Gotta agree with Senor Dow about the trade. People seem to forget that the team was in a simple case of disarray at the time (not that it's much better now). Williams and Chrono weren't playing, Diallo wasn't scoring, and the Revs had simply run out of bodies on defense. The things you had/have to question were: A) Why did things get to that point (where were the defensive players in the team's planning)? B) Was Diego Serna ever really fit to play - and does the team know one way or the other? Add to these the Semedo fiasco, the fact that the team still has nobody to cover the left side (in the back or on wing), that the team just got its ass whipped by the only other contender for the "worst team in the league" category (despite the fact that they somehow won the game), and finally that the management is still crowing that everything will be just fine if the team can inch its way into the playoffs, and you've got fertile ground for some probing and unflattering questions. Fortunately at least one local journalist has the ***** to ask them.
I remember watching Semedo's first minutes in a Rev kit and thinking (also saying) "this guy has no wheels, poor balance and looks lost." Little ensued in the following weeks to change my opinion. Now I am a 60 year old architectural photographer who teaches art history in art school. I made the call in about five minutes. Shouldn't the Rev brass have been able to do that far more efficently than me? God, I would like to think so! Also, I pay to watch the matches and "evaluate" the players (as do all of us). Ahem, these guys, especially Gulati, are paid. By us. Ahem, again. I dearly hope that Kante isn't Semedo redux. And I fail to see how a last place, sorry, ninth place team can continue to have an SI spot open. Sorry, the cap problem doesn't cut it. Again, we pay to worry about such things (at least, through Big Soccer, with our time). The bloody staff are being PAID to think up ways to acquire players. Sorry, gentlemen, do your jobs, please. Finally, not making the playoffs is the MLS version of relegation and to do so desreves the same scorn, or pity if the team battles. And I will say, these guys do battle. So my feeling is, support the players, even the coach (optional, of course, and I chose to do so) but absolutely roast everyone above that including the pointyball-daft owners who fail to understand that a really good soccer team would put 30,000 people in Chapter 11 most matches. Dammit, it is frustrating that they seem not to understand, or care, about that! JIM DOW
I don't think that Nicol claiming that he was against the trade at the beginning of his tenure would have endeared him to management. The fact that FC felt that AW was expendable because APC was the superior midfielder of the two coupled with the fact that Nicol sat APC for quite a while after the trade would indicate to me that Nicoldidn't plan the trade. While it's unbelievable that the Revs would complete the trade without physicals, did they also know that he was a regular no-show at practice? That's what bugs me. I don't mind the Diallo for Serna part aside from that, because it's very unlikely that Diallo would have gone on his binge if he remained here. Kamler for Chrono, I could accept that it's a wash, as they are both getting older, but Kamler is just a journeyman and compares more evenly with an ailing Chrono than a healthy one. I felt that Hernandez for Williams was shortsighted and panicky. Hernandez was only here for 3 or 4 games before Llamosa came back, and when Carlos and Rusty are healthy Hernandez becomes a spot starter. To get him, to plug a temporary hole, we gave up our only viable option at attacking mid. Also, it's a little harder to assume that the aftermath of the trade was just bad luck when the Metro's GM was giving interviews right after the trade saying that we gave up valuable players for some guys that he was trying to jettison from his roster.
Jim, this is a great point. It's amazing that someone's actually getting paid to make decisions like this. And I suppose you can debate the merits of the trade but to me, the main point, is it's pretty obvious that Serna was damaged goods. So why do the deal? Why not wait till you get a better offer? Obviously Diallo has value. Ray Hudson sure as heck could use him right now. I honestly don't think you can make a judgement about Steve Nicol at this point in time. He's been handed this lousy hand and he's trying to make the best of it. First off trying to do something about the Revs A League level defending. But the problem obviously runs far deeper than the coach. I'm trying to be objective about it because I care about this team, but all I'm seeing is organizational incompetence. If you want to compare it to something, it's the Bobby Grier/Pete Carroll era all over again. Who does the buck actually stop with? It's the same question that got asked back then.
Jim has presented the most sympathetic possible account of the trade; I doubt any could do it better. I take a darker view. 1) The fact that Diallo didn't work here is something that first off could have been anticipated. FC said his selection was a "no-brainer" IIRC, and there were no rumblings about inabilities to click from training. But Diallo was well known to be a hot-head and a non-team player in his Mutiny days. If the brain trust thought he could be made to fit into FC's system, they must have had a strategy. Egomaniacs are teamed up at forward all over the world - his failure to click with TnT was fundamentally a coaching failure. Diallo is what he is. If he had to be traded, he could have been traded for one of any number of journeyman defenders, and everyone would have felt the cool breeze of cap space. Thinking that Serna was the answer was staggeringly short-sighted. Serna is the most psychologically disordered individual in MLS, described once by Capt. Dan Calichman as "filthy". I remember cackling to myself when the Metros took him that they would have they're hands full. He lived down to expectations, and instead of letting the Metros suffer, we bail them out???? The issue of the Rev's being oblivious to Serna's poor health is a matter of record. 2) While defense was known to be a problem, Hernandez was known not to be the answer. Since his best year in 2000, he has become steadily less effective, for reasons clearly related to ego and attitude. And New England is the spa for attitude correction? New England needs another defender with a reputation for violent play? New England needs another defender who can't focus for 90'? 3) APC never showed that he was able to hold the ball and distribute as well as AW prior to the trade. This was the most discouraging and damaging part of the trade, and seems to have been based on FC's personal issues with AW. AW, like Graziani, will live to be a thorn in the Revs' side for many years. Nuf sed. 4) Chrono is currently being played out of position at left back, and is still doing reasonably well. He, much more than Kamler could have benefitted from Ralston's presence on the right. NB - Since the trade, Kamler has missed more time becase of injury than Chrono. In short, the trade was spectacularly, grossly incompetent, and has set the Revs back in their development by years. In was made in a moment of panic, and has made the club look like the suckers at the MLS poker table yet again. If Nichol didn't like it, he should have had the stones to say so.
I heartily agree with both Jon Martin and TmanTom. And I certainly don't blame the coach. Lord Steve Nicol must just toss and turn with the crap team he has taken over. But I do think that blame must be assigned, stood up to and dealt with. This is, after all, a professional sports team in a league which, after WC 02, clearly isn't too bad on the world stage. So we can't even get away with "poor little MLS" mouthings anymore. This is a national first division and the people who run the playing side of things need to prove that they are up to the job. Or they need to fade gracefully from the scene and let people who can take over. The Bobby Grier/Pete Carroll comparison is pretty apt. And, as I said earlier, it is more par for the Kraft course than the Bills; Belicheck or Parcells. I really think that whoever is the coach here (and I personally hope that it is Stevie Nicol) HAS to have the authority that extends all the way up to the Krafts and all the way down to the most junior assistant trainer. He has to be able to look at, shop for and train the groceries and tell Big Bob that he cannot have a cement place on the bench (for example). Look at a Martin O'Neill or Oscar Ruggeri, two players of Steve Nicol's stature who have become quite successful managers. If any of the kind of foolishness that goes on at Rev Central took place at Celtic or San Lorenzo they would walk in a moment (actually, I think Ruggeri is in Mexico now) and tell the chairman (read Owner here) to stuff it and tend to the finances (I realize that the operations budgets are quite different, although at San Lorenzo maybe not as much as you might think). We could probably expand this to Bob Bradley, Frank Yallop and others, too. This is now first division, fulltime, professional football and not so shabby anymore at league level. Message to the Kraft family; you have supported an MLS franchise for seven years now and, as a fan who loves live football, I will always thank you for that. But the toddler has grown up, as is painfully obvious when teams like San Jose, Chicago and even Colorado come to town. You cannot succeed any more with less than fully competent professionals both on and off the pitch. Sorry, it just isn't a jolly little summer cash cow anymore. You need to step up or step aside. With respect but a warning, JIM DOW
>Bravo to Gus. Stand up and be counted... I was surprised to see Gus write such a pointed article (it was really a column, but it wasn't presented as such, was it?), although he expressed some of the same points during the Rapids match last week, so I'm not surprised they all came bursting out. Then again, it's amazing it took so long for the dam to break; he's been covering a bad team for an awfully long time. Since the good Perfesser offered his retrospective, I thought I'd submit a column from last August regarding Gulati et al. Change a few of the names and it all still seems relevant, sad to say. http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20010813/SP_006.htm
I'm not sure why so much vindictive is being thrown at the Krafts here. I see them as money people who know little about soccer and their only mistake, if any has been in who they have hired and trusted to run the franchise. With single entry, it's not the case where they haven't been willing to pony up the money to buy the players we need. It's not the case that they have been un able to get us adequate facilities or let the team travel for training. I don't see this as something that money will fix (unless we are talking about getting rid of single entry). I doubt that Sonny K had anything to do with the super draft, dispersal draft or the trade. If there is a management problem in this franchise the blame must rest with Todd and Sunil. Todd has been ill and Sunil has been doing his usual ?????????. I guess we need to include FC and SN in the mix when we talk about how the trade went down and it's aftermath but I don't think it's fair to blame the Krafts. If I had to put my money on the biggest part of the problem I would guess that Sunil is the culpert. He's tries to be too damn cleaver for his own good and I think he outsmarts himself. I have no inside fact to back this up but for observing his transactions over the past 5 years he seems to leave a trail of screw up where ever he pokes his nose.
Interesting in the news release from the Revs on the trade (from their web site) SN is the only person quoted. You have to believe though that he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. The sense I get from Gus' article and what I want out of the organization is clear lines of responsibility and decision making. That lack of someone stepping up and being the one responsible is and has been one of our key issues as an organization. The Pats made their turnaround under Parcells - there was no question who was in charge. Though Pitino was a disaster, there wasn't any question who was responsible. With the Revs, it seems no one is ever quite sure. As a result, decisions and results are always a bit muddled.
Well, if that's their primary "job" as far as the Revs portion of their enterprise is concerned, then they have failed. What other judgment could a reasonable person make? Think of any head of an organization, public or private. Would that person put up with this level of incompetence and lack of direction? If the Krafts really cared about trying to create a championship team, Sunil would either be in his office every day at 8 AM, or he would no longer be on the payroll. As long as this position is undefined, then neither Smith nor Nicol has a clear understanding about who's really making decisions and where authority really lies. Commitment starts from the top and anyone who cares at all about organizational clarity has to sort out the mess we have at CMGI.
I certainly don't blame the Krafts for not knowing much about proper football. And, in fact, I praise them for being the people to pony up to join the league and bring a team to the area. But I have to point the finger a them for allowing this situation to fester for so long and with so many permutations. Gulati is a fraud, at least from where we, the fans, sit. We have only two SI's and we took delivery on one (Serna) as damaged goods, physically and mentally. Our developmental players haven't developed, aside from Twellman and a number of our Dispersal choices were questionable. Then there is the TRADE. And on and on and on. There has to be clear lines of responsibility here. If the Krafts were absentee owners, fine, that is their perogative but to have Gulati rarely here and nobody appearing to have the final say on player decisions. Well, what do you expect a fan to think? That nobody particularly cares is what and that is the way it appears. And it is about to get worse as the Patties exhibition season will start soon and then there will be so little attention to the Revs that we might as well just fold up and hope for Fox Sports World. Look, if 15,000 people can turn up on a Wednesday night with all of this it doesn't take a brilliant venture capitalist to figure out that this team is a potential gold mine. With a similar salary cap (say double what we have now) and a well run team playing attractive football against interesting opposition like LA, Chicago, San Jose, etc. we could easily see 25,000 on a hot mid-summmer Wednesday, maybe more. Isn't it reasonable to demand the effort to achieve this from management? JIM DOW
Beez: No truer words were spoken... "Big resume, little to show for it When Sunil Gulati took over as managing director of Kraft Soccer Group two years ago, he came with the reputation of a man with endless connections in the soccer world. After all, he's a major player in the U.S. Soccer Federation and international confederations, and he was responsible for signing all MLS players as deputy commissioner in the league's first three seasons. But those connections have meant nothing for the Revs (or, for that matter, the San Jose Earthquakes, which Kraft Soccer also operated, with little success, for over a year)." While I really don't know Gulati, the only thing I can presume about the man is that he's soccer's penultimate social-climber, especially as it relates to USSF (I'm not even sure he has an office at CMGi). That being said, the net result of his efforts his been virtually nil for the Revs. However, that's a problem the Kraft's willing inherited, and based on their hands off policy with the team is unlike to change in the short term. Their history is that they like to hire the best and brightest to run their empires: See the Patriots Andy Wasynzcuk and Bill Belichick. Gulati, after all, does have come equipped with the cachet of being a soccer insider/pundit (Fortunately, however, for Gulati he doesn't receive an annual review). It's already come full circle for the Krafts on the "other" football side of things. However, the Revs seemingly have a death grip on the worst overall record since the inception of MLS in '96 - And, it's continued to degenerate on Gulati's watch, the man who's ultimately responsible for navigating the channels of American soccer. It's a monumental shame what's happened here over the years. It really is. To me the Revs have been a study in contradiction - Continual streams of loyal crowds, only to watch the soccer world's version of the LA Clippers. It's a testament to the staffers who work so dilligently to put the fannies in the seats. And, maybe we're the ones who've got it all wrong. For years New York Giants owner Wellington Mara fielded an inferior product, yet the stadium was sold out for generations. Perhaps that's what the Revs are trying to achieve. I say that with tongue firmly planted in cheek. However, the masses do deserve better. And, the staffers, too. As for Steve Nicol and staff. I really believe they know what they've got to do. Not that I'm totally exonerating them, however if they were all put in the starting blocks as the same time as the rest they'd have a better handle on things. A final word from me on Mamadou Diallo. Like I wrote before, they HAD to get rid of him. His act on the sidelines during that horrific match in Colorado (Fernando's Finale) should have earned him a major league ass whoopin' (If my dad were still alive and coaching the Revs, he'd have found himself in the trunk of a '59 Caddy somewhere in northern New Jersey. No lie). They had to get rid of the cancer. Unfortunately, they had to trade one for another. Serna's a totally different kind of challenge, however, IMHO, he's more manageable than the previous one. I think, I hope...
One Shred of Hope It's obviously a bad situation, but keep in mind that Kraft made a heckova ballsy move when he snatched Belichik back from the Jets. He obviously tampered with the guy and orchestrated that whole bizarre situation where Belichik accepted the Jets job, then hastily called a press conference the next day to resign and take the Pats job. Kraft has shown, that when he has to, he knows how to get it done. Hopefully, he'll do something similar for the Revs because right now, we're about where Caroll and Grier were during their last year in Foxboro.
Blaming Gulati is only a guessing game, since I haven't heard anyone hear speak with authority about what his role really is. For my part, I've always assumed that he was really in the role of a consultant. If true, than his failure to produce is a waste of money, period. When Todd Smith came in, he said that he was running the show and he was accountable. I think the 6 player *-up is layed at his feet. AW is a unique and valuable player in this league. How come we never even TRIED to play him with Diallo - a formula that's responsible for Diallo zooming up the scoring table??? Yes, we were desperate for a defender, but that wasn't a sudden development - it was an issue from last winter. I still go back to the signing of Chacon as THE big mistake. That was one salary-cap choking move, that no one else in the league was willing to bite on! With that space, we could have, at minimum, Tsakiris and Shalrie Joseph, who was the plan for help in the defense from the draft. I don't buy any argument that FC made those decisions. The reason you haved a GM is to make sure the team plans for the long run, not the next few months. All of the offseason moves were geared to win NOW, with no thought to development. At least DC loses with (promising) youth, we lose with only one really good young player. Look at the switches in attitude since the draft - Diallo's the man, Diallo's the problem; Joseph is our central defensive partner, Joseph didn't get a decent offer to sign; Tsakiris looks like a young creative left-siding/central middie, we can't wait for his ankle to heal; AW is a creative talented player, AW doesn't fit in; Chacon's a goal-scoring machine, Chacon doesn't fit our scheme; ...
Regarding the trade, my understanding is that Clavijo was working out the details of a straight Diallo for Serna deal when he was fired. At that point, the MetroStars expanded the deal because they wanted AW, and they knew Clavijo wasn't about to trade him. And regarding Nicol's hiring, I think if you go back into the RevsNet archive, you'll find an interview with FC in which he emphatically states that he was the one that hired SN. Personally, I still think our biggest problem has been drafts. Big Frank put us behind the proverbial eight ball with the league's initial draft. Rongen and Zenga screwed up one college draft after another, and Clavijo didn't get enough out of the dispersal draft.
I remember the FC article clearly. He said Nicol was his guy, that he wanted to bring him in. I agree about the drafts, for the most part, but think we actually did a good job with the dispersal and college drafts in the last year. Twellman may seem like a no-brainer now, but he was a bit of an unknown. Even in hindsight, I don't think we could have done much better in the dispersal draft. At the time, I thought we did much better than I expected. We made two mistakes - going after and signing Chacon, and including Williams in the trade. Lee
I think that one way the Krafts affect things is with the money that they spend. We've all heard stories about how there's no marketing budget, no one to update the website, no online radio, and how the front office has been cut. Also, before last year I think they fired their strength and conditioning coach. I would bet that the budgetary constraints also affect the talent scouting, which would explain why it takes us so long to fill SI slots and why all of the other teams seem to bring in more players for trials, and end up signing more accomplished players. The only foreign players that I heard we were looking at this year were a few young Brazilians (who we saw when we trained there), Semedo (ditto), and Buhlmann, who I heard payed for his own plane ticket to get here. Also, after they expanded the deal to include AW, they wouldn't seal the deal until we included Chrono. I'm sure that they ended the phone call with "be sure to call us back if you want to make any other trades..." Mike, I'm not doubting you, because obviously you know more about the inner workings of the Revs than I do, but I'm surprised that FC wouldn't trade AW. Clearly FC wasn't going to play him in a regular role, even though he showed when he played that he added more to the team at attacking mid than APC did.
I pretty much agree, though I think that a) these are pretty much the same mistake (i.e., one pretty much led to the other), b) as mistakes go, this was a preeeetty big motzah ball. Unfortunately, with the diffusion of positions and responsibility in this organization (and this seems to be one of its most salient characteristics over the years), we never quite know who is behind these decisions or what their reasoning is at the time. Consequently, no one ever admits responsibility and the buck never, ever stops (except rather briefly when the next coach gets fired). BTW, the player acquisition process this year (as in every year since 1996) has been a complete train wreck also.
Can you imagine having a discussion about accountability that involved say Bob Bradley, Siggy Schmidt or Frank Yallop? Here we are, as Rev fans, we don't even know who pulls the trigger in Rev Central? I applaud Gus Martins for writing what may or may not be a totally accurate piece on the running of the team. What it shows me is that he cares enough to risk his relationship with the team to posit that there may be insurmountable problems in the structure of the organization. I have tremendous affection for this team. They have provided me with seven years of enjoyment, even with their terrible performances. It means a great, great deal to me to have a local, high end football team to support. All I ask is that the organization care as deeply as I do and work as hard as they can to achieve success. At the middle and lower levels I know from personal experience that they do. By the way they work on the pitch I sense that many of the players do as well. Certainly the current coach does and FC did as well. But can any of these folks operate with one collective hand tied behind their backs? It doesn't seem so. Maybe Gus's article will make the higher-ups at Revland aware how serious the situation has become. Certainly he is the first mainstream journalist to really put his cards on the table, although there always have been mutterings. If this kind of pressure can be helpful, then pile it on! But with all that, I certainly would never consider on souring on the players themselves, unless they simply throw in the towel which they don't seem to be doing at all. JIM DOW
This from the MLS News and Analysis Thread (not that there is much of either here): Anybody know if there's anything to this - or is this guy just blowing smoke?
It's from "http://www.ussocceruk.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index", the new website for the teamtalk us stuff. As far as I'm concerned, we only have two stars on the team, Ralston and Twellman. I hope neither of them are unhappy. I'd be really annoyed if the unhappiness were somehow related to the poor practice habits of other team members, as alluded to in yesterday's Herald article.