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News Thread ... 2018-19 Season

Liberia played a friendly against Nigeria and were going to celebrate the retirement of George Weah’s #14 jersey. As expected, President Weah was in the stadium. What was unexpected was where he appeared; leading the line on the field. He played 79 minutes in the 2-1 loss. He’s a few weeks short of 52 years old and hadn’t appeared for Liberia in 16 years.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/internat...es-surprise-appearance-in-friendly-vs-nigeria

Same day his kid Tim started for the US in a heated friendly against Mexico. Talk about bloodlines.
 
How will the Premier League operate in a post-Brexit world? This article lists some of the impacts. One has already been felt; the decline of the Pound against the Euro has made transfers more expensive.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/english-...on-a-cliff-edge-as-brexit-fallout-looms-large

No mention in there of Scotland and the SFA, but rest assured ... the Scottish football press is extremely concerned about the viability of the Scottish Premiere League in a post Brexit world. Especially if the UK and EU can't come to a negotiated "divorce" agreement. It's a delicate matter right now, but make no mistake ... Scottish association football could EASILY slip to roughly the level of Irish football if even half the worst case scenarios play out.
 
Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis is leaving to take the same role at AC Milan. He was also part of the founding management team of MLS and was deputy commissioner from 2001-08.
 
Richard Deutschland, the media writer for The Athletic tweeted that ESPN has acquired the rights to the Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana and the top divisions of the Danish, Swedish and Indian leagues. All will be broadcast on ESPN+
 
Richard Deutschland, the media writer for The Athletic tweeted that ESPN has acquired the rights to the Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana and the top divisions of the Danish, Swedish and Indian leagues. All will be broadcast on ESPN+

I don't even think the Indian leagues are a big deal in India, but ... knock yourselves out I guess. Disney/Fox losing out on Sky means that ESPN will be gobbling up whatever they can get in Europe and Asia.
 
Aston Villa axed Steve Bruce and his entire staff this afternoon after an embarrassing 3-3 draw with PNE last night. Villa have gone limp and lifeless after a decent start to the campaign and it's pretty clear that Bruce's heart was never in it this season after likely thinking he was being replaced a couple of times this summer. Honestly, I'm not surprised at all. Bruce settled on a midfield setup and group that just doesn't work at all and, in true Bruce fashion, he stuck with it tooth and nail despite bad results. Villa's youth coach is taking on the job in the interim while they look for yet another manager. God help the midlands.
 
Villa update ... it's looking more and more like the club will go back to the Thierry Henry well now that they've sacked Bruce. And, God help me, John Terry is reported to be coming with him into the staff in some capacity. Yes, he did formally announce his retirement ... a formality seeing as how he couldn't get a contract in England and was unwilling to leave.

Sure. What could go wrong?
 
Villa update ... it's looking more and more like the club will go back to the Thierry Henry well now that they've sacked Bruce. And, God help me, John Terry is reported to be coming with him into the staff in some capacity. Yes, he did formally announce his retirement ... a formality seeing as how he couldn't get a contract in England and was unwilling to leave.

Sure. What could go wrong?

Well, Henry could go to Monaco instead. Their lot is even more dire than Villa; they have 1 win in all competitions all season, beating Nantes in the first match of the season.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/as-monac...aco-manager-as-leonardo-jardim-sacked-sources
 
Well, Henry could go to Monaco instead. Their lot is even more dire than Villa; they have 1 win in all competitions all season, beating Nantes in the first match of the season.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/as-monac...aco-manager-as-leonardo-jardim-sacked-sources

Their money however ... less dire. And there's been no announcement at Villa Park as of yet. The Birmingham press seem to think Villa is shifting gears to long time Mourinho bagman Rui Faria. And boys ... at this point, maybe think about losing Henry's mobile number, yeah?
 
Their money however ... less dire. And there's been no announcement at Villa Park as of yet. The Birmingham press seem to think Villa is shifting gears to long time Mourinho bagman Rui Faria. And boys ... at this point, maybe think about losing Henry's mobile number, yeah?

The Mirror says that Faria turned it down and it will be Brentford boss Dean Smith with John Terry as his #2.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-manager-latest-dean-13396871


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The Mirror says that Faria turned it down and it will be Brentford boss Dean Smith with John Terry as his #2.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-manager-latest-dean-13396871


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Yup. It became official late yesterday. Villa have hired the ghost of UNC basketball coach Dean Smith, and brought in Michael Jordan as his second in command ... wait. Wrong Dean Smith.

Kind of a boring move, but I prefer it to a bringing in a completely unproven first time manager like Henry. Obviously they felt the need for some PR pop with the Terry business to make up for a very basic, competent hire, but whatever. Smith is a guy who has proven he can get an effective team setup established at this level and I view this as a very pragmatic move after several years in (futile) search of quick fix appointments.
 
He saved Walsall from relegation but couldn’t get Brentford into the playoffs in any of his 3 seasons there, finishing 9th, 10th and 9th. His winning % is below .350. I don’t get it.
 
He saved Walsall from relegation but couldn’t get Brentford into the playoffs in any of his 3 seasons there, finishing 9th, 10th and 9th. His winning % is below .350. I don’t get it.

The justification is that Smith is a pretty hard core system guy who gets his teams to play with a consistent identity. Under their last FOUR managers, Villa have been the prototypical "hoof it and hope" kind of team, with no real consistent plan (including no consistent formational shape), no idea who or what would show up match to match and absolutely no consistency even when they did manage to get on a hot streak.

Look. I'm not a fan of the hire, but I can see the reasoning. And I think pretty much anything is better than continuing to chase "name" managers who are either ill suited to the job or completely unprepared for it.
 
Looks like Dave Sarachan has potentially coached his last game as interim USMNT manager. They drew 1-1 with Peru last night, allowing a late equalizer after taking a lead off a set piece goal from young Josh Sergeant, and there have been reports in the last 10 days or so that USSF GM Earnie Stewart has finally started to interview candidates for the permanent job. Speculation (legitimate sounding this time) places a likely appointment in early November which would be in plenty of time for January Camp and the mid-November friendlies. Those are against England and Italy, BTW, and are the kind of idiotic scheduling you get when there's no one actually running the program. With the current state of things, those two games do the US precisely no good at all.

FWIW, that speculation is currently centering on MLS coaches like Gregg Berhalter and Peter Vermes, but if we've learned anything in this "process" it's not to listen to speculation. Oh, the other thing we've learned is that The Athletic is probably a better source for info on USMNT than any other outlet. Paul Tenorio in particular.
 
If it does end up being Berhalter, that’s a hire they could have made the day after Columbus’ season ended last year. Then we wouldn’t have lost a year getting a team ready for the 2019 Gold Cup. Instead, he’ll only have 2 international windows to get acquainted with the non-MLS players.
 
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