http://www.aylsoccer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=213&Itemid=10073 who replaces him? what happens with Ellinger?
I wonder if Checketts told him to clean up his mess right away and that Steve wanted some time to make this work out. I don't dislike the guy. Ellinger makes everyone in the organization appear far worse than they deserve.
I don't disagree with the SFS statement, but if Steve O hired him, then he is the main culprit on all of this. Then again, does anyone get the feeling that no one in RSL land knows what the hell is going on? Sad. From team to staduim. Sigh.
Wow, Pastorino gone before Ellinger. Whatever the bigger announcement is must be bad and Pastorino didn't want it happening or something similar.
I'm sorry, but he needed to go. This team is in disarray. They suck on the field and their entire history of player moves has been baffling and they've often looked disoragnaized and confused. Now, that is not ALL Pastorino's fault. Not by a long shot. Ellinger and Checketts ain't exactly the ideal pairing to achieve success with. And in fairness to Pastorino, RSL has good crowds and is one of the few MLS teams with a shirt sponsor. But, the bottom line is the bottom line. And RSL is winless in four games this year after failing to make the playoffs the first two. Toss in fiascos like Nik Besagno, Clint Mathis, the Jason Kreis re-acquisition, the whole Nick Rimando thing and at some point you gotta stand up and say "damn, we're a mess and someone (probably several someones) has to go." The blogger who broke this says that Steve is a really nice guy. I believe this. He's a Peter Wilt clone and we all know Wilt is a nice guy. But maybe he's too nice to crack skulls and/or fire Ellinger and that's part of the problem. I'm sorry this mess is costing him is job, but that's the risk of being associated with a messed up organization.
Pastorino leaving is just a prelude for Ellinger getting the boot. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a combination deal where Pastorino didn't want to fire Ellinger, so Checketts said out with you both! Seriously though, Pastorino has to be one of the worst GM's this league has ever seen. They have pulled off so many boneheaded moves, Pastorino will be lucky to ever get a job in this league again. This is only good news if your are a RSL fan IMO...
I don't know. I think the fault really lies with Ellinger. The talent on the field is decent. Most of the personnel moves have been okay, it's just how they are used that is poor. For example, Rimando should always have been viewed as a backup. Seitz was excellent in U20 qualifying and should have been handed the job to start the season. Mathis is proving now that he's got some gas left int he tank, indicating that RSl either didn't know how to use or motivate him. This stuff is down to coaching.
This again speaks to the need to separate the jobs of the guy who sells tickets/corporate sponsorships from the guy who handles player acquisitions and manages cap stuff. Pastorino was clearly a "nice guy", fan favorite, and did the marketing part of his job very well. But, as was said, he was a disaster at personnel decisions. If they understand this even at a club like KC, where Vermes is the player personnel guy and someone else handles ticket sales, then they should understand it at RSL and everywhere else. The days when an MLS owner would be too cheap to hire two people for these two very different jobs should be over.* *Except in places like New England where they have virtually no scouting, no foreign acquisitions, AND weak attendance. (I'm not even sure exactly what Craig Tornberg does anymore, other than group sales to youth soccer.)
For my part, Steve was one of those rare senior FO people who was still willing to answer random e-mails and engage a fan in conversation about the game. Whatever his ability to run RSL (and I'm starting to think maybe no one can), I wish more guys were like that. Good luck to him.
Umm, any opinions of KC FO under Hunt Sports Group should be wiped away now that the team is under new ownership. After looking at some of the moves they have made in the past year and the comments their players are putting out to the press, KC may have one of the top 2 or 3 FOs/ownership groups in the league. Good for them! As far as RSL situation is concerned, they do need a change. A Pastorino/Ellinger firing is only a positive move if they bring in someone better. Currently, there aren't any obvious coaching candidates out there. And as autogolazo said, they really really need a soccer person in their management group. Hopefully things work out there, because those fans deserve a winning team.
So the big anouncement is Pastorino resigning and Ellinger getting the boot? Does that mean Freddy and Nick Besagno have to move out of his house?
Meant no insult to KC---they have a terrific ownership group. It was more along the lines of market-size, profitability, i.e.-- that there is no excuse for this not to be the case everywhere. In other words--if KC's owners, who don't even have a stadium yet or positive revenue coming in and are still renting out Arrowhead, see the need for TWO execs to handle these two positions, there's no excuse for this not to be happening across the league other than sheer cheapness and lack of vision. And I would add Luis Tejada to the RSL boondoggle player acquisitions, of which the whole Kreis re-acquisition thing was the worst. ANYONE who watched the Copa UNCAF knew he was hugely overweight for MLS play. Sure, he scored a goal or two against lower level competition, but he barely moved for most of the tournament. If they wanted a player off of that Panama team, it should've been Alberto Blanco.
There is reportedly a press conference to be held today where Pastorino will officially announce his resignation. Rumors are that Ellinger might also resign at the same conference, but personally I think Eliinger won't get the boot til later. Steve was a great guy, but he was in charge of a train wreck. Had to happen. I wish his family well in the future. Hopefully he will land on his feet somewhere, he is good at marketing. Don't be surprised if RSL appoint's Trey Fitz-Gerald as the new temp. GM.
Not really. Trey and RJ Noto are the Marketing Director and Team Admin respectively. It makes sense that at least one could become the temporary GM for RSL.
I think every team understands this. HSG understood it - they just weren't willing to spend the money. The final months of HSG's stewardship in KC saw the team with a technical staff of 2 1/2 with Brian Bliss, John Cone, and half of Curt Johnson. Teams are allowed to have four "technical staff" on the bench during games. The Wizards could've sold seats. Especially with rosters out at 28 players and the demands of scoutin both domestic and foreign talent increasing, I think it's obvious to all team operators that an on-field staff of four plus some sort of "technical director" or "director of sport/soccer" is needed. Kansas City is remarkable only in the fact that fans pretty much got whiplash in the offseason trying to follow the upgrades. But yeah, Pastorino is among the last of the Mohicans as it were. With Curt Johnson gone, off-hand, I'm not sure how many dual-task "GM" level folks are left. Okay, I've checked. Interesting. The AEG and HSG teams still are run by a single person. I'm not sure about Dallas. I'm not sure about Bobby Hammond, he's got a fancy title "Director of Player Personnel", but that may just make him a Team Administrator handling off the field stuff. My guess is that Hitchcock runs both the technical and business sides. Three teams, NY, RSL, TFC all give the head coach the Director of Soccer title, with New York the only one adding an off the field technical staffer. Pastorino is definitely involved in the techncial side in Salt Lake, I'm not so sure about Bierne in Toronto. Chicago - President: John Guppy Chivas - Business: Whit Haskell - Soccer: Dennis te Kloese Colorado - General Manager: Charlie Wright Columbus - General Manager: Mark McCullers Dallas - Business: Michael Hitchcock - Soccer?: Bobby Hammond DC United - Business: Stephen Zack - Soccer: Dave Kaspar - Youth: John Maessner Houston - GM: Oliver Luck - Youth: James Clarkson Kansas City - Business: Robb Heineman - Soccer: Peter Vermes - Youth: David Ficklin Los Angeles - President: Alexi Lalas New England - Business: Craig Tornberg - Soccer: Mike Burns New York - Business: Marc de Grandpre - Soccer: Jeff Agoos Salt Lake - Business: Steve Pastorino - Soccer: John Ellinger Toronto - Business: Paul Bierne - Soccer: Mo Johnston
I thought Whit Haskell left Chivas... I forgot about Mike Burns. What a strange job he must have, caught between the Scylla of Kraft's cheapness and the Charybdis of Nicol's mistrust of the Latin player.