Last night at the US v. Mexico viewing party Hanki was sitting next to my buddy. They got to talking about a few things, one of them being what happened with Giles Grimandi. So the story from Hanki is that Giles came over here to play, but was assuming he would have a nice appartment in Denver with room for family and friends to stay when they visited, frequently. However, with the start of the war in Iraq Giles' friends and family decided not to come to visit him in America because you will remember there were some bad feelings between the two governments at the time. He felt more and more isolated here. In addition, his family convinced him that he wasn't safe in America because all Americans hated the French. So with no one coming to visit him and his family telling him he was in danger, he decided to leave without setting foot on the field and seeing how the Americans would really react to him. Sorry for teasing in another thread.
That may be part of the story, and that may be what The Wank has convinced himself of. Grimandi may not have set foot on the field in an MLS match, but he was very much part of the Rapids' humiliation of Santos in Las Vegas and was active in pre-season training... before Hankinson banned him from the fields at Westminster. Grimandi continued training indoors at Westminster until the Rapids didn't want him around there, either. Then he went and trained privately. The trainer he worked with tells a very different story than Hankinson, one that basically says that Grimandi was misled by The Wank regarding how things were done at the Rapids and what his role would be in the team. Whichever story you want to believe -- both, if you prefer -- I have trouble believing that if Grimandi's departure revolved primarily around he and his family not being comfortable for his safety in America. If that were the case then there would have been clear grounds to nullify the contract. Instead, the situation dragged on endlessly with negotations between Grimandi, his agent, MLS and the Rapids before a settlement was finally made.
That word misled gets thrown around alot when referring to the Grimandi situation, but how exactly was he misled; nobody ever seems to have an answer for that one.
What was Grimandi led to believe about his "role" on the team? And what was communicated about "how things were done" at the Rapids? Greenie, since you have the inside scoop, I would like to read something a little more specific.
I didn't bother with details because we've gone over all of this crap around here before, just as The Wank's statement that Grimandi and/or his family were not comfortable with the political situation. From what I've been told, The Wank's misrepresentation had to do with how training was conducted, the amount of players involved in training, the conduct and approach of the coaching staff to training and the training facilities themselves. As one team staffer intimated to me, Grimandi was appalled at some of the training methods being employed by the Rapids staff -- something about routines and drills that Gilles hadn't seen since he was 12. (I seem to recall that this was echoed by a BS poster or two). As for Grimandi's role in the team, all I can say is that was something that Frency felt was changed between the time he was courted by The Wank in England and the time he took the field in preseason. Of any issue anyone might choose to believe (or not), I would imagine this would be the most likely as only once has The Wank acquired a player and used him to his specific strengths: Valderrama. All that said, I'm not trying to absolve Grimandi of any responsibility in this situation. Certainly if Grimandi felt he was "misled" or that the Rapids were "misrepresented," then that is largely going to be a result of how Grimandi's own interpretations and assumptions. I'm simply objecting to notion that Frenchy's fallout had little or nothing to do with The Wank.
Greenie - I'm new to the bigsoccer boards and I'm just curious about your inside information with the Rapids?
This quote bugs me. If the training methods that he was used to were that advanced, why couldn't he have shared some of them? Are american coaches, and Hanki in particular, that far behind the curve?
That is a very good question. Especially since the training reports from the last couple years have acutally been positive regarding Hanki.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=79631 I wasn't about to search more ... and I'm not defending Hanki ... just backing up what I said. If you don't want to read the thread: He's In Fashion reported: They went from 11 to 1... Hanki is business like, quiet and constantly an observer... he gives instructions once, and then lets the players critique themselves, he interjected twice Tuesday 1) to give Beckerman more of an idea of what he wanted 2) to give Blake a little talking to "This is not the proper midnset" And obviously anytime he wanted to change the drill... I don't think anyone can criticize Hanki from his practices, maybe he could do more, but then there will always be those who say he'd be doing too much (I'm of the school that if a player is good, you have to let them go it on their own, you can only coach talent so much). Greenie was quick to point out it was only technical and team training ... but that's what I was talking about ... No body has ever said Hanki runs practice like an idiot as far as I can recall. That's not to say he doesn't though ... just that he's never been called out on that.
I'll just chime in here with a couple of tidbits I've got on the situation. First, Grimandi was not just apalled at the training methods but the tactics, which he expected to be much more advanced and was told this by Hanki when he visited London and met with Wenger and all that. That goes towards the "misled" and "mis-represented" quotes that people are using here. Basically, Hanki told Gilles the Rapids were going to play one way and then had them training to play another. Now, I can't say that this is the complete truth since I didn't hear it directly from Gilles but it did come from someone who he was working out with after being banned from the facilities and told to find his own digs and I trust him completely. Second, I asked a player after training one day about one of the drills they were doing and his reply was, "I don't think he knows what he is doing. Coach will probably just go on the Internet tonight and find some drills to do tomorrow." Does this say that Hanki is an idiot in training?
A player really said that? Who? I find it hard to believe that a MLS coach has gotten this far in his career without getting together his own drills and practice routines. The player might disagree with his practices but I'm sure every player comes up against a coach they don't agree with. There's no way that the player really meant it. Hanki has had success as a manager: "Tim Hankinson, ... coached the U.S. Pro-40 squad its initial year with an impressive USL resume. Hankinson, who was fired after leading the Mutiny to its best record (16-12-4) since 1997 following the club’s first round ousting at the hands of the Los Angeles Galaxy in the playoffs, was one of the founders of the Charleston Battery in 1991, coaching the club and winning the Coach of the Year award in 1994 before moving on to the Raleigh Flyers." http://www.rough-riders.com/releases/120600.html I'm sorry, but you don't win coach of the year anywhere by finding tactics on the Internet the night before practice. If I have taken some kind of sarcasm too far, I'm sorry. But I don't think Hanki's coaching abilities can be called into question by a bunch of people who have never coached at the professional level. If some of you have coached in the A-league or PDL, excuse me.
MLS is full of coaches -- and his a ripe history of ex-coaches -- that were all named coach of the year in the A-League, NCAA or something else. What good is an award if you haven't won a championship with it? And I don't see anyone here judging the quality of Hank's training sessions. What I did was ask who was giving credit to Hank for his training tactics. In response came a post that didn't so much give credit to Hankinson as simply report that he observed and let the players govern themselves. Furthermore, if you eliminate the opinions of the fans then you're left with the opinions of The Wank's players and peers. If someone, anyone can step up and refer me to a fellow coach or professional player who speaks in high regard of Hankinson's training techniques, then good enough for me. You don't have to look very hard to read these things about coaches like Yallop, Sarachan, Bradley or Arena. And BTW, Mooch was not only named Coach of the Year in the A-League but he actually won a title while doing it. Same goes for Rene Miramontes.