12/16/2010: Jeff Cunningham Back In Columbus
The Columbus Crew haven't wasted much time replacing Crew fan favorites- Schelotto and Hejduk- with another Crew fan favorite, the 34-year-old Jeff Cunningham. Cunningham is one of the Crew's highest scorers in their history, with 62 goals in 182 appearances from 1998-2004. And I'm betting that the Crew faithful won't mind if "Jeffro" came back and added to that goal tally in 2011.
Cunningham's return might be in another role nevetheless according to Crew technical director Brian Bliss; As Bliss said that the club sees "Jeffro" at his age as a "super sub" and/or "spot starter." Therefore, the Crew's offer to Cunningham will be less than what he has previously made.
This is despite the Jamaican having 28 goals in the past two MLS seasons with F.C. Dallas. A sort of striking production (28 goals in 55 games, only 36 of those games starts) that the Crew would have killed for these past two seasons. As in comparison, the best any other Crew striker could muster in the last two seasons was 9 goals total from Steven Lenhart.
Therefore, there really isn't any reason not to think that Cunningham wouldn't be in the mix to be a starting striker in 2011. Especially, if Lenhart, Renteria, and Mendoza cannot score on a regular clip per usual.
So I think Bliss's lingo is slightly posturing for a moderate contract for Cunningham; as the reason why F.C. Dallas parted ways with Cunningham was because his contract was way too high. However, Bliss and the Crew are well within their rights in terms of asking for a moderate contract; as every year Cunningham may lose a step and who knows if Cunningham will bring his Dallas form to Columbus or revert back to his Toronto F.C. form (6 goals in 32 games). There's always a risk that Cunningham won't fit into the new Crew as well as he fit into the old Crew.
However, I don't see that happening. Crew manager Robert Warzycha is making this his team, like it or not, and Cunningham can definitely work with Warzycha. Warzycha, a Crew midfielder from 1998-2002, feed Cunningham on a lot of his early career goals from 1998 to 2002. Therefore, Warzycha knows what type of players can help Cunningham produce and get back to his old Columbus days, and keep his recent F.C. Dallas form.
Overall, I like the move. I for one am looking forward to Cunningham running over to the Nordecke. Welcome back to Columbus, Jeffro!
Cunningham doing his thing-
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