Ownership got the size of the team it wanted, and the team went from small to middling with the snail's pace that ownership decreed. We're 10 years into the re-boot. Blaming John Doyle is scapegoating for a problem of deeper magnitude that has not entirely been remedied.
I'm pretty sure that they hired Doyle because he promised the ownership that he could convince his good buddy Dominic Kinnear (the Vince Lombardi of MLS in Wolff/Fisher's eyes) to leave Houston and join him in SJ. Doyle should have been fired immediately when Kinnear used the Quake's interest to negotiate a huge salary increase and extension in Houston. Doyle did his buddy a solid but screwed SJ (and then doubled down on it by bringing in Kinnear at the high salary when he was clearly running Houston into the ground). I don't believe the Quakes wanted to lose at Buck Shaw. I think they vastly over rated Kinnear's coaching ability and handicapped themselves for a decade because of it. And I blame Doyle for a lot of that.
As I recall, back in 2007, when Doyle was hired, Kinnear and Yallop were viewed interchangeably. Ownership was quite happy with Yallop until they weren't, six years later in 2013.
Doyle and Yallop did not have a relationship that I know of. Yallop never hired him as an assistant coach, but Kinnear did. I'm 99% convinced Doyle's value to Wolff/Fisher was his assurance that Kinnear wanted to live in the Bay Area and coach the Earthquakes. I imagine the Doyle pitch to ownership went something like this: I guarantee you Dominic will come to SJ and coach for us. He believes in building teams with American players and isn't sold on bringing in high priced foreign "names". He'll get more production from less salary than any coach in MLS. We'll win championships and you will see a high return on your investment. I think that pitch cost the franchise a fortune in Doyle ineptitude
(Emphasis added). Hard to tell whether your opinion is based on discussions with inside sources or pure conjecture. Mine is based on recall of contemporaneous discussions with David Alioto before Yallop was rehired for his second stint. The Quakes were looking to get one or the other. They may have preferred Kinnear, who was coach of the two-time defending champs at the time, but Yallop was more readily available and likely less expensive.
Using Doyle to get to Kinnear makes no sense to me. If they wanted Kinnear, why bother with an intermediary? I'm guessing they brought Doyle on board because he appeared to have such an impressive soccer resume and so many local soccer connections.
Doyle was the on camera image the ownership wanted. Remember the "no grey hairs" comment? Doyle was for TV sound bites and Kinnear was suppose to be the brains running the soccer team.
He could play a corporate guy on TV. He had experience doing Quakes games and I'm sure that played a role in his hire. He was a familiar face
Probably a good thing he didn't talk to the press much. He seems quite thin skinned about being criticized. Aren't there antidotal stories around about Doyle threatening to punch out fans that dared to be critical to his face?
Unfortunately with both Doyle and Kinnear gone, the Quakes are unlikely to be featured by the "Crap90sFootball" twitter account #90sWereTheBestBecause 👇🏻pic.twitter.com/fUEr4a2Odm— Crap 90s Football (@Crap90sFootball) July 12, 2017 Get lost Gegenpressing! Toss off Tiki-taka! THIS is how to play football.#hcafc #silkmen #Crap90sFootball #Redux pic.twitter.com/u4Uj1c56VH— Crap 90s Football (@Crap90sFootball) July 5, 2017 883470264738107393 is not a valid tweet id
Aren't I always? It's funny you mention it, though. I recall running into John Doyle on the streets of Toronto during MLS Cup 2010. (Not so coincidentally since we were staying at the same hotel). He was still fuming over the loss to Colorado in the conference final, and dismissive of my compliments about the Quakes' solid campaign. Similarly, I recall watching a half of action against Kansas City at Spartan Stadium during the 2004 season while sitting with then-GM Alexi Lalas. He was also much harder on the team than I was.
The chart says the Quakes have Zero operating income...Does this sound right? MLS growth about more than dollars and cents, Whitecaps insist
I'm betting that the financial statements of Earthquakes LLC are padded with lots of tax-avoidance strategies - net operating loss carryforwards, accelerated decpreciation, etc. I believe that in sports, like movies and music, creative accounting is the name of the game.
Operating income used in the sense of operating profit, i'd guess? With a new stadium, that's actually pretty good, isn't it?
I remember going back and looking at those threads and I think one (around November 2007) was titled Kinnear or Yallop. Many of us were quite pleased when Frank got the job but we all speculated that because Dom and John Doyle were best friends , Kinnear may be coming too. Then I recall a Dynamo fan posting saying he was with Dom and John the night before and they were both laughing at the idea that Dom would be coming in 2008. At that point when Dom was out of the picture, there was no other choice but to go with Frank whom I believe wanted out of the LA Beckham hysteria.
FiveThirtyEight is now doing Global Club Soccer Rankings: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/global-club-soccer-rankings/ There are 426 teams from 26 leagues ranked, with MLS teams from 167 (Toronto FC) to 422 (Minnesota United)... your San Jose Earthquakes are ranked... (drumroll)... 417 out of 426! https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1554338774609946