Here's an update on Smith. Apologize if this has been posted somewhere else. http://www.myfootballnews.co.uk/news_jump.html?team_id=16&story=173939 Trotters Drop Interest In Smith "Bolton Wanderers have abandoned their interest in signing USA youth international Johann Smith following a recent trial with the Lancashire club. The Connecticut-born star had been over in England with a view to joining the Trotters academy set up but now it seems as if he will have to try his luck elsewhere despite having initially impressed the Wanderers youth recruitment officer Geoff McDougle. Smith is a current USA U18 international and plays his football for the Oakwood Soccer Club in his native America." Anybody know what his plans will be from here?
send an email to connolly... he might have more insight (if he's willing to share)... that's the team he coaches
I wonder if the guy's antics didn't sit well with the Bolton management. It's hard to cast away such speed without something working against the player, let alone a player with some credentials.
This was reported five days ago on Y-A.com http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=news&id=000527
I spoke to my contact at Bolton today and he said he saw Johann this morning...said he is doing fine and that he got we an email asking him about the same rumor.......he is still there
OK ... I am issuing a retraction ... until anything certain appears. Mind you, this was a speculation to begin with and I am withdrawing that as well. The gist of my argument was that Johann has so much potential because of his great speed, that he must have had problems in other areas for Bolton to discard him. As I recall, some Boston area posters said that Johann may have a little chip on his shoulder and so I wondered out loud if that was the cause of his dismissal. Otherwise, it seems rather foolish for someone in Bolton's position to dump such a promising and pedigreed athlete.
Do we know anything about Smith's game besides the fact that he's very fast? Being very fast is good enough to get a look, but if he doesn't have other attributes then Bolton would drop him even if his attitude was great.
No sweat... I read the same Smith posts as you, but I nevertheless had eerie visions of the BigSoccer Telephone Game picking up speed... Next thing you know "Smith's antics" becomes part of the lexicon and he's known as "The Hothead Who Got Run Out of Bolton" for the next five years. (Actually, that would probably be a cool nickname.) Doesn't seem fair given the type of evidence most of us have at this point, to say nothing of all the conflicting stories that keep getting run about this kid!
Some people said that he is very good one-on-one... but then again, as some folks pointed out in Champ Manager, a guy with an 11.0 100m speed, can just punch the ball to his side and outrun everyone. As to his potential, if I am Bolton, this guy better show that he has no ability whatsoever because as a 17-18 year old, he has rooms to go. My old time favorite example of a great athlete with no skills or even a rudimentary knowledge of the game is Hakeem Olajuwon, who came to the University of Houston from Nigeria as a 6'10" soccer goalie. In his first year, he dunked a little; in his second, he blocked shots and rebounded; in his third, he also scored a bit. After his third year, he became the 1st pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. Now, I am not obviously saying that Smith will be another Hakeem, but that a team like Bolton can't just dismiss a guy who could possibly develop into a Hakeem type. While Johann may be a bit raw for the English game, he did make the various ODP/U-17 rounds in the US, so it's hard for me to believe that he is as raw as Hakeem, Dikembe Mutombo or Yinka Dare were when they came to the US to play basketball. And, assuming that a professional team soccer academy would exhibit similar logic, I was extremely surprised that Bolton decided to pass on J. Smith. To me, giving him several months to a year to prove his worth is a no-brainer. But if that was not to be, then I began to look for conspiracies: Smith's "antics", the Guardian, the Council on Foreign Relations, you name it. I may have been a little off. Though when it comes to Knox Cameron, Charles Kazlauskas, Kenny Cooper and Bobby Convey, I keep digging.
Sidefoot - Understand the argument. However, there are many more 11.0 100 meter sprinters than Hakeem-style 6' 10" men with wicked quickness. I mean, David Bellion is about that fast and he can't do much else at all and ... oh yeah, Bolton would probably sign Bellion, wouldn't they? Never mind.
If Bolton doesn't work out for Johann, what is the back-up plan? Is he heart-set on playing in Europe? Would he consider MLS? College, and if so, which one?
This is an important question. I could easily be wrong, but it seems likely that Bolton is considering him for an academy deal. Those are hardly lucrative -- a small stipend at best, plus he'd probably be living with a Bolton family for a few years -- and don't guarantee first-team time. We can go on and on about the quality of college soccer and the relative virtues of English reserves vs. MLS scrubs vs. D1 college stardom, but I can see how a hypothetical U.S. player might prefer two years of college ball (and scholarship money), PDL competition and U.S. youth training followed by a P40 offer to two years of English anonymity and an afternoon at the exit trials. Now, if Smith is being considered for a pro contract then I take it all back. What's more, if he's the once-in-a-lifetime athlete some people seem to think he is then Bolton can't possibly be the only club in the world that's interested. By the way, did we ever establish how it is he qualifies for a work permit?
I believe his dad had to get a work permit over there for whatever his job was, so maybe that's how he comes by it?
Taking Big Soccer and Johann and Oakwood and anything else specific to this situation out of the picture because I don't have any personal knowledge about any of it (in fact I thought I had read he was already signed with Bolton), let me just add this. The youth soccer world can be a very, VERY jealous place. I have met some wonderful people around the country over the past couple of years, players, parents coaches, admins, you name it. But there is something about the whole system, or the sociology or something, that seems to lend itself to an almost-venomous reaction toward some players who make it. I'll have otherwise mild-mannered moms writing me to tell me how much they hate player X who I recognized for something because he once did Y their son (or their mom did something to them), or more generally just trying to run down some player who had made it at the college or professional level. I'll hear it from players too. I don't know why it is. With unmoderated word of mouth passing for perhaps the chief source of information within the youth soccer world, these sorts of labels and stigmas tend to get attached pretty easily for players, and I'm convinced from personal experience that much of the time it is at best exaggeration and at worst slanderous fabrication. Just a little attempt at sanity (which coming from me is a rather amusing thought).
Very glad you posted this! You wouldn't believe how much crap I hear about the star players (and their families) at our club. About 90% of the hatin' comes from the moms. Some kind of maternal protective instinct kicking in, that they want to take down players who surpass their own kids. An example I heard last week - "Did you hear that Nathan didn't make the national team? All those years, they thought he was so good, and now look. He's just another player." Then again, Nathan's mom used to insult this mom's kid, saying that he wasn't good enough to play with her son. Miao. Either youth soccer is the ingredient that makes moms evil, or it is the catalyst to bring out their inner bitches.
Miao? Is that the Italian spelling Looks a lot classier than meow. Agreed with both JohnR and GersMan... I'm often amazed by the cattiness of the traditional "soccer mom", if only because it seems worse in soccer than in other youth sports like baseball, basketball, or football.
Wnen Everton was courting Danny Szetela, they were offering him ~ $150K a year to be with their academy. Smith isn't likely to be getting anything in the same range but, as an 18-year old, he'll probably be fairly comfortable. My guess is that if he makes it with Bolton, he'll be earning $60-80K + a car and/or apartment. I believe the family arrangement is for the U-18s. PS. Bolton's own website still says that they've abandoned interest in Smith in a story dated Feb, 12th. Boy, I am really getting fed up with Bolton's antics.