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that's a pretty big catch, especially considering this is a league that doesn't care about how good the u.s. becomes, they just want the current best to stay in the league at the cost of the future best i can see mls having it's paws in on the shoe contract, so it's sounding like taylor has his current contract (which as previously mentioned in rev articles *during the season* was to be renegotiated at the end of each offseason, although rev writers are doing everything they currently can to make you forget they ever wrote that) and u.s. call ups if taylor keeps scoring goals, i do not see the league selling him... ever great thing we have geniuses alienating every player they possibly can in the front office of mls players don't know who is making what, quality of play means nothing... it's what teams can offer, jolley's getting paid and other defenders are asking for the same deal (barrett) mls is trying to get by on being the big dog, they ain't the big dog... they continue the way they are dealing with players and they will be asking bigsoccer posters to play for them so do we need a curt flood type individual? i would imagine we do, but for the player's own playing career... the repercussions shouldn't be as severe, there are countless leagues throughout the world that the player could go to after that
written by Glenn Davis, the guy who is doing pbp for the College Cup with Ty he always does the Sunday soccer articles for the Chronicle
It must be nice to be the only game in town...at the moment. That is possibly the first offer and it has merit. Getting locked in for 3 more years is not good for a rising star. At least shoe companies are receptive to soccer stars, this could be a consideration for players that are coming back to the MLS and are wary of low wages. There is incentive to come back and excell. Let's hope they can get together and make TT happy and not be to greedy. It would be an eye opener if he got offers that MLS could not refuse. Both from the standpoint of the player and from MLS. At some point they have to deal if the price is right.
jim i agree. mls is alienating and mistreating the players. i know guys who didn't graduate highschool who make more money than twellman. now i am all for "the workingman" image but 24k a year for a class athlete is ************************. if someone doesn't knock some sense into the mls front office soon then there are going to be some serious problems. soccer players don't strike?
Of course, without MLS, Twellman's career was going nowhere. Now he's starting for the USA and will soon make a lot of money. So what if MLS is playing hardball? Shouldn't they? It's not like they can renegotiate all the lousy contracts. Kudos to MLS for being smart. Twellman will get his money, but MLS will get something in return. Just like BL got something in return for Donovan. Let's get real. Every one of those guys is better off because of MLS. As for a strike. "Welcome to the A-League"
Twellman is a huge fool if he takes that raise and commits himself to the league for not just the three remaining years on his contract, but three more years. That'd tie him to MLS for another 6 years. Of course, MLS is FECKING HIM for not signing a P40 contract right out of Maryland. But really, he ended up fecking himself by not coming to MLS right out of college as a P40. If he would have done that, the result would have likely been the same(leading the league in goals), and he would be salivating on how he's ready to go to the EPL or Bundesliga on a really FAT Tony Sanneh style contract. His original P40 contract(had he come here) would have been up in 2004, and he likely would have enough caps to qualify for England or at the worst sign with one of the best 2nd division Bundesliga teams/worst 1st Bundesliga teams and make $500-600K per year. Soldier on for two more seasons and then threaten to leave MLS after one more year and they'll likely sale him for $900K-$1 million. He'll likely end up having enough caps for England or at worst could get a better job in the Bundesliga. He'll only be 25 when his current contract ends.
See above, Twellman fecked himself by not signing with P40 right out of college. If you can't hack being away from home and playing on a 3rd division reserve team in Germany, then you should sign with MLS and P40. Salyer's about to take it in the arse also when he comes back from Bremen's reserves. 3 year deal with MLS having the option to exercise a 4th year. The moral of the story is that it's better to sign with P40 out of college unless you've got the intestinal fortitude to hack it in Germany. P40 offers players a chance to develop, have the P40 money to fall back on, and then try Europe at 23 or 24 when they're more mature. If X player becomes really good in that time frame, MLS can sell them off if the right offer comes around.
MLS screwing a few players isn't going to cause massive uproar because MLS still isn't making money yet.
Day or Night, Their Voices Carry - Boston Globe Barkley needs to fear not about soccer, our best highschoolers won't be exploited like LeBron James. Our best highschoolers are already professionals.
After Barkley said high school soccer players, Earnie Johnson very quickly yelled out, "WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT THAT?" He also made a similar comment during the NBA Draft. When Barkley mentioned that the US had won a game in the World Cup. Earnie's response was, "What was the score,1-0?" Barkley giggled then replied, "No, it was 3-2." Barkley may not be a soccer fan, but at least he respects it as a sport. Earnie Johnson meanwhile shows his family's redneck colors. That's a sad comment coming from a guy in Alabama.
Just to be devil's advocate, doesn't this actually mean that MLS would receive a potentially hefty transfer fee if, over the course of the six years, Twellman wants to move on to Europe? I don't see it necessarily binding him to the league for all that time. I'm sure MLS is looking to hold on to as many cards for potential transfers as they possibly can, in the event that they ever get serious about entertaining offers from abroad. Later, COZ
that notion is 100% correct, but it's assuming one thing that simply isn't true... mls will part with players for transfer fees mls has an extremely distorted sense of the value of it's players
not really, because i'm sure they get serious offers, they just aren't at the delusional levels mls thinks it deserves
Do you think $500k for Mastroeni (pre-WC) is "serious"? $1 million for Mathis "serious"? The only time they have turned down good offers was McBride ($2 mil +) and Olsen ($2.25 mil). Meanwhile, they've sold Eddie Lewis, Stern John and Diallo, among others. The only person they have consistantly screwed is McBride. Behind Donovan, Mathis, like it or not, is the face of MLS and to sell him for a measly $1 million is a joke.
So, as you see it, the purpose of MLS is not to have the best American players playing here at home, but rather as a feeder league to Europe? We should just develop good young Americans and sell them all off? Sorry, but I kinda like being able to go to the stadium and watch Mathis, Twellman, Convey, Donovan, etc. I guess you would rather have MLS turn into NASL where it was a bunch of old foreigners running around so it was "respected" in Europe. Sorry, this isn't Brazil or Argentina, where they have real economic troubles and have to sell off all the stars to Europe for cheap. MLS is making an effort to build an American identity on the league and I applaud them for it. If they screw Twellman over to set an example for all other kids thinking about not coming to MLS, then good. Let kids like Salyer learn the hardway that they are better off here. If Twellman or any other American really wants to leave, MLS will sell. They did with JMM, Lewis and Hanneman.
When it comes to a player like Mathis or Mastroeni, the league would be insane to sell them so cheaply. Quite simply, they'd be way too expensive to replace.
no i was responding to the comment that if the players ever striked that mls could bring in a-league squads as a solution. that would kill the league.