Conor Casey To Sign For TFC

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by Free_Kick3

WOW, I see there is going to be some confusion here :D

[VPjr]

quote:Originally posted by SeanKeay

Fernando Aguiar and Thunder Dan.....

My wife knows Aguiar from High School and actually corresponded with him recently. He loves his life in Portugal and his team is fighting to move up to the top division for next year. he's not an option at all.

[SeanKeay]

Its an inside joke/jab, not actually wanting them to play for tfc

[Gian-Luca]

I wasn't actually criticizing Mo, just saying it was too bad in general that we won't likely have any Canuck strikers on the squad (although I say that with the caveat that I know the squad will still be changing and that they still have to sign a few more Canadians to make up the senior roster). I wasn't expecting the likes of Radz or Hume to come to T.O., but I had hoped that perhaps one of the many Scandinavian-based strikers might have wished to, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[loyola]

As strikers, I think Ademolu could've been a possible pick for TFC or Gerba but I don't see any other players being interested.

[VPjr]

Gerba would have been a possibility certainly but is he on par with any of the 3 US strikers we have on the roster...I would suggest that he is not. I don't know much abotu Ademolu.

The reality is that the reason TFC doesn't have more Canuck strikers is because Canuck strikers don't want to play at home...YET

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by VPjr

Gerba would have been a possibility certainly but is he on par with any of the 3 US strikers we have on the roster...I would suggest that he is not. I don't know much abotu Ademolu.

The reality is that the reason TFC doesn't have more Canuck strikers is because Canuck strikers don't want to play at home...YET

Thats what I think. Eventually, it will have to be someone who comes through the system. The dilema you face if your TFC is: on the one hand you want to develop Canadian talent because thats good the program and brings you closer to the Canadian/Toronto soccer community and grassroots and hence there are long term rewards to that approach because you build a solid core of interest and attachment to the team. But on the otherhand you also need to put a good product on field that can compete.

So if you can get Gerba, a good scorer in the USL, but inconsistent . Or, you can get Casey, a guy who cut his teeth in the Bundesiga. For a while, along side Julian DeGuzman. What are you going to do? A USL player versus a Bundesliga player.

I dont know much more than you about Ademolou. The mere fact that I dont is probably because he is behind a player like Gerba on the totem poll.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

Sean, if you want to be Mo's poster boy and have him as your sugar daddy, fine by me. It's your life.

Just don't go passing yourself off as a journalist though, it's embarrassing to the profession.

One thing is to be a fan, to like a player or a coach or a team, to speak well of them or post pictures of yourself posing with them on the board (who was it who has done this so enthusiastically it took us days to clean the whizz off the forum?).

The other is to come along as someone performing a journalistic function and then disgrace it, get personal privileges, and then think you have to lick butt because you are scared of losing them. That is not only unprofessional, it is cowardly. In your line.

[Start fan in exile]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

I dont know much more than you about Ademolou. The mere fact that I dont is probably because he is behind a player like Gerba on the totem poll.

Based on their performance in Tippeligaen last season, Ademolu is miles better than Gerba. Gerba may have talent, but seems to run afoul of every coach he's had in scandiavia so far due to a rather questionable work ethic. I don't think you want that kind of problem at TFC (for a couple seasons at least!)

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Sean, if you want to be Mo's poster boy and have him as your sugar daddy, fine by me. It's your life.

Just don't go passing yourself off as a journalist though, it's embarrassing to the profession.

One thing is to be a fan, to like a player or a coach or a team, to speak well of them or post pictures of yourself posing with them on the board (who was it who has done this so enthusiastically it took us days to clean the whizz off the forum?).

The other is to come along as someone performing a journalistic function and then disgrace it, get personal privileges, and then think you have to lick butt because you are scared of losing them. That is not only unprofessional, it is cowardly. In your line.

I would be interest in hearing from you some names of canadians strikers, good enough for MLS, ignored by Mo.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Sean, if you want to be Mo's poster boy and have him as your sugar daddy, fine by me. It's your life.

Just don't go passing yourself off as a journalist though, it's embarrassing to the profession.

One thing is to be a fan, to like a player or a coach or a team, to speak well of them or post pictures of yourself posing with them on the board (who was it who has done this so enthusiastically it took us days to clean the whizz off the forum?).

The other is to come along as someone performing a journalistic function and then disgrace it, get personal privileges, and then think you have to lick butt because you are scared of losing them. That is not only unprofessional, it is cowardly. In your line.

Sean is not a professional journalist nor is he claiming to be one. He is entitled to post interviews and articles in whatever style he chooses on the website he runs. It seems only one person has any problem whatsoever with the articles and that is a person who has a personal dislike for Sean. A guy who is not objective towards Sean but is criticizing him for a perceived lack of objectivity. Reminds me of your similar ridiculous and at times vicious personal attacks against Gianluca. If you don't agree with what TFC is doing you are completely free to express your opinion. However, in my opinion the type of immature, baseless personal attacks like your two posts in this thread are the type of things that should result in censure from the moderators and banning if it continues.

[crashvegas]

I agree with Grizzly.

[crashvegas]

I agree with Grizzly.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

Despite the communal whitewashing, MLS in Toronto does have a mandate. I know this is taboo to mention on a Canadian supporter's board, easy to forget too., It has something to do with helping promote the game in Canada, and developing Canadian players. Like it does in the States: the mandate is there and it does not consist in fulfilling the Canada quota on the roster for merely formal or regulatory reasons.

If Canadians are not promoted in MLS Toronto the CSA lied, the stadium is a big con to the taxpayers, and all the naysayers should be declared officially right after all.

So don't come up with this bs about freedom of speech or banning me when a guy representing Toronto Ultras goes ape ****e just because someone suggests the coach is not doing justice to our players. And does so because Mo has him in his pocket, intelligent guy who understands how easily supposed hard-cores and fifth estate lackeys can be had, as he has seen done a million times back home. This board is not about apeing word for word the lame justifications of a non-Canadian coach with no real interest in the Canadian game. A bit of circumspection, and bit less jumping around with shouts of "Mo" with pom poms and tutu dresses. Especially when the guy has done a little more than nothing so far and perhaps less than a lot of us would like.

[Guest Ed]

I agree with Jeffrey's point, though perhaps not its delivery. CanCon in TFC is WAY below the expectations set high by various parties (which would include the CSA, Gerry/Craig on Soccercentral, the English chap on Sportsworld), but primarily by fans on this site. Players that should be talked to about coming to TFC include strikers Friend, Ademolu, Johnson, Gerba - I'll throw Josh Simpson and Jaime Peters in as well as they are both unsettled in their respective European clubs.

[VPjr]

It is widely speculated that Peters has been approached. The fact that he is not in camp leads me to believe that he said NO and is hoping to land somewhere else in Europe when his Visa problems result in his departure from Town.

Johnson and Friend are also probably making too much money to come home. They might develop more quickly if they came home and actually got playing time and TFC would likely love to have one or both of those guys but they HAVE TO WANT TO COME. Would you take a pay cut to come home? I wouldn't. I am sure TFC is prepared to use allocation money to bring Canadians home and yet they still don't get these guys signed. In Plain English, these guys just don't want to play in MLS at this time. That's fair. They don't have to come. Gerba might not be good enough. Don't know enough about Josh Simpson and Ademolu. Who knows, they might be part of the teams future plans. Mo seems to keep his cards close to his vest.

The time to Judge Coach Mo's team building exercise when camp breaks and the season starts. There are still over a 7 weeks of window available to bring players in. I fully expect the reserve team to have several Canadians on it and the starting 11 will probably have 4-5 Canadians. That is excellent in year 1. You can be sure that if there is another player available, TFC will persue them. They still have lots of allocation left. Some people thought the team was going to be mostly Canadian but that would be too expensive and probably would result in a losing squad, unless you can somehow sign the bulk of the MNT, which can't happen.

In reply to Jeffrey's rant, we all know TFC has a mandate and I expect to hold them to it but you can't build Rome in a day. TFC, Whitecaps and Impact's legacy for Canadian soccer will be their respective academy programs because these will be breeding grounds for Canada's future stars. To expect TFC to accomplish anything more than just fill quotas in Year 1 is STUPID and/or NAIVE. It's easy to stand on your soapbox and make accusations and express displeasure but to me it reeks of immaturity.

[Guest Ed]

I can't see how Johnson or Friend would be making more than someone on a Bundesliga squad. Unless I'm totally off base on wages or if Conor Casey has taken a HUGE paycut to be back in North America, the money could have been spent on someone like Johnson or Friend rather than (yet another) US player.

And to say 4-5 Canadians on the starting 11 is excellent is really stretching; 4-5 Cdns, that is a guaranteed 4 - Brennan and the 3 defenders - and maybe 5 if Sutton starts. I am not exactly jumping for joy at seeing what I would call the 2nd tier of players being brought in to be almost exclusively youngish Yanks - Casey, Eskandarian, Buddle and Edo. I would say Gerba is certainly comparable in potential to all of these players. And if you give me the argument that he hasn't shown that potential, neither have any of the Yanks mentioned.

[VPjr]

I would be curious to know what a benchwarmer in Germany earns. Casey has been hurt alot, especially in the early part of the last 3 years and has not had much luck cracking his former squad's top 11. He probably got paid well enough but maybe was willing to take a pay cut in order to get playing time and to regain fitness. He might want to eventually go back to Europe in a year or two if he re-establishes himself. Or maybe, like Landon Donovan, he was tired of living in Europe. Who knows. His loss of a job in Germany is our gain, especially if he can relocate his goal scoring touch.

Casey is more than likely far better than Gerba and apparently Gerba has a bad reputation for pissing off coaches. Casey was a WC reserve for the US. That tells me the man has some modicum of talent. Gerba is not even a regular member of our MNT.

Again, to expect TFC to get the cream of the Canadian crop in year 1 is foolish. Yes, most of the guys we got are 2nd tier players but the MLS is full of players who are 2nd tier players. if they were 1st tier players, they would ply their trade in Europe's top leagues. Being a 2nd tier player isn't a bad thing. Most lower level Euro leagues are loaded with 2nd or 3rd tier players too. They just tend to be better paid. We can't expect to get our best players over here when they are playing in better leagues and getting top level training with top coaches. Johnson and Friend probably think that it would be foolish to leave the Dutch league for MLS at this point in their development, although I would like to see them play more.

Again, all I suggest is that we stay patient and see what the makeup of this team is when they break camp and head to LA to play Chivas in eary April. Alot can happen between then and now.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by VPjr

It is widely speculated that Peters has been approached. The fact that he is not in camp leads me to believe that he said NO and is hoping to land somewhere else in Europe when his Visa problems result in his departure from Town.

I think it is more due to the fact that he's getting playing time right now in Ipswich & would have to walk out of his current contract to come & do a lot of boring practices with TFC. Why not just wait until his contract is up/not renewed due to the VISA issues and join TFC later in the year? That's what I expect is happening. "The Patriot" poster (who has been 100% spot on in his insider info thus far) has posted that it is not a question of whether Peters will sign, but when.

And because the roster is still in flux & we know that more Canadians have be signed for the senior roster (I think it is three more) I am still reserving judgment on how TFC has done in its first year in its Canadian contingent. I commented on the striker situation because it seems that this position is pretty well locked up senior-roster wise (unless they make a trade, which I suppose could still happen). I hope that we at least get some attacking/offensive/creative minded players of some kind (Peters would fit the bill here, as would Simpson) on the team - right now the most attack-minded player on the Canadian senior contingent is Jim Brennan.

I think we also have note that TFC haven't been very successful thus far at bring non-Ontarians back "home" from Europe. Again though, that could change.

None of this, however, makes Sean Keay a professional journalist.

[SeanKeay]

Please someone tell me when, i went nuts on people???

Anyways, i agree we should have more canadians. But how many canadians are available on free? Conor Casey and Carl Robinson came to TFC on a free.

For us to get josh simpson, jamie peters, will johnson, or any player who is available. We will have to pay transfer fees in which we dont not alot of cash to use. TFC can not cripple themselves bringing in canadains to the squad. He has to be smart and figure things out.

Friend would cost about a million or so to buy from his club, so right there alone is our transfer budget.

Anyways Geoff keep up the good work in spain

[Free kick]

Using the list from the U sector Forum website

Developmental Roster

1 - Maurice Edu (YI4)

2 - Hunter West (YI5)

3 - Jeffrey Gonsalves

4 - Richard Asante

5 - Tyler Hemming

6 - EMPTY

7 - EMPTY

8 - EMPTY

9 - EMPTY

10- EMPTY

Here is hoping that those EMPTY slots will be filled by Canadians. Especially some offensive minded ones. So far three of the five are Canadians but only one is a fwd.

[SeanKeay]

Right now there are alot of canadians trying to get spots on TFC, and there mostly guys who are very young

Joey Melo is at the camp and mo had some good things to say about him before the camp started. Budalic is there, along with matthew paleshi from the lynx. Rick Titus is also in camp.

As other people have stated, its not about what the team does for the canadian national team now... but what they can do in the future.

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by SeanKeay

R

Joey Melo is at the camp and mo had some good things to say about him before the camp started.

Yes, I wanted to mention him. I actually saw this kid play. Two years ago at the U16 match against scotland. Very Very impressive player. The crowd at the time , a pack house, quickly recognize his play.

[Gordon]

Mo has plugged along with modest competency in his player acquisitions. He's picked up the handful we all figured he would and frankly, if TFC signs Peters then his trade of Serioux for O'Brien looks like a blunder...suppose he didn't know that might be a possibility at the time.

He is taking a huge gamble with his strikers as the 3 yanks are reclamation projects and the Togolese will have to improve substantially for Toronto to score regularly. If Casey or Eskandarian stay healthy, or Buddle gets back on track it might pan out. Personally, I'f I were a TFC fan, I'd worry about the striker situation.

[MM2]

TFC will have no choice but to have at least 8 Canadians on the developmental roster, and as I don't think that Hunter West will be on the team, that leaves 9 spots as the other 4 other YIs will probably be on the Senior roster.

For every YI added to the developmental roster, it opens up a Senior roster spot for a Canadian.

For a better roster analysis go here http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10889 :D:D

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Using the list from the U sector Forum website

Developmental Roster

1 - Maurice Edu (YI4)

2 - Hunter West (YI5)

3 - Jeffrey Gonsalves

4 - Richard Asante

5 - Tyler Hemming

6 - EMPTY

7 - EMPTY

8 - EMPTY

9 - EMPTY

10- EMPTY

Here is hoping that those EMPTY slots will be filled by Canadians. Especially some offensive minded ones. So far three of the five are Canadians but only one is a fwd.