New England Revolution transfer newly acquired goalkeeper Matt Pickens to Tampa Bay Rowdies http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-newly-acquired-goalkeeper-matt-pickens-tampa
Pickens transferred to Rowdies days after Waiver Draft move Posted on March 26, 2014 by Tate Steinlage http://www.soccerbyives.net/2014/03/pickens-transferred-rowdies.html
WOW really good pick up. Top notch expereinced goalkeeper who lost his job to injury. Certainly Tampa Bay is not sitting back being aggresive to challenge the high priced Cosmos
Bold move from the Rowdies paying a transfer fee of that size. That is a huge investment. Not sure I think the move was warranted though. We already have two healthy keepers on the books and free agents are a dime a dozen if one of those two don't work out. They only way I like this move is if Matt does well, we win a title, and then they sell him on for a profit to a European team. This seems like an unnecessary gamble.
I think it shows how serious the Rowdies are about winning a Championship and being a major player in US soccer Pyramid. May not be a move that everyone agreed getting a major jersey sponsor but a partnership with a name brand brings in a stream of revenue for the business side of the Rowdies
I think that there are easily 4 teams that are on par or above the Cosmos in spending. Keep in mind the Cosmos have basically resigned players and only made 3 new signings this year. I think the cutline for the top tier in NASL (on paper) is the Fury, NYC, Rowdies, SA, MNUTD, and then everybody else.
That is pretty good. MINN United also I think have sold the most season tickets in club History. The Rowdies have invested 500K for Prime VIP sideline seats behind the benches for Rowdies games that can be removed if there are other events at Lang. No word on what the Fury ticket sales are like but the Spring season is going to be on a University football field. The fall season will be worked on most likely during the break and several games will be on sundays following a CFL friday night game at TD place and ticket packages have just began being sold for both games on those weekends. FCE doing their best to upgrade the facility and have brought in some top Young Central American talent from a Canadian connections coaching down there. SA already had a sellout with a pre season game vs FC Dallas. So there is a lot of improvements going on within the NASL clubs.
Indy has been doing great with pre-season ticket sells and they have been solid with the expansion roster... I just don't think their roster is up to the same level with the teams I listed.
The players will come. But I like what they are doing off the field. They have Honda as their Jersey Sponsor making Honda the official car of the INDY Eleven. They have a local TV Broadcaster Reno'd Pitch And of course the season tickets sold. Kit and apparel supplier in place. They have all their ducks in a row for a very successful start of the season. Between $$$ at the gate, Concessions, and Merchandise sales through the first part of the season playing the short Spring season will be to their advantage. During the break they will be able to add players to help the club for the Fall Season. Networking with MLS clubs could also bring in some young talent on loan for the second part of the season.
Pickens is a great signing but what other moves are planned? Doesn't seem like the Rowdies defense is solid nor have they replaced Mulholland yet.
With the very short spring season I can see teams making some moves during the break between the spring and Fall season as well as networking some loans from MLS clubs. For example even though Vancouver has a USLPRO affiliate they are still looking to loan out players to FCE and their are several clubs still without affiliates.
Defense is still a huge question mark. Not sure if bringing back Rodrigues and adding Wagner is enough to offset Yamada's age and the fact that Sanfilippo is on the backside of his best days in my opinion. Up front I think we will be just fine without Luke. Shriver is a proven goal scorer. Hristov is back and hopefully will shine again. I have always liked Frimpong even though he hasn't produced much, if he can figure out how to convert his high work rate and skill into assists and goals he will be a star. We have brought in several midfielders that hopefully will turn out well. The main thing that worries me is who will be the heart of this team with Luke gone? He was the fire in the belly. Should be interesting to see who establishes himself as that emotional leader of the club.
Still are 8 MLS clubs which have no USL Pro Affiliate, maybe 7 if the MLS take over of Chivas decides to form a rleationship with the Blues, and a reserve team just does not provide enough play. Ottawa has just recevied on loan a young prospect from the Impact. Tampa Bay added a last minute friendly against a pro international side from Iceland they probably will be working on the roster right up to the start of the season, through the short Spring season, and during the break before the Fall Season. Edwards has just got controlloing interest in December 2013 and he has been moving and shaking ever since. New minority owner David Laxer also has growing business interstest in the Tampa Area already owning a resturant, a new Hotel, and now the Rowdies so his excitiement is there as well Tampa Saint Pete business investments so I can see a continued growth for on and off the field for the Rowdies during the season. I do hope that during the spring season and the break that Al Lang is brough up to pro standards
Maybe I should. It seems to me that the Rowdies new majority ownership seems to not want to stand for anything less than first class and that is what it will take for the NASL to be successful and that is exactly what I see happening with every club in the NASL for the 2014 season. Everyone is making a major effort to improve everything NASL organization and not just signing name players but marketing, field and venue improvements, and marketing of teams through TV, advertisings, and synergy with other business holdings sports and other.
To me, you just said two contrary things here. You don't think you'll miss Luke up top (and I sorta agree) but you will miss his heart, which I'll just translate to play making (which I completely and utterly agree). So in summary, Rowdies haven't replaced Luke Mulholland and its not a good thing.
Let me clarify, because you are confusing a playmaker with the soul of the team. They can be two different people. Luke filled both roles extremely well. I think Shriver and some others can pick up the slack with filling the net. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to catch a preseason match (actually I refuse to pay ten bucks to watch a preseason contest against college kids) so I don't know who will do the playmaking, but I figure there is enough new faces to produce a replacement. So even if all the right parts are in place, who will be the glue to hold them together? That is the X factor for me.
They are ending their pre season with an international pro side on monday a free match at IMG. I would think that would be a nice preview of what to expect in all of the aspects of the club that are in question.
Tampa Bay Rowdies sign defender Willie Hunt http://boxscorenews.com/tampa-bay-rowdies-sign-defender-willie-hunt-p78308-68.htm
I think since we have not fully replaced Luke means we are going the route of just out scoring the other team.
Pickens looked good last night making some excellent saves and that PK stop was a thing of beauty. Good to have him aboard. The team looked disjointed last night. Hopefully just nerves. There wasn't much fluid play, just frenetic ball chasing. Most of the crosses were off the mark. Defense didn't keep its shape at all. Shooting was horribly off target. Did I say that I liked Pickens? We did well to get a point. We will need to do better.
http://www.rowdiessoccer.com/news/d...lled-up-to-jamaica-national-team#.U4o3ziimaf4 I know they are just friendlies, but how does a guy sitting the bench (third string at least) in the NASL get called up to the Jamaican NT?