jpg75 Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 Cottbus players Sergiu Radu, Vlad Munteanu sign for Wolfsburg http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/article.jsp?content=20070525_141059_4608 COTTBUS, Germany (AP) -- Striker Sergiu Radu and midfielder Vlad Munteanu are leaving Energie Cottbus to join the club's Bundesliga rival Wolfsburg. The Romanian pair scored 25 goals between them last season to help Cottbus retain a place in the top division. Cottbus announced the transfers Friday without giving details. Wolfsburg has lost two strikers, with Diego Klimowicz going to Borussia Dortmund and Mike Hanke to Hannover 96. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted May 25, 2007 Author Share Posted May 25, 2007 Kevin is lying through his teeth once again in this interview. At this point at least he could be honest and say it is only about the money. The answer to number 2 is not translated correctly, McKenna states he doesn't want to say anything more about the Sander issue or anything else that he supposedly is unhappy about with the club not because Sander asked him not to but the club has been so good to him that it doesn't deserve this. The answer to this question is the first of several lies in the interview. I can't say whether or not Sander wanted a contract extension but he is under contract for next year and his position as coach is secure. Kevin wants us to believe that he was so disappointed Sander didn't get a new contract that he left the team making Sander's job so much easier next year. Yeah right. Sander is a great coach and decent guy so he decides to leave him high and dry to go play for the not very nice guy and nutcase Christoph Daum. Perversely though playing for Daum is the one factor that may not directly be tied to money as even if Daum fails in Koln he will probably land at a big club like Fenerbahce and may take some players with him where they could earn even more money (so it is a money factor after all). The whole stuff about his vows of fidelity to Cottbus being misunderstood is total BS. In the context of a soccer interview he states he was and always will be a Cottbuser and now that he has deserted the club we are supposed to believe he meant the city and not the club. Other statements from a few weeks ago when rumours surfaced he was in talks with Koln included "I am definitely staying with Cottbus" and "There are no talks with Koln, not even if they are expressing some interest. I am committed to my responsibilities as captain here in Cottbus. I fully expect next year to be playing with a strong Cottbus team in the Bundesliga next year." Then after all that he is the first player to leave the team. And noone expected him to stay in Cottbus forever but he did say in an interview point blank that he was going to play out his contract until 2010. I suspect he may have been making all these statements to drive up the price Koln was willing to pay for him. With all of his denials of being in negotiations with Koln we are supposed to believe that he gave Cottbus a chance to match their offer and they didn't respond. Obviously Cottbus is not in the financial position to match Koln anyway but their manager said after they found out about this in the press they tried to contact McKenna and he was already in Koln for his medical. It is pretty hard to believe anything McKenna says at this point. And yes I am bitter about this. I am not the biggest fan of McKenna as a skilled footballer but I always thought he was a good guy and he had been effective in Cottbus. Cottbus is my 2nd favourite team in Germany after Sachsen Leipzig and since Sachsen Leipzig (also a bigger club than Cottbus by the way) seems to be cursed to remaining in the 4th division to eternity I follow Cottbus pretty closely. Reading all of McKenna's great pronounciations of faithfulness and knowing he was a Canadian player certainly gave me some pride and then for him to do this is inexcusable in my books. Everyone knows Cottbus is a low budget team with debts and will have problems paying top dollar and will always be fighting against relegation. If McKenna didn't like this and wanted to earn more money he could have been honest about this or at least not made any statements but after his behaviour both the club and its fan have every right to be pissed. As far as McKenna being our national team captain I think he was chosen for that position because of his character not his stellar play. This transfer puts into question his character and if the other players feel the captain is untrustworthy than he is not a very good captain. Usually if people show this type of behaviour one time it is not an isolated case. It may never happen again in his role as Canada captain but I think if McKenna disappoints us in some way in the future we should not be very surprised. I have always questioned his choice as captain because I don't think he is a pencilled in starter and when I look at the lineup of our team his is one of the first positions I would like to upgrade. He does have a natural goal scoring ability so I could see him as a striker but I don't like him as a starting CB. I think the reason he worked so well in Cottbus was because the team was only playing not to be relegated and were thus playing very defensively with two good strikers for counter-attacking. When 8 players are playing defence this can help out a slower less technical CB immensely. Particularly because the tactic against this type of play is to put crosses into the box which is exactly McKenna's strength as defender. Koln next year needs to win not tie and will have to play much more openly exposing McKenna much more but on the other hand he will only have 2nd BL strikers to deal with. If McKenna is planning on long term playing with Koln in Europe I think he may find himself on the bench if they are ever playing top half of the 1st BL and are playing offensive soccer (it was probably for similar reasons Hearts used him as a striker). I think one of the reasons McKenna often didn't look good under Yallop was the offensive tactics Yallop used that left our back exposed. He may look better under the more defensive Mitchell but is still not really suited to defending against the CONCACAF attack using small speedy, technical strikers. I don't expect other non-Cottbus fans to feel the same way as I do but remember a couple of weeks ago Kevin was as respected and lauded as player and captain for Cottbus as he was for Canada if not moreso. Don't be surprised if he disappoints us similarly. It is nevertheless embarrassing to see our players act that way. Bild newspaper has nicknamed him, captain of the Canadian national team, Kevin McPerjury. Apparently he will be earning 800 000 Euro a season or almost 1.2 million CDN. Good money even by 1st Bundesliga standards and obviously far more than he is worth. As far as Cottbus goes they have lost their two strikers but got paid a lot of money for them. So far they have been signing a lot of young talented players with potential, a risky strategy but probably the only one they have open to them since even their traditional east European market for players is starting to be observed very intensely making bargains harder. As someone who lived in Germany for a long time and has opinions about almost every team, Kevin's transfer is new ground for me. Previously I have been used to changing my views about certain clubs that I disliked or had mixed feelings about (Bochum, for example) and cheering for them because a Canadian was there. This will be the first time that I do not do this and I will be hoping even more against Koln with Kevin there than I normally would have. I almost can't wait for the season to begin again and for Koln to be unsuccessful while Cottbus manages to stay in the 1st BL which is at least my hope. Congrats Kevin on being the first Canadian national team player that I will cheer against. 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Guest Jeffery S. Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 I could really care less about what Cottbus fans think or say. I don't give a damn. As I would imagine most of you would not care to hear why Barça fans hate Figo. So he went to Madrid and had some success he could not find here, good for him. The only thing I think is a clear error is signing for a Bundesliga 2 team. A huge mistake. I am sure he could have got a contract with a Bundesliga club, maybe his agent did not look enough, maybe he just wanted to take the offer and run, it was good enough for his books. Fine. But he is demoting himself, and that is a very rare thing to do in sport, in fact if you are serious you don't do it as top flight is top flight, it is where the football challenge is, where the prestige is, where you improve if you have already proven you can handle it. Where you might get lucky and find yourself in an UEFA spot and that is an even more important experience, playing in Europe and finding success there. So this is where McKenna blows it, and is where I think those saying he was only thinking about the money were right. Other factors should have really kept him in top flight, either at Cottbus or another interested club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted May 25, 2007 Author Share Posted May 25, 2007 quote:I could really care less about what Cottbus fans think or say. I don't give a damn. As I would imagine most of you would not care to hear why Barça fans hate Figo. So he went to Madrid and had some success he could not find here, good for him. Not saying you should but I think I remember a number of extensive posts where you elaborated on your feelings about various players who used to play for Barca. I also don't think it is totally irrelevant how our players behave at their clubs because we can probably expect some similar behaviour when they play for us. quote:The only thing I think is a clear error is signing for a Bundesliga 2 team. A huge mistake. I am sure he could have got a contract with a Bundesliga club, maybe his agent did not look enough, maybe he just wanted to take the offer and run, it was good enough for his books. Fine. But he is demoting himself, and that is a very rare thing to do in sport, in fact if you are serious you don't do it as top flight is top flight, it is where the football challenge is, where the prestige is, where you improve if you have already proven you can handle it. Where you might get lucky and find yourself in an UEFA spot and that is an even more important experience, playing in Europe and finding success there. So this is where McKenna blows it, and is where I think those saying he was only thinking about the money were right. Other factors should have really kept him in top flight, either at Cottbus or another interested club. I don't think any other 1st BL club would have paid him anywhere near the salary Koln offered him. In fact I think most would have valued him at around the salary he was making for Cottbus. Even Kevin seems to express some surprise in the interview at the sum Koln offered him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Grizzly Not saying you should but I think I remember a number of extensive posts where you elaborated on your feelings about various players who used to play for Barca. I also don't think it is totally irrelevant how our players behave at their clubs because we can probably expect some similar behaviour when they play for us. I don't think any other 1st BL club would have paid him anywhere near the salary Koln offered him. In fact I think most would have valued him at around the salary he was making for Cottbus. Even Kevin seems to express some surprise in the interview at the sum Koln offered him. No, I agree that as a fan you have to express your feelings, and that sentiment is very important. Otherwise why be a fan? All the ethical order around football is rather arbitrary, but how can you argue with it? But I'm just saying I don't care about the team and for me there is no fundamental character flaw that has suddenly emerged in the guy, while for others there clearly is. Though I have never been a huge McKenna fan, I am still missing De Vos. But even without the sentimental tie, I think going down a division only for money is a huge error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. But even without the sentimental tie, I think going down a division only for money is a huge error. I don't know...if the numbers being bandied about, 500,000 at EC, 800,000 at FCK, and a 4 year contract to boot, then I'd say that McKenna made a good decision. Its not like his career was on an upward flight. The difference playing for a struggling B1 side versus a upper eschelon B2 side would be quite small I think. I don't see a huge difference, especially if, as Griz suggests, he is at best a borderline B1 starter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted May 25, 2007 Author Share Posted May 25, 2007 Until Koln proves otherwise, they are a mid-table 2nd BL club though. This is not a team that narrowly missed promotion, they finished 9th 14 points out of a promotion spot and 24 points from the first place team. Last year's Cottbus is a far superior team to Koln and I suspect even with the players they lost and Koln's new players Cottbus is still better head to head. With the signings Koln are making they should improve but it wouldn't totally surprise me if they didn't. McKenna, for example, is only replacing one of their defenders who transferred to a better club so he isn't necessarily an upgrade to who they previously had. Daum's first round of big signings in mid-season brought no improvement in the club's performance nor did Daum taking over the team have an effect. As they like to say in Germany, money doesn't score goals. I agree that as fans of the national team, what we (and Mitchell) should be most concerned about is him going down a division at this point in his career. Most players go to constantly stronger teams/leagues until there skills start to decline with age. It is unusual in your prime soccer age to relegate willingly. And don't talk to me of long term perpective because this is very risky and the odds are still better that the following year Cottbus will be in the 1st Bl and Koln in the 2nd. The only reason for this was money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 Without the 2 Romanians, Cottbus are screwed. No one other than them had more than 2 goals. 2! That's it!?! IMO Big Kev realized the Cottbus ship was hitting an iceberg, and when U-boat $Koln$ came up to parascope depth to lure him away he joined them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted May 26, 2007 Author Share Posted May 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by jpg75 Without the 2 Romanians Cottbus are screwed. No one other than them had more than 2 goals. 2! That's it!?! IMO Big Kev realized the Cottbus ship was hitting an iceberg, and when U-boat $Koln$ came up to parascope depth to lure him away he joined them. Your argument makes no sense. If he transferred to another 1st Bundesliga team that might be a justification but he relegated himself and there is no guarantee that Koln will promote. Even if they do promote it is quite possible they will relegate the following year like they have done so many times in the past. Its like saying I may die tomorrow so I should kill myself today instead. It has been known for several months that the two Romanians were probably going to transfer (they were at least honest about this) during which time he was shouting his faithfulness to Cottbus so I don't see how that can be claimed as a motivation for his switch. He is not worried about not playing in the 1st BL two years from now (he doesn't even care about that for this year), he is worried that no other club is ever going to offer him a contract so much above his real market value in the future. He is grasping at the opportunity to cash in not at the opportunity to play at the highest level or improve his skills as much as possible. The sole reason for this transfer is money. Why do people feel the need to make excuses for him? As for Cottbus they will be signing some new strikers and are talking with a Bulgarian striker who would be a good replacement. Don't forget they received 4.5 million Euro for the Romanians and 500 000 for McKenna. They managed to not get relegated this year with a player budget of only 9.5 million Euro, the lowest in the league. They have just received more than half of that in transfer fees and apparently are going to get a pretty big share of television revenue this year so they should have a significantly bigger budget for players this year than last. It still won't be easy but they are still in a better position now than they were this time last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Grizzly Your argument makes no sense. If he transferred to another 1st Bundesliga team that might be a justification but he relegated himself and there is no guarantee that Koln will promote. Even if they do promote it is quite possible they will relegate the following year like they have done so many times in the past. Its like saying I may die tomorrow so I should kill myself today instead. It has been known for several months that the two Romanians were probably going to transfer (they were at least honest about this) during which time he was shouting his faithfulness to Cottbus so I don't see how that can be claimed as a motivation for his switch. He is not worried about not playing in the 1st BL two years from now (he doesn't even care about that for this year), he is worried that no other club is ever going to offer him a contract so much above his real market value in the future. He is grasping at the opportunity to cash in not at the opportunity to play at the highest level or improve his skills as much as possible. The sole reason for this transfer is money. Why do people feel the need to make excuses for him? As for Cottbus they will be signing some new strikers and are talking with a Bulgarian striker who would be a good replacement. Don't forget they received 4.5 million Euro for the Romanians and 500 000 for McKenna. They managed to not get relegated this year with a player budget of only 9.5 million Euro, the lowest in the league. They have just received more than half of that in transfer fees and apparently are going to get a pretty big share of television revenue this year so they should have a significantly bigger budget for players this year than last. It still won't be easy but they are still in a better position now than they were this time last year. Did you ever think maybe McKenna considers Koln a more stable club than Cottbus? Maybe he really does think that one year in 2.Bund is a price worth paying so that he can spend 3 more in 1.Bund after that? I think it's a minor miracle that Cottbus survived this season and they've got to be a contender for relegation next season. And last i heard there were no 1.Bund teams knocking on McKenna's door so i don't see why you bring that up. Sure, it would be great for him to stay in the top league, but maybe he's not in demand. Perhaps he realizes his limitations and figures if he's probably headed back to 2.Bund with Cottbus anyways he may as well go to plan B. And seriously, tone down your act. You're the only one who's taking this transfer personally and emotionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted May 26, 2007 Author Share Posted May 26, 2007 Koln has not been a more stable club than Cottbus over the last decade so there is no reason for anyone to believe it has changed especially with the quite unstable Christoph Daum as coach. That they have more money than Cottbus is clear but this has always been the case. Koln has been poorly run for quite some time and it has been a long time since they managed to spend 3 years in a row in the 1st Bundesliga. Sorry if you don't like emotion in soccer. Maybe you should follow lawn bowling instead. I await your next excuses for McKenna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Grizzly Koln has not been a more stable club than Cottbus over the last decade so there is no reason for anyone to believe it has changed especially with the quite unstable Christoph Daum as coach. That they have more money than Cottbus is clear but this has always been the case. Koln has been poorly run for quite some time and it has been a long time since they managed to spend 3 years in a row in the 1st Bundesliga. Sorry if you don't like emotion in soccer. Maybe you should follow lawn bowling instead. I await your next excuses for McKenna. I'm not making excuses for the guy. I'm trying to rationalize what his decisions were based on. Either way, if he left for money or he left a sinking ship it's not exactly honourable. He did have a responsibilty as captain, that i agree with you. But it's pro sports, and it's peoples lives so sometimes they'll make human decisions and take the bigger cookie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqing Posted September 16, 2007 Share Posted September 16, 2007 I just read an interview with Engerie Cottbus' Chinese international Shao Jiayi. He said Mckenna's departure is the biggest loss Cottbus suffered after last season and one of the main reasons why Cottbus is having a dismal start of the season now. http://sports.sina.com.cn/g/2007-09-17/01403174101.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted September 16, 2007 Share Posted September 16, 2007 They're going to need someone to step up and score goals with the Romanians gone. 2 goals in 5 games is Toronto FC-like [)] http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/stats?id=123&cc=5901 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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