John Spencer at Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday Night (Getty Images)
So it turns out that the Timbers 3-0 loss at Real Salt Lake Saturday night was the last match for embattled head coach John Spencer. The Scotsman was the first head coach in the Timbers' MLS history. However, management ran out of patience as the Timbers were hit with 3 goals, 5 yellow cards, and a red card in the last 30 minutes in Salt Lake City. MLSSoccer.com says the Timbers played even with RSL prior to that, but despite the 0-0 score, it wasn't the case. The Timbers had zero attacking presence and only some superlative goal keeping from Troy Perkins kept the Timbers from conceding at least one in the first half.
Portland had a decent season for an expansion team last year, going 11-14-9. They only missed out on a playoff spot by four points. Unfortunately for Spencer, the team has failed to improve so far this season, going 5-8-4. Impressive wins over Seattle, San Jose, and Sporting KC were not enough to save him as the team is winless away from Jeld-Wen Field this season.
Timbers GM Gavin Wilkinson will take over for Spencer. According to MLS, the Timbers will not hire a permanent replacement before the end of the season, instead focusing on a list of quality candidates who could take over next year. Some banter in the MLS community has focused on Eric Wynalda and former Revs coach Steve Nichol. However, Wynalda has been hired by Atlanta in the NASL and Nichol, despite his experience, doesn't bring anything different to the table than Spencer did.
Click here to see MLS's list of top 5 men for the job.
No comments:
Post a Comment