Grizzly Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Maestracci hopes to turn troubled CSA around over next few months By Lori Ewing, THE CANADIAN PRESS http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/2007/10/20/4591943-cp.html Dominic Maestracci's top priorities as acting president of the Canadian Soccer Association are the hiring of a general secretary and a technical director. They're just two jobs in a long list of tasks Maestracci faces in trying to turn around an organization that has been surrounded by controversy the past few months. But Maestracci, who was voted in as acting president this past weekend in Ottawa, is optimistic he can get the organization on the same page and at least headed in the right direction before a new president is elected in May, 2008. "I think we are going in a good direction," Maestracci said in a phone interview Tuesday from his Montreal home. Maestracci replaces Colin Linford, who resigned Aug. 27, just 15 months into his four-year term. He said the CSA hopes to hire a general secretary by the end of December or late January, who would act as a chief executive officer on the administrative side, but wouldn't be involved in the technical side of the organization. He hopes to have a technical director in place by the end of February. "This is a lot of jobs," Maestracci said. "But I've been involved in soccer for 40 years now, I was a coach, I was a referee, I am confident we will be able to deliver by May, 2008." It's already been a busy couple of days on the job for Maestracci, who is a medical professor at the University of Montreal. He met Monday with CSA sponsors, Toronto FC, and a group of soccer supporters that has been critical of the CSA. When Canada played Costa Rica on Sept. 12 at BMO Field in Toronto, angry soccer fans held a protest - "Black Wednesday" - encouraging fans attending the game to wear black "Sack the CSA" T-shirts in protest. "A lot of supporters weren't happy," Maestracci said. "But we met with them, and told them exactly what was true and what was wrong, and what was the position of the CSA. We told them we would have a new general secretary, new technical director and a new strategic plan." Next on his list of duties: he flies to Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday for the women's World Cup bid presentation. Canada is bidding against Germany to host the 2011 World Cup, and the two delegations will make presentations on Oct. 29. FIFA will announce its decision on Oct. 30. Maestracci takes over as president of an organization that has been plagued by internal squabbling, admitting he comes in "in a very bad position." The CSA has a lawsuit to contend with. Fred Nykamp, announced as the organization's CEO in May, is suing the CSA for more than C$1.75 million for wrongful hiring and firing. He left his job as CEO of Canada Basketball to accept the position before the CSA's board voted against the hire. On the pitch, Canada's under-20 program drew criticism when the team failed to score a goal at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, held in Canada. Then the women's team was eliminated from the World Cup in China in the first round, prompting criticism from women's head coach Even Pellerud over what he says is a lack of support for his team from the CSA. "We cannot change everything right away, it will take four or five years to do what we want exactly," Maestracci said. "We can't do everything on one day. But I think from now until May, we'll do a lot of things." The CSA will elect a new president at its annual general meeting, that's been pencilled in for May 2008. Maestracci is the chair of the CSA's governance committees and has served on the association's futsal committee, finance committee, national referee committee, and FIFA U-20 World Cup national organizing committee. He coached at the national level, and was a national referee from 1983 to '89. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadasBest Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Ridiculous... I for one do not support the hiring of a CEO or General Secratary who does not have free control over the entire CSA organization. These guys are trying to create another puppet position with no real influence and can have little impact on the day to day operations. Let's re-write the CSA legislations and create proper organization that will allow the CSA to move forward in a positive fashion. The CSA is a 1970's Ford Pinto. It doesn't matter if you put on some shiny rims and a new paint job. It's still a piece of $#1^ that will explode at some point down the road. We have had enough nice people with 40 years of Soccer Experience taking charge of the CSA. It's time that the person in charge at the CSA accountable to the board of directors is someone with 40 years of high level Business experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loud Mouth Soup Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 No one from the current regime should be involved in a new CSA. /$0.02, not going to drag it out in a huge debate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Without material changes to the CSA governance structure and organisation anything Maestracci does will be doomed to failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Does anyone know Maestracci's qualifications for his position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Soju Does anyone know Maestracci's qualifications for his position? Obviously the guy is not very swift if it took him 40 years to become president of the board and in an interim basis to boot. On the other hand he is smart or a total idiot by demoting the position of CEO to a mere boy/girl-Friday with no executive power whatsoever. What a great joke. And of course his perks started right away with an expenses paid trip to Zurich. I think we may have had more honesty from Montagliani. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:It's already been a busy couple of days on the job for Maestracci, who is a medical professor at the University of Montreal. He met Monday with CSA sponsors, Toronto FC, and a group of soccer supporters that has been critical of the CSA. When Canada played Costa Rica on Sept. 12 at BMO Field in Toronto, angry soccer fans held a protest - "Black Wednesday" - encouraging fans attending the game to wear black "Sack the CSA" T-shirts in protest. "A lot of supporters weren't happy," Maestracci said. "But we met with them, and told them exactly what was true and what was wrong, and what was the position of the CSA. We told them we would have a new general secretary, new technical director and a new strategic plan." For the record, there is an inference in that statement that doesn't sit well with me. Yes, they told us that, but we weren't appeased because they threw us a little cookie... We will have a formal press release ready by tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by MediaGuy For the record, there is an inference in that statement that doesn't sit well with me. Yes, they told us that, but we weren't appeased because they threw us a little cookie... We will have a formal press release ready by tomorrow. Beyond a formal press release, which is for external consumption, we want a full and detailed report. I can't understand why you are controlling the content of your meeting so carefully, but I am not surprised that the new president is already using his meeting with you as a PR ploy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 General Secretary? Is this the Communist Party? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Soju Does anyone know Maestracci's qualifications for his position? "Maestracci, a medical professor at the University of Montreal, is the chair of the CSA's governance committees and has served on the association's futsal committee, finance committee, national referee committee, and FIFA U-20 World Cup national organizing committee. He coached at the national level, and was a national referee from 1983 to '89." Taken from a CP article that was posted on this forum a few days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Beyond a formal press release, which is for external consumption, we want a full and detailed report. I can't understand why you are controlling the content of your meeting so carefully, but I am not surprised that the new president is already using his meeting with you as a PR ploy. J, It was 2:30 a.m when I wrote that post. It was the first I had been home since 7:30 a.m. Now, I've just gotten up and am about to get ready to go to work. I'm not hiding anything. I haven't had time to write the press release, nor to write a detailed post about the meeting. VPjr also has to work and sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 MediaGuy, what was your first impression of Maestracci? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Jeffrey, we are "controlling" the content of the meeting only because all of us have full time jobs, families and a life outside this forum that unfortunately gets in the way of writing lengthy minutes of a 2 hour meeting in as timely a fashion as we would like. Show a little patience please. We fully expected the CSA executive to use our meeting for a little positive PR spin. You would be stupid to believe that they would not. It's always going to be a give and take. One of the first things I told my wife when I got home was "I wonder how they are going to spin this meeting". Re: Domenic's quote regarding our meeting ----------------------------------------- "But we met with them, and told them exactly what was true and what was wrong, and what was the position of the CSA. We told them we would have a new general secretary, new technical director and a new strategic plan." I agree with Media Guy that Domenic is inferring that we were satisfied with what we were told. If Mr. Maestracci believes that, he's incorrect. This will be made clear in our Press Release. We were appreciative of their time and their willingness to share some information but there was very little that came from that meeting that led me to believe that major changes in the areas we are most concerned with are coming any time soon. Domenic and Victor were quite intent to give us their side of the story in regards to some of the more high profile controversies (i.e. the Nykamp matter, the Simoes matter, etc...). Of course, what they were telling us was the CSA version of the truth but there are always two sides to every story. I can tell you that their version of the truth when it comes to the Nykamp matter is quite different than what I read in Nykamp's statement of claim. Whether I personally believe Nykamp's version or the CSA's version is irrelevant. Ultimately, they will either settle this matter out of court and we'll never really know the whole truth or it will go to civil court and we'll get to read the transcripts. I still expect an out of court settlement because it it goes into open court, it's inevitably going to get ugly. Re: the new title of "Secretary General". ------------------------------------------ This was brought up in the meeting and it surprised me at first because that was the first I'd heard of it. Clearly, this was a decision borne out of last weekend's meetings in Ottawa. Victor told us that the board prefers this new title because it is in line with what the cheif administrative officer is called in most soccer federations around the world. It appears that whomever is hired to replace Kevan Pipe will be a "Chief Operations" officer with authority over the adminstation of the CSA rather than a CEO with maximum authority over all facets of the organization. Just speaking for myself, it came through loud and clear that the CSA is not ready for a CEO. If memory serves (I don't have my notes in front of me) Domenic commented that they did not like the idea that Nykamp, if ratified as CEO, would have had the power to fire the National Team coach. I countered with a question about whom the Head Coach would be accountable to in a system with a Sec. General. I did not get a real answer so I assume that the Head Coach is still accountable to the Board's Executive and/or the Competition Committee. Re: Domenic Maestracci ---------------------- I will quickly tell you that Domenic Maestracci struck me as a decent and intelligent man. I am told by people who are more "in the know" than I am that he is not someone that should be underestimated. In the meeting, he came across as a "policy" guy but I am told that he is more than just a policy wonk. Other than that, I am not sure what more to say about the man. His actions will determine my ultimate opinion of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 I'll try to be more patient. Maybe I should be sleeping a few hours more a day or doing my real job more diligently. Thanks for being straightforward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NS Rooney Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 O.K., so a democracy is probably not a good model for an FA currently in crisis but, this latest development is totally rediculous. One day this "decent, intelligent man" is appointed acting President and the next day he announces that the position of CEO has been eliminated and the new position of "General Secretary" has been created. Where in the h-ll did that come from? That is such a political/bureaucratic response to the Nykamp affair. So the new GS will report to the board and if he doesn't approve the the TD's expense account the TD will go to the Board or Exec. Committee and have him overruled and eventually the GS will just buckle under and be the rubber stamp the Board wants or if he (she is not even an option for these guys) has any integrity, he will walk away. This demonstrates why Nykamp designed a contract that actually gave him some power and control and you now see the Board's solution to not giving up that power. I can guarantee that the Technical Director - reporting directly to the board -will be one of the CSA Old Boy Bureaucrat/Politicians like Benning or Rosenfeld. Quite simply, the CSA must be dispanded and a new organization must be started from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beaver Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 It seems so unlikely that the changes Maestracci and the board have in mind will have any real postive impact on the development of soccer players in our country, on the effectiveness of our national teams, and on our ability to actually advance to the men's World Cup. Mind you, our dependance on the CSA is much like our (Canada's) depencance on the US for trade. We've too many eggs in one very flimsy basket. We need to diversify. Hopefully the rise of club football in Canada--MLS in TO, Montreal and Vancouver, at least--will take a good chunk of the responsibility for player development at the elite level away from the CSA. The CSA can focus on building excellent micro, mini and early youth programs, and the clubs and academies can take it from there. Can't wait to hear the report from the meeting, and to see the press release--and resulting articles in the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by The Beaver It seems so unlikely that the changes Maestracci and the board have in mind will have any real postive impact on the development of soccer players in our country, on the effectiveness of our national teams, and on our ability to actually advance to the men's World Cup. Mind you, our dependance on the CSA is much like our (Canada's) depencance on the US for trade. We've too many eggs in one very flimsy basket. We need to diversify. Hopefully the rise of club football in Canada--MLS in TO, Montreal and Vancouver, at least--will take a good chunk of the responsibility for player development at the elite level away from the CSA. The CSA can focus on building excellent micro, mini and early youth programs, and the clubs and academies can take it from there. Can't wait to hear the report from the meeting, and to see the press release--and resulting articles in the press. You make a good point with the use of the word FOCUS. What the CSA lacks totally is Focus. You can argue the same for the provincial bodies. Victor and Domenic sort of touched on this for a split second but that topic did not get very far. They said something like the CSA should focus on national issues (i.e. national teams, etc...). Ultimately, those of us interested in seeing change must be prepared to offer up proposals for how soccer should be organized. What should the CSA be focusing on? What should the provinces focus on? the districts? the clubs/academies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. I'll try to be more patient. Maybe I should be sleeping a few hours more a day or doing my real job more diligently. Thanks for being straightforward. Thank you for your patience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 The CSA needs to focus on changing its governance and organisational structure. Clearly the present system is unsatisfactory judging from results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Richard The CSA needs to focus on changing its governance and organisational structure. Clearly the present system is unsatisfactory judging from results. Based on the meeting, governance and organisational structure are high priorities for Domenic Maestracci. It appears likely that there will be some CSA constitutional reforms on the agenda for voting at the May 2008 AGM. What we asked them was whether these reform proposals will be made public 45 days prior to the May 2008 AGM, as is required by the CSA constitution. They seemed surprised that one of my colleagues knew that part of the constitution. I am not certain that we got a straight answer to that question but we will press them continuously for clarification because it's critical that they commit to maximum transparency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 I’m with Richard on this one. Even there are a few “big picture” guys within the system it sort of goes against the rule of thumb. These people are elected to vouch for provincial interests, which really set us up to continue to fail to look at anything beyond that level. We could put exactly the same people we have right now in a new governance system and we would have much better results because: 1) they would be held accountable for what they do 2) It would give them incentive to develop things beyond the provincial level and represent other interests. This all governance talk had me thinking that the professional clubs (As one group) should demand a seat on the BOD if not a more sizable chunk of voting power. They are heavily involved in the game and disproportionately influence what happens. They look to be in a pretty good position to demand it as well. The alternative for the CSA is the clubs work around them and marginalise their efforts, eroding their control even further. Edit: just saw that last post. I have to wonder what direction these "reforms" are going. Judging by the recent move to out Nycamp at all costs, it doesn't seem likely that anyone will be jumping to give up power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 I believe there is a CSA director for the professional game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Well, Maestracci was on sportsnet today and I have to say I wasn’t impressed. When you can’t give a straight answer to “what are your plans for the CSA?” you know it’s business as usual at the CSA. As someone else already mentioned his English skills are lacking as well, he can’t communicate effectively with the media as his ability to verbalize what he’s thinking seems limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 quote:Originally posted by VPjr Based on the meeting, governance and organisational structure are high priorities for Domenic Maestracci. It appears likely that there will be some CSA constitutional reforms on the agenda for voting at the May 2008 AGM. What we asked them was whether these reform proposals will be made public 45 days prior to the May 2008 AGM, as is required by the CSA constitution. They seemed surprised that one of my colleagues knew that part of the constitution. I am not certain that we got a straight answer to that question but we will press them continuously for clarification because it's critical that they commit to maximum transparency. The CSA will not change if led entirely from within. If left to their own devices, as is their hope, there will be no significant reform, just cosmetics. Do not be duped. Do not take the pressure off and wait to see what they come up with. Momentum will be lost. They need, as an organization, to commit publically to starting over from scratch with significant non-CSA stakeholder involvement and put said intiative in motion. Until that time we should be keeping their feet to the fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 quote:Originally posted by MediaGuy For the record, there is an inference in that statement that doesn't sit well with me. Yes, they told us that, but we weren't appeased because they threw us a little cookie... We will have a formal press release ready by tomorrow. Has the formal press release materialised? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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