Well, things pretty went as planned. Its clear Zach or Henry need to go, with Pickens in the wings there is no reason for one of them not to. I'd like to see Henry stay, he proved enough to me, and honestly I think he'll be cheaper with the bargaining power we have of basically saying "Well, its either take this offer, or go hang out in the A-League with Johnny Walker". Thorton is still coveted by the Metros, that didn't change, their GM was stupid enough to come out and publicly say they are looking for a replacement for Walker. I think Thorton is quite a bit more attractive than Meola, but thats just me. We'll see what Peter has planned, but I think he is grinning somewhere tonight with the way the draft went. Cap space is a dangerous thing to give Peter Wilt and he has some for the first time in...uhh...well, yeah...
I'm just trying to figure out if you are Mrs. Williams or Andy's best friend, with as many posts as you've made today that make Andy Wiliams seem like the second coming of Pele. He's a decent enough player, but when I think of losing him, I don't necessarily break down and cry about it. Why? I for one got tired of Andy's ability to try to make passes without ever exerting any real effort out there. Maybe that's how he was able to wear long sleeves even in July. Think about it-- how many times did you see him try to thread a 40 yard through ball from a deep position on the field, instead of staying up top, making the D-mids and defenders get the ball up to him, and then being in a position to play a through ball to a forward.
Three posts in a row did seem a bit much, but losing Williams is pretty much the big news today, and since everybody said PW must know something we don't, I thought I would ask. Here's the thing, I don't think he's the next Pele or anything, but I have my doubts that we are going to find a replacement that is a) better, b) more consistent, c) cheaper, and d) not an SI. There are going to be games where he makes you pull your hair out, but over the course of the season, he is worth having on your team. With roster expansion and everybody losing players to the draft, there is going to be a lot of competition for good midfield players, and since we sucked this year, players probably aren't going to be beating a path to our door.
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I keep going back to Coz's "rent a #10" analogy, the one he brought out when we first got Andy. I think we can find better and more consistent players, maybe not cheaper or ones holding Green Cards though. But there's also the "double Jamaicia" theory here too-- now, we only lose 1 player to Jamaicia games, vs. 2. Maybe that played into this a small bit, I don't know. And don't think that players won't be interested in the Fire-- this team still has more talent than 3/4 of the rest of the league, as well as a strong tradition and a reputable front office. Plus, Chicago is a more exciting place to live than, say, Columbus or Salt Lake City.