MLS: Chivas USA desperately searching for their true identity (Part 1)
A recent upheaval of the red and whites is marking an organizational shift as 18 teams from the MLS are preparing to deal for new faces for the 2nd stage of the re-entry process.
Chivas USA are now facing the yet unanswered question of rebuilding the side after another surprising defection last night.
Chivas are still trying to find their true identity in the MLS and it’s a hard and pretty tough question to answer for now, especially for those who are so heavily involved in the clubs’ inherent encumbrances.
Chivas USA has remained fixed under the shadow of its namesake from Mexico which, by far is more prestigious and is operating in a different part of the world.
In an appeal to raise its’ profile, the club is desperately trying to get the attention of its parent clubs’ hardcore fans from the south and those from its’ own part in California.
Apart from such heavily muddled allegiances, Chivas USA is also sharing its’ stadium with another club that is far more prominent and the lack of having a ‘personal’ home ground doesn’t help the cause either.
These concerns, however major they are, just didn’t appear on the horizon out of nowhere and there’s no chance that they’re going to disappear soon or in the next few months. But this lack of having a true identity is what’s making the club suffer even more
as a wave of departures happened in the past few months.
3 key figures from the Chivas hierarchy have already departed. This exodus started when Coach Martin Vasquez got the sack from the club on 27th October, after he had just completed one year with the team. Many argue that his dismissal was prompted
by the fact that he blatantly refused the order to fire one of his assistants on the orders of the management.
Later, Shawn Hunter, Club President and CEO, also left the club on the 2nd November by saying that he had stepped aside only to spend more quality time with his family.
If this wasn’t shocking enough, Stephen Hamilton, Vice President of the soccer operations at Chivas USA handed in his resignation after spending 3 years with the club to complete the alarming mass exodus that saw 3 important people at Chivas USA call it
a day.
These 3 major departures have left a void and a vacuum at the club that needs to be filled as soon as possible. The onus and blame to be more direct, falls on Antonio Cue, operator and investor of the Chivas USA and he needs to be swifter and smart this
time to map a new path for the club.
Cue is now turning his attention towards Anschutz Entertainment Group to help find a direction for the club. Just like when he did that in the final stages of 2007 to revive the fortunes of the identity-seeking club. Hunter, who was the President of sports
at AEG at that time, postponed his plans of starting a consulting business and took over the reins of Chivas USA in September 2007. Hamilton was soon introduced by him for running the soccer operations at the start of 2008.
Now, both Hamilton and Hunter are now going to find a new professional playground and their departures plainly told Cue that the AEG way isn’t quite the way to run the club on a long term basis.
Nephew of former Tigres President Jorge Domene, Jose Luis Domene, is the interim General Manager for now and he will surely have a say in how Cue runs the club, on a short-term for that matter.
Chivas have always used a nebulous sort of committee when it comes to hiring a coach and Cue and Domene are always involved in it. They have recently started a search for a new coach for the next MLS regular season which can render us some insight on how
rudderless the club has really become.
Chivas USA, this time have to start looking for a new coach with out the presence of Hamilton by their side, who had a lot of experience when it comes to finding a coach who would be suitable for the club.
It is yet to be seen if the departure of Hamilton is going to affect the coach search or not but the whole uncertainty surrounding the club will be a factor that might make hopeful candidates think again before they sign a contract with the club.
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