Worse, you could argue that USOC is the tell that they know what we want but just don't intend to do it. Why did they over-sell USOC like the world title? Because they know that even the loyal and credulous ones -- much less the sophisticates -- were getting grouchy about performance. So let's sell any performance to the nth degree. So to me that's like they know what we want. "But we can't afford that." So anything that vaguely smells like success will be touted. FWIW USOC last year was also a big club spendy enclave. We had a lucky run and shouldn't oversell that one could be a regular substitute for the other.
Maing, I don't know about how well our FO marketing department did in over-selling the USOC trophy. I was thinking that just for the trophy win itself, being an actual old Cup in our soccer culture, a culture that does not have that much history, our FO would make some cool shirts that declare NATIONAL CHAMPIONS and the like. Naw, they just made a scarf to hand out on the night, nothing after winning the actual trophy. The victory that night did make the local Sports news on Ch. 2 and the like. So that was a nice, refreshing bump in local media traction. Houston loves a winner!
As I read it, you were throwing shade at what our FO has implemented upon us in the Supporters Section. Which us Supporters, us hinchas don't really need to hear how pre-packaged this all sounds coming outta the bag. On top of this is that my brother Mannie works very hard to implement what our FO suits have thunk up this week to sell their hybrid NBA to MLS way of pro sporting event. So if a man is working hard, for our players and us in the stands, if he is having to work with our suits than it might be a bit stressful. This ON TOP of this man's regular day job!
Dynamo really pushing hard that they signed a Bundesliga player - property of a Bundesliga team but not a Bundesliga level quality of player http://www.houstondynamo.com/post/2020/01/13/houston-dynamo-sign-goalkeeper-marko-mari-full-transfer-tsg-1899-hoffenheim
So if you “don’t really need to hear how pre-packages this all sounds” it means you admit that it was artificial and pre-packaged, correct?
Um Westie, I have been saying how lifeless and dimwitted our FO has handled game day operations since Oliver moved on! It's me my man. Oliver was genuine and listened, responded to each fan's individual email. Would engage with fans in meetings. All that good will and insight has been run from in the past under Canetti and now it appears to be this Kanas City Shuffle jive under Walker and Co. Recall the favorite line of ours from Canetti about game day plans for BBVA after our club moved outta The Rob..."We are just renters at BBVA"
And the only way to do that is to hand over a bag of cash and release control to a guy who has zero experience running a soccer organization? Surely there are simpler ways to accomplish getting Dempsey involved. I mean, to me what you are describing is a bit like when Canetti handed the reins to running a women's soccer organization without any prior front office experience, which was a predictable disaster. I much prefer identifying where someone's capabilities lie and develop an opportunity that capitalizes on those capabilities.
If Dempsey's hires need to be vetted than we can have a hand in the process. The mega theme is getting talented youth from our part of our State funneled directly into our youth Academy and U-23 development. I will say that I understand your precautions. They are legit. I am just looking at MLS booming. Atlanta killing it. Nashville and Austin to come into the Southern soccer scene as well. Miami on top of that. So hitching the Dempsey name as someone from Texas that plowed their own way to pro soccer success appears to be a place to start. We must get the ball rolling somewhere! Border town Texas would not have been my first choice, but that is what the past administration thought up. Let's move on from that and have Houston Dynamo II and East Texas Utd in the USL. Vamos a ver amigo mio!
Then get him involved in the academy. If he owns a USL side, where's the incentive for him to make it a U-23 team for the Dynamo? You're getting back into the same challenges that existed in having someone else own RGV. Surely a competitive bastard like Dempsey is going to want to win, which isn't conducive with a focus on developing young Dynamo players. All that aside, do we have any evidence that Dempsey has any interest whatsoever in getting into a soccer organization right now? He seems to be pretty happy with whatever it is he is doing at the moment.
Again, I agree with some of what you are bringing to the table for hashing out. Good on ya. However, I think the incentive for him is to watch like minded East Texas youth players grow into a pro prospect. Not winning USL titles for Nac-Town Texas. What I am stressing is that the mindset of "winning" for the youth level is completely oversold in our pay to play youth soccer scene. My ambition as an old inner city coach was to foster my youth teams to play as a cohesive unit and grow the individual player. The Varsity was where winning came back to the table for conversation. If you go long on a remote site for USL, the premium on the development side must not focus on winning the USL title. Forget that! A wise set up for youth and even U-23 is to produce future professional footballers. I think that Clint Dempsey would sign on to this mindset. I know his older brother Ryan, who is a very trustworthy youth coach. Good player in his own right. And just a few high school seasons ago I was coaching against Clint's youngest brother Lance out in Alvin. If and when I get out to Ruby's Alvin H.S. soccer program this Winter/Spring I will ask for us.
i was actually hoping you wouldnt find that stat, because i knew i would have to read 300 more posts about this for the next year.
for comparison, Joe Willis' all-time #s at the Dynamo are 144 goals in 89 games for a 1.62 GAA.....AND Joe had some terrible defenders in front of him most of those years.
not sure what dempsey would offer at USL. at USL payroll verges on fixed and it shouldn't be in our interests to, say, splurge on a 30 year old name brand brazilian we can't use on the senior team. maybe some sort of loan or transfer deal but it's unlikely to be huge b/c if they are any good and/or have any ego they will want the Dynamo and not USL. so to me it's always going to be "Carlos Small." what we need is USL/academy coaching. if dempsey can't coach what does he offer? like he's saying about ching. ching to me would be better used mentoring forwards. so we hire him to run a women's team? i know he was going through a divorce and needed a gig but he's not your offensive assistant ahead of davy arnaud? i also think that anything intended as PR is lipstick on a pig until the payroll is more competitive. you bring in harden, it gets talked about for a day or two, but is it us benefitting from him or are we another outlet for his image, which goes back to the rockets? and then if the field product is no better, so what. no opinions are changed. and you've burned that PR tool while the team wallows. outside of the box ideas: -spend on training facilities -focus on being a fit team and build facilities to suit -buy/affiliate/start a team playing at altitude
I'm not too sure that the FO actually has the foresight to do that, but then why dump the Charities Cup (generally a sure fire win for the Dynamo) in favor of a competition between MLS teams and the LigaMx (a sure fire loser). Edited to indicate to the reader that I was being sarcastic.
The defenders in front of Maric were pretty woeful too. I always fire up Football Manager to have a look as their ratings are so in depth and such quality that teams around the world (including EPL) use it as a preliminary scouting tool. For FM20, Maric is slightly - ever so slightly - better than Willis.
To be honest, sounds a lot more like a Brazos Valley Cavalry kind of a team that you are describing rather than a USL team. Which, that would make a lot more sense to me.
i am sure the FO would like to frame this up relative to Willis but (a) Deric was several tenths better in 2017 before his personal implosion, behind the same defense and (b) you're trying to compete with teams whose keepers are as low as 1.0 GAA, again, half a goal per game better. to me it's like "this AM might be 5% better than Martinez" meanwhile some other team signs some DP who has 20 assists. personally to me it's apples and oranges until they come over, and it's more like a broad sense what we're dealing with. down near 1 that's good and i'd be curious. mid-1, in an ok league, mediocre, meh. i mean, we shall see, but these are back up numbers again, for a starter. i assume this means we either balked at Yarbrough's initial price or bowed out of the auction. i also revert back to my argument that if a foreign keeper isn't elite it's likely a waste of a signing and international slot because one thing we can grow is decent keepers.
to be clear, i'm saying USA can grow keepers, not that the Dynamo can. it blows my mind how crappy the GK stats were system wide for 2019. Willis mid-1s. Deric over 2. Nelson is roughly 2 (and got retained). Corti is near 2. for comparison Pittsburgh had a keeper (Morton) -- now moved to St. Louis -- who was at like 0.8. And in MLS Miller was at 1.0. at his peak Onstad was <1.
speaking of end runs you did notice a servania plus cappis on the camp cupcake roster......this suggests along with memo palomino and to some extent deric that the talent exists in area and it's a failure to properly secure and train it.
To be clear, I'm not saying they have him rated as slightly better than Willis as a good thing. I'm saying it is a very bad thing. If you're going to go out and spend transfer money, probably pay the guy a higher salary, use up an international slot then he'd damn well better be significantly better. Maybe it turns out it is, but according to FM which is generally pretty accurate, he isn't. Yarbrough apparently would have involved DP kind of transfer fees and salary which, for a keeper that hasn't played much in a year or two, not a great idea.
Picked up a keeper (Duncan Turnbull) and guy who was already signed to RGVFC (Kyle Edwards) in round # 3 and #4 of the Superdraft.
here's the thing, though, if we show up to camp with a mediocre international keeper backed by nelson and some random late draft pick, behind a weakened version of a defense that allowed 59, we might allow 65-70. ramos' lack of turnover and comments suggest he is horrifyingly naive about what he faces. the defense to me looks 2016 bad. how bad the 2016 defense was got hidden by Barrett bunkering the second half of the season.