{"id":2051,"date":"2011-01-07T09:54:03","date_gmt":"2011-01-07T14:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=2051"},"modified":"2011-01-07T16:48:49","modified_gmt":"2011-01-07T21:48:49","slug":"forward-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=2051","title":{"rendered":"Forward march"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be a total shot in the dark, but if you ask Mike Burns or Steve Nicol about their assessment of the recently-concluded calendar year, they’d\u00a0both probably\u00a0say that 2010 didn’t\u00a0quite go they way they had planned.\u00a0Just a wild\u00a0guess.<\/p>\n

But, I would bet my\u00a0sweat-stained orange crush Tea Men\u00a0t-shirt that\u00a0a losing record, the retirement of Taylor Twellman, and\u00a0the early-season suspension of skipper Shalrie Joseph weren’t on the agenda as 2010 opened.<\/p>\n

To the relief of all parties\u00a0involved,\u00a0last year is no more.\u00a0Twenty eleven\u00a0affords\u00a0all\u00a0a fresh, new start. For the New England Revolution, it’s a chance for redemption after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2001.<\/p>\n

And it’s fair to say that\u00a0chance\u00a0is looking good, even if we’re currently two-plus months away from First Kick.\u00a0Whether\u00a0it’s due to the hard lessons learned while the club\u00a0submerged itself\u00a0below the .500 mark for the duation of the season, or\u00a0the wakeup call that was Taylor Twellman’s retirement,\u00a0it’s becoming apparent that\u00a0the\u00a0club has revisited its previous\u00a0thinking in terms of roster management.<\/p>\n

That thinking, along\u00a0with alot of extra cash they didn’t have 365 days ago, could very well\u00a0propel the club back to the top of the Eastern Conference standings in 2011.<\/p>\n

First and foremost: the money. Taking into consideration the\u00a0considerable cash the club now\u00a0has as a result of Twellman’s retirement ($420,000), not to mention\u00a0the\u00a0departures\u00a0of Gabriel Badilla ($138,000), Chris Albright ($176,000) Mauricio Castro ($70,000),\u00a0and Edgaras Jankauskas ($240,000),\u00a0it appears that\u00a0the team has\u00a0over a million dollars more to work with than they did at this time last year. Of course,\u00a0a small percentage\u00a0of this money\u00a0will likely\u00a0be allocated toward player\u00a0raises and SuperDraft signings. But, the bulk of it should remain intact long enough to use it to entice\u00a0quality players.<\/p>\n

In addition to the extra spending money,\u00a0the club publicly\u00a0announced\u00a0its new-found propensity to use even more money to\u00a0sign “one or more” players worthy of Designated Player Allocation cash last October, with an eye toward securing one or two\u00a0such players this year.<\/p>\n

Whether the rumor mill<\/a> – which currently has the likes of Alex, Marco Materazzi, and\u00a0Benni McCarthy\u00a0Foxboro-bound – produces any hint of truth\u00a0regarding these players appearing\u00a0at One Patriot Place, one thing is for sure:\u00a0the front office has put itself out there. The onus is on them. Should a DPA-caliber player fail to find himself in Foxboro before the end of 2011, the masses will not be pleased, and justifably so.<\/p>\n

In previous years, the club allowed itself to decay after its mainstays – i.e. Steve Ralston, Pat Noonan, Michael Parkhurst, Andy Dorman, Jose Cancela, etc. – were allowed to walk.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of securing suitable replacements, the\u00a0club tried to plug the gaping holes with SuperDraft selections and trialists. And as expected, that modus operandi caught up\u00a0with the club fast in 2010.<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0a new thinking appears to be in place. Rather than waving good\u00a0players goodbye and filling those vacancies with marginal talent, the club has already taken two significant strides away from the old thinking.<\/p>\n

Most notably, perhaps,\u00a0is\u00a0the signing of baby-faced Diego Fagundez, the first homegrown player\u00a0added to the senior team\u00a0in club history.\u00a0Considering the Revolution’s Youth Academy, as we know it now, was nothing more than a league mandate less than\u00a0four years ago, it’s fascinating that an Academy player\u00a0looks\u00a0ready to contribute to Nicol’s squad.\u00a0Granted, it remains to be seen whether the\u00a0teen sensation\u00a0turns out to be the next Freddy Adu or Jozy Altidore. But, at the very least, it’s an encouraging sign that the\u00a0fruits of the Academy’s labor appear to be ripening.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Fagundez’s signing, the club\u00a0selected Fred and\u00a0Ryan Cochrane during\u00a0the first-ever Re-entry Process last month. This approach\u00a0has shown that the club is eager and willing to undertake new ways of player acquisitions. With Cochrane signed, and the prospect of a talented midfielder of Fred’s caliber a possibility, it’s another departure from the old thinking – one that greatly emphasized the SuperDraft and Supplemental Drafts – when it comes to roster replenishment.<\/p>\n

There’s no guarantee that the lows experienced along Route 1\u00a0in 2010 won’t carry over into 2011. No one\u00a0knows for sure. Call it another shot in the dark,\u00a0but\u00a0with additional wealth, as well as a deviation from their old\u00a0approaches, the Revolution are in\u00a0prime position to ensure\u00a0that 2011 will not be a repeat of its predecessor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 2010 in the rearview, the Revs can focus on a fresh start. And with the money to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2210,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/forwardmarchfeature.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2051"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2226,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051\/revisions\/2226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}