With the dismissal of assistant coach Paul Ritchie this week Vancouver Whitecaps are getting closer and closer to cutting all management and player personnel that had a prior pre-Whitecaps relationship with Martin Rennie.
The Carolina connection has all but moved on, with Matt Watson the last player standing.
For Carl Robinson, distancing himself from the Rennie regime is important if he wants to show himself as being his own man, with his own ideas and not just a continuation of what was there before.
In the seven weeks since Rennie was let go there has been a many a debate on whether he was good for the Whitecaps organization or if he was a coach who pissed off and mishandled so many players during his time here that no-one closely attached to him could stay during a fresh start.
Whatever camp you call in, it certainly looks like it's a pre-Christmas clearout like no other and (almost) everything Rennie must go.
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I have waited to write my opinion of Rennie's time here because I had questions I needed answered before I felt I could give an honest opinion of if he was good or bad for the Whitecaps. After talking to several people connected with the club, I feel more in the place to now share my thoughts.
<b>Let's Start At The Beginning</b>
When Rennie was brought in he gave many the impression that moving forward it was going to be his way or no way at all. He told us all the other coaches would have to be a part of his vision to get the most out of the players and move this team forward.
The players bought in to Martin's mantra and the team made a huge improvement in their second year from their first (that wasn't that hard to do of course, but credit where credit is due). The playoffs were reached and a feelgood factor returned amongst the fans. But there were also concerns starting to surface for those that looked.
After some questionable personnel moves, getting rid of Eric Hassli, Davide Chiumiento and Sebastian LeToux, and the horrific slump in the second half of the season, we began to hear mumblings about not everyone buying into Rennie's way.
Players began questioning if they could trust what Rennie was telling them behind closed doors and what he was doing with their careers on the pitch.
Why would he take Hassli and Chiumiento to dinner at the beginning of the season and tell them the team will be built around them, then less then four months later get rid of both of them in surprise moves?
At the end of the season Atiba Harris was coming back into the mix well, recovering from his injuries.
The smart move would be to ease a player into games with some quality minutes to get a run in at the end of a game. But what did Rennie do? Threw him into the game against FC Dallas and ran him into the ground.
After that game Harris was excluded from practicing with the first team. During this time the only calming influence was from Carl Robinson who continued to work and talk with Harris on the practice pitch. After months of this treatment Harris was traded to the Rapids.
The treatment of Harris I believe turned the heat up on the way some players perceived Rennie's word and if it could be taken truthfully and trusted.
You always have to counter that with the fact that an unhappy player is always going to have issues with the head coach and some will make it known to anyone that will listen. There are often two sides to many stories, but a trend within the Whitecaps was starting to be heard.
The shit had hit the fan when Rennie got rid of Alain Rochat.
Rochat was, and still is, a fan favourite of supporters in Vancouver. Rennie said other coaches were on board with this move. I didn't believe him. A source has confirmed with me that just hours after the trade Robinson called Rochat and told him that he didn't agree with the move. For all the shared vision, it was starting to look like it was only Rennie's ideas that mattered.
Getting rid of Rochat lit up twitter and radio shows with frustration from supporters who didn't understand the logic behind the move.
After the trade we were left with Jordan Harvey and Greg Klazura to fill Rochat's cleats moving forward. Even though Harvey and Klazura are great people on and off the pitch they can't be put in the same level as Rochat and the lack of depth cost Vancouver dearly in Seattle.
There had been a lot of backlash thrown at the front office of the Whitecaps and just one month after the trade Greg Anderson personally called Alain and apologized on how the whole trade was conducted.
You also have to ask why didn't Rennie and/or the football committee take their time and figure out that Rochat's former team Young Boys wanted him to return? Why didn't they take the time to factor in his wife being pregnant and maybe being closer to family in Switzerland would be a better move for Rochat's family? What would have been better for the club: a 2015 second round pick or the $400,000 or so in allocation money that DC United got?
There has still been no satisfactory explanation as to who didn't take the time to get the best deal for his club. Rennie made the decision to move him on but surely it was then the responsibility of him or the committee to make enquiries to see what would get the Caps the best return. Someone failed and it cost the club.
<b>Youth Movement</b>
A big part of the Whitecaps organization is the youth. Rennie never appeared to have a great relationship with the young players on the first team or players in the Residency program. It was Gordon Forrest and Robinson that regularly bonded and motivated these young players.
With great young talent like Caleb Clarke, Bryce Alderson, Ben Fisk (who is still without a contract for some reason), Sam Adekugbe, Jackson Farmer and Marco Bustos we need a coach they can relate to and motivate these young talents.
Rennie wasn't giving any of these players any quality minutes on the first team and choosing to go with foreign talent instead of promoting to the MLS roster from within. A few got minutes in Reserve or PDL games but that was it.
Russell Teibert credits Robinson and Ritchie with turning his Whitecaps career around and helping Rennie see the light. Even then, it took a super sub appearance against LA to finally see him get a run as a starter under Rennie.
Moving forward with Robinson in control we should to expect a lot of these players to make the MLS squad and get quality minutes moving forward. He has already eluded to that during his presser when he was named gaffer.
<b>Last coach out of town?</b>
The last coach left for a decision to be made on is Marius Røvde. He has been with the Whitecaps the past two seasons. It was his contacts that got David Ousted into Vancouver and the young Whitecaps keepers like Marco Carducci have been making great progress working under Røvde's watchful eye both in Vancouver and with the Canadian national team set-up, where he has played a key role in Carducci's development at U17 level.
Starting over with these young keepers with a new coach could be detrimental to their development. They know what Røvde's standards are and are well on their way to meeting those standards.
If they got rid of Røvde would Ousted want to stay around? He would obviously still be under contract but he came here to learn and develop under Røvde's experience and may decide that without him his future lies elsewhere, which would be a PR nightmare if that played out, especially after what had transpired with the Rochat trade to enable him to be brought in.
Røvde currently has one year left on his contract. The buyout clause on the final year is a 3 month of service payment. That's not a lot of money to make a move and get a new keeper coach in here. Moving him on, would mean a completely new start and a fresh coaching team for the new head coach, but at what cost?
<b>Robbo Moving Forward</b>
After Robinson was named coach there was a pouring of twitter love from past players, current players and players in Europe congratulating Robinson. Sure he was brought in by Rennie but he has never been viewed as being Rennie's man. That tag always went to Ritchie from them working together previously.
Robinson was always the coach who would take time and show players respect. He was the good cop when Rennie tried to be the bad cop.
Moving forward he will have to learn how to play bad cop and make the hard decisions when they have to be made.
He made his first hard decision by not bringing back Ritchie, a close friend of over 13 years.
There are still many who don't understand getting rid of Rennie and promoting his assistant.
Robinson now needs to show that he is his own man, with his own ideas and ways of doing things. And one of the best ways of doing that is to remove as many traces of Rennie as possible and start afresh.
From what we have already seen, he will a different head coach than Martin Rennie.
The best part of all this is the off season has just started and there for sure will be plenty for all Whitecaps blogs to write about and for all supporters to tweet about.
The fun is just starting.
On your mark, get set and let's get this debate going....
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