"Must be the shoes" Or is it the opposite of the Michael Jordan/Spike Lee commercials? "Must be the suckage of hard feet" Would that be (you all know what is next): The agony of de feet???
Paul Tenorio @PaulTenorio #cf97 GM Nelson Rodriguez told me team in discussions with David Accam on long-term extension. Current DP deal runs through 2018.
if he can't get a work permit, maybe? his agent should be trying to get him to a league that will enhance his Nat. team impact, even at a lower salary.
This would be a big win for Nelson. I will give props when and if due. Discussions do not equal a deal though.
It could potentially be a big win for Hauptman as well. If they've accumulated enough TAM they could give Accam a salary increase, remove the DP designation, and actually end up with a smaller cap hit. Here are the relevant TAM rules: "Clubs may re-sign an existing player provided he is earning more than the maximum salary budget." "The minimum budget charge for a player compensated with Targeted Allocation Money is $150,000." Seems like an unscrupulous/cheap owner might use TAM as a means of lowering the amount of money they pay out of pocket for a DP-level player. Does that sound like something Hauptman would do?
I think there is a rule for TAM that if you use it to pay down a DP to below DP levels, you have to then bring in a MORE expensive DP to replace them or some such thing. There is no such rule for GAM though...
Targeted Allocation Money Announced on July 8, 2015, each MLS club will receive $100,000 per year for the next five years ($500,000 total) in additional funds, referred to as Targeted Allocation Money, to invest in their roster outside of the player salary budget. In addition, each club will receive $800,000 in Targeted Allocation Money in 2016. Targeted Allocation Money may be used in four ways: Clubs may use the funds to sign a new player provided his salary and acquisition costs are more than the maximum salary budget. Clubs may re-sign an existing player provided he is earning more than the maximum salary budget. Clubs may use a portion of or all of the available Targeted Allocation Money to convert a Designated Player to a non-Designated Player by buying down his salary budget charge to at or below the maximum salary budget charge. If Targeted Allocation Money is used to free up a Designated Player slot, the club must simultaneously sign a new Designated Player at an investment equal to or greater than the player he is replacing. A club retains the flexibility to convert a player bought down with Targeted Allocation Money into a Designated Player if that club has a free Designated Player slot. Clubs may trade their Targeted Allocation Money to another club. Salary Parameters: A Player must earn more than $457,500 per year (2016 maximum budget charge) to qualify for Targeted Allocation Money. The compensation ceiling for such players is set at $1,000,000 per year, except as follows: if a Designated Player is converted to a non-Designated Player through the use of Targeted Allocation Money during the Secondary Transfer Window, that player may earn a maximum of $1,500,000 on a prorated basis. The minimum budget charge for a player compensated with Targeted Allocation Money is $150,000. MLS clubs may bring forward a portion or all of their allotted Targeted Allocation Money, up to $1,300,000, to be used in a single season. Targeted Allocation Money and General Allocation Money may not be used in combination when signing or re-signing a player, or when buying down the budget charge of a Designated Player. Either Targeted Allocation Money or General Allocation Money may be used on a player in a single season, not both. While MLS clubs are not required to use their initial pool of Targeted Allocation Money $100,000 each season (through to 2019), they are required to use the remaining amount (of the annual $100,000) during the following year. NOTE: To protect the interests of MLS and its clubs during discussions with prospective players or clubs in other leagues, amounts of allocation money held by each club will not be shared publicly.
That is just wrong on so many levels, but is just great. The station fired three producers after that aired. Give credit to the newsreader for, well, reading it....and then apologizing for the "error." Apparently, an NTSB "summer intern" confirmed the names to the news station. That intern is now the head of TSA* Asiana Airlines also contemplated filing a suit against the station. Not sure that they did. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2362935/KTVU-sued-Asiana-pilot-names-prank.html *Okay, I made that part up.
Many, many of you have been banging the "play the kids" drum. I don't disagree, but wanted to actually take a look at that. Here is every player under 25 for YOUR Chicago Fire! Arshakyan (21)-David (the "extra tall") Arshakyan is a player who is still lacking a Visa. Callistri (22) would have play in the midfield, since we just signed a "youngster" in David the Extra Tall, plus we have Accam and DeLeeuw and, possibly, Luis "soft feet" Solignac in front of him. Campbell (23) is starting and doing okay. Conner (22)-I know nothing about Drew Conner, although his youth career is not really stellar. Doody (24)-was apparently okay last year for St. Louis in the USL. Fernandez (19)-apparently, "looked good in preseason," (causing us to dump Shipp*) and nothing since then. Has managed 14 minutes in his professional career over two seasons. Morrell (22) has been, well, unimpressive so far. Polster (23) is starting, when healthy. Ramos (21) is starting and has been pretty good (last night notwithstanding) Thiam (22) has been starting and has been incredibly inconsistent. Vincent (22) has been starting and has been inconsistent. So, of 10 current available players, the Fire are starting five. The rest: -Callistri a semi-regular player (played in 10 of 21 games). Too bad for him, we happen to have a lot of forwards (having signed three this summer, plus our only good player in Accam), so he would have to play in midfield. -Conner, Doody and Morrell seem like typical college-to-MLS blah players, although I imagine that we could replace Harrington, LaBrocca and Alvarez with them and the other teams would probably not even notice. -I have a wee bit of hope for Arshakyan, mostly because I have never seen him play. -Unfortunately, other than Collin Fernandez, I don't think any of the youngsters are worth it and I am not sure about him. *I think we dumped Shipp as he was in the last year of his contract and was in line for a substantial jump in pay.
Drew Conner is a holding mid under the tutelage of Vice President Fire Legend Assistant Coach Logan Pause. Won't really replace anyone as we've got Polster and Cocis.
Well, we have attempted to play LaBrocca at holding midfielder several times, when Polster has been out. So, there is that. Cocis is gone after this season for sure. I cannot stand the "two holding" midfielder set up, unless is very good at going forward, as well (as Cocis has shown).
Why would Shipp pay matter? Unless he was looking for a over the max salary, it wouldn't of mattered. Andi is only on the hook for over the mx salary, even then he'd use TAM/GAM to pay the difference.
yep I prefer a 4-3-3 with one holding midfielder. We really need two number 8s to complement Polster. Control the middle and the game gets so much easier.
Oh, I agree completely. It should not matter at all. However, looking at the purge from last season, when the Fire dumped ever single plus $140,000 non-DP player (save for Sean Johnson) and then dumped two of three DPs this summer and have pissed all over Sean Johnson, it does matter to Hauptman.
I don't have any great hopes that playing the kids would improve our results, it would just make watching more interesting than seeing Stephens, Labrocca, Alvarez, Harrington, or Meira again. The remainder of the season should see this lineup: Goosens-Arshakyan-DeLeeuw Accam-Polster-Fernandez Vincent-Campbell-Kappelhof-Ramos Johnson McLain, Doody, Thiam, Conner, Morrell, Solignac, Calistri almost all 18 of these guys need to be at least decent MLS players by next year for the roster to improve - we need to be bringing in 10 or fewer new faces, and every one that doesn't come from the draft needs to be better than someone already on the roster. and sorry, Cocis, you're better than 11 or 12 of these guys but don't have a future here.
Agree on all of these points. Maybe switch Goossens and Accam in your line-up, but that would be my only suggestion. Sad, but true. They should have offered him a release last month, so he could sign on to some European team for 2016-2017 and earn a decent living for himself. He deserves it.
What the hell? 24mGuillermo Rivera @FireConf Collin Fernandez and Alex Morrell have been loaned to Saint Louis FC #cf97 Would have liked to see them get a run out as the season winds down, hopefully they will get some first team action in St. Louis.