I love sending my coaches to Europe, but this may time it may have backfired
2009-12-13 22:15:00
Anyone who knows me knows I love to travel to Europe to scout and do professional development. Let's face it, there's a lot we can learn by going over there and seeing how training is done and what the atmosphere is like. Not that there's anything wrong with American training methods per se, but you can always learn more, you can always improve, and a lot of Western European teams are at the place we want to be. So not only am I traveling, but I send the others guys over there too. It's good to be humbled, to see our deficiecies, really look in the mirror and ask what we can do to get better.Well, David Tenney decided to blog about his experiences in the Netherlands, and to be honest, I'm not sure this trip worked out all that well for him. It seems like he only came back with an inflated sense of self and club:
My weekend would end with a short 30-minute trip across central Holland to FC Utrecht to watch one of the biggest rivalries in Dutch soccer, Utrecht-Ajax!! The game was sold out, there were loud fans from both teams, but, honestly, the noise still can't compare to how loud a match can get in Qwest when we are playing well…
. . .
Heerenveen is similar to the Sounders in that they work in a very effective and intelligent way where management and coaching are all on the same page. Where we differ is that Heerenveen is a town of just 30,000, yet they have built an infrastructure that allows them to have the 5th largest budget in Holland.
. . .
After I arrived in AZ Alkmaar, I sat down with the coaching staff. Mind you, AZ were champions of Holland last season, and are currently paired in a Champions League group with Arsenal, Standard Liege (Belgian Champions last season), & Olympiakos. Get more information about your team… You guys are a BIG club, we had no idea the Sounders were that big." I think we are now on the map in Europe.
Seriously, self-centered self-importance is a fricking infectious disease up here. As for Ajax and Utrecht playing at a similar level to MLS, um, if you say so. And I'm also not sure how he knows what Quest Field sounds like when we are playing well. I'm not sure that actually happened in the course of the year. But what do I know, maybe we really were good.
Anyway David, next time I'm sending you to the Ukraine so you can learn what it's like to suffer. Humility David, humility is the goal here.
-FS
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