McCullers is on record as saying Murawski was not our only DP option, and in today's Dispatch his words were, "If anything, it fuels our resolve to sign a DP for this club." What are the options? 1. Unnamed Romanian Been discussed elsewhere, not much enthusiasm for it. 2. Lars Ricken Scored a good goal in the Champs League final of 97. Linked to the Crew in December '07. Retired, November '07. 3. Schelotto's Buddies Palermo's too old. No other names mentioned with any credibility. 4.Gomez Can't see us fronting up the cash. Do you need him and Schelotto in the same team? Probably not, but would be interesting. Anyone else has any ideas, hears any rumors, picks up on any news reports, post them here. I hope the Crew brains trust DO NOT have the weekend off and are working the phones like it's a telethon.
I'll say it again -- John Hartson is available. One would think it'd be easy enough to lure the big man to a city with a shop like this one: http://just-pies.com/
Quality stuff, Kop. In all seriousness, the man's physical condition is a disgrace. A national disgrace.
Well so far, given the quality of responses that you've gotten, it seems our options are.....well...... Complete shite. I'll take the Romanian for 100, Alex.
I am not that familiar with the Crew, but am a big fan of Christian Gomez. He is an outstanding attacking midfielder and, I think, his defense and hustled are underappreciated. Gomez likes to play with technical players and I think Schelotto tucked in behind a striker with Gomez behind and overlapping would be a nice combination. It also seems that Schelotto does not add much defensively given his size and age. I would push him upfront as a withdrawn forward...not sure who on the Crew would play as striker. As for the money, I think Gomez is worth 500-600K per year which he is seeking.
Care to elaborate? I hadn't heard that one before. As for DPs, Claudio Lopez has been mentioned throughout the offseason as a player teams have targeted. I could see him doing well with Schelotto.
Reports were that Gomez and his agent either visited or spoke with Columbus, specifically Andrulis, but we were so god damn happy to have Kyle Martino we passed and the Gomez Express went on to its next stop in DC.
A DP for the Crew would need to put fans in the stands just as much as he'd need to help the team on the field. He was close to heading back to MLS last year and it seems even more likely in 2008. Something tells me that somebody's computer in the front office already has the design for the "Mac is Back" billboards..........
Put points on the board and it will draw back fans. That's all they need to think about; get a striker in here that's going to put goals in the net and win some games, period.
We can all wish the game/business worked like that, but we know it doesn't. If it was a final piece for a title run, yeah, you can focus on talent and talent alone. Given where the team is right now though, the Crew front office will be looking for something more..........
Really? How many people was Zurwski going to put in the stands beyond his ability to put goals in the net? The simple fact is there is no one out there left with "name" recognition that the unwashed masses know about(and that's who you're talking about when you say get a name to up attendance); Beckham/Blanco are about all they know and if they aren't Hispanic chances are they don't even know who Blanco is. And Honestly, this team already has two sidelines full of passionless zombies watching games why add to their number?
Man, go on and find that Caribbean diamond-in-the-rough. Who knew about Stern John and Ansil Elcock before they joined Columbus?
Try McBride. His name would instantly draw attention and ticket sales in the Columbus market. Add in a few wins and both the front office and coaching staff are happy. Ideal scenario perhaps, but I continue to believe that's the prime DP target at this point. As for Zurawski, MLS wanted him in the league. Ideally they would've preferred to see him in Chicago with the large Polish population, but let's also keep in mind that the Crew were trying to avoid him being a DP signing. Was he going to pack the stands and/or vault the Crew into the MLS Cup?! No to both questions, but he'd give the team a name to market while hopefully seeing some improvement in the standings. I'm hoping the team finds a way to add quality and depth in the attack, but at this point I'm not sure that is going to happen soon through a DP route. I'm expecting a trade or a unknown signing with a DP potentially getting added for the summer. We'll see........
How about Sigi gets his ass onto a C-17 and hops on down to Honduras for a chat with Amado Guevara? Everybody agrees he wants to come back to MLS, and Sigi says he wants a creative midfielder. So he has a history. And an attitude. I bet Schelotto can straighten his ass out. The guy had some problems in MLS that started with that jackass Alexi Lalas. Well duh. Lalas is a certifiable retard. Supposedly Sigi was interested once. He should try again. And if the guy causes any trouble, have Moreno kick shit out of him.
boo hoo but nobldy wants to come to columbus. This makes no sense to me. Columbus it seems would be much more disirable place than oh say KC where they cram 200 fans into arrowhead, they may as well be playing in a hayfield at dusk its so loud in there.... Hey, lets go to Salt Lake to play soccer! Because The mormons are on the edge. Or Houston...I'm sure the crime rate and all the New Orleans refuse...I mean refugee's make Houston such a wonderful spot to go play(yet they have the best team). This woe is me columbus bullshit doesn't add up in my opinion. Nice places like Tampa and San Jose lose thier teams, C-bus has managed to keep ours. Shell out the money, thats the bottam line here. These guys play for money, they are equal to sporting mercenaries or prostitutes. They don't care which city is nicer or any of the crap. If they did, no one would go to play in places like Birmingham or friggin' liverpool. They play there for the money! Had we offered that Pollack enough money, he'd be here. So why even think of our potential DP. Its not going to happen. Hell. I'm available. Columbus is a big step up from the shithouse in Zanesville. I'd play for the crew for minimum wage. I'll be our undesignated player. WOOO. if you pay them. they will come.
Umm...this is the EXACT problem with the Crew FO. They assume winning games won't be enough. They assume that if we don't get McBride, people won't come to games until AFTER we win the Cup. Bullcrap. If you go to the first game, and Crew player a goes and scores 2 goals in a 3-1 win, the next day, you most likely head back to your job and talk about it. The people you work with go home and watch the goals on the local news, since the only soccer highlights American newsdirectors understand are goals and red cards. If said player gets another goal or two in the first month of the season, he's a league leder in goals, and most likely, the team has won 3-4 first games. This will get a buzz going, and draw more people out to the games to see "the new guy". Doesn't matter if he German or Honduran, if his name is easily pronouncable, if he has a marketable face or not. If he's hitting home winners, people will think about going to watch him, and many will. Columbus wants a winner period. But a winner in most people's minds means "last week" and not "dynasty". Dormant Crew fans don't expect much, so anything above "barely competitive" will bring them out.