Join the journey of my first ever trip to the NWSL Championship Final. I made my way down to San Diego to represent Stumptown Footy in the finale of the 2023 NWSL season.
So. As of this morning there are fourteen working days to the expansion draft.
We still have no real idea 1) how close we are to new ownership, and 2) how prepared those new owners are to take control of the FO.
Obviously the “easy” solution would be to retain all or most of the Peregrine staff.
The problem with that is that neither KK nor Mike Norris has done enough to warrant being given a renewed license to fiddle with the roster. It’s easy, but risky, IMO.
But the only other option would be to have a full set of replacements, a “shadow FO” ready to move in. Is that in the works? No idea…except you’d think if it was someone around the shadow-GM or -HC would have hinted to someone else who in turn spills to Kassouf or Linehan or…so my guess is…maybe not?
Anyway…tick-tock. The clock is running, and every sunrise means less time for the buyers to have a plan and their people in place.
WRT the expansion draft, PTFC is fortunate that they'e already kind of bullet-proofed by having the unsigned free agents- after their top protected 9, there's honestly nobody that would be a terrible loss on the pitch. The best move re the expansion teams may be no move at all, and let them select who they'll select, then wait a month for the new owners to sign free agents, both old and hopefully new. The rookie draft in January, however, could end up being wasted- perhaps they'd be better off selling their picks or swapping for picks next year.
I usually rely on Henderson to get a sense for how good the NCAA cohort is, and he’s still wrapped up in the College Cup, so it’s hard to tell if there’s likely to be anyone of real value to be had by #13 overall , let alone the later rounds. As big a dick as he was, Gavin seemed to work well with Parsons at doing things like packaging picks and trading up to mine the college draft for quality that KK and Parsons successors have lacked. So I’m not really sure what to expect.
I think one unanticipated benefit of the thin depth on the current squad is it makes a nine-player protected list kind of easy. Once you get to nine it seems kind of meh whether number ten is Nally or Porter; either one is pretty replaceable.
The FAs? Is anyone outside of Sauerbrunn really endangered? Don’t see Bay City grabbing Sinc or Kling, signed or not.
Still…hopefully the buyers are ready and have a plan for drafts and roster-building in general…
Looks like Beleza are back! My favorite team in Japanese club WoSo, once basically the Lyon or Barca of Japan (that is, overwhelmingly better than any other side), have not had everything their way since the restructure that created the very deeply-competitive WE League. They've finished in contention for the title, but haven't won since the restructure, nor have they lifted the Empress' Cup in a while. But after an excellent pre-season, they're off to a great start, undefeated in the first four matches with three wins and a draw. The draw was against Urawa, the defending champs, who are also undefeated but with one less match played (they had to postpone one because they're in the Asian Women's Club Cup). Beleza already have a +13 goal differential after clobbering MyNavi Sendai earlier today, 5-0 (brace for young star attacker Aoba Fujino). I watched the match (they're all on DAZN), and they looked really good in terms of coherency and "on-the-same-page-ness," especially for it still being early in the season.
More than any other Japanese club, Beleza gets picked over - mostly by rich men's-team-financed Euro sides, but also by NWSL sides on occasion. That's down in large part to their incredible academy, though...so the pipeline of players keeps them competitive. I can only imagine what they'd be like if they still had Yui Hasegawa, Jun Endo, Moeka Minami, etc... But whatever...I haz a happy right now. ;)
So just wondering...no love left over for Norddea Hokkaido? Looks like they play in Sapporo, but also looks like they're pretty far down - Nadeshiko D2, so lower half of the semi-pro league.
Still...might be a fun afternoon if Beleza isn't playing to take a cold Sapporo to whatever public park they're playing and join their fifty fans in a chorus of "Vamo Nippon"...
Oh, definitely going to support them! But their season is over (it runs opposite the WE League) and won't start up until April. I _hope_ they're still in D2, but if there's pro/rel involving leagues even lower, they won't be: they were bottom of the table last season. =(
Apparently the trade window reopens today and doesn't close until the 12th just prior to the draft....so I guess we could still see some deals prior to the draft. Bring on thee chaos!
Btw very good friend of Janine Beckie, Ellie Roebuck, has just been dropped from the England Nats. Coach Wiegman has said it's because she's not getting minutes in club (at Man City.) Apparently she's been overtaken by a young keeper, so just sits. I don't really know too much about her skills, but does anyone else have an opinion? (She's a GK, for anyone wondering.) I know a club that could use a better #1...
Janine was just hanging out with her a few days ago...
tl:dr, seems like she was a somewhat meh/average GK in her first four seasons (example, 2020-21 PSxG-GA/90 of -0.13, 6th out of 13 starting GKs listed), then played only 10 matches in 2021-22 (weirdly, because her stats improved; PSxG-GA/90 +0.04, 2nd of 15) and then fell back off the table in 2022-23 (PSxG-GA/90, -0.27, 7th out of 15).
That's helpful, thanks! I know you're a GK/stats guy. I don't know much about her, only that she was on the English National team for a while, and that she's very close friends with JB. I know City has mismanaged many players over the years (ie.. Rose Lavelle), so thought maybe this was something like that. If we're gonna push Bix to the bench (and we should), it should def be for a player who is a step up...
I thought that there might have been some sort of mess in 2021-22; her performance improved but her starts declined. WTF? But her 22-23 looks ugly, so it's possible that she suffered some sort of injury and struggled afterwards. Dunno.
Shelby Hogan looked fine in limited minutes, and we still have Kozal as backup. I think we're fine at GK.
Latest Tobin and Heath share her experience of the Louisville expansion draft and other things in her and Press' latest 13th episode of their re-cap episode.
I've always wondered if something didn't happen to Heath's relationship with Parsons and the club in 2020.
She was one of the few (might have been the only, I honestly don't recall...) players who refused to go to Utah for that goofy closed-door tournament that was all the league could come up with during the Plague Year. Not just that; her socials were completely Thorns-free, even after the crazy Weaver Damned-killing quarterfinal. It seemed - it FELT - like she was on the outs with the squad.
She'd struggled with injury a lot, she'd been ineffective in 2019 (after, admittedly, a big 2018 that was only deflated by the Finals rout...), so it seemed very "not surprising" that, as ABell4 points out, she wasn't protected in the expansion draft. It was, as ABell4 also points out, very UNexpected that Racing took her.
The other thing to remember is...Weaver. The first time we got to see, really see her, was in Utah in 2020, and boy fucking howdy was she good. There's a real question there whether even had Heath returned in 2021, would she - SHOULD she - have forced Weaver to the bench?
You know I saw this was posted but really hesitate to listen because I just feel frustrated. I logged into twitter the morning it was posted to "fuck thorns" trending on twitter lol, because of this, and I was like "nah"...
What I feel is missed by all these weird Tobin stans (and nuance in general, by internet people) is that she had already left the club (to United, I think), and we just held her rights. We had just gotten Crystal Dunn. We were only allowed to protect a certain amount of allocated players for that draft (2), and with Crystal would've been at our max, considering the other player who would've obviously been protected (Horan.) No club ever ever ever would've protected the *rights to ____* over a newly brought in allocated player (or one of the best players on the team.)
From what I remember, Louisville was supposed to take AD from Portland....that's why the protection list was set up the way it was. They went rogue and started taking all of these player rights for folks who never were gonna (and never did) step foot in Louisville for the club. They also took a few Aussie player's rights, who absolutely were never gonna come there. Regardless though, wtf was the Thorns supposed to do, not protect Dunn or Horan, who were at the club playing and who would've absolutely been taken if left out? Like....? We could only protect 2 allocated players. The expansion draft is/was BS in the first place, but I don't get how that was a betrayal from the Thorns. This club has done a whole lot wrong, but I just don't get the vitriol for the Thorns because of Tobin...
Dunno if her playing days are over, but I'd love her to come back under new management and maybe work at the academy or some other coaching position. I wonder if she'd ever consider....I believe she still owns a condo up here next to the stadium.
We have F-ing Tobin Heath was a real thing said by our actual, now former, coach. As much as Sinc was the foundation of the Thorns so was Heath. There is a loud portions of the fan base that are player centric. Tobin didn't expect to be protected but also didn't expect to be taken. She was taken and her future plans went up in smoke. If you have a parasocial relationship and they hurt you are going to be mad. All the Thorns could have done is try to trade back for her like they did with Houston and Shim all those years ago for very different reasons. Heath never asked to be traded back and that is how it likely ends with her. Whatever that would have cost to get her back would not have been a good deal for the Thorns. And by the end of the 2021 season basically everyone had moved on and there was no more room on the left wing for her. Tobin also had that PSG stint near the beginning of her time with the Thorns. This was the first time she wasn't coming back though. If we are to take Tobin at her word here coming back was very much in the cards. One year to try and stay fit for the 2020 Olympics became forever and hardly any fitness. If you got from that F the Thorns from that podcast, you had that mindset going in IMO.
Per her wiki 22 appearances since she left the injuries have just piled up. 8 appearances at Manchester United, 9 at Arsenal and 5 for the Reign. I hope she gets to return for one more game with Press and ACFC. We never got to say goodbye to her on the field and it still hurts a little. If her playing career is done I hope her other endeavors bring her much joy.
Given how the Shim trade-back went? I'm not surprised the Thorns didn't wanna step in that river twice.
And yes; by 2021 all but the most Heath-centric observer would have had to call her "injury-susceptible" if not injury-prone, and what remained of her career since then just drove that home, sadly.
When you think about it, how many times DO you get the chance to give a favorite player a final ovation? Think of all the favorites who slipped away without a word; Raso, Carpenter, Nadim, Shim - who returned in a different kit! - Betos, Franch...that's kinda the nature of the biz. As a pro I'm sure Heath gets that, and knows that we'd give her the applause if we could.
That was an interesting listen for sure. I had always wondered what transpired when Racing took her rights. Honestly, and I might be in the minority, I always though Tobin should be in the ring of honor and retire as a Thorn. She was part of 2 championship Thorns teams and had some big moments for the club. More importantly, many of us felt she was a big part of the club identity when she was here.
Obviously she was huge in the 2013 playoff run; scored in the FCKC semi, scored the winner in Rochester…but she arrived very late from PSG and barely played at all in the regular season. That squad always felt like Sinclair’s if anyone’s - the Dani Foxhoven interview suggested that the identity that season was “factions”…
The Riley seasons were - as we now know - troubled, and Heath’s role is hard to assess. She played in Europe again in ‘14 so arrived late.again. Hard to assess her contribution to ‘15, the worst season in Thorns history.
In 2016 she WAS huge; assist monster, team leader, and Riley and Vega thugging her out of the semifinal was crucial to the WNY title that season.
She was injured for most of the 2017 title run, and her role in the Final was marred by a cynical foul that characterized how ugly that game was.
She was huge again - this time as a scorer - in 2018.
The next season she crashed. Injuries, the WC, meant she missed a lot of the season and her contributions were muted, especially in the semifinal loss.
She chose not to go to Utah in 2020.
And that was pretty much that.
She was definitely a big part of the club. But I always wondered how much of its “identity” she formed. It seemed like Sinc’s (and maybe Morgan’s?) in the first 3 seasons. After 2016 Sinc, Horan, Kling… those three seemed like the team leaders. Heath always seemed like the guest star who was there to do stuff like break ankles and be cool and ironic.
When she was on? She sure was fun to watch, tho. That part of the club she definitely repped.
We have a college draft update from the league. Thorns currently have 6 picks this year. All 4 natural picks and the ACFC 2nd rounder as part of the Yazmeen Ryan trade and Houston's 3rd rounder we acquired when we traded the last pick of the 2023 draft for 10K and this 2024 3rd round pick.
With Utah/Bay City swapping 1st and 2nd place each round. The rest of the natural order is as below.
3 Chicago
4 Kansas City
5 Houston
6 Louisville
7 Washington DC
8 Orlando
Playoff Line
9 Los Angeles
10 North Carolina
11 Portland
12 San Diego
13 Reign
14 Gotham
4 rounds 56 picks. 13 of them have currently changed hands. 4 already known trades in each the first 3 rounds and the very last pick of the draft has gone from Gotham to Orlando.
First 2 hours on ION. The entire draft will be on ION Plus. ION Plus seems like some sort of niche streaming service that steams for free on things like Samsung TV plus or watch Vizio. Have fun finding it if you want to slog through the draft.
FWIW, on an LG smart TV Ion Plus is channel IP-202. Regular Ion is IP-102 or 42.3 (over the air on Portland). I only have the one TV, so can't help with Samsung, etc.
One first round, two second, and then table scraps…
I’ll be curious to see if the buyers keep KK on to do this or if they have a “shadow GM” in place, or what. If I was them I’d go with Door #2; KK hasn’t been good enough to warrant keeping around if there’s another option available.
I mean...good for her? I didn't see anything special, but she seemed like a decent enough squad player who deserves to chase her dream as far as she can...
I'm not quite as ready to write Beckie off compared with the majority of this forum. Not sure I'd protect her either though. And we definitely over-paid. But I remember hearing an interview with her in late 2022 where she mentioned that between WSL, Olympics, and NWSL, she'd basically been "in season" for close to two years with no breaks and that she felt it had affected her play for Thorns. And remember, Rhian had her playing OB for a while which was disastrous. If she returns post-ACL and gets into good form, the combination of Beckie on the wing with Hina central could be a pretty good set-up.
I think I've always been in this camp...I do think she was overpaid for to the extreme (bad business on KK's part), still hasn't logged a goal (in 20 appearances), and was playing OB (oftentimes replacing Natu, which was just stupid.) But, I am curious to see if she can do more, because of the exhaustion angle...though I'm still dubious that she's a starter. She's never really been a great goalscorer for Canada, either. Yaz Ryan pushed her to the bench by the end of the season because she just wasn't super effective. Hard to be a starting F on the top team if you aren't scoring goals. I don't remember her assist count, so maybe that was better? I still think she's the definition of "good depth" and that we should be aspiring for more from our starting F's. She's now 29, and coming back from injury, so I don't know how much her skillset will improve. I wouldn't protect her, but I would give her the +1 spot over Bixby because I think we very much lack players of her caliber, which again, I think would be "good depth player." We don't have many of those...
You forget, protect Bixby (even though she was in the bottom 3 of GK's this season, and had a meh season last year as well) over a field player even though Bixby likely wouldn't get picked by either expansion team anyways.
Also, somehow find a way to sign Mike Norris to a contract to protect him also lol.
Janine Beckie, Hannah Betfort, Bella Bixby, Sam Coffey, Izzy D’Aquila, Shelby Hogan, Kelli Hubly, Lauren Kozal, Emily Menges, Olivia Moultrie, Meaghan Nally, Reyna Reyes, Rocky Rodríguez, Sophia Smith, Hina Sugita and Morgan Weaver.
The team is currently in ongoing contract negotiations with Gabby Provenzano, who is out of contract.
Natalie Beckman is out of contract and has not been extended a bona fide offer. Beckman will be eligible for selection on the NWSL Re-Entry Wire. Additionally, Rikke Sevecke will not return to the club in 2024.
Michele Vasconcelos’s mutual option for the 2024 season has been declined and she is now an unrestricted free agent. Crystal Dunn, Meghan Klingenberg, Tegan McGrady, Becky Sauerbrunn and Christine Sinclair are all unrestricted free agents, while Natalia Kuikka and Taylor Porter are restricted free agents.
I guess Provenzano is depth. Will be interesting to see which of the UFA testing the water return.
Dunn is done. McGrady and Vasconcelos are likely to leave. I would think Kling & Sinclair are as good of locks as possible to stay. Sauerbrunn I think stays but could go.
Will be interesting to see what happens with Porter. Will coffee make the final 18 in Paris? Will Porter's experience with the team keep her here as cover for Coffey? I think Kuikka stays but I could of course be wrong.
Vasconcelos option was declined. If Peregrine didn't pick up her option, what chance they'll offer her FA money? Unless the club changes hands this week and the new owners throw money at her? She's gone.
My guess is that the club doesn't make McGrady or Porter an offer unless and until neither one gets a tug from another club. Then they can be signed for the league minimum, if they want work.
I don't think the option was as valid option for the team anyway. Like last year options went to arbitration and the players became free agents. At the announcement of free agents for this year I vaguely remember them this was the case again for this year. I am not entirely sure there was actually a valid option available to the Thorns to exercise. Vasconcelos were listed as an UFA.
Also, after seeing Michele Vasconcelos' goodbye post on social media, it was Michele that declined her option to stay. Says she wants to follow a dream that she's had for a long time and will share soon. So, you could say Thorns have lost 2 of their FA's so far...
My guess is that dream will bring her back to her hometown of Sandy, UT to play in front of family, where she can also eventually retire. But who knows, maybe she's a diehard Ajax fan or something...
Vasconcelos got herself traded from Chicago to the Royals just before the Royals folded and headed back to KC. I think she played only 1 or 2 games in the 2020 Fall Series for them. Must have been hard to get so close to that dream of playing in her home city only to have it taken away. She also has at least one child, so being near family is probably very attractive.
Anyone with any insight into whether the league will eventually require the teams to post a waiver list and if not, why not? I see Washington finally published a roster update today (11/20) listing the three they waived, but AFAIK the league wide master list was supposed to drop 11/13. So..? Anybody?
I'm not sure that they'll compile a master list for all the teams, you kinda just have to read each team's press release and see who they waived. I think that's all that was due to the league by the deadline today... Mostly I've just seen scraps, but I think KC waived like 4 or 5 players (the most of any team I've seen.)
Doesn't look like there's a waiver list yet, but I did notice that the league has a transaction tracker and a free agency tracker on the website. Past years this was only done through Equalizer and KeeperNotes and not always up-to-date. Progress?
I didn't see anything this year, but I don't know if that is a 2023 thing or they stopped doing this some time ago. The last one I can find is from 2020.
Taylor Vincent is doing a decent job posting all of the releases by team today. The language isn't always consistent, which I why I agree a master list would be helpful....but most will say who is waived/contract not picked up, and who is still out of contract (which I guess means negotiations ongoing) a la Gabby Provenzano...
Dunn? I mean, the list isn’t wrong, and she’s an unrestricted free agent…but given her little show in San Diego? I’d say it’s 99.999% certain she’s not a Thorns free agent!
Everyone else is pretty much expected. Vasconcelos and Beckman barely got minutes. I’m kinda surprised they’re still chasing Provenzano given that she didn’t, either.
But Sevecke? She looked promising, at least. Why go and sign her, never play her, and now just waive her?
Yeah I was wondering about Provenzano also...I figured she'd be waived. She is way too slow to be a CB in this league and doesn't seem to have the technical chops (at least yet) to make up for it...
They must have looked at our flawless defending in the last few games, and said “there is no way Sevecke has anything to contribute to this impenetrable fortress”
Snark aside, my only guess is that she signed with Peregrine on a "in case of emergency break glass" sort of basis and now that they're on the way out they don't want to pay her and she doesn't want to wait around for the new boss?
Idunno. The Peregrine FO has been a black hole from the GW days (see: "The Inexplicable Persistence of Hanna Terry") and this is just another WTF...
The December window is usually reserved for the younger callups to be seen, so it's not TOO surprising....but, they're getting serious about making every person earn their spot! There's some competition at fullback, honestly, and Crystal has kinda lost some mojo since WC. I think folks like Huerta and Sullivan should be more worried...
Some other top vets out too, like Morgan and Sauerbrunn. Dunn appears to be packing/moving, and Morgan is apparently on vacation...Becky is just prob playing Zelda at home lol.
Hellloooo! I was never realllllly gone. But with the end-of-season slump we had, and the only useful thought in my head being, "Never ever ever ever let Angel City do that again," I found myself without much to say.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be a strong offseason though, and I have spies all around town keeping me posted.
Lol, I'm unsure if Crystal will ge moved to the midfield at this point because there's so much competition in midfield and there's a short window with an overseas coach...I kinda think ship has sailed for her there, unfortunately.
Also maybe relevant, but when Crystal played for Chelsea for a season (under Emma Hayes), it was the first time she converted to a fullback/wingback lol. Then the US said, hmmmm....
Rikki Sevecke shows up on (Chris Henderson's version of) the PTFC roster. Assuming this is correct, then she probably goes on the Thorns' protected list ahead of the expansion draft, no? A 27-yr-old 5'11" International-level CB: if she's good, she's exactly what the Thorns need, positionally.
Maybe this makes the Bixby/Betfort/Hubly protection moot?
The interesting things about these people is that while they seem loaded and willing to spend and make deals (based on their record w the Kings) they don’t seem all that GOOD at it; they bought the Kings in 2013 and spent ten years wasting time and money as the team was a trashfire. It finally improved last season - nine Head Coaches later! - but just to “first round playoff loser” level.
I don’t know enough about the NBA to know if that’s a weirdly long time to faff about losing. But it does make me wonder how good judges of sporting talent these people are.
The Kings were BAAAAADDDDD bad. Their winning percentage hovered around .300-.400 for the whole decade between 2013-2023. And - tho I won't pretend to be an NBA expert - pro basketball is usually considered more of a "coach's game" (unlike soccer as a "players' game") so when bball teams crater it's the coach who gets it in the neck. And the Kings did a LOT of cratering.
My concerns with these people are:
1) the Kings suggest that they weren't good finding competent sports people in that sport. Could they do better in soccer? Sure! But their record in Sacramento isn't encouraging; the team was shit year after year, and nobody they brought in - players or coaches - could change that.
2) They're "out-of-town-owners". We've seen how well the Vulcans running the Blazers from Seattle has worked. Why are these people any less likely to have some of the same issues?
I'm not saying "hate on these people!". I'm suggesting that, having cut Paulson a lot of slack and having seen what he did with it, that - assuming we get the opportunity - we not be credulous about whatever PR we're fed. Ask them hard questions. Seek out answers. Get them to lay out a plan - a real plan, not a puff of vaporware - to solve the roster and coaching problems we saw this season.
I'm not betting we'll even get that chance! But if we do, I hope we take it. I'd hate to see this club go from one troubling owner to another without so much as a tough Q&A...
The Kings have famously been Vivek Ranadive's team from FO stuff to coaching, and sometimes even roster/draft choices- Not really sure we can learn too much about these guys' ownership abilities from looking at the Kings.
(Fwiw, I'm also a big NBA guy and the Kings have *completely* turned it around over the last few years, coinciding with the opening of Golden One. They made the playoffs as a 3 seed for the first time in 16 years last season. There's a lot of optimism there for the first time in a looong time)
Yeah from what I read, the Bhathals (or is it just the son, Alex?)…whoever has ownership stake in the Kings from that family is only a minority owner. I’m guessing this means they aren’t making the primary decisions? I know literally nothing about basketball but it would seem the majority owners would be the ones more involved making the hiring decisions…Maybe they just have a minority stake because of the real estate/stadium deal. ???
I got that. What seems odd is that it took them a decade to figure it out. That suggests to me that if this guy Ranadive is as much of a micromanager as you’re saying (and I’ve read that, too…) that it took him ten years to stop thinking that he was smarter than people who knew the game, and find someone who did. That’s an owner type I’ve worked for and it’s often really frustrating, as frustrating as it must have been for Kings fans over that long postseason drought.
I honestly hope this dude is smart and energetic. But if Paulson has taught us anything, it should be to approach these rich people with healthy skepticism. Ask tough questions, don’t accept pat answers. This guy isn’t in this to do us any favors. If he “does good by doing well”? Great! But Paulson showed us who he was pretty early with his 2011 feud with the TA, and we gave him a pass because we love our team(s) and wanted him to be a good guy. Well…
So. As of this morning there are fourteen working days to the expansion draft.
We still have no real idea 1) how close we are to new ownership, and 2) how prepared those new owners are to take control of the FO.
Obviously the “easy” solution would be to retain all or most of the Peregrine staff.
The problem with that is that neither KK nor Mike Norris has done enough to warrant being given a renewed license to fiddle with the roster. It’s easy, but risky, IMO.
But the only other option would be to have a full set of replacements, a “shadow FO” ready to move in. Is that in the works? No idea…except you’d think if it was someone around the shadow-GM or -HC would have hinted to someone else who in turn spills to Kassouf or Linehan or…so my guess is…maybe not?
Anyway…tick-tock. The clock is running, and every sunrise means less time for the buyers to have a plan and their people in place.
WRT the expansion draft, PTFC is fortunate that they'e already kind of bullet-proofed by having the unsigned free agents- after their top protected 9, there's honestly nobody that would be a terrible loss on the pitch. The best move re the expansion teams may be no move at all, and let them select who they'll select, then wait a month for the new owners to sign free agents, both old and hopefully new. The rookie draft in January, however, could end up being wasted- perhaps they'd be better off selling their picks or swapping for picks next year.
I usually rely on Henderson to get a sense for how good the NCAA cohort is, and he’s still wrapped up in the College Cup, so it’s hard to tell if there’s likely to be anyone of real value to be had by #13 overall , let alone the later rounds. As big a dick as he was, Gavin seemed to work well with Parsons at doing things like packaging picks and trading up to mine the college draft for quality that KK and Parsons successors have lacked. So I’m not really sure what to expect.
I think one unanticipated benefit of the thin depth on the current squad is it makes a nine-player protected list kind of easy. Once you get to nine it seems kind of meh whether number ten is Nally or Porter; either one is pretty replaceable.
The FAs? Is anyone outside of Sauerbrunn really endangered? Don’t see Bay City grabbing Sinc or Kling, signed or not.
Still…hopefully the buyers are ready and have a plan for drafts and roster-building in general…
Looks like Beleza are back! My favorite team in Japanese club WoSo, once basically the Lyon or Barca of Japan (that is, overwhelmingly better than any other side), have not had everything their way since the restructure that created the very deeply-competitive WE League. They've finished in contention for the title, but haven't won since the restructure, nor have they lifted the Empress' Cup in a while. But after an excellent pre-season, they're off to a great start, undefeated in the first four matches with three wins and a draw. The draw was against Urawa, the defending champs, who are also undefeated but with one less match played (they had to postpone one because they're in the Asian Women's Club Cup). Beleza already have a +13 goal differential after clobbering MyNavi Sendai earlier today, 5-0 (brace for young star attacker Aoba Fujino). I watched the match (they're all on DAZN), and they looked really good in terms of coherency and "on-the-same-page-ness," especially for it still being early in the season.
More than any other Japanese club, Beleza gets picked over - mostly by rich men's-team-financed Euro sides, but also by NWSL sides on occasion. That's down in large part to their incredible academy, though...so the pipeline of players keeps them competitive. I can only imagine what they'd be like if they still had Yui Hasegawa, Jun Endo, Moeka Minami, etc... But whatever...I haz a happy right now. ;)
So just wondering...no love left over for Norddea Hokkaido? Looks like they play in Sapporo, but also looks like they're pretty far down - Nadeshiko D2, so lower half of the semi-pro league.
Still...might be a fun afternoon if Beleza isn't playing to take a cold Sapporo to whatever public park they're playing and join their fifty fans in a chorus of "Vamo Nippon"...
Oh, definitely going to support them! But their season is over (it runs opposite the WE League) and won't start up until April. I _hope_ they're still in D2, but if there's pro/rel involving leagues even lower, they won't be: they were bottom of the table last season. =(
Yike! Poor Norddea, and Sapporo fans, if they drop - not sure what’s below ND2 but it sounds like amateur/nonleague levels…
Apparently the trade window reopens today and doesn't close until the 12th just prior to the draft....so I guess we could still see some deals prior to the draft. Bring on thee chaos!
Btw very good friend of Janine Beckie, Ellie Roebuck, has just been dropped from the England Nats. Coach Wiegman has said it's because she's not getting minutes in club (at Man City.) Apparently she's been overtaken by a young keeper, so just sits. I don't really know too much about her skills, but does anyone else have an opinion? (She's a GK, for anyone wondering.) I know a club that could use a better #1...
Janine was just hanging out with her a few days ago...
Here's her stats at FBRef: https://fbref.com/en/players/16d7db66/Ellie-Roebuck#all_stats_keeper
tl:dr, seems like she was a somewhat meh/average GK in her first four seasons (example, 2020-21 PSxG-GA/90 of -0.13, 6th out of 13 starting GKs listed), then played only 10 matches in 2021-22 (weirdly, because her stats improved; PSxG-GA/90 +0.04, 2nd of 15) and then fell back off the table in 2022-23 (PSxG-GA/90, -0.27, 7th out of 15).
So not really an upgrade on Bixby.
That's helpful, thanks! I know you're a GK/stats guy. I don't know much about her, only that she was on the English National team for a while, and that she's very close friends with JB. I know City has mismanaged many players over the years (ie.. Rose Lavelle), so thought maybe this was something like that. If we're gonna push Bix to the bench (and we should), it should def be for a player who is a step up...
I thought that there might have been some sort of mess in 2021-22; her performance improved but her starts declined. WTF? But her 22-23 looks ugly, so it's possible that she suffered some sort of injury and struggled afterwards. Dunno.
Shelby Hogan looked fine in limited minutes, and we still have Kozal as backup. I think we're fine at GK.
Latest Tobin and Heath share her experience of the Louisville expansion draft and other things in her and Press' latest 13th episode of their re-cap episode.
Heath cries, I cried, maybe you will.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0q5VFo7dAQHKqxBpMFzyZD
I've always wondered if something didn't happen to Heath's relationship with Parsons and the club in 2020.
She was one of the few (might have been the only, I honestly don't recall...) players who refused to go to Utah for that goofy closed-door tournament that was all the league could come up with during the Plague Year. Not just that; her socials were completely Thorns-free, even after the crazy Weaver Damned-killing quarterfinal. It seemed - it FELT - like she was on the outs with the squad.
She'd struggled with injury a lot, she'd been ineffective in 2019 (after, admittedly, a big 2018 that was only deflated by the Finals rout...), so it seemed very "not surprising" that, as ABell4 points out, she wasn't protected in the expansion draft. It was, as ABell4 also points out, very UNexpected that Racing took her.
The other thing to remember is...Weaver. The first time we got to see, really see her, was in Utah in 2020, and boy fucking howdy was she good. There's a real question there whether even had Heath returned in 2021, would she - SHOULD she - have forced Weaver to the bench?
You know I saw this was posted but really hesitate to listen because I just feel frustrated. I logged into twitter the morning it was posted to "fuck thorns" trending on twitter lol, because of this, and I was like "nah"...
What I feel is missed by all these weird Tobin stans (and nuance in general, by internet people) is that she had already left the club (to United, I think), and we just held her rights. We had just gotten Crystal Dunn. We were only allowed to protect a certain amount of allocated players for that draft (2), and with Crystal would've been at our max, considering the other player who would've obviously been protected (Horan.) No club ever ever ever would've protected the *rights to ____* over a newly brought in allocated player (or one of the best players on the team.)
From what I remember, Louisville was supposed to take AD from Portland....that's why the protection list was set up the way it was. They went rogue and started taking all of these player rights for folks who never were gonna (and never did) step foot in Louisville for the club. They also took a few Aussie player's rights, who absolutely were never gonna come there. Regardless though, wtf was the Thorns supposed to do, not protect Dunn or Horan, who were at the club playing and who would've absolutely been taken if left out? Like....? We could only protect 2 allocated players. The expansion draft is/was BS in the first place, but I don't get how that was a betrayal from the Thorns. This club has done a whole lot wrong, but I just don't get the vitriol for the Thorns because of Tobin...
Dunno if her playing days are over, but I'd love her to come back under new management and maybe work at the academy or some other coaching position. I wonder if she'd ever consider....I believe she still owns a condo up here next to the stadium.
We have F-ing Tobin Heath was a real thing said by our actual, now former, coach. As much as Sinc was the foundation of the Thorns so was Heath. There is a loud portions of the fan base that are player centric. Tobin didn't expect to be protected but also didn't expect to be taken. She was taken and her future plans went up in smoke. If you have a parasocial relationship and they hurt you are going to be mad. All the Thorns could have done is try to trade back for her like they did with Houston and Shim all those years ago for very different reasons. Heath never asked to be traded back and that is how it likely ends with her. Whatever that would have cost to get her back would not have been a good deal for the Thorns. And by the end of the 2021 season basically everyone had moved on and there was no more room on the left wing for her. Tobin also had that PSG stint near the beginning of her time with the Thorns. This was the first time she wasn't coming back though. If we are to take Tobin at her word here coming back was very much in the cards. One year to try and stay fit for the 2020 Olympics became forever and hardly any fitness. If you got from that F the Thorns from that podcast, you had that mindset going in IMO.
Per her wiki 22 appearances since she left the injuries have just piled up. 8 appearances at Manchester United, 9 at Arsenal and 5 for the Reign. I hope she gets to return for one more game with Press and ACFC. We never got to say goodbye to her on the field and it still hurts a little. If her playing career is done I hope her other endeavors bring her much joy.
Given how the Shim trade-back went? I'm not surprised the Thorns didn't wanna step in that river twice.
And yes; by 2021 all but the most Heath-centric observer would have had to call her "injury-susceptible" if not injury-prone, and what remained of her career since then just drove that home, sadly.
When you think about it, how many times DO you get the chance to give a favorite player a final ovation? Think of all the favorites who slipped away without a word; Raso, Carpenter, Nadim, Shim - who returned in a different kit! - Betos, Franch...that's kinda the nature of the biz. As a pro I'm sure Heath gets that, and knows that we'd give her the applause if we could.
That was an interesting listen for sure. I had always wondered what transpired when Racing took her rights. Honestly, and I might be in the minority, I always though Tobin should be in the ring of honor and retire as a Thorn. She was part of 2 championship Thorns teams and had some big moments for the club. More importantly, many of us felt she was a big part of the club identity when she was here.
Her role here was…weird.
Obviously she was huge in the 2013 playoff run; scored in the FCKC semi, scored the winner in Rochester…but she arrived very late from PSG and barely played at all in the regular season. That squad always felt like Sinclair’s if anyone’s - the Dani Foxhoven interview suggested that the identity that season was “factions”…
The Riley seasons were - as we now know - troubled, and Heath’s role is hard to assess. She played in Europe again in ‘14 so arrived late.again. Hard to assess her contribution to ‘15, the worst season in Thorns history.
In 2016 she WAS huge; assist monster, team leader, and Riley and Vega thugging her out of the semifinal was crucial to the WNY title that season.
She was injured for most of the 2017 title run, and her role in the Final was marred by a cynical foul that characterized how ugly that game was.
She was huge again - this time as a scorer - in 2018.
The next season she crashed. Injuries, the WC, meant she missed a lot of the season and her contributions were muted, especially in the semifinal loss.
She chose not to go to Utah in 2020.
And that was pretty much that.
She was definitely a big part of the club. But I always wondered how much of its “identity” she formed. It seemed like Sinc’s (and maybe Morgan’s?) in the first 3 seasons. After 2016 Sinc, Horan, Kling… those three seemed like the team leaders. Heath always seemed like the guest star who was there to do stuff like break ankles and be cool and ironic.
When she was on? She sure was fun to watch, tho. That part of the club she definitely repped.
We have a college draft update from the league. Thorns currently have 6 picks this year. All 4 natural picks and the ACFC 2nd rounder as part of the Yazmeen Ryan trade and Houston's 3rd rounder we acquired when we traded the last pick of the 2023 draft for 10K and this 2024 3rd round pick.
With Utah/Bay City swapping 1st and 2nd place each round. The rest of the natural order is as below.
3 Chicago
4 Kansas City
5 Houston
6 Louisville
7 Washington DC
8 Orlando
Playoff Line
9 Los Angeles
10 North Carolina
11 Portland
12 San Diego
13 Reign
14 Gotham
4 rounds 56 picks. 13 of them have currently changed hands. 4 already known trades in each the first 3 rounds and the very last pick of the draft has gone from Gotham to Orlando.
First 2 hours on ION. The entire draft will be on ION Plus. ION Plus seems like some sort of niche streaming service that steams for free on things like Samsung TV plus or watch Vizio. Have fun finding it if you want to slog through the draft.
FWIW, on an LG smart TV Ion Plus is channel IP-202. Regular Ion is IP-102 or 42.3 (over the air on Portland). I only have the one TV, so can't help with Samsung, etc.
One first round, two second, and then table scraps…
I’ll be curious to see if the buyers keep KK on to do this or if they have a “shadow GM” in place, or what. If I was them I’d go with Door #2; KK hasn’t been good enough to warrant keeping around if there’s another option available.
Vasconcelos signed with Utah, surprising maybe one person... but probably no one at all.
I mean...good for her? I didn't see anything special, but she seemed like a decent enough squad player who deserves to chase her dream as far as she can...
In other news...fork found in kitchen lol.
So, protected list with no Sevecke?
Should be?
1. Smith
2. Coffey
3. Weaver
4. Moultrie
5. Hina
6. Reyes
7. Rodriguez
8. Menges
9. Hubly? Beckie? Betfort? Bixby?
LeBlanc ways to screw it up?
1. Protect Beckie over someone who can contribute
2. Sign Sinclair real quick to a long-term contract and protect her
3. Announce signings of additional mediocre Canadians, and protect them.
I'm not quite as ready to write Beckie off compared with the majority of this forum. Not sure I'd protect her either though. And we definitely over-paid. But I remember hearing an interview with her in late 2022 where she mentioned that between WSL, Olympics, and NWSL, she'd basically been "in season" for close to two years with no breaks and that she felt it had affected her play for Thorns. And remember, Rhian had her playing OB for a while which was disastrous. If she returns post-ACL and gets into good form, the combination of Beckie on the wing with Hina central could be a pretty good set-up.
I think I've always been in this camp...I do think she was overpaid for to the extreme (bad business on KK's part), still hasn't logged a goal (in 20 appearances), and was playing OB (oftentimes replacing Natu, which was just stupid.) But, I am curious to see if she can do more, because of the exhaustion angle...though I'm still dubious that she's a starter. She's never really been a great goalscorer for Canada, either. Yaz Ryan pushed her to the bench by the end of the season because she just wasn't super effective. Hard to be a starting F on the top team if you aren't scoring goals. I don't remember her assist count, so maybe that was better? I still think she's the definition of "good depth" and that we should be aspiring for more from our starting F's. She's now 29, and coming back from injury, so I don't know how much her skillset will improve. I wouldn't protect her, but I would give her the +1 spot over Bixby because I think we very much lack players of her caliber, which again, I think would be "good depth player." We don't have many of those...
This makes me lol but it also hurts lmao.
You forget, protect Bixby (even though she was in the bottom 3 of GK's this season, and had a meh season last year as well) over a field player even though Bixby likely wouldn't get picked by either expansion team anyways.
Also, somehow find a way to sign Mike Norris to a contract to protect him also lol.
16 players under contract:
Janine Beckie, Hannah Betfort, Bella Bixby, Sam Coffey, Izzy D’Aquila, Shelby Hogan, Kelli Hubly, Lauren Kozal, Emily Menges, Olivia Moultrie, Meaghan Nally, Reyna Reyes, Rocky Rodríguez, Sophia Smith, Hina Sugita and Morgan Weaver.
The team is currently in ongoing contract negotiations with Gabby Provenzano, who is out of contract.
Natalie Beckman is out of contract and has not been extended a bona fide offer. Beckman will be eligible for selection on the NWSL Re-Entry Wire. Additionally, Rikke Sevecke will not return to the club in 2024.
Michele Vasconcelos’s mutual option for the 2024 season has been declined and she is now an unrestricted free agent. Crystal Dunn, Meghan Klingenberg, Tegan McGrady, Becky Sauerbrunn and Christine Sinclair are all unrestricted free agents, while Natalia Kuikka and Taylor Porter are restricted free agents.
I guess Provenzano is depth. Will be interesting to see which of the UFA testing the water return.
Dunn is done. McGrady and Vasconcelos are likely to leave. I would think Kling & Sinclair are as good of locks as possible to stay. Sauerbrunn I think stays but could go.
Will be interesting to see what happens with Porter. Will coffee make the final 18 in Paris? Will Porter's experience with the team keep her here as cover for Coffey? I think Kuikka stays but I could of course be wrong.
Vasconcelos option was declined. If Peregrine didn't pick up her option, what chance they'll offer her FA money? Unless the club changes hands this week and the new owners throw money at her? She's gone.
My guess is that the club doesn't make McGrady or Porter an offer unless and until neither one gets a tug from another club. Then they can be signed for the league minimum, if they want work.
I don't think the option was as valid option for the team anyway. Like last year options went to arbitration and the players became free agents. At the announcement of free agents for this year I vaguely remember them this was the case again for this year. I am not entirely sure there was actually a valid option available to the Thorns to exercise. Vasconcelos were listed as an UFA.
The club already made a goodbye post for Vasconcelos on twitter, so she won't be back.
Also, after seeing Michele Vasconcelos' goodbye post on social media, it was Michele that declined her option to stay. Says she wants to follow a dream that she's had for a long time and will share soon. So, you could say Thorns have lost 2 of their FA's so far...
My guess is that dream will bring her back to her hometown of Sandy, UT to play in front of family, where she can also eventually retire. But who knows, maybe she's a diehard Ajax fan or something...
Vasconcelos got herself traded from Chicago to the Royals just before the Royals folded and headed back to KC. I think she played only 1 or 2 games in the 2020 Fall Series for them. Must have been hard to get so close to that dream of playing in her home city only to have it taken away. She also has at least one child, so being near family is probably very attractive.
Sevecke, we hardly knew ye... wtf.
Anyone with any insight into whether the league will eventually require the teams to post a waiver list and if not, why not? I see Washington finally published a roster update today (11/20) listing the three they waived, but AFAIK the league wide master list was supposed to drop 11/13. So..? Anybody?
I'm not sure that they'll compile a master list for all the teams, you kinda just have to read each team's press release and see who they waived. I think that's all that was due to the league by the deadline today... Mostly I've just seen scraps, but I think KC waived like 4 or 5 players (the most of any team I've seen.)
Doesn't look like there's a waiver list yet, but I did notice that the league has a transaction tracker and a free agency tracker on the website. Past years this was only done through Equalizer and KeeperNotes and not always up-to-date. Progress?
https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/2024-nwsl-free-agency-tracker
https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/2023-24-nwsl-offseason-transaction-tracker
The league has often issued a press release giving a master list - here's an example from 2017: https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/eight-nwsl-players-available-on-the-re-entry-wire.
I didn't see anything this year, but I don't know if that is a 2023 thing or they stopped doing this some time ago. The last one I can find is from 2020.
If the league doesn't do it, I can compile the list and post it in the comments.
My guess is that they'll come trickling out this week, so more power to you if you've got the patience to track them down.
Taylor Vincent is doing a decent job posting all of the releases by team today. The language isn't always consistent, which I why I agree a master list would be helpful....but most will say who is waived/contract not picked up, and who is still out of contract (which I guess means negotiations ongoing) a la Gabby Provenzano...
https://twitter.com/tayvincent6
https://www.timbers.com/thornsfc/news/thorns-fc-announce-roster-status-ahead-of-2024-season
Well here’s ours. Any surprises?
Dunn? I mean, the list isn’t wrong, and she’s an unrestricted free agent…but given her little show in San Diego? I’d say it’s 99.999% certain she’s not a Thorns free agent!
Probably just a technicality.
I’ll go first: what was the point of signing Rikke Sevecke if we weren’t going to keep her for 2024?
That was my first thought; WTF? Why even bother?
Everyone else is pretty much expected. Vasconcelos and Beckman barely got minutes. I’m kinda surprised they’re still chasing Provenzano given that she didn’t, either.
But Sevecke? She looked promising, at least. Why go and sign her, never play her, and now just waive her?
Yeah I was wondering about Provenzano also...I figured she'd be waived. She is way too slow to be a CB in this league and doesn't seem to have the technical chops (at least yet) to make up for it...
If she comes in dirt cheap she's garbage-minutes squad depth. My guess is that "how cheap" will be the deciding factor.
They must have looked at our flawless defending in the last few games, and said “there is no way Sevecke has anything to contribute to this impenetrable fortress”
Snark aside, my only guess is that she signed with Peregrine on a "in case of emergency break glass" sort of basis and now that they're on the way out they don't want to pay her and she doesn't want to wait around for the new boss?
Idunno. The Peregrine FO has been a black hole from the GW days (see: "The Inexplicable Persistence of Hanna Terry") and this is just another WTF...
Wow maybe my eyes aren’t quite working but did Dunn not get a national team callup?
The December window is usually reserved for the younger callups to be seen, so it's not TOO surprising....but, they're getting serious about making every person earn their spot! There's some competition at fullback, honestly, and Crystal has kinda lost some mojo since WC. I think folks like Huerta and Sullivan should be more worried...
Some other top vets out too, like Morgan and Sauerbrunn. Dunn appears to be packing/moving, and Morgan is apparently on vacation...Becky is just prob playing Zelda at home lol.
Ah, okay. That makes sense. Any more rumors where Dunn might be headed?
Also, any chance she actually plays the position she wants to play in?
No way she goes anywhere as a free agent without a guarantee of playing in an attacking mid role. Especially with how vocal she is about it.
Still no idea where, though, but I wouldn't be surprised with really anywhere...Orlando, Gotham, AC, BFC, somewhere in France...
Oh, sorry, I totally left out that I meant for the USWNT. With the new coach.
Also helllllooo, welcome back!
Hellloooo! I was never realllllly gone. But with the end-of-season slump we had, and the only useful thought in my head being, "Never ever ever ever let Angel City do that again," I found myself without much to say.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be a strong offseason though, and I have spies all around town keeping me posted.
Lol, I'm unsure if Crystal will ge moved to the midfield at this point because there's so much competition in midfield and there's a short window with an overseas coach...I kinda think ship has sailed for her there, unfortunately.
Also maybe relevant, but when Crystal played for Chelsea for a season (under Emma Hayes), it was the first time she converted to a fullback/wingback lol. Then the US said, hmmmm....
Kelli Hubly on the move? Odd vague-tweet during trade window:
kel
@kellihubly
Hi currently looking for a travel agent if anyone has good recommendations
She's prob just looking to travel, she travels a lot in the offseason.
I feel the same way; she’s expendable if it can buy protection. I wouldn’t have her on the protected list anyway, so why not get something in return?
Could see her being traded for immunity
Rikki Sevecke shows up on (Chris Henderson's version of) the PTFC roster. Assuming this is correct, then she probably goes on the Thorns' protected list ahead of the expansion draft, no? A 27-yr-old 5'11" International-level CB: if she's good, she's exactly what the Thorns need, positionally.
Maybe this makes the Bixby/Betfort/Hubly protection moot?
1. Smith
2. Weaver
3. Coffey
4. Moultrie
5. Hina
6. Rodriguez
7. Reyes
8. Sevecke
9. Menges
Likely to go in expansion: Bixby, Betfort, Hubly
News on potential new owners, finally:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-_1T7hWcAAzyWy?format=jpg&name=900x900
The interesting things about these people is that while they seem loaded and willing to spend and make deals (based on their record w the Kings) they don’t seem all that GOOD at it; they bought the Kings in 2013 and spent ten years wasting time and money as the team was a trashfire. It finally improved last season - nine Head Coaches later! - but just to “first round playoff loser” level.
I don’t know enough about the NBA to know if that’s a weirdly long time to faff about losing. But it does make me wonder how good judges of sporting talent these people are.
NINE headcoaches in 10 years?! My god...
The Kings were BAAAAADDDDD bad. Their winning percentage hovered around .300-.400 for the whole decade between 2013-2023. And - tho I won't pretend to be an NBA expert - pro basketball is usually considered more of a "coach's game" (unlike soccer as a "players' game") so when bball teams crater it's the coach who gets it in the neck. And the Kings did a LOT of cratering.
My concerns with these people are:
1) the Kings suggest that they weren't good finding competent sports people in that sport. Could they do better in soccer? Sure! But their record in Sacramento isn't encouraging; the team was shit year after year, and nobody they brought in - players or coaches - could change that.
2) They're "out-of-town-owners". We've seen how well the Vulcans running the Blazers from Seattle has worked. Why are these people any less likely to have some of the same issues?
I'm not saying "hate on these people!". I'm suggesting that, having cut Paulson a lot of slack and having seen what he did with it, that - assuming we get the opportunity - we not be credulous about whatever PR we're fed. Ask them hard questions. Seek out answers. Get them to lay out a plan - a real plan, not a puff of vaporware - to solve the roster and coaching problems we saw this season.
I'm not betting we'll even get that chance! But if we do, I hope we take it. I'd hate to see this club go from one troubling owner to another without so much as a tough Q&A...
The Kings have famously been Vivek Ranadive's team from FO stuff to coaching, and sometimes even roster/draft choices- Not really sure we can learn too much about these guys' ownership abilities from looking at the Kings.
(Fwiw, I'm also a big NBA guy and the Kings have *completely* turned it around over the last few years, coinciding with the opening of Golden One. They made the playoffs as a 3 seed for the first time in 16 years last season. There's a lot of optimism there for the first time in a looong time)
Yeah from what I read, the Bhathals (or is it just the son, Alex?)…whoever has ownership stake in the Kings from that family is only a minority owner. I’m guessing this means they aren’t making the primary decisions? I know literally nothing about basketball but it would seem the majority owners would be the ones more involved making the hiring decisions…Maybe they just have a minority stake because of the real estate/stadium deal. ???
I got that. What seems odd is that it took them a decade to figure it out. That suggests to me that if this guy Ranadive is as much of a micromanager as you’re saying (and I’ve read that, too…) that it took him ten years to stop thinking that he was smarter than people who knew the game, and find someone who did. That’s an owner type I’ve worked for and it’s often really frustrating, as frustrating as it must have been for Kings fans over that long postseason drought.
I honestly hope this dude is smart and energetic. But if Paulson has taught us anything, it should be to approach these rich people with healthy skepticism. Ask tough questions, don’t accept pat answers. This guy isn’t in this to do us any favors. If he “does good by doing well”? Great! But Paulson showed us who he was pretty early with his 2011 feud with the TA, and we gave him a pass because we love our team(s) and wanted him to be a good guy. Well…
Let’s be more careful this time…
link to oregonlive article:
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland-thorns/2023/11/report-bhathal-family-in-exclusive-talks-to-purchase-portland-thorns.html
Congratulations on the trip and the experience. Quite right that NWSL treated you as media, you and Stumptown Footy do amazing work and *are* media 🎉
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