Soccercentral's Frank Yallop interview

[canso]

What's the point of a live interview if you're going to let Craig and Gerry lob softballs. Here are the questions I would have lined up if I was the SoccerCentral producer:

1)from Gerry: Well Frank, you've been eliminated from WCQ in the first round. Given the dissapointing results have you considered resigning and, in retrospect, do you think you were ready for the job of coaching Canada's Men's National Team.

2)from Craig: As a former goalkeeper myself, you have to feel for Pat Onstad after he gave up that equalizer against Costa Rica, however, this was not the first time he'd looked out classed at this level and the warning signs were there in previous matches. Why did you stick with him as your No.1 keeper and do you regret making him the captain, especially when Jason DeVos has done such a great job for Canada, and is literally the only player we can not do without?

3) Gerry: The previous MNT manager had a reputation for alienating players who wanted to play for Canada, and you were brought in to help change that situation. Why then did players like Jim Brennan, Marc Bircham and Fernando Aguiar, guys who could have helped the team a great deal, not get called up? Did they refuse to play or did you not select them?

4) Craig: On the topic of selection, why did you select so many A-league players for the national team, especially when they had finished their season months ago and were obviously not in game shape?In particular I'm thinking of one rotund eye-talian who plays for the Whitecaps, how do you justify his inclusion in the squad and what you were expecting to happen when you threw him on for Iain Hume, who is arguably Canada's best striker, with twenty minutes to go and Canada needing to score? What were you thinking Frank?

5) Gerry: We're almost out of time here Frank, but before we go one last question, so stop crying and pay attention. What do you say to the thousands of fans across Canada that have been left heartbroken yet again due in large part to your incompetence? How can you expect anyone to take the CSA seriously when they ask us to keep the faith with a manager whose appointment was an obvious mistake? And furthermore,...Frank?...where did he go?

Well that seems to be all the time we have for our Frank Yallop interview, and all I can say is that I hope it will be our last.

Now then, due to a recent programming change we our discontinuing our Impress the MLS feature. Stick around though we've got an exclusive one on one special feature with someone who's been stirring up a lot of controversy here in Canada, that's right when we come back we'll spend some time with that outspoken challenger of the status quo, the one, the only....Soccerbeast!

[El Hombre]

I probably shouldn't be doing this, but this sort of stuff is getting tedious.

quote:1)from Gerry: Well Frank, you've been eliminated from WCQ in the first round. Given the dissapointing results have you considered resigning and, in retrospect, do you think you were ready for the job of coaching Canada's Men's National Team.

Retarded question. Anyone worth his salt wouldn't dignify those with an answer. He's already owned up to the fact that they were not prepared for the first game against Guatemala.

quote:2)from Craig: As a former goalkeeper myself, you have to feel for Pat Onstad after he gave up that equalizer against Costa Rica, however, this was not the first time he'd looked out classed at this level and the warning signs were there in previous matches. Why did you stick with him as your No.1 keeper and do you regret making him the captain, especially when Jason DeVos has done such a great job for Canada, and is literally the only player we can not do without?

Answer to question #1: Because he played pretty damn well in the two games before CR. People always remember the bad and never the good.

Answer to question #2: Because, for all we know, Pat was a leader in the locker room.

quote:3) Gerry: The previous MNT manager had a reputation for alienating players who wanted to play for Canada, and you were brought in to help change that situation. Why then did players like Jim Brennan, Marc Bircham and Fernando Aguiar, guys who could have helped the team a great deal, not get called up? Did they refuse to play or did you not select them?

Already been answered a thousand times: Bircham hurt, Aguiar was not called for the Wales game and for all intents and purpose retired from international duty, and Brennan was not seeing first team action.

quote:4) Craig: On the topic of selection, why did you select so many A-league players for the national team, especially when they had finished their season months ago and were obviously not in game shape?In particular I'm thinking of one rotund eye-talian who plays for the Whitecaps, how do you justify his inclusion in the squad and what you were expecting to happen when you threw him on for Iain Hume, who is arguably Canada's best striker, with twenty minutes to go and Canada needing to score? What were you thinking Frank?

True some of the A-League players were outclassed, while others performed very well. As for Corrazin, he was brought in for height but it never panned out. Mr. Burns looked like a genius when he had Homer pinch hit for Strawberry. Just didn't work out this time.

quote:5) Gerry: We're almost out of time here Frank, but before we go one last question, so stop crying and pay attention. What do you say to the thousands of fans across Canada that have been left heartbroken yet again due in large part to your incompetence? How can you expect anyone to take the CSA seriously when they ask us to keep the faith with a manager whose appointment was an obvious mistake? And furthermore,...Frank?...where did he go?

In large part to Yallop's incompetence? From what I remember our forwards couldn't finish, we had a few bogus calls, some pretty big injuries/suspensions...etc. I'm not making excuses, you just can't ignore everything else to make your argument better.

This thread is a waste of time. Bring something new to the table, canso.

[marktci]

quote:

True some of the A-League players were outclassed, while others performed very well. As for Corrazin, he was brought in for height but it never panned out. Mr. Burns looked like a genius when he had Homer pinch hit for Strawberry. Just didn't work out this time.

Just a thought... is it possible someone wrote to Yallop "We need to get some height in the line-up" and Yallop mis-read it as "We need to get some weight in the line-up"?

Love the power plant softball team analogy, by the way. Has me grinning from ear to ear. (Singing the "We're talking softball" song in my head.)

[canso]

The Homer sub of course!!! That's classic! Pure Gold, baby!

Of course with Corazzin-Hume it's more like Homer coming in for Lenny Dykstra to play centerfield.

[Grizzly]

I agree with Canso on this issue. If Yallop were a coach in a soccer nation these are exactly the questions (maybe worded a bit different) that would be asked and there is no reason he should be spared that here. The problem is that Dobson and Forrest are the only tv journalists in the country who cover the MNT on a regular basis. Dobson lacks the knowledge and ability to cover top level soccer and provide insight. Forrest is not deficient in this regard but seems unwilling (or it is not in his nature) to publicly criticize the players (particularly those he has played with) or the management. I often have the impression when I am watching our games that either I am blind or Dobson and Forrest are watching a different game than I am. The questions the fans want answered are not being asked of either Yallop or the CSA. As I have stated I am very dissappointed in Yallop's coaching but think he should be given a bit longer in the job to prove himself. However, some pressure applied by the media by asking pertinent, knowledgable questions should if anything help and motivate him (and the CSA) to improve his performance.

[The Ref]

Yallop is a man with a mission needing some time. Unfortunately it is the wrong mission, wrong time, wrong place, wrong team. Clueless.

[denis]

At first when the MNT was disqulified I felt kind of bad for Yallop, and that maybe it was more bad luck then anything that was to blame for the poor result. However now since some time has passed and you can look back at it more objectively you kinda have to ask, What the hell was he thinking? Why the linups he chose?, Why the players he excluded? and why the stragaties he chose?

Going into every game he was claiming offence offence offence but that never panned out. It seems to me that he never really understood the quality of the competition or the kind of team he had to work with. I think our MNT pool had enough talet to get through this round. Unfortuately Yallop didn't know the best way to employ it. My be he will learn form his mistakes, only time will tell.

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by denis

Going into every game he was claiming offence offence offence but that never panned out.

That is probably the biggest knock on his coaching IMHO. Had his team scored many goals and still lost, I might understand. I'd feel the same had he opted for a more of the defensive minded/all round players and earn the same results as where he is at currently.

But when you put on the field 4 strikers at the same time and proclaim that offence is your strenght, that tells me that he either misread his talent, that he did not understand or give proper respect to the opposition that he was facing, or that he is tactically naive.

[BC supporter]

quote:Mr. Burns looked like a genius when he had Homer pinch hit for Strawberry.

Now that is truly amusing. I'm going to use it myself where appropriate (and pretend I came up with it on my own.)

[El Hombre]

quote:Originally posted by BC supporter

Now that is truly amusing. I'm going to use it myself where appropriate (and pretend I came up with it on my own.)

Please do.

In response to Grizzly, I'm all for the media asking questions that are a little more relevant. The problem with Canso was that there was an obvious agenda that didn't really bring anything new up. The questions were from something you'd expect from a Soccercentral-Crossfire hybrid (give Gerry a bow-tie and he'd be Tucker Carlson).

Just another Yallop bashing thread and that's getting pretty old. Maybe I was hoping for something a little more constructive.

[Grizzly]

There may be an agenda behind the questions but the fact remains that these are the questions that most of us would like to have answers to and which have not been put to Yallop to the best of my knowledge. Maybe he has good or at least interesting reasons behind some of the decisions but it is hard to judge this when he has not commented on any of the issues. I would hope that at the very least someone in the CSA has discussed some of these questions with Yallop because if I were president of the CSA the answers Yallop gives on these points would go a long way to determining whether he be given another chance. As fans we basically only want to know the answers out of interest but seeing as the media pays little attention to the MNT we don't have much opportunity to learn Yallop's opinion. That is why it is such a shame that Dobson and Forrest missed this opportunity to get some relevant information. In my opinion the problem isn't that canso didn't bring anything new up, the problem is that Dobson and Forrest didn't bring anything new up.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by El Hombre

The questions were from something you'd expect from a Soccercentral-Crossfire hybrid (give Gerry a bow-tie and he'd be Tucker Carlson).

Would that mean Frank Yallop is Jon Stewart?

[Ashton Gate]

I think Grizzly's comments are spot on, we are all bitterly disappointed with the demise of the mens NT, yet (apart from on this board) there has been no serious examination of what went wrong. Craig Forrests questions to Frank Yallop were pitifull indeed and an insult to serious Canadian soccer fans. Yallop has it very easy indeed, no intelligent soccer media to ask questions of him, a CEO in la-la land on MLS teams that may or may not arrive in Canada before the next round of qualifying for WC 2010.

I think that Yallop deserves a fair shot to see whether he can take Canadian soccer in the right direction. However, enough of the MLS talk. We have about a week or two to get serious questions in ahead of the last game vs Guatemala.

Despite giving Frankie the benefit of the doubt, much of what he does mystifies, if he actually felt his job was on the line maybe he would be over in Europe (Air Canada has cheap flights for $800 to Heathrow) right now checking out every ounce of Canadian talent ahead of the last qualifier against Guatemala and Canadas next internationals in the future. Maybe he could also hop over to Germany too etc. etc. Instead, Frank is in Florida with the U-17 boys, showing the flag to be sure, however this is not serious business for the task ahead when there are established Canadian pros/prospects already playing in Europe.

But theres the rub, World Cup qualifying is clearly no more a priority for the CSA than boys and girls soccer, annual statistical increases of player registrations and MLS/stadium Pipedreams, whichever can be most easily fronted to the soccer stupid media. However, at least people on this board are starting to ask the tough questions. Its a very good start.

[Daniel]

While I agree that he should have better scouted his players BEFORE WCQ, I don't think there's much of a point doing so now, once we're eliminated. He knows who he'll call and not call (he's seen around 30-40 senior players in his 10 months) - it's just a question of it being either a swansong for the old guard, or a baptism for the new generation...

[El Hombre]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

There may be an agenda behind the questions but the fact remains that these are the questions that most of us would like to have answers to and which have not been put to Yallop to the best of my knowledge.

Really?

Of the questions above the only one that really mystifies me is changing captains. The rest I can pretty easily figure out what he'd answer.

So, turn this thread into something worthwhile and let me know what "real" questions you would ask Big Daddy F if given the chance.

[canso]

I think it's the "real" answers we should be looking for.

Any other country in the world, no self respecting journalist on the top rated soccer program would go into an interview with the MNT manager whose team had performed dismally, and who had baffled and confused with a succession of bizarre decisions, and not ask those questions. Any other country in the world there would be a public inquiry, parliamentary debates, rioting in the streets. Any other country in the world that manager would already have been sacked.

Only in Canada,eh?

[youllneverwalkalone]

SoccerCentral isn't an objective 'news' program. Gerry Dobson is catering to an audience who are waiting for the Liverpool match to start. Some of these people are passionate about the MNT, but many are not. For reasons I must admit I don't understand, Frankie Yallop is quite well know and even revered in some parts of the UK. A large cross-section of the population waiting for the match to start are probably more familiar with FY the player. Marked though it may be, he's a great face and name to generate interest in the MNT amongst people who will get up to watch Liverpool, but who won't typically stay up to watch the MNT. Consequently, attacking his performance as manager is probably seen as counter-productive to the general tone of SoccerCentral, ie. to promote the game in Canada.

I'm not suggesting propoganda is helpful for anyone, much less anyone on this board. My point is simply that SoccerCentral is not a critical news program. Probably BB and James Sharman are the best bet for tough questions in this country. And that says a lot about where the game rests in the popular imagination.

[Canadienfan]

quote:Originally posted by Ashton Gate

But theres the rub, World Cup qualifying is clearly no more a priority for the CSA than boys and girls soccer, annual statistical increases of player registrations and MLS/stadium Pipedreams, whichever can be most easily fronted to the soccer stupid media.

Agreed! AS far as the CSA is concerned were doing fine and dandy.

[canso]

Here's the thing: I need to hear it from Frank directly, he's the only one who can give me closure on the death of the dream. The media can provide the post-mortem, they can ask the questions that put things in perspective and give us all an understanding of why things happened the way they did. I may not like his answers, I probably won't agree with his decisions, but until someone asks the questions I'm left with speculation, gossip and Simpsons references.

It's not good enough.

[Grizzly]

Again I have to agree with canso. I have neither read nor heard an interview so far in which Yallop has answered any of what I would consider the pertinent questions. We have speculated endlessly on some of these issues on the forum but we haven't gotten any opinions on these issues from anyone in the CSA or on the team. There is a huge difference between speculating or figuring out what he might answer to the questions and hearing the actual answers. If speculating what the answers might be was enough there would be no purpose for sports journalism. In fact, despite being knocked out of the WCQ at a very early stage we have hardly heard anything from the players either. We know that Radz and Onstad think that Yallop is great, DeVos has some issues and has to speak with him about his MNT future and that DeRo thought the goalkeeping in the Costa Rica game was crap. From Yallop we know that he thinks he didn't have enough time to prepare the team properly but believes we will improve in the future. This is amazingly little knowledge and reflects the lack of interest in our MNT in this country not the level of sports journalism. In most countries the players and coach would be hounded by the media and asked every imaginable question. Imagine how the media would have treated Quinn and every player on our hockey team if Canada had even finished in second place in the recent hockey World Cup. Every move by Quinn would have been questioned, probably far in excess of what is sensible. Considering this I don't think it is very much to ask that at least one journalist ask Yallop some relevant questions even if some may be sensitive topics with him.

As far as what I would ask were I a journalist, I would include canso's questions although I would word them differently (wouldn't call Corrazin a rotund eyetalian for example ). Other questions would include:

If you feels there was a lack of preparation why were you unable to arrange additional friendlies?

Why didn't you call players such as Nsaliwa, Klukowski, Reda, Brennan, Bircham etc.?

Why did you change the lineup so drastically after the Belize series?

Why did you experiment with the lineup so much during qualifying games?

Did you not worry before the round that playing games in Vancouver would cause our European players problems with jet lag and fatigue?

Some fans have speculated that you selected and played certain players because of your personal relationship with them. How would you respond to this accusation?

Why did the CSA wait until after the second match against Honduras to make a large protest over the referreeing instead of after the first incident? (As an asside: compare the huge protest made by the Stampeders over a blown call that cost them a win against BC despite being eliminated from the playoffs weeks ago. I bet the refs will be a bit more careful in the first few Stamps games next year.)

Why did several of our most skilled players underperform in the qualification? Were your tactics unsuited for these player's style?

Why did the offence first tactic not succeed?

I would also ask some questions about the future:

What are his intentions as far as playing youth versus veterans in the meaningless game against Gautemala?

What will he do to better prepare the team in the future?

Which not yet called players might figure in his plans in the near future?

Will he change the team's tactical system?

How many friendlies does he plan to play per year? How many of them will be in Canada? What will be his preferred opposition?

I could think of many more questions but that should suffice for here. Nor am I saying that Yallop won't have good answers to some or all of the questions. It is impossible to make any judgement on answers that don't exist. I would certainly like to know what his thinking was during qualification and what his thinking is for the future.

[argh1]

Yes Grizzly , the fact that outside of this board and the soccer community . The lack of journalisim and caring is totally amazing .

I'd almost bet the average Canadian sports fan didn't know squat or even worse didn't care to know squat about the MNT .

Which shows that soccer in this country is still a fringe sport .

For all the time we spend getting each other upset with opposing points of view the fact of the matter is main stream Canada don't give a hoot .

I dare anyone to go down to their local Main St. / Rue Principal and ask 20 people at random who the MNT's coach is , and come back with the answers .

[soccerbeast]

quote:Originally posted by canso

What's the point of a live interview if you're going to let Craig and Gerry lob softballs. Here are the questions I would have lined up if I was the SoccerCentral producer:

1)from Gerry: Well Frank, you've been eliminated from WCQ in the first round. Given the dissapointing results have you considered resigning and, in retrospect, do you think you were ready for the job of coaching Canada's Men's National Team.

2)from Craig: As a former goalkeeper myself, you have to feel for Pat Onstad after he gave up that equalizer against Costa Rica, however, this was not the first time he'd looked out classed at this level and the warning signs were there in previous matches. Why did you stick with him as your No.1 keeper and do you regret making him the captain, especially when Jason DeVos has done such a great job for Canada, and is literally the only player we can not do without?

3) Gerry: The previous MNT manager had a reputation for alienating players who wanted to play for Canada, and you were brought in to help change that situation. Why then did players like Jim Brennan, Marc Bircham and Fernando Aguiar, guys who could have helped the team a great deal, not get called up? Did they refuse to play or did you not select them?

4) Craig: On the topic of selection, why did you select so many A-league players for the national team, especially when they had finished their season months ago and were obviously not in game shape?In particular I'm thinking of one rotund eye-talian who plays for the Whitecaps, how do you justify his inclusion in the squad and what you were expecting to happen when you threw him on for Iain Hume, who is arguably Canada's best striker, with twenty minutes to go and Canada needing to score? What were you thinking Frank?

5) Gerry: We're almost out of time here Frank, but before we go one last question, so stop crying and pay attention. What do you say to the thousands of fans across Canada that have been left heartbroken yet again due in large part to your incompetence? How can you expect anyone to take the CSA seriously when they ask us to keep the faith with a manager whose appointment was an obvious mistake? And furthermore,...Frank?...where did he go?

Well that seems to be all the time we have for our Frank Yallop interview, and all I can say is that I hope it will be our last.

Now then, due to a recent programming change we our discontinuing our Impress the MLS feature. Stick around though we've got an exclusive one on one special feature with someone who's been stirring up a lot of controversy here in Canada, that's right when we come back we'll spend some time with that outspoken challenger of the status quo, the one, the only....Soccerbeast!

You did go a bit easy on those questions also, the questions should be more blunt.

1) You have taken a team that should have qualified for the second round but didn't, how do you justify staying on as manager of the

national team?

2) Players who have shown lack of commitment to the National team

program before got their places back without having to explain themselves.....why?

3) You stuck with a goaltender, who struggled in almost every

match , why did you not replace him? past friendship perhaps?

4) The players could not get motivated for playing in front of

their home stadium support, why didn't you get them motivated?

5) for the final match vs Guatemala will you stick with the same,

duds that got us in this mess or will you bring in some youth?