The Bruce takes over New York

The move has been made and the new sporting director/coach of New York Red Bulls is Bruce Arena (see caricature to the left).

The Bruce will take over New York starting on August 12th when the team plays a friendly against FC Barcelona at Giants Stadium. Till then, interim head coach Richie Williams will be in charge.

For Arena, the move to New York might prove to be his hardest task to date. Red Bull is an organization in flux with players that are consistent with just one thing, under performing. The good news is Arena should have the backing needed to change the club over the next couple years. As long as Red Bull is not expecting immediate results, this should work out. It will also be interesting to see how he can use the connections he made as US manager to improve the side (much as he used his NCAA connections to help DC).

In an interesting side note, Arena's first MLS game as coach will be the August 16th meeting against has former club DC United. What a way to restart your MLS coaching career. I do wonder what type of reception he will get when the team visits DC on September 23rd. I would hope that wherever he goes, he gets some cheers when he is introduced.

Bruce, welcome back, the MLS is lucky to have you.

Update: D over at DCenters has a great take on how United fans should handle Bruce's return. Glad to see that Du Nord also finds the cartoon (featured above) that went along with the press release a little lacking.