One down... two to go. Though he played a significant role in the New England Revolution's fall from grace, Steve Nicol was not solely responsible for the sorry state the franchise now finds itself in. If Brian Bilello and Mike Burns aren't also shown the door, than Nicol's firing will amount to little more than scapegoating. Nicol's tired tactics and loss of the locker-room were just part of far greater problems facing the Revolution. The state of the franchise speaks to long-term, sub-par performance on the part of Messrs. Bilello and Burns in their jobs, as well. Bottom line? In order to "right the ship", a clean-sweep of the Revolution's senior management team is required. Here's hoping that Robert and Jonathan Kraft are ready, willing and able to take all the steps necessary to begin turning this franchise around.
What he said...and I hope they DON'T WAIT. Since there is zero sense of urgency inside that entire organization, a little inspiration from Van Halen, we want a clean sweep of management to be done... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4g1bGITLc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4g1bGITLc[/ame]
With their resources, there's question that the Krafts are ABLE to do the right thing by the increasingly small number of fans they haven't already alienated. The question is whether they are willing. And they've shown nothing to indicate that yet.
The two that really need to go are the Krafts. They need to sell the franchise to someone or some group that will make it a priority and treat it with the same type of interest and respect that they treat the Patriots. The Krafts have developed a great gridiron organization. Unfortunately, they have treated the Revos as little more than a b*stard stepchild since they were born. But the Krafts aren't going anywhere. So PeeWee Burns needs to be removed from the Razor BigTop, and the exec with no feel for soccer should follow him out the door. Sweep the place clean, but little will change as long as the Krafts operate business as usual with the Revos.
This franchise is just going to mire in it's own filth for the rest of it's existence. They will shuffle the deck chairs every now and then, but it will always been business as usual. People waiting for a stadium or a real soccer experience around here are suckers.
Well said, Big Frank. I think Blooter has a new nickname. Just like he graduated to being called "Michael" instead of "Mike." Smokey the Bear said it best: Fire Burns.
I keep hearing that these guys "need to guy". I'd like to know [specifically] why. Keeping in mind: From Jeff Carlisle/ESPN: "According to sources both inside and outside the organization, it was Nicol, and not vice president of player personnel, Mike Burns, who made the personnel decisions." So, what have Burns and/or Bilello not been able to do, or done wrong, that they "must go"?
If this is true then Burns needs to go ASAP for not realizing that Nicol was doing a terrible job in acquiring players years ago. And while this info may be at least partially true (I can't believe Nicol was the only one responsible for personnel decisions) he wasn't the one who held the purse strings.
Also, if Burns is the VP of Player Personnel, yet Nicol was making all the player personnel decisions, what is the point of having Burns? Either way, he is expendable. Either through failure, or through uselessness.
Nicol gone, BigFrank back? I must be dreaming. Nicol started to lose the fan base long before Burns became a factor. It is quite possible Burns always played second fiddle to Nicol as well. With Nicol gone, perhaps Burns can blossom as a GM. I doubt it, but perhaps. Likewise, big Kraft and baby Kraft know nothing about soccer. They learned from Nicol. Garbage in, garbage out. Now they will have to learn from Burns, or whoever he hires to coach. As for this crap about Nicol being thwarted from saving the franchise with big money signings, I'm not buying it. Kraft and Baby Kraft might know nothing about soccer, but they are business men, not gamblers, and they likely know enough about business to see sales slumping under Nicol even when the team was winning and understand expensive decisions made in desperation usually don't pay off. Robbie Fowler? Please. To be a successful team, the Revs need an attractive product. Nicol never produced this (except maybe for a short spurt during the 1/2 of one season years ago when they played fluid soccer). Nicol was a results based coach. That sometimes works in England where fans grow up devoted to their team, but results alone didn't sell in this country when those results were hard to watch. The Krafts (and likely Burns) were never going to succeed in growing attendance with Nicol as coach and without growing attendance/revenue the Krafts were not going to gamble on big capital outlays. Whether they can succeed without him I'm not optimistic, but at least they have a chance. At least it should be interesting.
Titles do not always convey real roles and don't always equate with authority (I don't think the Cubs hired Theo because of the crying need for a "president"). In this case, I don't think Burns had the authority to remove that power from Nicol, and even if he did, what then? Do the picking himself (which he is fully unqualified for)? The team actually has been active in adjusting to and making changes in regards to their failed signings. The problem has been that the changes they've made haven't been consistent in improving the rate of success (ironically, I think the job they've done in acquisitions this years is markedly improved from previous years, but apparently it's come too late to turn things around). His job is to negotiate contracts with teams, players and leagues. And, do all the minutiae and legwork to help Nicol find and sign the players he wants. He probably works on logistics and scheduling and things like that also. The title may be a little large for those duties, but titles are just titles.
The league office does most of the contract negotiations, so he doesn't even have a job he does solely on his own. Basically, he is just some assistant or associate. If titles are just titles, then why are we to believe Burns can do the job, when all he has ever had was...a title. He is a figure-head and a yes-man. He hasn't proven to do anything of value in this league.
If Burns (or Bilello or Nicol) is replaced and his replacement isn't given any more staff or budget, why should we think that things will be any different? There have been a couple posts suggesting that perhaps a college coach would be more adept at getting unknowns to play more attractive soccer, but the club will be called out for putting lipstick on a pig in short order. The point is, whether or not replacing anyone is necessary, it will not be sufficient. So, in that respect, Bob is right. Sending Burns to the guillotine may briefly provide a sense of turning the page, but if the pages are all the same, what's the point?
You're right. They should keep him employed, even though he is providing nothing to the team. This team won't pay for good employees, so they might as well pay for bad ones, and ones that don't contribute.
And THIS attitude represents the truly pathetic aspect of the Krafts' stewardship of the New England Revolution: far too many of the team's most die-hard supporters have been reduced to embracing the "We've Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up" mindset. Rather than demanding that substantive, positive changes be made in the make-up of the Revolution's management team and the manner in which the franchise is operated both on and off the field, supporters of this franchise have been beaten into submission by the Krafts' stewardship to the point where they simply embrace organizational inertia. Tragic... simply tragic.
I sorry to have given the sense that I am embracing organizational inertia. What I am trying to say is that there is something more important than simply firing Burns and Bilello. The ownership needs to have an epiphany that trying to become the best team in the league is in everyone's interest, including their own. That means a new philosophy of trying to do everything well, from ticket sales and marketing to game-day experience to scouting to coaching at every level - all the issues that have been brought up again and again on this board. This is essentially the philosophy that several other clubs have embraced - The ownership wouldn't have to re-invent the wheel. So sure - if firing Burns and Bilello will help - replace them. But unless the club from the top down shows up with a different mission, it's going to be same old, same old.