Regardless of what happens at Athens 2004, a new regime is coming at the fed. Starting at the top. A new grand poobah, with political backing from FIFA and CONCACAF (read: A. I. R.), will run against Dr. Bob. This guy will make wholesale changes with the USWNT. Guaranteed. The identity of this individual should be of no surprise to anyone. He has been campaigning behind the scene for over a dozen years. (Hint: he moonlights by teaching Econ at Columbia University.) April. H., J. Foudy, and B. Chaz. better update their resumes "muy muy pronto".
Re: Re: new regime at the fed... muy muy pronto The man with initials A.I.R. is the past grand poobah of the fed. Nike, which bankrolls the fed, is p---ed. If WWC 2003 wasn't enough, the debacle at Guadalajara with the US men's U-23's pushed one P.K. over the edge. Nike didn't pay $12 million a year to sponsor an organization that can't produce winners. Nike has made it clear to A.I.R. that Nike wants a regime change, starting with Dr. Bob at the top. The purge, when it happens, will be swift and brutal. The next grand poobah will be A.I.R.'s right hand man. He has been campaigning behind the scenes for over a dozen years. He also has a nasty, public feud running against Foudy and B. Chaz for over 8 years. When this Econ professor takes over the fed, he will take no prisoners. About the only guy who is "safe" for now is Uncle Bruce, and that is if he can get the USMNT through World Cup Qualifying to get the Germany.
So, do you have proof, or do we need our new super-duper decoder ring from that cracker-jack box for this? (BTW, I'm just bustin on the fact that this looks like trolling and all the secrecy for the time being. If this does come to pass, I would be very very happy - the USSF has been an amateur Mickey Mouse organization for too long. I think splitting it up into it's grass-roots and professional components would be best from an operational stand-point.) A.I.R = Alan Rothenberg. I'd still be worried as it seems that the new regime would be beholden to FIFA and Nike, which isn't much better. Now if Happy Jack Warner would go, that would be fantastic.
Re: Re: new regime at the fed... muy muy pronto Well, I won't comment on the rest of Oliver's post as I haven't a clue on the rest, but I think he's right on one point. Regardless of who is in charge of US Soccer, they are for the forseeable future very much beholden to Nike. When there are very few corporate sponsors willing to significantly bankroll US Soccer, and one of them is bankrolling it to such a large extent, that sponsor is going to be heard by whoever is in charge. Nike pulling its sponsorship would be very close to armageddon, at least for the men it would be. I agree that the Fed could use some fresh blood. Virtually any other fed, and both Myernick and Heinrichs would be out of their respective jobs after their recent showings. Not that they're entirely to blame for either disaster, but the precedent that those sorts of results are unacceptable needed to be set and it wasn't.
Re: Re: new regime at the fed... muy muy pronto Alan Rothenberg? http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?DOCID=1G1:18918566&refid=ip_almanac_hf
The guy I am talking about has been A.I.R.'s right hand man. He teaches Economics at Columbia University. He was involved in the startup phase of MLS on the player personnel side of the business. He has been groomed to take over as the grand poobah of the fed for over a dozen years. His time to take over the helm has arrived according to "Mr. Nike", who wants Dr. Bob OUT for the failures of WWC 2003 and Guadalajara 2004.
Well, you do realize that if Nike wants Dr. Bob out and Gulati in, then they better start forking out dough to people. Nike can't hand pick a new President as the matter has to be voted on. And, there, Rothenberg and Gulati would lose mightily to the very likable Dr. Bob. If Gulati does win, I hope Nike pays him handsomely because being Pres of USSF pays nothing.
Re: Re: Re: new regime at the fed... muy muy pronto God. Michael Hogue is a name I haven't heard in ages. And by the first part of that article, it sounds like it was written by Hogue's lawyer.