Re: Yeah, Baby I was excited that he had NOT signed until I read this... Then I realized why DC SHOULD have signed him. Oh, yea...Dante will generate excitement for a DC team in the bottom of the table. And I'm a Dante FAN. I like Dante, but compared to Paul Gascoigne? At least it would have generated SOME excitement beyond the MLS-player-go-round. On the upside, it does mean that Hudson, for whatever reason, didn't think someone of his talent would help enough to take the risk. That's not trivial to me. Special Insight: The Burn traded away Graziani to off-load a player at max salary, in order to improve the team. Signing Gazza would have eliminated whatever cap room you were planning to use to rebuild the rest of the team. I suspect that was the big issue.
Not surprised at all. Of course, I wouldn't have been surprised if they signed him either. I'm rather ambivalent about Gazza. Yes, he's better than some of the team, but who knows how he would have actually worked out. Maybe it was the drinking and smoking on Saturday night and Ray didn't decide to risk it. Perhaps his comments about not wanting the limelight were more true than he let on and decided that if he played for DC, he would again be in the forefront of journalists minds. Perhaps Gazza got really offended when I called him Mr. Gascoigne and Ray took to heart my comment about "there are no sacred cows on this team after 3 seasons of crap!" Maychance Gazza didn't like driving on the wrong side of the road and have people tell him about lines and trunks and other sundry American terms... Good luck Paul, and it was very cool to have met you on Saturday! Now I have a true rarity - a DC Jersey signed by Paul Gazza Gascoigne!
DC doesn't need excitement. They need guys who can put the ball in the net. Gazza, while he is many things, is not a goalscorer. I'm content enough with a midfield comprised of Etch and Convey and RW and the likes for the time being. I am not content with a front line of Q2 + Curtis/Lassiter. I know we have Moreno and Q1, but they've played a combined 2.64 minutes this season. Dante would help in that regard, especially if the price is giving up Namoff, who I like, but is being crowded out of a mediocre-at-best midfield.
The article mentioned that they will break off negotiations for the remainder of THIS season. That doesn't say anything about next season or perhaps that's just me putting a positive spin on our final nail in this seasons coffin. TS.
Once more DC United and MLS come off as bush league amateurs... I am surprised they didn't announce this by "webcast". --Maybe they can figure out what we REALLY need in the last few months of watching us suck ass... I hope they are just decent enough to keep it to themselves until it happens.
my theory is: we suck. we would probably continue to suck either way. i saw no harm, since he seemed to show up in shape and ready to play. oh well.
I wonder how Gazza will spin this to the English press. Imagine the tabloids. "Even the silly American league didn't want him!"
I just went to read sports section of The Times, and it merely states the facts as we have been told them. It says that the "proposed move fell through", and then quotes ray's comments. Not big news in England at all, but that is not really a surprise as the season is about to start there.
My main concern is if this is being done so that we can go out and get another forward. If so, I think that's highly shortsighted. When healthy, we have Q1, Q2 and Moreno. That's a quality forward corps. Yeah, two of them aren't healthy RIGHT NOW, but what happens if we add (somehow?) a quality forward instead of Gazza, and the rest of the fowards get healthy? Then we've got a glut up front taking up mucho cap room. RS
THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! NO GAZZA!YEA ! Who cares what the British press or people think or say about our league . We love it thats all that matters .
Re: WhoWouldaThunkIt? WOW, I;ve read Tron's posts for a while, and while they are always objective, they're always also positve DCU. i take from this one that he's really disappointed in not getting Gazza. From my perspective ( I know you dont care, but I'm on Bigsoccer), I didn't want the guy, BUT I got pretty excited when it was told to me that we was in game shape, and close to sgning a "low-value"contract. Bot, Roy Lassiter is going to excite me at RFK!!!!!!!
I think this says a lot about Ray's character. It would have been so easy for him to sign not only a fellow countryman but a friend as well, and Ray looked at the whole picture and balked. He's sees the teams needs not only for this year, but next as well. I'm convinced we have the right man for the job. I'm just eager to see this team at full strength. VAMOS UNITED......we'll be back, I'm sure of it.
Re: Re: Yeah, Baby Frankly, you are taking my post way too seriously. Although I like Dante and wouldn't mind seeing him in a United uniform, any player United brings in this year will not be able to improve this team. We already have a newbie upfront, and he hasn't scored a goal in his first two games. I'm still withholding judgment on Q2 (can't play with his right foot). Signing Gazza would have been a novelty for the league. I would rather see United and the league sign more Americans and develop American talent than sign a 35 year old Englishman.
Since when does DC ever have everyone healthy? Moreno is not going to play more than 20 games a season ever again, I imagine, since he seems to acquire more than his share of nagging injuries. So, fine, Q1 starts and Q2 comes off the bench or vice versa, and both of them start when Moreno doesn't play. Then what happens if, no, when, one of them picks up an injury? We turn to Ali Curtis? Washington still has a solid two or three years left in him, I doubt he'd be much of a cap hit, and would seriously upgrade our bench up front. And all that for Namoff, who rarely if ever gets off the bench for RH? That's a no-brainer. Incidentally, does anyone know what Q2's cap number is? Is he taking up loads of space? Is Tino?
We are probably going to have to sweeten the deal and offer more than just Namoff to get Washington. Maybe a pick or two.
Uhhhh.. We'd take Pope and Namoff!!, Or Reyes and Namoff, or Prideaux and Namoff. OK, seriously, Namoff alone won't get Dante (I hope our management isn't that stupid). It is the sincerest hopes of Crew fans that we are able to sure up our defense. This year. After all, all we'd do with a first round draft pick is trade it away for someone like Valderrama. We don't have the best record of drafting people. Send Namoff and one of your starting defenders, and I bet we have a deal.
Nah, I like Namoff more than Richie. But being a pragmatist, it's clear that Namoff has very little hope of getting off the bench as long as RH is at the helm. Namoff and both of our future considerations for Dante. I like that idea. Seriously, though, Crew fans are dreaming if they think that Dante is gonna get them any of our starting defenders. I'd say that to get one of them, it'd have to be Cunningham coming here, not Dante. And, since DC is not that deep in the back, and defenders are what the Crew needs, the only way this deal is going to happen is if one team gets fleeced. And it's anyone's guess as to which management group will be able to pull that off (getting fleeced, that is).
No. How about: Dante + McCarty + Warzycha + Andrulis for Pope or Prideaux or Reyes or Convey and Namoff