From the revs web site http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/news/index.cfm?ac=latestnewsdetail&pid=36213&pcid=115
I'm laughing at the freeloader comment in your "quote." BTW, you know Sunil's doing a great job for the Revs PBI. C'mon, BKSB (Bob Kraft is a Savvy Businessman!). Of course, we haven't seen a meaningful US qualifier at Gillette in ... how long? Finally, no personal comments please.
the obsession with sunil is the dumbest line of commentary on this messageboard. If the revs want to hire people to give them advice or help with whatever they want they should go ahead and do it, and you snarky fools don't get to define how/what they use advisors, consultants etc, to help them or not. why is it so hard to understand? lots of companies use consultants and industry people, pay them a retainer or for specific deliverables etc. to help achieve thier goals. if the revs didnt have ties with people like the USSF president advising, etc. they'd be morons. all'ya's expectations for what this advice or relationship should bring is cute. really.
You are spot on! I can't believe I never realized this. An advisor/consultant is the same exact thing (to an organization) as the President of that organization. How'd I never figure that out?
My expectation of someone with the title of "President, Kraft Soccer" would be to actually do something for the team.... Edit - oops Monty beat me to it
wow, sensitive much? look, no one is trying to deny Kraft his rights of hiring whoever he wants, but Sunil Gulati is the President of Kraft Soccer, which sure makes it sound like he is the guy in charge of the whole operation. He's not just some advisor or consultant on retainer. Isn't this a facet of all of the corporation fat we are supposed to triming away during these tough times? How much do you think Kraft is paying him to for advice? If I were looking to lean up and strengthen my ROI, I know the first place I would look at this point. If Gulati wants to avoid some of the criticism, he could make himself appear more useful. Honestly, when is the last time you heard from Gulati regarding anything in Revolution or 'Kraft Soccer' capacity?
We argue quite a bit on these boards, but not this time. I like Sunil, he's helped the Riders out in the past, and I now work with him on Sam's Army stuff. But in regards to the Revolution currently, no one really knows what he does, we never seem to hear from him in regards to this team, etc etc. I know he shows up at a few games, which is good, and he's even subjected himself to some "fun" questioning in the lots, which is appreciated. But that doesn't answer the questions people have in regards to what his role really is here.
I'm sure the Krafts pay people all the time to do nothing (even Matt Cassell had to do some work this year!). Some people think they have the right to know what Kraft employees functions are. The organization seems to be quite content in not giving any detailed explanations. Whether one agrees or disagrees with their stance, the natural assumption is that he does nothing?
If Sunil is part of the team that puts together a successful bid to host a World Cup, and due to his ties to the Revs a bunch of those matches are held in Foxborough, he can stay on the Revs' payroll as long as he wants.
Yep, you're right. While Cassell was working this year, he also taught at a school 3 hours away, while having another full time job in Illinois. Perfect analogy. Gulati essentially has 2.5 full time jobs. Is it not fair, as a fan, to wonder what the President (the de facto head) of the organization actually does for the organization? Oh that's right, we should never ask questions. Just be like good little lemmings, go to the games, pay for our tickets and food, and go home.
Nice to know nothing has changed in Revsland. I guess it could be worse. Kraft could get serious and hired a qualifies head of soccer operations like Bruce Arena.
my point wasn't that Sunil "does nothing" - (not that I would expect to know what he does behind the scenes), my point in reply to a post talking about hire people to give them advice or help with whatever they want they should go ahead and do it was that his title is "President, Kraft Soccer"
So, how much do you think the team is paying him every year? At some point ROI ought to be entering into the picture. They've been paying him for years, and we're talking about an event that's another decade out.
I've got no problem with Sunil Gulati on a personal level. I've met him a few times and talked with him at length from time to time, including a 3-hour sit-down back when he was the #2 man at the league office. One thing you can say about him is that he actually could be the sharpest tool in the shed. The guy teaches economics at Columbia University, used to work in a top position at the World Bank, owns a small business (travel agency) and no doubt has his hand in a bunch of other non-soccer things that we don't even know of. One of the things some newbies might not know/remember is that he was instrumental in bringing in the first generation of foreign stars into MLS. Guys like Valderrama, who was probably the most recognizable player in the world at the time and the captain of a major South American national team, Etcheverry, Nowak, Warzycha, Moreno, Cienfuegos, Campos, Leonel Alvarez, and most of the USA World Cup team from 1994. Without those marquee names, MLS would never have gotten off the ground to the extent that it did. When he joined the Revs, the expectation (perhaps unrealistically?) was that he would be able to leverage his contacts with various sources outside the US (mostly in Latin America) to bring in quality players. The other thought was that he'd have pull with the USSF (even before he became prez he was a VP) that we'd see some qualifyers or other USSF perks. I believe even the biggest apologists would agree that it's fair to say that hasn't happened. Yeah, the Revs are tight-lipped about who does what, and no one seems to have any idea of what Gulati's role is. As President of the organization, you'd expect him to have a higher profile, even if he does a lot of behind the scenes work that isn't apparent. I can't be arsed to do this, but if you did a Lexis-Nexis search on Revs news articles from the time he joined the organization, you wouldn't need both hands to count how many times he's been quoted in any significant way (saying "no comment" does not count). I don't expect him to be a blabbering chatterbox fool like Alexi Lalas, who will say pretty much anything, no mater how insane, as long as he gets noticed, but I would have expected some sort of sign that he is alive and doing something positive to help the Revolution. So far, we've seen nothing. I don't want a detailed analysis, but every now and then, pop your head up and say something to assure your fanbase that you are as involved as no one thinks you are.
Not only don't we know what Sunil does, we have no one officially in charge of player personnel. I checked Craig Tornberg's bio---nope, just sales and fan relations. I checked Brian Bilello's bio--nope, more sales and Patriot place stuff. I checked Steve Nicol's bio--nope, he's just the coach. We have no Director of Soccer Operations like Vermes in KC, and we have no Coach-GM like Arena in L.A. When our final roster is announced in a few weeks, and "X" should be taking the credit for putting together this roster of players that Nicol is going to coach to victory this year, X = O. Seriously--can anyone who can give me a single name of the executive in charge of player personnel? There is none. Which is yet another reason I loathe the way this organization operates--nothing is at stake, no one's job is on the line if things don't go well, it's all buried in the larger Kraft organization of various and divided duties (Patriots/Patriot Place/Gillette Stadium/Revs) and no one knows who's making the decisions for this specific team. Yet another way that we're lagging the rest of the league.
Check a little harder because that's what Burns does. http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/team/index.cfm?ac=coachbio&bio=31983 "Michael Burns is in his fourth year as the Vice-President of Player Personnel for the New England Revolution, after the former Revs defender and team captain returned to the club in his current position at the start of the 2005 season. As Vice-President of Player Personnel, Burns works with the coaching staff in the role of the team’s technical director on all aspects of the soccer team, including player personnel decisions. He is also a central figure in the organization’s creation and establishment of its youth development program. "