The Vancouver Whitecaps fired head coach Carl Robinson and replaced him with Whitecaps FC Academy technical director Craig Dalrymple until the end of the season. With the playoffs slowly slipping away for the Caps, the writing was on the wall for some time already.
Sunday night there was a sense Robinson was on the way out. Following a 2-1 defeat to FC Dallas, Robinson let reporters wait for almost 40 minutes — uncommon for Robinson, who is usually quick to chat to the media — before the postgame news conference.
The players were also late to interviews.
“They want to have lengthy showers first,” a club spokesman told waiting reporters postmatch.
All of this added to a sense of tension. When Robinson spoke, he took much of the blame for the defeat. In retrospect, his reaction fell just short of stepping down from his position.
A relative calm fell over the Whitecaps on Monday. Then Tuesday morning, the club released a thorough statement announcing Robinson was no longer Vancouver’s head coach.
“We have a lot of respect and appreciation for Carl and his team and are thankful for the contributions they have made to this club. A lot of thought and consideration has gone into this decision, which was made with the best interests of the club moving forward,” Bob Lenarduzzi, Whitecaps FC president, said in the statement.
The Whitecaps also released assistant coach Martyn Pert and goalkeeper coach Stewart Kerr, effective immediately.
“With five games left, we remain focused on our opportunity to make the playoffs. As we look to 2019 and beyond, we are committed to being a championship contender and a global search for a coach to lead this vision will start today,” Lenarduzzi concluded.
What that vision looks like remains to be seen. Robinson built the current team. There have been rumors linking current LAFC assistant and Canadian-born Marco dos Santos to the Whitecaps for quite some time. Dos Santos will be just one of many coaches on the Whitecaps’ list as the Vancouver-based MLS franchise is looking to rebuild ahead of the 2019 Major League Soccer season.
The Whitecaps (11-11-7, 40 points) are in eighth place in the Western Conference, four points behind the Seattle Sounders, who hold the sixth and final playoff spot for now, and one point behind the No. 7 LA Galaxy.