{"id":17899,"date":"2013-01-25T10:02:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T15:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=17899"},"modified":"2013-01-25T19:42:37","modified_gmt":"2013-01-26T00:42:37","slug":"dorman-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=17899","title":{"rendered":"The Return of Andy Dorman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andy<\/a>

Andy Dorman, seen here during preseason training on Monday, is back for a second stint with the Revolution. (Photo: Chris Aduama\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

As recently as four months ago,\u00a0the chances of Andy Dorman returning to\u00a0Foxboro resided somewhere in between slim and none.<\/p>\n

Following a bitter split in which Dorman and the club couldn’t hammer out a contract extension during the 2007-08 offseason, it looked very much like the Welsh midfielder was gone for good.<\/p>\n

Although\u00a0the failed negotiations left him with a bad taste,\u00a0Dorman, who went on to star in Scotland and England in the wake\u00a0of his\u00a0departure,\u00a0never discarded the idea of donning the Revolution uniform again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it’s always in the back of your mind,\u201d Dorman said. \u201cObviously I had a good time (in New England). I love Boston as a city and the team, so I think (the idea) was always there, to come back and play here.”<\/p>\n

The opportunity to return started innocently enough with a conversation. Last September, Dorman\u00a0approached head coach Jay Heaps, who played with Dorman from 2004-2007, looking for a place to train while he searched for his next stop.<\/p>\n

Heaps was receptive to the idea. Not long afterward,\u00a0Dorman was back\u00a0the Revolution\u00a0training pitch,\u00a0and his discussions with\u00a0Heaps deepened\u00a0when the topic of\u00a0the midfielder\u2019s career came up. In Dorman, Heaps saw the kind of player \u2013 a savvy, technically-sound veteran \u2013 whom he believed could strengthen his squad, on the field and in the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy commands a certain level of respect from the players around him because he’s a great locker room player that players want to be around,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cNot only that, but he has the international experience. So now he returns with even more experience because he’s had stays at other clubs and that’s important for other guys to understand – other cultures – other locker rooms, and Andy’s kind of the perfect person to lead them in that direction.”<\/p>\n

Dorman came to terms with the club just before Thanksgiving. So much for those odds. The lanky Welshman who came to the Revolution via nearby Boston University was back.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Dorman kicked off his\u00a0second\u00a0stint\u00a0in New England\u00a0– and with a familiar face brandishing the whistle. It was something that caught the prodigal son off guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess to start off it’s a little strange,\u201d Dorman said. \u201cBut Jay was one of the older players when I was here, one of the more experienced guys, always loud in the locker room and stuff so it’s not too different.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not everything\u2019s the same\u00a0since Dorman\u2019s last game in a Revolution uniform, which incidentally, happened to be the 2007 MLS Cup.<\/p>\n

Back then, a 25-year-old Dorman leaned on teammates like Heaps, Steve Ralston, Matt Reis and Joe Franchino for guidance. Now, at 30, he knows that he\u2019ll be the one counted upon to help lead the youngsters.<\/p>\n

“It’s good looking around the locker room and you see a lot of young guys,\u201d Dorman said. \u201cDiego (Fagundez) is\u00a017 , so it’s a new thing, but at the same time it’s good. I’m looking forward to the extra responsibility this season.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Heaps\u00a0undoubteldy looks\u00a0at Dorman and fellow veterans Kalifa Cisse and Jose Goncalves as valuable resources for a team that experienced its fair share of growing pains last season.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It\u2019s) great for us because the younger players can lean on them,\u201d Heaps said. “Then, (the veterans) can learn the league a little bit in the preseason as opposed to the first or second game of the year.”<\/p>\n

Yes, Goncalves and Cisse may need time to learn and adjust to MLS. But Dorman?<\/p>\n

Been there, done that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andy Dorman returns to New England after spending the last five years abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[186,115,49,1274],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Dorman1.png?fit=484%2C262","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17899"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17929,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17899\/revisions\/17929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}