1. MLS, she is a harsh mistress. Keeping labor costs down has been an obsession and contracts like TT's do just that. 2. The Kraft's see the Revolution as little more than a way to sell beer, hotdogs and parking for another 15-20 dates a year in the Patriots' stadium. The Rev's being winners does not seem to be an ownership priority. 3. Twellman thought his international ship had sailed, resigned himself to his fate as an MLS lifer and signed a contract with no buyout clause. Firing his agent is his only recourse (see point 1).
Out of curiousity, Revs fans: At what price would you be willing to part with Twellman? I totally understand NE staying away from transferring out TT, but the Revs already let Dorman and Noonan leave on free. Next year, Parkhurst is as good as gone (on a free). Management needs to realize this and start filling in the holes now. Transfer out TT, and you have his salary freed up, and now can sign a DP striker from abroad. This is at least a wash. You can also use the 500K in allocations to start signing players to fill in for Noonan and Dorman without taking a cap hit. You could also resign young players that have impressed. I don't know, just on the standpoint of making the team better, I think I would transfer out Twellman (as crazy as that sounds).
How does going from paying a pretty talented striker $400k a year (which is entirely covered by the league) over the next 3 years to paying a similarly talented striker DP money work out to a wash?
The club chairman is a fool. He probably doesn't know the difference between ownership of contracts and team involvment, and probably uses the team ownership and MLS interchangeably. It's been announced in the last 2 years that the teams determine if they want to take the money and run. It's the Revs here ......... period. Plus, I find it very hard to believe that MLS would not have sold Twellman for 3 million dollars.
probably because he told steve goff that the Revs told him noone wanted him: probably a little naive of Twellman to believe what the Revs were telling him, but it seems pretty shady and a conflict of interest on the Revs part as well, to tell him noone is interested (and therefore increase their negotiating position) and then refuse to entertain any interest once it's there.
I originally thought his beef was that he wanted Europe, but based on the last paragraph of the Goff piece, it just seems that he wants "fair compensation". From what I understand, 250000 is 10 times what some MLS players make, but maybe he deserves more.
The Flounder Principle: "You f****d up. You trusted us." TT joins Kenny Cooper and charter member Kent Dorfman in the long list of it's victims. To repeat: He should fire his agent yesterday.
Wow, Taylor has got to be pissed. What the devil is going on in NE? First it almost takes an act of Congress to get Dempsey out of town even after offers of fair value have been turned down. Then the whole Joseph contract issue. They just let Noonan go unconditionally. Now Twellman is embroiled in a contract issue. NE is going to develop, if they haven't already, a reputation among players as the place to not go if you have any ambition because they are going to do nothing but get in your way if you want to go overseas. Yeah 3MM is fair value for Twellman, until recently the guy hasn't shown that he can play and score outside of MLS. He has two more seasons at most until he is seen as to old to go overseas. This was likely one of his last real shots at going to England and it probably was a good situation since he would play right away. NE Kneecapped Taylor on this and good luck to them in dealing with his attitude toward the team from here on out.
This is no one's fault but TT himself and his agent. I'd believed someone said that he signed a 4 year contract WITHOUT a BUYOUT CLAUSE? What kinda idiot would do that, if you have any intentions/desires to move else where? They'd have failed to learn anything from the dramas that unfolded right before their eyes with Dempsey/Joseph. You can blame NE/MLS all you want, but TT is their property for four years, and they want to keep him around because is a commodity, unless someone comes in with an "offer they can't refuse". And YES, every one's up for sale, if "the price is right".
So some BS posters feel MLS should be a developmental league for England's second division? Wonderful. I'm always wondering what the big deal about playing England in is. PNE is composed of mostly 2nd tier British players. And the best Bristish players aren't even good enough to qualify their country for their own continental championship. How is playing with a bunch of 2nd tier soccer players, make one better than playing against 1st tier American players?
Let him rot for bills in some English Bakersfield. Who cares? The dude wants a payday even if he has to play for a team going down to League 1. That still beats the lower division Norwegian and Swiss leagues, just with ************ weather and no views. If a player wants to take a step down in play just to pad his wallet, let him. Keeping his discontent around will only hurt the team.
I'd like to know this too and more importantly, so would Twellman. MLS and NE don't have to see Twellman but at the very least, they need to let him know what it would cost, dollar wise, to get a deal done so that Twellman can see if he can figure something out. I like watching Twellman in MLS but if it were me, I'd sell him. Three mill seems reasonable for a player of Twellman's caliber and since I'm getting a fair deal, I'd rather take the money than risk my lockerroom with an unhappy team leader. Penny-wise and pound foolish and all that. And, with two thirds of the transfer fees from Twellman and Dempsey, I could damn sure find two players on the world market to replace their productivity, especially if I had Nicol's and Mariner's connections.
I agree. MLS may not want to be a developmental league, but it is a developmental league as is just about every other league other than the big leagues (Italy, Spain, Germany, England, France) and there are plenty of teams that while they play in developmental leagues they can decide who they want to keep/sell but sometimes the money is just too good that no one can pass it up (see Rangers and Celtic in Scotland, Ajax, PSV in Holland, etc.). At the end of the day, MLS is not going to get a better offer Twellman EVER IMHO. He is old compared to most players and his value is not going to increase. So do you keep him as the cornerstone of the Revs franchise or do you sell? IMHO you have to sell him. Like others have said, you can purchase four players for the money they got on Dempsey and Twellman. Now it would have been nice to know this four weeks ago as they could have kept Noonan, but at the end of the day, they are still going to be a pretty solid team with Cristman, Joseph, Larentowicz, Ralston, Albright, Parkhurst, Heaps, etc. Add in 2 acquisitions with the incoming money and they can be just as competitive as always. I completely agree that it is Taylor's fault for signing the long term agreement last year. He is stuck with MLS/Kraft's decision. Ultimately, if I am MLS, I sell. But hey, I don't have to take the loss if the Revs lose a large portion of their season ticket holders and/or fans.
This is the part I disagree with. 2/3rds of the transfer fees is the amount going to the Revs, but not the amount they can use for players. Every official description I've seen of what they can do with the money (over the $500K) does not include paying for player expenses. Maybe they can, and no one's said. Or maybe they can shuffle the money around to hide that they're doing it. But even if they can, the Revs still come out behind. Apparently, the market price for a Twellman is a $3 million transfer fee along with around $1.2 million a year in salary. If you could could get the same performance for less, PNE wouldn't be bothering trying to get Twellman. So what does NE do? They would need to use the $3 million just to buy their new Twellman, and then where would they get the money to pay him. People act as if there are a lot of Twellman's around. There aren't, otherwise everyone would have one.
Or rather, sell TT and pocket the money while getting by on draft picks and Nicol's tactical nous. Just like they did with Dempsey. The Revs are just filling stadium dates for Kraft--nothing more. The refusal to get even close to the salary cap or keep a full roster or start a true youth team or scout extensively abroad proves it. There is no desire to win, only to pinch pennies and eek out profit. Twellman is their de-facto group sales draw. Kraft is the sort of old school owner concerned about group sales, screaming pre-teens, etc.--not quality on the field or attracting a knowledgable fan base (or spending a dime on advertising). Kraft was fine when the league was starting up but his cheapness has become an embarrassment when compared to what other owners are willing to spend to improve their on-the-field product.
MLS/NE are not "you" in that sentence. how many guys of TT's ability/effectiveness (hasn't he averaged about 14+ goals every year he's been in the league) are eager/able to join up with MLS? i would guess it really would be "a few". if they were in fact able to "get a few taylor twellmans for 3 million," they'd do it -- or they'd do something else with that money, it being theirs to (not) use. but goal-scorers (like EJ, TT, JPA) don't come cheap (well Emilio did, but DCU had to put in a lot of leg-work to make that deal). NE doesn't seem interested in (or all that capable of) doing the work to build (re-stock) a roster for MLS (and yet Nicol can still get his group to MLS Cup quite regularly). they've had good success is recent years, and their "best" players have slowly been leaving the league. they can't be too hopeful of MLS success (and goals) without Twellman. it would be great is this situation hadn't come up, but NE has every right to be hesitant (or completely reluctant) sellers. if Twellman really is intent on leaving, he'll have to find a buyer who is willing to buy his contract at a price that MLS/NE is willing to accept. (and that is proving to be a very difficult task for him).
This is not going to be a solid team. This is going to be a team that will struggle to make the playoffs. I think the big picture is this. This was a golden generation for NE. They are not going to get another draft run equivalent to Dempsey, Parkhurst, Twellman and Joseph. With Demsey gone and Parkhurst going they probably figure that they have one or two more good chances to win a title. If they lose Twellman, you might as well rip the team up and start building from the bottom. What NE wanted to do, build a long-term foundation from the draft, is probably not viable now in MLS. If you're successful, players aren't going to stay. All the fuss in NE in a result of a conflict between their team-building strategy and the realities of MLS.
Which is that they'd like to keep their best players and be successful again this season. I guess the Revs are not confident they could sign a forward to equal Twellman's production with the salary cap hole his departure would leave. I'm sure they believe it would have to be a DP type player. Why not keep Twellman and sing a DP? I don't see how this is 'creating a negative image around the rest of the league and country'. Twellman signed a contract extension, presumably of his own free will. He'd like to be paid DP money to stay with the Revs but if he was looking for that, he should not have signed. His lack of confidence in himself has done him in.
They're not selling to make it seem that the team is not breaking up. But it is. And it should. Three straight lost finals. So, why pretend? I do believe in tough enforcement of contracts. But, still. Twellman wants his payday. But, in addition, he probably wants an authentic experience. He'll get that at Preston.
The rub lies within your last sentence. The Revs got a big chunk of change for the Dempsey-to-Fulham deal and did...well, nobody really knows. They didn't go out and get any new players with it- that much is certain. Even though the 500K limit placed on them (because we'd "swamp the league") was crap. They have a poor-to-awful record in the last few years when it comes to bringing in players from outside the league. The story we Revs fans hear is that they watch DVDs they get sent to them. The team's full-time/Revs-dedicated staff would fit comfortably within in a taxi. That's exactly it. What little marketing the team does do and whatever profile we have in the local sports market is based around Taylor Twellman. He's the only player (asides from Beckham now) your average Boston-area sports fan could readily name. He had to know this when he signed the deal he signed. They're not letting him go. He went for the big pay day last year, Dorman rolled the dice, Dorman got a Euro contract and now Twellman wants his cake and to eat it too. Nobody made him sign.
Then PNE must be complete ********ing idiots. Why not put in offers for a few unnamed Taylor Twellmans instead of the one Taylor Twellman who's club isn't interested in selling?
didn't Twellman already get that "authentic experience" at 1860 Munich? and what is so in-authentic about MLS. i hear the real reason Twellman wants to move on is because he hates fieldturf.