Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope your first full week back in the office has been alright and that your weekend is a relaxing one.
Things are happening! Well, sort of. The Vancouver Whitecaps report for training camp tomorrow and are are boarding a plane for Spain early next week, ushering in a new season.
The rumor mill is heating up as to who will lead them when they touch down in sunny Spain.
Part of the weirdness in the timeline with the head coaching search appears to stem from the Caps getting their top target lured away by a Bundesliga side. The Province theorizes that name is Steffen Baumgart, who was hired by Union Berlin after being sacked by Hamburg in December.
If that name indicates the level of quality we can expect from the three finalists, well, I for one am encouraged.
The big name that has persisted is David Wagner, formerly of Schalke (where he overlapped with Axel Schuster), Huddersfield Town, Norwich and other clubs. Wagner is American so the notion of managing in North America makes sense and he has been loosely rumored for a MLS move in the past.
Well, on Thursday Wagner reportedly turned down advances from Plymouth Argyle about their open head coaching position. Make of that what you will — it could mean talks are in an advanced stage with the Caps or, conversely, it could mean he’s holding out for something better. He hasn’t coached since failing to secure promotion with Norwich City in the spring.
There are reports that Wagner is the frontrunner but until the ink is signed on the paper, I’m not going to get too invested in it. I think that, on a surface level, Wagner would make a lot of sense, though he has had a mixed record in Europe. His playing style would seem to match this team and I’m not sure I would hold his tenure at Schalke against him too much given how bad that team is. His inability to do much with better resourced sides at Norwich and Young Boys would be of potentially greater concern but the fact that the Caps are linked with someone with that type of resume puts us in uncharted territory.
Oh and one more thing — don’t expect the mystery man to be Jim Curtin.
Shameless Self Promotion
It is easy to be anxious about the lack of transfer business but Caleb Wilkins says it is too soon to panic.
Best of the Rest
Unsurprisingly, Joe Bednik won’t be back in Vancouver, as he moved to join Gregg Berhalter’s coaching staff in Chicago.
Brian White has been called up for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s January camp.
MLS has apologized for mistakenly announcing that Kyogo Furuhashi is joining Atlanta United. Oops!
Jesus Ferreira is joining Seattle Sounders in a blockbuster trade from Dallas. A major boost for our Cascadian rivals.
Casey Stoney, former manager of San Diego Wave, is reportedly the frontrunner for the Canadian Women’s Team job.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-whitecaps-hire-coach-jesper-sorensen
and then is just one head coaching job to fill- Vancouver- so who ?
1. we know it wont be vanni sartini who wasnt picked by the other 4 Teams that had openings- my statement that his emotional outbursts, especially after games at the refs, i think, has him being tainted in MLS, at least for the time being
2. Jim curtin wants to stay in his locale because he doesnt want to uproot his family- a noble decision… placing his family ahead of his aspirations to coach- but he will be back, probably near Pennsylvania
3. david wagner- read my discourse above
4. giovanni savarese- he had a 1.52 p/m n Portland, slightly ahead of Vanni, BUT HE DID WIN THE MLS CUP- of course, he had a MF legend in Diego Valeri
5. the unknown from Europe
so it might be #4 since Axel’s favorite has signed in Europe
as a side note- Robin Fraser as TFC is a shocker- he has a less than mediocre set of stats
and if Axel signs David Wagner, that is another shocker
Savarese did not win a MLS Cup, he lost the final twice with Portland.
Porter was the coach when Portland won the cup in 2015.
I would be kinder to Wagner than you, but hey I am an optimist. So, points per match would make sense if we were comparing similar products and similar leagues. This is a person who led a Championship team to the premier league winning two or three consecutive play off games. No mean feat and one we would wish he could replicate in a play off league like ours, were he to join us. Do we think Robinson would have achieved that? We know he failed here, let alone a league like the championship. Moreover, he was sacked from Huddersfield after relegation having managed to stick to the premier league for a year. Can you blame his premier league stats on him, if he had a team with little by way of resources to compete with the giants? I would say that a coach who has spent time in the Championship and the Premier League is above anything we have ever had in the Whitecaps. As for the Young Boys years, he managed a team of higher roster value than us and won a championship in Switzerland. So, he can be a good custodian of good resources.
My bad, no championship in Switzerland. I read that wrong…
Wagner does have some positives, but his constant firings is a major red flag; and his p/m of 1.35 is a huge red flag- in actuality, IMO, MLS isnt a lower play level than the English Championship –
and believe me, i was NOT a big fan of carl robinson- i would take Wagner over Robinson all the time
Jin Curtin as our head coach– what nut-bar would have guessed that !!?? i wonder where he will land – if he takes the TFC job, he has a LOT of work to do- but if TFC get rid of their prima donna Insigne, thats a positive start
RE: David Wagner who MIGHT be chosen as our new head coach- some mild research:
– he has had 7 coaching gigs since 2007 so his shelf life is almost 2.5 years/team
– his average points/match is an underwhelming 1.35- thats worse than Carl Robinson who had a 1.47 p/m
– he has had 1 winning season at 1.73 p/m and he lasted there at less than 1 year
– he was a head coach of young players for his first 4 years
– his last 3 gigs have lasted under 2 years until fired
– all of his playing time was in Germany
personally, i dont see how Wagner is an upgrade- there is no history to say otherwise- Axel must have a friendship with him and, of course, they have a common German language- this a reach to be our next head coach