In an episode that might feel like a second child to you, the Portland Timbers 2024 season is officially done — and it couldn’t go without one last piece of drama, right?
We'll probably never know, but I believe there's no way Evander would choose that charged moment to criticize Grabavoy about contract negotiations. The motivation was surely about Grabavoy not building a roster with enough firepower for the stretch run. As I've posted elsewhere, not replacing Asprilla in the summer transfer window was a major blunder. Did Grabavoy not remember what Asprilla brought to the team at critical junctions late in seasons?
We saw many teams make major improvements in their rosters during the summer window, improvements that made big differences down the stretch. Why not the Timbers? Where was quality offensive help off the bench? Grabavoy made Evander out to be the bad boy for his outburst but took no responsibility for a roster not built for the most challenging part of the season. The result? A terrible end to a season that until then had encouraging signs that the Timbers were at least part way back to where they belong.
I'm sure if Grabovoy was clairvoyant he could have seen that the hottest offense in the summer would turn cold in the fall. Granted, Asprilla might have helped, but he was third on the depth chart for a wing spot, and he didn't want to be in that position, and the club released him. That was Asprilla's wish. The club wanted to keep him around. Toye was expected to bring some firepower, and he kind of helped for a moment, and then he got hurt.
If Evander wanted more firepower, and it wasn't about his contract, what does that say about Evander calling out his team for not being good enough? That's not a good teammate.
Evander probably shouldn’t have said what he said, but I’m kind of glad he did. Also he was right. Plenty of our failures fall on Ned and his inability to address a crap defense and thin bench. I haven’t seen him take accountability. This also isn’t anything Ned hasn’t done himself. Last year he said his turd roster should have performed better: not on him but on the players and coaches.
And if Evander is a low character guy, how is it the Timbers (especially in a culture re-building period) are so drastically awful at avoiding these situations.
There was inadequate depth at winger after Asprilla left. Rodriguez, who had played roughly half a season for Club América when he arrived in March, added on 30 games with the Timbers. According to Neville, Rodriquez was exhausted when the League's Cup began but recovered somewhat after the Timbers were eliminated. He and Moreno were saddled with minor injuries during the stretch run. All of this had to affect the offense.
I'm not defending Evander. He should have handled his discontent with Grabavoy differently. But Grabavoy failed Evander and the entire team by not signing a replacement.
I think it is fair to say there was inadequate depth. Loria, who is not even a good winger, never got healthy (?), and despite Rodriguez being exhausted, would never come off. Toye was injured. No Fogaca. It would have been nice to have Asprilla. Still, I don't know if you sign a guy just to add depth without an eye on the future, and maybe the timing wasn't right for the guy they were looking for.
I think what it comes down to for me is, after several years of toxicity, scandal, and problems off the pitch, the front office has earned the benefit of zero (0) doubts when it comes to their actions. So when Evander goes off with both barrels, and when I hear things about other players having problems with the front office, I immediately believe all of them, even the ones aired immediately after the worst loss in recent memory, because I have been given no reason to believe that the Timbers front office acts in good faith.
I agree with everything you said. When I called my ticket rep. to pay off the balance of what I owe (gulp) for next year's tickets, I told her I was only doing so if the team would fire the GM and Ridgy. She, of course, took that with appropriate good humor. When I said I want a refund for what I paid for the last game, she was in less good humor, saying that when a team loses it loses, no matter how painful the loss. I said, yes, of course, but I pay to watch a team that's trying to win and given the apparent rift between Evander ( and others) and management and the resultant lack of effort, that violated the "contract" between the team and me as a customer. I wasn't really serious about wanting a refund, and even if I was, I know that's not going to happen. I was just trying to make a point.
All of that said, I think Neville and the current GM's negative comments about Evander's tweets was a bad look for the club. It's one thing for a young player to vent his spline about management, but it's another thing for the team to act like the adults in the room and not engage in a public dispute with their star player. I don't know who, if anyone, advises these guys about how to handle PR, but this was not handled well at all.
Your last point is right on. Instead of defusing the situation, Grabavoy (and to a lesser extent Neville) made everything worse with the public criticism. Let's hope they met with Evander so everyone could air their differences and discuss smoothing things over.
We'll probably never know, but I believe there's no way Evander would choose that charged moment to criticize Grabavoy about contract negotiations. The motivation was surely about Grabavoy not building a roster with enough firepower for the stretch run. As I've posted elsewhere, not replacing Asprilla in the summer transfer window was a major blunder. Did Grabavoy not remember what Asprilla brought to the team at critical junctions late in seasons?
We saw many teams make major improvements in their rosters during the summer window, improvements that made big differences down the stretch. Why not the Timbers? Where was quality offensive help off the bench? Grabavoy made Evander out to be the bad boy for his outburst but took no responsibility for a roster not built for the most challenging part of the season. The result? A terrible end to a season that until then had encouraging signs that the Timbers were at least part way back to where they belong.
I'm sure if Grabovoy was clairvoyant he could have seen that the hottest offense in the summer would turn cold in the fall. Granted, Asprilla might have helped, but he was third on the depth chart for a wing spot, and he didn't want to be in that position, and the club released him. That was Asprilla's wish. The club wanted to keep him around. Toye was expected to bring some firepower, and he kind of helped for a moment, and then he got hurt.
If Evander wanted more firepower, and it wasn't about his contract, what does that say about Evander calling out his team for not being good enough? That's not a good teammate.
Evander probably shouldn’t have said what he said, but I’m kind of glad he did. Also he was right. Plenty of our failures fall on Ned and his inability to address a crap defense and thin bench. I haven’t seen him take accountability. This also isn’t anything Ned hasn’t done himself. Last year he said his turd roster should have performed better: not on him but on the players and coaches.
And if Evander is a low character guy, how is it the Timbers (especially in a culture re-building period) are so drastically awful at avoiding these situations.
Ned sucks. Our FO is stupid and terrible.
There was inadequate depth at winger after Asprilla left. Rodriguez, who had played roughly half a season for Club América when he arrived in March, added on 30 games with the Timbers. According to Neville, Rodriquez was exhausted when the League's Cup began but recovered somewhat after the Timbers were eliminated. He and Moreno were saddled with minor injuries during the stretch run. All of this had to affect the offense.
I'm not defending Evander. He should have handled his discontent with Grabavoy differently. But Grabavoy failed Evander and the entire team by not signing a replacement.
I think it is fair to say there was inadequate depth. Loria, who is not even a good winger, never got healthy (?), and despite Rodriguez being exhausted, would never come off. Toye was injured. No Fogaca. It would have been nice to have Asprilla. Still, I don't know if you sign a guy just to add depth without an eye on the future, and maybe the timing wasn't right for the guy they were looking for.
I think what it comes down to for me is, after several years of toxicity, scandal, and problems off the pitch, the front office has earned the benefit of zero (0) doubts when it comes to their actions. So when Evander goes off with both barrels, and when I hear things about other players having problems with the front office, I immediately believe all of them, even the ones aired immediately after the worst loss in recent memory, because I have been given no reason to believe that the Timbers front office acts in good faith.
I agree with everything you said. When I called my ticket rep. to pay off the balance of what I owe (gulp) for next year's tickets, I told her I was only doing so if the team would fire the GM and Ridgy. She, of course, took that with appropriate good humor. When I said I want a refund for what I paid for the last game, she was in less good humor, saying that when a team loses it loses, no matter how painful the loss. I said, yes, of course, but I pay to watch a team that's trying to win and given the apparent rift between Evander ( and others) and management and the resultant lack of effort, that violated the "contract" between the team and me as a customer. I wasn't really serious about wanting a refund, and even if I was, I know that's not going to happen. I was just trying to make a point.
All of that said, I think Neville and the current GM's negative comments about Evander's tweets was a bad look for the club. It's one thing for a young player to vent his spline about management, but it's another thing for the team to act like the adults in the room and not engage in a public dispute with their star player. I don't know who, if anyone, advises these guys about how to handle PR, but this was not handled well at all.
Your last point is right on. Instead of defusing the situation, Grabavoy (and to a lesser extent Neville) made everything worse with the public criticism. Let's hope they met with Evander so everyone could air their differences and discuss smoothing things over.