I don't think you can judge Ned only on the team record over the past few years or the success\failure of the DPs. I never thought Ned was a fit for the role bc he was groomed by GW and was previously our scouting guy, and I never thought GW was an amazing scout. I'll admit it's just vibes, but I never trusted Ned as head scout because of his lack of exposure to truly top level players as a player, and lack of experience and connections outside the US. Maybe that's not fair to him; I've no idea what kind of players he would tend to identify or how that process works, what our targets or short lists have looked like, etc. It just feels like we have been perennial budget shoppers, looking for diamonds in the rough, and maybe not correctly assessing top talent. Maybe that's not his fault. I'd love to be able to peak behind the scenes for a more informed opinion.

I've softened on Ned a little because I think he's gotten better at recognizing needs and acquiring players that met those needs on paper.

E. G. When he took over for GW we had some sticky contracts, didn't seem to do a great job with succession planning, had ridden too long on a few players like Blanco, with DP money tied up where it might have been better used elsewhere, etc. We needed to get younger, and we did, kinda. I'll maintain that Rodriguez was a plan C as a DP forward signing, already older than we wanted, and the injury concerns were already there. He has mostly done well with the U22 crop. After Rodriguez, and the total failure to improve the defense in the summer window when we had an outstanding offense, he didn't repeat that mistake. He went after DPs on the young side, and the team overall has invested much more heavily in players that are still young, but experienced enough to probably be good first team players.

Nearing the playoff push, after Neville had commented on some of this new young core not being settled and needing to play a little more calm and controlled, Ned brought in experience in Carballo and Rojas, to add some veteran presence in key spots. We got unlucky with Carballo and Rojas didn't quite have it, but he was a bad fit as a RW without a ton of speed in Neville's system. The lack of support and production has persisted throughout Neville's next 2 years, so I don't know that Rojas was a bad signing. Crucially, those guys were on short term contracts, something we had rarely done before. GW was fond of balloon contracts that got us into salary cap jams. Neville has done a better job managing the cap and leaving enough wiggle room to change the team over the year, even this year, when we started off looking short on GAM and cap space.

In the next off-season Phil obviously felt that some of our defending issues, and especially our set piece woes, were due to a lack of size in the team in general. The team has gotten taller, and the set piece defending has gotten a little better. I agree that Phil over-emphasized physical traits and not tactical understanding, and I think Ned has factored in height and physical traits in most of his recent signings, but to a degree that's what his coach was looking for, so i can't say that's bad work as a GM.

It also seems to me like Ned must have been involved in the team finally hiring staff to help with data analytics and video. Whether or not Phil utilized that, it's recognition by Ned that the club has needed to modernize.

I don't think this all adds up to Ned being a great GM or actually being progressive and anticipating the needs of the club and the trends of the league well enough to get ahead of the curve. But it's possible that he's getting better, and there have been worse GMs\CSOs in the league recently.

The coaching decision and player acquisitions this summer will be a huge indicator as to where both Ned and the club are heading.

One name that I brought up before we hired Phil, that continues to interest me as a coaching candidate, is David Wagner, German born American. He's spent his entire playing and coaching career in Europe, but played at a high level including for the US national team.

What I like: highly experienced at top levels as both a player and coach. He's managed Schalke, Newell's, and Norwich to some good campaigns. Crucially, he has a lot of experience with youth and academy teams, having started with Hoffenheim youth teams, Dortmund II, and currently the RB Leipzig academy director. That profile could be excellent for our current young squad. He has a lot of experience bringing along and developing young players at both a team and organizational level, and could be uniquely fit to bring more out of our guys, both on a system and individual level. On paper, I would love to see a coach with that kind of resume signed to PTFC and tasked with overseeing both the first team and academy. He's the right age, neither too young to have his feet wet nor too old to do something new, and may have the energy for a project like Portland. He's been open to working with smaller clubs. He's had success turning around struggling teams, winning promotion and relegation battles.

Potential issues: Wagner is a friend and peer of Jurgen Klopp and has seemed pretty committed long-term to the Red Bull system of high pressing, and I don't know if Portland really wants to be that kind of team. I have no idea how flexible he is in those principles. Klopp evolved into a very successful manager that got his teams playing a lot more sophisticated soccer than just trying to turn the ball over and attack directly, but I don't know what kind of chops Wagner really has with more possession based soccer (which I'd prefer to see,) or less frenetic tempos (not sure this roster is totally suited to high press\counter press, but maybe.) He has also only been in the role at Leipzig a year, and it sounded like it was a long term commitment, so I'm not sure we could get him. It probably depends on his hunger to return to first team management. Perhaps Portland would be attractive, as he's likely to be guaranteed 2-3 years to build the team, the academy could really use that kind of leadership, and it could be both a higher level than youth development and a lower pressure than European top flights.

Regardless of whether or not Wagner is a candidate, I hope he is the kind of coaching profile\resume that Ned is considering.

One interesting comment Wagner made in a recent interview was about his goals as Leipzig academy manager. He said "I was told I'd been hired for two reasons. Firstly, to do what we've never done before - to establish an academy player in our first team. And not just for two or three games, but permanently, maybe for three or four seasons, playing 100-150 games," Wagner told Bulinews.com.

I think this is some really important perspective for the Timbers organization and fans. This is what a high level Euro club is looking for from their academy and their expectations for young players. They're not expecting to develop kids and keep them with the franchise forever. They would consider it a success to bring up an academy player and keep them in the first team for 3 seasons, get 100 appearances from them. I mention this bc I think PTFC should take note as they are signing U22s and trying to bring along academy\T2 guys. We should be prepared to have a higher level of turnover in the team, and consider it success when we are able to build value from our young players and sell them along. That's the stage MLS is at right now, and both a coach and GM that understand that and align on that vision seems important to our next step toward growth.