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Jim Cannovan retires as TD of Ontario Soccer Assoc


VPjr

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Surprisingly no cartwheels here - sorry that I can't post anything positive or constructive, let alone overcome the urge to not post...

So he finally decided on his replacement did he?

Article fails to mention his time with Toronto Emerald; the Ellis boys won't be happy about that...

And what about the 1,000's of coaches he and his yes-men ran off to the NSCAA, the USSF or from the game all-together....

He was a legend in his own mind, a small petty man given to fits of rage and revenge.

About the only good thing I can say is his timng is 14 years too late.

However, looking forward, hopefully his strings will be cut... and his replacement will truly grasp the golden opportunity to shape and develop our coaches and players of tomorrow. We can't afford another 15 years of micro-managment in a cave.

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quote:Originally posted by squid2

Surprisingly no cartwheels here - sorry that I can't post anything positive or constructive, let alone overcome the urge to not post...

So he finally decided on his replacement did he?

Article fails to mention his time with Toronto Emerald; the Ellis boys won't be happy about that...

And what about the 1,000's of coaches he and his yes-men ran off to the NSCAA, the USSF or from the game all-together....

He was a legend in his own mind, a small petty man given to fits of rage and revenge.

About the only good thing I can say is his timng is 14 years too late.

However, looking forward, hopefully his strings will be cut... and his replacement will truly grasp the golden opportunity to shape and develop our coaches and players of tomorrow. We can't afford another 15 years of micro-managment in a cave.

Tell us how you really feel ... come on every OSA president has heaped praise on the management skills and sensitivity of Jimmy Canovan. His stellar background at the highest levels of soccer in Scotland, his intellectual understand of the game, his innovative analyis that one foot .. football is the best way to advance the game in Ontairo was revolutionary.

Heck his selection of provincial coaches.. who could argue with what he did in developing coaches like Bryan Rosenfeld ?

Truly you do him a dis-service hell I bet they will put up a plaque for him in Vaughn.

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Well not a whole lot of nice things said about the man here! Personally, my only contact with him was in the mid 80's when I took a couple of my coaching level courses from him, he was excellent at that in my opinion! I'll never forget a long coversation I had with him regarding Canadas' upcoming participation in the 1986 World Cup, we talked for hours about it and he was dead on in his knowledge of the Canadian team! Being somewhat of a soccer "newbie" at the time I really appreciated his insight!

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I remember Jim Cannovan coaching U15 provincial team which had 12 year old Jonathan de Guzman. The team was scheduled to play the Canadian Championship in Quebec but Jonathan de Guzman left the Ontario provincial U15 team and tried out for a European club Feyenoord. Big man Cannovan tried to take on Feyenoord and tried to block the transfer to Feyenoord. OSA was threathened with a legal lawsuit and OSA pulled back their big dog Cannovan.

I also remember Jim doing a practise with U15 provincial team after Holger did his practice with the same U15 team at the soccer center in Woodbridge. Jim paled in comparison and he actually looked like a houseleague coach but he's OSA's big man and whatever Jim says OSA followed.

BTW Jim only gave coaching license to his cronies and buddies, anyone else has to kiss his dumb ass otherwise you're not getting your coaching license.

Glad to hear Jim is finally gone.

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^ it is widely known in the Ontario soccer community that the Cannovan and the OSA regime at the time played a huge part in poisoning the relationship with the DeGuzman's. to draw a straight line between their very bad experience with the OSA and Jono's unwillingness to rep Canada at the international level might be a bit of a stretch but it is definitely a factor.

All I can hope is that the OSA is truly prepared to be open and transparent in hiring Cannovan's replacement. There are so many rumours swirling these past couple of days (since Jim's resignation) that the replacement is already "fait accompli" but I hope those rumours are innaccurate. There are a lot of qualified people, within and outside Ontario, and they all need a fair chance to make their pitch for the job. The OSA has an opportunity to steer a new, more positive, more inclusive and, most importantly, more professional course for itself. I truly hope Mr. Bradbury and the board don't waste it because that would be a crying shame.

I know many people outside Ontario don't like this statement but I think it rings very true...if we can get Ontario soccer right, we can get Canadian soccer right. Under the outgoing technical regime, it is very hard to argue that Ontario has been "right".

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The de Guzman family were very upset with the OSA and with good measure. Stupid cnuts at the top would jeopardize a young man's trial with a great development club in order to fill the trophy case at the U15 level. The threat of a law suit over a 12 yr olds' services brought the suits back to earth. He and his other OSA cronies have done nothing for Cdn soccer, although they certainly love patting themselves on the back.

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quote:Originally posted by squid2

Job placement is here:

http://ontariosoccer.net/Job-Opportunities/2009-09-09-Chief-Technical-Officer---Job-Posting.aspx

Application Deadline: September 25th, 2009 – 12:00 pm

Far to short a search time and a very flawed job description .. am not sure the Districts approved the document ..this process may well be stopped and a proper search ctte struck to find a suitable candidate.

First you need knowledge of how to manage a program .. not be a top level coach .. second you need some computer skills and ablity .. third you probably should have not had any connection to soccer in Ontario as a OSA level employee ... its not a time to promote from within.

Much like the flawed club head coach approach you need sound program managers with soccer knowledge but to let a provincial tecnnical director coach players as jimmy one foot did for years is dumb.. better coaches exist for less money to do that...

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I've yet to read an e-mail that doesn't say, "job's already filled".

It's been presented to me by a select few that the OSA indeed has someone in mind and that many of us "anti-OSA-types" will be surprised.

I guess we'll see. And I'm waiting, and I hope OSA folks get it right, change for the better is long, long overdue. An example is the issues with Tecumseh SC in Essex county DA are just the tip of the iceberg for the OSA; they'll be dealing with the same issue in more than 1 district in 2010. A strong TD is needed now! The implications and fallout will impact nationally.

But back to the topic...

I'll spare the short list of suggested candidates that I've rec'd ...

I suspect many if not all are just speculations. Personally I've heard nothing that gives me cause or reason to post a name.

My final post until the position is staffed is this, the replacement posting was written with someone very specific in mind.

clarity for those who care or are interested: Tecumseh Soccer club (Windsor area) registered rep players only and not their house league players (2,000 players) this season. OSA is taking them to task.

An article by Mary Caton, The Windsor Star, July 17, 2009

http://www.windsorstar.com/sports/golf/Local+soccer+club+issued+deadline/1799545/story.html

And to those offended with a provincial based issue on the V's bd.

I'm sorry. I though there was a bit of crossover here.

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  • 2 weeks later...
quote:Originally posted by Kayto

Mods any chance of merging this thread with the one entitled "Best Idea Ever" then it could read "Jim C. retires - Best Idea Ever!"

Oh, about 2%.;)

Those outside of Ontario may not know who he is. Or care as much.

BTW, Bryan Rosenfeld may be known in these parts because he played with the Winnipeg Fury of the Canadian Soccer League.

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quote:Originally posted by VPjr

^ Neely I believe. The job description posted on the OSA website is basically written with Neely in mind.

I can't believe, not for a minute, that Rosenfeld is even a candidate for this job.

Don't know much about Neely and how good a coach he is but what I have seen of his resume through an internet search certainly leaves me underwhelmed. Of course not every good coach has impressive qualifications while also some with impressive qualifications are poor coaches. Yet in the grand scheme of things there are far more well qualified good coaches than under qualified good coaches. Again it makes me nervous to see a major Canadian soccer organization hire someone from inside when it would not seem to be that hard or expensive to hire someone with far more impressive qualifications. Neely may or may not be the exception but we have seen far too many coaches hired by the national or provincial soccer associations whose qualifications were lacking and whose abilities were even more lacking.

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quote:Originally posted by VPjr

I know many people outside Ontario don't like this statement but I think it rings very true...if we can get Ontario soccer right, we can get Canadian soccer right. Under the outgoing technical regime, it is very hard to argue that Ontario has been "right".

40% of the Population an dprobably more than that in terms of registered players, population density to support a proper elite soccer development in the GTA, Canada desperately needing a decent model...no actually, I don't think many of us outside of Ontario would take issue with the statement.

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quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Don't know much about Neely and how good a coach he is but what I have seen of his resume through an internet search certainly leaves me underwhelmed. Of course not every good coach has impressive qualifications while also some with impressive qualifications are poor coaches. Yet in the grand scheme of things there are far more well qualified good coaches than under qualified good coaches. Again it makes me nervous to see a major Canadian soccer organization hire someone from inside when it would not seem to be that hard or expensive to hire someone with far more impressive qualifications. Neely may or may not be the exception but we have seen far too many coaches hired by the national or provincial soccer associations whose qualifications were lacking and whose abilities were even more lacking.

From reading the job description, it strikes me that the OSA isn't looking for a great tactical mind. They appear to be more inclined to find a good administrator and someone with a more "pleasant" personality. Stuart ticks off both of those boxes, while having all the coaching licenses needed. he's also apparently a good clinician.

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quote:Originally posted by VPjr

From reading the job description, it strikes me that the OSA isn't looking for a great tactical mind. They appear to be more inclined to find a good administrator and someone with a more "pleasant" personality. Stuart ticks off both of those boxes, while having all the coaching licenses needed. he's also apparently a good clinician.

the OSAs don't have a great anything ...

never mind a tactical mind ...

and Stooey is very much TFC connected ...

for the OSAs, this counts for a lot ...

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  • 1 month later...

And we wonder why the CSA can't get traction in moving forward...

My apologies for going back on this one...

quote:Originally posted by squid2 My final post until the position is staffed is this, the replacement posting was written with someone very specific in mind.

Can we say clusterf*ck!

First the OSA fartcatchers tell all the OSA fartchasers to forgetaboutit...

But only to be spurned, perhaps do to a lack of money and control in the offer, and/or the dropping of the ball by a highly placed Canadian footy dude who is now no where to be seen or heard after a short stint of being very highly OSA visible... a search is required...

So the OSA fartcatchers tell the Canadian fartchasers it's not on because the search is focused on Europeans.

When the Euro short list hit 3 and the interviews where completed - the process was scrapped.

But only to start another search up again with an eye to a candidate from the US of A. Not with one specific person in mind, but the whole process from square one. So now the list is narrowed to NSCAA people... Pretty sure that John Walker won't be on the short list; and Gord Miller is USSF; but Ohio's favourite son might be the one...

Hearing that Tosh Farrell was one of the 3 on the Euro short list wasn't great news either.

Pushing Cannovan out the door ain't easy; he's making it tough and almost as entertaining as Pipe's exit!

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