Simon Thomas

[Dub Narcotic]

Victoria goalkeeper, came up through the Victoria United program and the Whitecaps PDL team. Not offered a senior contract by the Whitecaps at that time, he signed with Huddersfield Town in English League 1 in 2011. Released in 2012, he trialed with the Whitecaps in the 2013 pre-season and signed a contract before the season started. Capped at the U-23 and Senior Men's level for Canada.

[Dub Narcotic]

Victoria goalkeeper, came up through the Victoria United program and the Whitecaps PDL team. Not offered a senior contract by the Whitecaps at that time, he signed with Huddersfield Town in English League 1 in 2011. Released in 2012, he trialed with the Whitecaps in the 2013 pre-season and signed a contract before the season started. Capped at the U-23 and Senior Men's level for Canada.

Had his 2014 contract option declined by the Whitecaps today.

[Max]

Ottawa Fury?

[canadianfoot]

Ottawa Fury?

Doubt that NASL might be too high for him right of the bat. NASL or MLS as a Backup Keeper I could see. If by any means he get in a USL Pro team as First Keeper and plays well for the season he will be back on MLS radar

[tmcmurph]

"goalkeepers Joe Cannon, Brad Knighton, and Simon Thomas, defender Brad Rusin, midfielders Jun Marques Davidson and Daigo Kobayashi, as well as strikers Tommy Heinemann and Corey Hertzog."

So all 3 backup keepers released. Didn't expect that one. Cannon was a given but at 60k Knighton was good backup. I wonder if they have someone in mind for the backup role from their academy or elsewhere?

[youllneverwalkalone]

Marco Carducci.

[canadianfoot]

Maybe Knighton didn't want to be a backup keeper...or asked for more money? Carducci won't cost them anything as a 3rd keeper I doubt he will be the backup as he's too young IMO. And Lenarduzzi said they will have a 3rd round pick so maybe they will pick one then. Needless to say it will be interesting to see how the roster takes shape with so much room now.

[Yohan]

Maybe Knighton didn't want to be a backup keeper...or asked for more money? Carducci won't cost them anything as a 3rd keeper I doubt he will be the backup as he's too young IMO. And Lenarduzzi said they will have a 3rd round pick so maybe they will pick one then. Needless to say it will be interesting to see how the roster takes shape with so much room now.

Knighton doesn't want to be a back up GK. And after Ousted got signed, he's a bit pissed so wants out. Don't know what MLS team will give him a shot as a starter though.

Using #3 pick on Andrew Blake, who apparently is going to be something special is not smart. Caps have a lot of spots need filling, and if Caps does want Blake, use their lower pick on him if he's available then.

[madmonte]

If it's Carducci, hopefully he isn't added to the list, eventually, of young Canadian keepers who have had their careers put in complete limbo, for the sole purpose of meeting the Canadian quotient.

[Lord Bob]

The Whitecaps are over the quota already: Teibert, Alderson, Adekugbe, Koffie, and Clarke. Any signing wouldn't be for the "sole purpose" of meeting the quota.

[Blackdude]

The Whitecaps are over the quota already: Teibert, Alderson, Adekugbe, Koffie, and Clarke. Any signing wouldn't be for the "sole purpose" of meeting the quota.

Same thing for the other Canadian MLS goalkeepers. Although Roberts got signed because the team prefered to sign a local goalkeeper instead of having a pool goalkeeper. I just think that you should be able to play academy kids during games without having to sign them to MLS contracts, IMHO as long as they don't exceed a certain number of matchday squads.

[Lord Bob]

Well, yeah. RUMMOR: mls rules are stoopid; they care about marketing big stars to ****ty fans more than developing youth

[Blackdude]

Well, yeah. RUMMOR: mls rules are stoopid; they care about marketing big stars to ****ty fans more than developing youth

I thought that RUMMORS were supposed to be 100% false.

[tmcmurph]

If it's Carducci, hopefully he isn't added to the list, eventually, of young Canadian keepers who have had their careers put in complete limbo, for the sole purpose of meeting the Canadian quotient.

The Caps sign players who they think can cut it in MLS. It is pretty simple. Like others have pointed out they are already they are over the limit by quite a bit with players eligible for MNT duty. Carducci may be too young but according to those who've seen him play he is apparently ahead of the curve compared to other keepers.

[madmonte]

The Whitecaps are over the quota already: Teibert, Alderson, Adekugbe, Koffie, and Clarke. Any signing wouldn't be for the "sole purpose" of meeting the quota.

Yes this is true, Lord Bob, at this point, but a LOT can change by April, is what I was initially getting at. For sure, though, Teibert, Koffie, and Adekugbe will be around, and that alone does meet the quota.

It depends on where else Carducci would have gone. I mean, being a backup keeper to the Caps is as good as (probably a lot better) in terms of experience than going and being a backup keeper at some 2nd or 3rd tier European side, for example. So if they do bring Carducci up, at his age it will be good experience.

Simon Thomas did have a bit of career limbo and all that, but I mean face it, if he was good enough, he'd still be around. The only problem is that, Murph has said in the past and sort of convinced me, that having a Canadian quotient CAN mean that they keep you under contract, doing nothing when you COULD have been gaining actual experience elsewhere. If you get out of a situation like that at the age of 23, it sort of hamstrings you because most clubs are looking for even younger players to develop. Luckily, 23 is still young for a keeper.

I'd like to point out that it's impossible to blame the Caps for that situation being created, if indeed you feel at all there is blame to be assigned (Blame is a strong word.) They are just following that quota rule, and to their credit they even tried a loanout to FC Edmonton. So this is definitely a case where Thomas had some chances.

I honestly hope Carducci does get signed, and that there isn't another keeper signing. That would be invaluable for him. In Thomas' case, he was usually the 3rd keeper, and when Ousted got signed he was down to 4th keeper. The Caps, I think, made the right moves releasing Knighton and Cannon if there intent was not to play them.

Well, yeah. RUMMOR: mls rules are stoopid; they care about marketing big stars to ****ty fans more than developing youth

As a Voyageur, the CMNT is our passion, and youth development is what we need. It's impossible not to care about that, especially since, for us Voyageurs, 90% of the attraction of having MLS and NASL teams in Canada is the future development of Canadians stars.

The Whitecaps Academy to me, is looking very professional and doing a lot of the right things to make that happen in the future, whether the kids end up playing here, or perhaps Augsburg likes Clarke so much, they try to keep him. Either way, kudos to the Caps.

I am not one of those that wants to see the mandatory Canadian quotient increased. I don't believe in having your hands tied as an organization to sign players on, and have them work only in training, never seeing the pitch in game situations. It can actually hurt development.

And yes, the MLS rules are VERY stoopid, and in a lot of ways.

Edited November 29, 2013 by madmonte

[Lord Bob]

The thing is, I am a big Carducci fan, and I come by it honestly: I've seen him play loads of times and I'm really impressed. I've seen him look magnificent in 4-0 losses in Tukwila, I've seen him singlehandedly win the PDL team the Juan de Fuca Plate. But he is just a kid. If he signs a professional contract he forfeits his NCAA eligibility (not that he's looking at going NCAA, necessarily, but why rule out your options prematurely?) and, if you don't think he's ready to play MLS games, there's no point. He can play Reserves or PDL without signing an MLS deal. Thomas is the sort of age and experience where, if he had to play tomorrow, I could live with that. Carducci would be making a big step up.

[madmonte]

The thing is, I am a big Carducci fan, and I come by it honestly: I've seen him play loads of times and I'm really impressed. I've seen him look magnificent in 4-0 losses in Tukwila, I've seen him singlehandedly win the PDL team the Juan de Fuca Plate. But he is just a kid. If he signs a professional contract he forfeits his NCAA eligibility (not that he's looking at going NCAA, necessarily, but why rule out your options prematurely?) and, if you don't think he's ready to play MLS games, there's no point. He can play Reserves or PDL without signing an MLS deal. Thomas is the sort of age and experience where, if he had to play tomorrow, I could live with that. Carducci would be making a big step up.

Yeah man. If he does sign, he's not signing to play a lot, that's for sure, Ousted is always the number one. And honestly, with the three Canadian rule, and the way the Whitecaps loan out players, there honestly IS always a danger a player is signed just to be one of the three Canadian spots. That said, it just depends on what other options do present themselves. We've seen other Canadian keepers like Michal Misiewicz look dominant too, and now he's in 7th tier England. I haven't seen enough of Carducci to know how to compare him to Misiewicz, for example, but if the other option is signing 2nd tier Sweden and ending up as a backup anyways, why not play backup for the Caps? Guess time will tell.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Carducci will get an agent and ruin his own NCAA eligibility. The kid wants to be a pro keeper. Give him what he wants and loan him out to gain some experience.

[maccaliam]

If he signs a professional contract he forfeits his NCAA eligibility (not that he's looking at going NCAA, necessarily, but why rule out your options prematurely?) and, if you don't think he's ready to play MLS games, there's no point.

From a whitecaps management perspective, this makes perfect sense to me. But from Carducci's perspective (assuming he has no intention of going NCAA route), if he is good enough to sign a pro deal and make $40,000 a year, why would he bother playing PDL for free?

[ag futbol]

From a whitecaps management perspective, this makes perfect sense to me. But from Carducci's perspective (assuming he has no intention of going NCAA route), if he is good enough to sign a pro deal and make $40,000 a year, why would he bother playing PDL for free?

NCAA might give him more options and the MLS CBA is up end of next year. From what we've seen so far, players on the back end of the roster figure to benefit the most from the next round of bargaining.

MLS hasn't fixed that 18-23 development window yet, it's far from a slam dunk. If everyone had their USL farm teams up and running that might change my answer but in this case it looks like he won't find many more resources than Thomas did on his way through. That's not to say some prospects simply won't make it, that's the nature of the business, but the troubles younger, less physically mature players have signing directly with MLS teams means it's an option that should be carefully considered.

[Dub Narcotic]

The USL partnership is working very well for the teams that bother to use it. Look at SKC this year. Carducci should go to college; he needs games and maturity and it's very hard to get those as a keeper. Thomas didn't even get games on loan to Edmonton this year. Rumours have popped up in a few places that the 'caps may draft Andre Blake in the first round; if that's true, between he and Ousted it's hard to see any 'caps keeper youngsters getting time.

[masster]

I don't really rate Thomas, so I'm not surprised that he was let go. No real loss. If he is going to make it as a keeper, he needs to find a place where he is going to play. That wasn't going to happen in Vancouver. Even if they loaned him out, Irving and Carducci show much more promise. Thomas was neither the present or the future.

Too early for Carducci to be signed in my opinion. Remember, last season the kid was still playing some games with U16s. Let him play out the season with the U18s and be the full time starter for the PDL squad. That is already a bit of a step up. What is the rush? Baby steps.

[madmonte]

For those wondering about Simon Thomas, he will be staying with the Calgary Foothills organization.

 

http://calgaryfoothillssoccer.com/files/simon_thomas_press_release2.pdf

 

This basically takes him off the CMNT radar, of course.  For me personally, I will be watching him play this year.

[Guest ClaytonA]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Simon+Thomas+tends+Calgary+Foothills+soccer+squad+Calgary+Alberta/9812557/story.html

 

 

Simon Thomas tends the net for Calgary Foothills U23 squad

Goalkeeper to also coach youngsters before departing for Europe in July

 

By Jeff MacKinnon, For the Calgary HeraldMay 6, 2014

 

 

Simon says his plan is to get back to a European professional soccer net.

 

To help make that happen, Simon Thomas has joined the Calgary Foothills U23 squad, where he will play goal and coach Foothills’ young keepers until departing in July.

 

Foothills U23 will play its second game this weekend as part of an exhibition schedule that will lead to the team joining the Premier Development League in 2015.

 

Thomas a Victoria, B.C., native, spent 2011-12 with English side Huddersfield Town’s reserve team. He was with the Major Soccer League’s Vancouver Whitecaps’ reserves in 2013.

 

“(Europe) still has a big draw on me,” said Thomas, who turned 24 on April 12.

 

“Calgary came about through old connections of mine. They offered me a chance to move forward with my coaching and get some game time coming up to July and heading back over to Europe.”

...

 

Edited May 10, 2014 by ClaytonA

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

No one has bothered to bump his thread in a long time so I'll do it. Video of him explaining his finger injury; looks like he might be fit for September!

http://www.glimt.no/free/videoId/1fytz6kki2kt410ck3zy92fwrj