Rev News, 10/03 (R)

Quotes from Sunil:

``We're certainly happy that we have the chance to be playing in the semifinal right now,'' Sunil Gulati, managing director of Kraft Soccer, said.. ``The last two months have been good, but we're still not where we want to be. We will continue to make changes in the offseason and look for improvements.''

``The team hasn't had as much success as we would have liked at any time in its history,'' he said. ``Two months ago it was a difficult situation and we turned it around. The key has been stability in that we have had the same players. That has been a big part of it.''


Has Sunil been spending his time in NYC taking people management lessons from the Metros GM, Nick Sackofshits? The team has just handily won the biggest game in franchise history and Sunil is basically saying these guys aren't good enough, we need to "make changes in the off-season and look for improvements"! Sure every team works to get better through player aquisitions, but we're in the playoffs, we can't make any roster changes til its over, shouldn't the management being doing nothing but backing and encouraging the team and coaching staff?

His second quote seems to somewhat backtrack a bit by attributing the success to a stable lineup, but I think he's giving himself too much credit when he says "we" turned it around. If he were an honest man, he should have said "Stevie and the boys" have turned it around.

Contrast this to what the much maligned Jonathon Kraft says:


``Our fans are legitimately the greatest in the league and they've had to wait the longest for a playoff series win and they deserve better from us as an organization,'' Revs owner Jonathan Kraft said. ``This year's team has finally delivered for them and I'm very happy for our fans and extremely proud of this team.''

The Krafts may not be perfect owners, but Jonathon certainly paid attention to his PR class when they did the "what-to-say-in-a-post-game-interview" chapter. Thank the fans, give all the credit to the team (he even went as far as dissing management's contributions -- "they deserve better from us as an organization").

I really hope the Krafts have finally had enough of le petit batard du diable and send him packing. Director of Soccer is probably the position in the organization most in need of upgrading and improving in the off-season

 

Re: Re: Rev News, 10/03 (R)

Interesting that I have almost the opposite reaction. Say what you will about Sunil, but if he wasn't thinking of the ways to improve the club for next year, he wouldn't be doing his job. And you know how long it can take to bring in a good player from outside the league, so I think it's a safe bet to say that they are at least thinking of where they can upgrade. It's also safe to say that the 2 high salaried Internationals on the team who have each done exactly two things, diddly and squat, won't be back, and Sunil is looking to use those foreign slots and salary cap room to upgrade. It would be irresponsible if he wasn't.

Big deal, only idiots like Bob Bradley and Nick Sack-0-Sh!tz aren't savvy enough to give that sort of platitude. What Sonny Kraft can do for "the greatest fans in the league" is to maybe get the ticket office to sell playoff tickets, have a consistent policy on gameday operations, have people with an ounce of brains and pleasantness working for him, yadda, yadda, yadda. You know the deal by now.

On the field I've never felt better about this team. For off the field issues, I've never felt more worried for the future of this team.

Tom

 

'Fire Revs Up Ride Home'
by Len Ziehm/Chicago Sun Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/fire/cst-spt-fire03.html

As usual, nothing by the toads at the Chicago Tribune

'Revs Reach Semis'
by Jerry Trecker/Hartford Courant
http://www.ctnow.com/sports/hc-soccerup1003.artoct03,0,155259.story?coll=hc-headlines-sports

 

Re: Re: Rev News, 10/03 (R)

I almost think that he's worried that Nicol gets the credit. He was asked a question (recently, but I don't remember exactly when) about re-signing Nicol, and his response was something like "Sure, Nicol has them playing well, but remember that a lot of people picked us to go far before the season". That could be interpreted as "He finally got the team THAT I ASSEMBLED to play as well as they should have all along".

As for Sunil bringing in a good player from outside the league, has he ever done that aside from Cate?

 

Maybe we should send Craig Tornberg to Costa Rica and he can find the next William Sunsing.

Tom

 

Boy, that Bobby B. can "damn with faint praise" with the best of em' can't he?

Wonder how he feels about Steve Nicols getting pointers from Bruce Arena before the game...

 

Tom,

I didn't mean to imply that Sunil shouldn't be thinking of how to improve the team--he should-- just his choice of bringing it up when he did. I think that's off-season talk, not middle-of-the-playoffs talk.

Also, I wasn't trying to say that Mr Jonathon Kraft is the perfect owner, just that he knows enough to say the right thing in that situation. And there are enough idiot owners/GMs, etc in all the sports world who don't know what to say to whom and when (Nick Sack-o-sh!ts, Dan Duquette, Jerry Jones, Steinbrenner back in the Billy Martin days, ...)

I, too, am anxious about how the Patriots people will do running the club (or at least the marketing/sales). They have already stated that they will not be replacing Todd Smith with a traditional GM, but instead will have a Director of Soccer to handle the soccer-playing part of the business. The Director of Soccer will be the only soccer guy with any organizational pull and I don't think Sunil would succeed in that (or any) situation, particularly in absentia.

We should probably just enjoy the soccer for now and return to this talk after the season ourselves.

-Frank

 

AMEN AMEN AMEN

Here we are getting ready for the Semi's and people are bitching about Tattoo, The Krafts, the administration, the ticket off, the crowd size, etc etc etc.

Why not just enjoy the glow and concentrate of beating the Crew!

 

Revs news, the late edition

Kamler's versatile
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20021003/SP_001.htm

Revs douse Fire
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20021003/SP_009.htm