Peter Wilt's E-Mail To Alexi Lalas in 2004

Let's take a look at what Peter recommended:

1. Ticket sales above all else - EVERYTHING else succeeds as a result of this.
2. Sell to those who are ALREADY economically and emotionally attached to the sport (the soccer community)
3. Hire hard working, talented people with good character - get rid of all others.
4. Hire department heads that are experts in their field and are better at their job than you would be
5. Delegate then provide resources and advice as needed
6. Praise employees publicly, criticize privately
7. When you must criticize, do so constructively with a positive statement given before and after the criticism
8. Explain reasons for decisions and include staff members in decision making process
9. Be a good listener
10. Provide good customer service - cheapest and best form of advertising and business retention
11. Get people to CARE about the sport, team and League
12. Personal contact with the team (players) is the best way to achieve number 11.

I would say Alexi the Clown failed in just about all of these, especially 4,5,6,7 & 9. #11 he completely screwed up as he failed to win over the media, the advertisers and the public at large.

PS: I take back number 4, ANYBODY would have been better than Lalas at any given position.

 

Good list from Peter Wilt. Most of those things would apply to good management in any field.

 

You know, we could carry on and on about how badly gAlexi sucked, but really, we ought to use this list to assess how JD is doing. Oh, and notice that the job has changed quite a bit too. Much of the stuff on this list is now on David Alioto's table, not JD's.

Our folks do, for the most part, praise publicly and criticize privately. Whether that's JD, Frank, or David, I think they all pretty much follow this rule. The players do a lot of pubic appearances, so that's 11 and 12. I think that customer service is good, but it's hard for me to know being so far away. There's nothing there about how to ingratiate yourself with the media. That's a big one. And of course, there's nothing about how to find players because in Wilt's view, that's the coaching staff's job. Imagine that! It's not up to the GM to identify or recruit players. He just works out the contract details.

Go Quakes!!
we still stink like a skunk!!

- Mark

 

I disagree on the customer service being good. Two issues at play for me last year:

1) After they increased my season tickets by 33% last year I asked to be moved closer to midfield (same cost). It was early in the cycle and my rep said she would call me back. Never did and I followed up 5 times after two months until I finally reached her and found out no seats were available (which has to be bullshit).

2) I had paid for a specific lot for parking and was sent the wrong lot. That by itself was not an issue, but the fact the passes were sent out too late for me to make adjustments before the first game was. It finally got handled by me having to drive to the offices to exchange the parking pass booklet, after the second game.

3) The food is pretty damn bad... it was much better at Spartan (I'm not sure if this is technically customer service but it is a service they are providing to this customer)

 

Bummer.

Again, I don't live down there, I'm not a season ticket holder, I don't go to very many games.

The Quakes should look into all of the issues you mentioned. There's got to be a way for them to do better. We need to have the biggest possible season-ticket holding fanbase going into the new stadium. It's not like the team can afford to lose any fans.

As for the food, SCU has to have a hand in that. So I'm not sure what exactly the Quakes can do, but they ought to do something. The beer selection blows chunks too.

Also, the Quakes ought to see Buck Shaw as dress rehearsal for their shinny new stadium. They need to take is seriously.

go quakes!!
still stinking!!

- Mark

 

What multi-million dollar soccer facility in Santa Clara? All I could think of was Santa Clara Sporting...

I think that there was a falling out with ex-Clash Tim Martin about that timeframe.

 

Not precisely on point here but...while Alexi screwed up royally screwed up nearly everything while here, he comes off less like a buffon in the Beckham Experiment. I almost had some sympathy for him in that mess

 

Anyone who was sucked into that mess deserves some kind of sympathy. Now, the creators and perpetrators of the mess; that is quite another thing.

 

Anyone? Anyone?


C'mon, people! It's just sitting there!



Sigh, I'll handle it. But I haven't had caffeine yet. Gimme three hours and I'll come up with something.

 

I don't think it is really fair to say he screwed up everything here on the evidence I've seen. The organization was a mess when he inherited it.

He tried the right things while in charge here. Even in that email exchange he was respectful and showed that he was reaching out to the right people. He was active on this boards when he first got here, reaching out to all of us. He was active and fully supported SSV - he could've done the opposite. He attended city council meetings, sports authority meetings, etc. to try to keep the team here.

Remember, it was his first managerial job. AEG put him in it, and by all accounts he did his best. It was an extremely difficult position in which to be placed - satisfy your employer AEG who wanted to move the team and satisfy your fanbase - which wanted the team to stay. Throw in the constant prior turn over and "bridge burning" and you have a very difficult situation. He was not perfect, but he handled himself well, from my outside perspective.

 

The weekly email sent by the quakes seemed to always list someone appearing the week in the public (usually the younger guys at schools).

 

You guys had your chance; I gave you all day.

Read a little closer:

Hopefully, they do them in pairs.

I heard those can get a little hairy.

. . . Crap, I had a third one but I forgot it.

 

Colin,

From you “ Outside Perspective” maybe you could explain why you feel the “Organization was a mess”.

Attendance on the rise.

Championship won

Team strengthened

Best year financially

Youth program in place and growing

Best year in group sales

Strengthened relationship with Club Quake, Casbah and Utlra’s

Team comprised of All Stars and National Team Players

What was the mess?

 

A fair point, but as soon as he had a chance, he turned his back on the Quakes and bailed to secure his own job (as GM with a team with a more secure future). As a Quakes fan, it's hard not to feel some resentment about that.

 

With all due respect, I know the figures and I know the revenue.

Pre 2002 there were inflated numbers leauge wide. We changed that trend and others followed. We cleaned up freebies and revenues increased. 2003 improved. 2004 should have been a big improvement. I am not knocking anyone but this clubs was going in the right direction.

 

Johnny - I apologize. Poor phrasing. All of these things you mention were true and under your stewardship the organization was doing well and headed in the right direction.

What I meant by "mess" was that because of the fact that there had been several different ownership groups - first MLS by Bridgewater, then potentially Rothenberg's outfit, then AEG jointly with SVSE, and then just AEG, that there was a simple lack of continuity. We can't fault Alexi for any of that and for trying his best under those circumstances.

But you are correct. The organization was the best team and off the field in MLS during the time you mention. Please accept my apologies for any unintended negative inference.

 

Sorry but whether they bought in or not, they are "known" to have wanted in and then backed out.

I think this speaks more about the effect on the league than on the 'Quakes but it is not unreasonable to include them in a discussion on the perception of team by people the team/league are trying to court as customers.

 

FWIW, from my real outsider perspective, I got the impression that the FO was going to run fine with or without Alexi. In fact it did after he left, as far as I can tell. So I think his effect on the franchise one way or another was pretty minimal. He did assist Dom in acquiring a bunch of players in the highly successful rebuild of 2005. And then of course he bailed first chance he got...

 

AEG's appointment of GAlexi Lala to the post of Quakes general manager was just another of its slaps in the face directed at San Jose fans and players. The very fact that they would select an incompetent like that, one who had absolutely no business running the club, and especially someone whose experience in soccer was as an LA player, showed again how little respect they had for us.

 

Well his first issue should be a non issue this year with ticket prices dropping.

Food isn't that bad at the games, but like any stadium why would you eat there? Prices are always higher in stadium. As for food being "better" at Spartan, sure there were some different options, but it still sucked. Stadium food in general sucks. Again if you want real food, eat before the game in the new tailgate lot.

As for it being a dress rehearsal I agree it is, and they've treated it as such IMO. Every season they've made improvements that fans have requested to improve the experience as much as is possible in their current limited circumstances. The latest being the lowered ticket prices, beer seats, and tailgate lot.