L.A. Galaxy president, coach leave the team
SOCCER
After seven straight losses, Alexi Lalas exits before his contract is up at year's end and coach Ruud Gullit resigns for 'personal reasons.'
In a pair of sweeping changes brought about by a Major League Soccer season in meltdown, the Los Angeles Galaxy on today removed Alexi Lalas as team president and general manager and Ruud Gullit as coach.
In its official statement on the changes, AEG, which owns the team, said that Gullit had resigned "for personal reasons" and that Lalas' contract was up at the end of the year and that the team decided to part company now rather than wait.
Cobi Jones will take over from Gullit as the Galaxy's interim coach. The team's longest-serving and best-known player before the arrival of David Beckham, Jones had served as assistant coach under Gullit since November.
Tom Payne, the team's assistant general manager will take over Lalas' duties on an interim basis, concentrating more on the business side. Payne will be assisted on the soccer side by Paul Bravo, the Galaxy's director of soccer.
The changes were not altogether unexpected. The Galaxy has not won its last seven games and is 6-8-5 overall in a season in which, with a healthy Beckham, it had been expected to contend for the MLS title. The team also failed to qualify for the U.S. Open Cup.
In recent weeks, the atmosphere in the locker room has been anything but cohesive, with finger-pointing common among the players. Also, the relationship between Lalas and Gullit was not a positive one, with the former U.S. international star trying to maintain control and the former Dutch international player frustrated by the constraints imposed by MLS.
Tim Leiweke, chief executive officer of AEG, a couple of weeks ago described the team as "dysfunctional," and in a face-to-face meeting with the players he gave the team two weeks to turn things around.
The Galaxy then promptly lost at San Jose, giving up a goal in the closing minutes to apparently seal Lalas' and Gullit's fate.
A sign that Gullit might be on his way out came a couple of weeks ago when he sold his house. At the time, Gullit said merely that his wife had not liked it, denying that it meant he was leaving.
Lalas has been AEG's point man at the San Jose Earthquakes and New York Red Bulls when the sports and entertainment giant owned those teams. He came to the Galaxy in April 2006 after playing for the team from 2001 to 2003.
Neither Lalas nor Gullit were immediately available for comment.
The Galaxy's next game is against rival Chivas USA on Thursday at the Home Depot Center.
grahame.jones@latimes.com
