Interesting MLSNet Donovan Pickup

Landon always wanted to play with LA, rather than San Jose.

 

Bingo. Even took a pay cut to play for LA. At least the Quakes have a few people that want to kick him.

 

First of all, let me repeat that in all honesty, I know that this whole ordeal has been traumatic for all parties involved. I as a Galaxy fan have had to deal w/ the flip side: receiving a hated rival, plus losing a player that gave us a title. So I understand the feelings of anger and betrayal.

However..., it is quite common for athletes and clubs to hold formal and informal conversations regarding the future, to gage whether or not there could be a possible fit, and just out of common courtesy of being in the same industry.

Do you think the Dodgers or Yankees or A's have never had a formal or informal conversation w/ Barry Bonds? Do you think MLS hasn't had informal conversations w/ Beckham?

I would personally have been shocked if LA did NOT have conversations w/ him.

In another article, it was pointed out that Dallas had had their eye on Ruiz for months and was strategizing to be able to make that wish come to fruition. And I'm sure that there were at least informal contacts btw Dallas and Ruiz and/or his ppl.

In short, "Let's do lunch" is not just an LA thang and it happens all the time in pro sports...

 

And Licky from AEG telling him before he left that they'd do whatever it took to make it happen. Make what happen? If he had no intention of coming back so soon, what was there to make happen?

I'm not buying into that "casual" conversation bullfish. Landon went to Germany because he was obligated to do so. But he didn't do it with a full heart and a full mind to be there. Of course that had an effect on him while he was there. And of course AEG is over here "making it work" so how could that not have had an effect on him. It wasn't a casual conversation. They knew he was coming back before he left.

 

Well, it doesn't appear to have been too traumatic for Bayer Leverkusen.

 

LD: "Hey baby, I am a whining quitter that is unmotivated and afraid to be challenged....wanna dance?"

oh, different pickup...

 

I understood that article as:

*******Donovan
*******MLS
*******Donovan

 

I remember last yr or the yr before, i think it was baseball where a player was playing for one team and another team contacted him secretly and the league found out and that team got fined big time for it. Maybe one day the league wont be single-entity and that wont be allowed to happen.

 

So were these "talks" done behind Earthquakes management knowledge ??? AEG controls both teams. And they let the Earthquakes make offseason movesknowing what the situation was. Meaning there is bad faith involved in that the Quakes were never in a fair position to get due compensation if Landon truly wanted to play in Los Angeles. If Alexi did know about it, he did nothing to fight for the best interests of the Quakes. If Lalas didn't know about it, there was collusion involved between Landon and AEG. Either way, the Quakes were screwed. And either way, I am pissed ....

SSV
We Beleive !!!

 

The real question is, did Landon purposefully tank his time in Leverkusen already having his mind set on coming back to LA. The whole point of him going over there was to make Leverkusen think he was crap, and release him or sell him on the cheap.

 

Who really knows? But how could he possibly give it 100% knowing he wasn't in it for the long term and knowing he was coming back anyway?

There was nothing for him to "quit" or "give up" because he never gave it all in the first place.

 

i'd liek to think he's a better person than that, but no one knows for sure

 

First, of all, i think the "casual coversation" thing is dishonest as well. In Europe and elsewhere, big scandals can and do erupt over "tapping up", which for those who don't know, basically means teams contacting players under contract to another team to find out if they'd be willing to make a move, the key being that all of this is done behind the owning team's back so to speak. An example is certain Chelsea officials in the Premiership being investigated for possibly "tapping up" Ashley Cole, a player for Arsenal. The point of all of this is that I do not believe the Earthquakes were ever informed of any of this. The Galaxy talked to Donovan apparently after he was already on his way to Leverkusen, and so would have felt "no need" to speak to the Quakes first, which would likely be their justification as to why nothing wrong happened. But this is BS. The Quakes let Donovan go believing he would be gone for several years at least, and as others have stated, this led the Quakes to proceed in the offseason on this assumption. Given the way the MLS is structured, with the league owning players and assigning them, the Quakes should have gotten first dibs on negotiation.

I think the ownership system in the MLS needs to be changed. I don't like the European and world system of free wheeling dealing, no salary caps, and a few super teams with the rest of the teams in financial trouble. But i also don't like the MLS system because there is too much room for shady maneuvers, backroom deals, and for unfair practices by the MLS and entities like the AEG. It seems clear to me that the MLS/AEG are not devoted to parity, but rather trying to build a few super teams in order to have a brand a la Real Madrid that can sell a bunch of merchandise. Donovan moving to the Galaxy satisfies the MLS/AEG wet dream of having their trademark player on their "trademark" team. This was a business decision, don't be fooled. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but the writing's on the wall.

Finally, i hope everyone will join me in booing the hell out of Donovan when he comes back to Spartan. He's no innocent in this, if only for his dishonesty. Promising when he left for Europe that he would come back to the Quakes (does everyone remember that?), all the time knowing that if anything, he was coming back to the Galaxy. Crocodile tears in a traitor's eyes. We're better off without him. Players like Mullan, Ching, Waibel etc. put more heart into every game than Donovan ever did. I'd rather have players with heart, dedication, and loyalty than prima donnas and figureheads who play when they want to.

 

I have lost all respect for Landon over this. I'll still cheer for him when he plays for the Nats, but I hope the Quakes hand him and his filthy team their asses when we play them.

Landon is either a sissy, or really dishonest, or both.

Scum!

And yeah, AEG either talked with Landon without the Quakes knowing, or they just deliberately screwed one of their teams to benefit another. That just blows.

Puke.


GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

This is what I sent to Steven for FoxFootball Friday. They've never answered my emails or chose them for the radio or tv show before so I don't expect to see if aired, but this is what I said:

Landon said (mlsnet)
"I had a conversation [with the Galaxy] before I left for Germany, and they knew I was leaving, and they didn't know how long it would be, but they made it abundantly clear that they wanted me here," Donovan said. "I came out of that meeting more convinced than I've ever been about almost anything in my life."

Before I saw this, I wouldn't have entertained the notion that Donovan played badly in the 2nd BL Champions League game essentially on purpose...not to throw the game per se, but to just leave winning up to all his teammates. Now I'm not at all sure I think that. Landon knew when the transfer deadline closed. Landon knew he had an escape clause. Landon knew all that he do was say he tried and then get benched. Sad as it is to say, and I wouldn't have entertained this notion before recently, but if Landon knew the Galaxy was courting him so hard that "I came out of that meeting more convinced than I've ever been about almost anything in my life." , I believe Landon has it in him to be comfortable with forsaking a bunch of new teammates he didn't really care about, not giving a rip how hard they worked to be there or the stakes for BL, and just putting his childish wants first and thus not particularly even trying to show well even in a very big important game just because he wanted to come home.

I hope this isn't true, but I have no trouble believing it could be what happened based on the total of what's transpired.

 

At least MLS has a legitimate Judas figure now...that oughtta gain the league credibility. ::

 

Nailed it.....the problem is....I doubt Donovan would have come here if he could not play in LA. I don't think he tanked in Germany on purpose and he didn't really play bad til the Liverpool start. He is too affected by off-field stuff.....Arena called him on it, Yallop called him on it and his coach in Germany benched him for it. They look at him as a kid that has potential but is homesick for his mommy.

 

making them think he was crap was easy. they just had to put him on the same field with high caliber players and watch him crumble. if he had played well, he would have had a future with much more money but as everyone keeps saying, he doesn't care about money (convenient). Donovan is a punk. I hope his character doesn't rub off on anyone

 

Golden Boy...

 

As much as I hate to say it, I think I agree with you on this one. LD was my favorite player in the world, period. But I just can't respect him anymore.

Lee

 

ya realize he was crap for only 1 game when he was in Germany?

 

He was really crap though, and he didn't exactly impress coming off the bench either.

 

He actually did well off the bench....believe me, he wouldn't have started vs Liverpool if they didn't think he was able.....after 50 minutes of "crap", they'd had enough.

 

My theory is that he must not have done THAT well if it only constitued that one start after .... 7 games on the bench?