How many caps do you need to be considered “allocation level”?

It is nice that the blog is back, however; this Leigh Anne character is filtering comments. I have already seen several comments erased – and not even bad ones. I simply recommended we see more team-related posts and less personal ones. Erased.

Now when a comment is posted, this message appears: Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.

Approval?! I’m all for supporting the club and I personally try my best to be positive, but shouldn’t the blog be a forum for fans to discuss their opinions on the club?

Am I crazy? Or is this move just another example of the blog (which used to be so great) becoming mediocre (if that) and boring.

goldenbootbomber- the blog is probably doing that to keep the idiot posters from posting. previously there were quite a few idiots that posted nonsensical crap over and over.

Yeah. I can understand approving comments for that reason. But they aren’t letting anything through. there’s a difference between posting over and over again that Schellas is an idiot and posting a valid criticism of FO decisions/play on field.

It’s a blog, it is allowed to moderated. If you don’t like it, don’t post. It’s a corporate blog at that, if they think you are posting negative stuff, why would they let that stay up? Think about it from their side.

would offering him at least $150K be enough or too much? i don’t know how the league/team and their finances work to see how much a player is worth. so, would he be a 150K player or less in MLS?

i know in vietnam he got payed a lot more than that…so, i don’t blame him at all for not coming home.

So the question stands…when is the two years up, then can FCD then put him on the discovery list AND he negotiate a new salary with the league? All parties happy by waiting a year so to speak.

This is a glowing example of why single entity MLS must stop!! Allow any team to negotiate with any player. Let them sign if they have money to sign. A hard salary cap and allow all teams to make their own personnel decisions.

Lee is a super star in Vietnam, his first match as PSV was the most watched sporting event in the history of Vietnam (at the time). Odds are he gets paid way more than 100k a year over there but I would say he is worth about 75k here. I don’t blame him for not coming to MLS but I know that he wanted to play with FCD it just didn’t work out.

Moose, see Edit.

Bone, it’s not a time frame. Two years has nothing to so with it.

3nOut, you cant offer 150k, that’s what I am saying. The league does the deal and Lee is on the list of players who get the offer they got before.

and any, Lee isn’t worth 150k cause dax is on roughly 150k. 150k is what proven MLS players get like Dax and Drew Moor.

I certainly understand the policy on the part of MLS, but I’m not sure it helps anyone in a case like this. I guess you just have to live with the loss of the player.

So MLS was trying to offer Nguyen a GA contract? Isn’t 23 a little old for that kind of deal?

Danny Szetela was younger, had only two more caps, and is making less than $100K, yet he had to go through the allocation list. I’m not seeing any reason why Nguyen wouldn’t fit that same, exact scenario.

No Jason. The same money. Not the same contract.

and Danny S was in the league. He had signed with MLS out of the U17s and then went to Europe. Totally different.

well the rule seems deterimental to the growth of MLS. If a player gets an offer from MLS, opts to go to Europe for a fw years then wants to come back home and play in MLS, he should be able to negotiate his fair value at that time. We should WANT the best domestic players to come to MLS instead at least in Lee’s case we have chased him off. Just plain stupid….

So basically Nguyen got lowballed. I get that part. What I don’t get is why he wouldn’t have been an allocation player.

Jason, MLS is like your selfish girlfriend. If she cant be your first, then she’s gonna hang that over your head for the rest of your life until you buy her that Kobe-sized diamond ring, and even then she’ll still let you hear about it from time to time.

you get the picture now. Lee didnt sign when he had the chance, now their being @$$es about it by not letting him choose the team that he wants to return to. They’re also not letting FCD choose to sign him. Its not fair, but its the MLS way.

Szetela signed with MLS originally (at one point anyway), had a good U20 tourney and signed to Europe, thus bringing MLS a nice chunk of a transfer fee. also, by going abroad, that means that Szetela must’ve waived his portion of the transfer fee so MLS could keep the whole profit (thats what held up Kenny’s transfer for an entire year, remember). So Szetela gets a pat on the ole back when he comes home after not having much success in Europe and he’s playing for his preferred team. Crew lost his rights cuz he’d been away long enough. get it now?

The Crew didn’t have Szetela’s rights because they received an allocation for him and then used it. If they hadn’t used it, they would have kept his rights. It’s the same for any MLS team that gets a transfer fee for a player. However, it’s highly unusual (not to mention unlikely) that a team would hold onto an allocation that long.

i agree the method of MLS sucks. i know they have a budget, but this is about bringing back home the talent that left for europe. this would add better players, better competition to the league. i bet if LA or NY wanted him, the league would find a way. but, since we’re only the lowly FC dallas, we get kicked in the nads and have to find another re-tread somewhere in latin/south america.

Thanks for clearing that up Buzz, I miss-read a key part of the article.

Here’s what Nguyen said to me through twitter:

@LeeNguyen24

“@markspence02 haha will do .. appreciate it man, it wasnt fcd that needed convincing was deff the league”

Yeah, the MLS method sucks because they’re doing what’s best for league, not FCD.

You get a case like this for FCD vs all the special treatment the Galaxy gets for Beckum & Donovan, etc.

Fair? I think not.

“Yeah, the MLS method sucks because they’re doing what’s best for league, not FCD.”

It is not even best for MLS. MLS needs to bring in the best young American players that want to play here. Offering them lowball salaries hurts the league.

MLS does need to bring players back that they dont get initially. I agree with that. but those guys are used to getting paid lots of money, something that MLS cant match, so i understand where MLS offers them an amount of money that they can pay. Its apart of negotiation.

What i cant understand is the punk move that MLS makes that offers them the same salary that they offered when the player was first attempting to sign a pro contract, as if that player was an unproven rookie just starting his career. this player may be an unproven guy still, but he’s a full-blown professional and should be treated as such. offer incentives or something that’ll make the player more money.

bringing back US Nationals to this league is only a good thing, especially when MLS players are looking to get away so quickly (ie Rolfe, Movsisyan, Gbandi, etc). Even if its a Cory Gibbs deal where you know they’re just coming back for a season or 2 before they try Europe again, so what. bringing back attacking talent is even more valuable in this league.

Read in FourFourTwo a few months ago which league Denilson ended up in after leaving Dallas. Hint: rhymes with and is spelled exactly the same as “Vietnam.”

Being a star in the V-League is like being the best penguin breeder in Mongolia.

This kid an idiot and a loser. He was worth MLS league minimum at the most. He has no professionalism and is a total primadonna. He gets all the attention of Yao Ming, but has none of the good qualities. Just a punk kid.

Wow Tim – into personal attacks and libel much?

In trying to look at both sides of this deal, I think the critical factors are:
* Timing of discussion (prior to CBA)
* CYA Mentality of MLS (I get this part)
* Amount offered (sounds very low)
* Contract Length (5 years – way too long)

I think both sides need to give a little. I get offering a base salary similar to what was initially offered. That does make business sense when you consider the short number of years since the initial GA offer was made. HOWEVER, MLS is being – well, abusive in offering a salary this low with a FIVE year contract (or 2 yrs plus 3 one-yr options for the league to choose to re-up that contract – not a fair deal). A one or two year deal with a WRITTEN agreement to write a new contract OR offer incentives for achieving specific performance goals.

Personally, I think Lee is initially worth 50 -90. But my opinion is not worth much. YMMV

I just read this:
http://www.thisisamericansocce...ietnam-star-or-league-minimum/

Everything Nguyen says is reasonable and the offer by MLS is pathetic and indefensible. Nguyen says he’ll accept a pay-cut and a performance based contract = 100% reasonable. MLS want to tie him in at minimum wage for FIVE years?!?!

I am more than worried about what will happen with the CBA, because it seems more and more than MLS is insane with some of their issues.

Just insane how MLS works. In every country soccer is profitable and very famous and all around its based on FIFA rules. Why does MLS wants to be different? Let the teams buy however they want, pay whatever they want. Let soccer be a international business otherwise I simply wont work out.

“Just insane how MLS works. In every country soccer is profitable and very famous and all around its based on FIFA rules. Why does MLS wants to be different? Let the teams buy however they want, pay whatever they want. Let soccer be a international business otherwise I simply wont work out.”

Ever heard of small athletic leagues in the U.S. called the NFL, NBA, or MLB? And a much more crowded entertainment market chasing all the $$s.

MLS is paying what they can based on their revenues, players are asking for more of an already small pie when 1/2 the owners are still losing $$ and having to put more $$ in to keep the team in business.

Players need to suck it up and play and hopefully the economic climate will be better, and revenues and the total pie larger next time the CBA comes up.

Lack of a salary cap killed the NASL. MLS is doing well and growing and doing things the right way slow but steady. If you think they can just roll the ball out on the field to play the game and sign lots of world class players to huge salaries and people will show up and support the league, you are wrong.

I can 100% confirm Don Garber offered Lee $30K for 5 years. He was willing to take the league min for 1 or 2 years, but not 5. After talking with Kenny Cooper and Stu Holden about how poorly their situations were treated by MLS he decided to go overseas and earn a decent wage while the league sorts through their Labor Issues.

I bet he’ll be back next year if the league moves away from a single entity structure.

To JPB’s comment:

The players would welcome a salary capped system. Right now a player negotiates and signs their contract with the league instead of with individual teams (FCD, Houston, etc…). This is one of the major points that the players will not budge on, and Lee’s situation is a very good reason why. I think we all agree that Lee is worth more than 30K/year. The only person he could negotiate his contract with was Don Garber who is bitter that he passed on an offer 4 years ago to go to PSV.

You can limit how much the teams are allowed to spend (IE a Salary Cap) without controlling player negotiations with their teams. Let the teams negotiate the player contracts and make the commisioner a policeman who makes sure the teams stay within the cap. Its a simple system that works in the NFL (Garber’s former employer) and the NBA.

American soccer fans missed out on a great opportunity to see a special player because of the way the league is set up and because of the vindictive nature of the people who are in currently in charge. It really is a shame.

Any way to work out Nguyen coming on loan?