After the season so far nobody can really say they didn't see this coming...wonder who his replacement will be?
If only he could work out a deal to be the home coach and they could hire someone else to be the road coach. Home 2011 9-5-3 2012 5-2-2 Total 14-7-5 (47 points from 26 games ~ 1.8 pts/game) Away 2011 2-9-6 2012 0-6-2 Total 2-15-8 (14 points from 25 games ~ 0.56 pts/game)
Seems a bit harsh to do it after a road loss to RSL, a team who are possible/likely supporters shield candidates this season. They just beat the current SS leaders Earthquakes at the midweek game last week (albeit at home).
"He's old, he's slow, he's from Glasgow!" That earned the Cauldron half a peace sign back when the wee man was still playing.
It wasn't the fact of a road loss to RSL, although Spencer's approach to that game is not beyond reproach -- playing a 4-5-1 with three purely defensive midfielders was never going to work. It was a season-and-a-half of general suckitude. The team was mentally very weak, had no coherent direction, and showed no improvement at all. He showed zero ability to make tactical adjustments mid-game -- the Timbers dominted so many first halves, only to be ran off the pitch in the second. He professed that players needed to earn their minutes, yet played the same underperformers every week. Worst of all, it appeared to many that he had lost the locker room. I don't think you'll find many Timbers fans upset with his firing. Having Wilkinson take the reigns for the remainder of the season, though... that will irk some people (though I'm not sure what other viable alternatives there are).
You do know that Paulson and he had a very public, personal, ugly Twitter spat, right? No way in hell this happens...
And Garber wont let it happen as well. Its going to be tough for him to find a way in unless he coaches a team to promotion. if he gets Atlanta to the playoffs he will find a job somewhere.
Yeah - the repeated second-half collapses are in some respects even worse than out-and-out routs, since they suggest the current squad has the talent to win, but lacks the fitness/spirit/tactical finishing/whatever to pull it out. It certainly makes it easier to lay the blame on Spencer's coaching: he selected quite a few decent players but never figured out what to do with them.
Well, Portland is one game from the basement of the West right now, and with no conference cross-over seeding for the playoffs this year, the ship has to be righted right now in order for them to have a chance to make it. Additionally, Portland got knocked out of the Open Cup by Cal FC, they've scored just 16 goals in 17 games, and although they beat SEA and SJ, they sandwiched it with 3-0 losses to COL and RSL. So I think the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. And the final dagger in Spencer is, looking north, their expansion brethren are sitting pretty comfortably in 3rd place in the West after changing coaches, so Paulson probably thinks something similar can be accomplished here.