Jurgen Klinsmann to coach LA Galaxy or buy Tottenham or cure cancer

By: Bob | August 27th, 2007

Monday is a bank holiday in the UK, which might explain why there are all kinds of unsubstantiated rumors in the newspapers. The journalists are sitting on their couches working off hangovers and they have filled stories that look good in the papers but don’t carry much weight. Witness the speculation over Jurgen Klinsmann’s future.

The former manager of Germany’s national team is said to be in line to replace Frank Yallop as the manager of the LA Galaxy. Yallop is feeling the heat thanks to yet another dismal performance by his injury-depleted team this weekend in Colorado. The 3-0 loss to the Rapids left the Galaxy with just three wins from 18 games. Enter Klinsmann:

The former Germany striker, who has not had a coaching job since he left Germany after the 2006 World Cup finals, lives near the beaches of Orange County, about 20 minutes’ drive south of the Galaxy base in Carson, where he was seen last week, though that is not unusual. He worked as a technical adviser to the Galaxy in the 2004 season before accepting the offer to coach Germany, is a regular visitor to the ground and has even played there in a testimonial match.

AEG powerbrokers are believed to have sounded out the former Tottenham Hotspur forward, who has been offered coaching jobs in Europe and was linked with the manager’s job at White Hart Lane. However, he wants to stay in southern California and is not interested in anything other than a high-profile job, so the Galaxy appear to fit the bill. He turned down the head coach position with the United States team last December over issues of executive control.

Certainly, Klinsmann would expect to be allowed to select teams based on footballing rather than marketing reasons, and he would have been big enough to tell both Beckham and the club’s front office that he was not fit to play against Chivas.

This all sounds logical enough but do you think it will actually happen? Surely Klinsmann would make more money as the US national team coach than he would as the manager of the LA Galaxy. He’d also be able to live in California and he likely would be away from home less often than if he was coaching an MLS team. Am I missing something or is the Galaxy gig really better than coaching the US? And is it really better than owning Tottenham?