Arena the Latest in Rash of Coaching Exits

Bruce Arena is out as the coach of the Red Bulls. Fired? Resigned? Neither, or is it both? His departure is the result of a “mutual agreement,” says the Red Bulls’ management. Whichever, Arena’s departure does not come as a surprise. In this age of instant success, Arena was given a year to produce, and he didn’t do it. Further damaging his cause, he never came close to fielding an exciting team.“Considering the resources we’ve committed to this club, we expect results quickly,” said the Red Bulls’ general manager, Marc de Grandpre. He then defined what results he had in mind: Nothing less than winning the MLS Cup. That dream went down the drain over the weekend, when the Red Bulls lost to the New England Revolution.One feels some sympathy for Arena. How realistic was the goal of winning it all? Not realistic at all — why would it be when one realizes it was a goal set by de Grandpre, who came to the team from a marketing job for the Red Bull drink and has only the sketchiest idea of what soccer is all about?De Grandpre has also managed to dig himself into a hole over a replacement for Arena. The GM has announced that he, and he alone, will make the appointment, which, given de Grandpre’s level of soccer knowledge, is an open invitation to a travesty. De Grandpre has also let it be known that any new coach will be allowed only one season to win the MLS championship, a diktat that suggests a lively coaching turnover for the Red Bulls.So, for failing to achieve the probably unachievable, Arena exits. A rather different approach evidently applied at Toronto F.C., the MLS expansion club whose first season has been a resounding disaster — at least as far as results are concerned. At the fan-support level, Toronto has been amazing, selling out every home game. But 17 losses in 30 games and a dead-last finish in the league is a pretty woeful record. Exit coach Mo Johnston? Not at all. Despite Johnston’s inept choice of players on which to build the new team, he has been reappointed.He’s a lucky man. Even as I was writing the above, news arrived from the English Premier League that coach Chris Hutchings had been axed by Wigan Athletic. Hutchings had been in charge of Wigan for a mere six months, but eight losses and only two wins in 12 games sealed his fate.Which proves, I suppose, that they take these things a lot more seriously in England than they do in Toronto. But maybe not. There is a strong argument — it comes from the coaches, naturally enough — that firing a coach after a run of poor results, or after a poor season, is the wrong thing to do.The matter came up recently in England when Tottenham Hotspur fired its Dutch coach Martin Jol. “There is no evidence that sacking a coach brings success,” commented Alex Ferguson, who is in his 21st year as the coach at Manchester United. Ferguson’s extraordinary record of nine championship wins in 20 seasons argues strongly in favor of job security as a basis for coaching success.Manchester United is currently in second place in the English Premier League. Ahead of it is Arsenal, which has the second longest serving coach in the league, Arsene Wenger, now in his 12th year at the club.Wenger also had his say on the firing of Jol: “He [Jol] has got to fifth place in the league twice … But this season he had a bad start, and was not given the chance to turn the crisis round.”Obviously, there are tremendous differences of opinion on how much time a coach should be allowed to produce a winning team, but the demands for instant success are so insistent in the modern game that most critics would probably feel that Jol was lucky to get two full seasons.There were further disturbing circumstances surrounding the Jol firing. He was immediately replaced by the Spaniard Juande Ramos, who quit his post as coach of Sevilla to resettle in London. Of course, Sevilla was not pleased, Ramos had a contract with them. Earlier this season, Jose Maria Del Nido, the president of Sevilla, stated: “The coach [Ramos] has confirmed to me that he is going to fulfill his contract. He looked me in the eyes and told me so and shook my hand.” But contracts mean little in the world of top-level coaching. A compensation deal will be arranged between Spurs and Sevilla.Ramos was not the only high-profile coach involved in job-switching. Last month, Dutchman Henk ten Cate walked away from his job as coach of Ajax of Amsterdam to become an assistant coach at Chelsea, and another Dutchman, Ronald Koeman, quit as coach of PSV Eindhoven to take over at Valencia.Ramos got some support for his move from fellow Spaniard Victor Fernandez, who coaches Real Zaragoza. “Let’s not be hypocritical,” said Fernandez, “the large majority of us would have done the same thing.” Fernandez cited the challenge of coaching in a different country, and said he didn’t believe that Ramos was moving merely to make more money.Possibly not, though the reported salary being offered to Ramos — $40 million over four years — certainly sounds like a major attraction.The ease with which coaches jump from one club to another, and the scant respect shown for contractual obligations, are evidently causing some concern at FIFA. For a start, the job-switching among coaches offers the worst possible example to players. If coaches can jump to another club at the drop of a hat, why can’t players?Why not? Because FIFA has regulations that forbid it. Player movement is limited to certain periods of the year, the so-called “transfer windows.” Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, told the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, “We’ll try to extend the [transfer window] rule that is valid for players to coaches.”Amid all the coaching confusion comes the rather sad news that Frank Yallop has quit his job as coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy. He will become the coach of the expansion San Jose Earthquakes which will join MLS next season. Maybe it’s not so sad. Yallop is a decent man, with the guts to walk away from the frenzied Beckham circus. Things may not be quieter for him in San Jose, but his life will assuredly be saner.pgardner@nysun.com

Arena the Latest in Rash of Coaching Exits

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