This is the second part of an occasional series evaluating how other MLS teams have re-built themselves from also-rans to championship contenders. Earlier we looked at Sporting Kansas City. IN NO WAY IS THIS AN ARGUMENT FOR OR AGAINST CURRENT TORONTO MANAGEMENT.
In 2006, the Columbus Crew were a mess. They finished in last place. At one point they went 13 straight games without a win.
New head coach Sigi Schmid even offered to resign. It was that bad.
Summing up the frustration, Schmid was quoted on July 9, 2006. He said: “Right now I am embarrassed. I am embarrassed for the City of Columbus. That is not the kind of team that I want to put on the field."
"We just have to do better," he continued. "We cannot keep blaming on our youth. We cannot keep saying we have injuries. It is a reality that we have injuries. It is a fact that we are young. By the same token we have to find a way to get it done."
Fans were divided. Many suggested that Schmid had the team on the right track and that he had been stung by bad luck, especially when it came to injuries. Others suggested that he had overhauled the team too much at the start of the season and that the younger players he was leaning on simply were out of their depth.
“Sigi took everything we loved about this team and either traded it away or changed it for whatever purposes.
I'm just not excited about driving to Columbus anymore. I can't bring myself to spend 4 hours in a car (round trip) to watch our hijacked team lose in a lifeless and painful way.
Give us back our team, goddamnit!”
Two years later they were Supporter’s Shield and MLS Cup champions.
How did he do it? Let’s look.
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If you were going to sum it up briefly, the best way to put it would likely be to say that he was decisive. At no point did Schmid allow sentimentality or fan pressure influence his decisions. He made a lot of quick decisions about players and was not afraid to roll the dice on trades if he didn’t feel that the player fit with his plans.
In fact, from the 2006 disaster only seven players returned for 2007. And only three were there when the Crew lifted the cup in 2008.
The ’06 roster is below. Italics indicates player with club in ’07. Bold indicates player with club in ’08 championship year. For each player CSN indicates what asset, if any, was acquired by the Crew for them).
Edson Buddle (traded for Eddie Gaven)
Marc Burch (traded for a draft pick)
Jon Busch (waived)
Knox Cameron (waived)
Simon Elliott (free transfer to England)
Luis Gallardo (waived)
Bill Gaudette (waived on player’s request)
Frankie Hejduk
Chris Henderson (treaded for Tim Ward)
Stephen Herdsman (waived)
Matt Jordan (traded for draft pick)
Kei Kamara (traded for Brian Carroll)
Ritchie Kotschau (selected in expansion draft)
Chad Marshall
Kyle Martino (traded for Joseph Ngwenya [then traded for Alejandro Moreno] and Ned Grabavoy [then selected in expansion draft])
Bret McNabb (waived)
Domenic Mediate (traded for a draft pick)
Duncan Oughton
Mario Rodriguez (waived)
Marcus Storey (traded for a draft pick)
Jamal Sutton (waived)
Danny Szetela (transferred to Europe)
David Testo (waived)
Eric Vasquez (waived)
Jonny Walker (retired)
Christopher Wingert (traded for a draft pick)
As you can see, the assets of 2006 were used by the Crew to acquire four additional parts that were part of the 2008 championship team. If you view players as assets that need to be converted into useful parts then you can say that, despite the last place finish, Schmid was able to find a core of seven useful things from 2006. It also should be noted that there were two players lost to the expansion process that likely would have been with the Crew moving forward – both were active players in MLS in 2008.
An interesting observation can be found in the lack of yield the Crew got from acquiring draft picks. Not a single roster player emerged from the five draft picks the Crew picked up. As CSN has illustrated in the past, late MLS draft picks are akin to lottery tickets – in theory you’ll find something, but it’s also technically possible that you could secure a date with Scarlett Johansson. She is single, after all.
Less flippantly put, when a player is traded for a pick outside of the first round it’s as much a favour to the player as it is an attempt by the club to get something of value for him. The league requires that there be an exchange of assets, however menial.
With so few players returning, the 2007 off-season was vital to Schmid’s rebuilding process. While Toronto fans watched Mo Johnston with the naïve belief that he knew what he was doing, Schmid was busy adding useful MLS pieces.
The 2007 additions are listed below. Players that were there when the black and gold confetti rained down in 2008 are in bold. Once again, CSN tracks what asset were received for those that didn’t last. We also indicate how Schmid acquired those players that were part of the 2008 team)
Aaron Chandler (waived)
Brad Evans (selected in SuperDraft)
Jason Garey (selected in the SuperDraft)
Marcos Gonzalez (Transferred to South America)
Andy Gruenebaum (Selected in supplementary draft)
Ezra Hendrickson (acquired from Chivas for draft pick)
Andy Herron (waived)
William Hesmer re-acquired from TFC for partial allocation after the Reds selected him in expansion draft)
Ryan Junge (Selected in supplementary draft)
Stefani Miglioranzi (acquired from LA for conditional draft pick)
Adam Moffat (signed from D2)
Brandon Moss (retired)
Danny O'Rourke (acquired from TFC for partial allocation, after Reds selected him in expansion draft)
Andrew Peterson (Signed from D2)
Rusty Pierce (retired)
Robbie Rogers (acquired through allocation draft lottery)
Guillermo Barros Schelotto (discovery signing on a free)
Jacob Thomas (waived)
Ricardo Virtuoso (waived)
Jed Zayner (selected in SuperDraft)
When evaluating what Schmid did in 2007 it’s important to remember one key fact – the Crew missed the playoffs again. Although they were five points better, only Toronto’s expansion season kept them out of the basement.
Very few people could have predicted that Columbus was one year away from a title, despite having 17 players on the roster that would play a role in the title run. That’s the thing about re-building processes – most fans want to blow it up just before it gets good. That’s not a criticism of fans. Rather it’s an observation of fan psychology. By its very nature a team that is re-building has played poorly for a good period of time and, as such, fans are frustrated and lack patience.
It takes a strong personality to remain true to their vision and upper management that also believes in that vision.
To bring this back to Toronto for a moment, those are two characteristics have been missing here since the beginning. Mo Johnston changed direction more times than a slalom ski racer and MLSE has tended to give up on various 5-year/3-year/impossible plans as quickly as they sold them to fans.
That includes, of course, the decision to fire Aron Winter just one and a half years into his three-year plan. This space has been clear in its position on Winter in the past – he needed to be fired – but it would be disingenuous to ignore that it’s an example of the type of behavior that this piece attempts to illustrate as counterproductive.
For the sake of keeping the comments section focused, this piece is not attempting to make any argument about Paul Mariner’s ability. It is simply examining a re-building process that proved to be successful, with an eye towards starting a productive conversation about how to fix the mess that is TFC now. Mariner is back next year. Calling for his head is pointless. If you still care about this club, and wish to stay with them, then there comes a time when you need to re-focus the conversation onto something other than talk about firing the manager.
Bringing it back to Columbus, Schmid added the following in the lead up to their dream season in 2008.
Emmanuel Ekpo (Discovery signing)
Cory Elenio (selected in the supplementary draft)
Andy Iro (selected in the SuperDraft)
Steven Lenhart (selected in the SuperDraft)
Pat Noonan (Allocation return – traded from N.E. for 1st round pick, which became Kevin Alston)
Gino Padula (Discovery signing)
Six additions, five of which played a significant role in the season. Despite missing the playoffs, and facing an, at best, indifferent fan base in Columbus, Schmid stuck to his guns – he believed that the players he had assembled in 2007 were good enough if the right pieces could be added.
In 2007, Schmid developed his core – a core that fit nicely around two star players in Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Chad Marshall. In 2008, he swung for the fences with the two discovery signings and the trade for Noonan. Suddenly a solid team that had been snake bitten by injuries became a very good team.
Then they stayed healthy. A little luck is a part of every championship run (see, also, Robbie Rogers and allocation lottery wins).
A key distinction of Schmid’s re-build is that he started with the grunts. Rather than trying to go out and get big names in 2006 and 2007 he focused on finding a solid domestic core. And when it didn’t work out in 2006 he wasn’t afraid to change gears.
He also allowed younger players to develop in the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Chad Marshall wasn’t the best defender in MLS in 2006. He was in 2008.
And then there was GBS.
Barros Schelotto was the engine that drove Columbus in the championship season. He wasn’t a DP. Schmid recognized that big name European stars were not likely to be attracted to the home of Ohio State football. So, he went out and found value.
Traditionally the best on-the-pitch value in MLS comes from Latin America. Schmid understood that with GBS and, to a lesser extent Padula – let L.A. chase David Beckham. Columbus didn’t need the glamour. They needed results.
They got them. The Crew won the double and repeated as Supporter’s Shield winners in 2009. It’s hard for a TFC fan to admit, but Schmid’s Crew teams are on a short list for best in league history – all done without a big name European star.
The Crew were built with a core of solid domestic players, by showing some patience and supplementing with high value discovery signings when the time was right.
It’s pretty much the opposite of what Toronto has done since day 1.