It took a bit of reading between the lines, but it’s clear more than few Galaxy players did not see eye to eye with now former Coach Ruud Gullit and were not unhappy to see him go in the least.
The players I talked to after practice today were circumspect and chose their words carefully, but it was obvious players were not prepared to fall on their swords, as it were, for Gullit.
The usually candid Pete Vagenas simply said to me he didn’t know how to answer that question when I put it to him.
But there seemed to be an almost palpable sense of relief the brief Gullit era was over, even if Interim Coach Cobi Jones insisted Gullit had not lost the team.
Here’s Vagenas on the situation:
“In the end I think things will be revealed. It will be clearer what happened. … My differences with Ruud have been well documented.
“Players need to understand whether you like the coach or not the only reason you’re here is Ruud wanted you and Alexi wanted you. Once they’re gone all bets are off.
“A lot of people were maybe waiting for something like this to happen, which is not necessarily the best scenario. The best scenario is to turn things around because that guarantees you’ll be part of it.
“Waiting for things to get to the point they’ve got to now, there’s such uncertainty. I hope we can do a good job of keeping it out of the group. There’s blood in the water now and teams know it.
Maybe guys are a little bit more comfortable (with Jones as coach). But in the end I don’t know whether it was a comfort issue. … It’s very difficult to adjust – in the way a club has been going – over such a quick period of time. So I think there was conflict and I think specifically Alexi and Ruud will probably answer that better than I.”
Landon Donovan had also clashed with Gullit, but said their relationship had improved of late:
It was actually okay. It was, believe it or not, better toward the end. Initially, he was a little hard on me. I was alright with that as long as it was respectful and at times it was a little disrespectful and that bothered me. Toward the end I think he figured out as he long as he treated me respectfully he could say things to me and I could get on with it.
There was times he was disrespectful to people and I think that’s where you rub people the wrong way. But to his credit I think he figured it out towards the end – probably too little, too late.
Even goalkeeper Steve Cronin, who had Gullit to be thankful for his starting job did not offer a suitable eulogy:
“His personality as a coach was very different from what a lot of us were used to and he wasn’t used to us and it was a tough blend. … I read a quote from him yesterday that said the job was tougher than he anticipated it was going to be when he came in. … At the end of the day it just wasn’t the right fit. When we started to get on a little bit of a slide and things didn’t work out for his family it was time for him to move on.”
Vagenas believes Jones is the best man to lead the Galaxy out of this mess:
“As things have gotten – I’ll use Ruud’s word – unstable – the more unstable they get the better Cobi seems to get. He’s taken on a persona and a personality that I’ve never seen before.
He’s always one that got it done and people followed. He wasn’t the most vocal person in the world he just did his work.
It’s his club. And if he doesn’t take ownership of it who will? Nobody in the entire world has more right to say what should be done than Cobi Jones.”
To sum up just how dysfunctional the relationship between Lalas and Gullit was, it’s instructive to note both addressed the team after their respective departures. Gullit spoke to the team today, Lalas on Monday.
