If listening to Prince in my formative years taught me anything, it was that all good things, they say, never last.
I am also still searching hotel lobbies trying to find a girl called Nikki.
The purple one was right though. All good things do come to an end, so enjoy them whilst you can. Today's newsmaker is tomorrow's fish and chip wrapper.
Apt really, as Vancouver Whitecaps have taken something of a battering themselves this offseason.
Which brings us nicely to Camilo Sanvezzo. The we(e)asel Brazilian has left Vancouver, Canada and his dignity and professionalism behind.
It's time to move on. He certainly felt that way at any rate.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The saga, that seemed like it was never going to actually officially end at times, wrapped up Friday.
Camilo got the move he so desired and forced the Whitecaps into. The Caps got shafted and were left with a Golden Boot winning sized shape (a hole) in their squad. And fans were left cursing MLS commissioner Don Garber after his following comments at the draft.
<i>"Ultimately, there was a good result: a high transfer fee, they get allocation money and Vancouver will rebuild their team with a new coach."</i>
In what football league, and on what planet, is receiving mythical allocation money and being basically forced to offload your top goalscorer against your will "a good result"?
With so much on the line for MLS, you have to hope that they were pretty damn active behind the scenes because publically and visibly they came across as no help to the Whitecaps whatsoever in the matter.
The final amount of the transfer is undisclosed of course. That transparency Garber promised hasn't quite filtered out and down just yet. All we're told is that it is a "multi-million dollar fee". So at least two and presumably in American or Canadian! Could be Cayman Island dollars and into a bank account there for all we know. This is MLS. Nothing would surprise me.
It has to be said that if the Whitecaps were able to play some hardball and get at least a couple of million or more for their want away star that could never return to Vancouver, then putting all the other issues surrounding the saga aside, that's not a bad bit of business in the end and they should be congratulated.
It's hard to see how they could have come out of this with a better outcome after all that had transpired.
Of course, if they had chosen to tout him about to other interested clubs that figure could have been so much higher but Vancouver were never given that opportunity and that is why there is so much of a bad taste in the mouth about the whole thing.
What the whole debacle screams to me though is that neither side were 100% confident what the outcome of this would be if the matter were to go through legal channels and FIFA. And neither side wanted to play hardball and put their stance to the ultimate test to find out.
They can both say what they want, but both parties posturing at the start faded into a resolution that will probably please neither side but they both gave in from their intial stances and settled.
Remember all the contract is <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/story.html?id=9345835" target="_blank"><u>bulletproof</u></a> and there is no contract he's a free agent stuff about two weeks ago?
Whitecaps President Bobby Lenarduzzi did address the issue of why no legal challenge when speaking to media on Friday evening.
<i>"When we sat down with Camilo, he said he was done. He had given Queretaro his word that he was going there. Why are we going to battle someone that doesn't want to be here? Someone who's actually reneged on his word when he's signed a contract with us and then turned around and said he's given a club that he's going to, that he doesn't have a contract with, his word. He doesn't want to be here obviously. So, on you go."</i>
And on his way Camilo went.
MLS may have dodged a bullet and their contractual house of cards is still standing.
And that's one of my biggest disappointments in all of this. I wanted this to go all the way to see just how valid these option deals were. We'll never know who was in the right.
Until the next time and the next player.
And there will be one. It may have never happened in the previous 18 years of MLS, but you know others throughout the League have been watching how this played out with a keen eye to their own futures and looking for possible ways out of their own unsatisfactory contracts.
When this all started I was on Camilo's side a little. He did deserve more money. He deserved the chance to get a better deal elsewhere. The options deals in MLS are a little farcical and deserve to be challenge. Massive salary differences in a squad are also sickening. Sure it happens elsewhere in the world of football, but to such extremes?
But by going about it the wrong way, being shady and unprofessional and basically flicking the v's to the Caps time and again, he soon lost any respect and sympathy.
That is where my, and many other people's, anger comes from. I was left wanting him to sweat it out and sit it out for many months to come.
Camilo had spoken with Carl. Several times. He very clearly knew the lie of the land. This was a manager and a man that he not only respected but credited for turning him into the player he was and for the successful season he was having, as he told us all at the start of September.
<i>"The coaching staff help me a lot, especially Robbo. After training I say, please Robbo, help me with some finish. Every single day he's there with me helping me a lot."</i>
And this was how he repaid him for that help. Says it all about Camilo as a player and as a man.
But it's over now. The line needs to be drawn in the sand and everyone needs to move on.
There is no loyalty in football these days from either clubs or players. It goes both ways. Both are only out for themselves.
I grew up in a time where players actually earned their testimonials for long service to their clubs.
Now money is the king.
Camilo's name may not go down in the history books like Bosman, but he may have started something groundbreaking, if very unpalatable.
The Whitecaps are now left with a pile of money to spend. Let's hope they spend it wisely.
Lenarduzzi has said that they may not spend it directly on another striker, but relying on who they currently have on the squad wouldn't be wise either. New additions are expected to be announced over the coming weeks, for several positions. They need experience and they need some gamechangers.
I wrote in a <a href="http://soccerly.com/article/gof/whitecapsneed-to-be-lighting-not-fighting-fires" target="_blank"><u>Soccerly article</u></a> that the Caps need to start lighting fires and stop fighting them. They haven't quite got them under control just yet.
They need to have some good news coming out soon. Training camp kicks off next weekend, so that will hopefully be a start, and a week is a long time in football.
It's been a tough offseason for the club. Maybe this is what it sounds like when doves cry.
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