The Donovan Plan: The Landon Donovan Story

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the LA Galaxy.

A member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Soccer residency program in Bradenton, Florida, Donovan was declared player of the tournament for his role in the United States U17 squad that finished fourth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship. Donovan later signed with the German team Bayer Leverkusen.

In 2005, after six years with the club, the majority of which were spent on loan at the San Jose Earthquakes, Donovan moved to the Los Angeles Galaxy. He later returned to the Bundesliga for a three-month spell at the start of 2009 on loan to Bayern Munich, and twice went on short loans to English Premier League team Everton, in 2010 and 2012. He retired from soccer in 2014, but re-joined LA Galaxy in 2016.

In Major League Soccer, Donovan won a record six MLS Cups and is both the league's all-time top scorer with 145 goals and the league's all-time assists leader with 136.

For the United States men's national team, Donovan is the all-time leader in scoring and assists, and is the second most capped player of his country.Donovan is the only American player to reach the 50 goals/50 assists mark. He is a four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award (the only man to do so and the first man to win in consecutive years), as well as the only seven-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award. Donovan starred in the U.S. team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup where he received the Best Young Player Award. His three goals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup made Donovan the highest scoring male American player in World Cup history and one of the three male American players to score in more than one World Cup (along with Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey).

The Major League Soccer MVP Award has been renamed the Landon Donovan MVP Award in honor of Donovan.

Will Landon Donovan become one of the top American Football Managers like he did as a player or will he just flop and just become a footnote in the coaching world. Read on to find out!!


Authors note: If you think I am rushing the first several post, that is exactly what I am doing as I want to get to Landon managing as quickly as possible!!

Story Hub

LA Galaxy (USA) December 14, 2016-

By: Ryan Rosenblatt
Sep 9, 2016 at 5:34 PM


The most storied and popular figure in United States Soccer has his own Michael Jordan moment if you will. The 34 year old Landon Donovan has announced that he will be joining up with the Galaxy for the final stanza of the season.

A deal has been reached that will see Donovan play for the team at least until the end of the current Major League Soccer season. It was stared that he will most likely coach the first team as well during his time with the Galaxy. It is not known if this contract will be extended into 2017 or that this is his final time on the pitch.

Donovan is the MLS career leader in goals and assists and has won the MLS Cup on a record six occasions. He is also the leading scorer in U.S. national team history, and represented the country in three World Cups. This past summer he has been working with Fox Soccer during the Copa America as an analyst.

A tweet yesterday from him confirmed that he is back training with the Galaxy in Carson.


Donovan explained that the injuries sustained by the club late in the season led to his decision to return:

"Two weeks ago, I was working as an analyst on the LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps match and during that game, the Galaxy suffered injuries to three players: Jelle Van Damme, Steven Gerrard and Gyasi Zardes. Over the next few days, Nigel De Jong was transferred to Galatasaray and news broke that Gyasi would be out for the rest of the season.

Since my retirement, I have remained in close contact with many of the staff and players on the Galaxy. I spoke with some of them that week and they jokingly asked if I was ready to make a return to the field to help fill some of the void left by the injuries and departures.

I reminded them that I haven't played a meaningful soccer game in almost two years and I certainly couldn't fill the holes left by those players. Over the ensuing days, I began to think about their inquiries and it struck me that perhaps this is something I should consider. I care so deeply about the Galaxy organization, and I believe I could help in a small way to aid the team in its quest for a sixth MLS championship."

He also was quoted in saying, "This is also a great opportunity to help the players in a coaching role. I am at borrowed time in my soccer career and coaching is the next step. During my retirement I had missed this sport so much and when I had the opportunity to work with Fox Soccer a desire to get back into the sport came about."

This announcement has been a mixed one from players and supporters. People such as former teammate David Beckham and current teammates Steven Gerrard and Robbie Keane were ecstatic that Landon has made a return. Fans on the other hand are a mixed bag.

The Galaxy are currently in 3rd place in the MLS Western Conference and are a prime lock at the moment for a playoff spot. Will this move by Donovan help his club en route to a possible 6th championship for the club. Who knows if he stays next season he could possibly win the MVP Award that is in his name. Wouldn't that be something!?

Let us know your feelings below in the comments section.

CHICAGO (November 21, 2016) – U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced today that Jurgen Klinsmann has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team and Technical Director for U.S. Soccer.

Gulati will conduct a media teleconference call Tuesday afternoon to discuss the change. Details will be announced in the near future.

Klinsmann began his tenure as head coach on July 29, 2011, and compiled a 55-27-16 record during his tenure. In 2013, he led the team on a record-setting 12-game winning streak, the longest in program history. The 16 victories and .761 winning percentage in 2013 are all-time U.S. MNT records for a calendar year. In 2014, the team advanced out of the “Group of Death” and reached the Round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup. Most recently, the MNT finished fourth in the 2016 Copa America Centenario held in the United States.

Below is a statement from Gulati on the decision:

"Today we made the difficult decision of parting ways with Jurgen Klinsmann, our head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team and Technical Director.

We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years. He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program, and there were considerable achievements along the way."

Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the Group of Death to the Round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes. He challenged everyone in the U.S. Soccer community to think about things in new ways, and thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come.

While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction. With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth-consecutive World Cup.

There has never been a greater time for soccer in this country, and with the support and efforts of the millions of fans, sponsors, media and friends, we look forward to continued progress in the game we all love.

Donovan is basically "The Man, The Myth, The Legend" of United States of America soccer team. Wonder if Donovan will be the future manager for the NT in the future

convoyer That is part of the plan. I hope I get the chance to manage the NT

LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena will succeed Jurgen Klinsmann as manager of the United States men's national team, sources have told ESPN's Taylor Twellman.

All that remains to be worked out is the length of the contract, which sources said will likely will be between 18 months and two years.

Sources told ESPN FC's Jeff Carlisle that after U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and CEO Dan Flynn flew to Los Angeles to inform Klinsmann of his firing on Monday, Flynn stayed to work out the details of Arena's contract while Gulati returned to New York, where he is an economics professor at Columbia University.

Arena, 65, managed the U.S. for eight years from 1998-2006, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan in the team's best finish since the inaugural event in 1930.

However, Gulati fired him after the U.S. failed to advance to the knockout stage in 2006 in Germany.

Following his tenure with the national team, Arena managed the New York Red Bulls for a year and a half before moving on to the Galaxy. Arena won three MLS Cup titles in Los Angeles between 2011 and 2014 and was named the league's coach of the year in 2009 and 2011.

Arena's contract with the Galaxy was set to expire next month, but sources said he recently signed a two-year extension with the MLS club. However, the new deal would allow Arena to leave if he were offered the national team job, and his Galaxy staff has been informed of the move, sources said.

Arena's U.S. squads could have a very different look than they did under Klinsmann, who brought in a number of German-born dual nationals -- with John Brooks, Jermaine Jones, Timmy Chandler and Fabian Johnson all starting in the losses to Mexico and Costa Rica this month that sealed Klinsmann's fate.

But in 2013, Arena told ESPN The Magazine that he felt the players on the national team should "be American," a sentiment that was admonished by U.S. players when it was used by former women's team star Abby Wambach in December.

"I don't even know some of the players, which is odd as the former coach. Players on the national team should be -- and this is my own feeling -- they should be Americans," Arena said three years ago. "If they're all born in other countries, I don't think we can say we are making progress."

In 2002, more than half of Arena's starters came from clubs in Major League Soccer, and Arena said in 2013: "It should still be the case, in my opinion."

Arena will finish up his time in Los Angeles after the Galaxy complete the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs. Their next game is a leg 2 date on November 27th against Seattle. Arena's men are down 3-0.

Follow @ESPNFC on Twitter to keep up with the latest football updates.

Looks very good, hopefully Donovan will get the job.

December 7, 2016
11:31AM EST

Landon Donovan is returning to retirement.

LA Galaxy president Chris Klein told the LA Times’ Kevin Baxter on Tuesday that Donovan, who played nine games with the Galaxy after coming out of retirement in September, is hanging them up – again.

“With Landon, when he came back, it was always going to be a short-term thing,” Klein said. “He’s enjoying what he’s doing and we see we’re comfortable in the direction that we’re headed.”

The all-time MLS leader in goals and assists, Donovan, 34, shocked observers when he came out of retirement to re-sign with LA on Sept. 8.

The US soccer legend, who initially retired following the 2014 season, played six regular-season games with the Galaxy down the stretch, making two starts and recording one goal. He started all three of LA’s playoff matches, recording an assist before the Galaxy were bounced by the Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference Finals.

Galaxy officials told Baxter that Donovan intends to return to broadcasting and coaching and to spend more time with his wife and 11-month-old son.

In addition to confirming Donovan’s re-retirement, Baxter reported that the Galaxy could name Bruce Arena’s replacement as head coach as early as next week. He wrote that LA Galaxy II head coach Curt Onalfo is the top internal candidate; Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl reported on Tuesday that Onalfo, who previously served as head coach of the Kansas City Wizards and D.C. United, is the favorite for the job.

Baxter also reported that defender A.J. DeLaGarza will return to LA in 2017 and forward Jack McBean will come back from his loan to English club Coventry City to be a part of the first team next year.

I have retired again. This time it is for good, I promise you that! Well I was getting ready to clear my locker out for good and move some stuff into one of the vacant coaches’ offices, Jimmy Jones a club intern had told me that I was needed by our chairman Philip Anschutz who was in town to oversee the changes in the club.

“Good afternoon Landon, hope all is fine,” says the chairman with delight.

“Hello Phillip, it is nice to see you again.”

“I was wondering what your plans are for 2017?? Are you going to play again or what?? Reason I ask is that I would like to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

I have a puzzled look as he says all of this and nod my head in an ok motion, “Oh an offer you say?? What is it?” I am thinking he wants to convince me to un-retire again. Who am I Michael Jordan??

“This might not be the best location to ask you but what the hell, after about two weeks of searching for a new head coach, I just can’t find anyone who would be the perfect fit for LA and a few nights ago I came up with the idea that you should be the next head coach. What do you say to that Landon?”

I am speechless and it takes me about a minute to say something.

“Are you sure you want me?" I asked in disbelief. Sure, I was interested in taking a full time coaching role but I'd expect it to be anything but management at this stage in my life. I knew a second retirement would hurt the club and fans as much as the first but this…..

"Yes," Anschutz said seriously. "Having you a club legend as the replacement for another legend is what we and the fans need. Look Landon I know you are probably not ready for this but I have the faith that you will be one of the best head coaches like you were a player."

I look at him dead in the eye and say,”You know what this is a big risk on my reputation and all of that. What if I fail and my image goes from golden boy to a zero who caused the club to go backwards. On the other hand, I can get this club winning trophies once again and the current player would easily have my back."

A silence creeps over the room as I ponder if I should take this or not. I then blurt out, "You know what, I’ll take this job!!!”

Anschutz extends his hand and says, “Congratulations Landon and good luck.” He then calls someone to fax over a bunch of papers for me to sign and we get down to business on the contract side.

I am now the newest manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy and my career as a football manager has begun.

By: Adam Copeland

Dec. 16, 2016 12:34 PM


After insisting for the last few weeks that Landon Donovan did not have enough experience to be considered for its head coaching job, LA Galaxy has hired the former forward and coach to run the MLS club, several sources said Wednesday.

At 34, Donovan will become the ninth full-time head coach in club history. Back in September the club legend rejoined his club after injuries has overwhelmed the squad. After finishing the season losing to Seattle in the Western Conference Final he announced his retirement again but had decided to stay on as a coach.

LA has scheduled a news conference Friday at the clubs training center in Carson to introduce Landon in his new role. Club officials didn't respond to interview requests and neither Donovan nor his agent, Jason Williams, returned messages.

Since Bruce Arena’s departure to lead the USMNT for a second time the Galaxy head coach job was a hot commodity. The people who were rumored to take Arena’s job include; LAG II Head Coach Curt Onalfo, Columbus Crew SC Head Coach Gregg Berhalter, unattached manager Roberto Mancini and popular Englishman Sam Allardyce.

Reaction to his appointment has been very positive as it seemed to be the next logical step in his career. Former teammate and friend David Beckham took to twitter and said, "Good luck Landon and congrats, you will do great!"

The former USA captain is reported to be making $2 Million Dollars, and has been given a contract until the end of the 2018 season, with chairman Phil Anschutz confirming that Donovan will be handed a new contract in the midst of the season if the move works out.

Donovan will now have a lot to do before the January MLS Draft. One of the first jobs for Landon Donovan is to attempt to convince Gio Dos Santos to stay for 2017. the 27 year old Mexican has been getting a ton of interest from clubs in Europe.

This is a big risk the Galaxy are taking. What happens if Donovan does not have a successful time as the head coach? Would all that he built as a player become less and that he is seen as a failure? It is too soon to think that but I feel he should do ok.

---

---

Club Information

Year Founded: 1995 (Started play in 1996)
Division: Major League Soccer
Stadium:StubHub Center
Location: Carson, California
Capacity: 27,000
Owner: Anschutz Entertainment Group
Manager: Vacant
Rivals: San Jose Earthquakes and D.C. United
---

The LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference of the league. The club began play in 1996 as a charter team in the league. The franchise is one of the league's most-decorated clubs, having won the MLS Cup five times—more than any other club—the Supporters' Shield four times, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup twice, and the old CONCACAF Champions' Cup, making them one of just two MLS teams, along with D.C. United, to win a CONCACAF tournament.

In their early years, the Galaxy played their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, but since 2003 they have played at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The team holds a fierce rivalry with the San Jose Earthquakes in the California Clásico, and used to play the SuperClasico against city rivals Chivas USA before they folded in 2014.

In January 2007, the club made international headlines by signing English superstar David Beckham from Real Madrid, which was the highest-profile signing in the history of MLS. Other significant signings include Landon Donovan,and Giovani dos Santos, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Ashley Cole and Jelle Van Damme.

Congrats on Donovan's news. He got himself lots of resources he can get to bring LA Galaxy to champions!

A day after the initial press release and time for me to get settled into my new office I had to do a press conference. I have done thousands before so it will be no problem and I look forward to this one as it is my first in management. Here we go!

Cameras are flashing as Philip (Anschutz) and I are getting ready to sit down. In no time after the introduction the press start their questions.

“Landon, how does it feel to become the Galaxy’s newest head coach??”

"My feelings? Well... uh... of course, I'm honored to be sitting here as a manager, and a manager of a club that I have spent so much time with, this feels real special right now. The Galaxy are a fantastic club and I hope to keep this team going in the right track."

"What are your long-term plans and short-term plans for the club, if any?"

“I want to continue what Bruce (Arena) has had for this club and push for the clubs 6th MLS Cup Title. I want this club to get back to the glory days when David (Beckham) and I were leading the club. We have a lot of quality players and I think we can win several trophies this upcoming season. Hell I want to get us to the CONCACAF Champions League Final.”

"Glory days are over??? What does that mean? Are you saying LA has lost its edge?"

"Nope not at all and to clear that up I mean by winning trophies and being apart of finals, we need to become title contenders once again and the last few seasons were not what this club has been known for and I know the fans are wanting things to be back on top."

“The talk around the water cooler is that you might be losing the services of three major players in Gio Dos Santos, Steven Gerrard and Robbie Keane, can you please tell us your plans with the three?”

“All three are signed already and will not be needing any new contracts. Both Robbie and Stevie are set through the end of 2017 and I told them to let me know their feelings mid-way through the year. Gio on the other hand is going to be hard to keep. During his time here in Los Angeles his stock has really risen and we have been getting calls. I am not sure if he will stay but I will do my best to convince him.”

"The Galaxy are known for signing high quality superstars who are considered past their prime by many. Do you plan on continuing the trend of getting older international super stars or will you be looking younger?"

"I really don't like that we are thought of a club that signs players ready to retire. Well players such as Robbie and Stevie are great I feel that we need to find a healthy balance between age groups. I want the best players who are willing to come here and not just for a pay check."

"With that there are rumors that Zlatan Ibrahimovi? could make a move to MLS after his contract with Manchester United expires in a few months. LA is one of the rumored clubs. What is your opinion on him and would you like him to be a member of your club?"

"Oh boy on this!! Zlatan is a hell of a player but his attitude sucks. He thinks he can march into MLS and walk over everyone and is just wanting a paycheck. The truth is he might struggle and this league is very physical so he would need to watch out a bit. Look I am not sure if I want him with us or not."

"Oh harsh words there, are you still upset at him from 2014 when he call you and the USMNT a big joke?"

"Absolutely, he had no right saying that about me or the USMNT. Let me ask you this? What was the last good thing he did for Sweden? Euro 2016??? I don't think so..... He really has no room to talk and would need to grow up. Seriously he is 35 but acts like a 18 year old. One thing that irks me is that he believes that we are a uncultured country due to the stature of football. Well if he wasn't such a close minded jackass he would see how much the league and sport have grown since 2010."

"Will you be concentrating solely on MLS, or will you be focusing more on the cup competitions, like the USOC and the CCL if you all make it?"

“I would say all three competitions. I want to keep the tradition alive here with LA and not winning trophies is not the LA way!”

“Staff wise are you looking to keep the staff the way it is or bring in new faces?”

"I will be keeping the staff that is in place from the Arena era as they have been apart of this club for the last several years and no what works and does not. I will be bringing in new faces within the next few weeks to fill any vacant jobs."

"What kind of football would you want your side to play?"

“I want to play a very exciting type of football that is free flowing and looks like a work of art. I am looking at a 4-3-3 as my main base tactic.”

"Finally do you see yourself coming out of retirement again and become a player coach??

"Haha that is a funny question. I can promise you that outside of testimonials I am done playing. I am very happy to be a head coach and I am done playing professionally, yes even if there is an injury crisis."

"Alright, thank you for answering our questions, Landon. Good luck to you and Los Angeles."

"Thank you very much."

Looking like a very good start man, keep it up! And I love the Zlatan trashing!