Kevan Pipe fired !!!

[SF]

I've had to laugh a bit at the notion that the CSA got "screwed" on the stadium deal. Only one party to this deal got screwed - the Canadain tax payer. A 100% funded and guaranteed profit for MLSE right from the get go. All the CSA is guilty of is doing less screwing of the tax payer. Of course, the CSA takes public funding, so to screw the taxpayer more would have meant to screw itself more. Sort of.

If the view of the CSA board is that they didn't get enough from the stadium, then I am not very hopeful for the future.

[LMW]

Wow!!! have not posted here for quite a while but after hearing this joyous news just had to say... Yee ha!!!! :D :D Hopefully now we can see more positive developments with the national team. Gid riddance pipedream!! On a side note on soccer central today Colin Linford said that they would be looking for the best qualified candidate someone with a business background and not necessarily a canadian or soccer person. Someone to bring in more revenue from corporate canada.... among other things. He said they need to do what other associations around the world do. Lets hope and pray that now the dark cloud has been removed there will be better things ahead for Canadian Soccer.

[Vancouver Fan]

While it is a step in the right direction the Pipe dismissal is hopefully just the start of better things ahead. 3 huge positions to fill and then what will hopefully be a plan to give the MNT a chance to properly prepare for the 2008 WC qualification process.

Interesting to hear De Ro on Soccercentral.He agreed with the Pipe move and also stated that the next coach would have to be a European with enough credentials to demand things from the CSA and that Hart or another Canadian would not get the required respect to make such demands. Dwayne may be correct but a Canadian coach just might give him a better shot at being chosen to play than a European coach would. Maybe he should consider what he says in the future.

He also referred to Kerfoot as "the guy in Vancouver" who wants to get things done. At least I think he was referring to Kefoot.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by Vancouver Fan

Dwayne may be correct but a Canadian coach just might give him a better shot at being chosen to play than a European coach would. Maybe he should consider what he says in the future.

That doesn't seem to make much sense, dude.

Holger didn't fancy domestic players because he was Holger, not because the players were domestic. Even then, Dero was a regular on his team.

[Vancouver Fan]

I just thought that it was bold statement to make. Along the lines of be careful what you wish for.

[john tv]

I just question the timing of this thing.By the time a new one is found,the tournament may be right on our footsteps. I do know that Kevan had the highsest respect of the FIFA.Finding corporate sponsors, i believe that we have some good ones already. Anyway I hope that this thing will not backfire because of the timing involved. I do believe that the reason for letting him go must be very serious,just for that reason alone.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by john tv

I just question the timing of this thing.By the time a new one is found,the tournament may be right on our footsteps. I do know that Kevan had the highsest respect of the FIFA.Finding corporate sponsors, i believe that we have some good ones already. Anyway I hope that this thing will not backfire because of the timing involved. I do believe that the reason for letting him go must be very serious,just for that reason alone.

Pretty much everything is already set up for the U20s at this point.

[George]

I was kind of disappointed to hear Craig’s take on Pipe’s dismissal today. To thei credit, Jason deVos and Dwayne De Rosario have been very outspoken and really expressed their true feelings. Craig’s comments today were kind of hapless—oh gosh…I guess we will only see in the future if the firing was the right thing to do…?

[georg]

Listening to Sports 590 International report today(Saturday) I get thre impression the whole board should of resign as Pipe was just the Scapegoat and nothing will chage until new blood is in place on top. Warner's boys are still there. As it was stated " It the Good Olde Boys Club".

[Daniel]

Yeah, Soccercentral has had trouble with criticising anything CSA-related.

[George]

For the record here are my three choices for the vacant jobs with the CSA:

COO: Jonathan de Guzmán’s mom.

Why: If Donovan McNabb’s mom can persuade her son to eat something as disgusting as Campbell's Chunky Soup, surely Ms. de Guzman, as CSA head, can persuade Jonathan to choose Canada.

Technical Director: Jonathan de Guzmán’s dad.

Why: We need a back-up plan if Jonathan’s mom fails.

Manager: Brad Parker.

Why: Because we have always know that Brad was born to be the saviour of Canadian soccer.

[DoyleG]

Alan Bolstad for CSA COO.

[Regs]

quote:He also referred to Kerfoot as "the guy in Vancouver" who wants to get things done. At least I think he was referring to Kefoot.

I think he might have been referring to Vic Montagliani...

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by Regs

I think he might have been referring to Vic Montagliani...

Yes, both are doing great work at the moment.

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by Regs

I think he might have been referring to Vic Montagliani...

Yes, both are doing great work at the moment.

[Guest speedmonk42]

I think Craig is probably being more pragmatic. Pipe is just one guy, the board is still there.

Like he says it remains to be seen, and Linford lives or dies by the perfomance of the person who goes in.

[River City]

I don't think the Board makes much of a difference now that someone has grown a pair and actually made a move.

[Bxl Boy]

Look at the board two years ago

Look at the board now

It has changed a lot !

And all these people knew before coming there what happened with the CSA and Pipe's records

So, the new era maybe began when the board began to change and Pipe's firing is the first major visible consequence of this

I think the next ones will be the new COO, the new technical director and the new coach.

[georg]

b.s. …. Change indeed. What I got from Sport 590 International Report most board members been there a long time. And I wonder if Colins Linford was part of the group to lead Kitchener Soccer Ass. To Bankruptcy a few years back. When I went to the Ont All Star vs. Munich 1860 there was no at Budd Park to check who had a valid tickets or just walk in for free. They were too busy introducing themselves to the 1860.

[Bill Spiers]

quote:Change indeed. What I got from Sport 590 International Report most board members been there a long time.

CSA Executive and the year they were elected to the Executive:

Colin Linford, President (2006)

Victor Montagliani, Vice-President (2005)

Dominic Maestracci, Vice-President (2006)

Vince Ursini, Director-Finance (2005)

Angus Barrett, Director-at-Large (2002?)

Mike Traficante, Director-at-Large (2005)

Rob Newman, Director-at-Large (2006)

If that isn't change, I don't know what is!

[BrennanFan]

An absolutely excellent article by Ben Knight on the Firing, with some very interesting comments on the CSA and their bull****:

I made a point of never getting chummy with deposed CSA deal-maker Kevan Pipe. Here’s why ...

Simply put, I hate politics. I want soccer decisions to be made based on whether they're correct, and not because of who owes what to whom. As a publicly-funded administrative body, the Canadian Soccer Association is political by definition, and Kevan Pipe was its ultimate inside deal-maker.

I've been directly involved with soccer, in one way or another, since 1989. I have seen enormous amounts of real and painful damage done to the game for entirely non-soccer reasons. I'm not blaming Pipe specifically. A lot of the damage I witnessed was perpetrated by the Men in Suits who ran the old National Soccer League, and the Toronto Blizzard in its wandering post-NASL days.

I also saw the Canadian Soccer League rise and fall, and tend to agree with those who feel the CSA could have done more to help. The CSA, in those days, argued that the governing body of amateur soccer had no business -- or mandate -- to get involved with the pros. Flash forward, and here's the CSA deeply involved in the deals that led to Toronto's new stadium and brand new MLS expansion team. If only there had been this kind of co-operation then. Kevan Pipe, by the way, was there throughout.

So because of my intense allergy to politics, it simply never occurs to me to call the CSA for a quote. I don't want to squander column inches on pat responses which serve a hidden agenda, and are getting babbled unchallenged over the wire services anyway. It has been noted occasionally on Canadian soccer fan websites that I don't show up at most CSA press conferences. This is why.

The one time I did attend came a few Julys ago, when the Toronto stadium plan was first unveiled to the public. Pipe was happily spouting positives, even though he needed the Toronto Argonauts on board, and the Argos -- still sinking under the incompetent captainship of Sherwood Schwarz -- weren't really in a position to deal.

So, faced with the inevitable, I rose and asked Kevan Pipe if the stadium would still go ahead if the Argos pulled out. His answer was bland, and off-point. So I asked again. And again. And -- and this took courage, folks -- again. I have to tell you I felt very conspicuous that day. Here I was, standing to ask The Powerful Man a key question -- four times in a row.

I'm sure I was expected to back down after one try, two tops. But I already knew I was far, far outside the political structure -- that I owed no favours and had none owed to me. I was in the unexpected position of being able to call Pipe on three consecutive pablum answers -- in public -- and I did.

The answer he eventually gave -- that the CSA had come too far to back down because of the actions of an outside partner -- proved impressively prophetic. The Argos did, eventually, walk. The stadium, finally, is being built. If I ever brought any trouble down on myself that day, it never got back to me.

In the early part of this decade, the CSA frankly lost its mind. The insanely unworkable framework for the Canadian United Soccer League sucked appalling amounts of time, good intentions and irreplaceable resources out of the game forever. That was followed by a dismal, expensive bid for Canada to host the 2010 World Cup. "McMahon Stadium is Anfield! Honest!" Kevan Pipe was there for all of it.

When Andy Sharpe took over as CSA president, the nonsense ended. Sharpe called for more attainable projects, and as he prepares now to leave office, the Toronto stadium, 2007 World Youth Cup and Toronto FC all stand as testimony to his refocus of priorities. And there was Pipe, pulling strings and throwing blocks, throughout. How much difference it made, we may never really know.

When you talked to Kevan Pipe, you were talking to power. Power with an agenda. It's not that he wouldn't want to help you, but he'd have his own reasons -- and you'd never know exactly what they were. The thing I'll always remember about our only phone call was something Pipe said about himself. I mentioned my aversion to politics, and he responded "I'm not a politician, Ben. I'm a businessman."

Well, I've dealt with plenty of both, and whatever he may feel to the contrary, Kevan Pipe was a politician. Hey, I understand soccer is a political game. Business and politics are interchangeable, and both FIFA and UEFA make the CSA look positively transparent by comparison. I just get concerned when one man gets too powerful, too entrenched, and stays around for far too long. In times of change, that can really hurt.

Among Canadian soccer supporters, Pipe's detractors far outnumber his fans. If we knock the sycophants off one end, and the conspiracy nut-bars off the other, the spectrum ranges from concerned, occasionally grateful skepticism to all-out distrust. There's a lot of anger and frustration, and the air is not clear. It hasn't been for a very, very long time.

But at least, now, the windows are open. Let's hope this is a new day, with clearer communications and less political in-fighting for all. I wish Kevan Pipe well in his future, but must ultimately conclude:

The king is dead. Long live the game.

full article: http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/columnist.jsp?content=20061103_172239_3168

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by john tv

I just question the timing of this thing.By the time a new one is found,the tournament may be right on our footsteps. I do know that Kevan had the highsest respect of the FIFA.Finding corporate sponsors, i believe that we have some good ones already. Anyway I hope that this thing will not backfire because of the timing involved. I do believe that the reason for letting him go must be very serious,just for that reason alone.

I should expect that Jack Warner and the other trough-swilling CONCACAF lifers relished the last 21 years with Pipe in charge. If anyone had told Chuck Blazer or Jack (hide the silverware) Warner in 1986 that T&T would appear in a WC final before Canada made it back, they would have been told to pull the other leg.

[georg]

Thanks BrennanFan for the Article.

As for the Question I asked got response from Bill S.

CSA Executive and the year they were elected to the Executive:

Colin Linford, President (2006)

Victor Montagliani, Vice-President (2005)

Dominic Maestracci, Vice-President (2006)

Vince Ursini, Director-Finance (2005)

Angus Barrett, Director-at-Large (2002?)

Mike Traficante, Director-at-Large (2005)

Rob Newman, Director-at-Large (2006)

If that isn't change, I don't know what is!

Are you saying they were not re-elected or sat on the board before?

[bettermirror]

loyola & regs: i'll take you up on that offer to hang em up for the week! so my bad on the JC wiki stuff. i'll chalk it up to having an immobilized back for the last few days and the painkillers! forgive me?

guess i be a dumb man who knows how to open his mouth, but not his eyes this weekend!

linford said it on soccercentral: a lot of canadians who are very successful abroad. - so someone we probably don't know. i'd agree with that!

[Grizzly]

Maybe now we have gotten rid of our incompetent CEO we can get rid of some incompetent soccer journalists like Ben Knight. One of the reasons KP stuck around in the job so long is other than Davidson there was no other competent journalist covering the CSA. What is the purpose of this Ben Knight article other than assaulting us with poor writing style and grammar that shouldn't be acceptable in high school let alone from a supposed professional writer? For half of the article he brags about how great and principled he is for not associating with the CSA and KP because of his dislike for politics. Yet he did once risk being sent to the gulag and years of torture by being brave enough to ask KP a question several times. You are my hero Ben! Other than Ben praising his own heroics and principles there is not a lot information in this article nor a particularly interesting editorial opinion. It is sublime hypocrisy for Ben to criticize KP when despite all of his failings, KP was still trying to do his best for Canadian soccer unlike Ben: the guy who approved and applauded Hargreaves choice of England over Canada and who has stated many times that he is more interested in English soccer than Canadian soccer (yes you are such a principled guy Ben). If there is one guy who is more incompetent in his job than Kevin Pipe was, it is Ben Knight. Let's hope that Canada gets some real soccer journalists in addition to a top coach, competent CEO and visionary TD.