With the MLS Combine winding down tomorrow and the draft looming, Red Bull fans have been wondering whether new sporting director Erik Soler would listen league veterans like Richie Williams and Des McAleenan, and whether even-newer coach Hans Backe would even be in Philadelphia Thursday.
Apparently the answer to both questions is YES. Soler was at the combine today and MLS Insider caught up with the newly-hired Norwegian. And Soler said he’d take the input of Williams and McAleenan, acknowledging their greater experience in all things MLS. Check out the video here:
“Well, I’m definitely going to let Richie and Des. I’m definitely going to let Richie and Des advise me,” Soler told MLS Insider. “They’ve seen most of the players earlier, they have done reports on them. They both have much better experience than I have over the years at these combines and drafts. So we’ll discuss, and hopefully we’ll be able to make some good choices.”
Which, of course, infers that he’ll be listening to Williams over the input of Jeff Agoos. And since Agoos isn’t at the combine, that’s probably an accurate leap in logic. If so, many Red Bull fans will give Soler high marks for that alone. He’s also not showing the wanton hubris that has doomned so many other foreign managers in the past.
Of his newly-hired Swedish coach, who will be unveiled Wednesday in Harrison, Soler said “Hans has loads of experience from six different countries, has been a first coach with great success. He’s been an assistant to another great coach over the last couple of years, Sven-Goran Eriksson.
“I know he’s got a lot of skill, and is able to work with all different kind of personalities within the team. I’m sure he will add a lot of experience, and be a very good coach for us.”
The draft is an important one for the Red Bulls, with New York holding two first-round picks, including the second overall selection. And some overly-jittery fans feared that Backe might not be present, taking that as a bad sign that the team’s Austrian overlords really don’t care about Red Bull New York. But Soler said that Backe will indeed be in Philadelphia Thursday.
“Yeah, he will be there as well, of course,” Soler said. “He’s the new head coach, and he is looking forward to it.”
