The Guardian site broke the following news today:
The Guardian report calls the negotiations “advanced”, but it seems unlikely that Coffey would need to be in Manchester if the deal wasn’t effectively done and needing just a final handshake. So, pretty much a done deal.
The STF gang has an absolutely gloomy-and-doomy take on the move:
“This decision seems out of the control and hands of Jeff Agoos and the new front office. There’s not much you can do the undo the years of mediocrity under the old front office.”
Which, frankly, assumes facts not in evidence.
The very paragraph above the quoted graf admits that Coffey has “spoken about her dreams of playing in Europe” and that – quel surprise! – it seems like that dream is part of what’s going on. How big a part? We have literally no idea. Could “mediocrity” and “the old FO” be part of Coffey’s motivation? Sure. Maybe. Has Coffey or anyone around her said or done anything to suggest that those are the, or the main, reasons?
Not so far as I can tell.
I have NO problem slagging off on LeBlanc as GM. She was shit at her job there, and hurt the club because of that. But now there’s a new GM in town, there’s going to be a new gaffer…to blame Coffey’s move to ManCity solely as the result of lingering resentment at a now-kicked-upstairs GM and a former ownership group takes a pretty heaping helping of dearymewesucksohard self-loathing-ism.
Update 1/11: I’m totally all in with Rifer here:
I’ll add that “significant signing” is a tough ask in itself. Who could Agoos sign that’s a close comp for Coffey? There’s maybe half a dozen comparable #6’s in the world! And most of them are already playing for a wealthy UEFA club! That’s a hell of a fucking huge ask. If Agoos can do that? I’ll carry his rolodex from here to the Halls of Montezuma and kiss his ass when we get there!
What this does, mind, is bring last summer’s Sugita-for-Vignola trade into question. A Coffey-Hina double pivot was a thing of beauty, but without Hina-san Coffey was the remaining rock in the back of midfield, a rock that did a hell of a lot to break up waves of attack that pounded on some pretty shifty centerback pairings.
If Agoos had the slightest hint that his starting #6 wanted out? That’s a move that looks way worse in retrospect than it did (and I hated it at the time, mind…). You even think you’re losing Coffey, you sure as hell don’t deal Hina-san.
So my guess is that Coffey didn’t let the club know that she was thinking of making a move, but we’ll never know one way or the other.
Anyway. Now?
Well…shit.
Before this move centerback was my only real roster hole worry. But losing Coffey without a way of replacing her (and the number of comparable sixes available makes a like-for-like replacement functionally impossible…) leaves a massively vulnerable weakness right through where the strong spine of the defense should be.
It means finding not just a powerhouse centerback (or centerbacks…) but needing to replace the CDM they need in front of them at the same time.
It’s going from replacing a rear differential to having to scrap out and rebuild everything behind the engine, from driveshaft to back wheels.
Hey, new head coach hire? Welcome to the Rose City!
Your job just got a whooooole lot tougher.
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So, many of my Thorns friends said, “What are you thoughts?” And after I expressed that I was more surprised by the Coffey re-signing by the Thorns than I was by any indication Sam would leave, my friends left me alone.
I’m not saying I’m Right by any means. I’m just saying I made some predictions within my friend group.
Until today. And there is a LOT to unpack:
1. Mismanagement at the front office. 3 coaches in 3 years, scandal in 2022, losing Hina (via a “play me or trade me” situation.)
2. I don’t think she was very happy under Gale. I can think of 2 games where she took control of the field and Gale was visibly upset. I suspect she got a talking to…
3. Compare how E. Hayes plays her on the national team to how handcuffed her game is under Gale
4. Money. My understanding is that Sam getting 350k and I’ll bet ManCity will give her a lot more. Another sign that the NWSL needs to raise the salary cap significantly…
5. I wonder how Coffey feels about Castellanos, who came to PTFC after a disappointing year with Bay where she had a 300k contract and didn’t really do much in PDX
6. I suspect she went to the front office and said the ManCity will give me x and the FO said we don’t have that kind of money but then re-signed Wilson for $1m. That might have chapped Sam a bit
As I noted in the post;
1) we don’t have any hard evidence about what may have prompted Coffey to make this move, and
2) the likelihood is that it’s a combination of push and pull.
The push MAY include frustration with the ownership and management. The revolving coaching door, and personal dissatisfaction with club, or squad, or both.
(It seems odd and unlikely that personal frustrations with Gale are playing a significant role; Gale is gone, and so are his tactics)
The pull undoubtedly include money. ManC can fill Coffey’s pockets with gold to a degree that the Bhathals can’t in the capped NWSL. But I’ll bet it also includes Coffey’s long-expressed desire for European glory and just a change of skies – she’s put her time in here, and like anyone else, there comes a point where it’s time for a change.
What I don’t see is how this should be seen as nothing BUT a j’accuse! of the current ownership. I agree that the Bhathals made what I consider poor choices (LeBlanc should have been 86ed much sooner, for one…) but in many ways they were kneecapped by Paulson’s shenanigans during the sale.
Whatever the reasons, the bottom line is that this complicates the incoming coach’s life immensely.
Sam has talked about this for awhile and I am happy for her. Super sad about her leaving. As you say it makes the new coach’s job even more difficult. She will not be easy to replace and that, I think, is a hard position to find somebody even close to comparable.
Losing Hina this year makes it all the harder to call our midfield strong. Until we lost Hina I thought it was as good as any in the league, if not the best. As you say we need a very solid CB and now a very very solid DM.
Young Harvey has played the six in college and she is a leader on a great Stanford team, but no way in hell she is Sam Coffey yet, maybe someday though and being 5’10” is something. I am anxious to hear who they bring in as a CB almost as much as I am hoping for a decent to excellent coach. Also, I hope the new coach brings a good defensive line coach.
There really isn’t a comparable player that I can see as gettable; we’re talking a very, very elite-level player. Think; off the top of your head, can you come up with a comp that’s 1) available and 2) affordable:
Kim Little? She’s 35, and on the downside of her career.
Kiera Walsh? Definitely there, but Chelsea wouldn’t let her go for anything less than Wilson-bucks, and I don’t think there’s room under the Thorns cap for two of those.
Yui Hasegawa? There’s an intriguing possibility. She is damn near Coffey’s twin and I wonder if she’s expressed an interest in moving from ManC? The Citizenesses might be considering a double pivot, but…hmmm?
Patri Guijarro? Another close-to-comparable player. Would Barca part with her? Again, probably not for anything less than huge $$$.
Aitana Bonmati? Out with a leg injury; pretty good comp, but not available for this coming season.
Frankly, there’s no way in hell an NCAA CDM, regardless of her quality, is anywhere near ready to step in to replace Coffey.
I think the central task of the incoming coach is a tactical vision. If that’s effective the cunning of the assistant working with the backline shouldn’t be a critical issue.
I’ll be very curious to see who gets the HC job, but I don’t envy whoever it is