Front office administrations always insist that they're not going to buckle to pressure from fans to fire coaches, but the pink slips tossed by Crew fans for Greg Andrulis, the "Fire Sampson" chants and banners in 2006 from Galaxy fans and the "Fuera Bradley" shouts in New York would indicate otherwise.
The movement to rally fans against Frank Yallop has been less united. Perhaps enough fans still believe in his reputation as a top MLS coach. Perhaps they do believe that the Galaxy have been somewhat victimized by the schedule. Perhaps they don't believe starting all over again is really a step forward. Perhaps they've just started to campaign for his dismissal.
Frank was, as usual, inclined to an optimistic view on signs of discontent, specifically the banner the Riot Squad unfurled after the Real Salt Lake loss.
"I did see that sign. It is what it is. I said to the guys in there, ‘The fans didn’t boo us off. We lost at home again, but they didn’t boo us off.’ We lost on Wednesday. I think the fans are seeing something that’s there. It’s not a complete nightmare, where they’re just running by us and we’re terrible. What was the sign again anyway? We’re effin knackered too, Frank. Yeah. You can take it two ways. I think they’re trying to hopefully back me up, and I’m going to take it that way. I will say this, and I hope you write this - I think the fans have been unbelievable for us. I really do. I mean, they have endured a tough year and they’ve backed the players up. They see that effort and they see that commitment and they see that we stick with it. It’s not like they see people not trying and not giving a hoot. They clapped us off, which makes me think that maybe, they’re at least seeing a team that is trying."
In the first half, the pressbox was buzzing about how well the Galaxy were playing, but the scoreboard is the final judge and jury. I told Luis at the half, "Yikes - they've played so much better than Real, but the longer they don't put them away, the more problems they'll have. Especially after the game against Pachuca, the Galaxy defense will be more tired and vulnerable. Real will put Andy Williams and Robbie Findley in and they're going to torture them. It's not going to be good."
10 comments:
Why not address Lals' job security in your articles. He is the constant in the equation the last few seasons.
Why does he get a free pass?
Please do us a favor and ask why, based upon his record as a GM in MLS, he still feels worthy to be the GM of the Los Angeles Galaxy and please print his response. Don't sugar coat the question either.
There is no honest answer to that question and if you were good journalists, you would ask it.
The ideal person to ask about Lalas' job wouldn't be Lalas, but his boss, Tim Leiweke. Unfortunately, he's not around very often to take questions.
That's true A.C. but when you guys are allowing yourself to be used as a mouthpiece for all of Lalas' BS (see yesterday (or Friday's) blog entries then you owe it to us the fans and to your journalistic integrity to ask him some hard questions.
other wise it appears that you are just functioning as Galaxy PR and not as actual reporters
I think I've done a lot for Galaxy fans in posting all these audio clips on here, which you won't find anywhere else online. I ask questions and I take a stance on issues. I try to get the story out to Galaxy fans and readers in general.
I don't think that exactly constitutes as PR.
I would suggest you take a more critical look at what we've written and what we provide before you start labeling us as PR.
People need to understand that this is a blog, Luis and Andrea aren't necessarily required to be objective here on issues. That being said, I've noticed that Luis does a good job of trying to stay as objective as possible when it comes to writing about the Galaxy on here.
I think that some people might be more irked by Andrea's postings on the Galaxy and Lalas, especially since she seems to have a tendency to defend him, and she rarely criticizes anything he says or does.
I'm curious as to what is considered defending Lalas.
I posted his answers to my questions here in the blog - Luis posted the audio. I can't do that because I don't have a digital recorder. In some ways, as much as people might like to hear the voices of those involved, it's a lot more work to type out all the statements I do, and like Luis, I do it so fans can get a perspective on things and make up their own minds. I edit out my own questions most of the time because I figure that's not what people are interested in. How this gets construed as defending Lalas confuses me.
I'm no Galaxy fan or detractor...I just like the league...so I feel like I can be objective on the subject.
I feel like reading this blog gives me a very even-handed view of what's happening with the L.A. teams. I think people are confusing typing words in quotes with being the 'mouthpiece'. Besides, if you think Lalas is full of BS, it seems rational that seeing more of what he has to say will just confirm your suspicion. Being the mouthpiece of someone is not only quoting that person/organization, it's following it up with "isn't everything they say perfect and wonderful?" and sighing heavily.
Just my opinion - of course, in actuality it's just as worthless as all of the others. Keep doing what you're doing, A.C. & L.B.
Worthless... nah, I wouldn't say that. Reader feedback is valuable to me, especially from those here on the blog.
I was thinking more about these earlier posts today and I think that some fans might be upset at us because Alexi Lalas or Frank Yallop or whoever doesn't say what the reader wants to hear, so the reader misconstrues that as us not doing our job. There are so many questions that need answering by the Galaxy that when the answers don't get to the heart of the problem, then it's somehow the media's fault for not asking the right questions.
Just a thought, I suppose.
Lalas needs to step up and take the heat and the blame and RESIGN. Interesting that he was very noticeable around the HDC in the early part of the season, we would always see him in the Stadium Club and talking with fans, but now it seems like he is hiding. He has to realize that the franchises that he has been GM with have very noticebly failed (San Jose, NewYork, and now the Galaxy). He talks well so take a PR job, but please stay out of team management and definitely roster selection, isn't that why Paul Bravo was promoted to Director of Player Development or something?? Make it happen.
Wow I just scrolled down and read the bit you did get from Lalas (I posted here before seeing that). Lalas is full off excuses, not culpability. He is not even worthy of that PR job.
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