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July 13, 2005: Downtown offices of Greg Jamison, the CEO of the San Jose Earthquakes
I was pacing around the large conference room. Seated around the rich mahogany table were the San Jose Earthquakes. They were shuffling papers nervously and looking everywhere but at me. It was clear that they had never seen me this angry.
I was angry all right. I was fed up with the board. In my time as manager, I had won two MLS titles and still all the board cared about was money. I took a deep breath and began:
“Mr. Jamison and fellow directors, I am upset with the way the finances seem to be the only priory at this club. Two years, you forced me to sell Landon Donovan to Dortmund for $14 million. Since that time, despite the fact that we have 20 million in the bank, you have consistently refused to either refurbish our stadium or pay our players what they deserve. A year and a half ago, we purchased Freddy Adu from DC United for 4 million. We then signed him to a one year deal for $350,000. When it came time to renegotiate Mr. Adu’s contract, he asked for a 2 year deal at $600,000 per. Freddy was having a brilliant season, scoring 27 league goals and averaging an 8.5 rating, by far the best in the league. You directors refused to pay more than 500,000. As a result, Adu signed with New England, who gave him what he wanted….”
At this point Jamison interrupted:
”Mr. Coleman, when we hired you in 2002 as manager and GM, we warned you that we are a small market team. As you perfectly well know, we rent the football stadium from San Jose State and therefore cannot improve it. As it stands our fan base is only 16,000 strong, which is the lowest in the MLS. This fan base has little chance of improving, as soccer is not popular in San Jose. Our revenues simply cannot support a heavy payroll. As you full well know, we allowed you to sign on 33 players this year in anticipation of the Merconorte Cup and the CONCAF Cup in addition to the playoffs. We set you a limit of 5 million dollars. You exceeded that amount by half a million. Do not test our patience with you. We appreciate the titles you have bought the club, but it is a fact that we lost over 5 million dollars last season. Were it not for the sale of Donovan, we could not have absorbed the loss. This is a business Mr. Coleman. I do not care if Abramovich spends 200 million a year at Chelsea, I am not an oil-magnate, and I run a real-estate firm. I cannot afford big names on this team. “Jamison glowered at me.
I sputtered, “But...” Jamison cut me off with a sharp, “You do not run my business sir. Now, if you have finished complaining about limits you knew of when you signed your contract, what is the purpose of this meeting? I’m a busy man.”
I stared at Jamison, took an even deeper breath than before and spoke. “We received word yesterday that the best young defender in MLS, Columbus’s Eric Medina has refused to resign with them. Medina is a 20 yr. old central defender with unparallel hading, jumping and tackling abilities. He has been capped 9 times for the US already. When I spoke with Medina’s agent Bob Sam, Sam indicated that his client wished to be a key player for us. I agreed that Medina would be a key component of our team. Upon hearing that, Sam said his client would take a 1 year deal for $475,000 with a signing bonus of 350,000. Do you approve the deal Mr. Jamison?”
Jamison glanced down at our scouting report on Medina, looked at the stats on him, and finally looked at the finance report then spoke, “You can sign him, but remember, the payroll must remain at 5 million or less. If you do not make the international competitions for 2006, the squad will be cut back to 23 and the payroll cut to 2.5 million. You may sign Medina, if you can stay within the limits. If that is all, have a pleasant day.”
Having been dismissed, I walked out of the office. I had gotten Medina, assuming he signed with us, but had been smacked by financial reality once again. Soccer is a business not a sport. Though Jamison didn’t know it, I was going to start looking for jobs elsewhere in the world. I would go anywhere where English was spoken, preferably a country where they called the sport football.
I drove back to the stadium in a bad mood. I stopped at the Starbucks nearest the campus and got a large cup of black coffee. The cashier looked at me strangely when I declined her offer of sugar or cream. It was turning out to be that kind of day. I parked hear the stadium and walked through an almost deserted campus. The sun was shining at least. Whirring through my brain were thoughts of how to get out of this situation. I really wished I could sit on one of the benches and enjoy peace, but I had work to do.
I entered the locker room and headed for the tiny office in back. I spoke briefly to the players who were gathered for morning conditioning. I entered my office. The first order of business was to call Medina’s agent and finalize the offer. Having done that, I sat at the desk locking over the plans for practice that my coaches had drawn up. I had just approved the plans when Nik Patronis, my asst. manager knocked and entered. I greeted him with “Good morning…Seen Potter lately?” Nik groaned at the pun and got to the point. “Gus, have you approved the practice plan?” I replied, “Looks good to me.” Nik nodded and then asked, “How was the meeting with the big boss?” I grunted, “It was lousy. Cheapskates won’t free up any money. Got a lecture on fiscal responsibility.” Nik nodded and moved over to the board where all the players were listed on magnetic labels. He cleared his throat:
“Gus, as you know, we play Columbus in two days. Wash is still out, and it looks like Mel, Davis, Ibsen and Andrezj won’t be fit in time for the game. They could be on the bench, but shouldn’t start. Who do you want to start in their place?”
I studied the board. It was dominated by an outline of our base 4-3-1-2 formation. Under each position was the label of the usual starter:
GK: White/Thornton rotation
DL: Rusty Pierce
DR: Zak Ibsen
LDC: Roberto Salinas
RDC: Carlos Bocanegra
LMC: Brad Davis
CMC: Ross Paule
RMC: Diego Wash
AMC: Mel
LFC: Eddie Johnson
RFC: Andrezj Juskowiak
(Author’s note- This is the starting lineup I use. Match reports will only list lineup changes)
Beside the lineup were the names of the rest of the team. I looked at the list and said, “White will start in goal. Put Jolly at RB, D. Johnson at LMC, Ozimek at RMC, Chung at AMC, and Cunningham at RFC. The bench will be Jusk, Mel, Keenan, Akwari and Thornton. As I spoke each name, Nik shuffled the strips around. Finally, Nik said “I’d better go and oversee conditioning and get practice started.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.
I returned to the papers on the desk. I was glad that my asst. manager and five coaches were capable of acting independently of my orders. They devised the practices and only occasionally did I change their plans. I also oversaw practice, but truth be told, except for game days, my main duties were as a GM. Among the papers was a reminder that two of my coaches would be out of contract. Neither would be resigned. I overturned my staff frequently because new blood shook up things and kept practices from getting too stale. Sighing, I turned on the computer and checked if any football jobs were open in England or Scotland. Nothing was which a surprise wasn’t as Europe was still in the pre-season. I got up from the chair and left the office. I would oversee practice this afternoon. Tomorrow we would fly to Columbus for the game and hold a light practice in their stadium.
While we were flying to Columbus, I read a biography of Richard Nixon. Had the national press been on the plane with me, they would have written articles insinuating that I wasn’t prepared enough for the game. American sportswriters and broadcasters tend to believe that the game is in the details. I disagree with that approach. The real detail is in the pre-season when you open training camp and start to build cohesiveness in your starting lineup. Once you’ve figured out your offensive and defensive strategies and what you want each player’s role to be, then you’re pretty much done. Soccer is not like basketball or football or even baseball. Soccer is not dominated by match-ups or situations the way those sports are. We can’t bring in a rebounder for the free-throws and then sub him out. We can’t bring in a left-hander to face the cleanup hitter in the top of the 7th with two men on base. In short, we have to trust our starting lineup and hope those guys are superior to the other team. But, this isn’t something the American press understands. They look at soccer through the prism of other sports. The tendency isn’t bad, as it leads to out of the box thinking, but it wasn’t something I wanted to deal with before a game either.
I did pull out the scouting report on Columbus and look through it one more time. They had the best defense in the league, so our forwards probably weren’t going to get much of a chance to score. It would be incumbent on our midfield to break down Columbus’s defense and create chances for the forwards. Having finished all the pre-game prep I was going to do, I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes and started dwelling on the finances again.
Earlier in the summer I had received a call from a Manchester City employee who told me that Claudio Reyna’s contract had expired and that City weren’t going to resign him. Reyna was 33, a backup now in the Premier league and was expendable in the eyes of the Man City staff. They were afraid that Reyna wouldn’t take much of a pay cut from his $2 million salary. Since Reyna is the best American midfielder of his generation, I contacted his agent. The agent told me that Reyna was hoping to stay at City and that there was no way in hell that Reyna would sign with San Jose. Undaunted, I offered $500,000 a year with a 2 million dollar signing bonus. The agent laughed in my face and turned it down. But now, I was thinking of making another attempt to sign Reyna. If Man City released him, he would have to seriously consider our offer. But, if he did sign with us, that would push the payroll to 6 million, which would cause Jamison to have a heart attack. I would get called into the downtown offices again and be read the riot act. Jamison would demand that I cut the payroll to fewer than 5 million and the only way to cut payroll without cutting depth is to sell the stars. That was the never ending question, who to get rid of, and when. I woke up from my reverie as we landed at the Columbus airport. It was time to start thinking about the game again.
Cheers all I hope I can meet expectations, seeing as I haven't written a story in over a year. The tech. writing I've done doesn't really fit FMS.
July 15, Crew stadium 1:00 pm kick-off
It was a beautiful afternoon to play soccer. The sun was shining and little white clouds went scudding across an azure sky. The temperature was in the low 60’s and there was just the hint of a breeze. As San Jose warmed up, I handed my lineup card to the ref: White, Pierce, Jolly, Salinas, Bocanegra, D. Johnson, Paule, Ozimek, Chung, E. Johnson and Cunningham. The bench was Juskowiak, Maluleke, Keenan, Akwari, and Thornton. After warm-ups, the game was kicked off at five minutes past one.
The first half was a defensive struggle. You could tell that my lineup had never played in a live game with each other. They were tentative and unsure. Meanwhile, Clb seemed content to wait us out. They made few forays towards our goal and played at midfield. The result was a half in which the average fan would have fallen asleep 20 minutes in. The Clb defense was as good as scouted; they limited us to two off-target shots. As we walked off the field, a drunken fan (Beer is sold in US stadiums) yelled a couple of derisive comments at our team. I looked at him and started laughing, which did not amuse the fan. But, what the hell, it was the best moment of the half.
The second half began with the announcement that Eric Medina, yes that Medina had injured his knee and would not be playing the second half. With there best center back out, I ordered my team to set an attacking pace. The attacking didn’t do much good; they still held us at bay. So, I turned to bench. On 53 I subbed in Keenan for Paule, in hopes that the midfield would do something. Keenan had an immediate impact, slicing through crowds and energizing the offense. On 60, I pulled EJ, who had blown two easy sitters, for Juskowiak, The veteran Polish international provided a cool head on the field and helped Cunningham to gain some breathing room, which allowed him to break through on 74 and score. Having lost the edge, Columbus spent the last 15 minutes attacking, to no avail. Young Eric White showed coolness as he repelled the desperate Crew attack. The game ended a 1-0 win for San Jose. Cunningham was voted MOM.
ESPN highlights that night showed the following. At 38 minutes, Columbus right fullback Mark Kotschau deftly dodged an inept tackle by D. Johnson and fired a cross to the near post. Clb forward Edson Buddle rose into the air and volleyed a header at goal. White, who makes smart decisions, managed to slide into position as the ball left Buddle’s head, and pushed the ball off to the left. San Jose’s highlight was the Cunningham goal, which the Sportscenter anchor noted was Cunningham’s first goal against his former team. Keenan had dribbled into Columbus territory, sent the ball left to David Johnson, who moved up himself then laid the ball off to the right in front of a trailing Cunningham, who blasted the ball into the lower right corner past the diving keeper.
As the plane flew back to San Jose I reflected that we had been somewhat lucky to win. Thoughts drifted towards the next game, a home contest against the New Jersey Metrostars and their potent forward, Jaime Moreno, the best player in MLS this season.
Cheers Iain- didn't think you were around. Drop me a line with your updated email please.
A week of headaches (but then, any in-season week causes two migraines on average)
We had four days to prepare for the Metrostars, who were in a dogfight with DC United and New England in the Eastern division. They would be coming to San Jose needing a win to keep pace with their rivals. Fortunately, we couldn’t become complacent ourselves. Los Angles was breathing down our necks. We had to continue to put space between us.
On the morning of the 17th, Patronis brought in the news that all our regulars, aside from Walsh would be fit for the game. I decided to start Daniels at the RMC spot. As Patronis left my office, I began to dwell on the season. In hindsight the signing of Ishmael Maluleke had been a mistake. Our African scout (internationally we scout Africa, the Caribbean and Central America, as those places are the hotbeds for MLS foreigners.). Maluleke was a backup for Sundowns, the best team in South Africa. My scout saw a couple of reserve games and a few practices and liked what he saw. Maluleke had the speed, dribbling and long range shooting abilities that are essential for an AMC in my system. When Adu and backup AMC Chaing left the team for greener pastures in the off-season, we were looking for a cheap AMC who could start. Maluleke seemed to fit the bill. Sundowns agreed to a $2.5 million price and Maluleke, who wanted to be a starter, agreed to terms quickly.
All seemed well with Maluleke in pre-season practice. He became a starter and performed well in scrimmages. However, in the first game of the season, I noticed that he was dragging after 70 minutes. Figuring it was a case of “first game fatigue,” I subbed him out. Since the first eight games of the MLS season are held once a week, Maluleke was fit for all the games. However, he never seemed to make it past the 70th minute in games. I had one of the trainers look him over, and the report came back saying that Maluleke was injury-prone. This was not welcome news as the AMC backups, Chung, Delao and Jim Johnson are not particularly good. This the first time I ever had a young player (he’s 25) who could only play once a week- not a good attribute once we start playing two or three games a week. I had known that Ibsen and Juskowaik, both in their 30’s wouldn’t play in every game, but I was prepared for that. Maluleke was a nasty surprise.
Nor was he the only nasty surprise to start the season. Veteran goalkeeper Zach Thornton was penciled in as the No. 1 keeper. He had performed well last season. But he started the season badly, letting in soft goals and depressing his defense, which began the year badly too. Given that we were trying to integrate four new starters in the lineup (Ibsen, Salinas, Maluleke and Juskowiak) there were chemistry issues all over the pitch. In our first 10 games, we went 2-2-6. At that point, the newspapers started talking about replacing me, but the team and Jamison stuck with me. Finally, I called Thornton into my office. I told him he was going to split time with Eric White, our 19 yr. phenom. Thornton knew he’d been playing like horseshit and he accepted the demotion gracefully. Thornton and I both knew White was the future. White is a quick, intelligent goalkeeper with excellent hands. The kid is already the regular captain of the US U-21 team. But, he lacks the big game experience of Thornton, who won titles with Chicago and San Jose. Since the rotation started, and the starting lineup became more cohesive, we have gone on a 10 game tear that has seen us to first place in the division.
The ringing of the phone interrupted my thoughts. It was Bruce Arena calling to tell me that Carlos Bocanegra would be on the US squad for the Confederations Cup, held in Germany in two weeks. Arena pointed out that MLS had planned ahead for this because Columbus was in the FIFA World Club Championship, held at the same time. Between call-ups and reschedulings, most the league would enjoy a two week break. That meant Bocanegra wouldn’t miss any games (in theory).
We had one more bit of news before the Metrostars game. On the 18th, Sam called to tell use that Medina had agreed to our 1 yr. offer and would join us in the New Year on January 12, 2006. When I informed Jamison of the signing, he merely said, “Remember the budget limits next year. “ I had six months to worry about that, so I put it out of my mind. On July 20, I arrived early in the morning and began to prepare for the night game against the Metrostars.
July 20, 2005- Metrostars at San Jose. Spartan Stadium
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in the mid 70’s as the two teams kicked off. It was clear from the onset that our regular starting lineup except for Daniels at RMC really enjoyed playing with each other. Even though New Jersey was playing a defensive-minded 442 with a potent counter-attack, they couldn’t stop us. EJ drilled a header into goal on 11 to make the statement that this was our turf and our rules. Although we failed to score again in the half, we continued to apply pressure on the Metrostars defense, keeping the ball in their side of the pitch a good third of the time. The home crowd, some 16,500 were seeing their team playing well for a change.
As the second half started, the Metrostars abandoned their defensive posture and began to attack our goal. Thornton held up in goal until the 56th minute when Jaime Moreno showed why he was one of the best strikers in MLS and put one past Thornton to level the game at 1-1. However, on the ensuring kick-off, EJ took a cross and headed it past the keeper to put us back up 2-1. Twenty minutes later, Maluleke, the much maligned, put back a rebound to make the game 3-1. At that point the game was effectively over, but Metrostar’s Eddie Galvin snagged a late goal on 87 to make the game seem closer than it was in reality. The MOM was Eddie Johnson for his double. But the whole team played well, for once.
ESPN highlights. Metrostars 87 Beckerman, a MC dribbled through to the area and slid the ball to Galvin, who put it in from one yard out. San Jose 11 Daniels broke away with the ball, moved up the right side and aimed a cross at the near post, where EJ was positioned. EJ rose up high and headed the ball with force into the left corner.
This was a good win for us as we stayed ahead of Colorado and LA. Eddie Johnson shoed why he will be a national team stars in years to come, driving in two headers. Daniels also played well and is showing signs that he might be the most cost-effective option at RMC for 2006. He certainly played better than the injured starter Diego Walsh had been playing before his injury. Lastly, Maluleke showed one of his flashes of brilliance. Now if only he could run five yards without breathing hard.
"Soccer is a business, not a sport." 
Hope you enjoy it.
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