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Too little, too late ?


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Gerry Dobson Blog:

April 10, 2007

Too little, too late?

Despite a new CEO, it's business as usual for the Canadian Soccer Association

I have a lot of questions this week, but I don't have too many answers.

We'll start with the biggie. I'm more than a little bewildered that the Canadian Soccer Association targeted March 31st to name Canada’s new men’s coach, only to move it back three weeks because several board members were unavailable for a meeting.

That doesn't sit right. They'd agreed upon the date, then suddenly they can't find the time to approve the most important decision this organization will make this year. It’s already way too late.

They need to adopt the Toronto FC slogan "All for One," because it seems the CSA is still heading in several directions at the same time with too many conflicting agendas spoiling the plot—which means they're going nowhere. A little birdie also tells me the new CEO is a businessman, and not a soccer guy. I think I like that.

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So from the sounds of it we have a CEO. Have I missed when they plan on making this announcement?

Moving back the conference call is bush-league. If it is a political tactic on the part of the board, then we in fact have some serious problems within the CSA.

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Frank Yallop in today's Globe and Mail:

quote:"We've got some good people there," Yallop said. "The most serious thing about any national program is making the World Cup. The senior men's team has to be your flagship team. Until you actually focus on that team, you're going to struggle. Every other country does it and Canada doesn't. That was the problem I had. I don't mind whatever the budget is for anyone else, but don't make our budget light. We needed to play more games in Canada. We needed to have a lot more camps and spend money where it should be spent, and we didn't do that.

"If I had seen a bigger vision and a bigger picture, then the decision would have been a lot harder. But it wasn't there."

Still, at the time, leaving the position as a national team head coach for a losing franchise in a struggling league seemed surprising to some. It seems a whole lot less so now that Beckham-mania is about to erupt.

But Yallop looks back to Canada for confirmation of the soundness of his reasoning and finds it in the continuing organizational inertia of the CSA, most obvious in fact that 10 months on they haven't yet named his successor.

"Now, I know it was the right decision," he said, "because they still haven't done anything."

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Not sure that I'd call him a traitor either, but at the same time his final comment reads too much like "I was right to leave when I did because the Canadian national team programme still hasn't cleaned up the mess that I made by leaving" for my liking.

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Careful how you paraphrase Frank's quotes. I believe what he is alluding to is his frustration over what proves to be a lack of vision within the CSA. The dismissal of Pipe was not in the cards when he left and Pipe's remaining as COO no doubt was a major stumbling block as to "how hard he tried" to get funding. AND after all these months, they have not found a successor. Why are we #103 in the FIFA rankings? It's not the product on the pitch.

My gut feeling is that with the hiring of a new MNT coach comes with a stipulation that regardless of any situation with his bosses at the CSA that he may deem questionable he keeps schtum. Any conflict or disagreement within the CSA camp would be cannon fodder for Yallop's argument. Also, how about another clause in his contract that he has to stay through 2010 qualifying. Kidding?

Oh, I can't wait for April 21st....

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quote:Originally posted by Thistle

Careful how you paraphrase Frank's quotes. I believe what he is alluding to is his frustration over what proves to be a lack of vision within the CSA.

Possibly, but the way the article was written made it sound like the last line is commentig on the lack of his successor 10 months later.

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quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Possibly, but the way the article was written made it sound like the last line is commentig on the lack of his successor 10 months later.

I think you are both correct, and I'm sure every person involved with the national team, player and fan, would agree with those statements.

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Although I won't go as far to call him a traitor, I think Yallop needs to keep his yap shut. The bottom line is he failed as Canada's coach, and when the going got tough, he bailed on the program. As much as I hate how the CSA is run, I don't think he has the right to criticize.

I'm not sure what makes me angrier. Thinking about an old Watson playing Defence under Yallop's Regime, or the Lenarduzi Long Ball tactic when he was coach.

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Yallop is just telling it like it is. Like most of us on here, he is stating his opinion. He did not fail as Canada's coach...the CSA failed and good for him for kicking them while they are down because now maybe...just maybe, they will take notice. On second thought, no, they will just laugh and light up a guatamalan cigar because like the csa, they are second rate as well

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I'm not defending the CSA here... They are clearly lacking people who want and know how to get things done... We've known that problem for a long time, and many people on the board have lamented this fact since I first started reading this board in 2000.

But don't you think it's pretty hypocritical for Yallop to jump on the "Bash the CSA" bandwagon for not changing things? This is the guy that put his over the hill buddy Watson into the lineup for example. Yallop, by bailing, clearly did not want to be part of the solution to changing the CSA and the program for the better. So he can shut his yap as far as I'm concerned.

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You know how the CSA can turn things around?

Pick a coach soon, spend the money (and find the money),

and make it to the next World Cup.

As it stands, Yallop's opinion has been more than realized.

Can't really blame him for leaving an organization with

Titanic directions.

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quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

I was a supporter when he manager, but now I think Frank is a twat. If he didn't have any influence on the budget or, at least, the way the money was spent, then he didn't try hard enough. He's a traitor with a losing record who should shut it.

I was so anti frank yalop after the previous world cup campaign i though it was all his fault, but when you sit back and try to see things from both sides...the blame really belongs to the CSA and them alone. A traitior is a bit much, lets face it if we are all unhappy in our jobs and a better one comes along without the aggro who wonldn't jump at the chance of beter things!!!

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If Yallop had any balls and integrity he would have said this stuff while he was still in the job so it might have had some impact. This is just the same old self serving stuff we have heard from Yallop all along, excuses for his failures and not taking any personal responsibility. First he said we didn't qualify because the players weren't good enough, now he is saying it was the CSA's fault. He never seems to mention what his own role was in the fiasco that was our last WCQ campaign. Lets hope that the time the CSA is taking to find a new coach is due to them trying to avoid the mistakes they made in selecting Yallop and will result in the hiring of a much more competent coach with more integrity.

I also don't buy Brunt's assumption that Yallop didn't know the Beckham deal was brewing when he jumped ship. It seemed like a strange move at the time and it is the signing of Beckham that makes it now make sense not Yallop having a sudden awakening to the incompetence of the people running the CSA. Yallop is a careerist and he knows that being the coach of David Beckham is going to raise his international profile tremendously.

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If Yallop had any balls and integrity he would have said this stuff while he was still in the job so it might have had some impact. This is just the same old self serving stuff we have heard from Yallop all along, excuses for his failures and not taking any personal responsibility. First he said we didn't qualify because the players weren't good enough, now he is saying it was the CSA's fault. He never seems to mention what his own role was in the fiasco that was our last WCQ campaign. Lets hope that the time the CSA is taking to find a new coach is due to them trying to avoid the mistakes they made in selecting Yallop and will result in the hiring of a much more competent coach with more integrity.

I also don't buy Brunt's assumption that Yallop didn't know the Beckham deal was brewing when he jumped ship. It seemed like a strange move at the time and it is the signing of Beckham that makes it now make sense not Yallop having a sudden awakening to the incompetence of the people running the CSA. Yallop is a careerist and he knows that being the coach of David Beckham is going to raise his international profile tremendously.

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quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

If Yallop had any balls and integrity he would have said this stuff while he was still in the job so it might have had some impact. This is just the same old self serving stuff we have heard from Yallop all along, excuses for his failures and not taking any personal responsibility. First he said we didn't qualify because the players weren't good enough, now he is saying it was the CSA's fault. He never seems to mention what his own role was in the fiasco that was our last WCQ campaign. Lets hope that the time the CSA is taking to find a new coach is due to them trying to avoid the mistakes they made in selecting Yallop and will result in the hiring of a much more competent coach with more integrity.

I also don't buy Brunt's assumption that Yallop didn't know the Beckham deal was brewing when he jumped ship. It seemed like a strange move at the time and it is the signing of Beckham that makes it now make sense not Yallop having a sudden awakening to the incompetence of the people running the CSA. Yallop is a careerist and he knows that being the coach of David Beckham is going to raise his international profile tremendously.

Spot on.

Yallop is not entirely to blame for our horrendous WCQ campaign, but he must be held accountable for his incompetence and selfishness.

Yallop is a coward. He ran because it was easier to blame others and quit, than attempt to change things for the better.

Like Grizzly said, he had the perfect opportunity while he was coach to voice these criticisms, and really try and get something important done for soccer in this country. But instead, being the mercenary that he is, Yallop jumped ship.

I called him a coward earlier, and I would like to take that back.

He is a gutless, selfish c%*t.

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Perhaps Yallop leaving is exactly what the CSA needed. A kick in the balls that made them clean house by getting rid of Pipe.

I agree partly with those that state why take the job if the resources were not there. That being said, he is a Canadian and coaching the national time is likely a dream come true. Perhaps he made the decision more with his heart than his head. He probably regrets that now.

I like Frank as a coach. I think his selections for the WCQ were a bit wrong but what really hurt him was the lack of prep time with team. That may have been his fault but I think it was more likely the CSAs (which goes back to the decision he made to the team).

Anyway, 10 months later we are still waiting for a coach. Not a good sign. Lets hope that it has been slowed down considerably because of Pipe's departure. Personally, I think it has more to do with CSA penny pinching.

I have always been rather neutral about the CSA on this board but I feel strongly that the hiring of the new CEO will be a stronger indication of the direction of the CSA than the hiring of the coach. That being said, I am not holding my breath that they will get it right as they seem to be too small time and provincial to see the big picture (as Yallop points out rather diplomatically).

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