Do Red Bull Have a Clue About the Beckham Rule?

Soccer websites are abuzz today with the news that Juan Pablo Angel has signed as a Beckham rule player with MLS traditional stomping bag, the New York franchise.

Throughout the history of the Metrostars/ Red Bull franchise they have failed miserably regardless of the reputation of the players allocated to them by the league and the coaches who have managed the club.

The franchise has had the following big name coaches:

• Carlos Alberto Parriera
• Carlos Queiroz
• Bora Milutinovic
• Bob Bradley
• Bruce Arena

The franchise has had the following big name international players:

• Roberto Donadoni
• Branco
• Wellington Sanchez
• Lothar Matthaus
• Alex Comas
• Amado Guevarra
• Youri Djorkaeff

Yet the most successful years of the franchise were when the team was led by Coach Octavio Zambrano and the volatile Clint Mathis.

The signed of Juan Pablo Angel, a player completely written off at Aston Villa is another sign that the franchise just doesn’t get it. While other clubs have upgraded their product using the new Beckham rule, the Red Bulls have simply replaced discarded players with outcasts from what were both relegation threatened EPL sides. (Claudio Reyna formerly of Man City is the Red Bulls other “Beckham Rule” player.)

What’s worse is that MLS signed better Colombian players prior to the Beckham Rule than Angel. Carlos Valderrama, Antony De Avila, Oscar Parreja and Leonel Alvarez all played in MLS before this rule was instituted. What’s worse is the signing of an American player, Reyna who in my humble opinion is inferior to the guy New York gave up (Amado Guevarra) is simply put a corruption of the intent of the Beckham Rule.

It doesn’t matter what international signs for New York or who coaches them, the club will continue to underachieve both on the field and in ticket sales if they continue to make the same poor decisions that have ailed the club prior to Red Bull taking ownership of the club.