In an interview with Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press today, CSA president Victor Montagliani said an interim coach for Canada's men's soccer team will be named for the two friendlies against Denmark and the U.S. at the end of next month.
He also shed some light on the ongoing process of hiring the men a permanent manager.
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First, Montagliani said the CSA will deal with the interim manager situation "internally" and internet speculation as to who that individual may be has already started. But far more interesting to myself and probably to most who follow the men with more than a casual interest were details provided by the CSA head man on the process for selecting a permanent manager for the team. Below are his quotes.
Our first priority is to get the right person and secondly we have a soft date of getting one before the Gold Cup (the CONCACAF championship, scheduled for July in the U.S.). By the same token if it's not the right person and we need to wait a little bit longer, that's fine.
I'd thought the CSA would look to name a manager before the Gold Cup, but I'm pleasantly surprised to hear they'd be willing to wait past next summer if they feel it would help secure a better candidate. These off-cycle Gold Cups (the ones that fall a year before the World Cup and don't grant the winner a ticket to the Confederations Cup) are not totally useless -- they do offer points towards Fifa rankings as well as cap-tying opportunities -- but I see no reason the CSA should rush to name a manager to partake in one. Especially if, as Montagliani suggests, a quality candidate may be available later in the year. Besides, if the CSA holds firm on its pledge to give the Canadian men more friendlies the new manager should have a reasonably solid platform to build for 2016 anyway.
There's so many variables when you're looking at this. It's not your standard employment situation.
Yeah, what Montagliani means is that any international coaching gig is not a standard employment situation even by soccer standards, due to the time frames involved and the infrequency with which national teams play. But I still love how he's unwittingly managed to sugar-coat one of the most challenging coaching positions in international football.
We've had a significant amount of interest from all over the world.
According to Davidson, the CSA plans to draw up a manager shortlist early in the new year. And while I'm sure that the above quote from Montagliani is true strictly speaking, I'd be shocked if there's been a lot of global interest from people actually possessing qualifications to do the job properly. Or at the very least from people with qualifications willing to accept CSA wages. Canadian Soccer News writer Duane Rollins has previously reported that Stephen Hart was earning somewhere around the $150,000 per year. On the international management front that's fairly small beans, and if the CSA has a similar number in mind this time around the pickings they will be slim.
Forget the multi-million dollar deals demanded by big-name international managers like Guus Hiddink or Jurgen Klinnsman. According to this article, in 2011 the Honduran FA was offering Concacaf-seasoned managers like René Simoes and Rubén Omar Romano about $40,000 per month, (half a million dollars a year) to coach the Catrachos and they both wanted more.
But let's focus on the good news: the CSA will take its time in naming a new men's manager and is looking at candidates (or at the very least accepting resumes) from candidates outside Canada. That seems like basic stuff, but it's comforting if you've been following this team through more than one cycle. Now if we could only get a peak at that shortlist...