The past few days the reports circulating that the MLS and it’s players have reached a deal on a new 5-year collective bargaining agreement, avoiding a player strike, has been welcomed by everyone, especially the fans who for a while were slowly reaching for the panic button as the new season approached and there was no guarantee the players would actually take to the field. I know I for one was wondering how this would effect those who have bought match tickets and season tickets and those who had made travel arrangements for away games. It’s always the fans who get hurt the most when something like this happens, but thankfully we can all now put it behind us and actually look forward to what is important – the Football on the pitch. The in’s and out’s of the new agreement have not been officially announced at the time of writing, but to be honest, right now I don’t really care what they are, I am just glad they agreed to start playing Football.

Had this season failed to kick-off on time or the players gone on strike for any length of time it could have and in my belief, would have been an absolute disaster for the game in North America. Writing at lengths about why that would have been and how it would have effected the game thankfully is no longer required. The players and the teams have reached their agreement and by the end of the week the 15th MLS season and the 4th TFC season will get underway.

For a while there it seemed that the USL and NASL were going to come to blows in the fight to be the next big league below the MLS and when U.S. Soccer Federation denied the application for both leagues it seemed like the sport was about to crumble – especially with the MLS lockout rumored as well. Then, suddenly, common sense prevailed and the leagues merged to create a viable second division to the MLS.

It’ll run in a similar format to the MLS with pointless conferences and the Champions being declared via a knockout tournament at the end of the proper season.

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Remember the NHL a few years back when it had its lockout for the entire season? Yeah? Well then you will remember that it was a bloody disaster for the sport and some will say that it is still trying to recover from the hit it took from fans who went away and never bothered coming back. ESPN was a broadcaster pre-NHL lock-out and they have yet to come back to broadcasting games either. So the news that the MLS could be heading for something similar has fans worried, and rightly so.

The current five year collective bargaining agreement between owners and players runs out at the end of this month and reports suggest the two sides are a long way from finding some kind of middle ground. The players want their conditions improved while owners want to keep things pretty similar to how they are now.

FIFPro, the a representative for players all over the world is representing the players here also and they claim that the MLS’s set-up, in which all players sign with the league rather than individual teams, breaks FIFA’s regulations. FIFPro have said that almost 80% of MLS players don’t have guaranteed contracts, that contracts give the league multiple one-year options, that players can be transfered to opposing teams without their consent and that out-of-contract players remain the property of their previous club. FIFPro wants all this changed.

Let’s face it though, the MLS as the major league of the country is unlike the major leagues in most other countries. It’s new and its previous setup went bankrupt so a lot of these conditions whereby the league has a lot of control were put in place to stop teams over spending, going bust and destroying the league for a second time. Then again, a lock-out might destroy the league anyway so it’s in the owners interests to find some kind of middle ground, but unfortunately for the players, it might well be even more in their interests to find an agreement.

I say that because this is not the Premier League when it comes to salaries and it isn’t even the NHL – it’s players likely cannot afford to take a year off waiting for things to get sorted out. Of course, the big stars will clear off elsewhere and probably not have much interest in ever returning but the rest of the players, the majority, who make up the squads will be left in the lurch. Income for MLS players averaged $147,945 at the beginning of last season according to the MLS union, but the median wage was a petty $88,000. (The $147k average was likely boosted somewhat by David Beckham’s salary alone!)

So with that in mind it is in the interests of the players to strike some kind of deal and with the understanding that both sides will drive a hard bargain over the next few weeks, you have to imagine when it comes to the crunch – 31 January – a deal will be reached, the season will be saved and we can all look forward to the actual football taking over from the politics.

Was I the only one that found it strange seeing Salt Lake win the MLS Cup? I suppose given how they did in the regular season I wasn’t, but I wonder if many others find the system flawed because that can happen? Salt Lake came in 8th in a 15 table league — in football terms we call that mid-table mediocrity — yet went on to be crowed champions. Their coach even referred to them as ‘the best team in the MLS’. The course over the last month maybe, but over the course of the season? I don’t think so.

The MLS is set up in such a way that over 50% of its teams make the playoffs. From there it is seeded 1st v 8th and so on in a two-legged knockout competition over two rounds before the final two teams meed in a one off final game at a neutral venue.

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I sat up late last night as the MLS Cup game went into extra time, rooting for LA to come up with the goods and win the trophy. It would make for quite a story, Beckham returning from Milan this season as the villan only to help take his team to glory winning back the fans. In his third MLS season after joining the worst team in the league it would be quite the achievement for Backham’s CV, but it wasn’t to be and Salt Lake upset the odds to take the championship on penalties.

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Predrag Radosavljevic was today named the new head-coach of Toronto FC. I must admit I have never heard of the guy and still do not no how to pronounce his name, but by all accounts he is well respected and a solid coach and hopefully the right man to finally get Toronto FC into the playoffs. It’ll be a big task considering the team has never had a winning season and never made the playoffs, but while he said the team had special things head of it, he didn’t put a time frame on when these big things would show up. The best news for me personally and all bloggers alike is that Mr. Radosavljevic goes by his nickname of Preki which will save a lot of time and hassle.

Preki as I will forever refer to him to the point that I forget his actual name, is a 46-year-old Yugoslavian-born player who went on to play for the American national team and has become the forth head coach of TFC in just four seasons. Not quite the stable start many would have hoped for but here is hoping this is finally the move that will settle things down. 

Preki has had a stellar playing career playing in the Premier League with Everton and later winning two MVP awards in the MLS, the only player to have achieved such a feat. He was also the coach of the year in 2007 with Chivas.

The fact that in his playing days he was a striker bodes well that he might well get Toronto playing an offensive style of football.

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Toronto FC’s season may be over for me but the MLS season is still running with the MLS cup down to its final four teams as of this past weekend. David Beckham and his La Galaxy are still in the hunt and take on Houston Dynamo in the Western Final while Real Salt Lake will play Chicago in the other final. The winners of course will meet in the MLS Cup Final. Should Beckham win it would certainly justify LA’s move to get him a few years ago as back then they were the worst team in the MLS. Beckham is taking it serious, he has just pulled out of the England Squad in order to play these big games.

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