There was some excitement in the air at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ as the club was about to announce their new head coach in Hans Backe. From certain press pictures you thought right away that he is a task master, or someone who won’t tolerate foolish attitudes from his players. If you saw him for the first time your first opinion of Hans Backe would be “Grumpy Old Men” but once you got to know him or at least once he spoke to the media you can tell that he is a coach that will listen to his players and give some strong advice to make them better.

He has seen some of the matches with MLS clubs involved with the Superliga when he was Sven-Goren Eriksson’s assistant with the Mexican National Team & he has seen some matches on DVD, but while he does rate American players very well he admits that he needs to see more matches in the league to get the full exposure. “I am very excited to join Red Bull NY & the organization” said Backe “It’s a massive challenge to build a team, working with their academy and develop players. I am also glad to have both Des (McAleenan) & Richie (Williams), because it’s vital to have great knowledge of MLS & their tricky rules but we will get things done.”

The style of play that Backe would like to bring to RBNY is alot of pace and wishes to emulate the club to F.C. Barcelona. That would mean bringing over Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry for that to happen, but if RBNY can have a good Super Draft this coming Friday and bring up some quality players either thru their youth system or thru the transfer window. At least we all know the rumors of Henry wanting to come to New York City after this summers World Cup.

The one thing I have noticed from both Backe and Sporting Director Erik Soler is that both men are very happy that Richie Williams & Des McAleenan decided to stay with the club and will help them with the quirky rules of the league as well as the scouting for the club. At least right now the communications aspect for the club is in a good direction and all egos will be checked at the door.

The main reason for Backe coming to the club wasn’t so much about bringing in a European or an American coach it was more to give the club a fresh start and draw some positives to a new beginning at the new stadium. “I am happy to have these people with me” Said Soler “I am very humbled to be in a new stadium and can’t wait for a brand new start.”

That is the main idea right now for Red Bull NY. To have a fresh start and a right state of mind with the players. That has already been done for the past couple of days when Soler and Backe called in for a voluntary training session with the players who are currently on the roster. Each player met with Backe at their training facility in Montclair State University. They are also ready to get this season underway that is if the new C.B.A. has been signed. But for now it looks to be a positive for the new coaching staff of RBNY.