Ok. Like that old Smiths song goes "Stop me, stop me, stop me if you've heard this one before..." Steve Guppy just got officially waived by the club. Too bad the guy was never healthy enough to show us what he could really still do. While not a complete surprise to anyone, this is a really bad break for him. I hope that he can heal and maybe catch on with another club. Now that he is waived, the club can free up that salary, right? Or is it too late in the season for salary cap purposes? http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/3853134
Excellent point. I hadn't even thought that far yet. If he didn't have his Permanent Residency ("Green") Card then the answer is "Yes". It would open up an SI that they could then use. I can't recall how many SI's were being used right now.
Oh well, Guppies and MLS don't mix. Too bad, I really wanted to see him do well. Good idea, just didn't work out.
Too bad for Steve, really. Gros' crosses arent utterly reliable yet, but it seems they improved during Gups' stay. Too bad we dont have a midfield coach position to gain from his experience. Mark
I really was hoping he'd stay and be a coach next year after giving us some valuable assistance this year. Maybe he can't coach do to no papers, don't you have to be licensed? Oh well. Good luck, Mr. Guppy - maybe your cousin can set you up with a Chicago youth coaching job
Interesting to note that Guppy's cousin is high up in AEG, and the first move the non-AEG ownership make is to waive him.
This move was strictly made to strengthen our team for the playoff run. He never panned out due to injuries and the $$ we were paying him was not in line with the return he provided. I'm almost certain the new ownership had nothing to do with it. It was a cost effective move and a smart one at that.
Even if it was, can you really see Willi Lauterbach and the other guy telling Payne who to cut and who to sign? This ain't Joisey
While the sale might not be final I am sure they are starting to call the shots around there. Although I highly doubt they are making player-personnel decisions. But yeah this is to free up another SI and some cap space. So long Gupster.
I can assure you that one owner will make personnel decisions with this club. Kevin Payne won't let that part of his job go. And given his record, I wouldn't want him to. United had one SI slot open before Guppy's departure, unless they've got something planned, I wouldn't think an extra slot would make much difference.
Seems that after Crew and MLS beat Fulham, a team that are 2 divisions above Steve Guppy's last team, it was decided that Guppy was actually, to use a British word, rubbish even when he was healthy.
That seems pretty harsh, Allamerican. The fact is injury has not allowed a good yield of labor for wages. Seems more like economics to me. Mark
Ditto that. During his short amount of time on the pitch, he did put some nice crosses into the box. Unfortunately, current DC players were not used to that tactic, and did very little with them. Had he stayed healthy and had time to really mesh with the team, our offense might not have been so anemic, especially at the start of the season.
Guppy did have a few assists in his short time with the team. He also had that amazing midfield slide tackle. That was amazing. I really wanted Guppy to work out. I feel if he would have remained healthy that his crossing ability and experience would have helped in the playoff push. Hey Winoman, it was nice to meet you and your wife. We'll see ya up there next time.
For the first time in their history (well, with the exception of the time between Stewart's departure and Guppy's arrival, but there were no games in that span), DC United do not have a player on their roster who is older than I am. Sigh.