Rennie Gone – Frank Yallop looks set to be announced as new Whitecaps manager

The Renniesance is over. 

After weeks of rumours and murmurs, Martin Rennie’s reign as Vancouver Whitecaps manager has come to an end and former Canadian international Frank Yallop is favourite to be announced as the new Caps boss. 

We’ve been told that Rennie was given the news today, with the club looking to go in a new direction under a new management team, with the two time MLS Cup winning Yallop likely to be at the helm. 

The Caps ownership has felt that the club failed to show enough progress in Rennie’s second year at the helm and the failure to make the playoffs this season has been the straw that broke the Scotsman’s back. 

Rennie leaves the Whitecaps after being in charge for 77 games (69 MLS and 8 Voyageurs Cup). His MLS record saw him with a 34.8% win percentage and an overall record of 24 wins, 19 draws and 26 defeats, taking 44% of points available. The Caps scraped in to the playoffs last season but failed to lift Vancouver’s first ever Voyageurs Cup in either season.  

He did lift two pieces of silverware during his time with Vancouver – 2012’s Walt Disney Classic Cup and this year’s Cascadia Cup. In the grand scheme of things, they mean little except for some bragging rights and a bit of pride. In the cutthroat, must win environment of modern day football management, such things are nice but not enough to keep your job. 

Rennie’s downfall can be pinned on a number of factors. Two key ones are the failure to achieve either of Vancouver’s two main goals this year (reaching the playoffs and securing Champions League qualification through the Canadian Championship), along with the perceived lack of sufficient progress by many when comparing the club to rivals like Portland, who overtook them big time this season.

Add in a rigid formation, playing players out of position, endless spin and what many feel has been a failure to learn from his mistakes, the writing was always looking on the wall for the Scot as soon as Coloradosealed Vancouver’s playoff fate. 

There is no doubt that the Whitecaps have improved under Rennie.  

They went from worst in 2011 to a playoff team last year, but two late season collapses have taken the shine a little away from all of the other achievements. Rennie’s legacy to us is that he got the Caps playing some exciting, attacking and entertaining football at home, but struggled to know just what to do with his team on the road. 

Wherever the future takes him, we wish him all the very best. 

The sacking and Frank Yallop’s likely appointment is sure to be a polarizing decision for some fans, but we feel it’s the right way to go. What the Whitecaps need right now is someone leading them with experience and proven success in the game as both a coach and a player, especially a coach that knows MLS and knows how to win in the league. 

And Yallop certainly knows how to do that, although it can also be argued that much of that success was a while ago now and the game has changed, especially in MLS. 

After retiring as a player in 1998, Yallop went into coaching and was named as the Head Coach of San Jose Earthquakes in 2001, winning the MLS Cup in his first season in charge and being named ‘Coach of the Year’. 

He won his second MLS Championship two years later, before leaving club football to take up the role of the Canadian national team manager in January 2004. 

Yallop stayed in that job for two and a half years before resigning and returning to club football with LA Galaxy in June 2006, then going back to San Jose for a second stint the following year.

The Canadian Hall of Famer stayed with the Earthquakes for five and a half years, guiding them to the 2012 Supporters’ Shield, before his surprise sacking in June this year following the Quakes horrible start to the season. 

It was a sacking that shocked his San Jose team, with Chris Wondolowski describing the decision as leaving him “speechless”, “devastated” and “gutted”at the departure of the man named as MLS ‘Coach of the Year’ just a few months previously. 

Even his ex players were taken by surprise, showing the respect he has built up as a coach. Joe Cannon took to twitter and commented “Absolutely stunned by Frank Yallop leaving. I can’t understand this.”. 

As a player, Yallop was capped 52 times for Canadaand played 14 seasons in Englandwith Ipswich Town, before returning to North America to play three years with Tampa Bay Mutiny in the early days of MLS, winning the Supporters Shield in his first season in 1996. 

This is the type of experience, as player and manager, that helps a coach garner respect from his squad, especially those more veteran and experienced players who have also played at the top level of the game, some of whom have been quite vocal privately about the direction that the team was going under Rennie. 

Yallop would come to Vancouverwith a MLS coaching record of 145 wins, 99 draws and 131 defeats from his 375 games in charge. That gives him an overall winning percentage of 38.7% and 47.5% of available points taken. 

Not stunningly more than Rennie but sustained over eight more years in the League and with two Championship and one regular season title to show for it. 

There is no word on the rest of Rennie’s management team but it is thought that Yallop would bring in a lot of his own personnel. 

Paul Ritchie will likely be moving on to pastures new. This is disappointing to us, as we feel he was an excellent coach and his experience in playing at the top level was an asset to the club and earned him respect. He was never afraid to be the one to dish out the necessary bollocking after games or at training and we’re pretty sure he’s going to go on to be a great coach in his own right. 

We fully expect Carl Robinson to stay at the club. He is well respected in the dressing room and MLS Golden Boot winner Camilo, was quick to heap praise on the former Welsh international yesterday for helping his game to become as successful as it has. We also wouldn’t be surprised to see Robbo groomed to take over as a future head coach himself one day. He certainly has all the right qualities. 

It will also be interesting to see what role Joe Cannon may get under Yallop, with the pair having a good relationship going back a number of years. 

Yallop will have had months to watch the Whitecaps in the second half of the season. He will already likely know which players he’d like to keep around and which ones need to go. We also expect him to hold a postseason training camp, which may start as early as this week, although don’t expect too many wholesale changes. 

The lingering question many will now have is whether Yallop is the right man for the job. Is his experience and success in MLS exactly what the fourth year team are now needing in this league? Or was his 2012 Quakes a blip and he is a manager whose best days are behind him and he is coming to the team with outdated ideas that won’t be a success here? 

Yallop didn’t haven much of a playing budget to bring in top players at San Jose but spent wisely on talent. Will he get more to play with in Vancouver?

I guess we’ll soon find out, but we’re pretty confident that the right decision has been made and we’ll see the fruits of this next season. And we have to, because the Whitecaps cannot afford to take any backwards or even sideways steps with this appointment. This is a key one for the Caps footballing future. 

Interesting times ahead in Whitecapsland.

In The Cold Light Of Day: Vancouver is full of ations

To paraphrase Kenneth Wolstenholme, we thought it was all over. It is now. 

Four days after Vancouver Whitecaps’ playoff hopes crashed and burned in the altitude of Colorado, there’s still a lot of anger floating around here at AFTN as it’s been a season of wasted opportunities, where those teams previously below us have strengthened themselves far better than the Caps did. 

It’s also been a season full of ations for Vancouverand they’ve driven our playoff hopes off a cliff.  

We’d hoped for celebration, domination and creation but unfortunately it’s been frustration, desperation and stagnation that have been the order of the day. All we can hope for now is that it is going to end with a termination. 

The hard questions that have to be asked now by the Caps powers that be is what were the goals going into the season, who is responsible for the failure to achieve those and what are the acceptable measuring sticks of success and progression for this team? 

As expected of a man fighting to save his job, Martin Rennie has been keen to play up the positives at every given opportunity over the last few weeks. And there have been some. 

The Caps have recorded their highest ever points total after three years of MLS play and their highest number of overall wins and away wins (although some of those games saw the team filled with trepidation). Then there’s the big increase in goals scored and Camilo challenging for the Golden Boot. 

They’re all positives. There’s a temptation to call it spin, but it is at least factual. It’s just not what I deem as acceptable progress when those around you have actually progressed more than you. 

I know I’ve been beating these stats to death a little this week on Whitecaps Daily and on our own podcast, but they are worth mentioning again for those that haven’t listened. 

We’ve improved in areas and yes, that is some kind of progress, but when you dig a little deeper into the numbers they become a little bit more telling. 

Vancouver have 12 wins at present, but that’s only an increase of one from 2012. Portlandhave five more and Coloradothree. 

Again, yes, the points total has increased to 45. A massive increase of two there, whilst Portland have increased by 20 and Colorado by 14. 

Those were the two teams that finished below us last season that have improved enough to make the playoffs this year at our expense. Is that acceptable progress? And why were those teams able to strengthen better than we were? 

Even looking at Dallas, who didn’t make the playoffs last year or this, have five more points and two more wins. 

The Whitecaps have scored 50 goals so far this season. That is up a whopping 15 on last year and sees them sitting with the third best ‘goals for’ record in the West and fourth best in MLS overall. 

Great stuff, but hold on a minute. How can a team that’s scoring like that not even be in the playoffs, never mind languishing 14th in the overall table? Portland are also up 15 goals and they sit atop of the Western Conference. 

Well a quick look one column over tells you why. The Caps have conceded 45 goals this year, which is actually an increase of four on last season. Only six teams have conceded more and four of them are also missing out on the playoffs. Portland on the other hand have conceded a massive 23 goals less than last season. 

Rennie stated again at training yesterday that the team needs “a settled back four”. They do and yes, there has been a huge amount of chopping and changing with the central defenders due to the insane amount of injuries that has befallen that particular position, but how many goals and losses can be pinned on that defensive pairing? Everyone who’s played there this year has done reasonably well and at times excellently so. 

The problem has been on the wings. With Lee retiring and Harvey struggling defensively, there’s two voids to be filled there in the offseason and, without going into the rights or wrong of the Rochat trade once again, many would say it should have been filled this year. 

Not to mention for the umpteenth time that we’ve needed at least one more midfielder all season long. 

I said back in April that this squad was not good enough or deep enough to make the playoffs. It was glaringly so. A storming June papered over some of those cracks but they soon became visible again leading to our traditional late summer horrorshow.

It was all very frustrating to watch and that frustration soon turned to desperation, which in turn led to the Caps finding some form when they were fighting for their playoff lives. 

All too little too late and you’re left wondering what might have been had they found that swagger and playing style sooner. 

Which ties in with another ation that’s caused problems. Rennie’s formation. Rigid, predictable and seemingly without the right personnel in place to carry it out at times. At this late stage in the season, how many would agree on what our best starting eleven actually is? Does Rennie even know? At times it’s felt like improvisation.

In his postgame interview on Saturday he claimed that: 

“I wanted to introduce a number of young players in the team and we’ve really done that. We’ve had a number of young players establish themselves in the group.” 

Who? And what team? The Reserves? Manneh couldn’t even find a spot on the bench in a number of matches. Teibert, Koffie and Leveron all lost their starting spots. 

There’s been some statistical advancement but not to an extent of achieving the Caps’ set goals. 

At training yesterday Jordan Harvey commented that “Obviously we’re disappointed at not making the playoffs, that’s our number one goal. We had high expectations.”

Not everyone can achieve their number one goal, but when it really matters the Whitecaps consistently failed to achieve most of their aims under Rennie. And the fact that often it has been in their own hands is what is particularly anger inducing. 

We knew we needed two wins against Coloradoto most likely make the playoffs. We didn’t get the job done. We knew we needed to beat Montrealat home to win our first every Voyageurs Cup. We didn’t get the job done again. 

We did win our first Cascadia Cup in the MLS era but all that gets us is a shiny fan trophy,  bragging rights and libations. Fun, enjoyable but ultimately it should have been way down the pecking order when it came to what people feel was acceptable as a mark of a successful season. 

Rennie’s interviews often have an element of spin to them, manipulation if you like, but at times they also have a feel of a flight of fancy and you wonder if you’ve been watching the same game and team. 

There can only be so much spin and the results speak for themselves. Rennie sees progress, yet Caps President Bobby Lenarduzzi told Team Radio yesterday that “I would say that we were stagnant”. 

He continued: 

 

“The competition in the division, it’s clear for everyone to see, other clubs upgraded, as did we, but just not enough. Too many points dropped at key times. 

 

“I would say that we probably maintained where we were, but most people would view it as having regressed because we haven’t made the playoffs.”

 

It’s hard to read or hear those comments, and others where he clearly lays all of the player decisions and signing with the manager,  without thinking that Rennie’s days are numbered in Vancouver and the season will end with one last ation – termination. 

 

Whoever then comes in will be one of the key appointments in Whitecaps history. It has to be right man, with the right ideas and the right knowledge to lead this team to success, hopefully adding a new ation for next season – rejuvenation.

"There’s Still Time" – The AFTN Podcast – Episode 24 (Goodbye Playoffs, Hello Mediocrity)

Episode 24 of “There’s Still Time”, the AFTN podcast. It’s the “Goodbye Playoffs, Hello Mediocrity” episode, also known as the “Colorado post game show” and “The one where an angry Scot rants at you for close to an hour”.

After the Cascadia high came the Rockies low. A 3-2 defeat to Colorado Rapids sent Vancouver Whitecaps spiralling out of the playoffs and Martin Rennie probably towards the unemployment line, along with a lot of the players.

We don’t really want to but we look back at the game that ended the Whitecaps playoff hopes and try and pinpoint where it went wrong this season. Can winning the Cascadia Cup and logging more wins, points and goals scored make still make it a success?

That’s how Rennie is spinning things and we look at his post game comments on Saturday and ponder whether he can stay on now and where all these established young players he is talking about can be found.

There’s still time for a look at what we want to see in the last game of the season and we start our campaign to get both Joe Cannon and Sam Adekugbe some playing time in the season finale.

There’s a lot more chat too about all things Whitecaps, including some tweets from our listeners about the season past and future, so crank us up.

You can listen to this week’s podcast on iTunes HERE.

Or download it for your later listening delight HERE

We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast’s mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the “Quick Launch” icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app.

And if that’s not enough, we’ve joined Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 15,000 shows HERE.

Martin Rennie Impresses Fans At Southsiders AGM

Vancouver Southsiders held their 2011 AGM and Christmas party last night at Doolin’s Irish Pub.

Vancouver Whitecaps on-pitch results may have been nothing to write home about last season, but the big success story off it was the growth of the supporters’ group, although it’s been far from an easy journey at times.

The Southsiders membership is currently sitting around the 800 mark, a pretty staggering growth from the 200+ figure from just a year ago.

The hard work is now beginning for the group, as they look to turn those 2011 members into 2012 renewals, whilst still looking at attracting new members to the fold.

One man that can certainly make their job a little easier is Martin Rennie.

If the new Whitecaps Head Coach can get success on the field, then the feelgood factor in the stands will certainly come on the back of that.

Listening to the Scot address the fans last night, it’s already hard not to be drawn into the mindset of the charismatic coach and believe that a change of fortune is on the cards for the Whitecaps. {Photo courtesy of Max Fornas}

All of this anticipation must be tempered by the stark realism of just how big a job the new manager has on his hands to turn things around.

We saw last season that talk and gusto is cheap and counts for nothing if you can’t put the results together. That’s a mistake that won’t be repeated next term.

Rennie came along after the formal part of the evening to meet the fans and spent time chatting with many and signing autographs before taking part in an impromptu Q&A with AFTN to look at what lies in store for the Blue and White faithful:

”We’ve had a busy few weeks. We’ve had to evaluate all the players, some of which you would have enjoyed watching and become fans of. Unfortunately we need to add to the team and improve upon it, so some of those players aren’t going to be here next year.

What I would say is that the players we’re bringing in, I think you’ll be really excited to see them and watch them play.”

Whatever new players do end up in Vancouver, it’s looking unlikely that they’re going to come from the MLS Re-Entry draft.

The Whitecaps passed on their first pick yesterday. Not through salary issues as some may have thought, but more from the quality aspect of what was available:

”We believe we can sign players that are better than that and hopefully we’ll prove that in the next couple of months.”

Always good to hear that the Club are not just settling for second rate and castoffs, but actively looking to try and get the best players they can to come to Vancouver.

Who those players are is now the exciting waiting game for fans, but does Martin have an idea of how many players he still needs to add to the squad to get them to the competitive quality he is seeking?

”It’s always hard to put an exact number on it, but we are in the process of signing a few players at the moment. Between now and the start of the season, there will probably be about 8 or 9 players that I think will make a significant difference to the squad we’ve got. The final number I’m not sure, but I believe there will be a significant improvement.”

The turnaround of the Caps fortunes doesn’t just lie in Rennie hands. It’s a team effort and an important part of the new team is assistant manager Paul Ritchie.

Having worked closely with Ritchie in Carolina, what does Rennie see him bringing to Vancouver?

”He’s really good at swearing! Much better than me.

He’s very effective. He gets on well with players but demands their respect. He’s played at the highest level with Manchester City and Rangers and so on, so he was a top player.

You’ll love him, he’s a great guy. You’ll like hanging out with him. You might not understand a word he says, but you’ll certainly enjoy being around him.”

The swearing aspect is obviously a Fife gene, so I’m sure AFTN and Paul will get on just fine.

Talking of genes, there’s clearly something in the Scottish DNA that makes top football managers.

The Caps now have their Celtic Connection at the helm, and in the English Premiership, seven of the current 20 managers are Scottish.

So just what is it about the nation that makes us Scots the best managers?

”I don’t think we know the answer to that. I think that maybe because Sir Alex Ferguson has done so well in England, other Scottish managers have followed in his footsteps.

It doesn’t really matter what they’ve done in England, it’s all about what we do here in Vancouver and that’s all I really care about.”

A sentiment I’m sure all the fans will agree with.

Martin Rennie clearly has a vision of where he would like to see the Whitecaps going and how they’re going to get there and it is genuinely exciting to see what’s going to happen.

Can he deliver?

We’ll get some idea of how things are taking shape on March 10th against Montreal.

I’m already counting down the days.

Timewasting: Scottish Slang Words Every Whitecap Needs To Know – And How To Use Them

With the Caps new Celtic Connection of Martin Rennie and Paul Ritchie now at the managerial helm, Whitecaps players, front office staff, fans and local media will have to get used to hearing the Scottish brogue

They’re also likely to be hearing some words and phrases that they may not be used to, and I don’t mean “winning team”.

The influx of new players is imminent, so, always eager to help, AFTN brings you a selection of Scottish slang words and how you might hear them and use them now in MLS…

AWFURFUXAKE : Pronounced aw-for-fucks-sake. A term of exasperation, usually shouted. Likely to be heard after Mustapha Jarju shoots on goal.

BAWBAG : Pronounced baw-bag. An idiot, stupid or useless person. Likely to be heard when Baldomero Toledo is refereeing – “Haw Toledo ya bawbag”. In this sentence, “haw” means hey. “Bawbag” can also be replaced by CHOOB, DOBBER or NUMPTY for same effect. Also a slang term for scrotum.

CLUDGIE : Pronounced clud-gee. A toilet. An example of how this might be used would be – “I see Toronto’s playoff hopes have gone down the cludgie again”.

COWP : Pronouned cow-pp. Means a messy or a dirty place. A veritable shit-hole. Can also be replaced by MIDDEN. Likely to be heard when they step off the plane in DC or Philadelphia – “Man, what a cowp of a place this is”.

CRABBIT : Pronounced cra-bit. Means to be angry and grumpy. The media will hear this after the Caps lose a game they should have won – “Sorry guys, I’m not gonna say too much, I’m way too crabbit”.

DREICH : Pronounced dreek. Meaning a dull, usually rainy, overcast day. It’s Vancouver summed up in one word. You’re going to hear this a lot – “man, it’s another dreich day today”.

DROOKIT : Pronounced drew-kit. Meaning to be soaked to the skin. Also likely to be heard a lot in rainy Vancouver – “awfurfuxake man, what’s with aw this dreich weather? I’m drookit again”.

GLAIKIT : Pronounced glay-kit. A term often used to describe a person with a confused clueless look upon their face. An example of how this might have been used already would have been – “Come on Bilal, ya glaikit big lump”.

HAVERING : Pronounced hay-ver-ring. Can also be substituted with SLAVERING. Means to talk incessant nonsense. Will be heard when Paul Barber is talking about the Caps being one of the top 25 Clubs in the world – “Hey Paul, quit your havering/slavering”.

JOTTERS : Pronounced as spelt. Means to tell someone they’re fired. Will have been heard in last few weeks and days and in the days to come – “Sorry Peter. I know Tommy loved you, but I’m giving you your jotters”.

LALDY : Pronounced lahl-dee. Means to give it everything, especially in a celebratory fashion. Will be heard in the post-game dressing room celebrations in Toronto after the Caps have won their first Voyageurs Cup – “The lads are gonna gie it laldy the night”.

MINGING : Pronounce ming-in. Means horrible. Something that looks and/or is disgusting. Can be used when Seattle come to town – “Man, the Sounders are wearing their third kit tonight. It’s minging.”.

OHYAHOORSIR : Pronounced oh-ya-hoor-sir. An exclamation similar to AWFURFUXAKE, but one which is used to express joy and often disbelief. Will be heard if Eric Hassli produces another Seattle-esque wonder goal.

PEELY-WALLY : Pronounced pee-lee-wah-lee. Used to describe a pale looking person, especially one who is ill, sick or injured. Was heard during the training evaluation camp – “Thorrington, you’re looking awfly peely-wally. What you broken this time?”.

PETTIT LIP : Pronounced petted-lip. Meaning to sulk or to force someone to pout with your actions. Likely to be heard when we go down to the Clink and steal the game with a last minute winner – “Poor Sigi. Look at his pettit lip”. Can also be used to describe Omar Salgado.

POCKLE : Pronounced paw-kill. To steal, cheat or swindle. Also likely to be heard in the post match presser when we go down to the Clink and steal the game with a last minute winner – “Aye we pockled the three points from that game”.

RADGE : Pronounced as spelt. Means a crazy person. A nutter. Would be put to good use if we re-signed Mouloud Akloul.

RAMMY : Pronounced as spelt. Meaning a fight. Will be heard if we ever sign a battling midfielder with a bit of bite and the desire to go in for hard tackles which lead to a bit of pushing and shoving on the pitch – “(insert name here)’s caused another rammy”.

SCRAN : Pronounced as spelt. More likely to be heard from Paul Ritchie as this is a Fife word. Means food – “What’s the scran like around here?”.

SCUNNERED : Pronounced as spelt. Means well and truly pissed off. Will be heard in post match press conferences in the unlikely event that we’ve lost a match – Q: “How do you feel about the game Martin?” A: “Totally scunnered”.

SKELP AFF THE LUG : Pronounced as spelt. Meaning to hit someone on the ear, primarily to chastise them. Will most likely be heard in training – “Jarju. If you keep missing the target, you’re gonna get a skelp aff the lug”.

WHEEN : Pronounced whee-een. Meaning a lot or a large amount. Will be used in sentences like “Eric Hassli’s scored a wheen of goals for us this year”.

WHEESHT : Pronounced whee-sshhh-t. Meaning to tell someone to be quiet and to shut up. Likely to be heard at meetings when Tommy Soehn is present and trying to talk.

YA BAS : Pronounced ya-basss. Meaning “you bastard”. Can be used as a derogatory term – “Fuck aff Bunbury ya bas” – but also as a term of endearment when two Scottish people see each other for the first time in a long time. Might be heard when Portland come to town – “Haw Spenny ya bas. How ya doing big man?”

So there you go AFTN readers. Some new Scottish words for you to all get acquainted with over the close season.

And remember – IF IT’S NO SCOTTISH, IT’S CRAP.

There’s our opening day tifo right there.

The Celtic Connection: Paul Ritchie Named New Whitecaps Assistant Manager

In perhaps one of the least surprising announcements from Vancouver Whitecaps in 2011, Paul Ritchie was officially confirmed as Martin Rennie’s assistant manager this morning, following much internet speculation.

A fellow Scot, Ritchie has been Rennie’s assistant at Carolina since the start of the 2010 NASL season, having first come to the Railhawks as a player, in February 2009.

And Rennie is delighted to have him with him here in Vancouver:

“Paul was a key member of my coaching staff in Carolina the past two seasons. He brings a wealth of knowledge and will play an important role in building a successful team here in Vancouver.”

As a player, Ritchie only played one match for Carolina, against Minnesota on April 26th 2009, before a knee injury in those 41 substitute minutes played signalled not just an end to his time as a Carolina player, but also his entire playing career.

Before retiring, Ritchie was working his way towards UEFA’s “A” coaching licence, which he now has, along with his UEFA “B” and SFA Youth licences. Management was always on his mind, and after a career at the top level in both Scotland and England, it was a move that made sense.

Paul Ritchie is a Fife lad, like myself. In fact, he lived in the village next to my hometown, so AFTN is very pleased to welcome him to the Whitecaps and to Vancouver.

His vast experience as a defender will also be an added benefit to the Caps, who were all over the place at times back there this season. He can also draw on his experience as a Scottish international, for whom he won seven caps and scored one goal (against the Czech Republic).

Ritchie started his career with Hearts in the SPL, making 133 appearances, scoring 6 goals and guiding them to the 1998 Scottish Cup in the process. Stints in England at Bolton, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Derby and Walsall followed, before a return to Scotland with Dundee United for two seasons in 2004.

When Ritchie took the Carolina coaching position he told the Daily Record in Scotland:

“It’s a chance to expand my coaching skills in a wonderful environment…I’ve been searching for a chance in Scotland but they are few and far between, so decided to go to the US.”

And now he’s made the move to Canada alongside Rennie and he can’t wait to get things going here:

“I am looking forward to working with Martin again in this new challenge. Vancouver is a beautiful city and I can’t wait to get started.”

With some comparing Rennie’s style and approach to the game to that of a young Brian Clough, that would make Ritchie his Peter Taylor.

The Caps new boss was clearly keen on Ritchie from an early stage, telling Oursportscentral.com, upon Ritchie’s release as a player”

“He’s played at the highest level and is obviously a fantastic player. What I didn’t realize was how good a guy he is, how much respect he showed to everybody here and how much he helped us build the environment that we’ve got.

He’s helped set a culture where people have high expectations and also looked out for one another. That’s real impressive to me from someone who has already been there, seen it, done it. And he was still willing to completely buy in to what we’re doing. And that was amazing to me.”

And that is exactly what is needed at Vancouver Whitecaps right now. We need unity. We need everyone one the same page and buying in to what the manager is trying to do. That was the clear message when Rennie arrived yesterday.

With Paul Ritchie we get that, along with someone who knows Rennie’s ways and style.

We don’t want to put too much pressure on them already, but this Celtic connection already has me excited.

Martin Rennie : The Dawning Of A New Era

The Martin Rennie era has officially begun.

It seems like an age ago since Rennie was announced as the third head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps this year. Third time lucky hopefully.

In those weeks since the August unveiling, a lot has happened. The Caps stuttered to last place in MLS, whilst Rennie’s Carolina Railhawks finished first in the NASL regular season standings, despite a horrible late season slump, but agonisingly crashed out of the playoffs at the semi final stage in a penalty shoot-out.

What’s done is done. The 2011 season for Rennie and the Caps is in the past now, and in the past it must remain.

That seemed to be the message of the day at this morning’s press conference to officially welcome Martin Rennie taking the reigns in Vancouver, ahead of a week long training camp where he will evaluate the current Caps crop.

There’s no point looking backwards any more.

“When the final whistle went at the last home game against Colorado, and the season concluded, I certainly, at that point, was happy to move on and look ahead with optimism to next season. Essentially, as soon as the whistle blew, we were on to next season.” Bobby Lenarduzzi opened the presser by saying.

Later, when asked about what kind of culture he wants to instill in the club Martin Rennie added:

“The culture has to be a positive, winning culture. You have to build that first before you get wins. A lot of people think you win, and then you build confidence, well actually you build the winning culture first and then the wins start happening from there. So that’s what we need to build and we start doing that from today.

As far as I’m concerned, last season has gone for these players. There’s nothing you can do about that, other than from perhaps glance back and learn from it. You’ve got to move forward and that starts in about half an hour’s time.”

The 2011 season is certainly best to have a line drawn under it, but lessons will be, and need to be, learned. Martin Rennie and Bobby Lenarduzzi were so enthusiastic and positive about what lies ahead for the club, that even the most disconsolate Whitecaps fan would be left with a skip in their step.

But let’s keep our new found optimism at least a little tempered. It’s easy to get carried away, and AFTN has been guilty of that ourselves, but high expectations just lead to added pressure on a new, and still relatively inexperienced, manager in his debut MLS season. Making the playoffs and winning the Voyageurs Cup will do us just nicely for starters!!

There is no doubt that Rennie has a lot of work to do, as was evident by his post-training comment: “We need to improve it considerably from where we are right now”.

But he also has time. There’s over four months till the 2012 season will get underway. Plenty of time for Rennie and his team to instill a new found self-belief and attitude at the club, and it’s a challenge that he is clearly looking forward to:

“For me, this is an exciting part of the season, because this is when you build your team for the next year and I believe that we can build a really strong team here. Obviously we’re putting a lot of work in behind the scenes to do that…to make sure we give the fans here a team we can be proud of.

One of the things I’ve noticed, from a distance, is that the fan support here is incredible. The new stadium, the atmosphere seems excellent, from what I’ve seen, and I’m really looking forward to being in that stadium and having the support of the fans, and giving them a team they can hold on to and be proud of. I hope that we can build a home field advantage here, like I’ve been able to do with the other clubs over the years and make it a very difficult place for people to come and play.”

This week’s camp will feature the MLS squad and Residency players like Ben Fisk and Caleb Clarke, who have impressed in the reserve matches they have played in and Rennie has promised to give all the guys “a fair chance” and he’s looking forward to “finding out what kind of people they are, getting to know them and trying to figure out how to get the best out of them”.

“Over the next ten days we’ll have a much clearer idea of what our squad is going to look like for next season, but we know we have some good pieces in place and now it’s a case of adding to that to make sure that we can all be very proud of what we do next season.”

The camp won’t feature any Carolina Railhawks though.

When asked about that this morning, Rennie told reporters:

“I’ve seen them for two or three years. I know what they can do.”

Does he have firm players in mind, that aren’t currently playing in MLS, that he’d like to bring to the Caps?

“Yup!” was his short, to the point confirmation to that, which drew some laughs from the room! As he also acknowledged, who he wants to bring in and some of the MLS hoops the club needs to jump through to get them here, can often prevent the manager getting his man.

Fans and pundits alike can easily pinpoint where the Whitecaps current weaknesses lie, and Rennie has already done his homework in that category, evaluating players from a distance, having watched videos of the Club’s MLS and many reserve games since his appointment.

“There are a few holes. It would be unfair to say exactly what they are at this moment in time, without seeing the guys over the next few days. I have my ideas on it.

One of the things is building a team that can play both sides of the ball because at times the team was good when it attacked, but if it didn’t score it was very vulnerable and likely to lose a goal and that happened on a number of occasions.

I think we have to be very difficult to play against and very difficult to beat and then rely on these guys who I think we all know have that little bit of quality and flair in the final third. But that only counts if you’re not losing goals at the other end.”

When pushed a little later as to just what type of players he would be looking for Rennie told reporters:

“I think we probably do need to find a ball winning, central midfielder, that would be one. Maybe another central defender as well. We’ll see.”

And ideally players with which qualities?

“Some more MLS experience. Also some real tough characters. Guys that compete when the team doesn’t have the ball and then guys that make the difference in the final third. Those are important.

I think also the team needs to improve a little bit defensively, so some of that’s tactical but some of that’s finding the right players too”.

Carolina’s Maltese striker, Etienne Barbara, is being strongly linked at joining his old boss in Vancouver, and that would be a potentially good signing, especially if we lose Camilo to pastures new.

From what Rennie said he was looking for today, it also only reconfirmed our thoughts that Houston’s Adam Moffat, will be a player that could come to the Whitecaps. Possibly in a trade for Davide Chiumiento and a draft pick?

A fellow Scot, Moffat has played under Rennie before and talked highly of his attributes as a manager when AFTN spoke with him in August.

Whoever Rennie brings in and whatever happens in this training camp, what Whitecaps fans can rest assured with is that they now have a man at the helm with a clear vision of what kind of team he wants.

He’s going to be a hard taskmaster and there will be no room for shirkers on the team. He won’t suffer fools gladly and he’s very big on the mental development and fortitude of players.

He reminds me of a young Brian Clough. He knows what he wants, he knows how to get it and he’s not afraid to be brutally honest and outspoken along the way.

If he brings just a glimmer of the success Clough achieved, then we need to strap ourselves in for a fun ride. But we would also counter that by saying that Rennie is still very much unproven at this level and he knows he is facing a big challenge ahead.

He will set “ambitious” yet “realistic” goals for the team next season and these will be done “incrementally” based on full evaluation and operational factors, such as did he get the players he wanted to get. So no false dawns and amazing proclamations this time around.

We’re not saying that Martin Rennie is the answer to everything, or that his appointment will guarantee success, but we do feel that it will be an advancement in the right direction for Vancouver Whitecaps.

And that can only be a good thing.

Countdown To Rennie Underway

Martin Rennie’s Carolina Railhawks crashed out of NASL Championship contention at the weekend in pretty dramatic fashion, eventually losing an incident packed second leg semi-final tie on penalties.

The defeat dashed Rennie’s hopes of coming to the Whitecaps with a Championship under his belt.

In fact, the 36 year old Scot will be coming to Vancouver with less than confidence boosting momentum, following a poor run of form for his Railhawks side recently.

He’ll fit in just nicely here then!

Although Rennie won’t take the helms at the Whitecaps until after the regular season is done and dusted, many are counting down the days till he takes over.

A key reason for that being that it will also spell the end of Tom Soehn’s reign as manager. Can’t come soon enough as far as we’re concerned.

One more game in “charge” for Soehn and as we look forward to Saturday’s match against Colorado Rapids, AFTN will be having a special #CountdownToRennie week, with various articles and humourous jibes to send Tommy packing.

Time to return to our fanzine roots, so check back every day for something new.

In the meantime, let’s try and get the hashtag #CountdownToRennie trending on Twitter.

The Renniesance will soon be upon us.

Houston’s Adam Moffat Speaks Of Exciting Times For Vancouver Under Martin Rennie

”It’s going to be exciting for Vancouver next year with him leading them.”

That’s Houston Dynamo midfielder Adam Moffat’s take on new Vancouver Whitecaps manager Martin Rennie. And the 25 year old Scotsman should know, as his countryman Rennie is the reason that Moffat is now plying his trade in the States and in his fifth season in Major League Soccer.

”Martin brought me over. I had a contact who knew him and he asked me to come over and play for his team in Cleveland.”

At AFTN, it’s not everyday we run into someone in MLS that we used to watch playing against our other loves, East Fife. That’s where we first watched Moffat, as he played for Elgin City against the Fifers three times in the 2006/07 season of the Scottish Third Division. We even watched him score against us in the October 7th game at Borough Briggs. The audacity!

Did he ever think he’d end up playing in America when he was travelling around some of the toilets of Scottish football like Coatbridge?

”No. It’s funny how it’s all worked out. Going from there is an unusual journey, but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. I came over here, played in USL for a little bit, then getting into MLS and now I’ve been here for a few years.”

Moffat stood out for the perennial Highland strugglers and was a player some Fife fans even hoped we’d sign to bolster our promotion push that season.

As it turned out, Moffat ended up leaving Scotland altogether for pastures new in Ohio, where he played for the Cleveland City Stars in the 2007 USL Second Division season.

It was a standout year for the young Scot, being named in the League’s Best XI All Star team and getting attention from MLS teams in the process.

It wasn’t long before Moffat made the state switch south to Columbus to join the Crew, where he spent just over three seasons, notching up 44 appearances and 5 goals. The Crew won an Eastern Conference Championship, two Supporters Shields and a MLS Cup in his time there, although a serious knee injury hampered Moffat’s contribution.

Adam was nearly one of our Cascadia Cup rivals this season, as Portland picked him up third in the expansion draft. After making just four sub appearances for the Timbers, they let him go to join Houston in July, receiving two players in return. Moffat is now a regular starter with the Dynamo, playing 6 games and scoring one goal so far and he came close on Saturday to adding to his tally, crashing a first half effort off the bar.

Although now an established MLS player, Moffat remembers his time in Cleveland fondly and in particular the management of Martin Rennie.

”Martin’s a really good coach. His record shows that. I know it’s at a lower level, but he’s done really well each year and each level that he’s been at.

It’s a challenge for him. It’s going to be a little bit different but he knows what he’s talking about and he knows what he’s capable of doing.”

So what can Vancouver fans expect from a Rennie coached Whitecaps side next season?

”We had a good system [in Cleveland]. We were pretty attack minded, but at the same time we were solid at the back. That’s where we were a little bit more there. Really organised. I think that was probably the biggest thing.

Our organisation helped get us results and he’s kept that with his new team in Carolina obviously. He’s got them really organised and it makes a difference. So if he gets the guys here [in Vancouver] organised next year, it’s going to be good for you.”

And is Adam relishing lining up against his old boss next season?

”For sure. I keep in touch with him quite a lot, so it would be good and hopefully score I’ll against him!”

For now though, Adam’s mind is firmly focussed on the 2011 MLS playoffs.

This season, Houston are battling it out for a playoff spot, currently sitting in third place in the Eastern conference and eighth place in the playoff picture.

One of the things which has hampered their aspirations this year has been their away form. Or lack of it, as they remain winless on the road alongside Vancouver and Toronto.

With the pressure and chances they had in Saturday’s match, they must have surely felt that first elusive away victory was on the cards:

”Yeah, it’s disappointing. Not only not to win the game, but also to end up losing it at the end. We played well and had our chances but we never took them. Full credit to Vancouver, they finished well. “

Houston sit three points clear in the playoff race in eighth spot. Clinching that berth is now where the Club are deeply focussing their efforts for their remaining seven regular season games:

”Yeah, definitely. We had a chance to put some points on the board tonight. That’s our aim and obviously we didn’t, but we’ll keep going. We’ve been playing well lately. Getting to the playoffs, that’s our goal, and we know we’re capable of doing it, so we’ll keep working hard at that.”

And good luck to the Dynamo. With Portland Timbers harbouring playoff hopes of their own, Houston could be the team that stops them achieving that in their inaugural MLS season. As bitter and twisted Cascadian rivals, AFTN obviously hope they fail to achieve that goal!

From a personal point of view, it’s good to see a Scottish player like Adam Moffat come over to the US and do well in Major League Soccer. There were many that came over in the 70’s and 80’s for NASL, but far less so for MLS.

Does Moffat have any plans to go back to Scotland or somewhere else in Europe, or would he like to play out his career over here?

”I don’t know. I enjoy it over here. My wife’s from over here and I married her in California. So who knows. But if there’s an opportunity, I definitely would think about it, but I enjoy being over here. I’ve been in a few different states now. It’s fun. It’s a good lifestyle.”

Good luck to him. As a player who has played and impressed Martin Rennie before, who knows what his MLS future may hold in store and where it may take him.

Midfield isn’t the number one priority for the Whitecaps just now, but never say never.

Martin Rennie Named Vancouver Whitecaps Manager

The managerial hotseat at Vancouver Whitecaps doesn’t really get much chance to get warm these days.

It’s become more of a game of musical chairs in the dugout, but today, Vancouver Whitecaps announced their new manager, and this time I think we’ve got a keeper.

Martin Rennie was officially unveiled as the new Whitecaps boss at a press conference this morning.

The internet was abuzz last night with the breaking news that the current Carolina Railhawks manager was to become the Caps third manager of the season.

As far as we’re concered here at AFTN, it’s a fantastic move.

Rennie is very highly thought of in managerial circles and many consider him to be the best young manager currently working in North America.

High praise indeed for the 36 year old Scot.

Others are comparing him to the likes of Brian Clough and Alex Ferguson.

Rennie will not officially take the Vancouver reigns until after the end of the season, choosing instead to stay with NASL leaders Carolina until their season and Championship push is over.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I admire Martin for doing that.

By choosing to stay at Carolina and see through what he started there, shows that he is a man of principle and loyalty. These are two traits sadly severely lacking in modern day football.

Rennie was linked with the Montreal Impact job, but the word on the street is that one of the stalling points in these talks was the fact that he wanted to stay with Carolina until their playoff push was done and dusted.

Montreal’s loss is most certainly Vancouver’s gain. Of course, the fact that Martin has allegedly turned down the Frenchies has already endeared him to Caps fans no end.

Many Whitecaps fans will not be familiar with the name of Martin Rennie. Believe me, you soon will be.

Although a very young manager, he has achieved so much already in his fledgling career.

So who is the new man in charge of guiding the Whitecaps to future glories?

Martin Rennie was born in Thurso and grew up on the outskirts of the town in a village called Bettyhill, in the very north of Scotland, but moved to the central belt at the age of ten, living in Larbert. His father was a Reverend and this has given Martin his strong faith.

A lifelong fan of Falkirk FC, Martin Rennie has had a love of the game from an early age and was a former ballboy at Brockville, watching his beloved Bairns week in, week out.

As a player, he went over to the States at the age of 19 and played for Charlotte Eagles when they were in the A League. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament on his first day here and struggled to recover.

Upon returning to Scotland, he turned out at Junior level (that’s adult football, not kids! Scottish non league, around tier 6, and pretty good – better than some League sides). His Clubs included Rosyth in Fife and Bo’ness United and Dunipace FC, but his playing career was unfortunately cut short in his late 20’s by another cruciate ligament injury to his right knee.

Many players would have walked away from the game. Some would have been bitter. Not Martin.

He threw his heart into the coaching side of the game and he had already achieved his UEFA ‘A’ licence by the age of 26. He now holds 12 SFA and UEFA badges and is one of only a handful coaches in the world to hold both the UEFA ‘A’ licence and ‘Youth’ licence. Impressive for any coach, never mind a 36 year old one.

Having played in Scotland and the States, Rennie decided to commence his coaching career in the US and took over the Salem PDL side Cascade Surge in 2005.

In his first season as a coach, the Surge lived up to their name, winning the Northwest Division title by eight points, before going on to lose the Western Conference Final to Orange County Blue Star.

Martin left Cascadia and went back to the UK to get more coaching qualifications before returning to the US to become manager of Cleveland City Stars in the USL Second Division in 2007.

In his first season in charge in Ohio, the City Stars finished runners up in the Division in their inaugural season and Martin was awarded the USL D2 ‘Coach of the Year’.

The team went one better the next season, and won the 2008 USL Division Two Championship.

This success landed him a job in USL Division One for 2009 with Carolina Railhawks and the his transformation of the team has been impressive, to say the least.

In his first season at Carolina he had a clear out of players and took the team from not making the playoffs the previous season to regular season runners up.

The Railhawks made the jump to NASL with the Whitecaps in 2010 and won the NASL regular season title, before going on to lose the USSF-D2 Championship game to Puerto Rico.

Carolina have run away with the league again this season and they currently lead the NASL by 12 points, with nine games remaining. Another Championship could be heading Martin’s way before he leaves for pastures new in Vancouver.

So what will a Martin Rennie Whitecaps side look like?

Going on his past records and former glories, it could be pretty exciting. He’s been nominated as Coach of the Year for the last four consecutive years (winning once). We’re getting a good ‘un.

His Cascade Surge side were the highest scorers in all of the PDL in 2005, but to show that it wasn’t just attack minded teams he put out, his Cleveland side of 2007 conceded only 13 goals all season – a USL record that still exists.

In 2010 his Carolina side conceded just 14 goals for the season in NASL and they’ve only let in 16 so far this season. I don’t think I need to tell you how big a hole this is that we need to plug in Vancouver.

One of the things that excites me about Martin coming to the Caps is his history of rebuilding teams and developing young talent.

We have a lot of promising young players in the Residency program and PDL side, who were unlikely to get a look in under the likes of a Tommy Soehn style manager.

From what we have seen from Rennie’s managerial career to date, he has never shirked the responsibility of building for the future. Sometimes this proves to be to his detriment, as at both Cleveland and Carolina, he has seen his best talent transferred to bigger and better things. Always the curse of the smaller teams.

At both Clubs he has been forced to rebuild from team decimation, but on both occasions he has bounced back stronger. He certainly has some rebuilding work to do in Vancouver.

He lost a lot of his Cleveland players at the end of the 2007 season, but rebuilt and landed a Championship the following year with a brand new squad.

With Carolina, a change of ownership and uncertainty about the Club’s future saw further rebuilding there and again this didn’t prevent the success from coming.

Another exciting element that Rennie will bring to the Caps is his belief in using psychological concepts to get the best out of players. It’s something he’s studied back in the UK.

He believes in caring for his players, as this interview with Indyweek.com in 2009 shows. This type of man management will be good to see in Vancouver. It was something I think Teitur was good at, but Tommy not so much.

That said he has a clear tactical concept that players must abide to and playing as a team is a key part of that.

There are a couple of interesting points that we will need to see how they develop.

The first is around his assistants. Rennie has worked very closely with his fellow Scots Brian Irvine and Paul Ritchie for a few years. If he can bring them with him to Vancouver then this will be a huge asset for us (as well as obviously pleasing me with having an increased Scottish contingent at the Club – especially with Ritchie being a Fife lad like myself).

The other issue I see is who will decide which players are being kept and which are being released.

Martin Rennie should be the one to have a look at the guys and make those decisions. He is not going to be coloured by Soehn’s draftees and make the proper decisions based on what kind of players he is looking for and what style of play he will be playing.

He needs to have full control of who stays, who goes and who joins the Caps. No outside interference.

Although he may not be a household name to many out there, the buzz is there amongst those who do know Martin Rennie and his achievements. He has won 87 of the 159 games he has coached in his career – a winning record of 55%.

Carolina will be gutted to lose him, but hopefully he will leave them with the NASL Championship. We in Vancouver have got a talented young manager and all of a sudden, the future is starting to look a lot more promising.

Welcome to Vancouver Martin.

Sealbh math dhuit!