Last Saturday I attended a company function at Elland Road that included a meal and drinks with the players and chairman after the 2-0 defeat to Oldham. Bates was there, and I got the chance to have a few words about LUFC but I asked him as a risky joke what he thought of Ruud Gullit leaving Los Angeles (for those who weren't aware, Bates employed and sacked him at Chelsea). He said "I knew it wouldn't last longer than a year" He said that he'd been watching MLS for a while too, and that he knew Ruud wouldn't be able to work with that environment. He never had the patience at Chelsea to develop any of the young players he had. He simply went to the board and asked for money to replace them, and because that wasn't ever going to happen in MLS, he was screwed from the beginning. I told him about the rumours of him alienating players and he said that he used to get younger players in his office crying because they didn't get any time spent on improving them, yet still got screamed at for no reason when things didn't go right. He said he'd let him go over a lot of things (which in previous interviews he'd said was skipping training to attend personal functions et al, I asked and Ken gave a knowing raise of the eyebrows). In the end he just totally upset the senior players, stormed out of training when players argued and generally couldn't care less. ----- I didn't post this over the weekend, because I didn't want it to be seen as gloating over me "knowing what was going to happen from the beginnning when we hired Ruud". I started off vociferously against Ruud, for the above reasons which, at least this side of the Atlantic are pretty much public knowledge, and I was praying that the good run would continue, but I didn't doubt what was going to happen when we came off the rails. He wouldn't have the skill or patience to put it right and he'd bottle it. I'm not gloating, I just can't see why people are defending the f*cker on this board. He's a coward, and can't deal with pressure, which is precisely why he's not fit to be a head coach. I am certainly as unhappy as any Galaxy fan at the outcome, just thought it might be interesting to some of you. Ken Bates speaks his mind to anyone who'd listen. Someone asked him about the Leeds 15 point deduction after he'd moved on from our group, and that rant lasted about half an hour, so you certainly can't say he isn't forthright and opinionated. I don't doubt the veracity of what he said, by the way. Its up to you whether you believe it or not, you only have to read the two lines on the other thread from Chris Albright.....tells you all you need to know about the tw*t. Apologies for the forthright views, its one thing to desert a sinking ship Ruud, its quite another to leave the women and children sobbing on the deck as you disappear over the horizon in the last lifeboat. Once again, I'm not gloating, I have no wish to gloat about that kind of shite, I wanted to believe he'd grow up, but its clear he hasn't one iota. Great players don't always become great managers, I used to watch Gullit and Van Basten in that Milan side, and idolise them, they used to show an Italian game on a Sunday afternoon and it was usually AC Milan. Afterwards we used to go out onto the field and try and imitate, so I'm not 100% a Gullit hater. He really got me into football, and that made me pester my dad to take me with him to Leeds when I was six years old. I loved him as a player, but the guy cannot coach. Good luck to Bruce and the players now. Get behind the lads!! And keep the faith people. I reckon at least 50% of our crappiness has to be down to the coaching, and I think we should stop blaming the players. They must be down at the moment, so I think we need to get behind them. The playoffs haven't gone yet.
If Ruud Guillit is reading this post I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for screwing up our team. Wow so many changes I dont even know where to begin
i'll chime in as to why i didn't think ruud was all bad, which will be a summarization of what i have written elsewhere: he took a team that was playing awfully and for a few games there had us playing a brand of attractive, attacking soccer that is almost unheard of in MLS. he did this, for a limited time, with a few good players and a bunch of poor players. the personnel problem was one that he didn't create but that he tried to sort out. the fact that player morale was not his first priority is NOT the beginning and end of manager evaluation in my book. game results are. under ruud, buddle became a superstar and played well consistently, for the first time ever. again, if you look back to the start of the season, albright was pissed off that he was traded away right at the start. given his very limited experience and his sour grapes at being traded, i don't think that we should give too much credence to what albright says. i'm not saying that ruud worked out or that he ever would. i agree that it seems that he doesn't have the patience to work with younger players, especially ones with the skill set that ours seem to have. it doesn't appear that with the inability to acquire an even somewhat balanced roster ruud would have been able to get results on the field. again, some of this is because of the MLS rules with which ruud should have become familiar prior to coming aboard, and some of this is because of the unbalanced roster that AEG created. as i've mentioned ruud also made some questionable calls in starting lineups and didn't seem to make corrections during training for problems that seemed to be arising, such as us going from a team that was passing the ball quickly and along the ground to a typical boot and pray MLS side. that's why i think that the galaxy under ruud weren't all bad and why the galaxy woes were not all on ruud's shoulders. it appears that ruud is pretty deficient in dealing with players, that this has always been a problem. it sounds like he is truly awful in that area, and that sucks. that said, however, to reiterate, i don't think that that is the be-all, end-all determination as to whether he is or could be a quality manager. if he had the players crying and winning, i'm willing to accept that. he did not, however. he did not seem to be able to adjust, tactically, to the restraints of MLS, including the roster situation, and that is why he is no longer here. and i suppose that's ok with me. is it because ruud is a coward and cannot deal with pressure? i really don't know, and it doesn't matter, does it?
No problem. Imo football is all about confidence, and under Ruud it was very, very, obvious that we weren't playing with any. You don't become a crap player overnight, you never lose the talent, but you can have your confidence sapped or even totally taken away. Different players can be affected more. Franklin might be a headstrong youngster and not care, he'll make his own confidence, but players like Harden, Vagenas and others need encouraging properly. We played within ourselves ever since it started to go wrong. We've got some good players at this club, we just need them to get out of their shells and start expressing themselves. Something which Ruud 'no one with a bigger ego than me' Gullit wouldn't allow. Hopefully Arena will put the faith in the players and tell them to go out and show what they can do, new start, just go out and play football, and start enjoying it again. As I said, the playoffs are still there, everyone just needs to pull together and work for each other, fans, players, coaches and the management.
I appreciate your opinion, obviously, but I disagree on some of your points. Dealing with pressure is what being a head coach or manager is all about. They did a documentary on Premier League managers health, and the pressure is actually a major risk. Several have had heart problems etc, it comes with the territory. What is undeniable is that he started off well, which is exactly what he did at Chelsea, where he won a trophy, then when they lost form he panicked/bottled it/whatever, and couldn't get the players to play for him. Thats where good managers earn their corn, because form is always temporary. Good managers know how to get players playing and how to deal with those who aren't. Ruud has shown at three out of four clubs (I know nothing about his time at Feyenoord I think it was), that he simply can't do this. Its easy to manage a team that is winning. Confidence in the players own abilities can cover up deficiencies that a defeat would highlight. But when you do finally get beaten, thats when things have to be changed and fixed and worked on in training, when you're under pressure to get some results. As a player myself, my own opinion is that player morale is far, far more important than you have it. (thats for me personally but I imagine for most players its the same). When I make a mistake or someone on the touchline shouts "You're f*cking shite!" it gets to you. I play full-back, so for me, when I'm confident I might get forward, play a quick pass inside, look for a through ball or even play it crossfield. If I'm having a great game I'd even try and beat their fullback and get in behind, but if i'm nervous and not confident my game changes completely. I just want to get rid of the ball, so it gets hoofed up the touchline or to the front two. The fact is, if you're manager has no faith in you and makes it obvious, then how are you supposed to have faith in your own ability?
Leeds, thanks for the insight from across the pond. I love hearing "all-access" stuff like the things you provide across the Atlantic. I wish football people in America were more accessible. I agree with what everyone is saying about the situation. As I have mentioned in previous, Gullit is a good offensive coach but defensively he just doesn't care. He should just be a striker coach and that's it because he got Buddle playing like an All-Star, that is a huge achievement in itself but his lack of communication skills caused him to lose the rest of the team. The thing that I'm more concerned about is the fact that Arena was given so much power already. He is a East Coast guy and he blames everyone except himself when things go wrong. His lack of accepting responsibility will be his undoing, as a leader of any team you have to have integrity and the ability to accept responsibilities and make necessary challenges to right the ship. I don't see that from Arena based on WC 2006. He didn't once blamed himself for any portion of the U.S.'s failure. He did the same thing with NYRB. There's a history of this blame thing with Arena. He has a strong personality, much like Gullit, I'm pretty sure Arena wouldn't have accepted the manager position if the GM role wasn't part of the package. I wouldn't be surprised if Beckham had an out clause in his contract although Becks is never the type to quit. Anyways as with anything in life, we'll just have to wait and see. i just hope the time away from the game will have brought BA some perspective on what he did and didn't do for the past two years and will make any necessary changes within himself in order to achieve success. We are not out of the playoffs yet, so let's hope that things turn around.
Very interesting post Leeds, thanks for that. We all have no idea what went on behind closed doors. If some of what is leaking out (Albright's comments, Vanney's comments on yesterday being the first time they addressed the team's weaknesses in training, etc...)is true, then good riddance ruud. I still think his management during actual matches was a bit better then I was accustomed to seeing from Yallop. But matchday performance in this league means very little if you can't work within the system to build a decent team.
He can't be thanked enough for taking an underperforming forward (Buddle) and making a top scorer of him.
Great post Leeds. Tried to rep, but I gotta spread it around and all that. Really interesting stuff. I didn't know they had functions and dinners like that in England, I figured the players and managers etc. were even more distant than here in MLS. Hopefully the players will be able to play with more confidence and freedom now that Ruud is gone.
We're not famous anymore, as every set of opposition fans remind us every game, despite nearly always breaking their attendance record to see us, and its more accessible. There was nothing like that when the club was in the Premier League. It was a sponsorship thing though. The company I work for have an executive box.
As Leed's posts have rightly illustrated, a superstar player doesn't necessarily translate to being a great coach after the playing days have ended. In truth, the great coaches/managers were usually minor players or solid role players during their careers. Of course, there are exceptions but in general the Peles and Michael Jordans of the world don't become great coaches. If you look at the NBA, Phil Jackson is one of the all time greatest coaches but he was a role player during his career with NY. In contrast, Magic Johnson was one of the greatest players to ever play the game but was a disappointment as coach. It is not suprising to me that Ruud has had difficulties coaching. It must be difficult for truly gifted former players, like Ruud, to understand why a mediocre or journeyman player cannot perform at high levels. For "gifted" players, their performance comes easily and naturally. It must be frustrating for former world class players to watch others struggle. They simply don't understand what it is like to struggle!
Thanks Leeds and everyone else that posts the inside info. I honestly liked our attack under Ruud, but his dealing with players and the lack of improvement of our defensive players said it all. I still am not on the Bruce wagon, he has to get us into the playoffs in order for me to have full confidence in his abilities.
Thing about Bruce is he's got a huge ego as well. But he does repect the players and he manages to get the most out of younger players. Personally I don't know how anyone can go wrong with Beckham on the right and Lewis on the left. We've got to be one of the best flank service teams in the world.
This is the thing that is just so unbelievable to me, how he would just ignore our weaknesses. If you go over to the LA blog, they interviewed some players after practice and I was shocked at what they said. They said now they have purpose in practice, that Bruce works on the mistakes, addresses them and gets it corrected. When Ruud ran the practice and mistakes were made, the response was, "Oh, well." And he let it all slide. That is mind-boggling to me.
Heres something... ...from http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/233475 Did some digging around to remember how it all went down... We traded Albright in mid January. The only time he played under Ruud was during those Australian tour games back in November, right after Ruud was hired. I cant recall if Gullit managed all three games or just one of them? Albright had just re-signed with the league, excited to play again for us and then Lalas was the brain who traded Albright away..... for allocation money. Basically it was Albright and Cannon for allocation money to get... get this... Carlos Ruiz. Joy. That crap didnt pan out did it. My hope for the team under Bruce Arena is we will stop making dumb headed trades for allocation money and make smart trades for players. Oh wait, we got rid of Ruiz now for allocation money... Nevermind.
Just as a theory. I'm assuming that as long as the money is there it doesn't matter how many players you sign. We sign a couple of players using allocation money, then lose some that are on our cap at the end of the season, either cut or traded, and then add the players signed with allocation money to the roster..... Is that possible?
Very interesting. What's the name of that documentary? I would like to check it out. Do you have a link? Marius
If this is true, and I'm sure it is, there goes our season right there. We would definitely have several more wins if we had Cannon and Albright this season. To be fair though, Cannon and Albright had some pretty big salaries, so not sure we could have kept both anyway.
I couldn't remember where I saw it on TV, but the article is here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050324/ai_n13473661 Will post a link to the programme if I find it.
Interesting post, but just to play the (Treble)Devil's advocate bear in mind that the comments came from Ken Bates.
Actually having spoken to him he comes across as straight talking. He's far from stupid and seems to know his stuff about quite a few things. The way he's got Leeds from the mess Peter Ridsdale was in could fill several books, but when you ignore the speculative stuff, he's done well to keep us going. If he kept his mouth shut publically he'd have a much better reputation. To be honest, I'm not his biggest fan, far from it, can't wait for him to piss off, but I don't doubt what he's said, he's not the only one whose spoken about Gullit that way.