Fewer than 24 hours following a gut-wrenching elimination from the MLS Cup playoffs, the New York Red Bulls continued their front office overhaul with the appointment of former Scotland national team coach and UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh as sporting director and the announcement that coach Hans Backe would not return.
Backe's contract was set to expire at year's end. Backe rebuilt the Red Bulls following the disastrous 2009 campaign and went 43-30-32 in MLS play. The record is decent, but three consecutive MLS Cup quarterfinal eliminations (and a 0-3-0 postseason record at Red Bull Arena) likely wasn't be enough to satisfy the club's ambitious owners. Hans Backe's time as Red Bulls coach ends in cold disappointment.
(AP Photo) — Straus: After playoff ouster, new storm to weather Assistant coach Mike Petke, a former Red Bulls player, will take over for Backe in the interim. Roxburgh, 69, "will be responsible for all soccer activities at the club," the Red Bulls announced Friday. He will report to Red Bull Soccer's global sporting director, Frenchman Gerard Houllier, who also oversees teams in Austria, Germany, Brazil and Ghana. "I am excited and honored to be given the opportunity by (Red Bull founder) Dietrich Mateschitz to contribute to the development of such an outstanding soccer organization as the New York Red Bulls," Roxburgh said. "I'm also delighted to be getting involved in Major League Soccer, which has an impressive reputation as a fast growing and highly competitive league." Roxburgh will work alongside recently appointed GM Jérôme de Bontin, who was placed in charge of the club's business operations after replacing Erik Solér, who was fired last month. Roxburgh and Houllier presumably will choose the next coach. Roxburgh played professionally for five Scottish clubs in the 1960s and '70s before moving into coaching, first with Scotland's junior national teams and then to the senior side, which he managed from 1986 to 1993. Roxburgh qualified Scotland for the 1990 World Cup and 1992 European Championship but resigned after failing to make the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. Since then, he has worked at UEFA, soccer's European governing body, where he had his hand in coaching education, player development, continental competitions and more.
Backe's contract was set to expire at year's end. Backe rebuilt the Red Bulls following the disastrous 2009 campaign and went 43-30-32 in MLS play. The record is decent, but three consecutive MLS Cup quarterfinal eliminations (and a 0-3-0 postseason record at Red Bull Arena) likely wasn't be enough to satisfy the club's ambitious owners. Hans Backe's time as Red Bulls coach ends in cold disappointment.
(AP Photo) — Straus: After playoff ouster, new storm to weather Assistant coach Mike Petke, a former Red Bulls player, will take over for Backe in the interim. Roxburgh, 69, "will be responsible for all soccer activities at the club," the Red Bulls announced Friday. He will report to Red Bull Soccer's global sporting director, Frenchman Gerard Houllier, who also oversees teams in Austria, Germany, Brazil and Ghana. "I am excited and honored to be given the opportunity by (Red Bull founder) Dietrich Mateschitz to contribute to the development of such an outstanding soccer organization as the New York Red Bulls," Roxburgh said. "I'm also delighted to be getting involved in Major League Soccer, which has an impressive reputation as a fast growing and highly competitive league." Roxburgh will work alongside recently appointed GM Jérôme de Bontin, who was placed in charge of the club's business operations after replacing Erik Solér, who was fired last month. Roxburgh and Houllier presumably will choose the next coach. Roxburgh played professionally for five Scottish clubs in the 1960s and '70s before moving into coaching, first with Scotland's junior national teams and then to the senior side, which he managed from 1986 to 1993. Roxburgh qualified Scotland for the 1990 World Cup and 1992 European Championship but resigned after failing to make the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. Since then, he has worked at UEFA, soccer's European governing body, where he had his hand in coaching education, player development, continental competitions and more.