The Last Dip Days of Steeley & Cannell

Steeley and Cannell, 1979.

In August, 1980, Washington Post beat reporter John Feinstein described that season as a soap opera and proposed the name, “Days of Our Diplomats.”

The drama that lingered throughout the 1980 campaign had first leered its ugly head the previous year. An article appeared in the Post, authored by Feinstein, on August 5, 1979, entitled Early Trades Seen for Steele, Cannell, in which both players (Jim Steele and Paul Cannell) made clear their expectation that they would not be with the team much longer, and perhaps they would be better off for it.

“I want to get out of here,” Steele curtly stated after practice on August 4, 1979. “When the season’s over, I want to play someplace else.” One of Steele’s main reasons? “I don’t want to play on a team run by John Carbray,” the Diplomats General Manager.

Paul Cannell seconded his teammate and drinking partners sentiments. “John Carbray has been out to get me for a while because he doesn’t think I take the game seriously. I like to party as much as anyone but I take the game seriously. I’d never do anything to hurt this team.”

Carbray had advised Head Coach Gordon Bradley to trade Cannell and Steele at the end of the 1978 season. However, Bradley felt that Steele was his best natural leader, and wanted him to return for the 1979 campaign.

After their comments of August 4, Bradley was singing a different tune. “Any player who wants to be traded I’ll trade,” Bradley stated. “But I’ll trade them when it suits me. Not when it suits them.” According to team insiders at the time, Bradley had already made up his mind to trade the duo before making those comments.

“Gordon feels they’ve let him down. What’s more, he thinks they’ve become a divisive force on the team. Some players side with Paul and Jimmy and some don’t even want to talk to them.” It might be easy to see why Bradley felt that way. He had often told reporters that, “Jimmy knows more about soccer than anyone on the team.”

This photo sums up Bradley & Cannell's
relationship in August, 1979.

Cannell’s disdain for the coach and general manager did not spoil his view of Washington or it’s fans. Feinstein noted that Cannell had often said that one of his main goals in life “is to see RFK Stadium filled for a Diplomats’ game.”

“I love this city, I love the people and everything about it,” Cannell explained. "But if I’m not happy with my soccer I’m not happy. And right now I’m unhappy about my situation here."

On Sunday, August 19, 1979, the Dips faced a do or die match in their playoff series with the Johan Cruyff-led Los Angeles Aztecs. Instead of focusing on the game, the Dips were airing grievances against each other. A second article in the Post read more like tabloid fodder rather than a pregame analysis.

“There’s a lot of little problems, what normally would be petty problems, but right now they’re amounting to more than that,” Gordon Bradley confessed.

Some of those “little problems” included:

• Kenneth Mokgojoa’s frustration at not having started a match all season and not playing in the final regular season match against the Cosmos in New York. As a result of this snub, he declined to travel to Los Angeles for the Dips playoff opener, a 3-1 loss to the Aztecs in the Rose Bowl. 
•          Criticism by the defenders who played in the series opener that the midfield did not do enough to help out defensively in the face of the Aztecs aggressive offensive game plan.
•          British players complaints about Sakib Viteskic, of whom Steele stated, “his next tackle will be his first. The problem with Sak is he never makes a mistake. It’s someone else’s fault.”
•          Paul Cannell’s playing status. He had been moved out of the starting lineup by Bradley a few weeks previous and had only seen sporadic playing time since. 
•          The ongoing clash between Steele and Coach Bradley. Steele had been replaced in the 3-1 playoff opening loss after the Aztecs scored their second goal in favor of Tony Crescitelli. “I still can’t understand it. Why take me off? I wasn’t playing badly. I was playing better than some of the bloody midfielders,” he insisted. It’s been this way for a while now. Something goes wrong blame Steele or Cannell. When the season’s over, that’s probably it, I’m gone. That upsets me.” 

Some fans were obviously backing Steele and Cannell in the point-counterpoint debate that was being carried out in the press. A large sign appeared prominently at the game that afternoon that stated, "If Paul and Jimmy Leave We Leave Too!"

The Dips were eliminated that afternoon after Cruyff made a legendary 65 yard run through the entire Washington defense and hammered home a left footer past Bill Irwin. Afterward, in the locker room, all of the talk of wanting to be traded had turned to pleas of  being given another chance with the Dips.

"I don't want to leave Washington, I love it here," Cannell said. "I just bought a home in Alexandria, and I have no desire to leave."

Steele seemed a bit more resigned to the fate that awaited the two. "I can't see the two of us staying. They have to split us up. People come up to me and say, 'Hey, Steeley, you're not leaving town, are you?' I hope not. I don't want to. I've said it a couple of times, yes, but if I'm going to be honest, I'd want to stay."

Post columnist Dave Kindred noted, "it would be a public relations mistake for the Diplomats to lose the likes of Cannell and Steele. They are box office."

All Gordon Bradley had to say of the matter was that he would meet with Madison Square Garden (the team's owners) in the next few weeks and then let his players know his plans for them. One has to believe he already had a plan for Cannell and Steele.

Three months later, the Dips sold Cannell's contract to the Memphis Rogues for an undisclosed amount of cash. There was little mention of the move in the Washington press, as seen by the short announcement that appeared in the Washington Star, at left.

Unfortunately for Steele, an injury while on loan to the Pittsburgh Spirit, an indoor winter team, gave the Dips the excuse they were looking for. Steele suffered severe ligament damage.

The injury was so severe that Gordon Bradley pronounced, "We feel he'll never be able to play on the professional level again. We have to go by our medical opinion. If I play Steele and he gets hurt again, we could get into a lot of legal trouble."

Was Steele buying any of this? "The club is really telling me to bleep off," he insisted. "They've left me high and dry. They're just kicking me out." Did he feel he would never play on the professional level again? No. "I'll be ready in a month," he stated in April, 1980. "I'll play for someone."

On May 29, Steele signed with, surprise, surprise, the Memphis Rogues. He and Cannell would have one more summer together to live life to the fullest.