http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/article.jsp?content=20070830_082449_4424 From what i can tell, he's being WAIVED by MLS. Then will be a free agent to sign anywhere he wants to...
I definitely wasn't a fan of Welsh although I appreciated his effort. Can't say I'm ecstatic to see him go but I'm definitely not sad about it either. He wore our colours proudly and gave his all. Doesn't matter to me if we make a move this year or not. I'd personally like to see some of the young guys get some time - Melo, Canizales, etc.
PLEASE don't ever mention Welsh and Ronnie in the same sentence again. Ronnie is class and without him we can't score any goals. He's our star, probably the best MR in the league or atleast in top 3. Welsh could run AND NOTHING MORE. BYE Welsh, you tried and couldn't cut it here in the "retirement league". Up next: Collin Samuel.
Wow, you really have a problem with Samuel. I mean he's ok but nothing like welsh. Does anyone know Samuels salary? I think people just think he's disapointing because we rely on him so much now that we have so many injuries. Please don't pick on the fat kid, just kidding.
Wow... that's harsh. I agree that Welsh and Ronnie were of different classes, but I do think Welsh contributed more than just running. He did well (at times in tracking back to defend), and was ok in stretching the opposition... I recall that he gave Aston Villa's D quite a bit of a problem, and he's had some good performances. We've scored goals from free-kicks and corners that were a result of his running at defences, so I wouldn't say that all he did was run. Collin Samuel always seems to be really up for it in the first 30 mins or so, but perhaps some of that excess weight he seems to be carrying isn't allowing him to play with the same tempo and aggression for the whole 90 mins... for me, that's another good reason to sub him off at half-time and bring on Melo or Canizales and give them some playing time. Again, however, I do agree that Ronnie really is in a different class to the rest of the players on the team... Come On You Reds!!!
Anybody can run at the defence and create set piece chances. Welsh did it more often because he'd storm up the wing and trip over his own feet and it'd appear to be a foul because it happens so fast. The kid has workrate and pace, I didn't see anything else that warranted his salary as a SUB. I hate samuel, he'll play good if called out by Mo, then he goes to sleep again, he's sloppy and in slow motion, him and dichio together are horrible, I miss Jeff Cunningham. I have talked to Dundee supporters about Samuel, I wanted to like him, but they were right when they said he's a lazy player and his statistics DO SPEAK for themselves. I'm just happy we could actually move Welsh and free up money. Free up Samuel's money too and this offseason we can finally get a real striker, and a left winger who can actually cross and dribble decently. I'm looking forward to next season already, I can't wait. This team is going to improve dramatically with the new signings.
Seriously samuel might get a bit static but at least he has some guts to challenge for the ball and he has a first touch unlike forum fav Lombardo. But anyway good luck to welsh and as i said as long as we sneak in a winger as well as a DP i will be happy
ok please dont get me started on lombardo because he is one of my favourite players so i will defend him all the way. now see samuel may have a slightly better first touch but at least lombardo can run! samuel has a problem gettting himself up and down the field. when he gets into shape lemme know and i will take back what i just said, until then however dear god i hope he hops on the welsh train all the way back to where eh came from
Here I'll do it again, Welsh and Ronnie. Since you've comeback already to smooth over your first post about this I won't bother with a retort. You also mentioned why Welsh was so good for us. oh btw, since you're here and not on the Reds fields means you are in the Retired league with the rest of us. Good luck to Welshy again and all the best making more in England than he ever would have here.
The continuing failure of "Championship" level players like Walsh (and I agree Samuel is headed the same way) is one indicator that the quality of the league is higher than people give MLS credit for. Walsh had virtually no impact on games I saw him play. I wish him the best but I hope MLS's braintrust including Mo better gauge what it takes to win in MLS, particularly at a time why the rise in quality is accelerating.
Why do I (we) have to learn that Welsh has left the team by reading Big Soccer postings. Aren't we supposed to have E News from the club. This is the sort of thing they should be announcing, with appropriate words of farewell to the player. The team news is minimal and rarely is it announced that a player is injured, ill etc. Lots of information as to getting season ticket renewals with a big jump in the price so I feel we should be more informed about club happenings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ My take is that until he clears MLS waivers any NR at this point would be incomplete and potentially inaccurate.
Blackpool FC have announced him as having signed on a 1 year contract with an option of an extra year, having received international clearance to sign him.
The thread's supposed to be about Andy Welsh so to keep on topic here's my comment: good riddance. Now about Lombardo, it seems he was trying to catch on in Italy but they didn't see anything in him so he's back over here and I guess nobody here sees anything in him either since he wouldn't be playing at all were it not for injuries. His performance in the U20 WC was pitiful -- he was overmatched constantly. I see he scored a goal with the reserve squad. That's probably where he'll be next year. Ted
funny thing is though... he scored two against aston villa! and they called one of them back! and this is a premier league team! maybe he puts too much pressure on himself? he is very young and you can't say he doesn't put in the effort. he will be much better with dichio coaching him - i bet he will be a regular in a few years time...
Lombardo is a target man like Dichio, and he needs somebody like Cunningham to work off of. Samuel isn't cutting it in that role, so Lombardo isn't getting the chances.
Yeah, you're right. I see I'm not cutting young Andrea enough slack. The only service he ever gets are goal kicks from Kenny or seventy yard passes from our defenders. Post-Ronnie, there is no midfield. God it's awful. 2008 can't come soon enough.
He didn't play yesterday or make it into the match day squad. And our next match isn't until a week on Saturday with the international break this weekend.
You don't get it do you? The smoothing over of the first post is an indication that unlike most people who dislike a player on this team, I try to see the good too. I don't shy away from mentioning these things, I also don't shy away from mentioning that it's not enough for a player of his wages. And by retirement league, with the quotes and all, I was simply mocking the English for always reffering to the MLS as one, and yet an English player who was just picked up by a supposed "better league" couldn't cut it here. It's Ironic, and I just wanted to poke fun at it. I bet most MLS teams can run with Championship League, any day, salary cap and all. And as for mentioning Welsh and Ronnie together, shows how little you know about football in Toronto. That's the joke of the day.
To be honest it is more a matter of attitudes and perceptions about the relative qualities of the two leagues. Unfortunately MLS is looked down upon by many in the UK, partly due to a reaction toward what is perceived as the Americanisation of the sport, and also what is seen over here mostly - the mocking of the sport by many in the US. Having said all that, I've watched a fair bit of MLS now on MLSLive.tv (including the last Toronto match), though I do now support Houston Dynamo. But I really enjoy the atmosphere created by the Toronto fans and the chants which are very similar to an English crowd. With the league itself, the England manager recently came over to watch a game and his response was that MLS is at a level of about lower Premiership, top Championship. Which I would agree with him, even though many here do not - but there again they don't tend to watch MLS, they just base their opinion on old attitudes and perceptions. I wouldn't say the Championship is supposedly a "better" league than MLS. However, it is a top league with a lot of quality players, and is if I recall correctly the fifth most popular league in Europe. The one huge difference of course is the "closed shop" nature of MLS as opposed to just about every other football league elsewhere, with promotion and relegation every season, which means that clubs like Blackpool can get up to the top flight like Reading and Wigan have done recently. Wigan (which isn't too far from here) used to play in a dump of a ground in front of one man and his dog in non-league football, before their gradual rise through the leagues (though they still don't get great crowds as Wigan is a Rugby League town). And with Andy Welsh, perhaps he just couldn't adapt to life in Canada and to the MLS games. Our manager, Simon Grayson, has a habit of getting the best out of players who have struggled at other teams and hopefully for us he will do the same with Welsh. Good luck for the rest of this season, and for the future as fans you certainly deserve success, just not when you play Houston Dynamo hey!
I moved to Canada 3 years ago....before that I was a season ticket holder at Oxford United for over ten years. In that time they went from Championship to (now) League Two. I'm sorry, but TFC would not cut it with many Championship level teams. The MLS is lower Championship to higher League One level, and nothing more. Please don't think otherwise, you are deluded! I've enjoyed TFC this season, I think the atmosphere is fantastic, but the quality of play on the field is pretty poor most of the time, really! As for Welsh, I saw him play in League One, and he's only an average player at that level...he's not Championship quality. The fact that he played any Premiership for Sunderlund should pretty much be ingnored...if Sunderland had any resources, they would have replaced him in a shot (which they pretty much did anyway!).