21 year old Ian Joy, born in san diego, raised in scotland and manchester, england. played for U.S. u-18s and u-20s, bounced around the second & third divisions in scotland and england from age 17 to present. Joy will fly to south florida in the next couple of days to meet up with the Crew. hmmm... left-footed defender... young... professional experience... American...
My guess is the Crew just landed their 6th development player to go alone with potential development players Abrahamson, Ritch, and Tredger and current development player Matteo and P-40 Akwari. It all depends on whether or not he is willing to take a development contract or not.
Heres a link to a story about him on thecrew.com http://www.thecrew.com/show.cfm?article=317 I think this is a good addition for us.
The word is that he's a good attacking left back. Sounds like a smaller but better version of Denton, so I'd say he's an upgrade and potential starter. This would free up the left wing (Garcia?) to pinch in more centrally and leave the left side to Cunningham and Joy. With Hejduk on the right, the right winger can also pinch in centrally. That should help make up for the lack of a true Dmid. This may be a very good fit for the Crew. -Tron
Boy, I dunno about this. First of all, you have to put Luichi Gonzalez down for one of those spots: he's still a P-40. Also, somebody can correct me if I'm wrong but I think Leitch is also a developmental player. That aside, I still have to say that the 4th, 5th and 6th round picks (Ritch, Abrahamson and Traegger) are all still VERY long shots to stick. Historically, very bloody few guys picked after the second round are still hanging around after the second round. For all three of these guys to be there would be monumentally freakish. While we DID get Chris Leitch in the 4th last year (and we sure aren't hearing a bunch about him lately, BTW. Anybody heard anything?) he was the exception. 2002 4th: Christof Lindemeier 2002 5th: Scott Leber 2001 4th: McKinley Tennyson 2001 5th: Scott Powers 2001 6th: Phil Karn 2000 4th: Christof Lindemeier 2000 5th: Dominic Schell 2000 6th: Pass In 1999 there were two three round drafts, so it's hard to compare but it doesn't much matter because the Crew had unquestionably their worst draft of all time: the likes of the immortal Craig Yacks and Mike Butler were among those selected. All I'm saying here is that these guys have a long, tough road, and the odds against all three of them making the roster are staggering.
Yeah Lucci isn't a P-40. Never was. He is in the age range, but has the full roster type salary. Leitch got a full roster contract after Lapper retiered last year. There was a big deal made of it because him and a guy from KC were the only two development players from last year to get offered full roster contracts. As for Ritch, Abrahamson, and Traegger I fully agree. That's why I said potential development players. The later players in the draft trend not making the team is going to end, especially with the addition of two more development slots. That was something new in MLS last year. It used to be you had to be P-40 or a JI to be roster exempt, now anyone under 24 can make the roster as an exempt player. That changed everything. A late drafted player, like Lietch, can have a year to train and prove on the field they deserve to either stay on the development roster or get a full contract.
Lucci is not a P-40. thecrew.com has him listed as a P-40 erroneously. He counts against the 18 man senior roster. When a player is picked as a P-40 it is put in their profile. example Martino and Buddle Buddle Bio Martino Bio Now look at Lucci's Bio. No mention of P-40. Lucci Bio
Luchi Gonzalez is NOT P-40. Look at the official roster: http://www.majorleaguesoccer.com/teams/clb/roster.html Gonzalez played through his senior year in college. P-40 contracts are for guys that leave early. Akwari is the Crew's only P-40. (Edit: myshap beat me to it)
How many guys do we have left from last year and how many can we add? You all can correct me if I'm wrong, but developmental contacts are not really contracts at all as they can be terminated at any time. Basically its benefits (health insurance) and a small salary. If Joy makes the squad, I am sure MLS will sign him to a living wage. B
what would your assesment of martinos performance last year/ overall skills/ promise for the future be? i saw him a few years back in the WYC and truly hated him.
Watch our opener vs LA (ABC 4/5). This will be his sophomore year and all the teams know his tendencies now. Andrulis must feel confident about his abilities, though; he let our SI 2 yr starter return to Columbia. IMO he does a great job. He plays real D, has good vision and presence on the ball. He needs to get a little physically stronger to counter the body-up tactics teams began to use at the end of last year, but he also has mastered a faster release to avoid the physical counter. Consensus here is that he's pretty good already and has lot's of upside. look for some Nats spots this year.
Pardon me, but unless Joy is a Hejduk clone, I don't get the need for 5'8" 160lb back. We need, IMO, a bigger central defender (yeah, like T-Bone) to match with the power forwards in the league. Joy can't match with Buddle or McBride on set pieces no matter what foot he plays with. Why do we need a (at most) Cherundolo type back?
As of right now the Crew have 20 senior roster players in the mix if you add Hejduk, who still hasn't offically signed, and Washington, who signed a limited contract so he could train with the Crew and play with them in the CCC in place of McBride. If McBride comes back from Everton, Dante will be droped or maybe someone else, who knows. The fact is the Crew have to get rid of two players of the 20 currently in the mix with the Crew who would count against the SR, if McBride Comes back and Hejduk becomes official. However, the Crew only have two roster exempt players in Akwari and Matteo. That leaves 4 spots open for players 23 and under. That's why I think if Joy makes the squad he makes it as a developmental player. I think it's terrible they offer such a low salary to those players, something like 1000 a month non-guarenteed contract. But that's what these players take in order to prolong their dream of playing pro-soccer.
1. Gonzales is not P-40. 2. Ian Joy is not a P-40 or developmental player. The supplemental draft was for players who already have contracts with MLS who signed AFTER the superdraft. Technically speaking, Joy signed before the Superdraft and then flunked his physical so he was withheld from the draft. IJ's point was that the injury was a 5-year old injury so he should still be allowed to pass his physical (since he played in England with it). Ian Joy already has a contract with MLS and it's not a P-40 or developmental contract. 3. No-one really knows for sure (b/c it's not as if he played a lot of soccer here in the US) but I'd heard some speculation that if he'd have been in the superdraft, he'd have been a second or third round pick. You got a guy (Joy) who has professional experience and professional workhabits. I'd think that puts him ahead of Denton in that regard. Having said that, he has had a number of years to impress better teams in the UK and failed to do so. That implies that technically and athletically, he's not gifted. Still, a young American with pro experience should be a plus regardless of their performance level.
What are you talking about. Denton has three years of professional experience and he obviously had enough professional workhabits last year that Andrulis worked hard to get Denton into the lineup whether at LB or at LM throughout the year. Joy is a plus, but he's not a better professional simply because he tossed around in English and Scotish lower divisions. Denton is not in any trouble of losing a spot on the Crew's roster, nor have I heard or seen anything on Joy that makes me believe he's a better professional than Denton. Now if I was Torres I would be worried.
Seconded. So Ian Joy has "professional work habits" while Eric Denton...what, "shows up drunk every day" or "hides behing the water cooler"? Idiot.
Well, Archer and mshap, you certainly seemed to take things pretty personally. Afterall, no-one said that Denton showed up drunk or was unprofessional. But here's what you got Denton--a player who has fine technical skills but played his soccer in college, some Olympic experience and has started about 1.5 years of pro soccer. Here's what you've got with Joy--a guy who has (correct me if I'm wrong) about 5 years of experience with clubs that play 8-10 month seasons (which until recently, MLS was closer to a 5-6 month season including pre-season workouts). Oh, and then there's the reserve and youth sides Joy was a part of (you know, the kinds of things that Jovan Kirovski and John O'Brien and now Frankie Simek were a part of--before they were ever on the regular team). You know--play anywhere from 30-40 matches a year in a vastly different environment than any college player participates in. I'm not a Eurosnob. I've got nothing personal against Denton. But are either of you trying to argue that someone who has close to 8-10 years of experience affiliated with pro youth, pro reserve and then pro teams has the same experience and workhabits as someone who (regardless of how they work) spends 4 years in college? This has nothing to do with "hiding behind the water cooler" (do the Crew even have a water cooler?). Or is it your position that because Ian Joy is about the same age as a college draftee or a young veteran (like Denton) that he has about the same experience and same workhabits?
But that's not what you said. Here's what you DID say: "You got a guy (Joy) who has professional experience and professional workhabits. I'd think that puts him ahead of Denton in that regard." If you're not prepared to be specific, then be prepared to be misunderstood. As for the value of their respective experiences, I happen to prefer size, strength, speed and abilty over having an accent or hanging around Kidderminister with abunch of sods. We'll see what he can do later. I'm not prepared to judge a player I've never seen.
Having Joy on the squad right now only gives the Crew more options on that left side. If I was Torres, I'd be worried that they are bringing in someone to compete for my job. I haven't seen Joy play, ever. However, 5 years of experience playing over in England can't be a bad thing. Good to see the Crew are giving him a lookover.