2017 Season Roster Thread

Who *are* these people?

 

I wonder how strongly his list and the salary cap correlate, with stadium situations peppered in. Makes you wonder what value writing a list like this has.

 

En route 2 familiar Columbus, Ohio. Course my 1st game coaching is against @ColumbusCrewSC! Excited 4 tomorrow! Let's go @ChicagoFire 🔥👊🏽

— Eric Gehrig (@eGehrig16) March 3, 2017

 

Guilt teams into spending a bunch of money on infrastructure like a new stadium and training facility.

 

Yours truly has been speaking to Precourt's lack of ambition on these boards for some time now and been labeled a hater, conspiracy theorist, and of course 2017 Realist Fan. It's my cross to bear.

It is interesting to see Wahl come around to the hangthadj school of thought, though unexpected. It is clear as day for anyone who wants to see. Or anyone who looks beyond craft beer festivals or new food trucks.

Defenders of Precourt will scream, "He's signed a second DP!!! Academy spending has increased!!! TV Deal!!!!" And yes, all of these things are nice. They are to be commended to a point. But when you look outside of the vacuum and realize that Precourt is in a league competing with 21 other owners, most of whom have made at least equal, almost all more of an investment it becomes clear why Crew would rank near the bottom of these rankings.

There is lots of crowing about the TV deal, increased corporate sponsorship, and community interest. All these are good and well. Meanwhile, RSL has a legit B team. Dallas has an academy that is producing MLS ready players at an alarming rate. We have a dysfunctional relationship with Pittsburgh and Ben Swanson.

When @ZipSix asks, "Who are these guys?" part of it goes back to that lack of ambition by the owner. With a lack of sufficient investment in the Academy, with no Crew B, we are left to patch together a roster. We don't have the Tyler Adams or Sean Davis's or even Luis Gil's coming through the system. We don't have the Freddy Montero, Nicolas Lodiero, or Josef Martinez's as DP's either. We ask who are these guys because we haven't invested enough in youth development to bring guys through, get excited about their development and see them thrive in the senior team. We ask who are these guys because we are stuck looking at grainy youtube footage of obscure leagues for our DP's since they are sitting the bench in major tourneys, if they are called to their national team at all.

This is due to how Precourt runs the team and due to his lack of ambition. Wahl's rankings take this into account and are completely fair. Hopefully, with the Acura deal and more money coming into the league Precourt steps it up in coming years. For now he's treading water. Happy to hang out, but not quite ready to go all the way to the deep end.

 

I'm waiting on clarification on the International situation to put together chart 1.0 (probably won't have breakdown between cap roster and various cap-exempt rosters until salary info comes out).

 

How much is the owner and how much is Columbus being a small market?

 

Some of both. However, mechanisms are in play in MLS so that small markets can still compete. Precourt just hasn't done enough.

 

Crap. Could a mod put this in the pregame thread where I thought I was posting. Thanks.

 

Grant Wahl is a horse's ass who thought he had a chance to become FIFA President. This ass kissing blowhard lost credibility years ago and whatever he calls "ambition" probably reeks more than my cat's one minute ago used litter box.

 

It takes a while for youth academies to pan out and let's be honest, MLS hasn't always been fair to teams about youth development and transfer fees. This is one area I can't blame the Hunts backing off from or Precourt wanting to jump in.

 

The tweet linked to in the OP doesn't list Raitala either, but does list Hansen as an International.

 

Hansen was born in the US.

 

This is getting less clear as the season approaches.

 

Huh. You have a link for that?

Maybe someone should tell the Crew website. They seem to think he was born in Randers.....

Stop believing the corporate shill.

http://www.columbuscrewsc.com/players/niko-hansen

 

Ok, his hometown is sacromento. Sorry. Point still remains, he doesn't count as an international. Probably because, if you'd taken the whole 3 seconds to scroll down instead of thinking up a snarky remark, you'd have seen he is a dual citizen, Danish and American. Whoops.

 

No. Because you said he was born here. Whoops.

Facts. Get them right. It's pretty basic.

So I will make all the snarky remarks I want, when you can't do that.

Oh. And try spelling his hometown right as well.

 

Haha. Why you always so bitter man?

 

Because you are a twat. Who thinks he knows everyhing.

And you like to call other people out but can't accept when you are wrong.

 

Merry crewsmas to you as well kind sir!!

 

See. Can't accept you got it wrong.

Just say it.

" I was wrong "

 

I was wrong.

Now have a coke and a smile and lighten up, you'll live longer

 

Don't drink coke.

Stop being a smug twat. You'll live longer.