…and the last player left from 2016. And 2017.
And 2018.
And 2019.
Meghan Klingenberg has worn Thorns red for the final time since arriving her as part of the Alex Morgan deal in November 2015.
She posted a “goodbye” letter. It’s worth reading in full:
I’m not sure if this means Kling is retiring or not.
All the stuff about “ending” sounds pretty terminal. Kling was pretty voluble about not wanting to move; she was left unprotected in the 2022 expansion draft because IIRC she’d said that she’d hang ’em up if either California team picked her.
But “…wherever I end up…” does not.
One thing we don’t (and won’t ever…) know is how this played out.
Did Klingenberg decide for herself that she was done? Either “done” or done here?
That’s one thing. Kling has certainly earned her rights to call it a day.
I just note with a certain rue that if Kling is calling it a day, that’s the last player from Parsons’ 2016 Shield and 2017 Star to leave the building (after Sinclair who, of course, has all three championship rings as well as both Shield medals).
But…did the club choose not to make her an offer? That’s kind of another.
Of course, this has caused much wailing and rending of garments among the online fanbase. And I agree; it looks bad. Lots of veteran leadership gone in a handful of months. Outside of the Hiatt signing, little or no signs of rebuilding. Still no General Manager. Ken still in the technical box.
But.
Here’s the thing; I’m not sure how many of you remember September 2015, but that was a BAD time (and we had no idea how much worse it really was..!). Only time the Thorns finished below the red line, on September 4th the season ended with Portland sixth of ten. It really did look like grim death by October First.
But.
On October 5th Parsons was hired. He and Gavin Wilkinson started to work, on the Orlando deal that pulled Kling in the November expansion draft, then the January 2016 college draft that picked up Emily Sonnet, then the Amandine Henry deal in March 2016.
We took the Shield in 2016 and short of getting shiked in the semifinal probably would have done the Double that season.
An aggressive, intelligent organization can turn a sick club around most quick smart.
I know, I know…by this point the Bhathals have earned the “benefit of skepticism”; it’s not unreasonable to assume that they’re NOT running an aggressive or intelligent organization.
Can they? There shouldn’t be any reason why not. But I agree that at the moment things do not look healthy with this club.
Thought?
I’d keep an eye on Sauerbrunn and Kling. If they take jobs here, say as assistant coaches? That’d be a good sign to me.
If they go elsewhere? Well…
- The Last of Kling… - December 30, 2024
- This is fine… - December 28, 2024
- Now what..? - December 26, 2024
I feel very much in limbo from not knowing what’s going on with the GM and HC hires. What the Bhathal-Merages do with those will tell us a lot about their level of ambition for the club. Until they happen, we’re in the dark.
I feel less this way about hiring Sauerbrunn and/or Kling, simply because the GM and HC hires are really the crucial ones. Also I’m wary of FOs that hire former players partly because they’re so beloved, or were great players; those aren’t good reasons to hire someone. Sure Becky has a ton of soccer knowledge and Kling a great spirit, but we know very little about how good they are at imparting these things to others as coaches, and I really want to see it before putting them in any significant role. Maybe hiring them for academy teams would be a good start, but I wouldn’t go much higher than that.
I agree on the overall club situation; there’s no real way to tell. My point was to recall that it’s entirely possible to go from sad to glad in a short time…IF you make good decisions. Can the current owners? So far that looks farfetched.
Assistant coaches are like squad players; you put them where you need them. Some are important subordinates, some set out practice cones and run warmups. I could see either veteran player doing that, or working in the Academy…or, frankly, Brunn replacing Vytas as defensive AC, given the defense over the past three seasons. Again, it needs an organization that has a good grasp of needs and skills to meet them. But I’d like to see them working with the club going forward in some role to give me more confidence that the inside view is more promising than our outside looking in…
Well that vacation from Thorns news did not last until January, but seeing Kling’s announced retirement has made me nostalgic. Yeah, I would like to see Sauerbrunn and Kling stay with the organization.
I have listened to Becky talk enough to feel that she is a great communicator, she is very intelligent and has a high social and emotional IQ. Coffey once said that Becky doesn’t have to say anything, just a look tells you that you have messed up. Rose LaVelle has said she will call you out, but quietly, if she doesn’t like what you are doing. She seems to have the total respect of the players. So yes, she would be a good assistant coach and maybe a coach one day.
Kling is a vibe person. The players love her, but I am not sure is she is a strategy or tactics person. I do think there is some role for her in this organization.
Sinclair I think will be working on getting a Canadian women’s league up and going. So I don’t know if she sees herself as a coach. Sometimes great players can coach other times it doesn’t work so well.