Jesse Marsch is leaving Impact

[mtlfan]

Impact have announced that March has resigned.

[Sam]

Glad to see Saputo and De Santis taking back some control over the team after a year in which the team was well-manged for once....

[Dub Narcotic]

Yeah, this whole situation is pretty comical.

[Grizzly]

WTF!!!! Yesterday he was doing a public relations interview on tv in French to show how much he has learned and today he is dismissed? How does something like this happen so out of the blue?

[BearcatSA]

^Maybe he screwed the wrong woman last night?

[maccaliam]

More likely he got screwed.

[Alberto7]

Philippe Germain was on RDS and he thinks Allessando Nesta is a possibility as player/coach. I'm not sure what that would look like but I think we can say goodbye to Arnaud and Mapp now that Marsch is gone.

[Admin]

WTF!!!! Yesterday he was doing a public relations interview on tv in French to show how much he has learned and today he is dismissed? How does something like this happen so out of the blue?

Was he show casing all his French swear words?

[Keegan]

Philippe Germain was on RDS and he thinks Allessando Nesta is a possibility as player/coach. I'm not sure what that would look like but I think we can say goodbye to Arnaud and Mapp now that Marsch is gone.

Ahhhh poor Impact, this is disastrous to be honest. Marsch is an ideal MLS manager, he has experience in the league and is a smart guy to boot. If the Impact are thinking of putting in Nesta as a player/coach they are off their rockers, this could be even worse than Winter in Toronto. Unless Nesta somehow understands MLS rules and the players in the region... which I'll bet my left nut he doesn't. What alternatives will he have? He'll have to search for European talent which will cost big $$$.

This looks like a case of Saputo sucking up to his Italia idols.

[RJB]

Philippe Germain was on RDS and he thinks Allessando Nesta is a possibility as player/coach. I'm not sure what that would look like but I think we can say goodbye to Arnaud and Mapp now that Marsch is gone.

Has a player-coach ever been successful? Anywhere?

[Keegan]

Has a player-coach ever been successful? Anywhere?

Reg Dunlop

[Mr.Impact]

Maybe it's not IMFC who decided to fire Marsch, but more Marsch wanting to leave to coach some other team ... notably Chivas USA. Stuff must have happened quickly last night on Marsch's end, as there is no way that Saputo would allow a coach to do TV interviews, the day before he plannned or considered firing him. I think Marsch must have gotten a call sometime last evening, and IMFC did not object in him walking.

[jimstam]

Reg Dunlop

Something stinks here. I see a MLS vs. Euro philosophy clash.

I guess he was too good for this market - did way better than expected.?Look where Toronto still is after so many years. I am sure an American team will snatch him up. This does not look good if you want to fet a good rep. & attract American talent or coaches here.

[Keegan]

Something stinks here. I see a MLS vs. Euro philosophy clash.

I guess he was too good for this market - did way better than expected.?Look where Toronto still is after so many years. I am sure an American team will snatch him up. This does not look good if you want to fet a good rep. & attract American talent or coaches here.

Agreed with this 100%

It really is a Euro/MLS clash and it looks like we're seeing 3/3 Canadian clubs make the same mistake.

Wait...

Maybe MLS made Montreal fire Marsch like they nixed the Mellberg TFC deal and made Petrescu screw Vancouver over all season?!

[Ruud]

Agreed with this 100%

It really is a Euro/MLS clash and it looks like we're seeing 3/3 Canadian clubs make the same mistake.

Wait...

Maybe MLS made Montreal fire Marsch like they nixed the Mellberg TFC deal and made Petrescu screw Vancouver over all season?!

Well, let's see how quickly he gets snapped up by another team, but you have to think that he's gotten a very good offer in the US. Or didn't like the low cost of tuition in quebec?

Let's be honest, its his team on the field, and he gets full credit for the great season we had. Just a few small hiccups here and there, but not only were we competitive all season long, we had some late game lapses that, if fixed, would have put us in the playoff picture for sure.

Could it have to do with the influence of the italian mafia on the team? What else explains getting world class players for a few hundred grand?

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Marsch for CMNT Head coach?

or does he have another MLS ob lined up?

[Trillium]

President conducts his post-mortem of the season

31 OCTOBER 2012

Press Release

Montreal Impact

http://www.impactmontreal.com/en/news/2012/10/statement-joey-saputo

......On the field, we believe we can improve on certain levels.

And if you were to ask Nick, Matt or Jesse, I am sure that would tell you the same thing.

Now we will have to sit down with the staff to determine what will be the best way to improve.

We will also have to conduct some analysis of all the coaches within our club, including the Academy and with the sports-etudes program, all the way through to the coaches in MLS.?.......

Four days after the review seems to be well on its way.... .. all the way through to the coaches in MLS.

Very surprised as it seems Marsch was well on his way to being a solid MLS gaffer, if the rumours of Chivas are true .... very interesting. Of course TFC could be making a bid.... and getting a upgrade.

[SthMelbRed]

Has a player-coach ever been successful? Anywhere?

Kenny Dalglish - Liverpool (1985-90): 3 times English champions, 2 time FA Cup winners

Gianluca Vialli - Chelsea (1998-2000): League Cup winners, Cup Winners' Cup winners, FA Cup winners

[A_Gagne]

Reg Dunlop

****'n Eh!!!

[A_Gagne]

Maybe it's not IMFC who decided to fire Marsch, but more Marsch wanting to leave to coach some other team ... notably Chivas USA. Stuff must have happened quickly last night on Marsch's end, as there is no way that Saputo would allow a coach to do TV interviews, the day before he plannned or considered firing him. I think Marsch must have gotten a call sometime last evening, and IMFC did not object in him walking.

That would be an astute call if it turns out to be true.

@Keegan... I disagree on the 3/3 Canadian Clubs making that mistake. I don't think the Whitecaps are a very Euro-centric club at all. They don't have aspirations of being the 21st Serie A club, and they've never hired a coach that snobs on the North American game. A couple of Scottish DPs aside Rennie has not looked to Europe for players (and hopefully he will refrain from doing so in the future). In fact I would say that Tom Soehn was the guy who looked to Europe for players the most, and I'm glad they seem to have learned from that mistake.

[Keegan]

That would be an astute call if it turns out to be true.

@Keegan... I disagree on the 3/3 Canadian Clubs making that mistake. I don't think the Whitecaps are a very Euro-centric club at all. They don't have aspirations of being the 21st Serie A club, and they've never hired a coach that snobs on the North American game. A couple of Scottish DPs aside Rennie has not looked to Europe for players (and hopefully he will refrain from doing so in the future). In fact I would say that Tom Soehn was the guy who looked to Europe for players the most, and I'm glad they seem to have learned from that mistake.

I'm referring to the "fixing" of a perfectly fine team that the Caps went through with mid-season in order to bring in Rennie's boys. And make no mistake, it's not a coincidence that 2 Scots came to Rennie's club, when teams look for DPs they don't usually look for 30+ championship players.

[JimmyJames]

The Impact want to mirror the success TFC has had....I think Joey is interviewing Mo.

[A_Gagne]

I'm referring to the "fixing" of a perfectly fine team that the Caps went through with mid-season in order to bring in Rennie's boys. And make no mistake, it's not a coincidence that 2 Scots came to Rennie's club, when teams look for DPs they don't usually look for 30+ championship players.

Oh, fully agree, 30+ championship Scottish dudes was a dumb idea. I liked most of the moves Rennie made in terms of building the team at the beginning of the season; I understood the business side of the Chiumiento, Hassli and Le Toux moves; but bringing in 30+ career championship players as DPs is a recipe to become the next Portland (another team that screwed up their winning formula with similar stupidity). I think Rennie is a good Manager, but he seems to have vastly overrated the quality of his country's footballers. I think there was probably an element of "ugly girl invited to the cool-kid's party" syndrome there... "wow, I have a chance to sign ____________ (boyhood Scottish football hero)", and Rennie had the blinders on to the fact that he was essentially using a DP slot to bring in a couple of guys who were on the downhill slope of their career and playing at a similar level to MLS.

I hope mistakes are learned from; both players are shipped back to the UK in January; and the next DP is a guy who the team can build around, like a mid-twenties South American with hunger to preform, as well as a proven pedigree at a similar/higher level (Brazilian, Argentine, Uruguayan, Columbian, Mexican first div). This type of DP acquisition has worked very well for other MLS sides.

[Cyrus]

There are only three scenarios that make sense to me.

Scenario one. Jesse got a phone call from someone offering him crazy money to rebuild a team. Chivas? (Probably) TFC? The Canadian National Team? (Much less likely) Jesse ran it by the boss "Hey Joey, what do you think?" -- and Joey said, "Take the cash, it's more than I'll pay you. Thanks for your service"

Scenario two. Jesse got a phone call from Joey Saputo explaining that he has big, crazy plans for next season. Jesse told him he was insane. And they part ways.

Scenario three. Similar to part two, except that the insane plan is bringing in a handpicked new manager. I hope it's not Nesta as player-manager. That would be silly, he's had a great career but knows nothing about MLS. But I wouldn't put it past ownership to try to grab a "name" manager. Someone that people have heard of. But again, if they aren't familiar with MLS, that will probably be counterproductive. Take guys like Roy Keane and Avram Grant, they might be unemployed right now, but they don't know squat about this league. Jesse Marsch does.

And I saw Jesse's TV spot, too, speaking in French on the 5 a 7 show on RDS. Not only is his French really passable for a guy from Wisconsin that went to university in New Jersey, but he had the body language of a guy that genuinely was enjoying himself and his time in the city. I agree with Grizzly, this had to have come out of left field after that interview.

[Grizzly]

Pretty accurate assessment other than the comparison of the mostly good if oft injured Italian defenders with the disappointing Di Vaio.

http://the11.ca/2012/11/04/five-years-of-coaching-turmoil-reflects-poorly-on-impact-organization/

Five years of coaching turmoil reflects poorly on Impact organization

By Steven Sandor – 11/04/2012

Jesse Marsch PHOTO: MIKE WYMAN

Since 2008, four men have coached the Montreal Impact through the club’s final years of Div. 2 soccer and its 2012 debut in MLS. And Nick De Santis has held the job twice.

Coaching is never a stable job, but outside of Toronto FC, it’s hard to think of a club where the gaffer is on a more precarious perch than in Montreal. And no club wants to be mentioned in the same sentence as Toronto FC.

John Limniatis took this team to the quarters of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2008-2009, but didn’t last to see out the 2009 season. Marc Dos Santos took over and won the USL title in 2009, but a slow start to the 2011 NASL season brought the end to his tenure. De Santis came back as an interim coach, then Jesse Marsch came in for one MLS season.

Marsch and the Impact decided to part ways this weekend, and the hunt is on for the fifth coach since ’08.

Of course, when coaches look to apply for work, they do look at the team’s track record for stability — and the Impact, sadly, doesn’t have one. Whenever coaches have run through rough patches — Limniatis, Dos Santos — they haven’t got the votes of confidence from owner Joey Saputo. Instead, they’ve quickly headed out the door.

But it’s not like the Impact has floundered since 2008. It won a Canadian title, enjoyed a nice run in the CCL, won a USL championship and then posted what was a surprisingly good 42 points in its first MLS campaign. The Impact’s wins-and-losses profile does not fit the kind of club that usually ends up becoming a coach killer (ahem, TFC).

It’s a career-killer for a coach to talk about the reasons he has decided to leave a club, or what led to his dismissal. So, we don’t have a lot of material from the Impact’s former coaches on why the position has always been so fragile.

But we do know other things. We know that Saputo is the most hands-on owner in North American soccer. Not even Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment can claim to have its fingerprints on a club like Saputo has over the Impact. When the Impact went to Italy to look for former Serie A stars, Saputo put on the frequent-flier miles. And while Marco Di Vaio has been a passable Designated Player, the aged backline — dominated by thirtysomething former Serie A players — has been one of the slowest in MLS, and it has been painful to watch Alessandro Nesta burned over and over since coming to the league.

In the final two seasons of Division 2, the front office changed the chemistry of the team, bringing in a series of former French league players, from Kevin Hatchi to Idriss Ech Chergui to Philippe Billy to Anthony Legall. The reward was a team that stuttered out of the gate in 2011 and, according to accounts from NASL sources, had real issues with team chemistry.

But, back to today’s presser. Really, it would be less damaging to the Impact’s image had Marsch simply been fired. But, instead, this “amicable” parting of the ways was publicly attributed to a difference in philosophy between the coach and the upper management (i.e. ownership and technical director Nick De Santis).

So, basically, what the Impact has done is advertised the fact that any new coach better be a yes man. A coach who wants autonomy won’t work out in La Belle Province.

To those who have only followed the Impact’s MLS fortunes, it looks like a coach of a first-year team losing a coach after that inaugural season. But the Impact is a first-year MLS franchise, but not a first-year team; you need to look at how the team has operated for the last five years.

And, it will be impossible for the team to establish itself as a global brand until it gets stability at the coaching position. And judging by how fast the coaches fall in Montreal, it doesn’t seem to be a case of De Santis and Saputo not bringing in the right people. It looks to be case after case of the coach not being allowed the freedom needed to do his job.

With each coaching change, the position looks less and less attractive.