Speaking of Mr. Arena, he went on the record at the weekend about his tenure at New York, saying that Red Bull had been "essentially an expansion team" when he took over, and that it had lacked the experience to succeed. "I probably was surrounded by too many young and inexperienced people," he told Frank Giase.
This put "even more responsibility on me," Arena said. "Maybe I would have brought in a more experienced person to help me on the stuff on and off the field." Although it was Arena himself who brought in technical director Jeff Agoos, assistant coach John Harkes, and second-year coach Richie Williams. His remarks were also seen as a swipe at former New York managing director Marc de Grandpre, who admitted to knowing nothing about soccer when he came to the team in 2006.
Arena also hinted at constant interference in team matters from Red Bull's corporate office in Austria. "It's an interesting challenge, this kind of business challenge, managing a team from Europe," he said. "It will take time to get it right. One of my views of success in the league is having local influence both from your front office and ownership, where you're really embedded in the community."
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