COLUMBUS -- While the Green Bay Packers have balked at trading quarterback Brett Favre to a division rival, the New England Revolution had no such qualms in aiding their closest pursuer for first place in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer.
In a trade announced Wednesday, the Revolution re-signed forward Pat Noonan then shipped him to Columbus for the Crew's first selection in the 2009 SuperDraft and allocation money. The teams also traded spots in the 2008 allocation standings with Columbus dropping to 10th and New England moved to third.
New England has a two-point lead over the Crew in both the conference and the MLS overall table with two games in hand.
"We made them a pretty generous offer on the trade so they gain some things," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "They have a pretty good team right now so they're feeling confident in what they can do. They just won the SuperLiga and we're happy to add Pat to our team. I'm not going to ask why. I'm just going to be happy about the trade."
Noonan, who turned 28 on Aug. 2, played five seasons with New England and helped it to three MLS Cup Finals before leaving on a free transfer in January to play for Aalesunds FK of the Norwegian Tippeligaen after being unable to come to terms on a new contract with the Revolution.
He appeared in only 11 matches for Aalesunds and let his agent know in June he would be willing to return to MLS.
"To be honest, Columbus was one of the first ones that I heard about going to," Noonan said by phone from Norway. "Then you set your sights on being there and what other clubs are in the mix. Then Columbus died off. For a while I thought it wouldn't happen.
"They're right behind New England as a conference foe and right on their tail. You almost wouldn't expect them to trade me to a team that's doing well and winning games. Then I heard a couple of days ago it was Columbus and I was surprised and excited. I look forward to joining a team that's been successful this year and has a lot of new faces. Sigi is doing a great job with the team. He's an established coach."
Having a good rapport with the coach is important to Noonan after his experience in Norway. The team had a tall forward and played a lot of long balls while Noonan, who can play forward or on the flanks, was left to run after the scraps in the midfield.
"That doesn't suit my style of play all that well. That and not playing -- I didn't play the first month-and-a-half of the season in terms of starting. I came in as a sub most of the games," Noonan said. "I didn't agree with the coaching, obviously. They paid me a lot of money to come over here and help a team that was struggling and I didn't understand why I wasn't playing. I couldn't trust the coach and not much had changed after the month-and-a-half. I had a little injury but coming back from the injury I still wasn't starting. I thought it was best if I joined a team that was looking to have me as a starter and played the ball a little bit more on the ground."
Although the Crew are third in the league in goals with 29, they have been blanked in two of the past three road matches and could be without wide midfielders Robbie Rogers and Emmanuel Ekpo for the duration of August because of the Olympics. Schmid said Noonan could also play for forwards Alejandro Moreno and Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
"At this point he's probably more inclined to play wide midfield for us while Robbie and Ekpo are gone," he said. "He can play Alejandro's position in a pinch. He can play Guillermo's position and he can certainly play both flank positions. He helps us with his versatility and at the end of the day it's going to be competition and who's playing best will be out there."
Noonan is expected to make his Crew debut Aug. 16 vs. FC Dallas. The Crew are idle this weekend.
"The nice thing with Pat in this transfer window is he doesn't need a work permit so we don't have to wait on that," Schmid said. "It's a matter of the federation receiving his international transfer, which is on its way, and then he'll be cleared to play for us."
By the way, the Crew play host to New England on Sept. 6 and go to Gillette Stadium Sept. 27.
Getting fit will be the first task for Noonan after his arrival in Columbus on Sunday.
"I'm in OK shape. That's probably where I need the most work is getting my fitness back. The only way to do that is to play matches," he said. "In the past three weeks I've played one match of 90 minutes and came on as a sub for two for about 30 minutes. Hopefully, within a couple of weeks I can get back to 100 percent."
Crew technical director Brian Bliss said a transfer fee was not paid Aalesunds to bring Noonan back to the United States. Noonan signed a four-year contract with MLS.
"He brings a lot of experience," Bliss said. "He was on good teams in New England and his contribution speaks for itself in terms of goals and assists, All-Star Games and national team call-ups."
Noonan made 119 appearances, including 110 starts, for the Revolution and had 37 goals and 29 assists -- both rank third in team history. To put that in perspective, his goal total would rank fifth all-time for the Crew behind Brian McBride and Jeff Cunningham (62); Stern John (44) and Edson Buddle (42).
"(Noonan) plays a number of different positions and he comes to us at a good age. He still has a lot of good soccer left him," Schmid said.
The Crew had been pursuing another top-notch scorer since McBride left for England after the 2003 season and at one point last year thought it had McBride lined up for a return. He recently signed with the Chicago Fire after a trade with Toronto as the Crew continued discussions with New England.
It can be said that Noonan was "delivered" to Columbus. At 11:50 a.m. Tuesday, Bliss was with his wife, Jacki, in the hospital as she gave birth to their second child (first son), Jack. Eighteen minutes later -- Bliss recalls looking at the clock -- Revolution director of soccer Mike Burns called Bliss to push the deal to fruition.
Thus, Noonan joins a long list of notable Indiana University products to play for Columbus Crew, including Brian Maisonneuve, Mike Clark, Todd Yeagley, Juergen Sommer and current players Danny O'Rourke and Jed Zayner.
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