Photo: Paul Rudderow
There have been many international quality players that have worn a blue and gold jersey with Bimbo striped across it. Barnetta, Nogueira, Bedoya, Edu, even Medunjanin and Onyewu. All of these players have won the fans over, some more than others, and some may have lost a bit of love. One player won over 18,000+ fans week in and week out.
Sebastian Le Toux is the most beloved player ever to walk out onto Talen Energy. He scored in home openers, Open Cup finals, and game winners. Le Toux, in my opinion, is the best player to have put on a Union jersey. Maybe he didn’t have a fancy overseas career, and maybe he didn’t have international caps but he always showed up on game day. He’d run the extra five yards to make a tackle or make a gut-busting sprint and get no praise from it. He embodied how a Union player should play. He left everything on the field and was the hardest working player on the field.
Le Toux is now a free agent. D.C. let him go to free up space for Paul Arriola’s signing. The Union’s season is over. They will not make the playoffs, and they aren’t challenging for anything this year besides “Best of the Worst” awards.
Why not give Le Toux one last go? Why not just throw him into a starting XI and let him roam about? He’s not expensive, so economically it makes sense. Plus, we all know the Union will pinch pennies until the end. Maurice Edu is on the roster and he hasn’t played in a century. Brian Carroll is a “coach-mentor.”
Sign Le Toux. Let him retire in Philadelphia. Hire him as a head coach in a few years, and turn him into the league’s next Veljko Paunovic.
#ComeHomeLeToux
Agree 100%. I think an argument can be made that Le Toux is an upgrade over a number of other players on the team, but regardless what’s it matter? The season has been over for two weeks now. At least let the fans have some reason to cheer.
It would give me a reason to care about the rest of the season.
Would give me an excuse to return to Tslen after dropping season tickets 2 year’s ago.
No. Honestly it’s depressing this would even help some people. It’s like Make-A-Wish, depressed MLS fan edition.
I never thought Le Toux was the most dazzling or technical player on the field. I’ve hated and loved him over the years, but you know what ? no one ever to wear a Union jersey has loved this team as much. He was always the hardest worker on the field and to his credit he never wanted to leave this team unlike others (Barnetta, Nogueira ). Id be fine and happy to see him retire here. He deserves it.
Would be too smart a move for the Union. I’d love Seba back though.
#ComeHomeLeToux
#ComeHomeLeToux
Much as I like LeToux I’d rather see playing time given to the younger players (Fafa, Epps) to see if they are a fit for the future. This team needs to look ahead and not behind.
Hire him as a player for the rest of the year, then add him to the “FredBrianCarrollNikolovKleberson” quasi-player-coach group at Steel.
They’d be smarter to hire him as a brand ambassador instead of a coach given the way they’re going to leak season ticket holders this year.
There it is. That would be a really good move actually.
The problem for LeToux is that he still has a lot to offer a team from a playing standpoint. That makes a retirement move unlikely to happen this year. Someone will want him. Secondly, I don’t think he was very happy about the way the Union dealt him, so other than his personal ties to the area, I wonder if he wants to come up. But yes, I totally agree that it would be nice to see a club be loyal to a player that who loyal to them. LeToux was the guy on the phones calling STH’s to ‘Re-DOOP’. He was the one who played with the camp kids when they visited the stadium. He was the guy who volunteered to judge tryouts for Sons of Ben FC, then coach the team – showing up at YSC on late Monday nights to watch us play unremarkable football. He was the guy who would remember your name as a fan after a year of not seeing you and tell your kid what a great player his father is. Yep…I’d like to see him back…someday at least.
I like Seba. Class act. But he is the past. A past that was never good enough. We need a future.
This.
If he signs a Bethlehem contract, sure, but who’s to say he’d be willing to take a cheap contract? Unless he’s signed to be a player/coach like Fred was
I’d love to see him work his way into a coaching role of some sort with the Union. I’m not sure how that’s going to go given the circumstances of his departure, but who knows?
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As for playing, I am in the camp of trying to get Epps as many minutes as possible to bring him up to speed. That being said though, Seba would make a great squad player and I’d like to see him pass along his veteran knowledge to some of the younger players.
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That and it would mean a lot if he could retire in a Union jersey. As a marketing move alone I would easily rate it above our Chief Tattoo Officer, and it would increase game day tik/STH sales.
Were he to visit the stadium, he should be the pregame “hometown hero.”
Would expect him to miss another wide open sitter
Nice post kid u seem to know nothing about soccer