Sometimes you get the feeling that some people just love nothing more than to feel that they are in control. The bad part is once they feel they've lost said control. In soccer there are always moments when a coach loses his cool and appears to lose control of his team. It is never a pretty sight when it happens but imagine, if you will, what would happen if your manager were also your owner.
The word out of Cincinnati has it that this club is in trouble due in large part to details I'll get into further in this article. Confidential sources around the club have provided much of the information I have chosen to discuss while some of the things intimated in this article can be seen merely by watching this team play.
The Riverhawks entered this season with what appeared to be a reinvigorated approach to the game and maybe a bit of renewed hope after last year's dismal traipse through the A-League schedule. They made several signings and even changed their logo all in an effort to give off the appearance of a club that was ready to make a move up in the world.
Granted, they have done better in this season so far than last year but in the past few weeks as losses have begun to mount it is obvious that the players and the management are not on the same page. The on the field performance has been disjointed as it appears that players are not willing or have no desire to carry out their manager's instructions all the while losing belief in any plan they may have had coming into the season.
This kind of thing isn't unheard of around the league but the circumstances surrounding this situation are, for lack of a better term, one of a kind. No other group of players has to answer to their owner at every practice, meeting, game, and all other team functions because most clubs don't have their owner serving as their headman on the sidelines.
When a team goes into a spiral on the field and there's obvious discord the finger is usually pointed in the general direction of the coaching staff. Usually it's not just fans doing the pointing either. Many times it's the front office staff as well. In Cincinnati this has not and will not happen as long as the team's owner is also the manager.
This raises questions about what outside influences could or maybe should do in this situation. Some might think the league should institute a policy in which owners would have to give control of the team over to someone else if they chose to directly take part in the on the field business (i.e. coaching or playing) as in done in other sports in this country. This doesn't solve the current situation that is rapidly deteriorating in Cincinnati, though, as it appears that one man is ready to take professional soccer in that city down with him should he not succeed.
At the same time it is hard to keep any desire lit in a situation where the players aren't responding and the fans aren't coming out but that is still no excuse for allowing the situation to reach this near critical mass. If this man really cared one iota about soccer and the greater good of the game in Cincinnati he would've at least shown some intent to fix the problems. Unfortunately it seems that there is now a siege mentality in place for the duration of the Riverhawks season and possible existence.
So why have things gotten to this point and how have they arrived here? Once this team started to lose two important things it led to other losses that have kept this team spiraling towards a catastrophe. Those two things have been losing games on the field and money off of it that have wound up causing lost confidence. This lack of confidence has lead to players being fired only for cheaper, less effective talent to be brought in while the players that remain have lost confidence in their coaching staff. Not to denigrate the current members of this team but it is clear that the talent level for some is far different from that of others.
The performances on the field also point to less than effective training methods that haven't likely changed all that much since the preseason. The disjointed approach to their games points to a lack of confidence in the coaching staff's game plan and an inability to work together as a team out there. This is clearly a group of players who have gotten their heads down and do not have the kind of coach who has the mentality to try and build his players back up.
There is also a factor of fear that has to be brought up in this discussion. Any player that speaks out will likely be fired as being detrimental to the team. In this league keeping your job is often more important than a fair working environment so the mouths stay shut while the performances for this coach get worse and worse. The fear that some have that this team will go under sooner than the coach would be willing to resign is also hanging over Cincinnati.
Either way, the strides that were made this season are far outweighed by the manner in which everything seems to be going now. The club appears to be on the brink and a few quality signings with a new look kit won't be enough to pull this club away from that edge. I'm sure no one has the full story on this situation but bringing the things that have gone wrong up for debate may lead to some sort of solution in the long run. For the sake of soccer in Cincinnati maybe Richard Wanamaker needs to step up and buy his partner out but in the meantime I'm sure Nick Ranieri would say it's good to be king.
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