But if he's fired before the end of the 2021 season the team has to keep him on in some capacity at a reduced salary. As cheap as our ownership is, I can see them questioning paying Ben and a new coach for a year, when they can just wait another year and lose Ben's salary entirely.
Im just happy he's finally playing the kids. Nothing to lose getting them proper match experience. Its just unfortunate it took the a horrible injury crisis to make it happen. There is no future for players like Felipe (even if he has been one of the best of a bad bunch). He, Brilliant and the lot. This time will be very valuable for Yow, Nyeman, Paredes and Pines.
This is the crew that kept was it Rolfe or Arnaud on the roster because if they had been IRed for the season, their replacement was out of the owner's pocket not the MLS salary pool.
Felipe turns 30 on Wednesday. There's no future for him? I've said it in other threads, but you can't really expect DC United to win if it has no veteran leadership on the field.
Sorry let me clarify. Are you going to build your team around Felipe? Hes a good player. Good squad player for depth. But i cant imagine he will be here for the next 3 years as a stalwart. I agree, you do need veteran leaders. In this current team, you'd have Bill Hamid, Birmbaum, Arriola, other international players like Mora, Flores and yes Felipe can help too.
There is no future for Felipe at DC United. We aren't winning with this so called veteran leadership. Let the kids take their lumps and figure it out.
For yuks I just went back and read page 1. I cant tell the pages apart (except that once in a while the player names seem to have been changed to protect the innocent).
for the team, for the fans, hell... for his self-respect... Olsen should resign and save everybody the fuss
Good article in Forbes about whether or not firing Olsen fixes the problem. (Link at B&RU website). Also listened to the Allocation Disorder podcast regarding fan culture and Paul Tenorio spoke fondly of his youth and being in the Barra Brava section. He then noted that DCU management tried to "gentrify" the Supporters' Groups, a mistake that still festers today. Needless to say, DCU was not in the group of teams that have tried to develop a supporters' culture and be representative of their city.
If it is decided that any replacement has to have had a relationship with DC United that limits the candidates, i.e: Bruce Arena - no chance i Greg Vanney - ditto John Thorrington - very doubtful Richie Williams - Hmmm Mike Petke - Huh? Who did I forget?
He blames Kasper for the Lucho/PSG debacle, which pretty much everyone assumes they know was Levien being greedy. I believe Pablo Mauer has insinuated as much in almost as few words, but I think the failure went back much earlier. There was talk of a $1M deal when we were leaving RFK and its was definitely low balling offers at the start of last year that really lit the fuse which all comes from Levien IMO. Its not like Kasper paid someone else, it was about budget size not allocation. The story is about Olsen, but I think he really lets Levien off the hook. At this point, both Olsen and Kasper can go, but I will remain dubious that a new coach can change things appreciably until I see someone come in and win year after year and build toward an MLS Cup. Anything else is just collecting SUM and selling real estate. I am sure some new guy will come in next season and we will have a decent year, obviously a better year, but its year 2, 3, 4, and so on where I want to see the results and that's not likely going to be a function of some new guy with a different system. Its ownership playing to win, which I haven't seen much evidence of that which is going to make this club a more frequent contender. I've long said the strategy of trying to catch lightning in a bottle is highly flawed, but thats been the club MO for most of the last decade, including the last 3 years. Rooney, bungled in some ways, but unavoidable. There was NO way they were turning down the chance to get him on a free, but not getting a fee on the way out, I have to wonder what wasn't written into the deal but was understood between ownership and Rooney at the start of the deal. No just on Rooney's side of the deal either. Lucho, bungled, by ownership, 100% IMO. SG relations? Completly botched by ownership. STM relations, ownership totally shit the bed, Titi? No idea, but the dude contributes pretty regularly for a mid-table team in Argentina. Was that a Kasper fail or Levien and $? No mention of $2.5M for Kamara who was rotting in the parking lot, not even on the bench for a horrible team. The wrong kind of guy or wrong system, or overpaid for, that's on Kasper. Shenzen should have been glad to get is non-productive $3M/yr off the books, regardless of the $3.5M fee they paid LAG. 3000 of the most expensive seats, valued at a $150 average per game (*18) is $8.1M. Yes I know plenty of cheap seats were empty in Feb/Mar, but the initial 3 year commitments for club level and premium STMs will be ending after this season. There were 5 year commitments offered with a larger discount, but my guess is that they were less common amongst the newer patrons of DCU in the club level. Truth be told, there will not be that many more empty seats next year compared to last year, because those people rarely sat in their seats. They just will not be paid for. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianqui...n-olsen-alone-wont-solve-dc-uniteds-problems/
John Harkes Ryan Nelsen Marco Antonio Etcheverry Jaime Moreno* *Jaime would probably be good, but now is recovering from a horrible golfing accident, and at least lost the use of his right eye, if he didn't lose the whole thing.
I think I would prefer Richie Williams to John Harkes, but I'm not sure why. But I have doubts that anyone who was ever connected to DC United would agree to return unless/until there are FO and perhaps even ownership changes. Perhaps our best chance is with some furriner who knows nothing about DCU and its pathologies.
Not that he would ever consider the job (or be particularly suited to coaching in MLS) but it's a bit surprising to me to see so little discussion of the success Gallardo is having at River Plate. There is a DCU connection, after all. NOT seriously suggesting him for the job, just pointing out that it's an interesting omission from my perspective.
I think he would be a terrific coach. I had forgotten about him, to be honest. I seriously doubt that he would coach DC after coaching River Plate, unless the money was REALLY nice.
Not just you in particular--for the past couple of years, I've noticed that it like NEVER comes up in DCU talk. He wasn't here that long, his time @ DCU wasn't a highlight of his career, but still--a former DCU player is now kicking ass with one of the biggest teams in South America. A team that soccer fans around the world know by name. And it never seems to even merit a passing mention in DCU online chatter. Just a passing observation, that's all.
I totally forgot about him, to tell the truth. Of course, he wasn't here for long and injuries plagued him, but there is a connection. I don't see any way he would be tempted to leave a successful stint with one of the world's premier teams to return here to a cheap ownership with a subpar roster. He might enjoy the challenge, but only if he had a commitment from management/ownership to overhaul the roster.
Extending the list to fathers of former players seems desperate. But seriously, Ryan Martin's dad is by far the most successful DIII coach of all time, and still coaching at [checks notes] too old for us. Ya, he'd have an aneurism three days in.