Not left, mind you, but let go today, just in the past 1/2 hour. Also canned: Robbie Nicholson, assistant coach. Interim manager is James Galanis: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2010-08-17-3212175419_x.htm
Curious that they would wait so late into the season for this move and not just finish out the season. ATL isn't going to make the playoffs. But a change (the right change) might have yielded results (ie a playoff spot run) sooner. Say, if they'd done this two weeks ago. So, the Equalizer version of the story says the interim guy is closely connected to Lloyd & is a Jersey guy. Interesting appointment. Wonder if it is really just a short term thing to finish the season. I'd think he'd be more interested in the SBFC gig -- hell maybe this interim gig is just til the current SBFC guy gets canned.... Ok folks, let's start naming (realistic) head coach options for ATL to hire in the off-season. April Heinrichs would be a very interesting candidate (imo).
Shocked but not shocked.Timing strange,if a change had been considered, it should have been a few games back. April would be a great choice.Hope it's offered to her and she accepts.
Yeah, I don't get the timing at all. Two weeks ago, good idea. Now? I don't see it giving ATL a playoff spot.
Call me crazy but this might be an attempt to right the ship for next season. As I said in another thread yesterday, how are you going to convince players on the last place team, that loses a game that was winnable with the right game strategy, to want to remain there next year if you don't show some effort to change the current situation. I don't like to see anyone lose jobs but we don't know if this wasn't a response to cries of "help us" from within. We shall see.
James Gallanis was in the stands at Sunday's game against the Independence. My daughter has tried out for his youth soccer club in southern NJ and recognized him and one of his youth soccer coaches. He lives in NJ but is actually an Aussie. He has a great reputation (at the youth level) and has worked not only with Carly Lloyd, but also with Heather Mitts and Hope Solo to improve their games. I wish him well.
Thanks for the info.Sounds like a interesting guy, not many games left to fully evaluate his coaching style but we will give him and the Team all our support.
Tom Stone...don't know if he's available or even interested, but he was a great coach for the WUSA Atlanta Beat a few years ago. Loved his very effective coaching style & would love to see him back in the ATL.
Tom Stone is Head Coach of Womens Soccer at Texas Tech.Don't know if he would want to give up the security of that Job to come back to the Beat. I would be thrilled if he did because he was the BEST,loved everything about him.His interaction with the Team and with the Fans was second to none.Great Coach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Stone were to match his prior Beat success he would need to find far more physical players than would have now unless he has changed his style. They weren't called the Beasts by the rest of WUSA for nothin ya know! And Beat fans would have to prepared to lose the Championship game in extra time or on PKS's. But you would have a great regular season! The Beat were definitely a feared and respected squad in his day.
Well-done ATL a bit late, but you have wokenup at last. Over the last few months I have been tempted on many occasions to write my feelings on the Beat trainer. However if one looks back through this forum's pages, I would have been the only one who would have written anything really negative on the trainer - in fact it was always the players who were made out to be at fault. I have seen a few games and most importantly a few training sessions and was not impressed with what I saw, anyway, that is all water under the bridge now. The proof of all this is and was that Atlanta with such a star studded team had such poor results. This applies as well to the " old " team as well, which started quite well in the pre-season until the trainer changed their play!. I am sure that things will change now, only it is sad that some players had to lose their jobs on the way
Cupidcat you should have looked further down the entries. I started a thread on May 30 talking about the coaching staff, specifically O'Sullivan and his job security. I stated back then that if The Beat did not go to Chicago on June 6 and get a win then he should be fired. However, you are mostly correct by stating that most entries here have placed the blame on players. I would say that after watching every home game in person I saw that the players did not beleive in what the staff was asking tyhem to do on the field. They were not really playing with heart and lacked ideas on how to break down defenses. Again, these are points that I brought forth two months ago.
You are right, but you were in such a small minority that I missed you. You are totally right about the players not being behind the trainer. In fact I have spoken to some of the players who told me that if they had played in their former teams like they did in Atlanta they would have their heads bitten off by their old trainer. They however went along with new tactics in order to keep their place in the team. Of course they didn't have ideas as they were playing at times against all they had ever learnt
I thought that Atlanta's owner had a plenty of patience...But, there are even limits to his patience... Many weeks ago, I agreed with few posters who brought up the idea of firing the coach...But, back then, it seemed to me that most posters thought that the team should be patient with O'Sullivan for at least first season... Timing is strange indeed...At this point, I am not so sure that Atlanta will be in postseason...More realistic goal will be to avoid being in the last place...Maybe the owner thought that O'Sullivan was not capable of even achieving that goal...
The timming is really strange because they don't have much of a shot at the playoffs. What I would guess is the same thing that someone else suggested, they are trying to keep players. I bet most of the St. Lou crew (Chaulpny, Solo, Aluko) were there with single season contracts and when the season is over others who can now afford them will be hunting for their services. The ownership might want to show these players their comitment for improvement for next season to give them incentive to resign.
Cupidcat, Your criticism of the coach would not have stirred much water, and (not to jump on the bandwagon) I also have repeatedly questioned the way our team is set up to play (and started a thread here on the topic). It's not wrong for the Beat management to have given him time, and yes, it does take time to create a team that can gel, particularly with the influx of so many players. And I also think coaches should be given time to build a team. That being said, you still have to see progress and you have to feel confident that the coach's vision is being understood and being worked towards. You have to see progress. That wasn't the case here. I hope that this means that whoever comes in will help us balance out our squad, and also find a formation and style of play that suits the excellent players we have. With the quality we have, a manager who knows what she/he is doing will certainly make us challengers.
