FC Edmonton 2016-17 Offseason

[shermanator]

So, now that FC Edmonton can move on with their season, time to talk roster moves.

The first bit of news: All-time leading scorer Daryl Fordyce has signed with FC Cincinnati of USL. Would have to guess that FC Cincinnati offered more money than Edmonton.

 

[jedinathan]

Also out:
Matt Van Okel  (Real Salt Lake)

Shamit Shome (Gen Adidas Canada - Drafted to Montreal Impact)

Players that are still signed:

Dustin Corea (to the end of 2017)

Nic Ledgerwood (signed new contract last year)

Ben Fisk (Signed to the end of 2017)

[CDNFootballer]

Fordyce moves to Cincinnati: Miller says FC Edmonton made “very good offer” to keep Northern Irish striker

 

http://the11.ca/fordyce-moves-to-cincinnati-miller-says-fc-edmonton-made-very-good-offer-to-keep-northern-irish-striker/comment-page-1/#comment-3289

 

FCE coach Colin Miller admits that it was difficult to see Fordyce leave. They had a heart-to-heart and Miller said he wishes Fordyce well.

“We left on great terms.”

But, in the end, FCE couldn’t compete with the dollars being offered south of the border.

[markmcf]

I would think that Fordyce was concerned that FC Edmonton might not have a league to play in in 2017. Even if FC Cincinnati offered him more money, he was probably more open to a move because of the mess NASL has been in. I think it will be hard for a lot of NASL teams to sign players, maybe now that they look a little more stable things will get better. They need to have a good season this year, and of course add four expansion teams before '18. Tough row to hoe.

[jedinathan]

16 minutes ago, markmcf said:

I would think that Fordyce was concerned that FC Edmonton might not have a league to play in in 2017. Even if FC Cincinnati offered him more money, he was probably more open to a move because of the mess NASL has been in. I think it will be hard for a lot of NASL teams to sign players, maybe now that they look a little more stable things will get better. They need to have a good season this year, and of course add four expansion teams before '18. Tough row to hoe.

I've had a few conversations with Steve Sandor about it, and no. It was straight up money. Steve's latest article is really good on this situation, as it has lots of quotes from Daryl. He considers Edmonton his home, and wants to give back to the Edmonton Soccer scene when he retires. Thinking about opening an academy. He only left as his wife is going back to school for a career change, and they need that higher income and accomedations paid for, which FC Cinncy was able to offer him.

Link is here: http://the11.ca/fordyce-on-his-move-to-fc-cincinnati-he-plans-to-return-to-edmonton-still-committed-to-becoming-a-canadian/

[markmcf]

Thanks!

[Levi Oakey]

Any word on Keepers? I am hoping Nate Ingham gets a chance.

[jedinathan]

4 minutes ago, Levi Oakey said:

Any word on Keepers? I am hoping Nate Ingham gets a chance.

The office is playing cards super tight to the chest right now on player news. I'm expecting something early next week in terms of a roster announcment. I think Tyson is closer to the starting position than Nathan is, but both of them had one helluva job unseating MVO last season.

For some reason my gut says that FCEd is trying to get Jimmy Maurer (previously NY Cosmos), but that's absolutely nothing more than a guess.

[CDNFootballer]

4 hours ago, jedinathan said:

The office is playing cards super tight to the chest right now on player news. I'm expecting something early next week in terms of a roster announcment. I think Tyson is closer to the starting position than Nathan is, but both of them had one helluva job unseating MVO last season.

For some reason my gut says that FCEd is trying to get Jimmy Maurer (previously NY Cosmos), but that's absolutely nothing more than a guess.

Surprised they haven't gone after Edmontonian Daniel Fernandez who played with Rayo OKC last year and was pretty solid, he would seem like a good fit. Have you heard his name mentioned?

[yothat]

Nathan Ingham only got 125 mins with TFCII.  Think he needs more seasoning. Daniel Fernandez would be a solid choice. He knows the league. Maurer is negiotating with the Cosmos. I m sure hes gotten multple NASL and MLS offers. Seems like Miller wanted OVO over Smits for his ability to boot the ball and send it. 

 

Diakite signed a 5 month contract with a belgium 3rd division side kvk.tienen. According to Instagram. Maybe it's a loan?!

[Blackdude]

19 minutes ago, yothat said:

Diakite signed a 5 month contract with a belgium 3rd division side kvk.tienen. According to Instagram. Maybe it's a loan?!

No, it's Oumar Diouck who played with Diakite at Antwerp.

[yothat]

^^ you are correct

[jedinathan]

On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 5:48 PM, CDNFootballer said:

Surprised they haven't gone after Edmontonian Daniel Fernandez who played with Rayo OKC last year and was pretty solid, he would seem like a good fit. Have you heard his name mentioned?

Who's to say that they haven't/aren't? The two names that I had heard thrown around awhile ago were Maurer and Fernandez. But again, that was JUST speculation. Not even a rumour.

[Levi Oakey]

On 1/18/2017 at 8:36 PM, yothat said:

Nathan Ingham only got 125 mins with TFCII.  Think he needs more seasoning. Daniel Fernandez would be a solid choice. He knows the league. Maurer is negiotating with the Cosmos. I m sure hes gotten multple NASL and MLS offers. Seems like Miller wanted OVO over Smits for his ability to boot the ball and send it. 

 

Diakite signed a 5 month contract with a belgium 3rd division side kvk.tienen. According to Instagram. Maybe it's a loan?!

To be fair to Ingham, Clint Irwin was doing his injury rehab with TFCII while he was there. They were always going to put Irwin back into net. With playing time he will do well.

[shermanator]

I would like to see Farago get more action in goal. Think he's done quite well in his limited opportunity with the club. I don't know if he's necessarily the #1, but given that the

As far as keepers to bring in, ideally I'd love to see either Carducci or Roberts in Edmonton, but I don't think for a second it would happen. I could see the club bringing in Fernandes as he's a local, but the fact that he felt that he was too good for Canada really dampers my enthusiasm for a signing like that. Maurer is not happening.

[CDNFootballer]

9 hours ago, shermanator said:

As far as keepers to bring in, ideally I'd love to see either Carducci or Roberts in Edmonton, but I don't think for a second it would happen. I could see the club bringing in Fernandes as he's a local, but the fact that he felt that he was too good for Canada really dampers my enthusiasm for a signing like that. Maurer is not happening.

How/when did he say he's "too good for Canada"?

I hadn't heard of that statement and only followed him last year when he played for Rayo OKC.

[Grizzly]

I don't recall Fernandes ever saying he was "too good for Canada". The story as I remember it is Fernandes and Mitchell had a falling out while Fernandes was playing on the U20 team. I think Mitchell chose another keeper with a less impressive CV over him to start at the U20 WC. I forget that keeper's name but he did play well in the tournament but then did not go on to have a career. Fernandes later admitted he was difficult to handle at that age and was largely to blame for the fallout. However, as his career was progressing he seemed interested in a call up to the national team. If I remember correctly it was during Yallop's time as Canada coach but Mitchell was the U20 coach at the time. Many posters here were calling for Fernandes to get called up but he never did and indeed I don't the CSA ever even contacted him to show interest. Whether that was because Mitchell still held a grudge and influenced Yallop or Yallop just did not rate him or was making yet another of his bizarre selection moves no one knows. However, at the same time Canada showed no interest Portugal came calling as they were really weak at keeper during that period. I have been pretty critical of some of our turncoats but have always cut Fernandes some slack because at the time he made the decision the options seemed to be between playing for Portugal and being blacklisted by Canada and not playing internationally. It is certainly possible he would have chosen Portugal anyway but in my opinion this is one of the few cases where we really can blame the CSA not the player for his actions. 

[Lord Bob]

Yeah, Dani Fernandes is sort of the exception. It's not like Owen Hargreaves going "waah I was cut from a U-17 team when I was 15," he really had interest from Portugal when he didn't have much from Canada. I'm not going to go out of my way cheering for him but I wouldn't resent the Eddies for signing him.

[shermanator]

19 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

How/when did he say he's "too good for Canada"?

I hadn't heard of that statement and only followed him last year when he played for Rayo OKC.

Sounds like it's revisionist history on my part. 

[shermanator]

FC Edmonton are finally starting to announce their roster moves for the 2017 season. Gone (in addition to Fordyce, van Oekel and Shome) are Johann Smith, Adam Eckersley and Gustavo.

Interestingly enough, in the release, the club has mentioned they only have 5 players signed for 2017. They are Tyson Farago, Ben Fisk, Nik Ledgerwood, Pedro Galvao and Tomi Amoebi.

Don't know what that means for Mallan Roberts, Allan Zebie, Marko Aleksic or Nathan Ingham. Zebie is a curious case, because this article from 2015 says he was signed through 2017. And he was making appearances on the club's behalf a few weeks ago.

http://www.nasl.com/news/2015/05/25/allan-zebie-signs-contract-extension-with-fc-edmonton

[shermanator]

And now the Steven Sandor article on the club is up. This article mentions Eckersley left because the club couldn't afford to keep him. But the club has already signed 3 players, and one of them is a replacement for Eckersley. It also mentions that Farago and Ingham will compete for the #1 keeper job, even though FC Edmonton hasn't said Ingham is signed for 2017.

https://the11.ca/eddies-announce-signings-departures-team-has-already-signed-replacement-for-eckersley/

[jedinathan]

3 hours ago, shermanator said:

And now the Steven Sandor article on the club is up. This article mentions Eckersley left because the club couldn't afford to keep him. But the club has already signed 3 players, and one of them is a replacement for Eckersley. It also mentions that Farago and Ingham will compete for the #1 keeper job, even though FC Edmonton hasn't said Ingham is signed for 2017.

https://the11.ca/eddies-announce-signings-departures-team-has-already-signed-replacement-for-eckersley/

Ya the way that the original article from FCEd was written it made me think that there are more signings that are coming. Like you pointed out, there are a few contracts that I thought were to 2017, but weren't announced. Corea is the other one that comes to mind, as he posted on twitter after the 2015 season that he had signed for 2 years. 

[yothat]

I though Miller said at the end of the season. He would be picking up the options on the majority of the squad.

[shermanator]

According to this, the club is officially announcing that they've sold twice the season tickets as they did for 2016.

http://www.fcedmonton.com/news/2017/01/25/fc-edmonton-season-seat-sales-heating-up-ahead-of-2017-nasl-campaign

[jedinathan]

5 minutes ago, shermanator said:

According to this, the club is officially announcing that they've sold twice the season tickets as they did for 2016.

http://www.fcedmonton.com/news/2017/01/25/fc-edmonton-season-seat-sales-heating-up-ahead-of-2017-nasl-campaign

Jay Ball was also on the teams podcast this week (up on iTunes this morning), and mentioned that there will be 5 Sunday games (stacked towards the end of the season), with the remaining games being on Friday and Saturday nights. There was also some mention of differences in ticketing (one pass for season tickets rather than multiple ticket packages, tickets available on Wallet on ios), and an FCEd app coming out.