One quick thing on seeking a pound of flesh from Once Caldas, I once was told by a corporate attorney who has done a considerable amount of contract work in South America that you can be right on a given issue and have the paper trail to prove it, but that does not necessarily gain you anything. I would think that's especially true in the sketchy business of professional soccer.
Remember, if they try and go after Once Caldas for this, they’d have to pay their lawyers more money. Better to just ignore it and move on and try and find someone else.
Anybody remember what Chicago gave us in compensation when that ********wit Peter Nowak decided (only after being traded) he'd rather retire than play in New England?
No, they wouldn't. This was an international loan. Paperwork was presumably filed with FIFA. FIFA doesn't like this funny business that goes on in the international transfer market. You don't need to threaten with serious legal action, this doesn't need to be a legal battle. FIFA holds the upper hand and their threats aren't legal, but rather soccer related (bans, sanctions)
FIFA's well practiced at looking the other way on these matters. Far from not liking funny business, it is the kingpin of an international funny business cartel. Once places a call to CONMEBOL President Nicolas Leoz (a naturalized Colombian citizen), he leans on FIFA, the whole thing gets swept under the rug. You might as well seek justice from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
I don't think you fully understand the situation. Right now, Moreno is registered to play in the states. He isn't registered to play in Columbia. If he plays in Columbia, he could face a life ban from FIFA competitions. It's really that simple. Once Caldas is probably hoping to hold out, waiting for the Revs to release him from his loan. However, until he's released, they won't dare play him in any competitions. So the Revs can just hold his contract for the next year, and he won't be able to play, unless of course, Once Caldas compensate the Revs. Do you really think Moreno is willing to forgo play in competitions until January 2013, or do you really think he, as an individual, has that much pull with the head of CONMEBOL?
Ya, we hold his feet to the fire and then NOBODY would ever want to sign on the dotted line with the Krafty ones!
Once Caldas's 2nd string left back is bound to be better than anything we have at the moment, maybe we demand him on a free loan as payment for our troubles, let Moreno go, and go get ourselves a REAL striker or two in their prime somewhere else, not a random journeyman like Pepe Moreno. Teams in Colombia are talent-rich but cash poor and we can still figure out a way to make this work in our favor with a player. Any fine they might pay us would simply wind up in the same vault with the Dempsey Allocation. That money would never see the field.
It can't get much worse than it is now But seriously, he signed a contract. When you sign a contract, you fulfill it. I don't think anyone would look down at the Revs for something like this. Chances are, Revs call Once Caldas' bluff and he either comes here, or we get compensated.
I would actually relish watching that play out, if I knew there were no chances for repercussions down the road!
Honestly even if the Revs are a tax writeoff, the incompetents running this team are damaging the Kraft brand...which is that of successful business people and successful business operations. If I were the Papa or Jonathan Kraft THAT ALONE would have justified showing Burns the door - last season. Why this hasn't happened yet is just a head scratcher.... There's nothing new going on here...Revs management continues to not just under-perform...it's failing...badly.
Nothing with pro soccer is ever simple. Players and teams manage to wriggle out of ironclad agreements all the time. For instance, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF could both declare the loan null and void based on some technicality and then, bam, Moreno's registered in Colombia again. I think its naive to believe that this is a non-manipulable situation. Now maybe the Revs can demand recompense and receive it, but that will require them to do a better job of playing the inside game than Once Caldas. More trouble than it's worth if you ask me. Makes a lot more sense to work a back room arrangement with Once to loan out some promising kids in the coming years.
The problem is, although MLS -I feel- is on the cusp of some watershed years, we are not quite there yet. This means the critical mass is not there yet. There are not enough people who care in a way which would damage the perception of Kraft and therefore hurt his reputation. I know this is true as his persona, at the moment, is that of a saint. Oh, he's great MHK, etc. Even when I try to point out to friends and relatives that he's a lout of an MLS owner, they look at me as if I have lobsters crawling out of my ears. It's a decidedly disdainful look too. And the response is always, Who Cares about the Revs?! So, Krafty has many proponents and defenders. We are in the minority and we are on the wrong side of the Zeitgeist.
Looks like we are giving former DCU forward Blake Brettschneider a trial: https://twitter.com/#!/blakebrett11
I didn't see him play much last year but I've heard he showed some promise, so that hopefully means he'll keep Schilawski where he belongs if we sign him despite the small forward pool. On a side note it's sad that the main criteria for potential incoming forwards is to be better than Schilawski, our current starting forward. Really, really sad.
Here is what DCU fans had to say. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1895571&highlight=Blake+Brettschneider
Setting myself up for ridicule, but is Joseph Ngwenya floating around after DCU dumped him?. I watched him play in the PDL a decade ago and liked him. He obviously never made it with a slew of MLS teams, but I still think he is better than anybody else we have at the moment.
More like cutting off your leg because you have a paper cut on your finger. And then putting a bandaid on your leg. Actually, that's the Revs offseason so far.
Finally....finally....one small gesture this offseason that makes sense. For my money, Brettschneider > Schilawski and probably a little cheaper, too.
I'm not saying MFLS ratings are accurate, but just for fun, I took the top rated (by salary) forward for each team. Guess who came in last? CHI - Oduro 170 CHV - Angel 270 COL - Cummings 240 CMB - Reneteria 155 DAL - Perez 200 DCU - Salihi 300 HOU - Kandji 150 SKC - Kamara 180 LAG - Keane 335 PHI - Martinez 170 POR - Boyd 335 RNY - Henry 335 RSL - Saborio 250 SJE - Wondolowski 300 SEA - Montero 335 TOR - Koevermans 240 VAN - Hassli 300 MON - Ching 160 The Revs top rated forward is a midfielder: Cardenas 130 followed by two guys who probably won't play for us: Moreno 123 Jaqua 120 leaving us with: Fagundez 100 Schilawski 100 It's gonna be a long year...