I'm sorry I'm not buying this, It makes no sense. Why sign a contract extension then? He never gave a hint of being unhappy playing for the club. Ok playing for your hometown fans at the end of your career is all fine and dandy, but while your in your prime playing for the biggest club in the league and the country? I doubt magic mike is that stupid. I still believe our FO fuq'ed this situation up and gave him hints that they would like him to go so we could have a this dude rogers.
Theory A: Bruce chose (or bowed to pressure) to make a move for political correctness and a two day publicity bump over the needs of the team and and the wishes of one of his long time favorite players. Then Mike pretty much lies to cover up being nudged off the team in post-trade interviews. Theory B: Bruce accommodates the wishes of one of his favorite players and Mike is being honest in his interviews when he says he saw an opportunity to return to his hometown and live and play closer to his family. You really choose theory A as the more credible one??
In an interview Mike was quoted as saying: "... that someone was going to Chicago." And he put his hand up to be the one to go. I'm interpreting this as - the writing was on the wall that Robbie was coming to LA and someone was getting traded to Chicago. Chicago wasn't going to settle for just anyone. Of all the players on their wish list, Mike was the only one who actually wanted to go to Chicago. So he made that known. If the Robbie Rogers thing hadn't come up, I don't think Mike would have said anything about going to Chicago. Probably because it wouldn't have occurred to him that it was even an option at this point in his career.
As others pointed out Mike stepped up when the move wasn’t happening. He said he didn’t expect to be traded and his girlfriend’s Twitter account shows they were both pretty surprised when it went down. I’d venture as Chicago and LA were at an impasse Mike let Bruce know a move to Chicago wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Bruce indicated he was going to do everything to keep Mike and I’m guessing based on Magee’s surprise at the move Bruce was pretty confident.
This is probably a very accurate description of how it happened behind closed doors. The statements made to the media by Mike and Bruce post trade should be taken for what they are. Bruce isn't going to say - "Mike didn't really want to go, and I didn't want to let him go, but that's the way it goes! Everybody give Robbie a nice warm welcome!" And Mike isn't going to say - "Well, I didn't exactly hate the idea of coming to Chicago, as much as every other Galaxy player did, so here I am!"
I'm not sure why it really matters whether or not Magee wanted to go to Chicago or not. Players (unless they have some special circumstance, like being a superstar or ready to retire) don't really have a say in the matter. The other thing is, assuming somehow Magee forced the deal (which I think is laughable) doesn't mean we shouldn't have gotten fair value for him. This is just a plain horrible move from the Galaxy perspective, which means MLS must have ramrodded it.
Mike confirms that when it became clear somebody had to go to Chicago because Bruce (or the league) wanted Rogers to sign here, that Mike then volunteered. He said he was driven by family and a desire to go back home. FWIW: I spent the first 33 years of my life in Chicago. I have now spent more than that here in LA. I was sent out by my employer to open an LA branch office, and, before I came here, LA was not high on the places I wanted to go. Over time, I have come to love LA - a lot. But even so, while I had family in Chicago, going back was always on my mind. It was only after my family had mostly passed away that "going home" lost its pull. It's hard to explain the old "You can take the boy out of Chicago but you can't take Chicago out of the boy" but I can attest it is real. After listening to the pod cast, I am a little more at peace with this trade. But from a purely soccer standpoint, it will be a while before the on-field results even begin to justify what went down.
Yep. It seems he’s legitimately happy to be back home. I have no doubt he would have been happy to end his career in LA as well. Part & parcel of being the vanguard team.
As a fan of Mike Magee, after hearing him on Extra Time, I can't help but be happy for him. I'm glad this is working out and I wish him the best. But I think I will continue to miss him as part of the Galaxy for a long time to come.
The reality in all this is the Galaxy probably cleared quite a bit of cap space when it moved Mighty Mike. And Magee is obviously overjoyed with the chance to play and be at home. The Rogers signing should have been a big plus for all concerned and I predict eventually the team will realize the benefits provided it brings in a creative mid who can set the table for players like Rogers, LD, Keanne and Zardes. This would be an extremely potent attack. The problem-the Rogers signing would probably have happened at some point in any event with a trade of someone or something else if the team had just been patient. Thus the FO unnecessarily alienated a group on fans who usually would normally be cheering Rogers. This is turn puts pressure on Rogers, pressure on the club etc.
I am very unhappy to have lost Mike. But that's no reason to take it out on Rogers. He's here now, he's Galaxy now, and he will get my support.
Goals 1. Mike Magee 10 2. Marco Di Vaio 10 3. Jack McInerney 10 4. Camilo Sanvezzo 8 5. Dominic Oduro 7
Completely agree. And I personally think RR will, in fact, be a good signing -- ignoring the circumstances and cost of his arrival. But at the moment, that is simply an educated guess with a healthy dose of faith. And the clock is ticking.
...while, at the same time, Sting was just finishing the Synchronicity tour and beginning to plot his demise into a blue turtle populated quiet stormdom. COINCIDENCE?
I agree with the sentiment that we should have gotten more for mighty Mike. His trade value was simply greater than Rogers' was at that point in time. I'm very proud of Magee and how he is thriving this season. He is a player who has really figured it out and is playing at the peak of his abilities. A pro's pro.
The Magee allows the official statistics to remove a zero from his tally so that other players don't lose hope.
Magee goes home to Chicago, and the Stanley Cup arrives a few weeks later. Coincidence? Really going out on a limb here, but could Magee do something for the Cubs???
Bad trade so far. Still exploitation by the league for PR. Happy for Rogers the human being but soccer wise it's been bad so far. Expected? Likely, because he hasn't played since last December prior to him joining LA. But it's pretty obvious MLS made an exception to get him back into the league.