If you've been following potential player movements the last few days, then you know that former U.S. national teams standout Brian McBride is finished at Fulham and ready to return to Major League Soccer.
He hasn't disguised his desire to play for the Fire, which is reasonable given that he grew up in Arlington Heights, Ill.
Thing is, Toronto FC has his MLS rights and if Mo Johnston has his way, they won't come cheap.
"We're looking for something big (in return for McBride's rights)," Johnston said during today's practice. And after talking all season about the team's need for a high scoring striker, Johnston hinted that TFC might try to keep McBride (30 goals in 95 national team games) for themselves.
Either way, Johnston says he plans to take his time and hold out for a significant payoff, whether it's McBride, another player or salary cap space.
"Fortunately for us we've got the number one slot," Johnston said. "We're sitting on a pot of gold at the moment."
Moonlighting Mo
After juggling coaching and GM duties all last season you had to wonder how long Johnston would be satisfied with just one job.
Not long, apparently.
GolTV announced today that Johnston is joining their news and analysis show, "Extra Time."
The show is expanding from 30 minutes to an hour, and Johnston is the centrepiece of a segment called "Mo Johnston, Unplugged," where, according to a GolTV press release he will "provide viewers with analysis and commentary on all the news and highlights involving Toronto FC and Major League Soccer."
So we have a guy employed by TFC/MLS providing "commentary" about news from TFC/MLS. We'll have to see how it plays out, but somehow I can't envision Johnston ripping Carver, whom he hired, or any of the players, whom he acquired, on the air, no matter how badly they might screw up.
Try to picture it:
Lee Godfrey -- Another goalless game by Carl Robinson. Mo, did you think he'd step up his offensive game a little more this year?
Mo -- He's a huge disappointment, Lee. When he first signed a lot of people thought he'd be the best midfielder in the league, but so far I don't see it. If TFC was smart they'd trade him for draft picks before it's too late.
Lee -- So then why don't you do it, Mo?
Mo -- I'm working on certain things, Lee. Trust me.
Before we continue, let's remember that the previous exchange was COMPLETELY hypothetical. Not bashing any one player or Mo himself. Just highlighting the kind of analysis we definitely won't see when Mo moves to the TV studio
But what else would you expect? It's a blurry line between press and PR when you're covering soccer. Cheering in the press box isn't the norm, but it's not unusual in MLS. It happened often enough in Columbus that Shawn Mitchell, a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch apologized to me for the local media's cheerleading.
When so much of the soccer media is composed of homers, it's not surprising when the home team starts infiltrating the local press.
Understand that I'm not mad at Mo for taking the gig. We all have to get paid, so you might as well get paid doing something you love.
And I've certainly got no beef with GolTV.
They know what they're getting.
The news release simply said they hired Johnston for analysis.
They never said it would be objective.
-- Morgan Campbell
obviously this mcbride thing is quite fortuitous for TFC - is their an expiration date on their owning his rights - does a deal have to get done in the next few weeks for example.
as well, i'm not sure if DC United deserved a penalty in extra time for a hand ball, but robert's red card couldn't come at a worse time - with donavon playing for LAG and robinson and guevera already out, dunivant, smith and harmse are going to have to step up big time.
btw - when are we going to see julius james!
Posted by: doug | May 30, 2008 at 08:39 AM
This is something that could set us up for the next few years if played right. Truly excited at seeing what transpires. Come on Mo, work some magic!
Could/would McBride be considered a DP by another team and therefore, by my limited understanding, skip the allocation process?
Posted by: John Dinner | May 30, 2008 at 01:22 PM
I hope the interviewers will ask smarter questions than your hypothetical one Morgan. Robinson is a defensive player and has been outstanding this year.
The upside to this is potentially more news straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. I see your point about bias although Mo hasn't exactly gone easy on his players in the past when they've played poorly.
Keep up the good work on the blog!
Posted by: Brian | May 31, 2008 at 12:04 AM
It's true, robinson is mainly there for defensive purposes but as one of the big earners you'd expect him to do a better job with things like distribution.
He's been good, but not upto his price tag
Posted by: alex | May 31, 2008 at 07:34 PM