Juergen Klinsmann emerged from his extended vacation recently to discussa variety of topics with Kansas City Wizards television analyst Sasha Victorine and revealed that U.S. Soccer's unwillingness to give him full control of the national team in writing ultimately led to the end of discussions about him possibly taking over as U.S. national team head coach.
“We had conversations maybe about three or four weeks period of time, and very positive conversations, but we didn’t get it to a positive ending because we couldn’t put into writing what we agreed to verbally."
Klinsmann confirmed a report from ESPN last month that revealed that Klinsmann had met with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati to discuss the U.S. head coach position before U.S. Soccer gave head coach Bob Bradley a contract extension. Gulati refused to discuss or acknowledge any talks with any other candidates when asked after Bradley's re-signing.
Klinsmann stated that it came down to wanting complete control of the national team and not being able to get such control agreed to in writing.
“It’s obviously always about authority. When you have conversations with a club team or a national team it’s who has the last word in what issues, and that’s why we couldn’t get into the written terms," Klinsmann said.
"Verbally we agreed on that the technical side is my side, and I should have a hundred percent control of it. In written terms, they couldn’t commit to it, and at that point I said well, I can’t get the job done because I have to have the last say as a head coach for my entire staff, for all the players issues, for everything that happens with the team.
"Unfortunately they couldn’t commit to that and that was basically the end of our talks, and then they agreed then to continue with Bob as the head coach and that’s totally fine."
You can see Klinsmann's full interview with Victorine here.
What do you think of these revelations? Wish Klinsmann had been given the job? Not convinced Klinsmann was the right man for the job? Are you glad Bradley was re-signed?
Share your thoughts below.
as a life long fan of BM, i pretty much quit paying attention to them after the Klinsmann affair (not to mention the arrogant crap from Rumenigge and Hoeness about Donovan). Sie sind alle bescheuert.
Much luck and goodwill to Bradley, but Klinsi would have been nice. Sounds like the USSF is more pent up than the DFB.
So, the non-voting Sec Gen of USSF has more say than a voting member of the Board?
Board Of Directors
President
Sunil K. Gulati
Executive Vice President
Mike Edwards
Immediate Past President (non-voting)
Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia
Athlete Representatives
Jeff Agoos, Danielle Fotopoulos, Jon McCullough
Pro Council Representatives
Tonya Antonucci, Don Garber
Adult Council Representatives
Richard Groff, Jim Hamilton
Youth Council Representatives
Bob Palmeiro, John Sutter
At Large Representative
Francisco Marcos
Independent Directors
Carlos Cordeiro, Fabian Núñez, Donna E. Shalala
CEO/Secretary General (non-voting)
Dan Flynn
we have a winner!! i may be wrong(certainly, not the 1st time) but i can’t think of another soccer power being run by ppl. who have never done anything within the sport. 1st arena coaching(never played) BB(not sure,but never heard of were he played) 2 coaches and a board that have been running the program for a combined 16yrs. yet none of this ppl. have ever played or coached @ a high level before they started w/ ussf.
tk is a trolling champ.
tk, you are the one who sounds a bit smug and smarmy. I’d love to hear about what you seem to know–I probably know less than Justin. But what I don’t want to hear is a pompous response. If you are an insider, then use patience and clarity to enlighten the rest of us that are just simply annoyed that whatever was “verbally assured” could not be so done in writing.
AND…now we say no to him a second time. Time to go Sunil.
I can’t wait for Sunil to be done. I believe he has done good and we have seen growth during his tenure, but how much better could it have been? We will never know.
Imagine that a world class striker, now coach with World Cup knock out rounds experience was able to help our forwards develop into players that actually score goals.
Imagine we beat Ghana. Imagine we reach the final. Would American Soccer be better off?
I want Gulati’s head on a platter and I want it NOW!!!
+1 the only slight possibility that he would get fired is if we don’t win the Gold cup, but even then they probably would not fire him.
Bradley will get fired once we either don’t qualify for the World Cup in 2014, or we go 3 and out.
i don’t think Josh said the fans would run it, he said the fans COULD pressure the FA into a certain change, since the media doesn’t care to question anything that has to do w/ soccer.
well for starters it would be a different mind set. sorry but BB to me is not much different than Arena 2.0.
As I heard a smart man say over the weekend, “The problem with American soccer is that we have non-soccer people making soccer decisions.” If Sunil Gulaiti is indeed nothing more than a front man for a soccer board full of highly-acclaimed “soccer people”, then I stand corrected.
so do you attribute his amazing coaching style to his results at Bayern? Where he played Landon Donovan as basically a target striker. That’s not ingenious by the way, that’s not unorthodox. That’s bad managing.
I’m not saying he’s a terrible coach (or maybe I am), but for anyone to act as if the USSF hierarchy should be all fired and executed for not hiring Klinsmann is ridiculous. The only clear cut fact here was that Bradley did a really good job, and is highly respected by guys like Alex Ferguson. so I think people need to take a deep breath and cool it. Klinsmann is not a top 10 coach in the world, not even close, so to give him the keys to everything probably wasn’t the greatest idea.
dude, lets be realistic, you know he won’t be fired, no matter how poorly he does.
This exposes even more harshly what a tool Bradley is. Nothing but a yes man, willing to operate within a very closed system and following orders without question. The USSF is going exactly in the direction it wants to go, too bad that’s opposite where it needs to go to succeed. Still bet the US doesn’t qualify for 2014.
don’t forget Bradley can be fired before Brazil 2014, lets see what happens in these upcoming friendlies with his player selections and go from there.
Did you do some research on what Germans expected?
Here’s a link and some interesting quotes:
http://hwtheworldgame.sbs.com.au/germany/news/523865/Klinsmann-eager-to-return
“As Germany coach, when he commuted between California and Europe, he went from being a novice who made the German federation nervous at times with new and unorthodox methods to a national hero and a highly-regarded coach, leading his unfancied team to a surprising third-place finish in the 2006 World Cup. ”
“Klinsmann’s attacking style of play, his use of fitness trainers and a team psychologist, his inclusion of young players relatively untested at the international level, his modern management approach and his commitment to his players’ personal development off the pitch all faced scepticism at the time.
Those methods have since been adopted by many Bundesliga clubs and even Klinsmann’s erstwhile enemies have acknowledged that Germany’s 12-1-1 record under successor Joachim Loew is at least partly due to what Klinsmann started. ”
Sounds like the Germans were pretty happy with JK and attribute some of JL’s success to JK.
Something we we don’t know (and probably won’t know):
What were the actual items in question tat Klinsman wanted but could not get complete control of? He speaks pretty broadly and vaguely here.
Does any coach anywhere really have complete control over all aspects of a club or national team in writing? Is it possible Klinsman was deliberately asking for the Moon knowing he wouldn’t get it to turn down the job without saying he just doesn’t really want it?
Not sure why this country has such a hard on for Klinsmann. What is his resume. 1) helped Bayern to a disastrous season, and the season after he left they went to the CL final. AND 2) led a very good German team to 3rd place IN GERMANY. That may seem like a great accomplishment here, but I can’t imagine the Germans were too thrilled not making it at least to the final in their own country. He was a GREAT player, but great players very rarely make great coaches. And he is no exception
Bradley is an ok coach who started Ricardo Clark in the knockout round of the World Cup – enough said.
Why on earth would Klinsman need to prove he can coach the 18th ranked national team when he already coached at Bayern Munich and for the German National team? Germany finished 3rd at the World Cup under him and BM 2nd in Germany and made the quarterfinals of the CL the year he was there – even though he didn’t stay the full year.
I’d say its a little different measuring stick for Bradley and Klinsman. With Bradley as a coach, all anyone expects is to make it out of the group stage of the World Cup. If Klinsman took over, everyone would expect at least the quaterfinals.
That is the biggest issue here: the lack of mainstream media coverage of the USMNT outside of the recent World Cup and even then there wasn’t in-depth discussion.
Pay to play soccer at the youth level will remain until Dad-coach youth soccer has good coaches. It is easy to say end the system, but the system at the youth level is not exactly raking in money. The difference in Europe and SA is that Dads can coach well, and the next good team is 50 miles away, not 250. Transportation costs and fields are factors JK can’t fix.
In other countries there would be a public outcry over this. Here fans get upset with stagnation at the coaching helm (Bradley, Arena), but fail to realize the same boss over the coach has stuck around for longer.
Is there some sort of petition or other sort of pressure we fans can resort to to oust Gulati? I’m sorry, but someone with a blatant ego doesn’t deserve to almost single-handedly determine the future of the USMNT. It’s EVERYBODY’S team, not one person’s. Regardless of whether you think Klinsmann or Bradley was the right choice.
I, for one, am tired of the “JK is overrated” argument. How is he overrated? Because he got fired from Bayern? Bradley was fired by the Metrostars!
This story reopens some very fresh wounds for me.
So tired of these comments about how Klinsmann couldn’t do anything to help the US team etc… Here is a thought, he is interested, and wants control, why not try it for four years. Will we be worse off then if we had stuck with Bradley. I doubt it, I doubt it highly, but if so then we can go back to RoboBob or another of his sort.
False.
Just because it’s two different sports doesn’t mean the analogy doesn’t apply. Think outside of the box.
Like the soccer equivelenat of a Jerry Springer “That’s Not My BabY!!” episode
You are correct. The German wnated his head and did not have faith in his “new” training ideas and tactics. This is very well documented.
“To all the commentors who are saying that Bradley can always pick the players he wants please remember the trip to Copa America that we will not be invited to again anytime soon since we took our B squad.”
Sorry, but that’s nonsense on a couple levels. First of all, Bradley is hardly the only national team manager that needs to make compromises with clubs. (Ever look at the problems African countries go through with European clubs about the African Nations Cup?)
Next, winning the Gold Cup got us to the COnfederations Cup. It was absolutely the right choice to bring the A squad to the Gold Cup.
A few years ago I was discussing soccer in America with a co-worker in his 40s. His father is German and he grew up playing soccer. He said we would never win anything because of how the soccer system works. Even when he was a child it was all about nepotism and a holier-than-though system. He also believes that has held MLS back because it’s all about “our way” instead of the right way. Look at Sunil and US Soccer. Nobodies that think they have more to give than a guy that played and managed at the top levels. At worst Klinsmann would push. We need a system that demands the best. No a system about politics and egos.
I think that one of the issues Klinsi alluded to is his role in youth development and the youth Nats. Was it a conflict over his r’ship w/ Claudio Reyna as the new youth dev leader. Or was it about his r’ship with the youth Nats? I can see that the Sr Nat Coach should be the leader of the US Team, period. Philosophy, style, etc…. I don’t think that is unreasonable, esp. if you want to have a guy like Klinsi, a radical w/ plans for an overhaul, be your Nat Coach. It is not a Q of his ego. He is a change agent. USSF may not be interested in that… too many connected individuals may not make it thru’ Klinsi’s overhaul.
As for GER, look at Euro 2000 (losing to Latvia or Lithuania) and WC 98 (losing in QFs)…GER was stagnant by their high standards when Klinsi took over and overhauled the way in which GER approaches the Nat team. Low is a great tactician & coach, yes; but Klinsi is the thinker when it comes to what are the r’ships among the Nat Team, who leads & determines style, philosophy, etc.
Thanks alot Bin Laden!
Yeah Ives, what’s your take on this?
(SBI-You can read it on FoxSoccer.com later today.)
To all the commentors who are saying that Bradley can always pick the players he wants please remember the trip to Copa America that we will not be invited to again anytime soon since we took our B squad. I understand that winning the Gold Cup go us into the confederations cup but we missed a great chance with the Copa America. If Bob chose to bring the B squad against the better competition of South America then we need a new coach anyway.
While I am not against brining Bradley back I do believe that the US needs to revamp it’s development on the youth level. Players like Berbatov would be overlooked since they do not play the US youth system of speed and power. The US needs to stress 1st touch and movement off the ball starting at the youth level. And kids need to play on thier own so they can be creative. One of Klinsman’s main points is that the US is missing out on a large number of talented players that get overlooked because they do not fit into the High School, College games of speed and power and those players can’t play in the youth leagues that are hiring many ex-College players as trainers that just teach speed, power, and fitness.
I think your last statement maybe the end all problem. JK will change things and it will cost some of the board members and Sunil their jobs eventually. They are protecting their own interest. Just a thought.
tk….Don’t you mean “sound smarter”
I think we didnt hear about BB and Arena complaining bc they want a long drawn out career here in the USSF. They are just going along, thinking of themselves in long term sense. Not US Soccer!
Thanks Gulati and USSF.
Until it’s disputed by someone who knows then what Klinsmann says should be taken as accurate.
Sounds like Bradley is a Gulati puppet, what a surprise.
“Loaded”? How, pray tell, was the German 2006 squad loaded?
Outside of Kahn, Lehmann and Ballack, the starting squad was a group of untested youngsters who are NOW household names, but weren’t known outside of their club teams in Germany.
Lamm, Klose, Podolski, Schweinsteiger were all rookies, who had been identified and culled by, you guessed it, Klinsmann.
Just months before the 2006 WC, the German fan-base was highly disillusioned with Klinsmann, and wanted him removed. They had zero confidence in him. He proved them wrong.
How about you do a little research before you post?
FWIW…
Sunil has no stones whatsoever. He couldn’t even get the coach that he wanted to coach at Columbia University hired by the AD!!!
Sunil is the board. Just because he is President doesn’t mean he has no control.
I, for one, would never want an organization running anything important that could be dictated to by the fans. What a ridiculous concept.
Glancing through these comments is depressing.
actually a loaded Germany side in their home country as the host, coming in as a semi-finalist doesn’t look so splendid.
Last time Germany hosted it they won the World Cup.
Taking Germany to the semi-finals in your home country with Loew as an assistant is like guiding Argentina to the Carribean finals.
In fact Loew has a higher winning percentage now that Klinnsman is gone…
Klinsmann doesn’t strike me as a smart man, only a man who picked up a few things and thinks they are universal and total to developing and coaching soccer.
The Bylaws state that: Except as otherwise
specifically provided by these bylaws, the Board of Directors shall have all governance,
supervising, and administrative authority of the Federation as provided. But Gulati is part of the bd and has a role in choosing many of the other members.
You cannot compare USA Basketball and US Soccer. They are two ENTIRELY different cultures.
And I certainly do NOT love JK. I’m glad he hasn’t gotten the U.S. job.
Did it ever occur to anyone else that there aren’t exactly other nations/clubs knocking down JK’s door to give him jobs, either. Maybe there’s a reason for that …
There is zero logic in the conclusions that you’ve drawn. Be reasonable.