From the Dispatch: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/crew/crew.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/10/20070110-G1-01.html Quote: "The Crew has been in negotiations to bring former captain Brian McBride back to Columbus when his contract with English club Fulham FC expires at the end of May. The Crew named McBride its designated player under the "Beckham rule," a new rule that allows a Major League Soccer team to sign one free agent whose salary will not count against the salary cap." Paul.
I love Brian. Truly I do. But this is a PR move aimed at selling tickets rather than a move to solve the team's problems. Oh, they'll give us a heaping helping of "leadership qualities" and "example to the kids" and all of that, and maybe there's some truth there. But he's not going to be the answer to our on-field problems and Sigi knows it. Still, in fairness, the "Beckham Rule" (G*d how I hate that term) has never been about improving the caliber of play; if it was they'd tae the two or three million bucks a year these guys will be getting, use it to double the salary cap and raise the overall level of players MLS can afford. The whole point is to generate some ESPN BooYah and sell some tickets and I won't complain because, let's face it, MLS is not a sure thing and the owners aren't going to sit around losing money forever. It's not a public service. And there's nobody much besides maybe Ronaldinho who Columbus could bring in - at ANY price - who would sell as many ducats as BMB can. So bring the guy in, get some local sportsrag buzz for a bit, and bring back all those little kids who populated Hunt Park for years and who only knew two phrases: "Dadddy, give me some money" and "Where's Brian McBride?" It's a short term fix though, and we've suffered way too long to give in now and settle for mediocrity as long as there's someone out there in Black and Yellow named "McBride". The Crew's REAL problem is that they are losers. An MLS punch line. An on-field embarassment. A disaster of monumental proportions. THAT is the problem they need to solve. Put a damn winner on the pitch and all the other problems will vanish like all that Ohio State gear the day after Florida gives the Bucks a ghetto-style back alley beat down on national TV. Until they do, the McBride ticket bump wil be nice, butwill do nothing to save this team in the long term.
Totally true, Bill. Plus, I'd be interested in hearing what McBride thinks about this when you consider he was wanting to live in Chicago when he returns to the states. To be totally honest though I would love to see a good team built around McBride even if Brian isn't capable of carrying the team on his back and only plays a contributing role. This place really hasn't been the same since he left and it shows. All we need now is Jeff Cunningham
You're right, he'll be 35 in June, clearly the best years are ahead of McBride. I think we should also look into acquiring Tab Ramos with our additional allocations.
That's a fantastic comparison. Especially when you consider Tab Ramos' past few years alongside McBride.
I was going to suggest someone from World Cup '50. I shouldn't really care as we can barely use an allocation, I guess a tip of the hat for actually using the DP slot.
hmm. I dont know. If you build the right team around him in the short ammount of time we have until May then maybe for a year or two this could work. I threw him into my lineup in my draft post because of the speculation. I think if we play the draft well, find someone at forward that can combine with McBride then maybe it could work because this team needs to make the playoffs. Then again I dont know why we cant spend the DP on another striker with more longivity If your bringing him back as a ploy. Your not going to build a solid enough midfield that can feed him. If your not going to find a good enough forward to make runs off of him. Then its going to be a disaster for the Crew and McBride. Without people around him McBride isnt going to accomplish much. He's a target forward that looks stranded on a island when he's not getting crosses. I'm not against McBride, it's just he's probably not a good fit for this team now.
I honestly think he could come in and be a mentor to guys like Garey and Kamara at help them be better forwards. Plus, I think it would be quite potent as McB seems to be doing pretty well @ Fulham for such an "old bastard"... Plus, if Virtuoso pans out as well as he was showing at the end of last season, it might be a good fit. Add Jar-Jar on the right and put Sleepy at A-mid and we will see what happens.
Since the DP rule is only a 3 year test anyway, this is probably an ok move. If McBride comes back and plays for us in 2007 and 2008, we'll have the spot free to use later. In the meantime, Brian will help with attendance and rebuilding the fanbase. I think he could certainly help us on the field too. How many goals did we score on corner kicks last year? Not many. We should use our YS allocation on a younger AM.
Look at who is giving him service now at Fulham, they aren't very good, and McBride is still able to find a goal every now and then. Let's be honest about our options, it's not spend $1M on McBride, or $1M on some young South American prospect; it's spend money on McBride or nothing. He's the only real DP player we can hope to get. Other than him, we have to hope to find a Christian Gomez type player (meaning someone good who we have never heard of) for $200 - $300K. He may be past his prime, but still much better than what we have. And who cares if this is a ploy to get more ticket sales, Crew Stadium could certainly use a little more atmosphere.
Unreal. We have an opportunity to get back the greatest striker this country has ever produced (theres no debate about that, right?) who is still scoring goals consistently in the EPL, for Fulham, a team whos midfield is far from spectacular, and all you guys can do is bellyache about this isnt what the team needs? Youre joking, right? Yeah, McBride had injury problems when he was here. OK. And...? Last time I checked, the fans at Fulham were worshipping him like a God. This team needs him. BADLY. Ever since he left we have had no identity. Bringing him back instantly gives us a top flight player with a nose for the goal and a work ethic second to absolutely NO ONE. Now lets say he comes, and when he retires in 3-4 years, are we back at square one again? Left with no identity? All we can do is hope that isnt the case. But for now, give this team a proven leader. Someone who will work their behind off. Someone who, might I add, has developed into a better player in his thirties. This isnt Tab flippin Ramos. Or Cobi Jones. This is a man who is scoring goals on a consistant basis in the best league on earth. Get him here.
Have people been watching Fulham matches on FSC? McBride still looks pretty good out there, and I most recently saw them play against Chelsea in December. As mjtate mentioned, Fulham doesn't have the most spectacular midfield in England (they're having Crew like injury issues this season) but McBride is actually their leading goal scorer this season at Fulham.
Let me go on the record and say if we bring in McBride, Garey will be a top 5 striker in this league in the next 2-3 years. McBride brings so much more to the table than just what meets the eye. This isn't a lightning in a bottle thing. McBride's prescence alone will make Garey and Kamara substantially better, if he only plays even two years it's still worth it.
Say what? I thought one of our biggest on-field problems was the inability to put the damn ball in the back of the net. A quick check of Fulham's stats this year shows that McBride still excels at doing that. I don't see how this doesn't help us and make us a better team. Keep in mind too that Brian wouldn't have to miss matches due to international duty with US team too. From that point of view, his age is a plus, not a negative. And finally, please keep in mind that we wouldn't be trading or giving up our DP slot for him. We'd be using it on him. And when he retires, we'll still have that slot and we'll be able to use it on someone else. Considering we're potentially losing Kotschau, Rozental, Gonzalez, and Hejduk this off-season, the last thing we should be complaining about is bringing some leadership and experience to the team.
I'm all for bringing Brian back. He's still productive: 7 goals this year for Fulham, so far, leading the team. And their midfield has had all types of injuries. He's a great pro and the youngsters could learn a lot from him. He'd strengthen our team on and off the pitch. Yes, age is a factor. But he seems to be doing pretty well at the moment, and with Brian's conditioning, and the less arduous MLS schedule, he'll be fine for a couple years, its not like his game is based on quickness anyway. I can't believe all the moaning about this. I've heard people bleat on this site about not wanting to "waste" an allocation on the "wrong" guy for the last 2 years as we refuse to use them. Now, we are using the DP on perhaps the safest bet of all time, and more whining. Well, you can't have it both ways.
The only way Garey will be a top 5 striker in this league in the next 2-3 years is if Asteroids start destroying MLS training camps. The question here should not be whether BMB can contribute, because in the short term clearly he can. To me the question is "should we go forward to the future or past to the back?"
Virtuoso, as I said before, shows flashes of brilliance in making stuff happen. Get McB in there with Garey, Kamara, Virtuoso, and especially Sleepy, who could learn from him as well, and he might whip them into shape and give them a reason to rally together.
Actually I understand that Stern John is probably available from Conventry, though they are looking at a transfer offer from Beitar Jerusalem.
Check the numbers, we were fairly close to middle of the pack in shots last year: Code: TEAM TOTAL SHOTS TEAM W L T 1st 2nd/OT TOT Kansas City Wizards 10 14 8 204 204 408 FC Dallas 16 12 4 182 216 398 New York Red Bulls 9 11 12 184 208 392 New England Revolution 12 8 12 179 203 382 D.C. United 15 7 10 189 190 379 Colorado Rapids 11 13 8 175 189 364 Chivas USA 10 9 13 189 174 363 Columbus Crew 8 15 9 166 192 358 Real Salt Lake 10 13 9 143 212 355 Houston Dynamo 11 8 13 178 170 348 Chicago Fire 13 11 8 143 202 345 Los Angeles Galaxy 11 15 6 158 177 335 We had far more problems in the finishing third than we did in the middle third. It was mostly the simple inability to put the ball in the back of the net.
I, too, am high on the potential of the Ragin' Cajun. With an established big man to take some of the heat off of Garey, I would expect his goal totals to go up. He improved all last season and finished strong. There is little doubt that signing McBride is *primarily* a marketing move. But at 35 he's still fit and capable, and would immediately help in one of our worst areas of the field. If he can knock in a few goals the next two years, and teach Garey a thing or two about positioning, it will have been well worth it.
Maybe the Crew has advanced weather systems and thats why they aren't training overseas this year. Asteroids. It's not really that simple though and you know it. Let's look at one possible scenario. So, we bring in some young Honduran/Brazillian/Portuguese stud. He contributes for 2-4 years (what we'd expect out of McBride.) And then he has his agent whispering in his ear about Europe and this and that. And he sees dollar signs, more than even MLS DP money can give him and he wants that and is focused on that as opposed to the team he plays for. Let's face it, the MLS DP is not gonna be a player that will be the face of your franchise for a decade. The Designated Player does not instantly change MLS from what it is, a feeder league, to a premier player destination. The DP is a hired mercenary for 3-4 years and thats it. The fact that MLS breaks the bank for one player per team does not mean that national team coaches from around the world look more kindly upon MLS. They still want there players playing in the premier leagues of the world and so do the players. So, it's as I said, that player is gone in 3-4 years. So when you over simplify the addition of McBride as simply going "past to the back" instead of "forward to the future" I disagree. The DP is a mercenary for 3-4 years, and provided McBride stays healthy, and taking into account his not missing games for internationals, plus the influence he can have on youngsters, I think it very much is a move for the future. That would be the best money the Crew could spend as far as player development.