I can't *#*#*#*#in believe this. I really can't *#*#*#*#in believe this. I'm too pissed off to go into all the other things Merz mentioned. This is unfcukinbelievable. holy *#*#*#*#. At le4ast thats 300 dollars that can be put towards gin instead of season tickets. Fcuk you.
I think Jim S. takes too much risk of his own job if he lets Greg A back next year. Imagine if Greg does not do well in, say, the first 5 games, Jim fires Greg, bring in a new head coach, and the team still does not do well and waste another season. The new coach will have an excuse that it is not his team and he joins in the middle of the year. But Jim S will look bad on his decision, and he might get fired for wasting 2003 and 2004. On another hand, if he brings in a new coach now and the team does not do well in 2004. He will not look as bad because he does try something and it does not work.
Ghostbusters....On second thought, maybe we should try the suck-busters. Maybe they could get us a coach worth having.
Interesting analysis. Greg's tactics and player personnel (subs etc.) diminished the team's performance AND the rationale for reatining him is: The "better" players haven't lost confidence in him... He won the US Open Cup last year... I believe the players like and respect Greg personally, and that's OK. BUT<<<< I don't believe he's thought of as a great game or game prep coach. He didn't renew/dropped the guy who won the OPEN CUP for him (Perez) in favor of a second year player (Kmart) who couldn't perform this year and was a MAJOR factor in the Crew ending the season in October. We won the Open Cup , at HOME, after LA had just won the MLS Cup and was forced to fly coast to coast after a big win. Thankyou USSF... Do I have the facts right here? He also went to 3 proven forwards when he knew he'd be losing some for Nats - yet he said he'd planned on playing all 3 ( BS alert ). The Players probably don't want change - so what. They would be threatened by another coach who would represent the "unknown". What did I forget? Sorry Greg, Your chance of success is VERY poor next year and the time to go is now! He could go back to being the NATS Keeper coach and be rejuvenated and gain lot's of insight into Professional coaching.
Yeah. What everyone else said. Pull the trigger now, get a new coach in there. He revamps the team to his liking and we start anew. This way, when Greg pisses away half the season, is fired, the interim coach (can you say Warzycha??) will have the excuse "it's not my team" and we'll be back to where we were in 2000. Here's the article: http://1460thefan.com/tf.php?story=dispatch/2003/11/01/20031101-F3-00.html At least CrewBoyCraig gets it. "The organization needs to aim higher. It talks of competing for a championship every year, but its actions are always one of, "Let’s just make the playoffs and see what happens from there." Uh, guys, it hasn’t worked in eight years. " and then.... "The Crew, especially this season when it had the best record after the first three weeks, should always be thinking of leading wire to wire instead of settling for 'just making it.' " We best damn plan to win every game next year. No more of this "we have 6 games left, and 3 points behind fourth place." And it sounds like Oughton will stay. Williams, gone. Chacon, gone. Walsh and Oughton stay. Clark and Maize need to retire too before they become serious outpaced and left behind on the field.
A bit of revisionist history by Crewboy Craig: More further evidence is needed in a review of that stirring win: 1. McBride came off the bench in the last third of the game. He had been ill all week and only was put in the lineup only because Greg was desperate. Otherwise, he would have sat the entire match. 2. McBride's goal in the 89th minute was the result of a questionable PK call in favor of West. 3. Regardless, the Crew lived up to its "Most Massive 80 Minutes in MLS" tag by giving up the equalizer in injury time. 4. The only stirring thing in that match was McBride's winner in the last minute of overtime, which was a world-class goal. In a nutshell, more of the same. I was surprised that Crewboy Craig didn't give as further evidence the club's "rout" of the F*re. However, even Merz knew he would be stretching the inspiration of the team just a bit in that six-goal second half, considering that Fat Zach left the match at halftime with the F*re sporting a 2-0 lead. Merz also forgot to mention as evidence the lack of stirring wins in the matches down the stretch that put the Crew in yet another desperate position, or the number of goals the club had allowed after 80 minutes that either snatched either a draw or loss away from the jaws of victory.
The following is stolen from another thread, but this should have been seen by Merz before writing is fluff piece: Let's talk about the Open Cup, shall we, and all 15 of us who were in the North End during the semifinal when Gansler and his bunkerball squad were up 2-0 with 20 minutes to go until Greg got desperate and put in three forwards. If I recall, the first goal came before the 80th minute, then another sub was made and there were four forwards on the pitch, and the Crew equalized in injury time. The winner came courtesy of Pelusa about five minutes into overtime. Brilliant strategy And worthy of a contract renewal. It's too bad Burgess can't come on these boards and tells us what he really thinks. He used the term "fair enough" one too many times this season during his interviews with management.
What the fcuk?!?!?! I almost threw up on my damn desk while reading that crap(hit the floor for those who care) and I am not sure if this nasty hangover is to blame or what I read. What a crap day I am going back to bed.
Yep, we're just a hobby for HSG. This proves it. They have greater loyalty to their coaches than their fans. GREG got a break when he was selected after Fitz. He was unable to capitalize on his opportunity and now we'll sacrifice another season out of loyalty to the staff vs. the fans. NEVER a good policy longer term.
This is the part that bugged me. We played like crap down the stretch (or maybe like carp) and were in it at the end only because of DC's ineptitude and one heroic goal from McBride. "Ran out of games" makes it sound as if we were improving our form and closing the gap on our own. That said, at least this piece doesn't sound like it came straight out of a Crew press release.
I just want to pull attention to the fact that there were no quotes in this entire article. There is no word coming out of Smith's or Andrulis' mouth saying how great it is to be back for another year of suckage. Also note there is no article posting the same elsewhere. There is nothing official, and until there is, I'm not going to get worried. He's CrewBoy Craig for a reason. He prints up what is uplifting for the current staff. Once something official is released, then I'll be back on here to comment.
I had the same thought. Perhaps (hopefully) we're being positioned for a change being more than just routine. I think Craig has more ethics than to simply be a stooge and this is the simply argument for no action. This article would allow HSG to ride to the rescue and create coaching and GM changes as the heroes of the fans and saviors of the Crew.