AMERICAN side DC United are desperate to lure Ronald de Boer and Arthur Numan away from Ibrox. MailSport understands that the MSL outfit's gaffer Ray Hudson will fly into Glasgow next weekend to have talks with Dick Advocaat about a sensational double swoop DC United's season starts in January and Hudson - who almost snapped up fellow Geordie Paul Gascoigne last month - is finalising his squad... http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/sport/page.cfm?objectid=12218957&method=full&siteid=86024
I can't see that happening. But Wow! That would be great! I would definately dump Etch and Moreno to be able to afford those two. I wonder who would be involved in the "double swoop".
And our season starts in January. Hmmmm. Maybe Knave should start the PRE-match thread for that game. BTW, who do we play in January?
If they go with 18 or 20 game split seasons (spring & fall), as suggested in the recent statement from the league PR folks, camp sure might begin in January, if not the season itself. http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news/20020921/mlschanges.html Although, actually, our first practice was in late January this season: http://unitedmania.mlsfansites.com/story.php?news_ID=200504
Thanks for that first link Atouk! First time I have ever read of those proposed changes. Interesting.
Same here--thanks Atouk. I really don't know what I think about those changes though. The playoff ones I like, but definitely undecided on the split season.
Wow, the split season is a huge news story! How the hell did I miss that one. Thanks Atouk! Neither Ranger is coming to DC. If Numan comes his choices will be New England or New York, with both being long shots. I just don't see De Boer coming at all, but who knows. On the twin seasons, several Central and South American leagues have those, and it works well for them ... BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO NFL AND NO COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL! Competing directly with American football is suicidal from an attendance point of view. Splitting the season would be DISASTEROUS for MLS. Fans come to MLS games because they want something fun to do in the summer. When a heat wave or a rain storm moves into an area, attendance goes down. When the season starts early--like this season--attendance is poor for those early games. Openers are usually very well attended, but cold weather games aren't. IMHO, the first 3 weeks of the season should be hosted by the southern-most teams, while the late July and early August games should be hosted mostly by the northern-most teams. Nobody wants to attend a game in Boston in early March, and nobody wants to attend a game in Dallas in early August. Shift the schedule around a bit so that most games are in moderate weather, and attendance goes up. Splitting the season would be very strange for the casual fan, and probably lose their interest rather quickly. Playing too early in cold weather would stagnate attendance. Competing with American football would essentially eliminate the media coverage and reduce attendance in the fall. The sweet-spot for MLS is the summer months. Baseball fans are different, and are less cross-over conflicts than football fans. MLS needs to work its schedule around the climate constraints, US International competition, and it's window of fan base. It's tough, but splitting the season isn't the answer IMHO. -Tron
Yeah, the split season idea would sure be a change. I agree with DT about the obstacles. On the other side it seems like every year coming up will have a major summer tournament or two that we participate in: -Next year the US Cup and Confed Cup -The year after the Gold Cup will now be in the summer, if we don't also play in the Copa America -Th year after that is the US Cup again (at least), then, -The WC the next summer and so on... So I can understand MLS trying to fit it's schedule with the rest of the soccer world. I think also, more pressure will be brought to bear on MLS by the rest of the world as FIFA starts to really struggle with player overload. However, I also see MLS playing in the fall (or further into the fall than present) as as really dodgy move. Oh, this is about the Rangers' players? Forget 'em.
Trecker also suggests that the 2003 Confederations Cup is going to be in the US. Though we are one of the favored nations to be the host, there has been no official mention of this. Dave
The Gold Cup has moved to next summer, not summer '04 (12-27 July 2003). http://www.concacaf.com/news/article.page/842
It's to be selected at the FIFA meetings tomorrow and Tuesday. It sounds like Fitz-Gerald may have indicated they know which way the voting is likely to go.
Split season in a bad idea for all the reasons listed above. Competition with football, attendance, etc.
The only way I would accept DeBoer and Numan is if they play for the $24K minimum. Otherwise, forget it. Hell, if they can't play in the SPL, what makes you think they can play for DCU? And the split season article was written by Jamie Trecker, who makes Ken Wright's "stories" seem like the 10 commandments. Treckers writing is his way of pleasuring himself. Sachin
I don't think we need them since they would only come as max-salary players. (Ignoring the fact that the article is fiction anyway.) I'm not saying we necessarily need to keep the max-salary players we've got, but we don't need these two.
I'd like to have Numan for the right amount of money. I'd bet that De Boer fits in with Hudson's 'ideal' holding D-mid, but I wouldn't take him: his gas tank is mostly empty, and he wouldn't keep up with the pace of MLS play.
I'd like either player but I think the chances of them coming here are nil. We can't afford them (even if cuts of max salary players). I do think this shows that Hudson is willing to consider ANY option and then try to make it work. As for the split season, I agree that we'd lose some casual fans. However.....some MLS teams are crippled by baseball (maybe us soon, Chicago, Spawn of Satan right now). By going to a split season, you minimize some of those conflicts. It's also a way for MLS to squeeze in more games (40 games instead of 28). With the 2 month gap though, you have time to recover from injuries. Arena has advocated something like this for some time (arguing that, bizarre as it sounds, it also helps our credibility with the rest of the world who tend to see our season when they're off as just one more demonstration that we don't get it and have no respect for the sport). What excites me about the split season is that inevitably, there'd be some roster turnover. You could have a team finish first one season (spring) and another finish first in the second (fall) so hopefully there'd be more coverage, more competitiveness, fewer situations like we're in now (or NE and SJ were in the past where they were perpetual losers). Instead, if you suck one season, you've got 2 months to re-do your roster, get people healthy. Look at us this year. If we'd played early, Hudson would have known Olsen and Moreno were out for the spring and would have fielded a very different side--not counting on them to return. Or, he'd have had 20 games to see what wasn't working. And would then remake the team for the Fall season. Instead, we get 28 games where he's desperately fiddling around the edges given the limited cap room. Given how slow it takes MLS to make decisions, I"ll be surprised if it happens for 2003. But I'd like to see it happen. It would co-incide with most youth soccer seasons. I think it would be good for the game. As for competing with other sports--that is always going to happen in the US. Our challenge is competing for stadiums (right now).
While I would love to see either Numan or De Boer or both here, I highly doubt the source of the article since it says that Ray will be meeting with Dick Advocaat. Advocaat is leaving Rangers at the end of the month to focus full time on his real job as coach of the Dutch national team. I doubt Advocaat will have much in the say of players leaving when he won't be around for more than a few more days and Alex McLeish is taking over the personnel duties.
I had a different reading of that article: Rangers were in financial trouble and needed to offload some expensive players. There was mention of De Boer being inconsistent; I haven't seen him this year, but last year he was still outstanding as ever. I don't expect this deal to happen. But if it did, its safe to assume we'd be loosing etch and moreno for em.
European trip confirmed by RH on last night's radio program that he's off to Europe on Thursday. "I'm going to England on Thursday. I go to France on the weekend, Scotland, Poland, and Croatia . . ." Also, he said he is going to Central American in December, and maybe South America in January.
First, do expect Numan and Do Boer to leave Rangers. They were Advocaat's boys and now that he's out, they'll go as well. Will they come here? I doubt it. Second, according to the report I read, the USA pulled out of the confed cup bid so we probably would have known prior to yesterday it wasn't coming here. I think the idea of having the gap in the season is that you then have the US National side together for almost a month (if you have the Confed Cup and the US Cup during the same timeframe). Part of the point Arena has tried to make to USSF is that when he has an extended period of time to work together with the lads (such as the Gold Cup), he gets good performances (even if his topline talent isn't in camp). So rather than call people in for 4 days and then play Italy, he'd rather skip a few friendlies that don't allow for extended camps, then pull the team in and prepare seriously for a tournament. Agree or disagree with this approach, it is certainly consistent with the idea of a split season (which Arena has already gone on record as favoring).