Barry Robson

[Scotty]

Breaking news over here: "Barry Robson flies back to UK tonight after coming to agreement to terminate his deal with Vancouver Whitecaps"

 

It was reported earlier that he wasn't at the first day of training (today) for the forthcoming 2013 season, and early indications quoted "personal issues" ... seems they must have meant "personnel issues" !!!

 

One of the more prominent journos summed up his MLS career thus: "Robson ends a short, unfulfilled tenure in Vancouver. More arms waved in the air than assists or goals. Both sides needed to move on."

 

Wonder what is next for him ? Retirement ? a swansong in D3 ?

 

 

 

[Big G]

Pretty strong rumours about 3 weeks ago about him going to Aberdeen before the end of January. Maybe a possability now.

[starchief]

He was one of Strachan's few successes at Mboro. Still talked about as a good player and one that they were sad to leave. Could it be Rangers get back Robson, Miller and Boyd?

(doubtful and crazy if they did - that's way too much money and firepower for so low in the leagues)

[Yngwie]

Wonder what is next for him ? Retirement ? a swansong in D3 ?

 

I'd imagine he's got out of his Vancouver contract knowing that he has something lined up. Haven't seen him play recently but surely he'd still be a good player in the SPL.

[Scotty]

3 goals and 2 assists in 17 starts (+1 sub appearance). 10 shots on target from 35 attempts. 2 yellows, 33 fouls conceded, no reds.

 

decent profile page here: http://www.mlssoccer.com/players/barry-robson ... even mentions ICT !

[Renegade]

I think we should bring him back for a wee rendezvous here! 

 

 

(Yes, I do know that is very unlikely!)

Edited January 22, 2013 by Renegade

[RiG]

I hear that Mark McCulloch is a strong transfer target as well.

[CaleyD]

He was waxing lyrical about how great life was in Vancouver when he was on Sportscene the other week....so not sure how accurate the "not settled" excuse holds water.  Although, in saying that, he's hardly likely to come on saying how crap life is and that he's looking for an out!!!  He also talks about coming back to move into the next chapter of his career and that might suggest he has something lined up...possibly a player/coach role somewhere?

 

Lots of reports stating he didn't have the pace to hack it in MLS, and given that was one of his biggest assets then it throws up the question of what level he could still compete at over here.  Certainly don't think he'll be commanding the £7500 a week he was on with the Whitecaps at any level here.

 

My bets would be on him doing a season or two with someone down south before moving into coaching...something I think he's talked about wanting to do previously.

[starchief]

His pace was gone at Mboro already. More of a central mid/inside-right then. Did very well. Actually, Strachan's biggest mistake was to not have wingers.

[Scotty]

Good article here from Michael McColl on Canadian Soccer News. http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?4118-Barry-Robson-A-Farewell-to-Arms

 

He mentions watching Barry play at East Fife so not sure if he is/was a Forfar or ICT fan in a former life. Some of the stuff rings so true to my recollections of Barry at ICT that I just had to comment (HighlanderICT is my comment).

 

I saw Barry in one MLS game. TFC 3 - 2 Vancouver in July of last year and he had a pretty quiet game to be honest. He wouldnt have been happy though. TFC went 0-1 down then clawed the game back to 1-1 and then went ahead 2-1 before Vancouver equalised 1 minute into stoppage time. There was another 4 minutes of stoppage time after that and right at the death TFC's Canadian international midfielder Terry Dunfield, who had previously been at Vancouver, popped up with the game winning header ... boy was he chuffed with that goal !

 

One of my images from the game as Robson fails to track Torsten Frings. (MLS allows 'personal use' photography)

 

 

Terry Dunfield scores the winner (not my pic - I got a pic of the goal, but not the celebration .. was too busy celebrating myself !)

[+Wanderer]

"The sometimes lengthy travel between games takes some getting used to. So do the referees."

 

The referee comment is quite interesting. Are they that different from UK?

[Scotty]

I dont think they are that different from Scottish refs to be honest but definitely not on a par with the FIFA elite refs ... They do seem to have improved over the last 5 or 6 years though and I think 5 or 6 of them are full-time refs employed by MLS or the refs association.

 

Just like Scotland, every one of them has his (or her) moments but most are 'average'. There are a few decent ones, a few that you cringe when you see the name and dont know what you will get, and a few that should be run out of town immediately !!! They also seem to like their own aerosols !!! In MLS, the ref has a can of white grass paint to mark the free kick spot and the 10 yard line for the wall - they seem to love playing with their own aerosols like that

 

The biggest difference for me is the number of free kicks that are awarded during a game. Very few refs allow the game to flow and many are extremely card happy. I would also say that the referee assistants are very bad in MLS. In Scotland, you may get an assistant at an SPL game who is a 'lower grade' ref who is working his way up to the top grade ... I dont think that is the case in MLS, although I could be wrong, but most seem pretty clueless. 

 

However, having said all that ,... MLS refs (and Scottish ones) look like superstars compared to some of the refs we have seen in the Concacaf Champions League. These guys are a joke, and on occasions, lets just say you know what is going to happen to US or Canadian teams when you play in Mexico, Honduras, Panama etc when the ref is not from Canada/USA or one of the bigger nations within Concacaf. Although - and this is for the benefit of Scarlet - concacaf refs would not have been a factor for Barry as Vancouver and Montreal have not qualified for that competition for the last four years due to Toronto being Canadian champs for the last 4 years.

[Alex MacLeod]

 

The biggest difference for me is the number of free kicks that are awarded during a game. Very few refs allow the game to flow and many are extremely card happy. I would also say that the referee assistants are very bad in MLS. In Scotland, you may get an assistant at an SPL game who is a 'lower grade' ref who is working his way up to the top grade ... I dont think that is the case in MLS, although I could be wrong, but most seem pretty clueless. 

 

Or her!! Lorraine Clark is an up and coming referee who ran the line at recent Rangers v Berwick game.

[ICTPaisley]

 

The biggest difference for me is the number of free kicks that are awarded during a game. Very few refs allow the game to flow and many are extremely card happy. I would also say that the referee assistants are very bad in MLS. In Scotland, you may get an assistant at an SPL game who is a 'lower grade' ref who is working his way up to the top grade ... I dont think that is the case in MLS, although I could be wrong, but most seem pretty clueless. 

 

Or her!! Lorraine Clark is an up and coming referee who ran the line at recent Rangers v Berwick game.

I recently went to a Junior cup match between Arthurlie and Steelend Vics and it was female ref! 

[Scarlet Pimple]

Scotty--Concacaf?  Old Scarlet thinks that is is a new McDonalds knock-off run by a con-man. Be kind to the boy.

He also says that he will ignore the jibes about Toronto's superiority because  (1) They are true and (2) It's a small world and what goes around comes around.  Shudder.

 

As for Barry Robson in the Vancouver team, well, all I can say is that he was masterful in midfield, put in a perfect pass time and again, strolled through most games  and had a pretty wicked shot when he bothered himself to get close to goal.

 

However, his pace was deffo lacking and that was not a huge issue because, more often than not, when a Vancouver player gets a ball anyway, they seem to think that they should immediately stop and think about what to do with it, followed by a pass sideways or back to the goalie to doff the responsibility onto another teammate no better placed than them and forward momebtum was never a big deal . No such thing as rampant racing up the field on the wings was obvious except on the rarest of occasions.

 

Barry did, however, hopefully teach the other fellas about composure (he was rarely robbed of the ball)  and had he had fast and urgent, passionate players around him shouting for the ball he probably would have been considered to be a great success.

 

To be brutally frank, Miller was far less productive than Barry and his salary was, I think, the highest ever paid by the team to a foreign , or indeed any local, player. He was hired to score goals and he didnae . The money was not well spent  and, in the role he appeared to have been allocated as a lurking striker way up-front, awaiting the perfect pass, he was found to be severely wanting.

 

The truth is that, if the current Caley Thistle team with their verve , fitness, clas, pace and ambition were to come to Vancouver on serious business, I cringe at what the scoreline might be.

[starchief]

Miller? A lurking striker??  The blame then lies with the scouts and management.  That has never been his position.

[Scarlet Pimple]

There you go then. he is not a lurker. 

 

Hoever, I doubt if anyone would have criticised him negatively though if he had taken the situation into his own hands ( for over a million dollars a year )and got upfield enough to see if he could at least get a kick of the ball.  After all, he is not a sheep without inititaive.

 

Truth to tell I remain unconvinced that he  is willig to work that hard. It's the way of he older player. Whether it is by design or by necessity due to becoming older but I remember when Johan Cruyf came to Manage the Whitecaps as a player Manager  about 34 years ago when they won the North American Soccer League I noticed he didn't want to exert himself on the field either. And he lasted only about one yearor so.

 

Investing in ambitious youth as an ambitious and far-seeing policy still seems to be the best approach for an ambitious club.

[Scotty]

Hoever, I doubt if anyone would have criticised him negatively though if he had taken the situation into his own hands ( for over a million dollars a year )and got upfield enough to see if he could at least get a kick of the ball.  After all, he is not a sheep without inititaive.

 

Interesting ... went and checked the salaries for last year (publicly available info in MLS) and Robson was on $600K for the year (or $11,500 a week, whichever you prefer) ... but Miller did indeed get over $1m .... $1,239,316 to be precise (or $23,833 per week) ... that is scary ! Also scary is that Kris Boyd made more than him ....

 

 

Only 11 players in MLS making over a million US dollars a year last year ....

 

Thierry Henry (New York) = $5.6m

Rafael Marquez (New York) = $4.6m

David Beckham (LA Galaxy) = $4m

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) = $3.4m

Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy) = $2.4m

Torsten Frings (Toronto) = $2.4m

Marco Di Vaio (Montreal) = $1.9m

Julian De Guzman (FC Dallas [formerly at Toronto]) = $1.9m

Danny Koevermans (Toronto) = 1.5m

Kris Boyd (Portland) = $1.5m

Kenny Miller (Vancouver) = $1.2m