Former Club GM Elliot Fall on time with RSL, path to MLS, Golf World + more

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Our next guest. We've been working on this for a little while.

Former RSL general manager and good friend Elliott Falls live in studio.

Elliet, good to see you, man, How are you great? I'm great, great to see you.

I know you're great now because we had a little Ed Sheeran bumping us in, so that's used Jeff.

Yeah, oh that was, I mean, and it was it was perfect. Good one's that's a banger. So for our listeners that have no clue. Elliot and I play golf together from time to time. He is a very good player. I've learned a lot just watching him play.

And we both have our like speakers going to the same time, so it's like rival music. And we have pretty similar tastes in music. But occasionally I'll notice, like a shaggy song or something.

I don't think you've ever heard a shaggy song. But that was when Trey's phone started ringing.

It happened. Oh, that would be so sick if that was his rent town.

But one day I'm getting ready to tee off and I'm like, is that Ed Sharon in the background? Castle on the Hill? And let me be clear, that's a banger. It's a good song. I just didn't know you were an Ed Sharon n.

You know, you find us, you find some space, and honestly, when you're when you're out on the golf course for a while, you gotta you gotta change it up.

You can't just have the same same old, same old. Oh this is true.

And you can't give Trey the the control. You can never give Trey the control. Let's be clear about that. How good do you think you are a golf.

Not very good right now. I haven't been playing well lately. That's not true.

Like do you think if you allocated time and energy to just you get a great coach?

You're playing every day, which you kind of do anyway, you're hitting balls all the time.

Some people think so you're but but you genuinely try to be as good as you possibly can. Sure, how good do you think you could be? Because you're close to a scratch? I know you say you're not, but you are.

Uh yeah, I don't know. I think I could get to a plus handicap, but I don't. You know, certainly nowhere near you know, the the great players you see, you know in some places played I've played around. I mean, it's always humbling when you play with really good golfers. And I've played around.

You know this.

A few of us like to play the Nibley Men's League indeed, and Nibley's a fun place and you know, shout out to Andrew Meacham and he the pro there. He does an unbelievable job. It's a lot of fun. Cool men's league. Fridays we go out in the club Championship. None of my friends played with me, so I had to play. I got paired up by myself for a couple of us to have jobs. Elliott, it was a Saturday and Sunday. Your job does but to qualify for that have to play on Fridays.

And I did the best I could. I'm not even talking about you. You're okay, well, I think friends. I hurt my feelings, but you retired early and we'll get there. But anyway, as you were a club.

Championship anyway, you know, I got paired with a couple guys and you know, they they clean the clean my clock in the club championship. I mean, you know, And I've actually played with him a couple of times since. And you know, the one guy went out and shot five under this week at Nibbley.

Who are these people? They're just good golfers, like college guys.

College They're they're about my age.

See.

It always depresses me every time I feel like I'm improving a little bit to hear that there are so many people that are so much.

Better at this.

There's yeah, there's there's there's a lot of good golfers out there.

There's a lot of good golfers in the state of Utah, there is.

I'm better now than I was when we first started playing together. At least give you that certainly. Okay, you're not a bad golfer. I don't think I'm a bad golfer.

You're a good golf Sorry, I should I should be I should be more clear you were a good golfer.

Well, that's kind of you to say.

But you know, just when you think you're good, you play with somebody like our guys steal the Walt my guy.

Sure. Yeah. And did you play against him when you were a Judge? Yeah, no, I think no, I think he was the same.

I mean, I think I think we over I mean, I only played two years at Judge, but I'm pretty sure.

Because he went to Park City. I'm ninety nine pretty sure.

I think we overlapped at least one year, if not, okay, if not both years.

It was wild watching him play and watching and watching you like watching golfers like him like problem solve It's yeah, they think of things that you would even would not even consider.

Yeah, there's so many aspects of the game that are to challenge you, right, and like that, if you're if you're not proficient at you're you're gonna fall apart. Like you if you sure you can have a great swing. If you can't chip a ball, you're done. Yeah, if you can't make a five footer, you're done. You you undo all the good work you do get in there.

Yeah. It's a tough game, man. It humbles you, it really does.

And you know, at least for me, and I think this this goes for most golfers. As soon as you as soon as you feel like you've found something you've you lose it. You lose whatever it is, or you lose something else. I mean, it's it's a it's a tough game, but that's what makes it fun.

Yeah, yeah, it's it's quite a challenge.

Uh.

This weekend, I was back in Indianapolis with my brother and we played this great track. Four of the holes are actually in the Indy five hundred racetrack.

I've heard of that. It's really cool.

Front nine and I'm not sure I've ever done this before. I birdie two of the first five holes. All right, then we're on a par three. We're about one seventy eight out. I wrote my seven iron. I'm like, that is it? Hit it within three feet? I'm like okay, this could be your third BIRDI in the first six sols. I don't know that I ever shouldn't have thought that correct, because what I did was I pulled a two and a half foot or for Birdie tapped in for part,

It's yeah, it's I mean, the best thing you needs impossible to do, but certainly all the time. But the best thing you can do for your score is to

The weekend some of them do the same thing.

Yeah, and like we talk about how going out, you know, you end up playing with a with a great player, don't you think all the PGA forre guys who end up getting paired with with Scotty Scheffler these days feel the same way. Yeah, it's like I'd feeling good about myself. I just won a tournament. Oh now I gotta play Scotty Schefler.

Yeah.

No, it's funny you referend Scotty because I just pulled this up because you know, I didn't used to.

Well, I never played golf growing up.

I got into it over the past few years, and playing with people like you and getting better equipment and taking lessons has helped.

But I never really covered it either. But it's such a behemoth.

Now if you're in this space, you better become familiar a little bit at least with what's going on in the world of golf. And so I cover it in a way that I used to, and I bring it up in this context. I didn't cover it when Tiger was Tiger, which honestly depresses me because I've read I've read the book, and I've watched the documentary like ten times, and if the Golf Channel ever shows like hey, Tiger Highlights coming up, I'm recording it and I'm watching all

So I was gonna say something like, you're going heading tours, go ahead, well, and.

I actually honestly want your thoughts.

So Scotty just became the first golfer since Tiger to have two straight seasons of five wins or more on tour. Sure, and it's only Scotty and Tiger over the past forty years. So Scotty has done it once, Yeah, twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five. So I heard like, oh, first since Tiger. Okay, well, then he's having this Tiger like run.

If you want to, if you want to, if you're feeling good about yourself on the golf course, go read some Tiger stats and you will really humble yourself. Yeah, but I mean they're just the most unbelievable, the one about you know, Scotty's been number one in the world for what three straight years that nobody's even coming close to him, right, He'd have to be number one in the world till like twenty thirty six to match Tiger's streak.

That's just wild.

It's I mean, Tiger, you know, did you see the shot Scotty hit yesterday to win the tournament yeap effectively on seventeen. You sit there and you're like, that's one of the greatest shots you've ever seen, And then you think about the natural like comparison is Tiger's shot on sixteen in the Masters in like yeah, yeah, and and like that shot makes makes Scotty's shot look like a

It's just unfathomable.

Now you give me eighteen hundred puts inside four inches, I think I'd missed two of them.

I mean, it blows the mind in a different way when you actually try to be good at it, when you try to play the game and then you realize, like how hard it is to be good and consistent, and how wild it is that he did what he did.

Now he's not gonna get Jack's record.

Injuries and then proclivity for Perkins waitresses and such kind of threw him off the rails.

But do you think he's the greatest that's ever done it. I think he's the greatest that's ever done it.

But I also think, you know, some day, I mean, he he may never have this conversation, who knows, but like he probably has to reckon a little bit with the fact that it was him. It like the injuries were even him in a lot of ways because of the swing change. Yeah, okay, the swing stuff is wild to me. I mean, he went out and he won. He won the Masters in record breaking fashion. He won he won the US Open Upebble Beach by one hundred

Like, there's this.

There's this pursuit of perfection, at least at the very top ends of sports, where you're never satisfied. You never think you're good enough, you never And of course the irony is like you also go out and you believe you're the best every day you're out there. So it's this weird, you know, dichotomy in your head. But he thought there was something to fix, and so we went out and completely read it as golf swing, and you know,

Just go do it again, just keep at it.

Yeah, it's interesting you bring it up because I listened to an interview or you know what this is actually during one of the golf channels, like, hey, this is when Tiger was Tiger broadcasts and they interviewed Wyndham Clark. I'm trying to think when Wyndham said his swing was at when Tiger swing was at his best. Is there an era where you felt like his swing was in the best place and he never should have touched it.

I think it's hard to argue against that.

Like you know, early twenty ninety eight to two thousand and three, kind of like winn he won the Masters, the first Masters, that that Pebble Beach US Open, when he had the Tiger Slam where he held all the majors at the same time, you know, I mean. And but by the way, we haven't talked about his amateur career. You know that, right, You know that he won three consecutive US Junior Amateurs and then won three consecutive US Amateurs.

Like that's mind blowing.

In and of itself. It's mind blowing, mind blowing. Yeah, that he did that. And also and again, yes, his career was derailed as a result of some poor personal decisions and the health as your referenced with his.

His swing change.

But what the other thing it's interesting about this sport to me is how many great young golfers get derailed by fatigue, sure, or not wanting to live. It was interesting talking to Steele about this because at the media tournament prior to the Utah am they paired me with him, and they did that intentionally because he's a pro now he's an amateur now, because he's trying to qualify and I'm learning all this stuff in real time, like can you qualify for the Masters in the US Open in

It's one of the most remarkable stories in the history of sport, it really is.

And then and then by the way, the twenty nineteen Masters, like are you kidding? The comeback? And then watched that live it was unbelievable. Yeah, it was unbelievable, by the way. You know, you know our friend Matt who plays off with us, he was there.

Oh, he was at that.

He left on he left on Sunday morning, so he wasn't there for the final round, but he was there. Do you remember It's actually funny, do you remember the shot where Tiger hit a ball out of the trees and had to had to curl it around and together, and he had the gallery around him, and and that I believe it was Ah, it was one of the security guards comes running by and slips on the wet grass and almost takes Tiger's leg out. In the TV

Oh, yes, he's right.

It might have been something about no because his father anyway, Yeah, but there was something something about it. It was an unbeliev I mean, just an unbelievable tournament.

Well, and then the relationship with his dad is so fascinating to me. It's yeah, you know, because the fact of the matter is he's not Tiger without earl. But there was still, you know, a lot of things about that relationship.

It's not hard to make an argument it was an unhealthy relationship.

Well, and you just wonder how much of Tiger's ultimate downfall was learned behavior, right like all of the things we learned about his dad later on in the womanizing And anyway, all right, before we catch a break, I wanted to have you in studio for a while now, and coming up next, I want to talk about you know, where you feel the club is at now, what it was like to build what I perceived to be for about eighteen to twenty matches last year is the best

Yep, and you're not You're a little bit like me.

You're not just like a soccer guy like you love Utah football, you up loving.

The jazz like Oh.

I was listening to you with with Doctor Chris Hill today and you were talking about hiring Urban and the Muss. I was in the Muss. I was in the Muss for both undefeated seasons. I'm real, like literally brought chills to my down my spine.

So tell us about your path, like and then we'll get to the RSL stuff on the other.

Yeah, so you know, like you said, local local guy, grew up you know, right within walking distance of Rice Ecles, going to games as a kid, huge jazz fan as a kid. I mean, you know, the the Stockton to Malone pick and roll in the and the you know, the ninety six ninety seven finals runs are sear to my brain. I mean that's like, that's that's sports fandom to me. Like that is, and then and then the utes going to the to the final four and then

You know, that was my fandom.

But yeah, I grew up, grew up playing soccer, played golf in high school too. You know, I would say it wasn't great at either one of them. I've I've gotten better at golf since then because I worked. I worked up at Mountain del for seven years and it was you know, I tell people the best job I ever had. Uh it's tough when the best job you

But no.

Got in at such a fun time at RSL. So I started in April of two thousand and seven. I mean, you know that time really well, and it was It's wild to see what the club and what the sport and the landscape is now compared to back then.

It's just that you can't even compare it.

I mean it was you know, we were in our offices and at Trolley Corners and there had been groundbreaking of the stadium, but it was still you know, and you were right in the heart of it. You know, your dad getting you know, just making things happen, and the number of times that that was on the verge of falling apart, and obviously MLS was a totally different landscape then. So just got to be a part to

And and where was your first full time Was it team admin? No? It was PR?

So I so I came on the PR team full time January two thousand and eight, and uh did that for two years.

So I was.

I was on the PR team through the through the title run.

Uh.

In fact, I don't even know where I this is. This is a bummer to say I don't know where it is. I'd have to go, I'd really have to dig and try to find it. But I was in the locker room with a video came around my shoulder when David Beckham came in after after the final to congratulate, to congratulate the guys, And I mean I had it on video as far away as.

You really wow. Yeah, I don't don't. I don't the I don't know where I ended up. But I feel like I've seen that footage.

It's I think it's somewhere like I don't think it's gone, but I would not be that easy to find. But someday I probably should because it was. It was a cool moment. But yeah, so was on the PR team and then and then Garth brought me on as the team admin the next year, and then worked as a team admin for several years and worked my way up

Got jam the GM you're the guy and that and built a really good club and we'll appreciate it. We'll leave it there for now and we'll do more on this coming up on the other side.

Elliott is live in studio.

Elliott fall Is live in studio, former RSL General manager. All righty, so we talked about kind of your path before the break that led you to be coming the GM and for the kids out there, Uh, it is quite a story. In turn two thousand and seven general manager or climbed his way up the up the ranks. What was your reaction when de Lois at the time told you, like, okay, Gig's yours. Were you intimidated, were you surprised? Were you grateful? Were you nervous? What were what were those emotions?

I don't I don't know if I've ever said this publicly, I might have told you I said, I don't want it.

Initially, you pushed back a little bit.

Yeah, interesting, I I said, you know, look, I appreciate it the loy but you know, I I would love to have a conversation about expanding my role, you know. But you know, i'd i'd I'd like to look at what it's like in a slightly different capacity or something like that. And he said, no, that's not that's not what we're talking about. I said, you know, and look, I obviously I had been the GM of the Monarchs. I was the assistant GM of RSL. So it's not

I knew.

I knew the demands of the job. And but truthfully, I think part of it was. I also knew that when you take that job, you're starting a clock on your position. Yep, and you you you don't necessarily know when that clock ends, but it's going to end. And I don't know. That's not what I was. You know, I didn't necessarily want that. I wanted.

You know, I wanted to be at the club long term.

So uh, all that said, I mean I said I don't want it. Was there ever any part of me that wasn't gonna take it? No, of course, like I was, I was going to take the job, and I was excited about that. I mean, I loved the job. It was fun.

It was.

I think it's a dream job. It's it's you know, millions of people want that job.

No, you started as a coffee runner in two thousand and seven, you worked your way up to GM and the team.

It's a wild I.

Was tearing down downsizing banners at rice Ecles you know, Yeah, I know we were, but like, you know, for free, that's what I was doing. And then it, yeah, it turned into what it turned into, and it was it was unbelievable. It was an incredible ride. Like I wouldn't

Yeah, you can be a mediocre senior VP of comms, temperamental, emotional angry and stay with the club for twenty years. But if you're the GM or the coach, you are hired to be fired. You just are. That's pro sports.

Yeah, exactly, And and and look I knew that, I get it. It's it is what it is. So it's also and and this may I certainly hope that this doesn't come off as I don't I don't know exactly what you'd say it comes off as, but in me complaining or anything like that, but it's a it's.

A really exhausting job.

And uh I I gained a real perspective and and a real understanding of why, you know, people who are in those jobs don't stay in those jobs forever. It's just it's it's it's all consuming. So uh it was, Yeah, it was. It was a blast. It was unbelievable ride. But I, you know, I think it also.

It worked out and we'll get there. We'll get there in a moment.

What was what was the first major decision personnel wise you made? You remember the first big decision you have to you had to make personnel wise?

You remember what that was?

Selling Sabrena. I think, I mean we so I took over. It was like August or September or whatever it was of twenty nineteen. Obviously there wasn't much to do at that point. I mean, you know, we were a good team, made the playoffs, made a little bit of a run in the one a game in the playoffs. You know, I think we lost to Seattle that year on the road.

I was, you know, I that said, I.

Was involved in you know a lot of major decisions before that. But like with my with with my name on the line or my you know, my name in lights whatever you want to say.

It was. I think it was selling Sava, so you were. I'm trying to do the time I do.

I don't remember what added for breakfast this morning, but I'm trying to do the timeline here I do.

It was an uncrustable because they're so good, They're amazing.

You were named the GM prior to the COVID Deloye Drum Okay, oh yeah, okay, okay, okay, because I was wondering if any of your reservation was steeped in the information that the league was about to run the team and what that was like. But you were the GM prior to that. Okay, okay, So let's move over to that timeline now, Okay, yeah, so we.

Might need our own we might need several shows set aside for this, for.

Sure, and you're welcome back any time, as you know. But it's wild because I can remember. So this show just turned six last week. We've been doing this six years now, which both feels like yesterday and forever.

It's hard for me to quantify.

But when I first was back on air, a lot of people ask like, do you think Elliott's up to the task, And I said, well, only results will tell the story, because that's the way this thing goes. I mean, it is more than almost anything else or results orientated business. Obviously, if you're in other areas of commerce, you have to sell to make money or whatever. But if it's a good team and they win, then he's the guy. And if they go the other way, then it was the

We know the deal.

That was a summer of real racial unrest and social justice and people express themselves in a very specific way, no matter what side of the aisle you're on.

That was a hot time in our country.

It was a passionate, heavy time where everybody was on edge for a myriad of different reasons, whether it was the person you didn't want in the White House, being there a pandemic potentially killing people, or you know George Floyd situation where everybody was really everything was heightened.

Okay, so you want to throw you want to throw the earthquake in there too, because it happened right around then, two earthquakes.

Yeah, I'm living downtown, man, I thought we were all dying. So delay goes onto X ninety six. You know I should rewind. RSL game is canceled.

Okay. Players decided to protest, right, Yeah, to be clear, every game of the league.

Yeah, RSL, along with every other team in the league, decides to stand in solidarity with the message, and we're not playing. Deloy takes that as an affront, which, by the way, I understood at the time.

I get it.

You know, all the work they put in to make this event happen, bringing employees back the were furloughed goes on X ninety six.

This expresses his disappointment.

My phone blows up in a way that it very rarely blows up, and then an hour later it's decided he's coming on this show to apologize, and I'm like, all right, I mean he owns the station, he owns the team.

If this is the deal. This is the deal. Unfortunately damage was done at that point.

Did the best I could to give Deloy the space to express himself, which I thought he did in a very deloy way, to try to walk it back a little bit, but the damage was already done. And then Deloyd decides, this is something that's been lost in history. He was not forced to sell the soccer team. He decided he did not want to have the headache anymore,

But by the way, this is not to take us on a tangent, but this is this is something like the scenario you just laid out is actually not really indifferent from nearly every team in every professional sport that where the owner has been seemingly pushed out of the league. Like people, people perceive the owner to have been forced out, they almost always make that decision on their own.

It's so so so.

Difficult to force somebody out in these situations, right, It just it almost never happened.

I don't even know if it ever has happened.

Yeah, but I think that was the narrative, like, oh, no, it is that's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

Yeah, he said some things that hurt some people's feelings and MLS said, okay, you have to sell the team.

That's not how it went down.

And I sat with him before he decided to do it, because we were talking about some other things.

He walked me through the process, totally understood.

You know, was again in a position to make some money and he has gone on to do some other things with his life as opposed to dealing with, you know, owning a soccer team, which comes with its own headaches.

Yeah, which I am uniquely familiar with.

Sure, But how was that situation digested by the front office of the club when all that went down, and when you realized that there was going to be an ownership transition and for a moment in time, you were going to report to the league because they were going to operate the team while Deloy found a buyer.

What was that like for you because delay gave you your shot.

Yeah, certainly, And and look to take a step back on the on the Deloyte side of this, I mean I am not like, I'm not defending the things that you know that deloyte said.

I'm not.

I they weren't they weren't things that can be said. But I also kind of, like you alluded to, you understood where he.

Was coming from.

It's it's I I'm not saying I understood where he was coming from. But I think Deloy. I think Deloy was a very complex Uh, He's a very complex person. And I think you know, he said things that I have no I've never spoken to him about it. I don't know if he would. You know, I don't know what he would say about what he said at this point. But again, things that that, yeah, you can't say and shouldn't have been said. But I also think that there were you know, he he wanted to do right by

So I I that was.

A wild That mean, that dynamic in and of itself was was kind of wild. And and to your point, having been given a chance by Deloy and all of those things, and you know, so obviously I had I had a relationship with de looiy the that said. I mean, it was the wildest time I can remember.

In my life.

I mean it was that that forty eight hours or whatever it was. I mean, it was sleepless, it was you know, on the phone, constantly talking to people, like trying to trying to even get a grasp for like what how to handle it, what to do. I mean, it's just such a unique situation that there's no preparing you for that. There's you know, the kind of the firestorm of it all. And uh, it was. It was a it was a wild experience. I don't I don't

Yeah, to get that information. Yeah, he yeah, he did. You know.

There was also and and I don't remember kind of sequentially how things happened, but there in addition to you know, I had I've probably like I probably had one conversation with Deloye after the you know, that day, but it was a conversation where he you know, kind of walked me through what was happening. And then uh, there was also the league was stepping in, so the league was also kind of giving us information and and that's when John Kimball came in and and so getting information from John.

Yeah, and Lloyd compartmentalized in a very interesting way.

I mean when he was done, he was done.

You know, he's at my time, and now it's time for somebody else and I'm going to go on and do some other things of my life, which he's done. So then you're reporting to the league. Prior to the artificial transition, what was who were you talking to and when you went to make a decision? How did that mechanism work? We weren't really talking to anybody.

You were just doing your thing.

Well, I mean the edict was essentially, here's you know, here's your budget. Your budget is. It was basically here your budget is what it was. We're not changing things. Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, if there's a major decision that needs to be made, like we want to be clued in.

And that was.

More or less directly like with the Commissioner's office. It wasn't with you know, Don himself, but with his office, and you know he works very closely so for me, like on the player side, you know.

The.

Todd Durban who runs the player side of of MLS. I had a few conversations with Todd here and there. But again it wasn't they were they were great, and they they let us do our thing. They did, let us just execute and in in some ways it was the most rewarding time I had there because and this isn't I really I don't really mean this as a shot at any any of the ownership situations that we had, but it was the one where we it was okay, go ahead, do your thing like you guys. You guys

Had to be a little bit liberating, not to be micromanaged too, but right, maybe like have a little freedom.

Yeah, I mean, no question about it.

I think I think I learned a lot from that time, you know, about what it takes to successfully.

Lead as well.

Yeah, And to your point, it is in a lot of cases to step away and to say I hired you. I hired you to do this job. Go do the job and let me know if you need anything. I don't need you to tell me every step of the way. Obviously as things go, I want to just know what's happening. But I don't, you know, And I think that is how really successful organizations in any in sports, in in business, in anything are built. That's that's that's how you you know,

So we got a couple of minutes here, So it's a couple of different things. It goes fast when you're talking about interesting things. So let's move over to the space of the club that you built. And it's interesting soccer fans are just miserable people.

They just are.

And you know, I think you took a lot of flak from people that wondered if you were just a lackey.

I wondered if you were up to the task.

And I know you're not like actively on social media, but an acdotally and I went to watch an RSL game a couple of years back after after you were let go, and we went into beer bar and they started booing, and I wondered if they were booing you when we walked in. It turns out they were booing the game, But I'm like, wait, did they Yeah? I honestly thought they were booing you. But you took a lot of flat during the course of the roster construct. But really what it culminated in is and best laid

Right.

And obviously that's nothing that you could control or new ownership. Dave Blitzer, Scott Chrace, Ryan Smith. Nobody was able to control the mitigating circumstances. But what was it like to build that team that last year for a moment in time certainly the most entertaining soccer we've seen here and had a chance to be really really special if things just would have kind of stayed clean.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's a really kind of complex set of emotions because on the one hand, it's rewarding to look at it and say, yeah, like, look at the decisions we made and and and while I was there, I think we were able to You don't get every decision right, there's no there's no chance, of course, but I think we were able to, you know, to hit for a really good average and and put ourselves in a position where, you know, we got a few major

Yeah it was.

It was complex, but it was I I'm proud of what we did while I was there. And and I don't have too many regrets. I don't have, you know, I'm not. I'm not bitter about it. I had I had great experiences. I had a lot of good times. And you know that chapter is basically over. Do you have any regrets about the cheat show stuff? Because the interesting part.

Of it is there there was some baggage there, right, I mean, in fairness, there was.

Some baggage there.

But when he was dialed in, when he was when he was fit, when he was committed, when he was doing I mean chee show things, you can the talent is so obvious. So two part questions, do you have any regrets about the chee sho thing? And where were you when you heard the suspension was coming? And did you feel the same way I did, like this could be a really ominous thing. Do I have any regrets? Well, I'll answer the other question first, because that one's a little more start forward.

I don't. Actually I don't remember where I was. You know.

It's you know how sports are, like it's all fickle and and you never know what can kind of derail things.

So to be completely.

Honest, I wasn't paying close enough attention or dialed in enough to you know, and I didn't. I still don't really know what happened, Like I don't, I don't know.

I don't know.

I just know kind of what has has come out publicly, and so I you know, I would be lying if I told you I knew why. I had a really great feeling about what was going to happen. Either way, as for regrets, like, no, I don't have regrets. I mean, look, you say there was baggage. I don't even kind of don't even know what baggage you're referring to. Like when we did background checks, when like he was fine, like you talked to he talk to LAFC guys like they

Right before I say, you loose all end on this, And there's a lot of meat on this bone we haven't even touched for sure. They elected to kind of break it down brick by brick, and I'm sure they have their reasons, I think, andres was proof of concept, so you go get your check.

I get it.

But you know, chi Cho, Matt Crooks and oh, like the majority of the best attacking players were let go and the majority of the money was not reinvested in talent. Now, we don't need to get into MLS as a single entity to educate our listeners as to what that means. So it's not necessarily Yeah, I don't think that has anything to do with it.

But they did.

But they elected to break it down and get rid of most of the attacking players and in my estimation, did not do a good enough job at least to this point at bringing in reinforcements. We'll see what these new two players are able to bring, but there are two points below the line with eight matches to play, and it's going to be tough for them even to make the playoffs. So last thing, what do you make of where the club finds itself now?

I you know, yeah, it's I mean, you never it'd be hard to say, oh, you got to feel awesome when you're below the line late in the season. I mean, that's always a hard place that we've been there. I like, I know how that feels, and you don't feel good about it. Kind of to your bigger question, yeah, I think, And again I'm not there.

I don't know.

I don't know all the reasons for the decisions that were made. I don't you know. I can speculate just like anybody else can. But if I've learned one thing, when you're like when you work in a front office from the outside, you have ten percent of the information if you're lucky. Yeah, So like I don't I don't want to pretend to have information and be able to say definitively, oh, this was the wrong thing to do, or this was the right thing to do.

You know.

Yeah, the Andres one like that makes a lot of sense, and it is proof of concept. And if you can, you know, four x your investment in eighteen months, it is proof of concept and it allows you to go back and say, see, this is how we can you know, this is how we can make money.

That that was the whole idea of signing.

Andres was to invest when he you know, before he broke out and then and I think Chicho was a huge part of that return, because you know, a young guy like Andres who's dynamic, has to have a somebody to teach him how to be a pro on the field, and somebody to be demanding of him on the field, and on top of that, somebody to finish the chances that he's going to create. And so I think I think that was you know, to me, those are the things that that really kind of became difficult to replace.

Yep, there's no doubt. Look, there's a lot more we could do, and we'll do it soon. So thanks for the time. Man, be good with chats. Thank you, Elliot Fall, former RSL general manager. We'll bring in Ryan from the Dish pros. Give them a call it eight oh one four two four dish, save a bunch of money and make the switch today.

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