When Red Bulls sporting director Erik Stover and technical director Jeff Agoos went to Austria last week to meet with Red Bull management about the struggles of the worst team in MLS, it was thought that the meeting would result in the firing of one or both of them, and the firing of head coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
It appears all three are safe (for now).
Sources have told SBI that none of the three members of the Red Bulls front office will be let go, a decision that comes as the team is in the midst of one of the worst seasons in MLS history.
It was believed that the club might be tempted to make a coaching change during the team's bye week, and ahead of Thursday's high-profile match vs. the Los Angeles Galaxy (and David Beckham), but it now looks as though Osorio will stay on as head coach for the foreseeable future.
So why would Red Bull stick with Osorio and Co.? The regular season is essentially a lost cause now, leaving the team with only the CONCACAF Champions League to play for. Osorio is the man who helped guide the team to that Champions League berth by steering the Red Bulls to an MLS Cup final berth last fall, so Red Bull may be inclined to give him the rest of this year to see if he can turn things around before the end of the season.
A more cynical scenario would be that Red Bull isn't about to spend money on another head coach to come in during a lost season. With dramatic changes more likely to come this off-season, Red Bull may have decided that it can ride out this season and make the necessary changes in four months.
Something that may have worked in Osorio's favor is the belief that, despite the record, the team's players haven't turned on Osorio. It was a revolt by veteran players that helped lead to the firing of Bruce Arena after the 2007 season, but sources tell me that Osorio has the support of all the team's key veterans despite the team's awful 2-14-3 season.
Does that mean Red Bull might not come back in a few weeks and rattle off some firings? Certainly not, but at the very least it looks as though Osorio will be in charge for the team's Champions League play-in series vs. Trinidadian squad W Connection later this month.
It isn't unheard of for a coach enduring such a bad season to keep his job. Bora Milutinovic remained as New York/New Jersey MetroStars head coach for the entire 1999 season despite the team going the entire summer without a win on its way to the worst record in team history (7-25). Kansas City's Bob Gansler endured a similarly awful season that same year. The next season, in 2000, Gansler and the Wizards won the MLS Cup final while the MetroStars, under new head coach Octavio Zambrano (and with Osorio as assistant coach) came within a game of the MLS Cup.
What's my take? While it would have been completely understandable if Red Bull decided to fire both Osorio and Agoos, giving Osorio the rest of this season to try and turn things around a year after the Red Bulls reached the final with him in charge isn't all that unreasonable.
What do you think of the decision to keep the team's leadership intact? Shocked? Angry? Are you okay with the team giving Osorio the rest of the season? Think the team can turn things around?
Share your thoughts below.
WOW! Are the Austrian Overlords that clueless about how awful RBNY is, or are Erik and Jeff that good at pulling the wool over their eyes.
This is why fans have turned away!!!!!!
I can understand from the Red Bull side of things; letting Osorio have the champions league. I guess they dont care about the fans. So as most of us knew already, Red Bull are playing for next year.
Barca has an actual club structure. Seattle is a pretty standard MLS organization that’s dressed itself in a passable imitation of a club, though if you think SSFC fans will have any serious part to play in front office hiring/firing in the years ahead you’re a better man than me.
Posted by: The Metrologist
agree with you about “crap ass soda” (or “pop” as they say around here), but if Sounders fans really don’t have any say on the GM (and I don’t htink MLS single entity has any bearing on the local team heads), they will have a MAJOR MAJOR P.R. problem on their hands.
Thats a hefty bet to think the new stadium and manager will make up for the debacle of this season. I hope they find a way through this malaise but it just doesn’t seem like anyone is interested in really figuring out the systemic problems that we’ve all seen for the last few years. Then again I won’t mind if they keep this up long enough for the Union to stomp all over them next year!
W Connection will knock New York RedBulls out of CCL. Watch..
i’ve said all along RB doesn’t wanna spend money on a new coach until next season, thats the only reason osorio will stay.
“Maybe they oughta adopt the “fire the GM” type of approach of Barca and Seattle.”
Barca has an actual club structure. Seattle is a pretty standard MLS organization that’s dressed itself in a passable imitation of a club, though if you think SSFC fans will have any serious part to play in front office hiring/firing in the years ahead you’re a better man than me.
But RB is not adopting anything. They (RB) are who they are – an enormous, distant crap-ass soda corporation, not a soccer club, much less one that allow its local fans any such kind of role or choice – beyond the choice of whether to buy tickets or not. We can see how people are making that one choice they’re allowed.
supporting the red bulls finally makes me realize why fans stick it out with teams like the lions and the clippers. it’s kind of fun to go to a game with nothing but hope and a case of beer. no expectations, nothing on the line, only going to the games for that sliver of hope of a good game.
a crappy season like this has a silver lining of maybe getting slightly better seats at the new stadium… then again, if the guys ahead of me have had tickets for 4 or more years, they’re not going anywhere either.
Hes made bad player selectoins that is for sure. That is not his strong suit. His ideas/theory/tactics and understanding of the game is above average. If you’ve ever spoken to him about this you would see that.
Its unfortunate that he can’t get more from his players but he is also partially to blame for that.
I hope he finds a way to turn it around since I think hes an intelligent and committed coach. Unlike the other coaches this franchise has had.
No sonic ur wrong.. Dvb said his first choice was to stay at the red bulls BUT if they can’t come up with agreement on contract that he will want to go to fc Dallas for family reasons. Red bulls FO used his family as an exude to not pay him the deserving salary he should have gotten. They were trying to beat around the bush but the truth comes out eventually.
Two clowns have to go.
good work, Metro boy, the heart of a true fan. MS/RB fans have nothing on the fans of the Lions, Cubs, and others.
RB needs to get to winning, but fans dropping tickets isn’t the answer just yet.
Maybe they oughta adopt the “fire the GM” type of approach of Barca and Seattle.
re: playing clubs like Bayern . . . hopefully RB would actually win those if they did try it .. .
BlueWhiteLion, why are you mystified by the DVB trade? It’s common knowledge he asked for the trade for family reasons. Get over it and move on.
Looking at this situation from down 95, I can’t understand why Osorio hasn’t gotten the sack yet. I see the point about not letting him go now, while the team is floundering, and making a change toward the end of the season, or after, to build momentum for next year but it has to be frustrating to watch RBNY week after week. I almost feel some sympathy for the fans but then I remember that I’m DCU and my momentary lapse into insanity fades away! It would help the league to have a decent team in the Big Apple but MLS has survived 13 1/2 seasons without one so carry on.
If you guys lose to W Connection, you should just give up now and demote yourselves to USL-2. It’s embarrassing for the league.
I’m not surprised at all that he hasn’t lost the team yet. He has a prior relationship with Angel, which is half the battle as far as that is concerned. Plus, how many of this roster would still be here if a new coach comes in?
Honestly, I’m sick of new regimes at this point. Hopefully the team can play better in the ccl (calling anything with the redbulls the ‘champions league’ seems more than a little ridiculous), to the point where Osorio stays around, and we do better next year moving into the new arena. If the front office and the head coach go, then it’s got to be some sort of longer term plan, and I can’t see how that can work at all while moving into a new stadium at the same time.
Nice. Thanks, Red Bull Corp: we hate you, too. Let’s really make that losing streak our own.
There is no doubt in my mind that Osorio is going to be sacked. As sure as the sun does shine. The fact that they’re going to wait to do it is both cynical, petty, and cruel to every New York fan.
Sorry, but it’s now obvious that leading us to the MLS final was a fluke, and had more to do with goalposts than coaching. This man couldn’t coach us out of a cardboard box.
I wonder if Red Bull even deserves fans.
I was thinking of a way the Red Bulls could draw more fans and that is to do what Bayern Munchen does. They should go out around the state and play the fan clubs to get more fans involved. I think that this would deffently work and would be another way to get the MLS to grow, by doing things that works over in Europe. I know this is off topic but I was just watching this on Bayern’s site and thought I would see what people thought. Hey I figured the team needs to do whatever it can to draw fans and bring in more money to the club.
Come on guys!! Don’t lose faith!!!! We all know we suck!! Who cares! We support this team wether we winning or losing!! U guys wanna see better signings , wanna see a better team ?!? Then continue to support the team. Don’t b a f’in hypicrate (I can’t spell it lol) n only show up when we win. Show the love n support n continue to cheer on the red bulls. It’s times like these when we need to be at our strongest. If jco isn’t gonna motivate the team then it’s our jobs as fans to show them that we care n we are by there side every game no matter what !! Come on red bulls!!!! I sing for the metro! I live for the metro!! Don’t lose the faith!! I wanna cry when I see us play because we just suck so bad. But I don’t care I still watch them. I knew I was going to go into surgery this year n miss a couple home games but I still bought season tickets to support this team (and cuz I want first dibs in red bull areana) . It not only saddens me when I see the red bull players with there head down but saddens me more when I see we losing supporters because of red bull front office. Instead of crying , b’nn, take action n write them a letter saying the mistakes u see happening . Sure maybe 1 letter will accomplish nothing, but if hundred of supporters did it, it will def give red bull FO something to think about. I love this team no matter how bad we suck or how great we r. Metro boy till da die! Come on people, show the red bulls some love!! There’s a frwakin reason why ESC isn’t the largest support group but the loudest n most passionate support group in the MLS! N even if u not in ESc u should have the same mentality!! Vamos metro!! Si se puede carajo!
i have a hard time seeing the mother organization “not caring” about RBNY, and just seeing them as a marketing tool. Building a stadium? Big investment. Sucky team as your marketing hype? not very helpful. I know no reason WHY they would keep JCO, also. Just funny how he is hailed as brilliant and then as a goof within a 3 or so year period. Something ain’t right. My question is: has he lost the locker room? If so, he needs to go. If not, sometimes you have to go thru crap to have success. Perhaps he will turn the corner.
Still mystified by the letting go of DVdB, though.
I don’t know what to think anymore. On one hand not having a revolving door at with a new coach coming in is a good thing, but is JCO the guy to right the ship? I would have said yes coming into this year, but now I’m not so sure. It’s not all his fault as guys haven’t met expectations, but you can’t fire all the players…
Matt:
I totally agree with you. I don’t see how, even with the supposedly high profile signings before the new stadium, fans will come to Harrison. I, personally, have let the season ticket deadline come and go–I’m not re-signing. I’m done with watching the same train wreck year after year. I don’t wish failure upon Red Bull, it’s just come to the point where I know that’s where it’s going.
The team is crap, the drink is crap. Stopping the check on my season tix for next year.
Man this team pisses me off more n more every week!!! Jco is horrible n needs to go! N Bruce arena built a good team n then gets fired cuz he was trying to get the best out of the players than in comes osorio who pretty much made it to the finals with areanas team. Then his empty brain decides to bring in some of the worse talent ever , over paying them to sit on bench while our devolpmwntal players who get paid nothing start.. N on top puts our worse signing on a freaking guarnteed contract (which he admits he shouldn’t have done).. We had Zimmerman in the beggingbg n even my cousin who made it out to red bulls practice couldn’t Zimmerman wasn’t getting started over Richards (took osorio half the season to finally see talent). Jco is straight garbage, if u think he is a good coach ,please do your self a favor n drop the blunt . Him n agoos are 2 of the worse people to have part of your team. Jco nneedz to man up n leave m just admit that he is lost n doesn’t know what to do. The players like him because he doesn’t work them hard, n doesn’t strive to get the best out of them like Bruce areana did. When the players complained about areana, they should have said to stfu n listen. To him because he is trying to get u to the next level rather than just have u at the dame level all year. I don’t want to give osorio a chance to finish season because of he does start winning games , it’s only going to hurt us because that would mean he will get an other chance next year n we can’t let that happen!! N what is it with these guys in love with bringing in players who are old as dust n only gave a year or 2 left in them?!?. Makes no sense.
I don’t see them making a lot of changes during this transfer window. I think RedBull can at least get by W. Connection and get into the group stages. From there, who knows? But I definately don’t think he’ll be back next year.
I think it’s literally insane.
This just reconfirms my belief that Austria could care less about this organization.
This is an incredibly dumb decision–especially in terms of Osorio. Here’s why:
1. The Gansler example doesn’t apply–he was a mid-season replacement for Ron Turner and that team had started out terribly so Gansler inherited a mess. Bora–he’s led teams to the WC knockout rounds–that earns him a little bit of patience. Not so with JCO–no Costa Rica v. Brazil in the WC or USA in the round of 16, no Mexican club championships and personal recommendation from Beckenbauer (ala Bora).
2. Let’s suppose that JCO does turn the season around and the team, heaven forbid, were to win the CL. Do you keep him as coach? That smacks of the same rationale for keeping him last year–he made the MLS Cup finals.
I think JCO is a really smart guy, he’s tactically astute but he’s too damn smart for his own good. He’s always moving players around, changing roles, and getting too tricky for a relatively unsophisticated and young group of players. Guys like Hall and Kandji need to be given a simple role, keep it the same and let them gain confidence through familiarity before you start moving them around or asking them to do more (even if tactically it has you biting your tongue as a coach). I wouldn’t put it past JCO to have the team get some CL results. And I’d still fire him. He is not a good coach for this team and probably not for MLS (which depends a lot on young college players to play big roles with your team).
3. If the season is lost, the real thing you do is can JCO, hire Richie Williams, keep Agoos and Stover for now. Maybe Williams turns the season around. In which case he’s a viable candidate for the head coaching role in 2010 (or maybe you sign someone else). You replace Agoos and Stover in the offseason (to avoid mid-season turmoil). If Williams doesn’t turn the team around, what have you lost?
4. You gain NOTHING from keeping JCO. Unless you feel like some player critical to the team is in love with JCO and will definitely leave if he’s gone. Who would that be? Angel is a great player but given his age and tendency for more injuries, the team needs to have a reasonable discussion about keeping him or not for 2010-2011 (b/c I’m sure he’d want more than a 1 year deal). Who else could this team afford to not lose that might have said “if JCO goes, I go.”? I didn’t think so.
I see only one reason why JCO wasn’t fired: Agoos didn’t advocate it strongly (or argued against it) and the Austrian “brain trust” couldn’t be bothered to do a search now on their own. Which is sad b/c that says they view RBNY as just a North American marketing tool and aren’t focused on the club or really don’t care that much. And instances where the ownership doesn’t care or isn’t focused–that, more than any thing else (low attendance, selling off young players, little TV coverage) prevents MLS from being MAJOR league.
…but did your source indicate whether or not a “vote of confidence” was given. 😉
If they keep these clowns, they should at least sign some new players in the July 15th window. Of course, it would be these same clowns evaluating and signing the new talent.
I just got a good chuckle because I finally get it. JCO realized that to keep his job, he just needed to win two games like he did last year.
I have to agree with Jeremy. We all bash Osorio for sucking but he’s not a bad coach—it’s just that he tries to be too perfect in every match and overworks and overthinks his strategies, probably second-guessing and third-guessing lineups, resulting in his constant tinkering.
The club needs some stability, but at what cost?! The rotating door head-coaching position? Players? NYRB need to put a product on the field that is competative, which the current team is not. I’ll reluctantly agree with no firings, for now. But at some point in time, the line will be crossed and watch out who gets the “boot”.
Osorio should have stayed in Chicago. New York has had 2 of the best coaches in MLS history (Bradley & Arena) yet they never even came close to having success. New York should have gone after Sigi Schmidt a long time ago. RBNY needs to read the book used by Seattle on ‘How To Build A Successful MLS Franchise’.
apathetic to it all
I think for now the NYRB will stay put and wait to spend prior to opening their new stadium next year.
Good. It takes time 2 build a sucessfull franchise. We need 2 stay the course!
As a Fire fan, I can tell you he’s not a good coach. He did the same thing in Chicago, taking a talented team of players and starting puzzling lineups, old veterans, and stayed overly tactical and defensive. I feel bad for NJRB, hopefully they can shake things up in time for the new stadium to open.
I think the team needs to make whole sale changes. This team for some reason just is not good enough. The team needs a new manager and no joke I think a guy that could do it is Klinsmann and his American style of coaching. I think if he where to take is Bayern Munchen coaching staff to the Red Bulls, it would work for them.
On the field the 1st move that I would make is bringing in a striker that can partner Angel, and one that is good enough to take the pressure off of him. I would look at Adu in Janurary, if the guy isnt playing I would see about talking him into maybe playing a couple of years to revive his carrer and maybe he will get back over in Europe or be the next Landon Donovan, and dominate the MLS. Then you have to build the deffense, maybe get Cherundolo, and Pearce to come home, and the team could start to have it.
The MLS season is done and dusted, hopefully we can get into the group stage
One thing you don’t talk about, Ives, is the effect this wilol have on the move to Harrison. How are they going to fill up that new building with the crap they are offering at the moment? I can’t imagine that fans are knocking down the doors in Secaucus to get their hands on season ticket applications.
This season I’ve gone from disappointment to anger to apathy. How sad is it that July is not even half over yet and I don’t really care if this team wins or loses.
Please stop giving this guy chance after chance just because he brought us to the Cup Final. What did he do exactly? Won two games in a row after we lucked into the preseason. On top of that he did it by benching his recent signings and sticking with the same lineup and formation (as best he could) for a string of games.
What has he shown us this year? We aren’t backing into the post season anyway/anyhow. His signings so far this year have been of little help and we are giving him the reigns to control yet another transfer window. How many more over the hill inept players with guaranteed contracts does he plan on signing now?
Letting him stay in charge until the end of the season is a nice gesture but one that may not only doom our current season but hamstring us for our huge season next year.
I’m all for letting someone clean up their mess and cut down on the constant change over of management at this team but Osorio is beyond that point and has shown NO signs of turning things around. Even if we went on and won every game for the rest of the regular season it would still be considered a poor year for us and honesty how likely is that to happen?
Who the hell are your “sources”, Ives??
This is a business decision, pure and simple. Osorio has as much chance of “turning this things around” this year as he would have of turning an avalanche around with a spoon. If all three of these guys aren’t gone the day after the season ends, I suggest a mass protest involving dumping crates of Red Bull into the Passaic.
red bull is dumping the team as soon as the stadium is built
It’s not that the Red Bulls have played all that badly, they’ve just shot themselves in the foot by conceding goals at key moments at the end of each half this whole season so far. It’s good to see the head honcho’s in Austria aren’t jumping the gun and firing at will. Good to see a little stability at this club because they sure haven’t had any in 14 years
I think until the stadium is launched the RedBull brand has bigger fish to fry. If they can make some noise in Champions league then the Professor will stick around, if not, some other MLS team will get a very good coach.
It is a good business decision. If he is fired now and they still stink the rest of the year there is no momentum going into the new building. If they replace him late in the season or in the off season the fan base has some hope of a turn around. The biggest thing ever to happen with this club will be the opening of their marque venue. They have to make some off season changes to get crowds into that building. Look for changes late in the season or in the off season.
This should ne fun reading…
Hopefully the Red Bulls can get it together in the champions league. I think Osorio is a good coach, but he might not be able to do much with the current mix of players.