I've said since the Bhathals took over that my first real checkpoint for them was the start of the 2025 season, and that's still how I feel. With that said, fan confidence and trust is earned, and they haven't yet established the base. Obviously, KK hasn't either.
I've said since the Bhathals took over that my first real checkpoint for them was the start of the 2025 season, and that's still how I feel. With that said, fan confidence and trust is earned, and they haven't yet established the base. Obviously, KK hasn't either.
By signing off on hiring Gale, they've narrowed their runway for a bit. If they had taken a swing with a big hire and failed, some us would say "at least they took the shot." There's a lot of talk about "vision" and what exactly that means. I believe they have one and I believe they're willing to spend, but having a vision is useless without proper execution. For better or worse, they have a coach now and attention has to turn to the roster. Two pretty clear tasks there:
1. Add talent. Simple. Get some more capital-G good players, period. Talent solves a lot of problems.
2. Clean out the mess that is the backend of the roster. Loans, whatever. Do what it takes. This has to look like a balanced, high-level NWSL roster at the start of 2025.
I wish the isolated moves were making me feel more confident than they are, but so it goes. They're on the clock!
Yeah, I'm trying to let this last shred of hope that I'm trying to keep alive get me through to the start of 2025.
There's still runway to shift my mind, but if we're in a similar place at the start of 2025 then I'm going to come to STF to yell about it. On. The. Clock. Literally no more excuses.
I like Gale! I (and others) tried to come up with available managers that would be clearly, objectively be a better candidate than him and really struggled. I just wanted them to take a risk because it would show interest in being aggressive, acknowledging that there's no guarantee that a random manager would have the same floor as Gale (probably) has.
I still think that if they bring in the talent, he'll probably do fine....and I hope I'm wrong in saying that he's not an elevating manager. The process is the dissapointment.
My wife thinks I'm a crazy idiot (and she's probably right) that I'm disappointed in the Gale hire. He is well liked and has an 8-2-2 record. My frustration lies in the process and an outcome that screams "status quo" for a team that is falling behind the best teams in the league. I don't know squat about what woso coaches are available or good, but I do know that we, as a club, need some big time changes if we are going to compete with the KC, Spirit, Orlando and Goths of the world. I don't "feel" like this move is taking us the that direction. I hope I'm wrong. I hope KK blows up the summer and off season with great players. I'm just sick of waiting. Waiting for a new owner, coach, retirement,ect. While the team goes backwards.
As I always try to say, shades of gray. On balance, Gale's far from a disaster. There's probably a decent chance he's better than whatever other coach I would have preferred more, acknowledging that there are simply not that many known quantities in woso. For every Amoros, there's a Fran Alonso. For every Seb Hines, there's a Christy Holly.
But this particular hire is disappointing because we --especially the die-hards that populate this site-- see this as signifying stasis instead of ambition. I think there's still a lot of time to be proven right or wrong on that and the roster is priority #1, but it's an undeniably disappointing move on the surface, regardless of how well liked the dude is.
One last thought from me on this:
I've said since the Bhathals took over that my first real checkpoint for them was the start of the 2025 season, and that's still how I feel. With that said, fan confidence and trust is earned, and they haven't yet established the base. Obviously, KK hasn't either.
By signing off on hiring Gale, they've narrowed their runway for a bit. If they had taken a swing with a big hire and failed, some us would say "at least they took the shot." There's a lot of talk about "vision" and what exactly that means. I believe they have one and I believe they're willing to spend, but having a vision is useless without proper execution. For better or worse, they have a coach now and attention has to turn to the roster. Two pretty clear tasks there:
1. Add talent. Simple. Get some more capital-G good players, period. Talent solves a lot of problems.
2. Clean out the mess that is the backend of the roster. Loans, whatever. Do what it takes. This has to look like a balanced, high-level NWSL roster at the start of 2025.
I wish the isolated moves were making me feel more confident than they are, but so it goes. They're on the clock!
Yeah, I'm trying to let this last shred of hope that I'm trying to keep alive get me through to the start of 2025.
There's still runway to shift my mind, but if we're in a similar place at the start of 2025 then I'm going to come to STF to yell about it. On. The. Clock. Literally no more excuses.
The other thing is like, if you look on Facebook and around the stadium, a LOT of fans *like* Gale. I think this board is in the minority, tbh.
I like Gale! I (and others) tried to come up with available managers that would be clearly, objectively be a better candidate than him and really struggled. I just wanted them to take a risk because it would show interest in being aggressive, acknowledging that there's no guarantee that a random manager would have the same floor as Gale (probably) has.
I still think that if they bring in the talent, he'll probably do fine....and I hope I'm wrong in saying that he's not an elevating manager. The process is the dissapointment.
My wife thinks I'm a crazy idiot (and she's probably right) that I'm disappointed in the Gale hire. He is well liked and has an 8-2-2 record. My frustration lies in the process and an outcome that screams "status quo" for a team that is falling behind the best teams in the league. I don't know squat about what woso coaches are available or good, but I do know that we, as a club, need some big time changes if we are going to compete with the KC, Spirit, Orlando and Goths of the world. I don't "feel" like this move is taking us the that direction. I hope I'm wrong. I hope KK blows up the summer and off season with great players. I'm just sick of waiting. Waiting for a new owner, coach, retirement,ect. While the team goes backwards.
As I always try to say, shades of gray. On balance, Gale's far from a disaster. There's probably a decent chance he's better than whatever other coach I would have preferred more, acknowledging that there are simply not that many known quantities in woso. For every Amoros, there's a Fran Alonso. For every Seb Hines, there's a Christy Holly.
But this particular hire is disappointing because we --especially the die-hards that populate this site-- see this as signifying stasis instead of ambition. I think there's still a lot of time to be proven right or wrong on that and the roster is priority #1, but it's an undeniably disappointing move on the surface, regardless of how well liked the dude is.