Please sign up your kids, we need the ticket sales. look at all the benefits, see the pictures of kids holding our players hands. That alone should be worth it. UMMM, all right we will throw in the pre game scrimmage or halftime soccer game with the inflatable goals. JMPN DAD it is NOT marketing it is called SALES.
You can go to any major city in any country and find there are multiple clubs who do a fine job of developing talent in any given city. People are pointing to team success. It's player success. It's not whether I take my kids to their program, it's what program is developing kids in general. And in Chicago, L.A., Philadelphia, Dallas, and multiple other major cities, there are a few programs doing a great job. And in London, Munich, Barcelona, Amsterdam, etc., it's the same way. The difference is in the rest of the world the professional clubs take over at a certain point in youth development and that is what the USSF and MLS are trying to institute. Since there is only one major MLS team in a major city in the US, it is clear the club programs have to do just what they've been doing for years, continue to develop players. And as the professional club programs in the US like the Fire or Rapids get better, which they will in the coming ten years, so too will the private clubs continue to evolve and improve. Judge the Fire Jr's based upon the development of the players. Judge the clubs by the same measure, and several clubs do a fine job and will continue to do so. The US MNT cares nothing for the success of a team, they care about the players who are developed. Team success means little. Player development is everything in the rest of the world and the compensation structure is geared towards it. Will the USSF structure compensation for the private clubs similarly? Who knows, but without the extensive professional structure operating like other countries, we need our clubs to develop players and I for one am confident they will. Let's hope the clubs around the country get compensated for the fine work they do when they develop a player - a lot of that depends on the USSF.
Dutch, Nothing to argue about with the above post. What I have a problem with is in the previous post "if the Fire Juniors play their development card right". When will they play that card right? I'm with you, screw the titles and the championships, do they mean anything at the end? But tell me how will they attract the top talent by playing their cards right? I'm of the opinion that right now they are waiting for their hand to be dealt to them via the Federation, which may very well be your 10 year projection.
Sometimes idiomatic phrases just don't cut it in boards/email/written- sorry about that. Rather than hop on the semantic train, which via this board could keep us busy for a lonnng time , let me try to restate. I meant to say that yes, if they [MLS teams with their youth academies] were smart, they would have two five year plans back to back encompassing ten years. Those plans would call for focusing on development of players. If successful, they could point to the success, which would attract players. In the end, the only purpose of an MLS youth academy is to develop players that can be sold or protected into the first team. Ashley Young - £10M (I earlier said only 1). That's a lot of scratch. What if that sort of money - which is $20,000,000 was dumped into a club in the USA because they developed an Ashley Young? Whoa - would that make a difference in other club's philosophies. So I think that answers the question; development of players attracts talent. The MLS as noted earlier has several advantages over private clubs across the nation, not the least of which is professional, expensive, marketing. Since the club structure is so ingrained in the USA, and there will only be one MLS youth academy per major metro area, the USSF needs to figure out how to keep the clubs strong too, as I alluded to in an earlier post.
This is like the chicken or the egg for me. You need to have talent to develop into a player (like the one you mention about selling), and I started another thread on that one. Like it or not, (currently) talent goes to teams that have success, not to those with a marketing plan. I'll let it go at this point.
Not to completely let it go... I agree with you completely. Talent goes where there is team success. But the talent at some point has to go where it is developed in order for us to be players on the world stage, and eventually that talent leads to developed teams. But... the results aren't as important as the development of the total player.
Bollox! Since when should MLS be considered Top Level? And it's not so much about the fire, it's who's coaching for the Fire. Head guy from Fire Jrs. has developed who? How many Pro's? More than Matko? At Dallas Cup, I watched Sao Paulo's U18's play 3 times. I then came back to Chicago and watched the opener at Toyota Park. Absolute Crap Football. How are we ever going to win a World Cup (if that's the goal) when our Pro's don't have the technical skills and tactical knowledge of a 17 or 18 year old brasilian? We are looking in the wrong place for Head Coaches and Directors.
Other than the first sentence (which I conveniently deleted), I kinda gotta side with this guy. I honestly would not allow a DS within ten feet of my kid soccerwise. As I keep saying: Fire Elite is not about free vs. pay. It's about who's coaching and who are they playing against. Pekerman set up the program and the teams play Boca Juniors, Milan, Man U? I am all over it. DS sets up the program and we play Wind, Schwaben and Dallas Texans? I'm sticking to plan A.
That's why a number of kids are going back where they came from after trying the 'winning' programs. At the end of the day, some players are not satisfied with team trophies on their mantel, when their individual career is effectively over at 17. It's killing my kid (and me) to watch two teams where he was a prominent player (U13 Wind and Magic) look likely to win State Cup this year while his team was eliminated last week. But his decision was to prepare for ages 17-35 rather than focusing on 13 to 17. That meant a different club environment for him. It also meant risking never winning a State Cup or playing in a Regional tournament. However that is the risk he chose in order to ensure his personal development as a player.
Illinois State Cup Recap U12 - No entry U13 - Out in the second round U14 - No entry U15 - Out in the first round U16 - No entry U17 - Won a game vs Grove Utd (release the doves, launch the parade) BYE, BYE (short lived parade) U18 - Seeded 8 (no game played) U19 - Seeded 5 (no game played) Another one bites the dust, Another one bites the dust, And another one gone, and another one gone, Another one bites the dust. Down goes U17. But wait, they are announcing the player that has been developed from the U17 and signing him this week. It won't be to play it will be to a sales position though. We HAVE to sell more TICKETS!
What's all this talk about Fire Juniors? As I understood it, Fire have admitted that Fire Juniors will not be their MLS Academy organization. Of course, when this other "Fire Elite" program will be announced remains to be seen ...
You are right. I overheard this in the offices. JG: Well lads they are on to us. RH: Who? JG: Everyone. RH: About what? JG: Exactly. RH: Now what do we do? JG: Marketing spin time. RH: You don't mean... JG: Yes, I do! RH: I'll have my best people on it. LS: You mean me? RH: Right, I'll have my people on it. JG: But it can't be just a name change, we need something... RH: How about a merger? JG: Well done son. RH: Thank you sir. JG: Don't forget to tie in tickets to this too. LS: How are we to do that? There was a scuffle and LS left holding tickets in his hand, unsure what happened. But that's all I know.
YIKES! There goes a month of marketing work. We can't use that catch phrase now. We might have to use our back up slogan. Shhh, don't spread it around. Are you ready, Are you ready for this, Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? "It's Fire and Lightning let's see how long the clubs can stand the heat!" We figured if it didn't work we could go into the refrain of "Another one bites the dust, Another one bites the dust, And another one gone, and another one gone, Another one bites the dust."
Wow! How flattering it is to know you are devoting so much time to your obsession er .. I mean the Fire Juniors. I know it must be rough with all the meds you're on at the facility. It sure beats the threatening letters you used to send that you made with the letters cut out of magazines. Well done! Keep up the fine work
It's just the pressure at the Fire office to sell tickets. They keep hiring more sales people and there is just less sales to go around. They wouldn't even let me have coffee this morning, becasue JG said coffee was for closers.
Not really, it was steak knives, but first place got 3 knives, second place 2 knives and third place 1 knife. Cadillac is for when Blanco comes.
And for you merger fans Illinois State Cup Recap for Lightning U12 - No entry U13 - Out in the First round U14 - Beat Hoffman 4/2 (shoot the confetti from the cannons) U15 - Seeded 5 (no game played) U16 - Out in second round U17 - Won a game vs Ajax (sound the trumpets) U18 - No entry U19 - No entry Much, much better than their step brother juniors. Still three teams alive.
Actually, that was the sound that all the Chicago Fire Juniors parents cars made as they left Rockford heading toward Bridgeview. Sadly, the program is anything but elite. Let's hope that the next academy announced lives up to the marketing. BTW, congrats to the Naperville 14's.
Is this the team? Go to this link and scroll down to Des Moines Friendlies. http://www.bestactionshots.com/
Wow, how many times can we shoot ourselves in the foot? The guy in the cubicle next to me told me that we are hiring Louie Mateus to run the academy. OMG. What experience does he have in selling tickets?