Former AS Monaco President Jérôme de Bontin Takes over for Soler

So if de Bontin was brought in to help pull the club out of financial troubles, what more could he really do differently than Soler? The salary cap obviously prevents wasteful spending on players, and although our DP salaries are high its been the assumption all along that those deals were made by guys a few rungs up the ladder from Soler. Past that, its not as if the team puts any more overhead into our academy/training facilities than other MLS teams, and thanks to Heck we know that we spend next to nothing on marketing. The owners probably weren't expecting Harrison to hit them with that property tax, but that's hardly Soler's fault. Is this really all just about ticket sales, and Soler is being held responsible for Heck's failures?

Its also very unclear at this point what exactly de Bontin's role will be. They named him GM to coincide with Soler's departure, but then said that Hollier will be handling all sporting decisions and that de Bontin will be handling the business side of things... Scouting reports on de Bontin so far seem to show that he prefers to cut wage costs by relying on young players, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in MLS so long as he doesn't go overboard like Toronto did. He also has ties to USSF so there's hope that he already has at least some understanding of MLS's intricacies. On the other hand, he has a history of rapidly raising ticket prices and bringing in players for the sole purpose of ethnic pandering, two ideas that have historically not gone well for anyone.

 

If that is truly the case, then everything RB does is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Their model will not and can not succeed here.

Also, there is no way Houllier will be focusing attention in New York as he is also in charge of Salzburg and Leipzeg (sp?). He will have a yes-man at some point soon.

 

Why when the subject become over USA Youngest player you are so negative.... Why bring the Toronto example, why not you bring San Jose instead:
San Jose Will be the Supporting Shield winner this year and maybe the MLS Champion too and:

San Jose only have 9 Internationals players in they roster, one a European with only 24 years of age, and for contrast they have 19 USA, mostly all them 25 and under...

From they roster(28 players), 19 are USA and only 3 plus the keeper are over 30 years old...
24 for of them are under 30 including 8 of them 25 to 30 years old and 16 of them under 25....

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/04/11/climbing-ladder-average-age-mls-rise
Average age of San Jose's roster, 28.48. They are the eighth oldest, and twelfth youngest team in the league. That puts them right about in the middle of the pack. Toronto FC, by contrast, has an average of 26.25 which is the third youngest in the league. And that number is inflated a bit by having Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans on the roster, who are both good but brittle. They also currently have the most Home Grown players (7) on roster by far. Not to even mention Luis Silva who's a rookie.

So not really a comparison. Toronto FC did go overboard with the number of players that they brought up from their academy almost all at once.

 

I'm not negative towards using young American players, I dislike coddling them and giving minutes that they don't deserve just because of their age and nationality, which is what you wanted for the 2011 season. You'll notice now that we have young American players in 2012 that are actually worth playing, I've stopped being "negative" about it.

And please take a look at the actual facts that Unak posted. You'll notice that L.A. Galaxy, the other team that you always use as an example for teams that make best use of young Americans, has the fourth highest average age in the league, higher even than us.

 

I honestly believe this move is completely financial in nature. The lords in Austria know that the looming NYC 2 franchise will eat away a large swath of the fanbase and that they better get RBNY's shit in order before that happens. I expect a major overhaul in the way that RBNY does business (particularly their advertising and outreach) under De Bontin's leadership but it won't much matter if their on-field solutions come up short.

 

With our payroll we should have been real contenders for the Supporters Shield.

I would hope he is gone IF he doesn't, at least, make it to the final.

 

I have to agree that it is somewhat shameful that we are no longer realistic contenders for SS this season. San Jose is on fire, however, it is also true that we gave up 9 points during this final stretch run and are paying for it accordingly. The good news is that we can still win MLS Cup.

 

The NYC area will require money in order to make money. Chris heck was candid in his final interview and said that Red Bull HQ in Austria had tied his hands by not wanting to give him a budget that would make an impact in the NY metro area. As long as that continues to be company policy it wont matter who the suit with the title is--the team will continue to be an afterthought. Austria is clueless as to what it takes to run a successful club in MLS. They have been absentee owners. You gotta feel for anyone in the GM, Sporting Director, Club President, or Head Coach positions in this organization.

 

Before answer you have to red the post at what my post was address, that post imply that the RBNY are better because they don't have with them the same policies of the Toronto that is sign players of the extraction(Young Home Grows) and local, my answer to that was and is, that San Jose opposite to RBNY the majority of they players are USA and Younger than the RBNY roster.... And that by the way; with that younger and local majority of players they become (SJ) very successfully and better team than the RBNY, and spending a fraction of money than RBNY spend....

 

The point about Toronto is that they relied too much on young players, so Unak's post is absolutely relevant. And you're still ignoring the fact that the core of our team is now young American players, you're stuck on the same arguments you made during 2011 even though the team has changed. A good roster has a mix of both young and old, that's what SJ has and that is what NY now has too. This year NY's average age is only 18 days older than SJ, while Toronto is a full 2 years younger...

I know everyone is still processing the implications of Soler's departure, but I honestly can't see Hollier trying to handle sole GM responsibilities by himself considering how much he has on his plate. I wouldn't be surprised to see a dedicated GM assigned at the end of the season or over the winter, so I'm going to hold off before flipping out at RB until we see how the whole situation plays out.

 

San Jose's roster is negligably younger than New York's for starters. Secondly, NY is not going to be a franchise that doesn't sign high priced DPs. They're too large of a market with too much going on to try to diffuse the star power of the Yankees, Knicks, Nets, Jets, Giants, Mets without stars of their own. It's an essential part of their business model. Now their DP signings could have been spent more wisely perhaps, but to try to bandy the idea that NY might simply try to win with a less star-driven team is not really realistic. That's never going to happen no matter who the owners are. It serves a dual role as a team-building and marketing investment. Certain markets expect money to be spent by their teams.

Can they make better use of their young home grown players? Certainly. But let's not forget that San Jose has three GA players and no HG players on their roster. And of those three, only Ike Opara is a major contributor. They have made some tremendous moves but they haven't exactly done it with youth either. Experience and chemistry wins in MLS. Youth gives you depth and allows you to build for the future, but it's not something that you build around to win now. For every 4 youth players you might find 1, maybe 2, who will become major contributors. The odds are even less when talking about potential superstars.

 

I brought up the fact that de Bontin favors young talent because they are cheaper, and commented that I hoped he didn't gut our squad of experience like Toronto did.

 

Well, lets all be honest here. Bruce was hired in the middle of 2008 after LA was well on their way to a dismal season and the internal club culture and roster was shambles. So in his first full year as manager all he did was was win the west 1 point out of the Supporters Shield and take them to the MLS Cup final.

Followed that up in 2010 with the Supporters Shield and the MLS Cup title & Supporters Shield in 2011. This year after a rough start his club is looking to be peaking heading into post season play.

Over the course of his first full 4 years he is the winning manager in MLS, won 3 trophies and advanced 2 years in a row to the knocj out round of the CCL.

This idea it took him three years to "turn it around" is untrue. He set a winning tone from day 1.

I said years ago firing Bruce set this franchise back light years, it was the one smart footballing thing Red Bull ever did and they let their soda pop sales manager shitcan him to try and save his own worthless ass.

 

The timing of Soler's firing is ridiculous. It could be extremely disruptive for a team that is chasing MLS Cup. It is corporate posturing at its worse. Red Bull doesn't give a shit! I read this story about the Sounders FO and its fans and I long for that kind of relationship here.

 

You point is, that you want to put down the fact, that Toronto and San Jose are using local young players and at least three team that are in those programs are more successful than RBNY....

 

I really don't think so, Soler will not use his position any more this year, to say buy or sign another player, his intervention as GM this year is over, now is Backe turn to do something with the players Soler supply to him during the year....What else Soler can do this year to help the team, Nothing.....

 

Didn't Rafa play FO Monaco when deBointin was there??