Alistair Johnston

[Shway]

1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

TFC used to be my team in MLS and I am still exited about the kids, but more and more I am liking what Montreal is doing with the Canadian content.  Johnston joins Miller, ZBG, and Waterman in defence, and that isn’t even touching keeper and midfield (or fringe guys like Bassong). Great to see a team pushing that hard to field Canadians.  

As a Toronto kid, I resonate with this sentiment. Especially with the CPL, and teams like Forge coming through and playing an attractive brand with Canadian ballers - my interest is in all things Canadian football first. And yes TFC has been successful in the past years, to me it’s “real” when it’s done with a significant amount of Canadians regularly playing/contributing - we haven’t seen that yet.

And I know I’m suppose to hate our little bastard brother in MTL, but I’ve had a low-key affinity for them since their first CCL run in 2009 when they shut out Santos Laguna in leg 1 with 8 Canadian guys starting or featuring in that game. (Sebrango, Braz, Grande, Placentinno, Pizzolitto, Byers, Deroux, Brilliant). That was all before the team was in MLS!

So how can you not get/be happy when the opps are playing and being successful with the Canadian bred boys.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Shway

[Footyeh]

I don't like the idea of all our Canadian players being on the same team, maybe it helps builds chemistry between a couple national team players but there's benefits to guys like Alistair playing in American clubs around different types of internationals.  Not to mention having all the Canadian's in one place blocks the younger ones from coming up.  Having our guys more spread out across the American clubs will allow us to have a bigger pool of players actually getting minutes at the MLS level.

Maybe, this move is to funnel him to Bologna next season after the world cup.  Even then, is Bologna the right place for a player like Alistair?  

[MauditYvon]

12 minutes ago, Shway said:

As a Toronto kid, I resonate with this sentiment. Especially with the CPL, and teams like Forge coming through and playing an attractive brand with Canadian ballers - my interest is in all things Canadian football first. And yes TFC has been successful in the past years, to me it’s “real” when it’s done with a significant amount of Canadians regularly playing/contributing - we haven’t seen that yet.

And I know I’m suppose to hate our little bastard brother in MTL, but I’ve had a low-key affinity for them since their first CCL run in 2009 when they shut out Santos Laguna in leg 1 with 8 Canadian guys starting or featuring in that game. (Sebrango, Braz, Grande, Placentinno, Pizzolitto, Byers, Deroux, Brilliant). That was all before the team was in MLS!

So how can you not get/be happy when the opps are playing and being successful with the Canadian bred boys.

Sorry to kill the romance but Byers and Deroux are not Canadians.

(and Sebrango was cap tied)

Edited December 23, 2021 by MauditYvon

[Sal333]

14 minutes ago, Shway said:

As a Toronto kid, I resonate with this sentiment. Especially with the CPL, and teams like Forge coming through and playing an attractive brand with Canadian ballers - my interest is in all things Canadian football first. And yes TFC has been successful in the past years, to me it’s “real” when it’s done with a significant amount of Canadians regularly playing/contributing - we haven’t seen that yet.

And I know I’m suppose to hate our little bastard brother in MTL, but I’ve had a low-key affinity for them since their first CCL run in 2009 when they shut out Santos Laguna in leg 1 with 8 Canadian guys starting or featuring in that game. (Sebrango, Braz, Grande, Placentinno, Pizzolitto, Byers, Deroux, Brilliant). That was all before the team was in MLS!

So how can you not get/be happy when the opps are playing and being successful with the Canadian bred boys.

Little bastard brother? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[VinceA]

I like this move for him but generally i prefer my Canadians on as many MLS teams as possible.  Now he'll be taking minutes from Canadian players rather than Americans or others.

[MauditYvon]

2 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Little bastard brother? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pretty respectful versus how we see them.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

12 minutes ago, Footyeh said:

...Even then, is Bologna the right place for a player like Alistair?  

Given they play in Serie A and are usually midtable it's difficult to see a downside. They have a young Scottish player called Aaron Hickey at the moment and that's generally seen as a sign that the quality of Scottish football is improving again because the last Scottish player in Serie A had been Graeme Souness with Sampdoria. Having a CMNT right back at that level would be a big step up from the days of having Chris Pozniak playing for Haugesund.

[costarg]

47 minutes ago, Footyeh said:

I don't like the idea of all our Canadian players being on the same team, maybe it helps builds chemistry between a couple national team players but there's benefits to guys like Alistair playing in American clubs around different types of internationals.  Not to mention having all the Canadian's in one place blocks the younger ones from coming up.  Having our guys more spread out across the American clubs will allow us to have a bigger pool of players actually getting minutes at the MLS level.

Maybe, this move is to funnel him to Bologna next season after the world cup.  Even then, is Bologna the right place for a player like Alistair?  

I love the idea of having a backline playing together for club and country!  It's such a massive advantage, it's the absolute ideal situation.  CFM just needs to bring in Kennedy now!  Not that I actually want to see that, I'd rather he develop in Germany, but one can dream.  The thought of Miller / Kennedy / Johnston playing together day in and out, would be fantastically orgasmic.

[El Diego]

48 minutes ago, MauditYvon said:

Sorry to kill the romance but Byers and Deroux are not Canadians.

(and Sebrango was cap tied)

His kid plays for Canada... (the u20 hockey team, that is)

[tovan1]

Not a bad move IMO.

Montreal is probably looking ahead to 2022 CONCACAF Champions League. Johnston has experience with the CMNT playing vs Mexico and Central American teams. On the flip side, he will benefit the CMNT by playing more games and getting more exposure in those environments.

[Califax]

Fuck Montreal but it will be hard to hate Johnston. 
 

[Approve My Account Pls]

2 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

I don’t see any reason to think he wouldn’t play this coming season with CFM.  After that who knows, but this is a guy who only became well known in the last year.  

With this move, he can play in MLS (in a season that lines up perfectly to keep players tuned up in advance of Qatar), keep getting exposure through the national team, and make a big move either before or after appearing in the WC for Canada.  

I agree, I guess he was one of the group that I was hoping/expecting someone to take a chance on over in Europe. But if he continues developing like we all think he can, CFM may be in for a nice payday this time next year.

[Floortom]

Personally, i always thought the "Johnston to Europe" rumours were a bit overstated. He's been pretty good in MLS but not close to elite or anything.  Could he get a move to a league like Belgium? Probably. But I don't necessarily think playing for Gent (lets face it, Brugge isnt going to bring him in) is going to be better for him than being a locked in MLS starter. He'll be 24 after next season too. 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Floortom

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, Footyeh said:

I don't like the idea of all our Canadian players being on the same team, maybe it helps builds chemistry between a couple national team players but there's benefits to guys like Alistair playing in American clubs around different types of internationals.  Not to mention having all the Canadian's in one place blocks the younger ones from coming up.  Having our guys more spread out across the American clubs will allow us to have a bigger pool of players actually getting minutes at the MLS level.

Maybe, this move is to funnel him to Bologna next season after the world cup.  Even then, is Bologna the right place for a player like Alistair?  

I'm less concerned about the players, as I the better way for that type of exposure is to switch leagues. The problem seems to be more for the MLS club (be it Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver) when the league doesn't break but they still lose a significant number of keys players to international duty.

[VinceA]

Since this Bologna-MTL thing began, there hasn't been really any Canadians going from Montreal to Bologna so I wouldn't get your hopes up. All Montreal gets are cast offs and really I think only Binks made the move to Bologna.

Edited December 23, 2021 by VinceA

[grigorio]

2 hours ago, Floortom said:

Personally, i always thought the "Johnston to Europe" rumours were a bit overstated. He's been pretty good in MLS but not close to elite or anything.  Could he get a move to a league like Belgium? Probably. But I don't necessarily think playing for Gent (lets face it, Brugge isnt going to bring him in) is going to be better for him than being a locked in MLS starter. He'll be 24 after next season too. 

+1. There wasn’t a ton to substantiate or back this up aside from us Canadian fans and podcasts pumping his tires. He’s a tidy sort of young player who if strong Canada performances but don’t know if he had shown enough across MLS to warrant a move to Europe that would be at a higher level than MLS. Same with Kamal Miller. Hopefully both their growth continues this coming year and there’s a little more to work with to warrant nice moves. 

[PiedPilko]

2 hours ago, Floortom said:

Personally, i always thought the "Johnston to Europe" rumours were a bit overstated. He's been pretty good in MLS but not close to elite or anything.  Could he get a move to a league like Belgium? Probably. But I don't necessarily think playing for Gent (lets face it, Brugge isnt going to bring him in) is going to be better for him than being a locked in MLS starter. He'll be 24 after next season too. 

Yup. It was always gonna be difficult with his profile. It's hard to move to a higher level when you're 5'11 and you're best position is probably CB. I think he stays with Montreal for a while.

[trc2014]

13 minutes ago, grigorio said:

+1. There wasn’t a ton to substantiate or back this up aside from us Canadian fans and podcasts pumping his tires. He’s a tidy sort of young player who if strong Canada performances but don’t know if he had shown enough across MLS to warrant a move to Europe that would be at a higher level than MLS. Same with Kamal Miller. Hopefully both their growth continues this coming year and there’s a little more to work with to warrant nice moves. 

+1 for Kamal Miller.  I thought the call for him going to Europe now (or even after one more season in MLS) was head scratching. People have to accept it’s okay for someone to have a good career in MLS (see Oso).

[Free kick]

5 hours ago, Watchmen said:

Think about how far we've come. TFC also pushed and fielded a lot of Canadians in the early years, and in a lower quality MLS those players still weren't good enough. Now, multiple teams can field plenty of Canadians and the players more than hold their own.

This is definitely one of the key differences between our players now and 10 -12 years ago.  

Edited December 23, 2021 by Free kick

[Free kick]

5 hours ago, Footyeh said:

I don't like the idea of all our Canadian players being on the same team, maybe it helps builds chemistry between a couple national team players but there's benefits to guys like Alistair playing in American clubs around different types of internationals.  Not to mention having all the Canadian's in one place blocks the younger ones from coming up.  Having our guys more spread out across the American clubs will allow us to have a bigger pool of players actually getting minutes at the MLS level.

Maybe, this move is to funnel him to Bologna next season after the world cup.  Even then, is Bologna the right place for a player like Alistair?  

I generally agree and concur.  However, i get a sense that Montreal has started taking a different strategy from the other Canadian clubs.  With the cut backs  they made on youth teams and the hints that their financial situation is not as strong as other cdn MLS clubs,  I really dont see any kind of focus from them on developing their Canadian talent internally.  Since Anthony Jackson Hamel and Tabla, i dont see any academy developed player moving up.   What we are seeing instead is that they are acquiring their canadian talent through transfers and trades via MLS or CPL.   In the long run,  this has to be the more cheaper and less risky approach.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Free kick

[Bison44]

How about Choiniere? He had a breakout season, 26 games, 2 goals, academy product. Pantemis?  Also had a breakout year, getting MLS game time this year.   Sirois?? Unless you are discounting guys who went on loan.  

[Sal333]

1 minute ago, Bison44 said:

How about Choiniere? He had a breakout season, 26 games, 2 goals, academy product. Pantemis?  Also had a breakout year, getting MLS game time this year.   Sirois?? Unless you are discounting guys who went on loan.  

And also Rea, Yao, Ferdinand, Assi, Saliba, Zouhir. I don't where he got that idea  but it wasn't by looking at what CF MTL is doing.

[Free kick]

37 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

And also Rea, Yao, Ferdinand, Assi, Saliba, Zouhir. I don't where he got that idea  but it wasn't by looking at what CF MTL is doing.

How many minutes on the first team did those guys get this year?

Edited December 24, 2021 by Free kick

[Tyler55]

1 hour ago, VinceA said:

Since this Bologna-MTL thing began, there hasn't been really any Canadians going from Montreal to Bologna so I wouldn't get your hopes up. All Montreal gets are cast offs and really I think only Binks made the move to Bologna.

Which Canadians deserved to go to Bologna in the past? If Johnston improves further with the national team and in MLS a move to Bologna isn't beyond the realms of possibility. 

[Sal333]

45 minutes ago, Free kick said:

How many minutes on the first team did those guys get this year?

This is what you said in your first post:

"I really dont see any kind of focus from them on developing their Canadian talent internally." 

Well, you need to develop your players.It's a long process.

Now you change it to how many have they developed. That's what you mean when you ask how many minutes did they play on the first team. I agree in the past they were terrible at developing Canadian talent but that doesn't mean they have been terrible of late. With Bisson44's names and mine we mentioned 9 players. Some of those players will eventually move onto the first team.  Having 9 prospects in the pipeline doesn't  indicate to me "a lack of focus on developing Canadian talent internally."

Edited December 24, 2021 by Sal333