GOAL-The New England Revolution have parted ways with head coach Jay Heaps, sources confirmed to Goal on Monday night.
If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted about the Revs since their 3-0 loss to Philly on July 2nd. The title of that blog was "It's Becoming A Chore To Watch The Revs". And I meant that because, like my chores, I stopped doing it. After that game I rarely watched the Revs. I kept up with results and transactions (Dielna and Nemeth, that KC bonehead getting sent off for an elbow against his old team). But they made me stop caring enough to actually follow and watch closely, and write about it. I was tired of it, fed all the way up with that club.
But now, maybe a breath of life? It probably should have happened earlier, but Jay Heaps is reportedly out as manager of New England Revolution. Ives Galarcep is the man reporting this, and he's considered very reliable in the soccer world. CSNNE, the longtime broadcaster of the team, is also reporting this now.
I'm a big Jay Heaps guy. He served the club loyally as a top player from 2001 to 2009, and was brought in as manager in 2011. He had exciting tactics that ended up turning the team around and getting them to the brink of an MLS Cup in 2014 before losing narrowly to LA Galaxy in the Final. But then something happened. It felt like the rest of the league caught on to Heaps and left him in the dust. His tactics no longer producing results, he was lost. Big name attackers like Kei Kamara, Krisztin Nemeth and Juan Agudelo (people forget he played with the Revs in 2013 and then came back in 2015) were brought in, but the goals seemed to never follow. Heaps and the front office finally tried bringing in defenders to fill the cracks. Antonio Delamea seems like he could be the real deal, but the jury (in my opinion) is still out on Benjamin Angoua and Claude Dielna. Its all too little, too late.
Aside from falling behind tactically, it feels like Heaps lost the dressing room. The players became too complacent and too comfortable with him. When you look at managers and coaches who hold long tenures, the Arsene Wengers, the Sir Alex Fergusons, hell, the Bill Belichicks, what do they have in common? They are ruthless (well, Wenger was once that, different topic for a different time). Players were on their toes constantly. The successes of the past did not factor into the future in any way but one: excellence was still expected. Those guys kept players hungry, and probably scared.
Like I said before, huge Jay Heaps guy. I loved the fire and the passion he brought. I think he really did put all he had into this job, he didn't pussyfoot around. He just wasn't able to adapt, both to changing league tactics and to a locker room environment that didn't want to win for him.
I'll always love Jay Heaps for what he did as a player and for the success he brought in the early years of his tenure at the helm. To quote a #WengerOut banner, "Thanks for the memories but its time to say goodbye".
As far as replacements, it's a good bet assistant Tom Soehn will be interim manager. The early rumor/hope on Reddit is for Giovanni Savarese, a Venezuelan who played for New England in 1999, appearing in 27 matches and scoring 10 goals. Savarese has been head coach of New York Cosmos since 2013.
As Reddit user AdamInJP wrote about Savarese: "The Cosmos are the Island of Misfit Toys. MLS cast offs, international imports that didn't like the structure of the real big league, kids in their way up, foreign players who are just a shade below MLS level. Savarese makes that eclectic group of players win. Also of note, he busted his ass last fall to find landing spots for his players when it looked like the team was going under. He did that after his pay checks ended. Players love him. I want that in a coach."
With the eclectic group we have and the egos in the locker room, it sounds like Savarese might be the right man for the job. I'll update when coaching changes happen, but I won't be blogging about the games the rest of this season. Hopefully theres enough hope for next season to warrant regular blogs again.
PS-Burns and, unfortunately, Kraft need to be next out. At the very least Mike Burns needs to be ousted form the GM role. He STINKS. Getting an owner completely dedicated to the Revs would be great, but if we can get a GM who, along with a manager and team president in Brian Bilello, can convince Kraft to splash cash on the team in the hopes of creating even more revenue through winning, then I'm OK with Kraft remaining as owner.
