Becks finished with MLS??
By nolando,
February 1, 2009 in Major League Soccer
nolando
"Former England captain Becks, 33, also told of his "frustration" at playing for LA Galaxy in a league that was "10 years behind" European standards.
It is the first time he has revealed his true feelings about his move to the MLS. His comments are another sign of the turmoil the Beckhams are in over his move to AC Milan."
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/67624
C'mon, he knew EXACTLY what he was getting himself into. And I find it hard to believe that there is a single person in all the league, or in all of LA for that matter, who hasn't bent over backwards to try and make Becks and his family feel at home. Pretty piss poor to suddenly turn your back on all of that and criticise a developing league for being exactly that, a developing league.
Was shocked when he first confirmed the move to MLS but I must say now that I am very unimpressed, and he has lost a lot of respect in my eyes.
It's the Daily Star.
Birds crap on higher quality paper.
Guys, didn't Ruud Gullit made the same allegations against MLS before packing his bags and leaving the LA Galaxy coaching position for good???
On another note, the performance of many MLS clubs either in the CONCACAF Club Championship or in the North American SuperLiga for these last few years has been a dismal failure...Is it that MLS clubs are not that hot after all, especially next to the Mexican clubs??? By the way, this was part of a stupid argument that I got into with a Mexican where he pointed this out to me...He said that Mexican clubs will crush MLS clubs anytime of the day...He's right when looking at the performance of the last few years.
MLS clubs will have to do a much better job improving their level of play. Otherwise, the league will always be seen as a mickey mouse league by the rest of the world, including Europe.
Calgary Boomer
The only way they'll be able to improve the play is upping the payroll and getting better coaches.
An Observer
I agree. Medium term the league needs to significantly up the salary cap. Perhaps changes will come in the next collective bargaining agreement. I am a big believer in salary caps as I think that will keep the league competitive. The problem with European leagues is that only 3 or 4 sides have any realistic change of winning the title in any given year. If that was allowed to happen with MLS, it will simply kill the league. So yes, they need to up the salary cap but with only 3 sides currently making money, they cannot put it too much. If it goes up to far, you may see too many sides failing. Therefore, they need to get teh balance right. Increase the cap, improve the overall quality of the play by doing so, get more fans into soccer specific stadiums, get more sides in more tv markets, and continue to grow the game...its a step by step process that perhaps in 10 years from now will result in 24 team league playing to full houses in soccer specific stadiums with a decent national tv contract. At that point in time, they may be a better league than holland or portugal but still probably a step down from england, spain, germany or italy.
all this being said, one thing I believe was a significant step backwards was the shrinking of the roster and the killing of the reserve league. One major issue in north america is the lack of development of players from 16 to 22 years old. Most at that age are not ready for significant playing time at the MLS level; PDL is a summer league; Universities play a very short season; and leagues like CSL do not have a great track record of development. Perhaps the reserve league with the costs of travel was the wrong approach; however, there needs to be another way forward as I think this lack of development at this crucial age group is what is holding back soccer development. The encouragement of academies is great. TFC is now providing full-time training for many U19s for example; but what happens to the Joey Melo's and Dan Gaudet's when they are not quite ready. They cannot play academy as they probably don't qualify anymore but they have very limited options. In my mind, the whitecaps have the best model and it should be adopted by the MLS. Creat a tiered structure with Super Y teams feeding into a prospects side that plays in a local leauge (similar to TFC playing in the CSL) and then have a side playing in the PDL. But let the MLS side keep any player that is in its youth academy or reserve set up. The reserve side players do not need to be on the senior roster but MLS teams should be allowed to create a reserve team. Therefore, TFC could have for example a similar side to Trois Riviere attak playing CSL which effectively would be U23 but semi-professional; their academy could play in the PDL like the whitecaps do. This way, when a player graduates the academy, they have a few choices....if they are good enough, they can go right to the MLS side. If they are not ready, they can try their luck in university (ie. like Rosa and Lebuis-Lacoste did by returning to NA for university from the US), or and very importantly, they could play in the reserve U23 side (not on the official roster of the MLS) in a full-time training program linked to the mother side (like the impact does). This would complete the pyramid. Hopefully, this would also encourage the otehr CSL and PDL sides to up their game and start match the MLS sides with development opportunities locally for their own kids.
amacpher
Milan have included DB in their UEFA Cup squad. Seems unlikely they would do that unless they felt he was going to stay beyond March.
Can you make changes to your squad while the UEFA Cup is in progress? Or do the players you select for the Cup have to stay consistent throughout the competition?
Milan might just be making use of him since he is scoring goals for them right now.
quote:Originally posted by Tuscan
If someone gets injured, maybe you can substitute him (not sure about that). But in the Milan/Beckham case I'm pretty sure Milan would lose that squad place if Becks left in March.
youllneverwalkalone
^There are various registration windows for European competition.
What it comes down to is DB made a choice at 31 to leave Madrid for $$$$ and go to LA. Now he is $100+ million richer and thinking WTF am I doing here? The itch to play international is still strong and he is getting tired of lobbing passes to players who can't receive. He now has the itch to play real club soccer again and misses the level he was at badly. He isn't the type of player who can carry a team but when surrounded by good players he plays very well. The Allstar game and now Milan have shown he rises or sinks with the level of players on his team.
He has a signed contract and will probably stay in LA but MLS had better be planning a better post Beckham era than the NASL did with the post Pele era.
The best thing for MLS would be to allow clubs to opt out of the DP idea and spend the money to raise their salary cap. You have $2.2 million but sign off on your DP to MLS (you don't trade it to another team). In return your cap is now $4.2 million. Teams that want to spend it all on one player can but those that want to spread it around to have a stronger squad can have that flexibility.
jonovision
quote:Originally posted by tmcmurph
I like the idea, but how is it different than scrapping the DP and lifting the salary cap to $4.2M. Is it because teams are paying DPs more than 2 mill? Is anybody making that kind of money apart from Beckham?
quote:Originally posted by jonovision
Beckham is the most at $5 mill but there are a couple others over $1 million (Blanco I think is one). Problem is you have to keep the DP rule to keep someone like Beckham in MLS. Star attraction requires star salary. If you give clubs the option then more clubs could boost their squads. It blows even a 4.2 million cap out of the water with just one player.
Most teams don't have the choice of signing a Beckham so let them use it differently.
rdroze
This could get ugly. The lawyers are being summoned...
Beckham Brings Lawyers To Help With Milan Stay
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=goal_beckham_brings_lawyers&prov=goal&type=lgns
He's gone. If MLS fights to keep him it will make them looks bad, and MLS can't afford any negative press right now. Just get a dump truck full of money for him and let him go, he's served his time here.
The last game for Milan of the Serie A schedule is on May 31st (Fiorentina vs AC Milan). What are the odds he gets permission to stay until the end of the season and then play MLS?
He would miss the first 9 or 10 games in MLS. Take 5,000 tickets at $20 each profit per game in lost revenue and you have $1 million. So how much is AC Milan willing to pay MLS to have Becks miss the first 1/3rd of the season?
With the transfer window closed is it even possible for the loan to be extended?
The final nail in the Beckham coffin was Bruce Arena's appointment. He's got the same warmth as Bob Lilley.
This looks REALLY bad on a league that's trying to justify a 40 million dollar expansion fee, and that was supposed to have him locked up for 3 more seasons.
quote:Originally posted by Calgary Boomer
Agreed. Real bad. That and losing 5k in attendance per game he is at on the road would be very nasty to MLS. Look for them to reach an accomidation and spin it as a "win win".
Milan pays for Becks to miss the first 1/3rd of the MLS season and he returns in great form and lots of publicity about this might be his last tour in MLS. That could boost ticket sales for the last 2/3rds of the season for his away games enough to make it worth while.
We'll see. The celebrity factor can only go up with his name in the news and his on field play has been improving steadily. I've seen 3 games now and he looks better each time out.
Naturally Beckham's going to look good playing for Milan. If he goes back to LA to play with a bunch of muppets...he'll look like MLS Beckham again.
A big problem is that MLS puts too much priority on maintaining parity. With the playoff system that MLS has, every team is going to have a chance to compete for the championship even if there are one or two dominant teams in the league.
The most entertaining games in MLS the past two years have been Galaxy matches. Because of LandyCakes and Beckham there was a team you could hate (or love, I guess). If the Galaxy had a couple more big name players (and hence were more successful) it would probably give me more reason to hate them and make the whole league more entertaining to follow.
Without those two players all the teams in MLS just kind of blend together (unless you're Mexican). No rooting interest. Houston v Galaxy in a 2009 regular season match in June -- who cares anymore?
Easy to shine when you've been playing Div2 and are focused and super pumped for the freshness and challenge. But it's another thing to perform like that after the novelty has worn off, and when you get the funk all over you because you haven't performed like you've been paid. All I can tell you is that if his game goes South like it did in the States, the paparazzi won't keep him on a pedestal and will boot him faster than he did the Argentinian when it got England eliminated.
Bruce Arena's tone has changed significantly since a few weeks back.
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/feb6i.html
Arena braced for Becks loss
Friday 6 February, 2009
Los Angeles Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena has hinted that he expects to lose David Beckham to Milan.
In the past, the former USA boss has always stressed that he believes Beckham will return to his squad, but now he seems less sure.
As Beckham's lawyers and the Rossoneri search for a permanent agreement, Arena is starting to accept the possibility he may not come back.
"Whatever happens, happens," Arena told LA Galaxy's official website.
"Whatever the outcome of the deal, it will be for the good of the club. We will just see what happens as we would with any other Galaxy transfer.
"We will always put the needs of the club and the team first. I just hope that the news about Beckham doesn't distract my players during our preparations."
There are reports that Beckham is looking to buy an expensive mansion near Milan.
Uh oh...this can't be good. Galaxy fans want their money back:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/consumer&id=6646014
Until today, there wasn't so much as a WHIFF of the Beckham situation on the official MLS website.
Wow I never imagined the support in LA to be so ridiculously shallow. I think it will be good for the Galaxy to lose Becks even if it means losing some season ticket holders. Having a fan base that is based on a single player is sh*t, and can only end up causing problems in the long run (ie. the second he is either gone or finished with is career, the team suffers from all the band-wagon support). Once the Becks era is done, the Galaxy should be able to create a true following, and not one that is based on flash and being in the scene...
The Galaxy is traditionally the best supported team (in terms of pure numbers) in MLS. They'll be fine.