Bobby was on 1040 yesterday; mostly wishy washy answers that continue to earn him the title "The Snooze"; but I can take from it this: - Carl will be dismissed unless they make the playoffs (and even then it would be 50/50) -Bobby did make a note of how much money is sitting on the bench, so for Bobby that is about as direct of a rebuke of Carl's recruiting as one can get -he was very very clear that Carl picks the players to bring in based on their MLS salary cap and allocation monies. Clearly distancing himself from the on field product -Mallett called in; mostlly BS, but the host did try to pin him down on spending Davies money on the first team. He couldn't get a number; but I would think that ownership is feeling some heat and will do something. My guess is they throw a couple of million into the winter transfer window and get someone with a modest transfer fee (say a million or less) and a salary of 1 - 2 million. Call it a token. - he was asked a question about how so many of Carl's international signings share the same agent. Oh, Bobby was pretty uncomfortable with this. Whomever sent in the question is clearly noting that Carl seems to just be taking whatever this agent sends him. Bobby threw up "Well, he gave us Kendall Waston!" (I am paraphrasing) as some defense. It probably doesn't matter at this point, but Carl being on some hamster wheel taking rejects from an agent as a favor or friendship thing would certainly explain why he finds so many underperformers. Bottom line - I hate the rebuttal "Well we cant be TFC spending!". There is a moderate ground in there somewhere. And the Caps are trying to sell "Spend zero ownership money or spend 30 million". Which is an argument that only works on those who do not pay attention to how this all works. The MLS salary cap, the MLS allocation moneys, and 2 - 4 million per year from ownership COMBINED with a good coach and judge of talent; does make a club that can contend most years, and win an MLS title once or twice a decade. There is a place for the Caps to be financially responsible, and be a good club by MLS standards. I am HOPING, that their forced investment due to the Davies money, and a good coach that gets results, will lead them to go "Hey, that wasn't so bad, let's keep at this level of investment". If the keep Carl and he spends the money, they will just feel it was a waste and not do it again. ANd if they do get some success, watch the attendance rise and offset that brutal 2 million dollars spent by a 5 billion dollar ownership group. I feel so sad for them having to pay that money out of their tiny net worth. And congratulations to Rachel Lewis for having the foresight to put the training center on the books over many years ; they can now apply that to the Davies money and meet the MLS investment rules while actually getting paid back for money they spent in the past. -
if lenarduzzi said this: he (bobby) was very very clear that Carl picks the players to bring in based on their MLS salary cap and allocation monies. then bobby is just as incompetent as carl!! allowing a coach to sign new players that- to a high %- dont pan out year-after-year, and letting that incompetence go on for 5 years without any accountability is incriminating to him also a turn-over rate of 12-13 players/year shows incompetence and lack of accountability... millions of MLS money has been lost with little to show for it-- only kendall waston in 5 years- its laughable and maddening and its why supporters are FINALLY getting the message that a few of us have had for 2-3 years- carl has little skill at evauating talent that can play at an MLS level- how both himself and bobby can ignore the record is BEWILDERING and the owners should hold lenarduzzi accountable for letting it happen- he is now distancing himself from the shameful results in order to save his own skin
This reminds me of the Mo Johnston days at TFC where all the players seemed to be represented by Barry MacLean and than later, in one case, Preki's brother when Preki was the coach for 3/4 of the season until he and Johnston were sacked. Almost all were both overpaid and crappy. I get the sense with the "money on the bench" statement that upper management/ownership feels that they haven't got enough bang for buck with their current salary budget and that's true. However, I agree with hot potato that upper management needs to take responsibility for letting this continue to happen. Based on this recent information, unless they have an absolutely big time playoff run, Robbo's gone.
I am fine with that. If they kick in 2 million of the Davies money, and he replaces a lot of the dead weight in the salary cap; next year could be a whole lot better.
Yeah, it is that Baldwin fella that Carl deals with. Glasscity noted that upwards of 80% of Carls signings (I assume the ones from out of MLS) were either repped by him or recommended by him. I heard some rumors of that but didn't do the research to realize it was that bad. Wow. Well, I guess we can understand how guys like Ibini and Blondell are getting THREE HUNDRED GRAND salaries; and Juarez is over 600k (all three came through that channel, just as an example). Or how an injured and not fit Mutch can get brought over. When he was announced it took me 5 minutes on the CP forum to say "why?". I often would ask WHY is Carl not doing basic research on a lot of these players that a simple google search would say to stay away from them. Well now we know. These players know a guy who knows a guy who can get them nice salaries in a lovely city. Seems like a stench for sure. The media does not have the resources or interest in doing this research themselves, so I doubt it becomes a major story. But if it is true it is this high (and Glasscity is very reliable), then this is a ********ing scandal. Carl is done.
Southsiders update; looks like they are cleaning up the mess. Board is being fully re-elected in September until their annual AGM. So, I would say that will close the Waston issue and it will be an interesting thing to remember. Unfortunate that it had to come to resignations and a mass replacement of the entire board, but this is a good solution. The three remaining board members and the ombudsman were willing to go to emergency elections rather than give up their principles on the statement. That is commitment to their belief to say the least. Commendable they have gone this route instead of letting it fester until December. While I am not a paying member the last couple of years after my forum ban, I still care to see them do well as they are very important to what happens with support in Vancouver. hell of a year in Whitecaps Land, isn't it.
its been very frustrating and painful for me watching my club of over 40 years- while there were bad years, i never have felt this way before, like not even wanting to go to games it aint over, but there has to be some dark days ahead over the next 3 months before the light can finally come back-- i have a sense there are major changes coming by november and we can only hope- and its a BIG HOPE- the disengaged owners get it right with a new coaching and scouting staff and possibly removing lenarduzzi from his Presidents role and making him a media PR type of guy (he has a long history with the club) whether there is a case of robo double-dealing the club is unknown- and every person is innocent until the facts say otherwise-, we can all agree he is either incompetent or prejudicial- maybe both- in his signings and player assignments... and i dont believe that lenarduzzi can escape some of the blame as he consistently endorsed what carl was doing since 2014 infusing money the same way it has been handled since 2014 will only cause an explosion amongst the supporters- and unfortunately, some of the weak players like juarez and blondell are on longer contracts, but they need to be gone, along with another 6, all who are not MLS quality who can elevate the team to be a true playoff contender in 2019 the owners need to get it right for 2019 as the support is at the tipping point we deserve better, but our patience and committments are wearing thin
If your scouting staff is limited or non-existent, you almost have to rely on agents for leads on players who are potentially available, affordable and good enough. The landscape is just too big. If you get a good signing from an agent, trust is built, for better or worse. I don’t think anyone is accusing Robbo on kick backs from agents as that obviously would be fatal. But, if the Cap’s leadership think they can get a coach who would improve their ability to get players of quality, they should do it. I don’t recommend Caleb Porter even though he is available and has had success in the league.
Well, of course agents are part of the process. But when it is so heavily in favor of Baldwin, AND the track record of players from this channel is well below average; it must be called in to serious question. I don't like it at all. Whether Carl is getting a kickback is something we never know; but it is quite amazing if Glasscity's 80% number is even close to being accurate.
Well 3 points is 3 badly needed points and we did win in San Jose but crap we looked bad for the first 45-55 minutes. Neither Felipe or Teibert is a DM. Aly barely is. We need a true DM in front of the CBs. 3 in the bag and now let's not spot them a 2 goal lead next week. Just win.
I know Carl is being polite but he's always on about the opposition being "a good team" and/or "they are good players" but seriously to say that about San Jose? They suck in every facet of the game. They are dreadful. They have ONE win against a team not named Minnesota. LMAO. No Carl they are not good players or a good team. Spot two goals to a "good" team you will lose.
So after our next home game against San Jose it gets tough. How tough? 5 of the 7 teams we play are currently ahead of us in the west except LAG who are in a virtual tie with us and the east team we play is TFC who just thrashed us in the V's Cup. The only good news is that we tend to play to the level of our opponents so as long as we don't spot them 2 goal leads we might just make it. Currently at 37 points so we need 13 out of 21 Seattle (H), Dallas (H), LAG (A), TFC (A), KC (H), LAFC (A), Portland (H).
Just listened to Davies on Vancouver sports talk radio. Listen after the 7:30 mark for one interesting bit about coaching staff changes (which didn't get followed up on by the interviewer: he just went on to his next question, as if he wasn't really paying attention):
FEELING THE HEAT... and pissed about it: QUOTE: coach carl robinson-- “We just focus on what we can control. We let all the specialists and analysts and the 20,000 coaches (in the stands) do their job. Our job is to try and get into the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.” when a coach begins to shoot at the team's supporters, we all know its just about game over for him and his assistant coaches who havent had their contracts renewed for 2019 his supporters- not me or old fan- have finally smelled the coffee- his continual flogging of weak quality non-MLS signings on the club since 2014 have wasted millions of available league money- the list is extensive and he has no one to blame but himself and his incompetent scouting/agent staff time for the club to move on and right the ship with a new coaching staff and president- the owners need to take initiate this come november- clean house and move lenarduzzi to a PR type of role as his name has cachet in the vancouver media market keep it the same and risk loosing thousands of supporters and $$$$$$$$$$ this is a great market and we deserve better
Based on the 5 years, and the new information on the Baldwin stuff; I would take Tommy Soehn over Carl in a heartbeat. And anyone who knows OldFan's forum history knows how I felt about Tommy. For me to say this is pretty serious. Carl needs to get the ******** out of town and find a new job elsewhere. Enough is enough.
I think they're on a one year playoff qualification streak. I'm pretty sure they didn't make it in 2016. Did anyone in the media call Robbo on that one? The Baldwin story is so reminiscent of the Mo Johnston time at TFC.
this story isnt over by a LONG SHOT- people like glass city have more details, but are making sure- and rightfully so- that the material is 100% accurate- inuendo and rumor is not enough to ruin someone's career but i think what will come out is stenchy at the least- just the fact that president lenarduzzi is dialoguing over this story makes me realize that the Caps owners and Front Office have known about this for quite a few weeks and its why the assistant coaches dont have new contracts, a most unusual step unless its the first step in a prolonged disclosure- whether more comes out before the season ends is unknown, but my guess is that the house cleaning might be forced upon the owners to be done soon as the details emerge probably over the next 2-3 weeks as the dots begin to be connected all this helps to explain the poor player signings over the years, unusual player line-ups, the lack of playing opportunities for canadian youth at the expense of weak non-MLS players and the excess waste of MLS salary money for salaries that didnt deserve to be paid to the excess level they have been SOMETIMES A FIRE HAS TO HAPPEN SO NEW AND BETTER GROWTH CAN COME
Very much so on the second point and as to the first point ... Mr Stats to the front please 2011 - Missed (28 Points) Teitur & gong show (0.82 PPG) dead last 2012 - Made It (43 Points) Rennie (1.26 PPG) 5th out of 9 in the west 2013 - Missed (48 Points) Rennie (1.41 PPG) 7th out of 9 in the west 2014 - Made it (50 Points) Robbo (1.47 PPG) 5th out of 9 in the west 2015 - Made it (53 Points) Robbo (1.53 PPG) 2cd out of 10 in the west 2016 - Missed (39 Points) Robbo (1.15 PPG) 8th out of 10 in the west 2017 - Made it (52 Points) Robbo (1.53 PPG) 3rd out of 11 in the west 2018 - TBD - (37 Points & 1.42 PPG so far) So not a bad record with 3 out of 5 years over 50 points and they might make it 4 out of 5 if they can get 13 points out of our remaining games but that is one tough schedule after San Jose ... Seattle (H), Dallas (H), LAG (A), TFC (A), KC (H), LAFC (A), Portland (H). He does have the best road record in MLS because on the road his bunker & counter does work with our players. Personally I have seen enough and want a change. It is a good record but not what we should aspire to. If a coach wants to bunker & counter on the road fine but I would like less churn in players and a more modern style of play at home and I doubt he is the one to do it. How much is Robbo and how much is tight owner I don't know but I'd like to see a change. PS. And just as I post this San "DeadFsckingLastInTheWholeFsckingLeague" Jose just beat Dallas!
we should not so easily accept "not a bad record". Why the numbing acceptance of mediocre results? Especially in light of the staggering number of over paid and under performing international signings over Carl's tenure (which ,may be more connected than we know). This weird binary concept that the club has conditioned the market to where we have to be this way or "TFC" (how many "we are not TFC do we get from them and from fans who have bought the message). THERE ARE MANY MORE AREAS BETWEEN THESE TWO POSTS.
Agreed. I don't think we can spend like LAG/FC, TFC, NY1/2 and Atlanta. Those are huge markets. Dallas & RSL seem to have a viable model for those in small/medium markets. I'm interested in what other clubs are spending but value has been sadly lacking for a while now. I would bet that RSL has the best value (good players at moderate cost plus a few true DPs). The league is improving and we will need 1.5+ PPG just to make the playoffs from 2019 onward.
SKC usually don't have a big spending budget but also seem to be able to get good bang for buck and consistent results. I just believe the Caps can get better bang for the bucks they spend.
Oh yea I forgot SKC. Another quality+value setup. I think the Caps owners agree with us. We'll see what happens.
NOT A CLUE!! ed willes article in the newspaper shows no signs of why supporters are so pissed at head coach, carl robinson- does willes really do any research or have any soccer expertise ?? https://theprovince.com/sports/socc...-for-robbo-but-whitecaps-coach-has-no-regrets he patronizes robo without thinking about the turnstile of players each year (12-13) and the wasted MLS millions in signing incompetent, poor quality non-MLS players... and we can only wonder why-stubbornness? incompetence? being manipulated? other?? ed, do some serious research and ask tough questions or stop writing about something you have little knowledge of just so you can justify your paycheque we deserve better reporting!!