What gets me is that the whole "keep the troops informed if you don't want troublesome morale issues developing" is kind of Management 101. Regardless of whether it's government or sports or business, being proactive about messaging - the message YOU want - is pretty universal and fundamental.
How hard is a weekly presser? You can placate the mob with generalities: "We've got (number) GM candidates in the interview stage, including two we're very hopeful about." "We worked with Kelli and her agent, and made what we feel was a very reasonable offer but were unable to reach an agreement." "We're currently looking over several promising player signings, including some NCAA players as well as pros currently playing overseas..."
Plus you keep the club in the news, keep public interest in the offseason. Win-win!
The club not taking this what-seems-simple-and-obvious way of doing this stuff is what makes me increasingly skeptical of the Bhathal's sports savvy, beyond the obvious boneheaded actions like Ken and Karina. This shouldn't be rocket science. But...
I agree completely. And proactive messaging, positive and ostensibly "informative" PR has been of such increasing and obvious importance over the past several decades that it's stunning to encounter monied interests who appear to be so oblivious to its value.
For heaven's sake, I would guess that college level public relations courses have drawn ever increasing interest for at least the past five decades. And I can think of numerous fairly prominent local examples where people have taken PR jobs upon leaving positions in media or government. Hire a pro to placate an uneasy fan base and this organization could well (or could have) stave(d) off a growing discontent among Thorns fans.
My tenure as Comms spokesbot would last one presser, where I'd respond to a question about the latest KenLoss with something like "Yeah, well, that WAS some kind of shitshow, wasn't it..?"
Is it possible they think Ken did a great job and that Thorns fans will turn out no matter how lousy the team performs? Maybe they think the average Thorns fan believes Ken is wonderful? I hope not, but the Bhathal's silence is making me worry more and more.
I think it's worth keeping in mind that we here are a tiny - and I mean TINY - sliver of the fanbase. Most Thorns ticketbuyers aren't terminally online like we are here. They probably know the club crashed out early last season, but have no idea what we're going on and on about Ken and Karina, etc.
I think the owners don't honestly care that much about us...
They seem to be sold on the no communication approach better. It’s dumb but they’ve been doing it since they got here. It’s almost a year later and the communication to fans has been minimal
This is my conclusion as well. They seem to believe the organizational risk of not sharing information is negligible, with the upside being they don’t have to answer questions about their plans and processes because no one knows what they are.
Either that or they are so slow at hiring internal people that they feel unqualified to follow up. They seem to be hiring up, but some key positions seem open.
Re: Hubly- While I think she’s someone whose individual issues were exacerbated by the shape/coaching problems over the last two years, she’s also a largely flawed player with very clear issues on the ball, speed-wise, and with her passing. I don’t want to hear the same people who bitched —often excessively and unfairly— about her for the last four years all of a sudden act like she’s some massive loss because it fits the narrative. I also couldn’t care very much less about how it makes Soph feel. If she’s already pissed, she wouldn’t have re-signed because Kelli Hubly is on the roster, and Hubly leaving won’t be the reason she leaves. I’d also offer that there’s a very real possibility that Kelli and Eryk will be in the same (not Portland) city next year.
The big issue, as ever, is with the organization and whether Smith (and all of us!) have faith that there’s some semblance of a FO structure given there’s less than a week until 2025. I’m not sure this changes anything for me in either direction.
Yeah I think they end up in SD together. And I don't think Kelli will be sad about it while she's drinking her wine on the beach lol.
As you've said....Kelli was really not good. For many seasons now. It's the fault of the FO for not upgrading that position for way too long (where have we heard this before?) and therefore her slip was really consequential when we had no other options. She should've been a depth CB for at least 2 years now. And with that lower expectation we prob would've kept her on. It's gotta mean that Provenzano is gone too because she's not better than Kelli and offers even less as depth. Norris and Gale have been terrible for the defensive unit as a whole, which hasn't helped. The thing with Soph just rubs salt into what is actually prob the best decision for the club. It's a little unprofessional imo, on Soph's end to make a sly comment online, because she has to know by now that A) Kelli was a FA (it's not like she was traded against her will), and, B) that this is the nature of being a pro athlete. Players get let go. Our defense being bad doesn't help her do her job better! We have to make changes. But they need to upgrade, still, at CB. There's been a ton of churn and I'm not sure we're really better off now.
Anyways...still need a GM! Still have Gale as our coach! So, they can keep rotating deck chairs but I don't see any appreciable change happening until those things are resolved...
Overall, in isolation I'm not sad to see Kelli go. Doesn't move the needle for me either. Having a big deal made about it online because Soph made a dumb comment is stupid...I just wonder who is reshaping this roster. My guess is Norris.
Hubly's achilles heel as a player is, imo, that she lacks speed of thought. Not that she's dumb; lots of smart people don't think _quickly_. But she's visibly slow to react/decide on plays on multiple occasions in every game I've seen her play. That puts her under a lot more pressure and I think is the primary cause of the mistakes she seems to make during games. It also makes her _seem_ slower than she actually is (Hina's just the opposite: her superfast decision-making makes her seem faster than her actual physical pace).
I know I’ve been sounding like I’m slagging on Hubs. But for all that I agree that she has performance issues she’s still an NWSL replacement-grade CB, a decent-enough squad player.
Which makes the really frustrating part of this not the move itself but the club’s silence.
Did she ask for Sauerbrunn-level free agent money? Then it makes perfect sense to let her go! Paying a squad player star-quality money is Financial Stupidity 101. “Replacement-grade” is just that; they’re around to be signed.
But. Did she make a perfectly reasonable salary ask and the club wouldn’t agree? That’s dumb if you didn’t have a replacement lined up ready to ink and the squad player is a piece of squad cohesion (which sounds like the case here - sounds like lots of her teammates like her and want her around).
And we have - and never WILL have - no idea which and are reduced to this ridiculous social media tea-leaf reading.
And to think some folks were actually holding out hope that the new ownership would begin a new era of relative transparency, given the brick-wall opacity of the Peregrine-era FO. With one (huge and absolutely critical) exception: a sense of player safety, this ownership change has been a perfect "careful what you wish for" scenario so far.
I’ve given them a free pass to date because transitioning into a new ownership group has its challenges, but the GM hiring and timing has been problematic to me.
To me, this should have happened before the end of November to give the person the appropriate time to assess and fill holes. Letting an Assistant run with it has led to some missteps.
They seem like status quo because we are used to it, but it does bring up a question of competence. This could be ended with a HR hire and validated if they promote from within / rewarding poor performance
I just commented that what's so insane is how simple it'd be to hold a regular presser to put out the club's messaging. Plus keep the team in the news cycle to whet interest in the coming season. Makes me truly question the Bhathals' sports IQ...
I think I start to realize how old I am when I just assume that people in their early 20s use social media like I used emails or text messages. Don’t view Sophia’s statement as anything more than she is going to miss her friend. I’ve done the same on LinkedIn for people I have worked with in the past
My open concern is the lack of urgency to get this done. When other clubs have gotten their leadership team in place, we appear to be moving at the pace of a turtle with lung failure. It’s really leaving a terrible taste in my mouth.
I gave up my season tickets and spot buy at this point (benefit of living near the stadium). I’m just looking for a reason to re-up, but I haven’t gotten one
I would be really quite surprised if Rob Gale isn't having a big say in how the roster is being shaped right now. I imagine he and KK planned the first portion of the off-season at the end of last season.
As always, all of this is made worse by the lack of any explanation from the club. Two centre backs are gone! They were already short of one. The franchise superstar is upset about the move. We have no actual idea who is making these decisions. All of this festers as long as there's no information.
Best way I can summarize my feelings about everything: If this was a new GM clearing out the vets and handing the reins to Coffey, Smith, and Weaver….I’d feel fine. Great, even. This team needed to shift eras one way or another. It’s the uncertainty and lack of faith in *waves at everyone* that’s the issue.
I will say that I’m not worried about the lack of signings. They’ll bring people in, just as they did last January. I don't even have any issues with the moves themselves, in a vacuum. I’m more worried about the distinct possibility that they’ll totally fuck up the stuff they need to get right and then that those people in turn will fuck up the personnel decisions.
My feeling is that by this point the Bhathals have earned the benefit of skepticism; I’m assuming any January signings will be meh, that Ken is here in March, that Smith will be GM.
There are some interesting observations on Reddit that some careful sideline observation indicated that Sinc's sendoff would be Kling's last game. If I recall, some of us here predicated that as well.
I wonder if they are just timing these announcements so that each player gets their moment on social media.
I said the same! There was a pic of her and Becky from (I think)) Craig Mitchelldyer (was club photog for Timbers/Thorns) after the game and she was losing it....and we had just won 3-0. She was also losing it while all the players were hand in hand during the rose ceremony at the end.
It seemed a reasonable conclusion and aside from that emotional final home match, the reality is Kling had achieved pre-retirement status on a team in deep need of help most of the year.
12 appearances, 2 starts, 248 minutes logged.
I'll miss her, everybody will miss her. Kling's my tiny Pittsburg spirit animal.
Nobody will be picking her up and I doubt she wants to go to another team. What the Thorns might do to honor her and Becky is anybody's guess. Kling is technically the final Thorn gone, from the first squad I ever watched, back in the day. A few others still play, elsewhere.
Re Hubly: isn't it also possible that it was Hubly who said "thanks but no thanks" to negotiating a new deal with the Thorns because of her family situation? She and her partner may be relocating and looking to start a family- maybe there's no bad blood at all. And even Smith's SM post could just have meant an understandable "oh no I wish my teammate/friend weren't leaving" ?
I get really strong “end of 2015” feels only “without the aggressive moves to fix the problems”. IIRC Parsons was here well before the 2016 draft and he and GW were working on the Morgan trade and the Henry deal.
Lot of senior leadership and culture setters among the players has departed this off-season. This stuff does matter, especially when you have a weak coaching staff.
Kling especially seems like she was a huge presence in the squad. Even from the bench she was the leader in every pregame huddle.
Hopefully this doesn’t rule out her (or Sauerbrunn, or both!) returning as ACs. I get that her playing days are over…but you’d think she still has and wants to contribute.
If she and ‘Brunn just bail? I think that’s a real big ownership red flag…
We now have 21 players under contract. Macca will be 31 in February. Bella will turn 30 in December. Hina turns 28 in January. Bella's been with the club since 2019. Moultrie been part of the roster since 2019, though she started here earlier than that.
The youth movement is on, as is the search who will step in what ways as the next generation of leaders.
Losing Sinc, Becky, and Kling all at once is an irreplaceable amount of practical knowledge in soccer, leadership, teambuilding, camaraderie, on and on.
Yeah, and it just pisses fans off further when we have no insight from the FO (whom STILL includes KK making decisions.) It's like her last FU because players didn't like her. Getting rid of the vets, even if they aren't starters doesn't feel good. Because yeah, as you say...is that why they think 'ol Galey couldn't figure it out? If they do all of this just to keep him...woof.
I don’t see this as a deliberate “Save The Gales” thing, but I can see him basically escaping because the organization is too goofed up to get the GM hire/promotion (and I’m getting similar creepy feelings that this whole farce is likely to end up with some internal hire like Norris or Martinez..!) done in time to replace him.
And how long will people continue buying tickets? They can coast for a while, but not indefinitely. And the worse they let things get the harder the rebuild will be, both on the field and at the box office.
2026? If this year goes similar or worse than last year, I could see an exodus of fans begin. It was hard to sit though 2024, and we made the playoffs.
Its beyond me how you could buy a club like the Thorns and not feel a sense of urgency.
I don’t know whether the best guess is Mark Parsons swooping in to save us after Horan’s wedding, or that Mike Smith and/or Mike Norris are being internally promoted.
The "dar" is unable to see what's going on...probably because nothing is. Well, at least nothing regarding Parsons.
Parsons is a man with a plan, and that plan will be cleaning house. However, cleaning house is no longer Thorns culture. The current culture now "happy talk" in a league where happy talk doesn't win championships.
I’m baffled. Has Parsons ever said anything about “cleaning house”? I agree that the Bhathals have been too slow sweeping out the Peregrine stables…but I’m not sure where or why Parsons is on record complaining about that. Is he?
I my knowledge Parsons has never said anything. On the other hand, I live a half-day's driving like a bat out of hell from Portland and, therefore, am unable to listen to the grape vine. Tea leaves don't blow in this direction either. So, all I can do is draw a chalk line from here to PDX based upon what I think I heard a comment from a while back that said Parsons once had to wrestle with the front office to get the players he wanted (one of whom was Soph Smith? and perhaps Moultrie?).
Last I heard, the Oregonian is no longer available by print subscription...and last I tried to write a letter to the editor via the web I think I was blocked because I'm out of state.
He may be a crap human but Gavin Wilkinson - the "front office" for a big chunk of Parsons' tenure - was a damn effective GM in NWSL 1.0.
Parsons and Wilkinson worked in harness to assemble Parsons' squads starting with the huge 2015-16 offseason. GW helped set up the deal with Orlando that landed the Smith #1 pick in 2020. He led the club's legal team in fighting to get Moultrie's pro contract approved.
IOW, while Parsons may have fallen out with the Peregrine organization in the end, his association with it was productive and profitable for years. And AFAIK he's said absolutely nothing about RAJ other than that he loves Portland and the club.
A few years ago, somebody who knows a thing or eleven about international woso told me that KK was going to set the franchise back several years and that whatever his failings may have been, Gavin was a very good GM.
With the caveat that GW worked in the pre-FA NWSL, yes. I don't think anyone would argue he was incompetent, just (like a lot of Merritt's pals) kind of a dick.
Which is why I REALLY want the Bhathals to hunt down someone who's been a solid success in a free agent/transfer league. No more retreads!
Bottom line? Lots of the same problems we saw with Kenball: crude tactics, WAY too much hoof-and-hope, pointless lateral passes and then a long rainbow that typically went nowhere. The midfield, when it saw the ball, never figured out how to pass through opponents. The backline never re-created the sturdiness of 2017, and the attack was often barren.
Parsons’ substitutions were often inexplicable or just plain bizarre, at times even making the game state worse rather than maintaining things as-is or improving the team position.
FWIW, if the FO wanted to hire Parsons, why haven't they? Dude's unemployed, he's got tons of connections here...it'd seem painfully simple to sign him if he and they wanted to.
Not saying it's not possible and that there may be issues we're not seeing that's held it up. But...you'd think it'd have been done weeks ago if Parsons was the original target...
It’s unfortunate we can’t post pictures in comments anymore, but I’m guessing he’s referring to MarPar’s IG story of being at the airport about to fly out. In fact, it’s virtually the exact same picture he took a month back at the same airline and then appeared in Portland the next day for Sinc’s final game.
It’s an IG reel, so I’m not sure if you can watch it here or if I did it right, but I tried lol. Here’s the full interview in video form, it’s from a couple weeks ago: https://youtu.be/DR5PloA_0Cc?si=5yg8GBIEDChqb9Of
You can tell that he really has an emotional tie to this club and this city. It's def nice to have him giving us free PR! Lol. He's at least someone who remembers when we were one of the best clubs in woso.
I've been expecting the new GM to be announced since the day we crashed out of the playoffs. As of now, that was 47 days ago. The continued silence, with not so much as a "we're working on it" statement, has gotten frustrating.
fwiw, it's been fairly widely discussed that Parsons was on at least one shortlist for a HC job in recent weeks. So I don't think it's just a case of if they wanted to get him they would've without any difficulty
Given that Parsons has insisted that he's not done coaching that makes perfect sense; he would see a Thorns GM gig as a fallback if he doesn't get the coaching job he prefers, so he'd d play hard-to-get here until/if he gets passed over wherever-there-is...
I think the obvious favourite for a high profile coaching job is on vacation with their family in Sweden and the Netherlands right now, but I imagine it's done relatively quickly, assuming that person wants the job.
However it’s happened, we should really have a ton of $$$/cap space for some decent signings. Sinc and Becky retiring. Maybe Kling retiring but out either way. And Hubly out. That’s a lot of vet $$$ off the books.
Judging from her IG post, it does appears she chose this....so at least there's that. "This isn't the ending I wanted, but it's the ending I chose." Is that retirement?
I just mean the players were literally mad and even 3 of Hubly's longtime best friends from Chicago were posting angry comments saying the club was clueless. Sam Coffey's dad even posted being upset lol. Meaning, it was def not what Hubly wanted...regardless of what we think about the decision.
Anyone wants to hear what Carlos Martinez-Gloria sounds like... because we're sure not going to hear it from the Thorns FO... you can hear him interviewed as Houston Dash Assistant GM here. Cue the podcast to 28:00. It's from 202 so a bit dated, but it's fairly open-ended and it offers a sense of who he is. He seems pretty chill, conscientious, detail-oriented, and like a real fan of the game and the players. Organizationally, he seems like a "glue guy."
What gets me is that the whole "keep the troops informed if you don't want troublesome morale issues developing" is kind of Management 101. Regardless of whether it's government or sports or business, being proactive about messaging - the message YOU want - is pretty universal and fundamental.
How hard is a weekly presser? You can placate the mob with generalities: "We've got (number) GM candidates in the interview stage, including two we're very hopeful about." "We worked with Kelli and her agent, and made what we feel was a very reasonable offer but were unable to reach an agreement." "We're currently looking over several promising player signings, including some NCAA players as well as pros currently playing overseas..."
Plus you keep the club in the news, keep public interest in the offseason. Win-win!
The club not taking this what-seems-simple-and-obvious way of doing this stuff is what makes me increasingly skeptical of the Bhathal's sports savvy, beyond the obvious boneheaded actions like Ken and Karina. This shouldn't be rocket science. But...
I agree completely. And proactive messaging, positive and ostensibly "informative" PR has been of such increasing and obvious importance over the past several decades that it's stunning to encounter monied interests who appear to be so oblivious to its value.
For heaven's sake, I would guess that college level public relations courses have drawn ever increasing interest for at least the past five decades. And I can think of numerous fairly prominent local examples where people have taken PR jobs upon leaving positions in media or government. Hire a pro to placate an uneasy fan base and this organization could well (or could have) stave(d) off a growing discontent among Thorns fans.
Chief, are you available for the GM job? Director of Communications? Both? How about HC?
My tenure as Comms spokesbot would last one presser, where I'd respond to a question about the latest KenLoss with something like "Yeah, well, that WAS some kind of shitshow, wasn't it..?"
Just stand in front of the entrance to the media room and do this:
https://youtu.be/GUfS_2UGftg?t=10
Is it possible they think Ken did a great job and that Thorns fans will turn out no matter how lousy the team performs? Maybe they think the average Thorns fan believes Ken is wonderful? I hope not, but the Bhathal's silence is making me worry more and more.
I think it's worth keeping in mind that we here are a tiny - and I mean TINY - sliver of the fanbase. Most Thorns ticketbuyers aren't terminally online like we are here. They probably know the club crashed out early last season, but have no idea what we're going on and on about Ken and Karina, etc.
I think the owners don't honestly care that much about us...
They seem to be sold on the no communication approach better. It’s dumb but they’ve been doing it since they got here. It’s almost a year later and the communication to fans has been minimal
This is my conclusion as well. They seem to believe the organizational risk of not sharing information is negligible, with the upside being they don’t have to answer questions about their plans and processes because no one knows what they are.
Either that or they are so slow at hiring internal people that they feel unqualified to follow up. They seem to be hiring up, but some key positions seem open.
Re: Hubly- While I think she’s someone whose individual issues were exacerbated by the shape/coaching problems over the last two years, she’s also a largely flawed player with very clear issues on the ball, speed-wise, and with her passing. I don’t want to hear the same people who bitched —often excessively and unfairly— about her for the last four years all of a sudden act like she’s some massive loss because it fits the narrative. I also couldn’t care very much less about how it makes Soph feel. If she’s already pissed, she wouldn’t have re-signed because Kelli Hubly is on the roster, and Hubly leaving won’t be the reason she leaves. I’d also offer that there’s a very real possibility that Kelli and Eryk will be in the same (not Portland) city next year.
The big issue, as ever, is with the organization and whether Smith (and all of us!) have faith that there’s some semblance of a FO structure given there’s less than a week until 2025. I’m not sure this changes anything for me in either direction.
Yeah I think they end up in SD together. And I don't think Kelli will be sad about it while she's drinking her wine on the beach lol.
As you've said....Kelli was really not good. For many seasons now. It's the fault of the FO for not upgrading that position for way too long (where have we heard this before?) and therefore her slip was really consequential when we had no other options. She should've been a depth CB for at least 2 years now. And with that lower expectation we prob would've kept her on. It's gotta mean that Provenzano is gone too because she's not better than Kelli and offers even less as depth. Norris and Gale have been terrible for the defensive unit as a whole, which hasn't helped. The thing with Soph just rubs salt into what is actually prob the best decision for the club. It's a little unprofessional imo, on Soph's end to make a sly comment online, because she has to know by now that A) Kelli was a FA (it's not like she was traded against her will), and, B) that this is the nature of being a pro athlete. Players get let go. Our defense being bad doesn't help her do her job better! We have to make changes. But they need to upgrade, still, at CB. There's been a ton of churn and I'm not sure we're really better off now.
Anyways...still need a GM! Still have Gale as our coach! So, they can keep rotating deck chairs but I don't see any appreciable change happening until those things are resolved...
Overall, in isolation I'm not sad to see Kelli go. Doesn't move the needle for me either. Having a big deal made about it online because Soph made a dumb comment is stupid...I just wonder who is reshaping this roster. My guess is Norris.
Hubly's achilles heel as a player is, imo, that she lacks speed of thought. Not that she's dumb; lots of smart people don't think _quickly_. But she's visibly slow to react/decide on plays on multiple occasions in every game I've seen her play. That puts her under a lot more pressure and I think is the primary cause of the mistakes she seems to make during games. It also makes her _seem_ slower than she actually is (Hina's just the opposite: her superfast decision-making makes her seem faster than her actual physical pace).
I know I’ve been sounding like I’m slagging on Hubs. But for all that I agree that she has performance issues she’s still an NWSL replacement-grade CB, a decent-enough squad player.
Which makes the really frustrating part of this not the move itself but the club’s silence.
Did she ask for Sauerbrunn-level free agent money? Then it makes perfect sense to let her go! Paying a squad player star-quality money is Financial Stupidity 101. “Replacement-grade” is just that; they’re around to be signed.
But. Did she make a perfectly reasonable salary ask and the club wouldn’t agree? That’s dumb if you didn’t have a replacement lined up ready to ink and the squad player is a piece of squad cohesion (which sounds like the case here - sounds like lots of her teammates like her and want her around).
And we have - and never WILL have - no idea which and are reduced to this ridiculous social media tea-leaf reading.
And to think some folks were actually holding out hope that the new ownership would begin a new era of relative transparency, given the brick-wall opacity of the Peregrine-era FO. With one (huge and absolutely critical) exception: a sense of player safety, this ownership change has been a perfect "careful what you wish for" scenario so far.
I’ve given them a free pass to date because transitioning into a new ownership group has its challenges, but the GM hiring and timing has been problematic to me.
To me, this should have happened before the end of November to give the person the appropriate time to assess and fill holes. Letting an Assistant run with it has led to some missteps.
They seem like status quo because we are used to it, but it does bring up a question of competence. This could be ended with a HR hire and validated if they promote from within / rewarding poor performance
I just commented that what's so insane is how simple it'd be to hold a regular presser to put out the club's messaging. Plus keep the team in the news cycle to whet interest in the coming season. Makes me truly question the Bhathals' sports IQ...
I think I start to realize how old I am when I just assume that people in their early 20s use social media like I used emails or text messages. Don’t view Sophia’s statement as anything more than she is going to miss her friend. I’ve done the same on LinkedIn for people I have worked with in the past
My open concern is the lack of urgency to get this done. When other clubs have gotten their leadership team in place, we appear to be moving at the pace of a turtle with lung failure. It’s really leaving a terrible taste in my mouth.
I gave up my season tickets and spot buy at this point (benefit of living near the stadium). I’m just looking for a reason to re-up, but I haven’t gotten one
I would be really quite surprised if Rob Gale isn't having a big say in how the roster is being shaped right now. I imagine he and KK planned the first portion of the off-season at the end of last season.
As always, all of this is made worse by the lack of any explanation from the club. Two centre backs are gone! They were already short of one. The franchise superstar is upset about the move. We have no actual idea who is making these decisions. All of this festers as long as there's no information.
I swear to god, this club keeps giving me Vietnam (movie) flashbacks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo7lwU3ib4o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SbLKl4C5Rw
Like look at this title, I can't even believe there's a news story about it already, it's so dumb lol:
https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nwsl/2024/12/27/uswnt-star-smith-dismayed-thorns-announce-hubly-exit/77270389007/
"Portland has made one free agent addition thus far, signing center back Sam Hiatt from NJ/NY Gotham FC."
I'm confused?
We've only added one free agent so far, so that seems correct. I don't really consider int'l players included in that because they're all free agents.
Although, I do think Bella was a FA(?) and she re-signed. I dunno if that's considered an "addition", though.
Best way I can summarize my feelings about everything: If this was a new GM clearing out the vets and handing the reins to Coffey, Smith, and Weaver….I’d feel fine. Great, even. This team needed to shift eras one way or another. It’s the uncertainty and lack of faith in *waves at everyone* that’s the issue.
I will say that I’m not worried about the lack of signings. They’ll bring people in, just as they did last January. I don't even have any issues with the moves themselves, in a vacuum. I’m more worried about the distinct possibility that they’ll totally fuck up the stuff they need to get right and then that those people in turn will fuck up the personnel decisions.
My feeling is that by this point the Bhathals have earned the benefit of skepticism; I’m assuming any January signings will be meh, that Ken is here in March, that Smith will be GM.
I’d like to be wrong.
There are some interesting observations on Reddit that some careful sideline observation indicated that Sinc's sendoff would be Kling's last game. If I recall, some of us here predicated that as well.
I wonder if they are just timing these announcements so that each player gets their moment on social media.
I said the same! There was a pic of her and Becky from (I think)) Craig Mitchelldyer (was club photog for Timbers/Thorns) after the game and she was losing it....and we had just won 3-0. She was also losing it while all the players were hand in hand during the rose ceremony at the end.
It seemed a reasonable conclusion and aside from that emotional final home match, the reality is Kling had achieved pre-retirement status on a team in deep need of help most of the year.
12 appearances, 2 starts, 248 minutes logged.
I'll miss her, everybody will miss her. Kling's my tiny Pittsburg spirit animal.
Nobody will be picking her up and I doubt she wants to go to another team. What the Thorns might do to honor her and Becky is anybody's guess. Kling is technically the final Thorn gone, from the first squad I ever watched, back in the day. A few others still play, elsewhere.
Re Hubly: isn't it also possible that it was Hubly who said "thanks but no thanks" to negotiating a new deal with the Thorns because of her family situation? She and her partner may be relocating and looking to start a family- maybe there's no bad blood at all. And even Smith's SM post could just have meant an understandable "oh no I wish my teammate/friend weren't leaving" ?
Vibes are absolutely miserable rn lol
I get really strong “end of 2015” feels only “without the aggressive moves to fix the problems”. IIRC Parsons was here well before the 2016 draft and he and GW were working on the Morgan trade and the Henry deal.
Now..?
"Whiff of 15"
"Oh, man: you got some 2015 on your shoe."
Lot of senior leadership and culture setters among the players has departed this off-season. This stuff does matter, especially when you have a weak coaching staff.
Kling especially seems like she was a huge presence in the squad. Even from the bench she was the leader in every pregame huddle.
Hopefully this doesn’t rule out her (or Sauerbrunn, or both!) returning as ACs. I get that her playing days are over…but you’d think she still has and wants to contribute.
If she and ‘Brunn just bail? I think that’s a real big ownership red flag…
Nothing Kling has posted indicates she's retiring.
True. Other than all the stuff on IG about “closing” and “ending”….
Weak coaching staff and young group of players.
We now have 21 players under contract. Macca will be 31 in February. Bella will turn 30 in December. Hina turns 28 in January. Bella's been with the club since 2019. Moultrie been part of the roster since 2019, though she started here earlier than that.
The youth movement is on, as is the search who will step in what ways as the next generation of leaders.
Losing Sinc, Becky, and Kling all at once is an irreplaceable amount of practical knowledge in soccer, leadership, teambuilding, camaraderie, on and on.
It's gonna be a very interesting time next year.
Yeah, and it just pisses fans off further when we have no insight from the FO (whom STILL includes KK making decisions.) It's like her last FU because players didn't like her. Getting rid of the vets, even if they aren't starters doesn't feel good. Because yeah, as you say...is that why they think 'ol Galey couldn't figure it out? If they do all of this just to keep him...woof.
I don’t see this as a deliberate “Save The Gales” thing, but I can see him basically escaping because the organization is too goofed up to get the GM hire/promotion (and I’m getting similar creepy feelings that this whole farce is likely to end up with some internal hire like Norris or Martinez..!) done in time to replace him.
That’s…almost worse.
Almost? If they internally hire someone after 3 months, this ownership group is flat out incompetent.
It's less incompetent and more indifference. They simply don't care as long as people are buying tickets and the club value is increasing.
And how long will people continue buying tickets? They can coast for a while, but not indefinitely. And the worse they let things get the harder the rebuild will be, both on the field and at the box office.
2026? If this year goes similar or worse than last year, I could see an exodus of fans begin. It was hard to sit though 2024, and we made the playoffs.
Its beyond me how you could buy a club like the Thorns and not feel a sense of urgency.
Hard to say just because we have no idea if they’re searching hard and getting no interest. That seems improbable, but we have no idea…
It looks like Phuoc knows something is coming soon…
https://x.com/phuocerman/status/1873445769673658547?s=46&t=Xqcn-ILJiYl3NWCnoazg7A
Or Phuoc just admitted he's leaving Dreamland and returning to Elfwood:
https://youtu.be/L_pj9fI7QAM?t=33
I, for one, would be thrilled if we signed Bean.
Let’s read far too much into this. I feel like Meghan Klingenberg is by far the most elflike person on the team
The NWSL now rightly frowns upon pre-game slappings on the bum-bum, full moon or otherwise.
Looks like she's returning to Elfwood.
…well
She can bring her gift bladder friend too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqcG28tOaTk
Not crazy that the scene is labeled disenchantment.
It’s the name of the show…it’s on Netflix but I haven’t watched. I think it’s folks who worked on the Simpsons??
Correct! Simpsons and Futurama. Replete with multiple references to Beaverton.
I'm hoping we get a tuba-heavy Thorns anthem written by Mark Mothersbaugh,
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=896609892506564&id=100064726838947&set=a.557519446415612
Something Elfo-like in this visage, no?
I need to see the whole scene from Disenchantment to understand the context.
It's surprisingly hard to find a clip of Weirdo doing Weirdo. Shocko, on the other hand, readily available.
I don’t know whether the best guess is Mark Parsons swooping in to save us after Horan’s wedding, or that Mike Smith and/or Mike Norris are being internally promoted.
Ah, so it's not about Horan. It's about Sharon Horgan, aka "The Dag-marvelous Dagmar"!
only if he brings horan back with him
Glad for Horan. My guess is she ends up in San Diego to be closer to her husband or she waits until the Denver franchise is up and running.
Saw pictures of her at the Broadmoor. Nice, conservative place to have a wedding. Stayed there a few times for business purposes.
I don’t see Parsons not giving Kling a slot for her leadership.
Anyone else’s Parsons-dar going off this morning?
Can we call it Pardar?
And get together for a couple beers and talk about it at a MarPar Pardar bar. Which for me, given my location, would be a far MarPar Pardar bar.
I'll see myself out...
Lol harharhar
The "dar" is unable to see what's going on...probably because nothing is. Well, at least nothing regarding Parsons.
Parsons is a man with a plan, and that plan will be cleaning house. However, cleaning house is no longer Thorns culture. The current culture now "happy talk" in a league where happy talk doesn't win championships.
I’m baffled. Has Parsons ever said anything about “cleaning house”? I agree that the Bhathals have been too slow sweeping out the Peregrine stables…but I’m not sure where or why Parsons is on record complaining about that. Is he?
I my knowledge Parsons has never said anything. On the other hand, I live a half-day's driving like a bat out of hell from Portland and, therefore, am unable to listen to the grape vine. Tea leaves don't blow in this direction either. So, all I can do is draw a chalk line from here to PDX based upon what I think I heard a comment from a while back that said Parsons once had to wrestle with the front office to get the players he wanted (one of whom was Soph Smith? and perhaps Moultrie?).
Last I heard, the Oregonian is no longer available by print subscription...and last I tried to write a letter to the editor via the web I think I was blocked because I'm out of state.
He may be a crap human but Gavin Wilkinson - the "front office" for a big chunk of Parsons' tenure - was a damn effective GM in NWSL 1.0.
Parsons and Wilkinson worked in harness to assemble Parsons' squads starting with the huge 2015-16 offseason. GW helped set up the deal with Orlando that landed the Smith #1 pick in 2020. He led the club's legal team in fighting to get Moultrie's pro contract approved.
IOW, while Parsons may have fallen out with the Peregrine organization in the end, his association with it was productive and profitable for years. And AFAIK he's said absolutely nothing about RAJ other than that he loves Portland and the club.
Now it can be told:
A few years ago, somebody who knows a thing or eleven about international woso told me that KK was going to set the franchise back several years and that whatever his failings may have been, Gavin was a very good GM.
Right on both counts.
With the caveat that GW worked in the pre-FA NWSL, yes. I don't think anyone would argue he was incompetent, just (like a lot of Merritt's pals) kind of a dick.
Which is why I REALLY want the Bhathals to hunt down someone who's been a solid success in a free agent/transfer league. No more retreads!
Okay..."unrecognizable" is kinda funny, since one thing that got Parsons his ticket out was his regression to the mean after 2016-17. I wrote a huge-ass article about that in 2019: https://rivetingpdx.com/2019/12/16/thorns-fc-final-grades-the-coaches-trainers-and-management/
Bottom line? Lots of the same problems we saw with Kenball: crude tactics, WAY too much hoof-and-hope, pointless lateral passes and then a long rainbow that typically went nowhere. The midfield, when it saw the ball, never figured out how to pass through opponents. The backline never re-created the sturdiness of 2017, and the attack was often barren.
Parsons’ substitutions were often inexplicable or just plain bizarre, at times even making the game state worse rather than maintaining things as-is or improving the team position.
So pot, kettle.
Well, let's just say I "like." Thus no reason to "delete." And "MarPar" is a fictional name anyway. No Names Named.
No. Why?
FWIW, if the FO wanted to hire Parsons, why haven't they? Dude's unemployed, he's got tons of connections here...it'd seem painfully simple to sign him if he and they wanted to.
Not saying it's not possible and that there may be issues we're not seeing that's held it up. But...you'd think it'd have been done weeks ago if Parsons was the original target...
It’s unfortunate we can’t post pictures in comments anymore, but I’m guessing he’s referring to MarPar’s IG story of being at the airport about to fly out. In fact, it’s virtually the exact same picture he took a month back at the same airline and then appeared in Portland the next day for Sinc’s final game.
Speaking of, randomly saw this recent short little blurb in which he gushes about Portland: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDL_vAXNXm2/?igsh=MW1uYXJ4cGdrbGpxOQ==
It’s an IG reel, so I’m not sure if you can watch it here or if I did it right, but I tried lol. Here’s the full interview in video form, it’s from a couple weeks ago: https://youtu.be/DR5PloA_0Cc?si=5yg8GBIEDChqb9Of
Wow! Gushing is right. You could turn that clip into a commercial to attract fans and players.
You can tell that he really has an emotional tie to this club and this city. It's def nice to have him giving us free PR! Lol. He's at least someone who remembers when we were one of the best clubs in woso.
I've been expecting the new GM to be announced since the day we crashed out of the playoffs. As of now, that was 47 days ago. The continued silence, with not so much as a "we're working on it" statement, has gotten frustrating.
fwiw, it's been fairly widely discussed that Parsons was on at least one shortlist for a HC job in recent weeks. So I don't think it's just a case of if they wanted to get him they would've without any difficulty
Given that Parsons has insisted that he's not done coaching that makes perfect sense; he would see a Thorns GM gig as a fallback if he doesn't get the coaching job he prefers, so he'd d play hard-to-get here until/if he gets passed over wherever-there-is...
Yeah, do you think that *other* spot is gonna announce who soon, or? I imagine one shoe drops immediately after the other…
I think the obvious favourite for a high profile coaching job is on vacation with their family in Sweden and the Netherlands right now, but I imagine it's done relatively quickly, assuming that person wants the job.
However it’s happened, we should really have a ton of $$$/cap space for some decent signings. Sinc and Becky retiring. Maybe Kling retiring but out either way. And Hubly out. That’s a lot of vet $$$ off the books.
Judging from her IG post, it does appears she chose this....so at least there's that. "This isn't the ending I wanted, but it's the ending I chose." Is that retirement?
As I replied below, tho; still doesn’t rule out Kling not getting an offer and “choosing” to retire rather than look elsewhere.
Yeah, that part is opaque. She does also say " And as every athlete knows, getting to choose your ending is a rare gift..."
Fwiw, the responses from the players (on her post) seem very different than with the Hubly news.
Two very different people.
Hubs seems like someone who’s “fun”…which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Kling is like the team spirit mascot…
I just mean the players were literally mad and even 3 of Hubly's longtime best friends from Chicago were posting angry comments saying the club was clueless. Sam Coffey's dad even posted being upset lol. Meaning, it was def not what Hubly wanted...regardless of what we think about the decision.
Whereas with Kling, it's all happy goodbyes.
Interesting.
Yeah, it isn’t really “controversial” to see a veteran hang ‘em up. Kling’s had a good run, and seems to be closing the door without rancor.
But to get a monster case of red ass because a squad player gets cut? Umm…
Anyone wants to hear what Carlos Martinez-Gloria sounds like... because we're sure not going to hear it from the Thorns FO... you can hear him interviewed as Houston Dash Assistant GM here. Cue the podcast to 28:00. It's from 202 so a bit dated, but it's fairly open-ended and it offers a sense of who he is. He seems pretty chill, conscientious, detail-oriented, and like a real fan of the game and the players. Organizationally, he seems like a "glue guy."
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ari-lassiter-carlos-martinez-gloria--40679004
Are you thinking he’ll be our full time GM?