Mostly because it still applies! Easy! You pay them the same amount of astronomical dollars you are paying these pension planners! How can we enjoy them if they are on their last legs and many a time, we hardly get to see them? I never got to see Henry, Nesta or DiVaio and even the great Beckham I only saw maybe once or twcie when he came to town as they were all either injured or came up with an excuse not to play. Besides this fact. why is it always have to only NY or LA? I mean what about Colorado, KC, Chicago? I lived in Europe and I know exactly what these players think and they care nothing about MLS and if anything they look down upon this league. None of the top players care a thing about playing in any other city and I doubt many or any of them really care about this league at all. The only reason Nesta signed with Montreal was because Joey Saputo is Italian and coaxed him to going there otherwise he wanted to go to NY who didn't want him. Same with Alex Delpiero who would not come unless if he didn't sign with either NY or LA. Give me a break , its like they never even saw a globe. Even yourself as an LA fan should notice that its detrimental to the league in the long run to have all these stars Over 35's or what have you only go to only NY or LA. I don't see how its a positive for this league at all. Also because if you use NYRB as an example, since 1996, they've never won anything.
You really don't get it do you? Do you really think MLS teams aren't offering big name young players astronomical dollars? Really...wow! The young big name players are getting astronomical dollars offered to them by every team in the world. If you were getting offered huge money by Real Madrid and FC Dallas who would you choose? They can't force the young guys to come. I can't believe I am having to explain this.
Ultimately this is a Galaxy decision. They days of the entire league having a hand in these decisions, ala Beckham and Dempsey, are quickly coming to an end. No one is asking Columbus or Kansas City to sign old English players. The Galaxy are paying Gerrard's salary, and the Galaxy are the ones who courted him to come play in LA. This wasn't a Jermaine Jones type thing, where MLS signed him and told him where to play.
Why just get the stars? You can get plenty of good division one players who are maybe not as well known for the same amount of money that they are paying these old guys and they will probably do more in the long run and last longer than any of those Over 35's will. This will not only improve the level of play but they will also have a lasting effect on the league. No one knew Karl Heinz Granitza outside of Germany but he ended up being a great player and lasted a long while which fans in Chicago are still talking about 30 years later. This is the difference between signing a player like him and a one hit 37 year old wonder! I'm surprised how any fan of the game can not see and recognize this!
Oh how nice and this is supposed to be good for the entire league. Its a quick fix and gimmick in my opinion.
I may not be as adamant about it as Falvo, but it is counter productive for the league to claim not to want to be a retirement league and keep signing aging veterans to come play here until they retire. Though I do understand the idea of signing old guys because marketing and jersey sales.
LA's hardly been a drag on the league's level of play. They won a championship, scored goals by the bushel and played reasonably attractive possession soccer in most of their games. They were rewarded for this with their lowest attendance in years and continued local irrelevance. In LA, the market dictates "stars", not good division one players. That's the cost of doing business in LA. I don't like it, but at least with some teams like KC, Vancouver and Portland following your advice, there is some diversity in approaches.
Not my point at all. If anything, I think Galaxy fans have been awesome fans for the league but my point is they don't need these old players. There were 18, 000 fans in San Jose watching the LA Galaxy during the playoffs in 2005 before and knowing full well that LA's (AEG) owners would move the club to Houston and there weren't any Beckham's, Keane's or Gerrard's anywhere to be found. Another reason on why I don't think we need these Over 35's in the league. Forget about LA though, I don't see how any of these over the hill stars helped have NY since 1996.
I don't think people are saying that...or at least they shouldn't. I don't think the midfield talent fits together in LA right now. IMO, they need to move either Juninho or Sarvas (and there will be aLOT of interest in those two talents) to bring in a wide player. Put it this way...who is a better player, Gary Cahill or Landon? Cahill, by a mile. But if LA played Cahill at wide midfield, the Gals would be worse off. Gerrard, to me, won't play the Landon role as well as Landon did, despite being a better player.
When one looks at team valuation it's usually Seattle, LA, Toronto and NYRB in some sort of order. What they all have in common is big name guys in their 30's. That's how they've helped. Go to London or Berlin and ask them about the LA Galaxy. Then ask them about he Chicago Fire. Seriously. Watch their reaction and get back to me. The old guys have raised the profile of their teams regardless of attendance or market size. If San Jose signed Pirlo I bet that everyone in Italy would suddenly know who the Earthquakes are and SJ would sell a million extra jerseys. That's just the way it works. Sorry.
Actually they would have only sold 999,999 extra jerseys, because if it was announced that San Jose signed Pirlo, Falvo will have shit his pants and then had a heart attack and died.
Patchy? Donovan had arguably his best season in 2014. Lead the league in chances created and assists. We'll expect Gerrard to approximate that in 2015. I will say I think people are making too much of the positional differences between the players. Landon hasn't really played as a traditional winger for the Galaxy for some time and popped up pretty deep and centrally as often as he appeared on the touchline, so it's not like we're bringing in Gerrard to hug the touchline, beat fullbacks and deliver crosses.
I'm just quoting your last post but I'm replying to you in general. Signing the best talent you can right now is always important. At certain stages, leagues will only attract them at a certain point. For MLS, the best talents that aren't US or Canadian players will either be hard-to-find up-and-comers that aren't getting offers from Europe and older players looking to extend their careers a little longer or find a new challenge. Less than two decades ago the Premier league was in that boat. We had Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli turning up and Europe calling us the Serie A Retirement League. However, what that really meant was a shift in culture from a league that was historically populated largely by British players, to being a prime destination for international talent. Robbie Keane, the current MVP, by his own admission partly based his decision to play here on David Beckham's input about the league. The very idea that he hasn't improved that league is laughable. It isn't just the older players that are influenced either. You can't tell me that a decent young player from Colombia or Costa Rica, who was watching Henry play for Arsenal or Barca, won't at least entertain the opportunity to play alongside him while he still has something in the tank. You mention signing Division One players (not sure if you mean League One or The Championship) but we're doing that already. As an alternative to a Gerrard or Henry, I think you overstate the benefit. Say what you will about NYRB's issues, Henry was still fun to watch in this league and did deliver a Supporters Shield, while getting them close to MLS Cup in 2014. Even having declined as much as he had, he was still far better than a second tier English player. Note also that the tickets and jersey sales you scoff at, can not only pay for the DP in the best cases, but also make the league money with which to invest in improving the league further. As for living in England, I was born and raised there and didn't leave til I was six months short of thirty. Frankly, what they think of MLS is of little interest to me but regardless, Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard being here puts the league far more prominently in their consciousness than when Daniel Dichio and Terry Cooke were here. In fact, most of my compatriots didn't have a clue where those guys were playing at the time. Turkey is considered a decent league in Europe and it still has its share of players outside their prime. The bottom line is that those guys do improve the league, do make it money and do add to the profile. Being considered by some as a "retirement" league is a minor issue in comparison.
If you pay them, they will come. I'm almost certain of this. I never posted that David Beckham Keane's signings didn't help or improve the league. If anything they did but they were both younger when they came and not 37 & 35 respectively. Sure to a point but it didn't last. They are all gone so then what? Herny never won anything and he even went through 2-3 coaches in NY so I don't see how his signing was all this big of a deal for the team or for its fans and in their eyes, they've failed once again because they haven't won and they fired another coach today after Henry retired. Not sure why England changed or renamed their tier structure but when I talk about a D1, I'm talking about the top tier or in English terms, the "EPL". As far as I'm concerned, this made up trophy, the Supporters Shield is a joke. It means nothing to me because mostly because you have absolutely nothing to show for it. I certainly could care less last year when San Jose came in last place that they had won this SS two years prior and it did nothing for me as a fan. I don't see this huge improvement when you go out and spend it again on another almost 40 year old. I mean if this is the case, why not sign a 40 year old Zidane and what is the huge difference between a 37 year old and a 40 year old? I'm sure he can still play the game and well and sell just as many jersey's. I don't see why you can't draw a line here because we don't need more Over 35's/37's in this league! I lived in Europe too and I know exactly what they say and think. No one really cares those guys are here and if they do, in the words of Arsene Wenger, they think MLS is a " Retirement League". He said that not me as I actually tend to think its a pretty tough league and not easy at all. Another reason why I don't believe we should sign these guys. Pirlo in San Jose???????????? Ma tu scherzi? It would be a dream come true for me as Pirlo (Italy's slowest mid) is my favorite player and that way I could spark it up with him behind Stanford Stadium like he did with Gigi Buffon last year when he came out but it will never happen. If it does happen though, I hope Victor Bernardez breaks his legs in training. In italia si dice "LARGO AI GIOVANI" (ROOM FOR THE YOUNG) and nothing has changed to make me change my mind about that.
If your talking about signing 'division 1' players but meaning prem players (Just the 23 years behind in the terminology) you have to understand that MLS is way way down on the list of prestigous leagues and in terms of wages . You might suggest just throwing money at it but even if your buying a mid level premier league player your going to be paying $20 million transfer fee alone before the wages. The best MLS can do at the moment is get guys in the retirement stages of their career and hope they influence kids enough to pursue the game and benefit from homegrown talent.
Why are you certain that they'll come if you pay? There is absolutely no evidence to back it up. It makes no sense. If that's all it took, they'd be here already. There is a mountain of anecdotal evidence that most players will seek to be at the best level they can reach as long as they are getting a solid salary. You could offer Messi twice his salary to be here now and I strongly doubt he'd even consider it. The difference between a 37 yr old and a 40 yr old is deliberate obfuscation. You must know that players develop and decline at different rates, based on multiple factors. Ryan Giggs was still contributing in his late thirties for Manchester United. Ditto Scholes. Paolo Maldini. At the same time, you've got players like Michael Owen who owing to injuries and a reliance on pace in his prime, who are done well before. What the English think of MLS right now is irrelevant. All that matters is that our teams are known enough that we increase our profile. We may be a retirement league to them. The Malaysian and South African leagues aren't even on their radar. If you replace a 35 year old with another comparable player, even of the same age, you are at least maintaining the standard. Henry was fun to watch for multiple years and his presence during or after, improves our profile as a destination league that players may not otherwise have considered. There's a knock on effect. Like I said, without moves like this, you don't have Keane. You probably don't have Valeri or Bradley Wright-Phillips either. Gerrard is still playing a role for Liverpool. Lampard is performing well for a title contender. Those guys aren't done.
Are you serious? When I worked for Fiorentina, I had all sorts of younger players hounding me night and day wanting to come to MLS. Every young man I met all wanted to come to America. Of course they will come. Again, why go out and sign a superstar? You can spend the same amount of money on maybe 1-2, 25 year old's who will play and last a lot longer. Don't know any league in the world who wouldn't or doesn't do this. Depends on the player. Paolo Maldini was hurt at 38 I believe it was and was one of the best players in Serie A at 41 years of age before he retired and I'm sure he could have continued to play on but then he was a defender not a forward. This is besides the point though because I still think you have to draw the line with these older players and only very few players in the world can play well beyond the age of 35. As a European and American citizen with a dual U.S. & Euro passport, I personally can care less what any Englishman or European thinks of MLS. Too bad I never really got to see him. When he came to Stanford and 40,00 tickets were sold, neither he or Rafa Marquez showed up and many came out to see both of them. Time will tell but I doubt they will both be in the league in 2-3 years time and I hope they won't be at 37 & 39 ,for that matter. I know this but I still don't find it to be a positive for the league.
Of course it's positive for the league . Look at the German decision after Euro 2000 , it was the best thing they ever did and now have one of the best leagues and are world champions as a result of it. Obviously not going to have the same effect in the US but would certainly enhance the league. Also what did you do for La Viola
I meant signing of the older players. Funny you mention the Germans in 2000. Coincidentally, if I recall correctly, Lothar Matthaus who was about to turn 40, came to NY , played 16 games then retired. He played for Germany at the Euro although I don't think he did much other than direct the defense. I never got to see him play in MLS either. When I lived there , I was in charge of mostly translations doing it on the side as I was a project manager for a historical restoration up at the Piazzale Michelangelo. Fiorentina had been relegated to the Serie C2 or 4th tier because of financial problems and bought by Diego Della Valle. The club was actually renamed Florentia Viola.
Yes 2001-2002. I lived there until 2005. When I would talk to a young aspiring professional Italian player telling them I was from California, their faces would light up like a a kid in a candy store. Its pretty much the dream of many younger Italians to come to America. Especially now because of Italy's economic crisis.
That's cool . Yeh i was brought up like most English watching football italia every sunday . Adored batistuta and paid close attention to them even in your days. I remember seeing Deloria and Keise playing and thinking they were going to be massive for them at that time , why didn't they make it ? they looked like the could have been future starters for italy