I feel like if Chris Leitch is ready to be GM then right now, today, is the time for him to show everyone why. Quakes are desperately bad, our offense has possibly never been worse. there is still plenty of 2021 left to play. Chris is the acting GM, now. does he hold any sway over John Fisher? can he sign a difference maker (think DP, aka "pony" or star player) now in order to salvage some small degree of respectability for San Jose? or, will he too be thwarted, unable to do anything to help when the Quakes really, really need it most? between now and August 5 I think we will all learn together if Mr Leitch deserves this position. Good luck Chris!
Hah, that's a bit of a short leash, isn't it? 3 weeks? At least as coach he had a few months. Why would euro Jesse get 5 years to show what he can do, but American Chris Leitch gets 3 weeks? Hmm....
Seriously, in 3 weeks!? I don't think he's even been named acting GM. He's like the guy keeping the lights on doing 3 or 4 jobs after management has cleaned house. No pres, no GM, etc.
We need a hit the ground running guy. If he’s ready he has to be able to demonstrate that during our darkest hour, now.
He's not even interim GM. Why the double standard for the American guy? Give him a few years with the job title and responsibilities. And then evaluate the performance. Jesse had 5 years.
Now would be good. I mean he’s either got the chops or he ain’t. He’s been there learning to ropes for how long, in how many roles? Or, are we basically saying let’s hire another John Doyle and do that again?
Again, he's not even interim GM. How do we know that he has the responsibility and the budget to do anything? Euro Jesse had 5 years as GM to get it done. And we're going to give American Leitch 3 weeks, when he doesn't even have the job??
All I’m saying is sign us one difference maker now, when it really matters! Show us you got the right stuff!
If he's got the budget and job responsibilities, then sure he's got one swing, two at best. But one or two swings does not make a season, or even a game.
It (at least) shows a responsiveness, a modicum of desire to be better, an effort to try. Failing to do a significant offensive signing by August 5 will be an epic fail and prove once again that nobody in the FO as it’s currently configured is able to respond to our obvious needs on the field.
Again, he is not even interim GM. For all we know he has been asked to help find a new GM as his primary responsibility as TD.
It may be that he’s not in the running and you’re absolutely right about that, in which case, never mind. But if he is and he’s trying to sign some players before the deadline as previously mentioned, this would be a great time for him to make his case for becoming GM. I would love to see that. Conversely, if he’s the last one in the office left who could sign a player (say he has that role now by default) and he leaves the Quakes to whither on the vine post 8/5, he will have failed and our season is likely to get really poor from there.
I was sitting at section 108 last Sat and saw Leitch, dressed in suit, coming up in our section and looking up intensely to locate someone. I hope he was not asked to look for our new attacking ace in section 108.
Repped for the Rick A. reference. Did you stumble on that or did you know that's his nickname among the OG Ultras?
I remember the Rick - Chris references from some time back. I think it may have come up in the forum at some point.
Anyone have any insight of the relationship between Leitch and Matias? Also curious, but we may never know, what Matias thought of Jesse......I have a feeling they didn't see eye to eye on things....
Didn't Jesse bring Matias to the Quakes? Not sure why they wouldn't see eye to eye on things. They may not have been perfectly aligned or had some difference, but in general, I would be surprised if they didn't have a decent working arrangement.
Yes, I'd be surprised if Matias and Jesse didn't have a good working relationship. Jesse brought him in, and obviously worked closely with him in signing players Matias knew. The real wildcard for me is the Matias / Leitch relationship. The language barrier is going to be something to deal with - it makes things harder. And would Matias be willing to defer to Leitch about anything - about the league - anything? Would he be able to see him as a peer? Matias has all this pedigree and championships and Serie A playing experience, and Argentina nats, etc., and Chris Leitch is a guy from Pickerington, Ohio - a journeyman MLS right back. Those are my questions. If Matias would be able to treat him as a peer and they work well with each other, and Matias would be willing to defer to Leitch a bit on player selection for MLS, especially MLS players themselves, I could actually see it as a successful pairing. But those are some "ifs" there.
Just spoke to Quakes COO Jared Shawlee about San Jose's GM search and some other topics. Main takeaways:1) Quakes are moving towards a shortlist of 4-5 people for GM role. Goal is to bring those people to San Jose for interviews in Aug and come to a decision by end of Sept.— Alex Morgan (@quakes_talk) July 27, 2021 2) They are engaging with the consultancy firm Sportsology in the search and are looking for a candidate with "deep experience and familiarity with MLS."Leitch is "definitely" on the shortlist and Almeyda could also be in consideration, depending on his convos with Fisher.— Alex Morgan (@quakes_talk) July 27, 2021
if Leitch can get him some reinforcements by 8/5, maybe. otherwise, he's pretty useless to Matias. it's "show me the money!" time in San Jose and Leitch is the only guy who might be able to convince JF to do something before things get very embarrassing with all kinds of worst-ever records on the line.
Quakes have put themselves in the position where there's no top leadership left in the organization. Now they have to walk and chew gum at the same time, hire a GM and find a goal scorer before 8/5.
Thanks for posting. From a timing perspective, they are getting ready for next year. I would be surprised if Matias is back next year. So, does the new GM get to pick the new coach? I would be fine with Chris getting the job, but depending on who is in the 4-5, I would be fine with other potential candidates who are familiar with MLS. In either case, we are going to need more than MLS journeyman players for this team to be successful. We need to have 1-2 DPs who are DP caliber (not SJ DPs).