The Clock Is Ticking

Its been roughly six weeks since the Vancouver Whitecaps announced that they would not be bringing Martin Rennie back in 2014 and began the process of searching for his replacement.  Several names, including Frank Yallop, Jason Kreis and Bob Bradley, were all rumoured to be in the mix to become the Caps' new head coach and manager.

Last night New York City FC announced Jason Kreis would become their first coach in club history and Jason de Vos from TSN tweeted that Bradley had turned down Vancouver's offer.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bradley turned them down, Kreis is off to <a href="https://twitter.com/nycfc">@nycfc</a>. Everyone but Vancouver saw this happening. Question is, why didn’t they see it?</p>&mdash; Jason deVos (@jasondevos) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasondevos/statuses/410597131888918528">December 11, 2013</a></blockquote>

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So what's next?  Carl Robinson has interviewed for the job as well as Jesse Marsch, Richie Williams and former Toronto FC boss Preki.  The Whitecaps have already declined the contract options on eleven players without having a head coach in place (although it has been rumoured that part of the interview process required a thorough analysis of the Caps' roster).  The search for Rennie's successor has been going on nigh a month and a half while other teams are already in the process of signing new players (and coaches) in their preparation for next season.

I'm not particularly worried that we won't have a coach in time for next season, in fact I actually expect now we've had news of Kreis and Bradley I would expect the Whitecaps to appoint a new coach sooner rather than later.  My main concern, however, is the manner in which this whole saga has unfolded.

It seems as though Rennie was let go with no suitable candidate to fill the vacancy as quickly as the club (and most certainly the fans) would have liked.  I do not disagree with the Caps trying to bring Kreis (assuming they ever had that discussion with him) or Bradley to Vancouver, but it does seem that with the both of them snubbing Vancouver that perhaps the club may have overestimated the desirability of our vacant manager's position.

Now while its not all doom and gloom (just yet) I do find it mildly concerning that two top drawer coaches have both turned down the opportunity to come to Vancouver.  Equally concerning is the statement made recently by club president Bob Lenarduzzi that they were only going to consider coaches that have MLS experience as either a player, a coach or both.  It seems that this philosophy has eliminated ex-England player and coach, Stuart Pearce.

Pearce may not be the answer to our coaching situation, but he has quite an impressive playing and coaching resume and has also expressed that he would like to coach an MLS club.  It's perfectly alright to have a set of defined parameters and requirements for the ideal candidate, but does it not at least make sense to consider all qualified candidates for the job?  Pearce has not played or coached in MLS, but with his experience does it not at least seem logical to see if he might be a fit here?  To exclude someone like Pearce from the mix seems, to me at any rate, illogical and even arrogant to a certain extent.

Whoever gets the job will certainly have their work cut out for them.  Based on what we have seen thus far, and barring an unexpected turn of events, I don't know if we can really expect to see a manager that is a huge upgrade from Rennie.  Only time will tell of course, but at this point in time my trust in the multi-headed football committee is beginning to wane.

At least that's my take on the situation.  If you'd like to add your voice to this discussion then please leave a comment below.

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