I would not consider these threads as a make up thread. Its has been a fact that Chicago, NY and L.A. have and are currently talking to ZZ. For example, ZZ to L.A. rumor was published from a German source, then we find another article where AEG does admit that there is a chance that ZZ could land in L.A. So this rumor does have value added to it.
1. There were a lot of things that drew Beckham here: his wife and her career ambitions, he likes America, saw lots of opportunity to make other revenue, opportunity to buy into a club. Clearly he didn't come just b/c of salary--otherwise he'd have gone to Saudi or Japan. But you miss the point--he didn't come just b/c or primarily b/c of the money from either just his salary or even the salary and sponsorships. That's why this argument of "well, AEG has a lot of money therefore they can pay Zidane" doesn't work. Zidane had an offer of $15 million per year (which excludes sponsorship money and any other bucks from advertising) to play 2/3rds of the MLS season and turned it down. Beckham didn't come here for $5 million or $10 million or whatever a year. He came here for a combination of reasons. What drew Beckham was somewhat unique. Just like the reasons why Klinsmann settled in American--it wasn't just b/c he got a good house deal in Southern California that was better than Germany. 2. I'm not arguing AEG completely opposes the idea of bringing in big names and they did act on Beckham and made moves on Zidane. But what I've seen says that the forces who really pushed for the DP slot were from: KC, RSL, RedBull. In short, the new owners. AEG has always seen the value of the tactical and limited addition of a big name (thus spending money on Luis Hernandez for instance. But they've never been advocates of creating one giant club or removing parity or spending all of the money on one franchise. In fact, their offer to provide DP support to Houston directly refutes this idea doesn't it? Otherwise they'd have just spent it on LAG. 3. The "Supper Club" thing goes back to Lalas the Fool's comments with TFKAM where he insisted they were going to be a super club. The fools (and those who've ready many of my posts on BS know I rarely resort to ad hominen attacks and insults), yes, the fools who talk about "super clubs" don't have a clue as to what they're talking about. Real Madrid's downfall was when they decided they were going to start collecting Galacticos. They went from being one of the finest clubs in Europe that owned the Liga and contended for the ECC to a glitzy collection of players that don't fit together, show skill and get press but don't win anything. That's not a super club unless you don't care about good football or results or winning big matches. At a time when MLS' 2 best clubs over the past year (Houston and DCU--in terms of results and form) have just given their best shots in the CCC yet clearly did not deserve to advance b/c they faced 2 very talented, in-form Mexican sides, when we don't even dominate N.America, we have some yocal GM in LA with a club that didn't make the playoffs last year and (if we'd used the same format the year before wouldn't have made the playoffs) talking about a "super club" playing in a town where a couple of basketball and baseball teams outdraw his club. And this also with a summer schedule that is a nightmare for a coach and may very well lead to this alleged "super club" to be not making the playoffs again. All of the anger and resentment that many of the TFKAM fans feel is a reflection of a club that has continually been too quick to be a super club and couldn't be bothered with trying to initially be a club that was strong competitively and organizationally sound. I hear this talk of "super club" and I think of teams taking short-cuts and ignoring the foundation-building steps so critical for a strong, deep, consistent, well-performing franchise. The term "super club" deserves as much ridicule and scorn as we can heap on it b/c any club that can publicly profess to that tells me they're either poorly managed or they're taking shortcuts (like, hey: let's have a World Series of Football instead of focusing on our playoff run, let's bring in Chelsea and let Beckham play his first game as an A-mid against Essien as we try to re-integrate our team). I'm a DC United fan. But I'm even more an MLS fan b/c without MLS there is no DC United. And I become angry when teams do short-sighted things or reach for the stars when they're still learning how to jog. I think David Beckham is a great addition. Screw the PR and ticket sales, he's at heart a blue collar guy with a tremendous work ethic, a leader on the field, who is a great teammate and ultimately LAG will be well-served by his addition. But this year may be a real struggle on the field for this team in the second half. And all this talk of "let's add Zidane, let's add Mendienta, let's give 'em a bunch of DP's and ignore the cap b/c we're going to be Real Madrid West" ignores the reality of what Real Madrid has been reduced to. So that's why you see my references to "Supper club."
Give me a break! You damn well know what I mean! If NY would sign ZZ, you are telling me that RFK and the rest of MLS venues would not packed houses? Look at what Beckham is doing, According to the REVS ticket sales, they have sold 15K already and they expect to sell out waaay before date of the game. The same applies for you team and the rest. Be realistic.
I just wish Zizou would get signed w/in 60-90 days b/c he'll pressure all the IDIOTS at MLS FO to eliminate the playoffs, switch to single-table, partner w/ USL to have promo/relegation like the Soccer Gods command, get Tronno FC to go w/ real grass not field turf, have Red Bull switch the name to Cosmos and get Chivas USA to comply w/ the salary cap and US labor laws b/c we're like... in America!!! And Zizou would get ESPN to like soccer.
So let me understand - a German source that is known for its inaccurate reporting and rumor mongering and AEG who of course wants to keep the LA Galaxy name in the media not really confirming or denying anything adds up to some sort of "value"? Just b/c you want it to be true doesn't make it true.
Lets get something straight, I could care less if we get ZZ or not, we have our two superstar players and for me thats more than enough. In addition, when you have the president of AEG, stating in article that there is a possibility in signing ZZ, it adds concrete value to this conversation and thread. I am going by the facts and not my personal opinion.
I haven't seen that AEG article, can you give me a link, I'd be real interested in reading it...thanks in advance.
I have some problems with this post. 1. From what has been reported, Zidane's asking price was 15 million, not what MLS teams offered him. 2. There were sources that said, following Beckham's signing w/ the Galaxy, that Leiweke, President of AEG was pushing for the DP slot. Phil Anschutz was not originally in support of it, but allowed Leiweke to try. The DP aid offered to Houston shouldn't be used as proof of anything, because that could have been done for other reasons. (All of which are brought up in the original thread) 3. Real Madrid has pretty much always gone after "Galacticos", Figo, Zidane, etc. All before Beckham. Their problems stem from management (both on and off the field). That being said why do you even discuss them? Obviously you contradict yourself because you would classify a Superclub as a championship-winning team, but you bring them up of all the teams in the world. Interesting. You always fall back on the LA missed last year's playoffs, but conveniently forget LA had never missed the playoffs before. Would you disagree that they have been one of the top two teams since 1996? So they have struggled recently (due to on and off the field management) much like Real Madrid . . . Then you say that they play in a city where they are outdrawn by 2 basketball teams and a baseball team. First, what does this have to do with MLS and the Galaxy? Secondly have you even done some research before posting? Let me answer that for you, NO. http://www.insidehoops.com/attendance.shtml The 2006-7 NBA avg. attendance Lakers 18,972 Clippers 18,071 The 2005-6 NBA avg. attendance Lakers 18,882 Clippers 17,375 http://web.mlsnet.com/history/archive.jsp?year=2005&content=stats_league The 2005 MLS avg. attendance Galaxy 24,204 http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/index.jsp?club=mls&year=2006 The 2006 MLS avg. attendance Galaxy 20,814 The Dodgers outdraw all teams in LA. Then you bring up the summer schedule, it is LA's fault that MLS wants to cash in on Beckham? Is it wrong for AEG to start cashing in on their investment? What's wrong with the World Series of Football? Stupid name, no doubt, doesn't mean anything to any team, no one is fooled about that. But the Galaxy did not create this tournament. AEG did. If DC weren't sold they would be participating in it in the future, should I go and bash them as well? Should I bash Houston and Chicago, who will likely participate in it in the future as well? (If they aren't sold before) And what really strikes me as ignorant is bringing up Luis Hernandez as a "tactical" decision. Are you f***ing kidding me? LA ended up worst after the deal. And without an MLS championship to show for it. P.S. For sometime I have been wanting to PM you about how you post on threads regarding the Galaxy. You attempt to not appear as a Galaxy basher, but you come off as one. And since I generally enjoy your posts, I wanted to PM you to consider your tone and posts.
You constantly criticize people for quoting stuff, and then not backing it up- and you state this? Quote the rule, or you are guilty (and should quit criticizing others about it) This isn't some sort of moral imperative exercise. Its business. If you see something, can affect something by SAYING SOMETHING then you do it. Unless its illegal, or goes against your personal ethics. I don't see any cause for him NOT to say something. Who cares if ZZ's agent gets a free check. Its ain't coming out of Anschutz's wallet (rather Adidas), and that's all that matters for Lieweike.