The story has been rumored for weeks and appears to be picking up steam: President and GM Alexi Lalas is expected to be fired and land the job the General Manager (GM) job for the Los Angeles Galaxy. LA has yet to hire a new GM after the sudden and very tragic death of Doug Hamilton last month.
The stories give many different reasons including Red Bull wanting to bring in their own guy to run the team, AEG wanting Alexi to return to the AEG family, and most recently Red Bull being disappointed in the attendance of the first game of the season after they spent so much money promoting it. (For the record, the “official attendance” for the game was 35,793 people, which only the first opening day in 1996 had more. The rainy morning and afternoon didn’t help attendance.)
Regardless of Alexi’s performance in NY though, it seems a foregone conclusion he’s going to return to AEG and run the Galaxy.
When Red Bull bought the team, there was a lot of fear they would immediately shake up the front office. They didn’t, which helped quell some fears related to their acquisition. Their marketing vision has been nothing short of amazing from the ads all over NYC, bus trip to D.C. and awesome opening day events, Red Bull has pulled out all the stops. The feared shake up appears to be about to happen though with Alexi and possibly even Mo on their way out and this fan is not happy.
In Alexi as a President and GM and Mo as a coach, this team finally appears to be on the right course on the field. Alexi is probably the most recognizable figure in U.S. soccer, a great salesperson for the sport, and knows a lot about the league. Although the results haven’t shown it yet, Mo appears to be a strong and excellent coach and leader.
If Alexi is on his way out, it’s unclear if it’s Alexi’s desire to leave or the Red Bulls’.
If it’s Alexi’s, it seems surprising he’d want to leave what has to be one of the greatest opportunities in the league. With Red Bulls' financial backing and working in the largest sports market in the country, the New York Red Bulls job seems like it’s best in the league. Why would he want to go to LA where they have pretty much everything already established from a beautiful soccer stadium to a team that won the MLS Cup last year. That just seems boring and unchallenging.
If it’s Red Bulls’ desire to see Alexi go, that’s a real shame. Their acquisition of the team is only a little over a month old and they should being giving Alexi some time to take advantage of the new Red Bull resources and some time for the team he helped create gel. An increase in popularity for MLS soccer isn’t going to happen overnight in the New York area and all the marketing money in the world isn’t going to change that. (It will certainly help, though and it’s great to see Red Bulls' commitment). With salary cap restrictions in the league, you also can’t build a championship team overnight either. Who will Red Bull get to replace Alexi? Someone who is familiar with the league is a big requirement. Rumor has it Former GM Nick Sakiewicz will take over temporarily while the team looks for a permanent replacement.
Mo’s job being on the line after only 2 games into the season against two of the best teams in the league is sad. Our players aren’t use to playing with each other yet and they are certainly not at their top form. The club is also rumored to have their eyes on a few new players to add into the mix which should help as well.
New owners like to bring in their own people, but as MetroStars history has shown us, you can’t just throw management and coaches at an MLS team and expect success.
Hopefully these are just rumors, but the rumors are getting louder and louder. Stay tuned.
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