Pastorino and RSL's recent success

[AreliusIV]

On 5/2, after going 0-4-1, RSL issued a press release stating that RSL was restructuring the front office with GM Steve Pastorino moving his office to the team's training facility location. The reason for this move was (purportedly) to allow Pastorino to "focus full-time on working with Head Coach John Ellinger to ... aggresively attack on-field issues [among other things]..."

Several soccer blogs poo-pooed this idea, saying that Pastorino is a businessman and has no soccer expertise and that this was a stupid idea. While it might be true that Pastorino's expertise is in managing a business, is RSL's recent success on field somehow (albeit indirectly) related to this recent re-assignment of Pastorino by RSL executives?

RSL CEO Dean Howes was quoted as saying, "This move will allow Pastorino to focus all of his time and energy towards improving our on-field product. By spending all of his time around the team, Steve will then be able to generate a more accurate assessment of what needs to be changed in order for us to improve, and improve quickly. Steve has been around this game and this league for a long time; he will be expected to utilize his soccer knowledge and experience to assess our competitive situation and give us proper feedback on what needs to change in order for us to be successful."

What, if any, is the relationship between Pastorino's recent re-assignment and RSL's recent success on the field?

We all know that Jeff Cunningham has been hot, with 6 of his 7 goals this season coming in the last 4 games. So, there is an obvious relationship between Cunny's recent performance and RSL's recent success.

What isn't as obvious is whether there is a relationship between the recent re-assignment of Pastorino's duties and RSL's recent success.

Is it a coincidence that since RSL's executives re-assigned Pastorino, RSL has gone 3-1-1?

Is there a way we could determine with greater accuracy whether Pastorino's recent re-assignment has affected RSL's recent success?

What say ye?

[Scholesy]

Do you seriously find it so difficult to swallow your pride and give credit where credit is due and say that the coach has done a good job. I assume you don't ever go to training because as able as I am sure steve P is, he is not a coach, nor is he qualified, nor does he get involved at training, he may get involved in trades, the stadium, training grounds, and a million other things that help the team and drive it forward, but on the field coaching I doubt is one of them.

Good grief, Coach is doing a good job, leave it at that for a while until we lose one and then you can re-start your fire coach campaign.

[Burninator]

Barring the release of insider info to which I am far from privy, I don't know how to explain our recent success, although I kind of doubt that it's Pastorino related. Perhaps there was something to all of that "gelling", "bounces going our way", and "streaky league" talk...

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

Do you seriously find it so difficult to swallow your pride and give credit where credit is due and say that the coach has done a good job. I assume you don't ever go to training because as able as I am sure steve P is, he is not a coach, nor is he qualified, nor does he get involved at training.

Good grief, Coach is doing a good job, leave it at that for a while until we lose one and then you can re-start your fire coach campaign.

C'mon, Scholes, tell us how you REALLY feel. 👍

I still don't know about Ellinger. Why didn't he pull Atiba out of the Colorado game 2 weeks ago? Even I could tell he was having a bad day. If he starts Atiba in the midfield this week, I will be miffed.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

Do you seriously find it so difficult to swallow your pride and give credit where credit is due and say that the coach has done a good job. I assume you don't ever go to training because as able as I am sure steve P is, he is not a coach, nor is he qualified, nor does he get involved at training, he may get involved in trades, the stadium, training grounds, and a million other things that help the team and drive it forward, but on the field coaching I doubt is one of them.

Good grief, Coach is doing a good job, leave it at that for a while until we lose one and then you can re-start your fire coach campaign.

This thread isn't about Ellinger. If you want to talk about Ellinger's effect on RSL's recent success, then start another thread on that topic.

This thread expores Pastorino's influence on RSL's recent success. I find it coincidental that RSL started finding success shortly after Pastorino was assigned to work closer with Ellinger and the team.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

as able as I am sure steve P is, he is not a coach, nor is he qualified, nor does he get involved at training, he may get involved in trades, the stadium, training grounds, and a million other things that help the team and drive it forward, but on the field coaching I doubt is one of them.

I never said Pastorino gets involved in coaching. I'm simply reading the press release that RSL issued and the reasons they stated that they were re-assigning Pastorino's office to the training ground.

Those reasons state that they hoped this move would help him work "with Head Coach John Ellinger to ... aggresively attack on-field issues," "[improve] our on-field product," and "generate a more accurate assessment of what needs to be changed in order for us to improve, and improve quickly."

What I'm exploring in this thread is that maybe the RSL FO was on to something given the coincidence that RSL has experienced recent success shortly after Pastorino made this move for the above-stated reasons.

In other words, maye there is more of a cause-effect relationship between the recent Pastorino move and RSL's recent success than you would want to admit or explore.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

Do you seriously find it so difficult to swallow your pride and give credit where credit is due .

On the contrary, that is precisely what I'm attempting with this thread. I'm exploring the idea that the RSL executives and Pastorino might deserve more credit than we (you included) might be willing to give them.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by Scholesy

Good grief, Coach is doing a good job, leave it at that for a while until we lose one and then you can re-start your fire coach campaign.

Well, at least you won't be able moan when those threads start up again. I'll simply remind you that you gave me your permission to do so.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Barring the release of insider info to which I am far from privy, I don't know how to explain our recent success, although I kind of doubt that it's Pastorino related. Perhaps there was something to all of that "gelling", "bounces going our way", and "streaky league" talk...

My take on it is that our recent success is directly related to Cunningham's recent form.

Contrary to what others have said here, I am more than willing to look at Ellinger's influence on RSL's recent success. But, I'll save that discussion for another thread. (Hey, I'll even let Scholesy start it.)

In this thread I'm looking at other possible influences on RSL's recent success: namely, a possible indirect cause and effect relationship between Pastorino's new duties and RSL's recent success.

[AreliusIV]

By the way, this blog is what got me thinking about this...