Context is everything. We don't know the context of what Gerland supposedly said, how much thought he put into it, etc. Take into consideration that Gerland's job is to improve the reserves. We do know Hoeness decided to use the words in a situation that was in an off-handed way to disparage JK.
Exactly. Gerland's job had nothing to do with Donovan. Besides, the ones who know Gerland surely know that Donovan wouldn't be his player type anyway - he is old school with putting emphasis on #1 running, #2 running, #3 running...
Hoeness just gets diarrhea of the mouth, and throws constant hissy fits in the press, and will always deflect blame on others (when expectations aren't met). Hoeness was simply trashing Klinsmann, and Donovan was collateral damage. That said, he is a very successful GM.
That bit about Donovan not being played in the reserve side at Bayern is ludicrous...I don't think Donovan set the Bundesliga on fire, but he was good enough to play for another Bundesliga side, who, I'm sure was better than the reserve side at Bayern.
Wait... what happened. I felt like Bill Murray for a second. I was staring out the window looking for Andie McDowell!
LD at Bmunch was in no way a success. This is not a huge insult to LD's game. There had not been a player before he was brought in who could have had an impact at a club that large. hell, they even have/had a tradition of better keepers. But don't under rate the Bmunch criticism. This is a league that salivates at the chance to knock them down a peg, and loves to turn their castoffs into stars. There wasn't a peep about the others calling at that time. Before that, LD had a couple very nice outings for BLeverkusen. but it ended badly and I don't think you'd find many aspirin fans pining for the Donovan era. The reality is that he could have made it here, but he was never a Bund star level talent. In the right situation, he could have played a solid role (he found this at Everton and played that role well). But plugging away in this dark place (I'm saying this because already this autumn I miss the sun) wasn't his thing. Credit to him, he had a fantastic career. I can't imagine he'd have been happy in the Green role, though to be fair this version of Bmunch is better than LD's, and the front office seems to have warmed to Green (never did with LD).
Yes, and it's a phenomenon we've seen again since. American players are often more valuable to MLS clubs than to anyone else, even if they are fairly valuable to someone else.
Unfortunately for most of them, they don't see it in their salary. I guess that is one of the reasons players they have under contract are so valuable to them.
I've only followed US soccer since 07 so some things I'm aware of and some things that flew under the radar but isn't it pretty much known that Donovan flopped at Leverkusen? for whatever reason (loneliness I suppose)?
No, that's not correct. Both times Donovan left Leverkusen the club wanted him to stay. In fact, the only reason he went back the second time is that the club applied pressure to have him return (he was on loan in MLS). He performed well in limited minutes (including in the first leg of a Champions League match against Liverpool) but when a key starter was set to miss the return leg the coach inexplicably chose not to give him some extended minutes in the Bundesliga to prepare for a starting role. Subsequently he had one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a professional player and shortly thereafter forced a move even though the club wanted him to stay. He said later that he had never wanted to return to Leverkusen in the first place.
With or without having some extended minutes in the Bundesliga to prepare for a starting role, he stank up the pitch (as you stated). I really do not buy this preparing excuse. It was as if he was scared to have the ball in that game. He did not show for the ball and when his teammates passed him the ball, he acted as if he wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.
I don't recall reading any explanation, but other people may. IIRC, that match was shown on a channel that most BSers of those days did not get.
Mostly, I'd agree (and from a player of his quality the return in Pool was astoundingly bad) but the manager banished him from team training after that match, and LD was jogging around the field on his own. The video of him kicking the ball by himself was Charlie Brown-esque. Frankly, it never made sense (he hadn't started, but he'd played several times and been good in each outing) until recently on here I saw people noting that he'd had problems with depression. That's what he looked like in the 'pool match, hiding from the game. He wasn't fast, he wasn't enthusiastic, he wasn't interested or interesting. I'd talked with him a couple weeks before that match, and he was flying, quite happy, gigged about the way things were going. It was a performance that those who think he should have stayed in Germany and played it out needed to see. He also said that about the bund when he had his run with Bmunch.