The Beautiful Game: LA Galaxy vs FC Dallas
May 21st, 2008 . 6:37 am . By: Lorenzo de MediciSteve Morrow got the ax yesterday and already the vultures are circling, some to pick over the bones of an apparently failed regime and many others to throw their own hat into the ring, the very large ring, of potential successors. It is difficult to imagine Morrow got canned after a single shellacking at the hands of David Beckham and company, more likely this was just the icing on the firings cake, a situation not helped by the acrimonious departure of an assistant coach hired and moved to Dallas just this past January. A coach who went to bat for the several players (mostly Spanish speaking) due to promises made regarding contract situations. By now, early as it undoubtedly is, I’m sure that dozens of of hopefuls have already made contact with the powers that be at FCD, so I will go through a list of the people that should (not sure they will be) be ignored and told, politely as possible to go stick it. Lets look at this list. First off lets get away from the failed British bit which has had its chance and run its course. I am of course referring to the British coaches (there are many in America) who have failed in large measure to “Americanize” not only themselves but the teams they coach. There are some British coaches (Kenny Cooper Sr comes easily to mind) who have been over here a long time, have become more American in their approach and could do a good job, they at least, could be considered. The more recent editions of the British coaches/managers still have been unable to accept or come to grips with the fact that the USA does produce competent players/coaches and front office staff. That there are, indeed, people in America (many of them, amazingly, Americans) who do understand the game and have a different idea on how things should be done. The British can have an arrogance, long bred into them, that they know best. God love ‘em, it’s part of their enduring appeal, the “Sun Never Sets” and all that codswallop from a different era. The British have a great history, these days that’s just what it is, history. Chances are the only place that produces more crooked agents/managers/coaches/hangers on than Britain is South America and the vultures from both these places should be told to shove it, and told in no uncertain terms. It is time for FCD in particular and MLS in general to hire from within. To finally Americanize this game and do it their way. I was in Chicago last week and the big story there is the White Sox having just fired 3 employee’s who were in charge of recruiting and signing young players from Central America. Seems that these three were typically telling the players they would receive a $200,000 signing bonus, the kicker being that $40,000 would have to be returned to them. The Shaka Hislop fiasco comes to mind and, for FCD it should have stopped there. I have serious doubts about later situations and as soon as FCD and MLS learns to distance themselves from the sort of crooks (there is no other word for these parasites) who helped to bring down the NASL the better for all involved. The next coach for FC Dallas should be an American. He should be someone familiar with the American landscape regarding players and the American way of doing things. It would be helpful if he was fluent in English and Spanish, he should NOT be a former player (no doubt many of these are already in “the ring”) or be someone with prior connections to the club. A clean sweep is needed. A fresh look is required. This person should insist, as part of his contract, in being able to hire, at his discretion, a sorely needed “Technical Director” someone well aware of the crooks, the bungs and how they operate in this shadowy world. Someone with the smarts to avoid the Shaka/Denilson and possibly Davino (the jury is still out on this one) situations. FC Dallas has an opportunity to get it right this time. We can only hope they grab this chance with both hands and finally become the organization we all hope they can become. They can start by taking their time, talking to the right people and making the right decision. It could well be a first for them. 14 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Your theory has an achilles as to why it will NEVER work as long as HSG pulls the purse strings.
“This person should insist, as part of his contract, in being able to hire, at his discretion”
It will not happen.
The Technical Director should be the one hiring the coach, not the other way around. The Technical Director (or soccer-savy GM) needs to have the long term plan mapped out, and keep a coach that is trying to save his job from making bad trades made out of desperation. You know, the kind of trades Jeffries made once Andy Swift stepped down.
The ironic thing about the situation is that Morrow with Hitchcock’s support (and Clarke before them) layed the foundation for a club that should be competitive for many years in the future.
One has to wonder with the way that this was handled if HSG completely blew it. Would Morrow have accepted a move similar to what TFC did with Mo Johnston? or would he have rejected it based on the conviction that he is good coach and the ingredients were baking in the oven. We will never know for sure if it was going to work out in Dallas,.
Have to agree with Chamo. In a couple of years, Morrow is going to look like a genius when all the GA guys are mature starters. Not necessarily as a coach, but in developing the team. It’s to his credit that even on a one year contract, he worked on developing a team that might not be so great now, but will only get better as all the young guys grow up.
I fear that Hitchcock is the one firebombing the team on his way out the door.
Well said Chamo and Chris. This team has such a strong base of young talent that we just need someone who knows how to continue to develop it and implement an actual strategy. The biggest question in my mind is…what kind of team do we want to be?!
I hope that there are no trades involving any of our prospects by Hitch or the lame-duck coach he finds. That may be the last straw for me.
Whether he meant to do so or not (and I believe he did), Chamo has hit on something in his above post: the words “Technical Director (or soccer-savvy GM)” and the name “Andy Swift” belong together.
Losing Andy is still one of the worst moves (in an ever-increasing list) made by this organization, and booting Hitch out on his arse and doing whatever it took to put Andy back in his rightful place would go a long way toward steering this ship in the right direction. Now, I have no idea whether he’s available or would otherwise consider it (someone else out there might), but it would be a great move if it could be pulled off.
Now, back to reality…
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing Armando Palaez being given another shot at joining the coaching staff. I don’t think he is ready for the head coaching job, but I think he would do wonders for the development of our younger guys.
I actually played under him about 10 years ago when I was coming up in club ball and before him I could dribble and beat players at will, but was not a complete player. He took my game to a whole new level. That is an asset that we need with so many young guys.
Buzz,
Is Dave Sarachan available for the job?
Don’t be so sure about watching the young players here a few years from now. A new coach could very easily trade all the youth for some veteran players he thinks will help keep his job and win now. That is why a technical director should be hired first so that the keys to the candy jar aren’t given to a short term fix-it artist (like Arena?).
Sarachan is working for US soccer these days. I doubt he would be a candidate.
Palaez would be good for the team, in general, but we just fired a guy that was very much like him in Alvial. Armando was very much on the side of the players and criticized Clarke widely for not respecting and helping develop the Hispanic players on the team.
Hitchcock and others making the decisions at HSG have no real knowledge of the game, the people in the game and the way to run a club.
Did you really write a whole article just to spout off about the Brits? Sorry we’re arrogant, has beens…way to paint everyone with the same brush. Carver seems to be doing just fine, as is Stevie Nicol. I think you’ll find the worst ‘British’ coaches are the ones who learned to be coaches IN THE US…namely Mo Johnson and Steve Morrow, who was seriously shellacked in Dallas depsite building a great squad.
Let’s consider some of those tactical geniouses the MLS/US has produced in recent years….Sarachan, Sampson, Andruilis, Ellinger, Rongen, Clavijho…some of the worst coaches I’ve ever witnessed. It’s pretty easy to make blanket statemetns, but it just makes you look like an idiot… If I was you I’d be starting a campaign to keep one of those clowns away from the side. Hell, even Arena was a calamity in MLS. Pretty much all of those guys has some experience with your national side. That’s pretty sad.
Keep the anti-British remarks to yourself and focus on the team, positive…at least until you have something constructive to say, or a history and pedigree to back them up.
Al
PS if you’re counting COlin Clarke as British he’s not….Northern Ireland isn’t considered part of Britain (Eng, Wales and Scotland)…though it is is part of the United Kingdom. Thus I guess he’s Northern Irish.
He’s probably referring to the British and South Americans being much more bung friendly and savvy rather than anything else.