Kamara's not a bad player, he's just the wrong fit for the Revs. A team looking for a primary scorer would be interested.
Or, he just isn't being used correctly. You can probably say the same things about guys like Nguyen, Aguedelo, Rowe, and to a lesser extent, Bunbury. How long has Heaps been coaching here, 6 years? I would hope he would have gotten his license by now, but like lots of Rev things, it's not always clear. If you look at a lot of guys coaching in this league, many have less successful runs and get fired. Then someone else hires them and sometimes they have more success in a different situation. These guys are coaches, first and foremost, it's what they do. Maybe they'll go on to scouting, GM-ing, DT-ing or broadcasting, but they are going to stay in the game one way or another. I honestly don't see that happening with Heaps. Can you see another MLS team hiring him? (or Burns for that matter?) I suspect he'll go back to some sort of career outside of soccer as a financial analyst or something like that. Why is he coaching here today? Yeah, that's a really good question, isn't it.... No other team, whether a soccer team anywhere else on planet earth, or a North American team in another sport, would you see a guy with his track record still here after all that time.
Just to be clear, only the top 20 count against the "salary budget". By league rule, you are allowed to spread that over no less than 18 players, so that only accounts for 2 of the 6 open roster slots. The other 4 are on the development (or supplemental) roster. There is no salary budget savings there, so there is no excuse for not filling those slots, other than laziness, incompetence or cheapness (since presumably salaries for players 21-30 come out of Kraft's pocket).
Y'know how some teams have a Latin motto or a slogan as part of their badge design? Those three magic words are all you need to know about how this club is being run.
Heaps laments Revolution’s lapses at “big moments” in loss to New York Red Bulls July 5, 2017, 11:17PM EDT Jeff Lemieux Combine that headline with the last game's: If you go by those 2 headlines, the problem isn't talent, just focus. Which is on the coach...
That's what's always been so frustrating about this situation. If the Krafts ran the Patriots like the Jets there would be a logic to this ineptitude. But no, the Patriots are the gold standard for the NFL. It leads to the conclusion that laziness defines the soccer franchise.
Heaps is enrolled in the US Soccer Pro License coaching program. Having an "A" license is a prerequisite, so yeah, he's got his license.
This is the course that I was referring to when I said licensing course in my previous post. According to this Jay earned his A license in March 2014.
So whose fault is that, Jay? In the words of your old coach, at the endathadey, yuh gut tae loo' a yuurself inna mirra.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/revs-2017-roster.2038184/page-14#post-35168762 I think other teams do more with those slots. Yes, please fire Heaps.
BINGO!!! This is precisely why I opted against renewing both my Revolution and Patriots season-tickets several years ago. I found the divergence in the manner in which the Revolution and Patriots franchises were operated to be infuriating. I simply couldn't continue to justify handing the Krafts my money when it was obvious that they couldn't be bothered to treat both of their professional sports holdings - and, by extension, the fans of each franchise - with a like-minded commitment to excellence in every facet of how the teams were operated. And make no mistake, I'm not saying that I expect the Krafts to invest the same amount of money - dollar for dollar - into running the Revolution that they do into operating the Patriots. I understand that, at this point in time, the value of a National Football League franchise far exceeds that of a Major League Soccer team. As such, I know that the Krafts aren't going to lavish the same total budget on their MLS side that they do on their NFL team. That said, I don't believe that it is out-of-line for New England Revolution supporters, myself included, to expect that the Krafts would invest the resources necessary - effort, finances, time, etc. - to operate the Revs at the same strata within the MLS hierarchy that the Patriots occupy within the NFL pecking-order. There is no denying that the Krafts have invested the time, money, and effort necessary to establish - and maintain - the New England Patriots as a benchmark, best-practices, top-tier "gold standard" franchise within the NFL. Is there anyone who would argue that they have committed the same sort of effort to the operation of the New England Revolution?!?!? Again, I'm not saying that the capital outlay that the Krafts must commit to their stewardship of a Major League Soccer franchise should equal - dollar for dollar - what they spend on running a National Football League team. What I am saying is, if the Krafts have committed to operating the Patriots as a top-tier team in the NFL, then they should make the same commitment to operating the Revolution as a top-tier MLS side. As an example, if - compared to other franchises - the money the Krafts dedicate to scouting ranks the Patriots amongst the top 10% of spenders in that category in the NFL, then I believe that they should be willing to invest the money necessary to establish the Revolution amongst the top 10% of spenders in MLS when it comes to scouting. If the money the Krafts budget for marketing establishes the Patriots amongst the top 5% of spenders in that category in the NFL, then they should be willing to spend whatever figure it takes for the Revs to be amongst the top 5% of MLS clubs when it comes to marketing outlay. Bottom line? New England Revolution supporters shouldn't be expected to sit still and happily accept the Krafts operating their NFL franchise like Le Bon Marche in Paris, while running the Revolution like Building 19-3/4.
The problem with that is the Kraft's are cheap when it comes to the Pats also. LOOK: NFLPA salary cap chart shows Patriots are money smart, Eagles aren't Here's a look at how much each NFL team has spent since 2013 by John Breech Dec 5, 2016 CBS Sports Over the last 4 years, the Patriots are 30th out of 32 teams on money spent on player salaries. The Pats are successful not because the Kraft's spend, but because they have a QB who is the GOAT, yet plays for less than market value, and they have a coach that won't spend top dollars on free agents, but can get the most out of bargain basement players. The Revs have the same philosophy, they just don't have the equivalents of Brady and Belichick to make it work.
He grabbed (or was given) the little Gatorade bottle and slammed it into the sideboards (from the bench side). He was furious. Never seen that kind of reaction from him. Which again shows there's something going on behind the scenes and it's starting to build a bad momentum.
I'd be just as happy to see them bring Steve Nicol back, I doubt that would happen tho. With him and Twellman in 2002, we had that Brady/Belicheck combination.
I have a feeling the players are not happy with the constant shuffle of positions and formations. I think they have lost confidence in Heaps
Tierney, of all people, seems to be more of a "team first" guy, and even if he was pissed off, he seems like the kind of guy who generally would keep that stuff behind closed doors. So he must feel it must be pretty bad. Also, he can't be happy that his own play has dropped from a better-than-average player to quite a bit less than that in the span of a year.
The only problem is that there is no such thing as a "must win" in the bizarro universe inhabited by only one MLS team: the NE Revs.
Much of the discussion here and on social media about the open roster slots keeps revolving around the oft-repeated theme that there is little value signing practice players to the lowest slots at the bottom of the roster. And I agree with that statement. But what is very very frequently overlooked, or at least left unsaid, is that the Revs could/should be continuously reloading the empty slots with difference-makers at the top of the roster. It seems that many are looking at the wrong end of the list.... ...And that is a massive multi-year-long gaffe by all of the folks up and down the Revs management chain. IMHO, the lack of enough top-shelf quality at top of the roster is (by far) the primary source of the poor results that we all now have been conditioned to expect year in and year out. Roster openings aren't a specific "slot number". They are just an opening, to be filled with whatever level of quality a team chooses. It seems obvious when one stops and thinks about it, but perhaps it is too vast a paradigm shift for the Revs to grasp.
Actually, there are slot numbers, as seen here: New England Revolution 2017 Roster (scroll down to Roster Composition section), with rules for each section. For example, slots 29-30 can only be for Homegrown Players. Having said that, going through the roster regulations, I don't see any reason why Smith, Woodbury and Wright couldn't be moved down to the Supplemental Roster, freeing 3 more slots on the Senior Roster.