ha, me, a corporate shill or homer? I think my posts here indicate otherwise. just pointing out that saying there is no commitment is incorrect.
What prompted this? Ownerships 'parent' club Swansea are mired in the Championship and no longer getting parachute payments from the Premier League. The EPL gravy train is OVER for Swans. He and his ownership group has run that club into the ground and now must actually run them frugally and sensibly. That said- they do have a chance at promotion this season through the playoffs- but face stiff competition. I think what prompted this is the utter failure he has displayed at Swans forced him to begin behaving more responsibly with DCU.
More responsibly? We were a bottom third payroll when he and Thohir took over the team and we're a bottom third payroll now. We've always been a bottom third payroll team, other than the year and a half when we had Rooney when we just over the midpoint for payroll relative to the rest of the league. Dude is out of his depth in England and he's out of his depth here. He built himself a nice Texas high school football stadium that hosts lacrosse tournaments and high school graduations. Its never going to provide the revenue he needs to make this team competitive from a salary and player acquisition spend standpoint. He'd be better off owning a Major League Lacrosse team or maybe an indoor football team. Other than the change in roles for Kasper and the new GM, I think the remaining personnel are roles that have been empty for some time.
We need that billionaire LA doctor dude, stat! Or maybe Melinda Gates could be convinced that investing in DC United would be a charitable undertaking.
I am fairly sure that billionaire doctor guy didn't have as much cash and readily liquid assets to make it work. I was optimistic, but a lot came out about how his other businesses work. An Amazon sponsorship would nice.
Yeah, I urged Jeff Bezos, a DC resident, to spend some of his pocket change on DCU but I guess he didn't get my message. Now if Melinda Gates is looking for an opportunity to put some of her 40-odd billion divorce settlement to good use (Washington state law requires a 50-50 split of assets if there is no prior agreement) she couldn't find a more worthy charity than DC United.
Oh I completely agree with you. I just mean it appears like they are trying to do things correctly finally. Bringing in stats based personnel and the new GM with success at another MLS club. Albeit everything is about 10yrs late...including the academy and training facility. Given our lack of financial might, the changes in club structure that were put in place should have been done ages ago. I'm just glad they are finally happening. My long supporting English club Villa is finally doing the same thing after a decade in the wilderness. Fortunately AVFC do have very wealthy and knowledgeable owners who are putting these systems in place with infrastructure and staff. It started a few years ago. My hope is that the staff changes will make DCU stable and more successful and ultimately more attractive to sell for this terrible ownership group.
By doing things correctly, do you mean promoting the GM with the worst historical record in the history of MLS to President of Soccer, so that he may lord over the new hires? Who better to mansplain to the new team.
Yea well, the Randy Lerner years ... not much else to say about that. Given what he got the team for in 04? had he just let some football people run it, he'd have turned a nice profit hanging on until today, but managing it into the ground and then holding out for an investor who could make him whole again on the deal while the club withered on the vine. You guys were lucky to bounce back quickly.
We are VERY lucky to have the owners we have now. Lerner sold to Xia from China who turned out to be broke. He made AVFC worse off- Villa were weeks away from bankruptcy when Sawiris and Edens (NSWE Group) came in. Sawiris is the 2nd wealthiest African in the world, and largest shareholder of Adidas. Edens is American, co-owns the NBA team Milwaukee Bucks. NSWE Group is the 3rd wealthiest in the EPL, behind Citeh and Chelsea. They came in and cleaned house, renovated facilities, hired proper staff, etc. Basically started running the club like a proper football club. Now we are competitive again and climbing the table.
I'm hoping his title is just a name and the GM is able to do her job- like she did at Atlanta. But yes that is definitely a worry. DCU has a problem of not removing ppl from the organization. They just get reassigned and shifted...like govt employees.
If Goff were truly an investigative journalist he would probe the front office and find out who is actually doing what, regardless of the titles.
Pretty big blow to #DCU's training staff: Sources tell me that both Gab Manoel, the club's head of rehabilitation and sports science, and Ben Reinz, assistant trainer, have departed. Manoel has been a fixture at the club for years. One former player called him a "magician" today.— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) May 24, 2021
I mean, of course I know nothing of these people, but the DC training staff hasn't exactly covered itself in glory the last decade. I can't say I'm surprised Losada took an interest in the training staff. Maybe that rubbed these guys the wrong way and they found other work, just speculating but again, this team and lingering injuries go hand in hand. Try someone else. Also, I'm guessing Pablo just lost an inside source.
In another tweet, Pablo said that Losada was "devastated" to learn Manoel was leaving, so your rationale does not appear to be correct.
DCU FO reached out to Pablo to clarify that their employees have been returned to full pay as of a few weeks ago.
Which likely, while (possibly) true technically, means no-one has seen it in a paycheck yet - so, dubious claim at best .... and mostly irrelevant since you should absolutely start looking for a new job if an employer ever cuts back your wages, for any reason.
I think the area where I'd be critical of the FO is that you treated longtime and essential staff poorly enough to drive them away. While I can't stand Taylor Twellman, he remains correct when he famously torched the front office before Rooney came. Problem is, no one worth a damn actually gives a damn. Rooney left bc Levien was cheap. These two guys clearly left because Levien was cheap. We've seen ownership's willingness to wring every dime out of all of their assets, regardless of the consequences to the product on the field which regardless of how good or bad, probably doesn't have a ton of impact on the actual bottom line, in spite of what's been said about MLS teams reliance on gameday revenue. If the on field product mattered, you'd have seen a different approach, before and after Rooney. We were a bottom third spender before the new stadium and we remain a bottom third spender in the new stadium. They're still hosting another one of those lacrosse tournaments that's going to jack up the field. They hosted football which bailed us out by being a worse run organization than DCU.
Getting word D.C. United has hired Atlanta United video analyst and scout Sean Howe. He was at the DCU match last night at Audi Field and accepted the job. He worked with GM Lucy Rushton in ATL. He'll become DC's director of scouting. #mls— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) May 24, 2021
Which is why I made my comments about Losada my have a brilliant system but he will tire of putting up with this FO in a couple of years and move onto greener pastures. That the difference with an Olsen he loves the club so much he put up with this FO for way more years than he should have. Making Chicken salad out of chicken $hit. Not good chicken salad but edible.
the FO is changing though. Lucy and her new scouting head are a positive upgrade. No real marks for the new President as of yet but the Segra/Spirit situation is terrible and that's all on DCU.