Once again it's FA Cup week in England, with round 4 happening this weekend. Non-League clubs didn't fare too well in round 3, only one of them surviving, but League Two did the small clubs proud, with 4 of them still going and providing the best hope for continued romance and magic and all that stuff the FA cup gets by on now that it's not really as glamorous as it was for the big clubs.
On paper Torquay have the best chance of advancing to round 5, as they play the only non-league team still left, Crawley Town. Crawley aren't one of the heart warming non-league clubs though, they're currently in the middle of "project promotion" that has seen them outspend all of League Two combined and which to be fair, probably will see them win promotion this year, so I'm fully behind Torquay here. Stevenage are also at home, aginst Championship club Reading, and after beating Newcastle in the 3rd round, Stevenage will definitely fancy their chances.
Hereford, who are on a tear recently, 5 straight wins in all competitions and pulling themselves out of the League two relegation zone, have an away game against Sheffield Wednesday, who are a big club in name only, and currently in League One, so Hereford definitely have a chance. Probably the toughest draw for the League Two clubs is Burton Albion who have to go to Burnley after not having played a game since knocking Middlesbrough out 3 weeks ago, since when top scorer Shaun Harrad was transferred away.
Other potential upsets involve the two big Manchester Clubs, both away to League One teams, Man Utd having to take on Southampton while Man City go to Notts County.
It's getting to the stage where there's few teams left for the neutral to really get behind, hopefully a few of these can make it to the next round.
Edit: Well that didn't really work out did it? All 4 league Two clubs lost, and bloody Crawley get an away game at Man Utd in the 5th round, I genuinely don't know who I want to win that one.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
New management, same old TFC.
"In sport there's winning cultures and there's losing cultures, we understand that. We started yesterday to develop a winning culture."
That was Paul Mariner talking Wednesday in response to a question about changing the culture at Toronto FC. Obviously until now TFC's culture has been very much a losing one, and not just on the pitch where it counts and where the lack of results speak for themselves. Mo Johnston's 5 year plan seemed to involve not much actual planning, but instead a lot of reacting, trying to fix problems and just making them worse. The coaches have been inexperienced, and the one time we had an experienced head coach who seemed to want to develop a sense of responsibility and hard work, well, he got fired after the assistants went behind his back because they and the players didn't like him. As for the Front Office, they not only put up with Mo, but actually extended his contract, and despite the lack of success, seemed determined to raise prices and exploit supporter passion, rather then nurture the one area where the club had been a success. Through it all, leaks were commonplace, whether about potential signings or about player unrest.
Ever since that culture reached it's tipping point last season, with firings followed by townhall meetings, public contrition, season ticket discounts and expensive consultants, things have looked brighter. It seems like upper management has admitted what it doesn't know and tried to keep out of the way, and the appointment of Aron Winter, Bob De Klerk and Paul Mariner is a gamble but a genuinely positive one. As I touched upon in my previous post, things have gone fairly smoothly, and relatively drama free since then, with the one exception of the Dwayne De Rosario/Celtic fiasco.
Today's media day press conference seemed to confirm all that. Refreshingly, Tom Anselmi was nowhere to be seen, leaving the new management he hired to do their job and talk about the upcoming season, their plans for player signings, a new style and so on. It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops obviously, with contract negotiations to be sorted out with a few players, as at any club, but careful answers were given that in no way inflamed the situation, suggesting it's something to be sorted out behind closed doors.
Players were then interviewed and all said the right things, pleased at having had personal meetings with the new coaches, looking forward to the new style of play, excited for a new season, all that. Nothing really noteworthy, but very positive and drama free. De Rosario was the last of the players to talk, and though it was clear that he wasn't as satisfied as Aron Winter made him sound in Cathal Kelly's article on tuesday, his answers were respectful and clearly trying to avoid controversy. The overall impression was one of a team united, moving forward with shared goals and taking care of the inevitable problems any club faces internally. Though definitely a bit dull, it all seemed unnervingly professional, so this was what a winning culture looked like.
Then, after the main show, in a media scrum with journalists De Ro, the club captain who Winter had gone out of his way to talk nicely about, saying he was still the leader of the team and crucial to his plans, demolished that and put us right back at square one.
He was a lot more forthcoming with his criticisms related to his ongoing contract dispute, confirming he wants a raise to take him to Designated Player status, saying "it's not what I want, it's what I think I deserve". The fact that the last two years of his contract are option years (the league's option) is also a cause for concern, with De Ro saying "this is my option year, and if anything happens to me in terms of injuries nothing is guaranteed and then I'm on the outside looking in. "I have to look at my future and my family's future as well."
So far, nothing really new, but then the prospect of him starting the season without the contract issue being resolved was brought up, "No, there's too much risk in that" he said, suggesting that though that decision is a long way away, he's prepared to sit out games until he gets his way.
So now we have the star player, the captain, threatening to go on strike and as in any labour dispute PR battle, that tough talk was met by equally tough talk from the management side of things.
“He made a choice two years ago, and he came to us. No one should forget that,” said Todd Durbin, MLS V-P and the league’s contract czar. “Had he played under his existing contract, he would be a free agent today. “We believe that the contract that he is under is the appropriate contract for him,” The league has exercised the option year, and is now threatening suspension if De Ro fails to show for the season opener in March.
To top it off, there was this quote “We re-opened his deal, we gave him a big raise and at the time he said he’d be happy. “This would be opening this contract for the second time, which is ludicrous.”
That, depressingly yest inevitably was Tom Anselmi. One and a half days! One and a half days is all we got of a winning culture before it all went wrong and Anselmi had to come running to the rescue of his newly undermined management team. Thanks De Ro!
That was Paul Mariner talking Wednesday in response to a question about changing the culture at Toronto FC. Obviously until now TFC's culture has been very much a losing one, and not just on the pitch where it counts and where the lack of results speak for themselves. Mo Johnston's 5 year plan seemed to involve not much actual planning, but instead a lot of reacting, trying to fix problems and just making them worse. The coaches have been inexperienced, and the one time we had an experienced head coach who seemed to want to develop a sense of responsibility and hard work, well, he got fired after the assistants went behind his back because they and the players didn't like him. As for the Front Office, they not only put up with Mo, but actually extended his contract, and despite the lack of success, seemed determined to raise prices and exploit supporter passion, rather then nurture the one area where the club had been a success. Through it all, leaks were commonplace, whether about potential signings or about player unrest.
Ever since that culture reached it's tipping point last season, with firings followed by townhall meetings, public contrition, season ticket discounts and expensive consultants, things have looked brighter. It seems like upper management has admitted what it doesn't know and tried to keep out of the way, and the appointment of Aron Winter, Bob De Klerk and Paul Mariner is a gamble but a genuinely positive one. As I touched upon in my previous post, things have gone fairly smoothly, and relatively drama free since then, with the one exception of the Dwayne De Rosario/Celtic fiasco.
Today's media day press conference seemed to confirm all that. Refreshingly, Tom Anselmi was nowhere to be seen, leaving the new management he hired to do their job and talk about the upcoming season, their plans for player signings, a new style and so on. It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops obviously, with contract negotiations to be sorted out with a few players, as at any club, but careful answers were given that in no way inflamed the situation, suggesting it's something to be sorted out behind closed doors.
Players were then interviewed and all said the right things, pleased at having had personal meetings with the new coaches, looking forward to the new style of play, excited for a new season, all that. Nothing really noteworthy, but very positive and drama free. De Rosario was the last of the players to talk, and though it was clear that he wasn't as satisfied as Aron Winter made him sound in Cathal Kelly's article on tuesday, his answers were respectful and clearly trying to avoid controversy. The overall impression was one of a team united, moving forward with shared goals and taking care of the inevitable problems any club faces internally. Though definitely a bit dull, it all seemed unnervingly professional, so this was what a winning culture looked like.
Then, after the main show, in a media scrum with journalists De Ro, the club captain who Winter had gone out of his way to talk nicely about, saying he was still the leader of the team and crucial to his plans, demolished that and put us right back at square one.
He was a lot more forthcoming with his criticisms related to his ongoing contract dispute, confirming he wants a raise to take him to Designated Player status, saying "it's not what I want, it's what I think I deserve". The fact that the last two years of his contract are option years (the league's option) is also a cause for concern, with De Ro saying "this is my option year, and if anything happens to me in terms of injuries nothing is guaranteed and then I'm on the outside looking in. "I have to look at my future and my family's future as well."
So far, nothing really new, but then the prospect of him starting the season without the contract issue being resolved was brought up, "No, there's too much risk in that" he said, suggesting that though that decision is a long way away, he's prepared to sit out games until he gets his way.
So now we have the star player, the captain, threatening to go on strike and as in any labour dispute PR battle, that tough talk was met by equally tough talk from the management side of things.
“He made a choice two years ago, and he came to us. No one should forget that,” said Todd Durbin, MLS V-P and the league’s contract czar. “Had he played under his existing contract, he would be a free agent today. “We believe that the contract that he is under is the appropriate contract for him,” The league has exercised the option year, and is now threatening suspension if De Ro fails to show for the season opener in March.
To top it off, there was this quote “We re-opened his deal, we gave him a big raise and at the time he said he’d be happy. “This would be opening this contract for the second time, which is ludicrous.”
That, depressingly yest inevitably was Tom Anselmi. One and a half days! One and a half days is all we got of a winning culture before it all went wrong and Anselmi had to come running to the rescue of his newly undermined management team. Thanks De Ro!
Hello, hello, it's good to be back!
So the off season is now over. Two months, numerous player releases, one trans-atlantic shitstorm, 3 new management appointments, some trades and multiple drafts have come and gone since the MLS Cup sheepishly left town back in November, but now pre-season is officially upon us with what remains of TFC's squad from last year returning to BMO field for their annual physical.
If that paragraph makes it seem like it's been all action, it really hasn't. Sure there's been bursts of activity around the various drafts, the Dwayne De Rosario "trial" at celtic was probably the club's highest profile PR fiasco yet, which is quite the acheivement, and the appointments of Aron Winter, Bob De Klerk and Paul Mariner may well turn out to be the pivotal moment in club history, but in comparison to previous years, it's been relatively quiet and drama free.
Though it means less to write about, this is to the club's credit and a refreshing change to the Mo Johnston reign of error. None of the players let go or traded by Earl Cochrane left with any outward resentment or did disgruntled interviews a la Ali Gerba or Chris Cummins. During his time in charge, Cochrane generally kep a low profile, at least until the De Rosario situation blew up on him. Since taking over, Aron Winter and Paul Mariner have been equally quiet, with no new signings yet and very few leaks or rumours beyond minor players such as Bas Ent or Andrew Ornoch. Probably the biggest talking points in the last week or so have been superdraft pick Demetrius Omphroy's social media exploits.
All this should change tomorrow though, as it's media day, a chance for journalists to get interviews with players before they head off to Turkey for the first stage of pre-season training. Hopefully serious questions will be asked and we'll get answers about the De Ro situation, this interview with Winter suggests that the contract dispute has been resolved, but will he still be captain, and what exactly did go wrong around the trial? It's suggested that no raise will be offered and De Rosario will be expected to play to his contract, so how is it that that is now accpetable to DeRo when it clearly wasn't before? Information on new player signings, or just updates on the contract status of the current squad or the exact roles of Danny Dichio, Nick Dasovic and Jim Brennan would also be welcomed. As well, presumably there should be the new home kit revealed soon, which will hopefully be better received than the unveiling of Canada's new kits, which are incidentally growing on me as I get used to them.
Whether there's much information from tomorrow or not, let's hope there's plenty of action on the player recruitment side of things as over a week into the transfer window, the squad is just as threadbare as it was after the trading away of Chad Barrett and Jon Conway. All 8 of the recent draft picks as well as 4 academy players will be making the trip to Turkey, but realistically, few of them will be in the squad on opening day, so there are still many holes left to fill, it would be nice to have a settled squad going into the season for a change.
In the interview linked above, Winter says that "The most important thing for me is that this club wants to change how they play soccer from the other MLS teams. That’s the real challenge,” It really will be a challenge, and not one that will be done quickly. With no head coaching experience, and little visible action so far, TFC supporters are being asked to be patient and will have to rely on blind faith that Winter will be able to have the effect he expects to, it'd be nice to have something tangible to rely on sooner rather than later.
If that paragraph makes it seem like it's been all action, it really hasn't. Sure there's been bursts of activity around the various drafts, the Dwayne De Rosario "trial" at celtic was probably the club's highest profile PR fiasco yet, which is quite the acheivement, and the appointments of Aron Winter, Bob De Klerk and Paul Mariner may well turn out to be the pivotal moment in club history, but in comparison to previous years, it's been relatively quiet and drama free.
Though it means less to write about, this is to the club's credit and a refreshing change to the Mo Johnston reign of error. None of the players let go or traded by Earl Cochrane left with any outward resentment or did disgruntled interviews a la Ali Gerba or Chris Cummins. During his time in charge, Cochrane generally kep a low profile, at least until the De Rosario situation blew up on him. Since taking over, Aron Winter and Paul Mariner have been equally quiet, with no new signings yet and very few leaks or rumours beyond minor players such as Bas Ent or Andrew Ornoch. Probably the biggest talking points in the last week or so have been superdraft pick Demetrius Omphroy's social media exploits.
All this should change tomorrow though, as it's media day, a chance for journalists to get interviews with players before they head off to Turkey for the first stage of pre-season training. Hopefully serious questions will be asked and we'll get answers about the De Ro situation, this interview with Winter suggests that the contract dispute has been resolved, but will he still be captain, and what exactly did go wrong around the trial? It's suggested that no raise will be offered and De Rosario will be expected to play to his contract, so how is it that that is now accpetable to DeRo when it clearly wasn't before? Information on new player signings, or just updates on the contract status of the current squad or the exact roles of Danny Dichio, Nick Dasovic and Jim Brennan would also be welcomed. As well, presumably there should be the new home kit revealed soon, which will hopefully be better received than the unveiling of Canada's new kits, which are incidentally growing on me as I get used to them.
Whether there's much information from tomorrow or not, let's hope there's plenty of action on the player recruitment side of things as over a week into the transfer window, the squad is just as threadbare as it was after the trading away of Chad Barrett and Jon Conway. All 8 of the recent draft picks as well as 4 academy players will be making the trip to Turkey, but realistically, few of them will be in the squad on opening day, so there are still many holes left to fill, it would be nice to have a settled squad going into the season for a change.
In the interview linked above, Winter says that "The most important thing for me is that this club wants to change how they play soccer from the other MLS teams. That’s the real challenge,” It really will be a challenge, and not one that will be done quickly. With no head coaching experience, and little visible action so far, TFC supporters are being asked to be patient and will have to rely on blind faith that Winter will be able to have the effect he expects to, it'd be nice to have something tangible to rely on sooner rather than later.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Division 5? How 25 years of automatic promotion/relegation has changed the Conference. Part 2
This is the 25th season since automatic promotion and relegation was introduced between Division 4 and the Conference for the 1986-87 season (for the sake of consistency and clarity, that’s how I’ll be referring to the divisions throughout this article, Division three, League two, random sponsors, bite me!). So this seems like a good time to take a closer look at how this has altered football at this level, and the difference in the success of relegated and promoted teams, and how that’s changed over the 25 years. For part 1, looking at the changes at conference level, click here. In this second instalment, I focus on the promoted sides, and how Division 4 has changed over the years.
From 1958 when Divisions 3 and 4 were created out of the old Division 3 North and South until 1986, Division 4 was a fairly sleepy stagnant division with many perennially bad teams, where the worst of the ultimate closed shop old mens club could comfortably and unambitiously relax. Relegation existed, but the re-election process made sure it was a very rare threat, with the bottom 4 teams future decided by a vote among the other Football league clubs. Much mutual back scratching made sure that only 6 teams were ever replaced by non-League teams, and one of those, Accrington Stanley, actually resigned due to financial hardships rather than being voted out.
Depending on where a team was situated geographically, it could be as bad as it wanted and not really have to worry, Bradford Park Avenue for example had to finish bottom three times in a row before finally geting voted out, whereas in 1972, Barrow, all the way up there in the North-West were voted out a mere two years after being relegated to Division 4 and despite finishing 8 points ahead of Crewe Alexandra who finished botttom that year.
What this meant was that for a lot of teams, there was no real incentive to improve and they could trundle along, just get by really, with no real threat to their existence. It doesn't come as a surprise that the few teams that were elected into the league all had very early success, 4 of the 6 teams making it to the second division within their first 8 years. Now, with two teams relegated every year, the worst clubs can't continue being bad. Relegation has often been a wake up call, with teams coming back more competitive and in better financial health. There are currently 20 teams in the Football League that have come up via promotion since 1987, 14 in the old Division 4, 5 in Division 3 and 1 in Division 2. As in part 1, this can be broken down into 4 seperate phases.
1987-93
Seven teams were lost to Division 4 in this period, unfortunately three of them went out of business all together, but of the others, three won promotion back almost immediately, Lincoln City and Darlington at the first attempt, Colchester United in their second season, and they all seemed much better for the experience and the chance to regroup. Including those 3, 6 of the 7 promoted teams adapted comfortably to Division 4, all finishing their first season in the top half of the table, and 3 out of the 7 won promotion to Division 3 by their second season. The other promoted team, Maidstone United, made the playoffs in their first year, but soon became one of the three bankrupt teams, so only 3 brand new members were left at the end of this period.
1994-96
No-one was promoted during these three years due to the Conference champions' grounds not being up to Football League standards, and this period of calm, with Division 4 not losing any of it's weaker teams, and the Conference retaining it's stronger teams set the stage for the next period.
1997-2002
During this period, only one of the promoted teams was a returnee, Halifax Town who were relegated again after 3 years, and the relative weakness of the Conference teams promoted saw three of the five relegated back, though they all lasted 5 years, and Rushden and Diamonds did get promoted to Division 3 for one season. The two other teams promoted in this period, Macclesfield and Cheltenham Town are both still going strong, and have both had spells in division 3 as well.
Of the six teams relegated during this time, none of them won promotion back, meaning that for the first time, there was a now a good number of "big" clubs in the Conference fighting for promotion, creating the competition that would lead to the success we'd see from the promoted teams in the next few years.
2003-Present
2002-03 saw the promotion/relegation spots increased to 2, and the results since have been a real testament to the success of this 25 year experiment. Out of the 16 promoted teams, 9 were returning after relegation with 7 teams making their Football League bow, but almost all of them have been very succesful. Only Chester City have returned to Non-League status, mainly due to financial issues that dated back to the 1990's.
If Chester were the exception to the rule, Doncaster Rovers are perhaps the best ambassadors for how a club can be turned around. They had been relegated to the Conference in 1998 after finances had got so bad the Chariman tried to burn the main stand down for the insurance money in 1995. Under new ownership, they settled and returned to the Football League in 2003, immediately won Division 4, moved to a new stadium in 2006, won the Johnstone's Paint trophy in 2007 and won promotion to the second tier in 2008 where they have remained since.
Carlisle United and Exeter City are other clubs who have come back stronger and currently reside in Division 3, accompanied by traditional Conference clubs Yeovil Town and Dagenham & Redbridge. Hereford United also had a year at that level, three other clubs made the Division 4 playoffs and the rest have settled nicely into life at this level.
The Conference is proving the ideal place for troubled clubs to rehabilitate themselves. Though the number of former Football League clubs is increasing, it is still below half the division, so all but the worst off clubs have been able to consolidate, and then when more stable take advantage of their infrastructure and fanbase to outmuscle smaller traditionally non-league clubs, as the Conference table stands right now, the 9 teams with recent Football League experience are all in the top 14. That there are now 9 teams competing for the two promotion spots, along with non-league teams enjoying their best days, like Fleetwood Town or Crawley means there are no weak teams coming up. Though I wouldn't call for the Conference to be converted into a Division 5, there are still too many smaller clubs for who that would be a step too far, either financially or due to ground regulations, It could be time to look at expanding those two promotion spots to three.
Coming up:
Part 3: I get all "Soccernomics" with a more stats based look at how promoted and relegated teams have done.
Monday, January 24, 2011
What not to wear.
Canada's mens team, together with their new partner Umbro today unveiled the new home and away shirt, which you can see here at Canadian Soccer news.
I don't buy TFC shirts because I don't like sponsors, so for me, aside from the chance to wear it once or twice at Canada games, the main purpose for this would be as a good shirt to wear to summer TFC games, still supporting the team, and contributing to the red in the crowd without having to be a billboard for BMO. So I was really looking forward to buying the newest red version, but now?
I'm no fashion expert, so this won't be a compllicated critique, more of a gut reaction, and that gut reaction is ugh. The chevrons are ugly, the shade of red is way too bright (though in the drawing below the actual picture, it's darker, I like that a lot more, hopefully that's what it looks like in real life), the collar makes it look like a t-shirt, the logo doesn't stand out at all, and the whole thing is way too reminiscent of a Man Utd shirt for my comfort.
The white one works a lot better, so maybe I'll get that one, I dunno, hopefully by the time they go on sale in the summer, the red will have grown on me, but for now, it's a bit of a disappointment.
I don't buy TFC shirts because I don't like sponsors, so for me, aside from the chance to wear it once or twice at Canada games, the main purpose for this would be as a good shirt to wear to summer TFC games, still supporting the team, and contributing to the red in the crowd without having to be a billboard for BMO. So I was really looking forward to buying the newest red version, but now?
I'm no fashion expert, so this won't be a compllicated critique, more of a gut reaction, and that gut reaction is ugh. The chevrons are ugly, the shade of red is way too bright (though in the drawing below the actual picture, it's darker, I like that a lot more, hopefully that's what it looks like in real life), the collar makes it look like a t-shirt, the logo doesn't stand out at all, and the whole thing is way too reminiscent of a Man Utd shirt for my comfort.
The white one works a lot better, so maybe I'll get that one, I dunno, hopefully by the time they go on sale in the summer, the red will have grown on me, but for now, it's a bit of a disappointment.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Division 5? How 25 years of automatic promotion/relegation has changed the Conference. Part 1.
This is the 25th season since automatic promotion and relegation was introduced between Division 4 and the Conference for the 1986-87 season (for the sake of consistency and clarity, that’s how I’ll be referring to the divisions throughout this article, Division three, League two, random sponsors, bite me!). So this seems like a good time to take a closer look at how this has altered football at this level, and the difference in the success of relegated and promoted teams, and how that’s changed over the 25 years. In this first instalment, I focus on the relegated sides, the Conference and how it's developed over the years.
Looking at the development of the Conference, being a Darlington supporter gives a unique perspective, with Darlo one of the few teams to have 2 spells in the Conference, one back in 1989/90 and another one started just this season. It’s easy to see the biggest difference, and that’s the quality of the teams in the Conference. Getting promoted to Division 4 is a much tougher proposition now than in the first few years since automatic promotion/relegation was introduced.
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, the Conference was full of amateur or semi-professional sides, so a relegated team that maintained it’s full professional status was at an enormous advantage, and was considered a much bigger club that the rest of the teams in the League. Now however, there are many "big" clubs with long Football League traditions who would consider their natural place to be at least Division 4, but find themselves stuck in the Conference year after year. Clubs like Mansfield, York City, Wrexham, even Luton who were in Division 1 and winning the Littlewoods Cup during this 25 year period. Add in up and coming traditionally Non-League clubs such as Crawley, and "Phoenix" clubs like AFC Wimbledon or Newport County trying to restore former glories, and the amount of clubs seen as legitimate promotion contenders who wouldn’t look out of place in division 4 is now over half the division.
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, the Conference was full of amateur or semi-professional sides, so a relegated team that maintained it’s full professional status was at an enormous advantage, and was considered a much bigger club that the rest of the teams in the League. Now however, there are many "big" clubs with long Football League traditions who would consider their natural place to be at least Division 4, but find themselves stuck in the Conference year after year. Clubs like Mansfield, York City, Wrexham, even Luton who were in Division 1 and winning the Littlewoods Cup during this 25 year period. Add in up and coming traditionally Non-League clubs such as Crawley, and "Phoenix" clubs like AFC Wimbledon or Newport County trying to restore former glories, and the amount of clubs seen as legitimate promotion contenders who wouldn’t look out of place in division 4 is now over half the division.
How did we get here? Well, I’d say there have been 4 distinct phases, the first of which is 1987-1992.
1987-1992
This period showed the gulf that still existed between Division 4 and the Conference. Every relegated team went one of two ways, either completely out of business (Aldershot, Newport County, Maidstone) or won their league status back almost immediately. Lincoln City and Darlington were both promoted in their first season, Colchester in their second, the only traditional Conference club competing was Barnet, who finished second three times before finally clinching their promotion in 1991.
1993-1996
This period was one of stagnation, but was also the period that really kick-started the increasing of quality and depth in Conference. Due to teams going out of business and the Football League expanding to 94 clubs, only one team dropped into the Conference between 1991 and 1996, Halifax Town in 1993, so it was wide open for the traditional Conference teams to take advantage and grab the promotion place available. Wycombe Wanderers did just that in 1992-93, under Martin O’Neill, they were a class apart from the rest of the league, winning by 15 points, but after that, the limitations of Conference teams were exposed.
Kidderminster, Macclesfield and Stevenage Borough were champions from 1994-96, but all were denied promotion due to their grounds not meeting Football league regulations. This forced these clubs, and others with Football league ambitions to develop their grounds, and as well more teams went fully professional in a bid to secure promotion, thus increasing the quality of the Conference as a whole.
Kidderminster, Macclesfield and Stevenage Borough were champions from 1994-96, but all were denied promotion due to their grounds not meeting Football league regulations. This forced these clubs, and others with Football league ambitions to develop their grounds, and as well more teams went fully professional in a bid to secure promotion, thus increasing the quality of the Conference as a whole.
1997-2002
From 1997 onwards, promotion and relegation resumed with no-one else barred from promotion, but unlike 87-92 this time the Conference was ready to compete. This was partially due to the stronger Conference teams of recent years still being there, as well as due to many of the relegated clubs being in financial dire straits and needing to steady themselves at Conference level before being able to compete. Macclesfield and Kidderminster both won again during this time and were actually promoted, joined in this period by Rushden and Diamonds and Boston United, both benefitting from an aggressive financial approach, and a Steve Cotterill inspired Cheltenham Town. The only former Division 4 team to win promotion during this time was Halifax Town, and they’d been in the Conference for 4 years already.
These teams were replaced by Hereford, Doncaster, Scarborough, Chester, and returnees Barnet and Halifax, so now rather than being the one big fish in the pond, any relegated team had plenty of other big teams to be competing against, a quick return would never be easy again.
These teams were replaced by Hereford, Doncaster, Scarborough, Chester, and returnees Barnet and Halifax, so now rather than being the one big fish in the pond, any relegated team had plenty of other big teams to be competing against, a quick return would never be easy again.
2003- Present
In 2003, a quick return was made a little easier as a second promotion relegation spot was opened up, to the winner of the playoff between the 2nd-5th placed teams, and initially the big clubs took advantage, with 5 of the 6 clubs promoted from 2003-05 having previously been relegated, with Yeovil Town as the only exception, and Carlisle and Shrewsbury both taking advantage of the playoffs to bounce back at the first attempt. Since then though things have evened off to an almost 50/50 split with 6 of 10 clubs, if you include Accrington Stanley and the new Aldershot club which I am, being traditional Conference clubs.
Perhaps the most remarkable stat, and testament to the new strength of the Conference, is that out of the 16 teams promoted in this period, only 1 of them, Chester City, have so far returned. The 16 relegated teams did include Kidderminster, Rushden and Boston, and 5 of the "big" clubs have earned their way back to Division 4. That leaves 8 teams that would consider themselves a Football League team languishing in the Conference, a number that’s only going to increase over the years as the Conference resembles more and more a 5th division rather than the huge dropoff it represented back in the 1980’s. It used to be that the relegated team would become an automatic favourite for promotion, that is clearly no longer the case.
Coming up:
Part 2: Looking at Division 4 and how the promoted teams have fared.
Perhaps the most remarkable stat, and testament to the new strength of the Conference, is that out of the 16 teams promoted in this period, only 1 of them, Chester City, have so far returned. The 16 relegated teams did include Kidderminster, Rushden and Boston, and 5 of the "big" clubs have earned their way back to Division 4. That leaves 8 teams that would consider themselves a Football League team languishing in the Conference, a number that’s only going to increase over the years as the Conference resembles more and more a 5th division rather than the huge dropoff it represented back in the 1980’s. It used to be that the relegated team would become an automatic favourite for promotion, that is clearly no longer the case.
Coming up:
Part 2: Looking at Division 4 and how the promoted teams have fared.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sweet FA Trophy.
It's easy to become disillusioned with the FA Cup. After the third round, only one non-league club still survives, and that club is Crawley Town, an obnoxious team that spent more this past off season than every League 2 team combined. There's no more talk of Vauxhall Motors or Swindon Supermarine, instead all the hype goes to the big glamourous clubs like Stevenage or Burton Albion.
No, if you want the real heart warming stories, and proper football at proper clubs, then it's time to turn your attention to the FA Trophy, a competition for only Non-League clubs. The 2nd round happened this weekend and there were plenty of upsets, with 4 Conference (Blue Square Premier, and in a rare example of me going along with sponsorship, for the sake of clarity, I'll call it the BSP) teams being knocked out by teams from further down the non-league pyramid.
How that pyramid works is that the BSP has 2 feeder leagues, Conference South and Conference North, and the level below that has 3 divisions, the Non-League Premier North, South and Isthmian, which is very London based. It goes further down that that, but thankfully that's as far as we need to go for today's article.
Two of the four BSP teams knocked out by lower league teams lost to teams from the Non League premier level. Grimsby, a championship team as recently as 2003 were eliminated by Chasetown, and Wrexham, European Cup Winners Cup quarterfinalists back in 1976 lost to Salisbury.
Chasetown and Salisbury are the lowest teams still dreaming of a trip to Wembley, but out of the 13 teams who've already secured their way to the third round, another 7 are from the Conference North/South level, leaving only 4 conference teams left, though two more could advance from replays.
With AFC Wimbledon also losing this weekend, Luton Town will now be favourites, while Darlington have a tough away game at Conference North team AFC Telford. The last time Darlington played Telford in a cup competition was back in 1985 in the FA Cup 4th round after Darlo had beaten local rivals Middlesbrough in the third round.
It went to a replay, and the 5th round draw pitted the winner against cup holders, and that years eventual 1st division champion Everton. Typically enough Darlington lost that replay, and Telford went on to lose to Everton in the last 16.
Telford are another "phoenix" team, started up and run by supporters after their original team was run into the ground by incompetent owners, and working their way back up through the pyramid, so their current position is probably a false one, it will definitely be a tough game for Darlo, so we'll probably win, then lose to someone much worse than us in the next round.
No, if you want the real heart warming stories, and proper football at proper clubs, then it's time to turn your attention to the FA Trophy, a competition for only Non-League clubs. The 2nd round happened this weekend and there were plenty of upsets, with 4 Conference (Blue Square Premier, and in a rare example of me going along with sponsorship, for the sake of clarity, I'll call it the BSP) teams being knocked out by teams from further down the non-league pyramid.
How that pyramid works is that the BSP has 2 feeder leagues, Conference South and Conference North, and the level below that has 3 divisions, the Non-League Premier North, South and Isthmian, which is very London based. It goes further down that that, but thankfully that's as far as we need to go for today's article.
Two of the four BSP teams knocked out by lower league teams lost to teams from the Non League premier level. Grimsby, a championship team as recently as 2003 were eliminated by Chasetown, and Wrexham, European Cup Winners Cup quarterfinalists back in 1976 lost to Salisbury.
Chasetown and Salisbury are the lowest teams still dreaming of a trip to Wembley, but out of the 13 teams who've already secured their way to the third round, another 7 are from the Conference North/South level, leaving only 4 conference teams left, though two more could advance from replays.
With AFC Wimbledon also losing this weekend, Luton Town will now be favourites, while Darlington have a tough away game at Conference North team AFC Telford. The last time Darlington played Telford in a cup competition was back in 1985 in the FA Cup 4th round after Darlo had beaten local rivals Middlesbrough in the third round.
It went to a replay, and the 5th round draw pitted the winner against cup holders, and that years eventual 1st division champion Everton. Typically enough Darlington lost that replay, and Telford went on to lose to Everton in the last 16.
Telford are another "phoenix" team, started up and run by supporters after their original team was run into the ground by incompetent owners, and working their way back up through the pyramid, so their current position is probably a false one, it will definitely be a tough game for Darlo, so we'll probably win, then lose to someone much worse than us in the next round.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Half season league Two review.
Time to check in again with everyone's favourite division back in England as most League Two sides have now reached the half way mark of their schedule.
The first thing to note is that there are still no clubs in administration, and unlike in higher leagues, no real financial crises that could lead to it, at least none that are being publicly talked about, so that's a very good sign. There's been plenty of FA Cup success, with 4 teams still in it as we head to the 4th round, Burton Albion and Stevenage did some proper giant killing against Middlesbrough and Newcastle respectively, and are joined by Torquay United and Hereford United. Unfortunately no League Two teams have made it to the last 4 of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
Pretty much the entire division took a weather enforced break through almost all of December, and when things got going again, the managerial sackings came very quickly, Barnet, Stockport County and Aldershot all changing managers within the first 10 days of 2011. Barnet and Stockport are still with caretaker managers, but Aldershot brought in Dean Holdsworth who's been doing very well with non-league Newport County. Port Vale also lost their manager as Micky Adams moved on up to Sheffield United, with Jim Gannon taking over there.
Chesterfield are your current leaders, with Wycombe and Rotherham also in promotion spots. Lincoln and Hereford currently occupy the relegation places, though they both have a lot of games in hand on Stockport.
Overshadowing all of that though is the tragic death of 29 year old Macclesfield midfielder Richard Butcher, which came less than 10 months after Macclesfield boss keith Alexander passed away.
Click here for a more detailed club by club review of the season so far, as well as to see how my predictions are working out so far.
The first thing to note is that there are still no clubs in administration, and unlike in higher leagues, no real financial crises that could lead to it, at least none that are being publicly talked about, so that's a very good sign. There's been plenty of FA Cup success, with 4 teams still in it as we head to the 4th round, Burton Albion and Stevenage did some proper giant killing against Middlesbrough and Newcastle respectively, and are joined by Torquay United and Hereford United. Unfortunately no League Two teams have made it to the last 4 of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
Pretty much the entire division took a weather enforced break through almost all of December, and when things got going again, the managerial sackings came very quickly, Barnet, Stockport County and Aldershot all changing managers within the first 10 days of 2011. Barnet and Stockport are still with caretaker managers, but Aldershot brought in Dean Holdsworth who's been doing very well with non-league Newport County. Port Vale also lost their manager as Micky Adams moved on up to Sheffield United, with Jim Gannon taking over there.
Chesterfield are your current leaders, with Wycombe and Rotherham also in promotion spots. Lincoln and Hereford currently occupy the relegation places, though they both have a lot of games in hand on Stockport.
Overshadowing all of that though is the tragic death of 29 year old Macclesfield midfielder Richard Butcher, which came less than 10 months after Macclesfield boss keith Alexander passed away.
Click here for a more detailed club by club review of the season so far, as well as to see how my predictions are working out so far.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Oh my god! You traded Chad! You Bastards!
Well, I guess those of us who thought that Earl Cochrane had done all the necessary chopping of dead wood from last year's squad and that Aron Winter, Paul Mariner et al would move swiftly on to the rebuilding stage were wrong. At Wednesday's Superdraft! TFC did a lot more than just draft players. They first of all traded away Chad Barrett to LA Galaxy for the ubiquitous future considerations, in what was essentially a salary dump. Reports vary on whether TFC is still paying a portion of his salary or not, though the club has said that they won't be. Jon Conway was also traded to Chicago Fire for a 3rd round pick, and 4 players were drafted. Demetrius Omphroy, Matt Gold, Junior Burgos and Jaoa Plata will now have a chance to make it in Toronto.
I won't pretend to know much about any of those players yet, you can find more details here, or more colourfully, here. Suffice it to say that lower round picks don't have a history of working out great, so if 1 out of those 4 ends up sticking with the club long term, that will probably be considered a success.
Trading Jon Conway also isn't really that big of a deal, Milos Kocic should be an able backup to Stefan Frei, so the $70,000 Conway is due to make this year can be put to better use in areas of greater need, which is pretty much every other position. By all accounts, Conway was a great teammate and all round good guy, so I wish him nothing but the best, and his last act as a TFC player, saluting the crowd while walking off after his red card for upending Columbus' Steven Lenhart is certainly a fine and memorable way to go out.
The trade of Barrett though, well that's a big one. Chad Fucking Barrett! For most people that would be said with an exasperated tone after another wasted opportunity, for me it was always with a defiant glee when he'd done something right, scored a goal or had a particularly good game. I always liked Barrett, even back in 2009 when he was, how to put this nicely, not so prolific, and when Barrett vs Vitti arguments regularly raged on the supporters forums, I was always on his side as his contribution was always so much bigger than mere goals scored or not scored. In 2010, when he added more composed finishing to his undeniable workrate, well, can you say MVP? I did, It was no co-incidence that everything fell apart last year after he and Maicon Santos were injured.
In 2009 it was always a bit of a pleasant surprise when Barrett scored, and that attitude carried over for me into 2010. The game against Chicago in May when he scored twice, I was positively giddy, it was as if the special kid in school had got an A, one that he'd actually earned. Probably the best thing I could say about his improvement in 2010 would be that that sense of surprise disappeared, later in the year, before and after his injury, a Barrett goal was a lot more routine, I expected him to finish a good chance, and he usually did.
But this is what happens in sports, so I'll move on, and for now, I'll trust that our new management have impressive plans on how to spend all the salary cap space now at their disposal, and I'll also admit that Barrett was overpaid, so hopefully there's better value for money out there.
For now, though, I'll say goodbye with highlights of some of his finest work. If I had any sort of technical skills, I'd put the highlights together into a single youtube video with a suitably admiring soundtrack. One quick glance at my blog however, will tell you I don't have those technical skills, so instead here's a bunch of different clips of his best moments. Just imagine you're listening to "Nobody does it better" in the background.
First off, his goal against Montreal in the 2009 Voyageurs Cup, at 7:50 of this video.
Then there's his 1 goal 2 assist second half performance in the Montreal Miracle, starting at 3:30.
This is the game mentioned above where he scores twice against Chicago, starting at 0:40. My season tickets are in section 227, so the fact that he always ran to that corner after scoring in the north end was great, he had some really good celebrations there.
Next up is his goal against San Jose in 2010, not the greatest goal, but another great celebration 1:30 in.
And I'll finish up with his contribution to our triumph over Motagua, here's his goal in the first leg starting at 0.33
And his 2nd leg goal, at 1"36, where he really shows off just how much he sweats in a game. Good luck with that LA heat.
Thanks for everything Chad, I'll miss you.
I won't pretend to know much about any of those players yet, you can find more details here, or more colourfully, here. Suffice it to say that lower round picks don't have a history of working out great, so if 1 out of those 4 ends up sticking with the club long term, that will probably be considered a success.
Trading Jon Conway also isn't really that big of a deal, Milos Kocic should be an able backup to Stefan Frei, so the $70,000 Conway is due to make this year can be put to better use in areas of greater need, which is pretty much every other position. By all accounts, Conway was a great teammate and all round good guy, so I wish him nothing but the best, and his last act as a TFC player, saluting the crowd while walking off after his red card for upending Columbus' Steven Lenhart is certainly a fine and memorable way to go out.
The trade of Barrett though, well that's a big one. Chad Fucking Barrett! For most people that would be said with an exasperated tone after another wasted opportunity, for me it was always with a defiant glee when he'd done something right, scored a goal or had a particularly good game. I always liked Barrett, even back in 2009 when he was, how to put this nicely, not so prolific, and when Barrett vs Vitti arguments regularly raged on the supporters forums, I was always on his side as his contribution was always so much bigger than mere goals scored or not scored. In 2010, when he added more composed finishing to his undeniable workrate, well, can you say MVP? I did, It was no co-incidence that everything fell apart last year after he and Maicon Santos were injured.
In 2009 it was always a bit of a pleasant surprise when Barrett scored, and that attitude carried over for me into 2010. The game against Chicago in May when he scored twice, I was positively giddy, it was as if the special kid in school had got an A, one that he'd actually earned. Probably the best thing I could say about his improvement in 2010 would be that that sense of surprise disappeared, later in the year, before and after his injury, a Barrett goal was a lot more routine, I expected him to finish a good chance, and he usually did.
But this is what happens in sports, so I'll move on, and for now, I'll trust that our new management have impressive plans on how to spend all the salary cap space now at their disposal, and I'll also admit that Barrett was overpaid, so hopefully there's better value for money out there.
For now, though, I'll say goodbye with highlights of some of his finest work. If I had any sort of technical skills, I'd put the highlights together into a single youtube video with a suitably admiring soundtrack. One quick glance at my blog however, will tell you I don't have those technical skills, so instead here's a bunch of different clips of his best moments. Just imagine you're listening to "Nobody does it better" in the background.
First off, his goal against Montreal in the 2009 Voyageurs Cup, at 7:50 of this video.
Then there's his 1 goal 2 assist second half performance in the Montreal Miracle, starting at 3:30.
This is the game mentioned above where he scores twice against Chicago, starting at 0:40. My season tickets are in section 227, so the fact that he always ran to that corner after scoring in the north end was great, he had some really good celebrations there.
Next up is his goal against San Jose in 2010, not the greatest goal, but another great celebration 1:30 in.
And I'll finish up with his contribution to our triumph over Motagua, here's his goal in the first leg starting at 0.33
And his 2nd leg goal, at 1"36, where he really shows off just how much he sweats in a game. Good luck with that LA heat.
Thanks for everything Chad, I'll miss you.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Ornoch-knock-knocking on heaven's door
As the initial buzz of the announcements of Aron Winter, Bob de Klerk and Paul Mariner dies down, and as the warm and fuzzy thoughts about TFC’s future filled with homegrown academy players playing dazzling total football fade into the vague far off future where they belong, thoughts turn to the short term and the first real measurable test of the new management team. That would be building a team that can compete in the short term, and if not win an MLS Cup in the next 2 or 3 years, at least do well enough to keep the supporters interested until the academy starts bearing fruit.
After Earl Cochrane got rid of the worst of last year’s squad, with only Nathan Sturgis coming in, TFC is currently sitting at a squad of 16 players, three of which are goalies, and one of whom, 18 year old winger Nicholas Lindsay, it was reported today will be out for the season due to a knee injury sustained by slipping on ice*. Add in the fact that some of those 16 are out of contract, including 2010 MVP Adrian Cann, and his defensive partner Nana Attakora who, according to a Gerry Dobson tweet has so far declined to sign the new contract offered him. Also add in that Dwayne De Rosario has made his unhappiness very public and may not be back, and the size of the job is clear. The number of definite starting quality players who we can confidently say will be with the team next year sits at 2, Stefan Frei and Julian De Guzman. Now obviously no MLS team is going to be full of stars, and some of what remains of the squad are definitely capable MLS level starters, people such as Sturgis, Nick LaBrocca, Chad Barrett or Maicon Santos, but there is definitely a need for quality as well as quantity when it comes to filling out the squad.
Barring a trade to get a higher pick, this week’s upcoming superdraft is unlikely to help with players who can make an impact right away, as we gave up our first round pick for Sturgis, so won’t be picking until 26th overall, here’s a good list of players who might be available at that time. No, it’s going to be players brought in from outside MLS who’ll make the difference.
Before the interim GM tag was taken away from Earl Cochrane, he suggested in interviews that he had been busy identifying players and making initial enquiries, lining up a lot of players just waiting for confirmation from the new regime and for the transfer window to open. Dutch U-17 international Bas Ent has long been rumoured to be coming in from the USL team Dayton Dutch Lions, and reports from the last week are saying that Canadian striker Andrew Ornoch is also about to sign.
Ornoch is a Toronto raised Canadian international who has spent the last few years in Europe. He’s been varyingly described as a physical Danny Dichioesque striker and as an attacking midfielder/forward in the mould of Will Johnson. Initial guesses suggest he’ll be getting somewhere below $100,000, so whatever his exact style and role will be, he should be a good addition. Though he didn’t get much first team action while in Holland, his time there should help him be a step ahead of the MLS lifers when it comes to quickly picking up the intricacies of our new system. Throw in the fact that he seems to be very eager to play for his hometown team and it seems like a great piece of business, though hopefully he’ll be competing with Chad Barrett and Maicon Santos for the title of our second best striker behind some as yet unknown big name to be unveiled soon.
Acquiring that striker, as well as the quality wingers, full backs and everything else TFC needs is hopefully where Paul Mariner can prove his worth, helping Winter navigate the salary cap with all it’s rules and exceptions to build a competitive squad, or at the very least a full squad before the season starts. While supporters so far seem admirably willing to give TFC some time, the first 4 wasted years mean there's a lot less goodwill banked than might usually be the case, thoughts of the future will only keep bums in seats in the present for so long.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sweet FA Cup, round 3.
As always, the first weekend of January means the third round of the FA Cup in England. A time for small clubs to take on the big boys and dream of the impossible upset, minnows vs sharks, David vs Goliath etc etc. But enough about plucky Liverpool's match against Man Utd tomorrow. Da-dum cchhhhhhh.
There were quite a few potential "cupsets" this year, and quite a few of them have actually happened, mainly against the North-East's big 3. Mr. Karren Brady's League two team Burton Albion got 2 late goals to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 and reach the 4th round for the first time in their history. As well, Sunderland lost 2-1 to League One Notts County, and Newcastle lost 3-1 at League 2 Stevenage! Combined with Hartlepool losing to Watford, and that's a weekend to warm any Darlington fan's heart. Stevenage's win prompted another great small club tradition, the celebratory pitch invasion, which unfortunately had an ugly moment when one of the Stevenage players got punched.
Other Premier League teams getting knocked out were West Brom, beaten by Reading, and Blackpool who lost at Southampton. The non-league clubs did themselves proud in defeat, York City holding Bolton goalless for 83 minutes before losing 2-0, in front of 4,900 travelling fans. Dover Athletic's fairytale run ended with a 2-0 defeat at League One Huddersfield. Crawley also play, against Derby County on Monday, but Crawley are the non-league version of Chelsea or Man city, rich and obnoxiously big spending, so I don't really find much romance in that tie.
Probably the most entertaining game of the day was actually a second round replay between two League Two teams, Hereford and Lincoln, which saw 7 goals, each one changing the result, before Hereford finally escaped with a 4-3 win.
All in all, very satisfying.
There were quite a few potential "cupsets" this year, and quite a few of them have actually happened, mainly against the North-East's big 3. Mr. Karren Brady's League two team Burton Albion got 2 late goals to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 and reach the 4th round for the first time in their history. As well, Sunderland lost 2-1 to League One Notts County, and Newcastle lost 3-1 at League 2 Stevenage! Combined with Hartlepool losing to Watford, and that's a weekend to warm any Darlington fan's heart. Stevenage's win prompted another great small club tradition, the celebratory pitch invasion, which unfortunately had an ugly moment when one of the Stevenage players got punched.
Other Premier League teams getting knocked out were West Brom, beaten by Reading, and Blackpool who lost at Southampton. The non-league clubs did themselves proud in defeat, York City holding Bolton goalless for 83 minutes before losing 2-0, in front of 4,900 travelling fans. Dover Athletic's fairytale run ended with a 2-0 defeat at League One Huddersfield. Crawley also play, against Derby County on Monday, but Crawley are the non-league version of Chelsea or Man city, rich and obnoxiously big spending, so I don't really find much romance in that tie.
Probably the most entertaining game of the day was actually a second round replay between two League Two teams, Hereford and Lincoln, which saw 7 goals, each one changing the result, before Hereford finally escaped with a 4-3 win.
All in all, very satisfying.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Winterlicious.
The world's worst kept secret was confirmed on Thursday afternoon, with TFC announcing the arrival of Aron Winter, Paul Mariner and Bob de Klerk as their new management team. Click here for details, interviews and such like.
Alright, that’s a little harsh as there was still a lot of clarification required on who exactly would be doing what, and what would happen to the current staff. That all ended up as follows, Aron Winter as Technical Director, the overall man in charge as well as first team Head Coach with Bob de Klerk assisting him in both areas. Paul Mariner will be the Director of Player Development, overseeing scouting, trades and all that sort of thing, as well as “acting as a bridge between Aron and MLS” which to me sounds like a lot of saying “No Aron, you can’t do that here” or “No Aron, that’s not going to work here” or "Yes Aron, we are going to have to fly all over the continent on a regular basis."
Earl Cochrane gets “promoted” to Director of Team and Player Operations, while Stuart Neely will be the Academy Director. Jim Brennan, Nick Dasovic, Danny Dichio and Jason Bent will all remain with the club, though their roles weren’t specified. Leo Percovich wasn’t mentioned so is presumably on his way out. I met him a couple of times and he’s a really nice guy, so I genuinely wish him all the best in the future.
So what does all this mean? Well firstly it means they haven’t gone for the cheap, more of the same option that merely bringing in Paul Mariner to work with Earl Cochrane would have been, so that’s a good sign. Secondly it means they really seem to have made a commitment to a long term vision of what the club stands for, what style of football it will play and how they’re going to get there, all that stuff Jürgen Klinsmann was talking about back in November.
With a re-affirmation of their commitment to building new academy facilities as soon as a location is finalised, there was much talk of TFC becoming less reliant on drafts to stock its roster, on being able to develop its own players, coming up through the academy playing the same style so as to eventually fit comfortably into the first team. Winter made it obvious that while it won’t be an exact copy of the “total football” thatAjax
Looking at it long term, this seems like a really really positive day, one that should have great benefits for both TFC andCanada
Unfortunately, those hoped for great benefits of the academy system will probably take 5-10 years to really be felt at first team level, the short term is a lot more of a question mark. Winter is untested as a coach at first team level, and the style of football he wants to play will probably not come easily or quickly to your average MLS player. Many times in the press conference and various interviews it was stressed that this is going to require patience, so it's probably best not to expect too much in the way of results in 2011. It will be interesting to see which players are brought in once the January transfer window opens, TFC obviously have a lot of places to fill, and are going to have to bring in players who can play this style as well as be able to handle the more physical play in MLS. This is where Paul Mariner should really be earning his money, using his MLS experience and know-how to help TFC field a competitive side for the next few seasons, so as to give Winter and de Klerk enough time to be able to do what they're really here for, which is the long term side of things.
The next 2 or 3 seasons will probably be interesting, entertaining and frustrating in equal measures, but hopefully supporters and management will be able to give the new regime time to really see their plans come to fruition. Management certainly talked a good game in that respect yesterday, and it does seem like they're genuinely trying to build something that can give TFC lasting and long term success, let's hope it works.
Alright, that’s a little harsh as there was still a lot of clarification required on who exactly would be doing what, and what would happen to the current staff. That all ended up as follows, Aron Winter as Technical Director, the overall man in charge as well as first team Head Coach with Bob de Klerk assisting him in both areas. Paul Mariner will be the Director of Player Development, overseeing scouting, trades and all that sort of thing, as well as “acting as a bridge between Aron and MLS” which to me sounds like a lot of saying “No Aron, you can’t do that here” or “No Aron, that’s not going to work here” or "Yes Aron, we are going to have to fly all over the continent on a regular basis."
Earl Cochrane gets “promoted” to Director of Team and Player Operations, while Stuart Neely will be the Academy Director. Jim Brennan, Nick Dasovic, Danny Dichio and Jason Bent will all remain with the club, though their roles weren’t specified. Leo Percovich wasn’t mentioned so is presumably on his way out. I met him a couple of times and he’s a really nice guy, so I genuinely wish him all the best in the future.
So what does all this mean? Well firstly it means they haven’t gone for the cheap, more of the same option that merely bringing in Paul Mariner to work with Earl Cochrane would have been, so that’s a good sign. Secondly it means they really seem to have made a commitment to a long term vision of what the club stands for, what style of football it will play and how they’re going to get there, all that stuff Jürgen Klinsmann was talking about back in November.
With a re-affirmation of their commitment to building new academy facilities as soon as a location is finalised, there was much talk of TFC becoming less reliant on drafts to stock its roster, on being able to develop its own players, coming up through the academy playing the same style so as to eventually fit comfortably into the first team. Winter made it obvious that while it won’t be an exact copy of the “total football” that
Looking at it long term, this seems like a really really positive day, one that should have great benefits for both TFC and
Unfortunately, those hoped for great benefits of the academy system will probably take 5-10 years to really be felt at first team level, the short term is a lot more of a question mark. Winter is untested as a coach at first team level, and the style of football he wants to play will probably not come easily or quickly to your average MLS player. Many times in the press conference and various interviews it was stressed that this is going to require patience, so it's probably best not to expect too much in the way of results in 2011. It will be interesting to see which players are brought in once the January transfer window opens, TFC obviously have a lot of places to fill, and are going to have to bring in players who can play this style as well as be able to handle the more physical play in MLS. This is where Paul Mariner should really be earning his money, using his MLS experience and know-how to help TFC field a competitive side for the next few seasons, so as to give Winter and de Klerk enough time to be able to do what they're really here for, which is the long term side of things.
The next 2 or 3 seasons will probably be interesting, entertaining and frustrating in equal measures, but hopefully supporters and management will be able to give the new regime time to really see their plans come to fruition. Management certainly talked a good game in that respect yesterday, and it does seem like they're genuinely trying to build something that can give TFC lasting and long term success, let's hope it works.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
It was 20 years ago today. January.
The lates instalment of my look back at Darlington's 1990/91 season. Click here for August, September, October, November and December.
Coming off a disappointing game at Scarborough, Darlington started off 1991 with an impressive 4-1 win over Cardiff at home on new years day. The defence did most of the scoring, Les McJannett, Jimmy Willis and Mick Tait with goals, David Cork getting the other. The great start to the month continued with a 3-1 home win over Carlisle, Kevan Smith and Drew Coverdale with goals, as well as the first of the year for Phil Linacre who was making his first start of the season, replacing Cork. Due to weather related postponements and FA cup committments elsewhere, very few other teams were playing, so this win saw Darlington finally reach the top of the table with 40 points from 22 games.
It was over 3 weeks before we played at home again, the first away game being a Leyland DAF(t) trophy tie at Preston. We lost 2-1, (have we ever done well in that competition?) but Linacre did score again and now we could concentrate on the league. That meant a visit to Burnley, who were also chasing promotion, so a big game, big crowd and a good away following, Coverdale and Gary Gill were replaced in midfield by Steve Mardenborough and Paul Emson, and that can never be a good sign, and it did turn out badly, Linacre scored again! but it ended up 3-1 for Burnley and that was the end of our table topping for now.
It was two weeks before Darlo played again, this time a frustrating 0-0 draw at lowly Halifax. and then the last game of the month saw them finally return home for a game against Gillingham, and more importantly, referee Tom Fitzharris. Andy Toman was sent off for dissent and Mick Tait also saw red, and nine man Darlo hung on for a 1-1 draw. Needless to say the fans weren't happy and there was an angry pitch invasion, and Fitzharris was actually hit by an apple as he made his way down the tunnel.
As annoying as that game was, more concerning for Darlo fans was news that Birmingham City were trying to poach away Brian Little, which came up towards the end of the month. Thoughts of Brian going, probably taking Frank Gray with him, and potentially leaving Kevan Smith behind as player - manager were thankfully put to rest when Brian committed himself to Darlington, which would spur the team on to a very successful February.
As always, feel free to add comments and any memories to fill in the gaps. Cheers.
Coming up, February: a clean sheet or two, including Prudhoe's game at Hartlepool.
Coming off a disappointing game at Scarborough, Darlington started off 1991 with an impressive 4-1 win over Cardiff at home on new years day. The defence did most of the scoring, Les McJannett, Jimmy Willis and Mick Tait with goals, David Cork getting the other. The great start to the month continued with a 3-1 home win over Carlisle, Kevan Smith and Drew Coverdale with goals, as well as the first of the year for Phil Linacre who was making his first start of the season, replacing Cork. Due to weather related postponements and FA cup committments elsewhere, very few other teams were playing, so this win saw Darlington finally reach the top of the table with 40 points from 22 games.
It was over 3 weeks before we played at home again, the first away game being a Leyland DAF(t) trophy tie at Preston. We lost 2-1, (have we ever done well in that competition?) but Linacre did score again and now we could concentrate on the league. That meant a visit to Burnley, who were also chasing promotion, so a big game, big crowd and a good away following, Coverdale and Gary Gill were replaced in midfield by Steve Mardenborough and Paul Emson, and that can never be a good sign, and it did turn out badly, Linacre scored again! but it ended up 3-1 for Burnley and that was the end of our table topping for now.
It was two weeks before Darlo played again, this time a frustrating 0-0 draw at lowly Halifax. and then the last game of the month saw them finally return home for a game against Gillingham, and more importantly, referee Tom Fitzharris. Andy Toman was sent off for dissent and Mick Tait also saw red, and nine man Darlo hung on for a 1-1 draw. Needless to say the fans weren't happy and there was an angry pitch invasion, and Fitzharris was actually hit by an apple as he made his way down the tunnel.
As annoying as that game was, more concerning for Darlo fans was news that Birmingham City were trying to poach away Brian Little, which came up towards the end of the month. Thoughts of Brian going, probably taking Frank Gray with him, and potentially leaving Kevan Smith behind as player - manager were thankfully put to rest when Brian committed himself to Darlington, which would spur the team on to a very successful February.
As always, feel free to add comments and any memories to fill in the gaps. Cheers.
Coming up, February: a clean sheet or two, including Prudhoe's game at Hartlepool.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Insert generic Winter pun here.
While there's been no official announcement yet, word has very much got out, if a little unspecifically, about a very interesting development in TFC's search for a management team. According to reports, former Dutch international and current Ajax (the Amsterdam one, not the GTA one) assistant coach Aron Winter has agreed to a 3 year contract, and will be bringing fellow Dutchman Bob De Klerk with him.
Throughout the day there's been varying different reports, guesses and assumptions about exactly what role these two will fill, as well as Paul Mariner who it was thought might now be left out, but was later reported as very much still part of the plan, as either a coach, or as Technical Director. By the end of the day a consensus seemed to be forming that Mariner would be the GM/Technical Director, with Winter and De Klerk as Coach and assistant respectively, though some suggested Mariner and Winter were going to somehow split the Technical Director and Coach roles, though I'm really not sure how that would work.
Whether that is correct, and what's going to happen to Earl Cochrane, Jimmy Brennan, Nick Dasovic and the rest of the coaching staff will eventually be revealed whenever the official press conference happens, and going by history with TFC, that probably won't be for another few days. I'll wait until then before reading too much into all this, but it does seem positive, and proof that there was a point to Jürgen Klinsmann's time here. If the bringing in of Winter and De Klerk from Ajax is a sign of the philosophy that Klinsmann has decided on for TFC, then it should at the very least be more entertaining than we've seen so far in the last 4 years, and if patiently stuck with, could mean great things for the academy, and thus TFC's and Canada's future.
With the caveat that they are all relatively inexperienced, with Mariner's failed managerial spell at Plymouth Argyle the only non-assistant experience between them, this seems like a really good combination and a very strong managerial team. Winter and De Klerk will bring the Ajax style, which will hopefully flow down to the academy as well as help the first team, Mariner has the MLS experience as well as recently refreshed contacts within the English game, and Cochrane, Brennan and the rest of the holdovers from last year bring knowledge of MLS as well as the Canadian scene, and the talents, quirks and egos of the current squad.
Patience could be the key here, as one of the main planks of Ajax's success over the years has been the flow of players from their famed academy, talented and schooled from an early age in the Ajax way of playing, and it's obviously going to take a lot of time for that sort of effect to hit the first team. Hopefully the MLS experience brought by Mariner will be enough to build a competent and competitive team in the short term, as I'm not sure the stretched too thin patience of TFC fans will be able to tolerate too long of a learning curve. In that respect,one of management's best moves is the price freeze of season tickets for 2012. I always thought of that not really as an apology for what happened last season, but as a pre-emptive bargaining chip in case the rebuild isn't an instant success. If that is actually the case it would represent an admirable change from what's happened so far, with 5 coaches in 4 years.
Hopefully supporters will also give the new regime time, and the mood on the messageboards seemed to be one of cautious optimism and approval, which is a good sign. This could be the start of something really good for the future, let's hope it works well enough in the present for that future to be given a chance.
Throughout the day there's been varying different reports, guesses and assumptions about exactly what role these two will fill, as well as Paul Mariner who it was thought might now be left out, but was later reported as very much still part of the plan, as either a coach, or as Technical Director. By the end of the day a consensus seemed to be forming that Mariner would be the GM/Technical Director, with Winter and De Klerk as Coach and assistant respectively, though some suggested Mariner and Winter were going to somehow split the Technical Director and Coach roles, though I'm really not sure how that would work.
Whether that is correct, and what's going to happen to Earl Cochrane, Jimmy Brennan, Nick Dasovic and the rest of the coaching staff will eventually be revealed whenever the official press conference happens, and going by history with TFC, that probably won't be for another few days. I'll wait until then before reading too much into all this, but it does seem positive, and proof that there was a point to Jürgen Klinsmann's time here. If the bringing in of Winter and De Klerk from Ajax is a sign of the philosophy that Klinsmann has decided on for TFC, then it should at the very least be more entertaining than we've seen so far in the last 4 years, and if patiently stuck with, could mean great things for the academy, and thus TFC's and Canada's future.
With the caveat that they are all relatively inexperienced, with Mariner's failed managerial spell at Plymouth Argyle the only non-assistant experience between them, this seems like a really good combination and a very strong managerial team. Winter and De Klerk will bring the Ajax style, which will hopefully flow down to the academy as well as help the first team, Mariner has the MLS experience as well as recently refreshed contacts within the English game, and Cochrane, Brennan and the rest of the holdovers from last year bring knowledge of MLS as well as the Canadian scene, and the talents, quirks and egos of the current squad.
Patience could be the key here, as one of the main planks of Ajax's success over the years has been the flow of players from their famed academy, talented and schooled from an early age in the Ajax way of playing, and it's obviously going to take a lot of time for that sort of effect to hit the first team. Hopefully the MLS experience brought by Mariner will be enough to build a competent and competitive team in the short term, as I'm not sure the stretched too thin patience of TFC fans will be able to tolerate too long of a learning curve. In that respect,one of management's best moves is the price freeze of season tickets for 2012. I always thought of that not really as an apology for what happened last season, but as a pre-emptive bargaining chip in case the rebuild isn't an instant success. If that is actually the case it would represent an admirable change from what's happened so far, with 5 coaches in 4 years.
Hopefully supporters will also give the new regime time, and the mood on the messageboards seemed to be one of cautious optimism and approval, which is a good sign. This could be the start of something really good for the future, let's hope it works well enough in the present for that future to be given a chance.
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