It doesn't take long of digging into his record in NY to get nervous.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/new-yo...ers/verein/623
Check out their transfers between 2014-2016, when he was Sporting Director. The man has basically ZERO experience cutting deals.
And he left because it was either him or Jessie Marsch in control. They could no longer work together.
Jesse Marsch's track record since then is pretty good.
As far as I can tell, Ali doesn't really have one. The only DP he signed was Gonzalo Veron, who was a complete bust. Most of their player traffic was youth signings, all of whom were in the system already when he joined in 2014.
Prior to that, he was a business executive with the league.
So...
We have a GM with essentially no experience at this level. He had three active years in NY, leaving in early 2017.
In that time, they only two really stalwart signings he managed from outside the organization were Tim Parker, who demanded a trade from Vancouver and was surprisingly available, and Daniel Royer, who was recommended by RB Salzburg.
I get more nervous with each passing day and nothing said.
On top of that, as some have mentioned, their promotions and communications have just gone to shit. As some of you know I was in the media for twenty-five years and while they were never as good as they could have been at promo, they were still among the best in MLS. Where has that gone?
I get the sense maybe that the mandate now is to turn into a youth production facility and churn out transfers. I suspect they overestimate the general loyalty of the fan base, past us diehards, if they think a decade of mediocrity is going to keep the tickets selling and players wanting to come.
It's so small minded. I really hope that isn't the way this is going.