Bob Bradley Deathwatch Thread

[Ultra & Proud]

i just pray they go big on a coach.

tata is right there and has been so so successful in MLS, and will have the respect of the italians.

I don't think that is enough. As risky as it is I think you need to turn the keys of the whole franchise over to Tata. He can get a feel for things now and then after that LC break it's season #2 but he needs complete control and to be allowed to bum's rush most of, if not all of the backroom people out of TFC right down to (and especially) the physios.

Knowing that he is probably going to bail in 2 years I would get something in the contract for him to appoint successors too and hopefully change the culture.

[rydermike]

The comment about MB not being a teammate but assistant coach says it all.....no one can trust him...and as speculated here...Auro and Lawrence were shipped out as "problem" guys not because BB saw it..he had no clue..it was MB telling him so.....i.e his assistant....

Yep. Someone on reddit basically seemingly described the situation perfectly imo.
"Bradley has made it clear, he would rather lose and not be questioned than engage with the players and improve as a collective."

[FiveThreeTwo]

In the article a number of quotes for Manning were from this week. They also requested to interview LI and Berna but we’re turned down. Seems like they’ve been working on it for a bit and this was the culmination of things. Berna’s camp is surely leaking things, so this is probably part of his plan with LI to push out BB.

It’s wild that when Berna and LI were introduced they each talked about how BB sold then on this project. Now look where we are.

Yeah, good calls by all - I jumped in to make a comment before reading the last sections there where they gave manning the time to respond to the comments, so clearly they would have known this was all culminating and about to come out. Guess that's a lesson learned to read the entire material front to back before adding to the discussion on my end lol.

[Areathrasher]

To me... the most interesting thing is that it's Bogert who has this.

That means only one thing - this is an ICBM from the league office to MLSE, and I think they are telling them: "You may own the media in your little bubble, and may think you can bottle this up, but we own it up here on the mothership, and we can make your life hell. You need to pay some effing attention. Now."

I think it also means the league is saying: Manning must go. The knives are out for him, that Insigne signing wrecked the league's salary structure all by itself.

Triple byline - Bogert, Kloke and Tenorio

[Canary10]

To me... the most interesting thing is that it's Bogert who has this.

That means only one thing - this is an ICBM from the league office to MLSE, and I think they are telling them: "You may own the media in your little bubble, and may think you can bottle this up, but we own it up here on the mothership, and we can make your life hell. You need to pay some effing attention. Now."

I think it also means the league is saying: Manning must go. The knives are out for him, that Insigne signing wrecked the league's salary structure all by itself.

Bogert is with the Athletic now, not the league office. I bet you I can pinpoint the exact paragraph or two he contributed to this piece, getting him the by-line.

[ensco]

I wonder, with various teams right now being in flux or closer to blank slates than finished products, and with the president role vacant, if BOGERS isn’t getting ready to cash this cheque.

Professional sports in general looks very “peak valuation” to me. And with Apple TV stepping in for MLS and other streamers hot on their heels with other leagues, the business case for monopolizing sports content for live TV does a little bit more each day.

Yes could be.

This whole episode has highlighted real fractures in the MLS business model. This league is in a bit of trouble when the expansion fee gravy train stops. It worries me.

[jloome]

Bogert is with the Athletic now, not the league office. I bet you I can pinpoint the exact paragraph or two he contributed to this piece, getting him the by-line.

Yeah, this has Kloke all over it. He's a good reporter.

[noxx98]

Yeah, this has Kloke all over it. He's a good reporter.

With the Leafs season over, Kloke finally had the time to devote to TFC. I do wish The Athletic could have him be full time on TFC, but I understand the views probably aren't there to do that.

[ensco]

I don’t think they get the sourcing they need for this story without Bogert being involved. His participation implies certain things to those sources.

[jloome]

Yes could be.

This whole episode has highlighted real fractures in the MLS business model. This league is in a bit of trouble when the expansion fee gravy train stops. It worries me.

They're just massively overvalued relative to potential revenue. I mean, take away all the capital write-downs across the league and most of the clubs actually do make money, but we're talking in the tens of millions, not the hundreds.

The global hump that they're trying to cross by getting Apple involved, where there are new fans in other countries driving wider viewership and TV revenue, will never happen anyway until they start respecting pro/rel and spending evenly across rosters. Even then, the innate bias against "American soccer" is much greater than they seem to realize, particularly in English-speaking countries.

They have driven franchise valuations to the point where they're asking more than it would cost to buy half the teams in the Premier League, teams with potentially billions in revenue.

It'll only end badly unless they make league wide changes to appeal to potential viewers. If we can't beat the top 15 leagues on the pitch, we're not going to do it on the bottom line, either.

[OgtheDim]

It’s funny, I learned early in my career being the most effective manager was less about being a walking encyclopedia and more about effectively communicating information, knowing how to motivate people and navigate situations. ....

Sames....watching all this, my HR mind is just shaking my head at the lack of a publically decent narrative out there, even the ones put out by TFC people.

[leedsandTFC]

if we lose this weekend after the berna decision, bob is gone imo.

[Richard]

While we wade through the sea of nuclear fall-out today I would just like to remind everyone that the season isn't over. It doest have to be doom and gloom.

We're literally a couple wins away from contention. So with that said we can still bring in a Wworld class manager in the next couple weeks and salvage the season.

It's time for Bob and Michael to go along with Manning.

Need a full clean out like the days of Anselmi, Bernie, Cochrane and MO.

[OgtheDim]

if we lose this weekend after the berna decision, bob is gone imo.

I don't see how there is a choice, which makes this game just a tremendously BAD experience for the players and a REALLY easy one for DCU to exploit.

[Richard]

if we lose this weekend after the berna decision, bob is gone imo.

After that article there is no going back. Insigne wanted to walk out, Berna is frustrated, and the team is fractured. You got to restart now. No choice.

[Initial B]

^^^^ To jloome's point, what MLS needs to do is to take the gloves off and say that over the next 2 years they'll be moving to a financial fair play model with a vastly increased salary cap. It has to be sink or swim time for the franchises. They have enough teams now for two divisions: One division will be where the best teams will play and the other division is where dysfunctional teams can go to get their act together and make a run to join the division with the best teams through end-of season playoffs.

But I digress... back to the article. I don't see how Manning or Bradley can survive this past the summer transfer window when more managers and executives become available. But I think that's the root of the Problem - it's the MLSE board and the Bogers executives that run everything and I'm sure they will make the wrong choices again. I want Tim Lieweke back and MLSE to give a consulting contract to his Oak View Group to do an executive search for a proper soccer president with a vision for the club, who can then chose a the Sporting Director/GM/Coach to help achieve that. MLSE doesn't have a vision for it's clubs beyond making money for its shareholders.

[Initial B]

Need a full clean out like the days of Anselmi, Bernie, Cochrane and MO.

This is exactly how I'm feeling right now - we're all reliving 2012.

[jloome]

I don’t think they get the sourcing they need for this story without Bogert being involved. His participation implies certain things to those sources.

I do believe we may be getting this one wrong.

They don't realize how bad this makes Bradley look. Looks at the Tweets the writers are putting out: A 'power grab" by the Italians, Bernardeschi vaping, Manning getting things wrong.

This has the reek of the league rallying around Bob.

The story does mention 10 players meeting with the Italians BEFORE Fede went public. But they're not tweeting that part. They're only tweeting the part's about the Italians "rebelling" and Manning being to blame.

If anything this smells to me like Bob's side of this, his supporters, are trying to drive a narrative that he's not to blame.

Most of the coverage is totally ignoring the absolutely chaotic state of our offense, the fact that we had no shots in two straight games. I smell the heavy hand of the league in this one, and they're trying to make it about the Italians a) being a waste of money and b) the problem on the pitch, lining up Manning as "ultimately to blame."

It's a narrative that conveniently avoids some of the stuff in the story, including people not trusting Michael as captain and Insigne saying he had issues with Bob LAST YEAR that didn't get addressed.

But that's what I'm smelling.

This reeks of them trying to get Manning ousted, Bob bumped up, Michael in to replace him. They figure they can sell Bernadeschi and not lose too much, and Insigne is not the type of personality to be the public firebrand. Plus, he's already backed down once by saying he'd leave and not doing so.

I hate to say it, but unless Manning acts quickly, he's going to get coup'd, and we're going to be stuck with The Bradley regime.

I think you guys need to be talking about boycotts if he isn't fired after this weekend.

[Richard]

I do believe we may be getting this one wrong.

They don't realize how bad this makes Bradley look. Looks at the Tweets the writers are putting out: A 'power grab" by the Italians, Bernardeschi vaping, Manning getting things wrong.

This has the reek of the league rallying around Bob.

The story does mention 10 players meeting with the Italians BEFORE Fede went public. But they're not tweeting that part. They're only tweeting the part's about the Italians "rebelling" and Manning being to blame.

If anything this smells to me like Bob's side of this, his supporters, are trying to drive a narrative that he's not to blame.

Most of the coverage is totally ignoring the absolutely chaotic state of our offense, the fact that we had no shots in two straight games. I smell the heavy hand of the league in this one, and they're trying to make it about the Italians a) being a waste of money and b) the problem on the pitch, lining up Manning as "ultimately to blame."

It's a narrative that conveniently avoids some of the stuff in the story, including people not trusting Michael as captain and Insigne saying he had issues with Bob LAST YEAR that didn't get addressed.

But that's what I'm smelling.

This reeks of them trying to get Manning ousted, Bob bumped up, Michael in to replace him. They figure they can sell Bernadeschi and not lose too much, and Insigne is not the type of personality to be the public firebrand. Plus, he's already backed down once by saying he'd leave and not doing so.

I hate to say it, but unless Manning acts quickly, he's going to get coup'd, and we're going to be stuck with The Bradley regime.

I think you guys need to be talking about boycotts if he isn't fired after this weekend.

Yeah, if Bob is promoted, and Michael is coach, that deserves a season long boycott.

[ensco]

I think the league, if they are involved, are going to want to make Bernie pay for this, and I am not just talking about sitting out tomorrow.

The league can’t have this. No league can.

[Ultra & Proud]

Yeah, if Bob is promoted, and Michael is coach, that deserves a season long boycott.

My boycott has begun. I'm out until there's POSITIVE change.

[ensco]

Also, really really hard to imagine Richie staying now.

[JoesphNdo]

What was it, a whole 48 hours ago when Molinaro basically threw down the gavel and said there was no truth to Berna wanting Bob fired?

Good grief.

This article exposed him and the damage control attempt almost as much as it did the internals of the club.

It's amazing how much all of this was called on here and yet nobody in the media even attempted to dig into it. We could all see it a fucking mile away.

[jloome]

Also, really really hard to imagine Richie staying now.

No wonder his media mouthpiece -- that's what Kyle clearly is, as Insigne WAS upset, it turns out, he just didn't go to Austin -- was saying last year he didn't want to come back to TFC.

He may love the club and fans for the chance, but why would any player in their right mind want to come back to this? I think Oso must've seen what his new Spanish agent, whom he fired within weeks, was getting for offers there and had to stay here. A player of his calibre is a 300K-700K a year player in most European leagues, even ones better than MLS.

[jloome]

This article exposed him and the damage control attempt almost as much as it did the internals of the club.

It's amazing how much all of this was called on here and yet nobody in the media even attempted to dig into it. We could all see it a fucking mile away.

In Kloke's defense, when I said last week anyone could have front-office source stuff if they were just polite talked to the right people... clearly, he already had and was working on this. A story with this many sources and depth usually takes at least a week or two to put together.

[Richard]

What was it, a whole 48 hours ago when Molinaro basically threw down the gavel and said there was no truth to Berna wanting Bob fired?

Good grief.

Yeah extremely disappointed with our local reporting.

I'm going to leave it at that.

[Initial B]

I think the league, if they are involved, are going to want to make Bernie pay for this, and I am not just talking about sitting out tomorrow.

The league can’t have this. No league can.

The article is blowing up all over the place, but there is nary a peep of it on the MLS website. BB is one of their sacred cows and there is a narrative that has to be protected. Swansea was right.

[OgtheDim]

I'm not sure how any of this makes BB into a good guy to run a team.

Yes, I think the US media are hyper focused on player behaviour - there's some stuff in that story that reeks of a PR "dark" folder.


But why would somebody want to work for a GM/President who had all that occur?!?!

[OgtheDim]

The article is blowing up all over the place, but there is nary a peep of it on the MLS website. ....

They never discuss this sort of stuff, for any team, on the site. On the podcast...it will be discussed.

[jloome]

The timing is interesting too, as a bunch of fans on Facebook and Reddit were planning a group standing ovation and applause for Benardeschi, as of yesterday. That would've been incredibly embarrassing for Bob.