Quinn to Rejoin Sockers : Soccer: Deal brings midfielder back into the fold in time for game against St. Louis Storm, the home opener for the defending MSL champions.
The Sockers will bring out several former players as part of tonight’s pregame festivities, but midfielder Brian Quinn will not be among them.
He signed a contract Friday and will suit up for tonight’s home opener against the St. Louis Storm (7:30) at the Sports Arena.
The contract runs through Jan. 19, at which time Quinn, who left the Sockers in July to sign with U.S. Soccer, must resume his national team duties.
Known for his passing skills (he accumulated 55 assists this past season), Quinn also is valuable as a player who can control the game’s flow.
Newman is counting on using Quinn’s expertise as a learning tool for the Sockers’ many inexperienced players.
“I wanted to see what some of our younger players can do,” Newman said. “And having Brian back will benefit them, they’ll be able to learn the nuances of the indoor game from him, and when he leaves, they will have learned and should be be able to pick up some of the slack.”
Quinn is looking forward to playing against St. Louis and his former teammate Branko Segota, who was traded to the Storm during the summer.
“It’s going to be exciting to play against St. Louis,” Quinn said. “They’re probably the most talented team in the league and the game should give us a good indication of where we’re at.”
Neither side would rule out Quinn’s return to the Sockers once his national team commitments are fulfilled--if any MSL games are left.
With Quinn’s signing, Newman and Randy Bernstein, executive vice president/general manager, now will focus on trade talks with the Baltimore Blast, who are trying to figure out what to do with their roster since an arbitrator ruled they must reinstate former Socker Paul Wright and pay his $60,000 salary.
The Blast claimed Wright off waivers during the Sockers’ ownership transition in June and the Sockers have been trying to get him back ever since.
Their efforts could be rewarded today. The Blast, believed to be at the $550,000 team salary cap, cannot add Wright’s salary without violating the salary cap and must unload either Wright or another blue-chip player with matching salary.
Bernstein said trade talks were going well Friday before Blast officials left for the Kansas Auditorium for a game against the Wichita Wings.
“It’s just a matter of communicating and trying to get something accomplished,” Bernstein said.
Negotiations will continue this morning.
There also will be talks with Hugo Perez’s agent, Michael Hogue, despite Perez having made known he is not interested in returning to the indoor game at which he excelled from 1983 to 1988.
The Sockers hope tonight will mark a break from the past four years in which attendance and interest slipped. To do that, they will try to establish a link to their heydays of the mid-1980s. To that end, several popular players from that era will be saluted.
“The San Diego Sockers are probably the only U.S. soccer team with any kind of tradition,” said Bernstein. “We’ve won so many championships and there are so many former players who are a part of this community, either by coaching soccer or running a business, who we’ve sort of lost contact with.
“These are players who won championships for this city just like the Super Bowl or the World Series and they are people who should be proud to come back to the arena.”
Several former players will be on hand tonight. To introduce them, management has dusted off the flashing Sockers sign, which used to be the focal point of pregame introductions.
“The sign used to be a cornerstone of this franchise,” Bernstein said. “It was fun, it helped make each night an event.”
The sign, mothballed for the past few years, had to undergo a major overhaul, according to Tim Latta, director of marketing. Replaced were 150 of the 400 light bulbs, two 55-gallon dry-ice drums, some of the wiring in the control unit, two flood lights and two rope lights.
