Exactly. Back in my day (hey, off my lawn) this would simply have been called bad reporting. His take on the CSO hunt sounded like someone mentioned that it was going well while waiting to be seated at a cafe. I would note that while Buzz said he had heard the same things, he had not reported on it (even to us), because he's a good journo and good journos know that's not enough to report. This sort of thing is the beginning point of reporting something. If he had brought this to me back in my national editor days at the Star, I'd have said, you don't have it, go get it. If he'd brought it to me as an op-ed back when I was a member of the Star's editorial board and in charge of the op-ed page, I'd have asked exactly what he thought that sort of vague nothing added to our understanding of the issue. Even in DC, when I reported out of the Pentagon, state and Congress (where the justification of anonymous sourcing is oddly formalized and a very low bar) I'd have expected something more than "I sense there's a good feeling about this."
has montreal even sniffed something that could be considered success since they came into the league? how long have they been in now... feels like at least a decade, right? forget success, have they had any ... positivity? yeah, they're proper dysfunction.
At this point do you guys think they are having trouble getting someone they want or the process is just dragging out? If you were a candidate would you want to talk to PV to get his perspective on ownership? If you did, that perspective might give you a lot of pause.
I don't know, he was in the role for just about four times as long as most folks who take a gig like this expect to stick around. I think a potential replacement might like that. I would think a prospective replacement would care more about the fact that PV survived a whole bunch of slump without seeming to have been under much pressure. More than anything, I wonder if the front office isn't thinking, why bring in the new person during a lost season, because they really don't understand the scale of the job the new person will have before them. Knowing that would imply they pay attention, and evidence suggests they do not.
Okay, so it's more than five months, heading towards 6 in September. I suppose if the new CSO has a full team of his guys for, as lukeD noted: TD Assistant TD Head Coach Head Coach SKC II Hiring the one in charge can create a cascade that will fill us up and get us going. But that would mean hiring a very known commodity, and as much as SKC might like to keep that quiet, known quantities have known media sources. It might not leak through the SKC front office, but wouldn't it have to leak elsewhere? If it's not that level of known quantity, then they will have to put together a team. Expansion clubs give their new guys at least a full year run up. I mean, the roster build alone screams get a new manager in now. He has to have a chance to decide if there are any among the 17 worth keeping. .
FWIW the "final interview" stuff is stuff I'd heard off the record since like late July. New CSO coming before end of season for @SportingKC. Club in final round of interviews.CSO will come from outside organization.CSO will hire manager.CSO could make wholesale changes. Seventeen players out of contract. Two of three DP spots could be opened, all three U22.— Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) September 7, 2025
I like everything I see in that post... Except I wish the timeline had been more accelerated. I think the CSO should have been in place prior to the summer window, but maybe that's my ignorance of how everything actually works talking. Glad to hear they're going an actual coach hunt.
First, as Buzz notes, WTF does final round mean? If they began in July, how many are on that list, 60, 70? Also, by the end of the season means it could last another six weeks? Or do they count the season as including the playoffs? So, the new CSO, deputy, manager, etc will have only film for the 17 players about whom they make a decision? If the CSO is hired by, say, Oct 1 (which sounds optimistic), they begin the manager search and that is finished, optimistically, by Dec 1. They bury themselves in the player decisions. budget decisions, etc. They then evaluate Burns lists of who to bring in, which are based on what we do now, not what the new people want, so will have to change. We're ready to put out a competitive team by, if we're lucky, June? Also, Manu is on $2.3m as one DP. Are we allowed to buy that down? The maximum was $1.7m, did it increase that much? Jovelic is on $3.3m. We know we can't buy that down. Both are on contracts through Dec, 2027. The only way to open 2 DP slots is to sell them both, or sell one and forgo the 2+4 model and $2m in free cash that brings. It's good to hear that we are moving forward. But this does not sound like a time-table that will have us ready for 2026.
On the evaluation, I would assume that if they're in the final round of interviews, depending on the candidates current job, they are already evaluating the current roster and who they'd consider keeping/moving on from, in fact it would probably be something I'd consider a question for a final interview. As for the DP situation Wiebe responded to someone else asking about the fact you can't buy down either of our current DPs, saying (paraphrase) "there are other ways to open a DP slot." Which would imply either a buyout or interest abroad (or within the league) in one of Joveljic or Garcia.
I can't imagine anyone in MLS who wouldn't be interested in Joveljic, and i'm kind of surprised that he hasn't attracted f-you money from other leagues. I know Manu has had a lot of interest in the past, but Aris then SKC indicated that this interest was on the lower end, doesn't it? He's been good, when healthy. But there aren't any rumors that i've seen, and I've looked. We'd have to barking mad to decide this is the time to jettison top talent. There is no possible reason to buy out either one. As for selling up, always possible. But replacing 5 or 6 players in a winter window is a tough ask. Replacing 17 is pretty much impossible. Would anyone add to that? The only DP I could see us adding would be a third, if the new person insisted on being able to bring in his player.
Huh, so looks like Caleb Porter is gonna be available about the time we're hiring. See, this is why you hire a CSO back in June. Don't have to worry about this sort of thing.
Well, aren't Daniel Levy and Nuno Espirito Santo both available right now? One two punch, we can do it!
Man, that is one long interview, late July through mid September. OTOH, they do have a lot to talk about...
DC got impatient one day into their search? Wow, we are very different clubs. Also, Sogut, the agent for Ozil? I mean, he represents a few folks who might be worth thinking about for the role.
To entice a CSO, I suggest sharing this Footy Stats link. https://footystats.org/usa/mls/form-table • Sporting Kansas City is simply doing terribly in the last 10 games. Compared to other teams, they have the lowest points tally with an average of 0.7 points per game. This is the worst in the MLS. Can they turn it around before it's too late?
You know it's bad when the AI bots are suggesting you could be relegated. While I never thought firing PV would magically fix all of the many systemic problems I have ranted about that are wrong with this organization, I also never thought SKC would spend nearly a full season doing absolutely nothing on the organizational side after firing PV. All while fielding a roster of USL quality players who get flogged week in and week out in front of a half empty stadium, letting interest in the club drop off a cliff. We transition from organizational incompetence to malpractice when you examine what they did to the one competent FO guy (Mr Burns). He's been forced into a season long time out while waiting to see if he has a job, who his coach is, who his boss is, all while needing to improve the roster and having 17 contracts to figure out. I thought it was Peter. I now know it is Michael Illig.
In before we got [ ] <--this close to signing Ronaldo as our new CSO but the deal fell through at the last minute.