Baird's dissent towards referees and diva level entitlement were probably just what LAFC were looking for.
And they just filled Baird's roster spot with a 16 yo GK. Surely there are some other guys leaving the team. This is GK #4. https://www.rslsoapbox.com/2021/1/1...ake-signs-16-year-old-academy-gk-jeff-dewsnup
This is the kind of academy signing that makes sense. Good. Now cut some other players and do this again.
... why the hell did we sign Putna? If the club moves Ochoa then I really don't get any of this. Hopefully this means we found a way to move MacMath.
A season long loan somewhere, preferably Monarchs, makes the most sense. I think they can only do one of these a year, though. I'm not sure if RSL has supplemental roster spots available.
this would make sense, but it also speaks to how poorly the Monarchs are being sold to the academy players. If we can't convince a 16 year old from the academy who is very good (national team for u15/17) but hasn't really been rumored to be going elsewhere to join the Monarchs, who can we?
I think that would be VERy shortsighted right now, unless they really don't rate him. RSL has done NOTHING to increase his value. Let's celebrate the small victories. There's plenty of time to handwring later. If this kid does well, then RSL might actually capitalize on his success. Baby steps.
GK Coach filled This seems like a pretty good move. Certainly not like going and getting Kevin Hartman or, for personal reasons, David Ousted. Though, I listened to an interview the other night with Luis Robles. He has a desire to join a staff, most likely Miami, as an assistant. I thought his background would be great if we had stronger head coach and assistants.
Speaking of GK coaches... Something else that I've learned during Covid, was how Cassar had such bad professional reputation as head coach. He almost had to have a person dedicated to him when the team travelled to keep him from doing something incredibly stupid. He was a match made in heaven for Del Loy, apparently. I used to work at a restaurant in town over a decade ago. I've remained friends with a lot of the people I met there. Cassar came in a few times. Some of my friends still can't stand to hear his name. Crazy. That being said, I don't think he'll ever coach in MLS again. He's got a bar in Dallas (actually Rockwall).
Professional reputation locally in Utah, or around the league? The most interesting this is that being nice and easygoing was more or less his MO when he got the job.
Anyone familiar with USL roster rules? I have no idea what you can pay kids. How do child labor laws factor in? MLS minimum is ~$60k, pretty sure that's what RSL pays most HG's on the first contract, but they don't count towards the salary budget. Why get locked into a low paying contract where the team holds the options when you just wait a couple years and make several hundred thousand a year in Europe?
Because then you train with and learn from older MLS pros instead of just kicking ass against kids your age? No guarantee that the Europe payout will happen. Also, there's nothing that makes the jump to Europe impossible even after signing. $60k in hand NOW is pretty great. Even if he ends up not going pro (injury? other stuff?), now he can afford to go to any university, or even help compensate his parents for the many $10k's they've spent on comp. soccer over the last 4-6yrs.
I remember initially when the MLS/USL relationship was setup was a fear that a MLS team could sign a player to their USL side at a bloated salary and then loan them to the MLS team at a fraction of the cost. Obviously rules were put in place to prevent that. However, it hinted at the lack of a hard salary cap in USL. Doing a basic google search supports this, but also states that all salaries must be submitted to the league for approval. So... whatever that means
If the Monarchs don't train on the field right next to the first team (and the academy right next to them) then this club is woefully misusing the facility in Herriman. I know from interviews done with FCD players/academy kids that they have that type of training setup. "field 1" is the first team and players are asked to move up if they deserve the shot I have a hard time believing the Monarchs couldn't afford that same salary. I would challenge the $60k number, though. If an academy kid is going straight to the first team, he probably has interest overseas (at least with how we handle player identification here) and would probably be pushing into 6 figures, easily.
This is a league-wide trend. It's not exclusive to the Monarchs. The best 15, 16, 17 year olds don't want to sign a USL deal. The pay is really low in most cases, and they know that they don't need to sign a pro contract that binds them to the club to take part in USL games. If they are good enough, they'll play in USL anyway because it'll be good for team results and the MLS club will know that playing their best prospects at as high of a level as possible will be good for their eventual development. As it relates to Dewsnup, he's one of those best 15, 16, 17 year olds, so there's no way you are getting him to sign a USL deal. Be happy that he signed any deal and wasn't the next Soto, Ledezma, T. Booth, Z. Booth to leave for nothing. There is a larger problem with Real Monarchs though. That I agree about. I would like to see RSL start integrating some of the youth players a little better into Real Monarchs. As I'm sure you guys discuss often here, Real Monarchs is almost too competitive with older USL players and isn't enough of a development team.
Thank you for pitching in! Your insight is extremely welcome. The poster you quoted, 15 to 32, has been railing on the Monarchs since its inception for exactly this reason. But I think he's been a little-overly pessimistic about it lately.
I got to know Cassar quite well in my time covering the team. Kreis over-thought every aspect when he was a coach. Cassar was a bit the opposite and did things a little more by the seat of his pants. If that's what's being referred to here, I could see that. Sometimes a little naive about things perhaps. But if this is in reference to how he treated people, I don't buy it at all. I had to interview him within hours of losing his good friend, Bobby Rhine, and I can tell you that guy has a heart of gold. Other than Nat Borchers, one of the few guys I covered that took time to learn a little bit about me. Was always playing with children after practice, and always thoughtful of those around him. The antithesis of DLH, really. He also has a very strong reputation across the league as an extremely great guy. Also, this.... Catching up with Pablo pic.twitter.com/tzpCKB30Xf— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) January 14, 2021
Y'all are missing the implication I am intentionally being very obtuse about. I'm not talking about his coaching style or if he was a good guy. I will not elaborate any more, though I will say I personally got along with him well, and most guys I know got along with him really well too.
Believe it or not the HG deals in the league can be quite generous. Up to four years guaranteed money for the right player, with college stipend money thrown in as well, among other things. MLS is a league on the rise. With the World Cup coming to this country, and the corporate money that will pour in.... it’s a great time to be a young professional in this league. Every players path is different, and Europe isn’t a fit for everyone right away. . Another reality is that if a player is doing well, he can be bought/sold at any time. So starting in MLS at a young age in some cases makes a lot of sense
yeah that guy is a real piece of work and has this pie in the sky idea of the USL teams being able to pay more than they can probably actually afford wait
honest question for you - first want to echo gratitude for you venturing into our corner of BS - what does USL have to do to change that? Is it purely money? Is it a perception thing that just isn't going to change? Your last part on the Monarchs is my soapbox. That the team isnt majority composed of academy players is always insane to me. I have pitched other ideas like an age limit on the overall roster, gameday 18 rosters being required to have x amount of academy players, etc. I just want something that actually holds them to development because saying they're going to so far hasn't really done anything to fix it
my shot was self directed, not at you. Your critique of me is spot on there. Sorry if my reply was confusing