If you were Merritt Paulson right now...

What do you do, now, to start turning things around?

The firing of Spencer is water under the bridge now. What can be done going forward?

What to do now, as the wheels appear to be falling off... Limp through the rest of this season, and start to make wholesale changes in the offseason? Get rid of Wilkinson (either now or at the end of the season)?

It sounds like the locker room was rough after the Dallas game, with names being called out, and Wilkinson saying players quit. Has Wilkinson "lost" the team, or will he be able to pull them back together?

How will the fans react to all of this? I had tickets to the Chivas home game on the 28th, but I will be out of town, and quite frankly I don't feel bad at all that I will be missing it.

I am generally not a fan of firing coaches mid season, but Wilkinson does not seem to be the one to be leading this team... ugh. So, my question is: clean house now or in October?

Wilkinson called out players who quit, and that was a team cultural issue that began before he took over the team. That should have been the job of the last coach. I remind you they lost to an amateur club team. Wilkison sent Perlaza away for Muanga hoping to sent a message. Apparently it will take other methods.

I expect to see a lot of new faces next year.

Paulson is also going to have to pony up some money to buy proven talent. The "we can win with Youth and low salaries" experiment is over if he wants to keep the seats full and have a tv market. The Timbers have almost the lowest salaries in the MLS.

Last night's game was unwatchable. The last three goals were trees falling in the forest that made no sound. Nobody was there to watch.

Seems to me the first thing you need to do is make sure the GM and the coach are on the same page as to what they want to do with the team and ensure that the player personnel fits the coaches tactics. Further don't the "cultural" issues start with the GM/owner and how the team is put together. Now obviously you can't change the owner, but as PG said, he CAN choose to pay more to strengthen the bench and whatnot. Perhaps the problem isn't just buying proven talent, but also having a GM who can actually recognize unproven talent. I don't think anyone was under the illusion that Wilkinson was going to do much better than Spencer (Well they shouldn't have anyway.), I mean if the team hasn't responded yet after the firing, I don't see things getting much better

Seems to me they need to start over with the GM and build from there...

As for the fans, the TA types will always be there, but the rest of the seats? I think the Key Bank Club seats might be a little more challenging to get people to pay $140 to watch this kind of futility... (And really THOSE are the seats that are make the team money hand over fist.) It will be curious that if the team declines (or I guess stays at their current form) if the timbre of the supporters will change for the negative... (Get it, timbre?? Oh never mind.)

Good post, DTR. There *should* be some ramifications to the ownership of this happening, that will drive change. Tickets are already sold out for games this season, but I will be curious how many show up for the Aston Villa friendly tomorrow night.

Assuming items are addressed in the offseason, I would expect the fans to be right back at it next season. And maybe I will get a chance to move up and off the waiting list!!

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/08/timbers-acquire-goalkeeper-donovan-ricketts-montreal-exchange-goalkeeper-troy-perkins

Whenever you can trade your most consistent player for someone of a similar quality only 4 years older... do it every time. Makes sense to me. Wait whaaaaa???

This trade seems odd to me... and to make it now, without a permanent head coach?

Perkins was consistently a solid performer, but he didnt hold his tongue when asked about team mates during the current streak... is this another "long term fit" issue with Paulson? Hmmm.

But "long term fit" and picking up a player who is 35? How does THAT make sense?

I guess it does in the sense that they are waiting for their younger keeper to be ready (And think he will be ready soon) and perhaps salary demands in the future are higher

But the main impression is that Merritt got his undies in a twist with the whining... Just seems like a really strange move all around mid season, especially since it doesn't really address a need... at all...

Moves like this reek of throwing in the towel for the season, although I guess that might be good for PNut's position on the season ticket waiting list!

I only need a little over 700 people to get fed up... then I am in!

This club is such a frakking embarrassment right now.

GW out.

Take heart. I just watched the shoot out in the Lamar Open Cup, and I think I can safely say the Timbers will never suck as bad in a shoot out as the pitiful display of PK shooting I just saw from the Flounders

they were worse tha ENGLAND

Hahahah well the Timbers have to make it to a game where they actually TAKE penalty kicks first.....

...now they traded Chabala.

RipCityPilot wrote:...now they traded Chabala.

Chabala was a fan favorite and seemed to understand the fans here. It's unfortunate his footballing ability didn't quite match up to his popularity. Truth is we need decent outside backs in the worst way.

John Strong, however, does not need to come out and say Chabala was not a good locker room presence.

I read that... The official voice of the team bad mouthing a player on his way out? Not exactly a reputation you want as a team that is looking to rebuild and recruit new talent.

Same old story?

Timbers up 2-0; San Jose scores in 90th minute--final score 2-2.

DoubleDipper wrote:Same old story?

Timbers up 2-0; San Jose scores in 90th minute--final score 2-2.

Couple excellent goals from Mwanga, great night from Songo'o, Bendik was brilliant, Wondolowski showed why he's on his way to a second straight golden boot, we should have given up the equalizer long before stoppage time, On the last play Dike was...Dike, loved the handbags in the final minutes and after the whistle (not nearly enough of that this year), entertaining night. Much better than a lot of our other road games.

I tuned in to watch a futbol match, and a hockey game broke out.

Sure looked like the last goal was offsides.

up7587 wrote:I tuned in to watch a futbol match, and a hockey game broke out.

Sure looked like the last goal was offsides.

Wondo was onside at the time of the initial pass. Good goal and it was a long time coming the way they threw everyone forward and the way we defended.

If you are Merritt Paulson, or anyone else for that matter, I think you have to be pretty encouraged with tonight’s performance as a building block for next year. A 1-1 final score might have been a fair result for the Timbers, but it also might have been unfair. I’ll have to wait to see a replay on video of the phantom hand-ball against Horst that resulted in United’s only point on the PK. It happened in a flash, so I may have missed it, but I'm willing to bet it was the referee who missed it. Terrible call!

A wonderful goal by Dike from an impossible angle was the equalizer, but more impressive was the way the Timbers kept pushing forward before and after Dike’s goal. It was obvious the Timbers were not willing to play for a tie.

Didn’t sit with the Army this evening, and was surprised to see a number of empty seats in my vicinity….hey, if you’re not going to the game, let someone use your tickets!!

Until the penalty I thought this one was going to a totally unremarkable 0-0 draw. Dike's goal aside we really didn't look that dangerous to me.

Of course, there are only two games left that matter to me and tonight wasn't one of them.