with such certainty that you know about all of the players who have trialed with them. I don't believe you do. It's a lot more than one player. Bengtson was just the latest high-profile player. And, if you pay significant transfer fees to acquire players and, for the most part, you keep failing to get a lasting return, that's liable to make any organization more cautious (or it should!) - because you don't want to keep throwing good money after bad. OTOH, there seems to be some fundamental issues that are handicapping them in this process and if they don't figure out what that is and remedy it, they aren't likely to do much better. You seem to respond to my posts with a predetermined sense of what I'm saying, regardless of whether I'm saying that or not. Believe it or not, not everything I say is a defense of the org. In fact, some of it is criticism! If you don't believe me, go back and read the posts. I think the real issue in that division of responsibility is the level of trust the coach has in other evaluators (like Burns, in this case). I don't think Nicol ever trusted anyone in the organization's opinion other than Mariner. But, I really don't think Burns role is to be the talent evaluator. I think he's supposed to find candidates, setup trials or scouting trips, negotiate contracts and transfers, etc. I think that's where there's a gap in organization - Heaps wants to scout, but doesn't have the time and Heaps doesn't have enough faith in anyone else to go scout and decide on a player. No personal knowledge here, just my guess.
Maybe that's why Shalrie's still on the roster. He's our scout, and the Revs have cleverly figured how to get MLS to pay his scouting salary rather than the front office!
Packwood and the Brazilian guy were the only players I know of that were brought in for trials. If there were others, they certainly didn't say anything about it. Regardless, if they did bring in others, they were so insignificant that it hardly matters. We heard this with Nicol and it sounds believeable enough. But now Heaps, a guy who had never coached a game in his life before taking this job, is sooo knowledgeable that he wouldn't trust a guy who had been around MLS or in a foreign league or had more experience than he does? I thought he was s'posta be so smart, at least that's what Coach K tole us. A large part of "being smart" is knowing that there are lots of things you don't know, and to lean on others with more knowledge and experience than you have. I don't know for sure, but it sure seems that Heaps would be in favor of a scout, someone who could do the legwork. And it goes without saying that anyone hired in the organization has to be on the same page. My guess is that somehow this role is not "budgeted for" and therefore is not something they can do right now. It all comes down to how the ownership prioritizes things. But then again, if Sporting Kansas City or Columbus Crew jumped off of the Tobin Bridge, would you?
No, he's not on the roster anymore. Herivaux is wearing his #21 jersey now as one of the Twenty Six players on the roster.
We all did! In typical Revs fashion, there was no formal sendoff for one of the greatest players ever to wear the jersey. Just like Twellman and Ralston. It's the stupid, little things that take almost no effort or money where the Revs constantly mess up. The upside/goodwill for something like this is huge, and the only downside is that someone needs to get up off their ass and do something. In another thread someone was saying how Burns is not totally incompetent at every single element of the job, after all, he brought in Teal Bunbury before the 2014 season, but these are the kind of things that give our team a bad rep overall.
its pitiful. I was at the JMM tribute game. Wondering why Twellman, Ralston and Shalrie are not deserving of the same thing
I mean, the real reason is because they use Gillette for other things and playing a meaningless friendly in front of 4,000 fans doesn't make Gillette more money than leaving the weekend open and letting people shop, to say nothing of getting people into the stadium to see Counting Crows, or whatever the kids are listening to nowadays.
Not necessarily a "tribute game" but even some kind of a "night" where they bring him out on the field at halftime, show some highlights on the video board give him some nice gift or something just to thank him for a great career. Hell, I remember they did something like that for Mike Burns when he retired and even gave him a framed #4 jersey. Of course, it was the then-current jersey and not the style that he actually wore as a player, but whose counting.
I was hoping they'd have subbed him in to the last game last year to give the fans a chance to cheer for him. Or done something to honor him before or after the game. It wouldn't have cost them any money, so it should have at least been appealing to them on that level.
So Burns is basically Heaps's secretary? And, honestly, Jay freakin Heaps doesn't have faith in anyone else to evaluate talent? Yikes. The guy hasn't even had time for his semi-annual tactical evaluation of the team, so they're stuck in neutral on player acquisitions as well?
I think this is the issue at the core of everything. I am on the side that feels that spending money to establish a culture of excellence, which includes winning, can only lead to good things. But if BK were sitting across the table from me, and said prove it, I'm not sure that I could.