Gale did everything but win

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This article was published 24/09/2021 (1475 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a major signing.

Stephen Hoyle, an English striker with a ton of success at the professional level in New Zealand, was somehow convinced by Valour FC head coach/general manager Rob Gale to come to Winnipeg and become the face of the city’s new professional soccer club heading into their first season.

“I think Rob could sell snow to the Eskimos,” Hoyle told the Free Press at the time.

The problem in Gale’s two and a half seasons in the Canada Premier League though was the snow he was selling would often arrive melted. It’s what led to Valour firing the only coach and general manager it had ever known on Thursday and replacing him with former Vancouver Whitecaps assistant Phillip Dos Santos.

It may have seemed harsh to pull the rug from under Gale with 10 regular season matches left and Valour only three points out of the fourth and final playoff position, but Winnipeg Football Club president and CEO Wade Miller clearly has a “three strikes and you’re out” approach to things.

Speaking of Hoyle, he was Gale’s first big puddle. The veteran goal scorer was a colossal bust and was the first player in CPL history to have his contract terminated. Hoyle scored the club’s first goal, but followed that up with six scoreless appearances before being cut loose.

But Year 1 was loaded with signings that fell flat. The team’s first captain was defender Jordan Murrell who, ultimately, had no business wearing the armband. His play was disappointing, but even more so were his leadership skills as he embarrassed the team with an outburst on Aug. 5, 2019 in a road match with HFX Wanderers where he shoved a referee, was given a red card, and then kicked the scorer’s table on his way to the locker room.

In his introductory press conference, Gale, a native of Zambia who has lived in Winnipeg for over a decade, said Valour was going to be a “team for Manitobans by Manitobans,” and he stuck to that, perhaps to a fault. The 2019 squad had eight Winnipeggers on the roster which sounds great on paper, but that was never going to be the right formula to build a championship calibre team. Attacking midfielder Marco Bustos and forward Tyler Attardo ended up being two of the club’s few bright spots in 2019, but the rest of the locals didn’t make much of an impact and Valour finished the season tied with Halifax for the lowest point total in the CPL.

Strike one.

Gale started from scratch in 2020 as Valour completely overhauled its roster. They learned from their mistakes the year prior and brought in a crop of mature veterans in Daryl Fordyce, Stefan Cebara and Brett Levis. They also fixed a defensive unit that surrendered the most set pieces in the league in 2019 with two improbable additions: Andrew Jean-Baptiste, a New Yorker who spent three seasons in the MLS, and Arnold Bouka Moutou, a historic signing as the Congolese left fullback had previously played in France’s Ligue 1.

Gale rounded out the club with two key loans in Toronto FC defender Julian Dunn and FC Montreal goalkeeper James Pantemis who were both huge upgrades.

Then a global pandemic happened.

Instead of having a full season to prove themselves, Gale’s new-look starting 11 had to settle for The Island Games — the CPL’s single-site tournament in Charlottetown, P.E.I. At the end of the round robin, Valour finished in sixth place with a record of 2-2-3, three points shy of advancing to the group stage.

Yes, it was a tough hand, and yes, Valour had some bad luck with injuries at the tournament, but in the end, it wasn’t good enough.

Strike two.

This was a make or break year for Gale. He was entering the final year of his contract and couldn’t afford a third straight losing season. His core from 2020 mostly stayed the same, but he added some impressive imports in Brazilian midfielder Rafael Galhardo and Cuban right-back Andy Baquero. He also relied on yet another loanee to stand between the pipes as 20-year-old Jonathan Sirois of CF Montreal was tabbed as Valour’s starter.

With the effects of COVID-19 still being felt by the country, the CPL had all eight clubs start the 2021 season in a bubble in Winnipeg to play their first eight matches of the 28-game schedule at IG Field. Sure, it was a slight advantage for Valour, but they were stuck in a hotel for a month just like everyone else.

Valour went from a basement-dweller to the top of the table as they finished the bubble with a shiny 6-0-2 record and had finally given their diehard supporters in The Trench something to be proud of.

But once the league returned to a normal schedule, Valour lost its way. It didn’t help that Jean-Baptiste, their star player and co-captain, tore his ACL near the end of the bubble, but that doesn’t excuse Valour for going 1-2-7 in league play in their last 10 league matches. Their incredible start set them up for an easy path to the post-season, but now they’re going to have to scratch and claw to get there as Valour’s dropped to fifth place (7-2-9) and now find themselves chasing York United (6-8-5) to reach the final four.

Strike three.

It’s hard to summarize Gale’s legacy at Valour.

He was a colourful character and a straight shooter who the media, and more importantly, players enjoyed. Winnipeg’s a market where reporters are more accustomed to covering slapshots and touchdowns passes, but Gale would never lash out at anyone for not using the correct soccer term or if they had asked him to ‘dumb things down’ a notch or two. He also made everyone’s job a heck of a lot easier as he was known for being a great quote with classics such as “Winning is the deodorant of sport. It covers all matters of smells.”

No matter what the result was, Gale would always take your call and be happy to answer any question you may have had. He was proud of Canada finally having its own professional league and he was even more proud to be trusted to run his local club. Whatever he could do to help grow the CPL and Valour brand, Gale was game for it.

On the flip side, his gift of gab is also what got him into trouble at times. He was fined by the league in early 2020 when he said “I think it sucks,” when asked by the Free Press for his opinion on the league having a single-site season. He also was perhaps too honest in his post-game chats as he often leaned on excuses after every loss. Whether it was injuries, the officials or Valour’s hectic schedule, Gale always seemed to have a reason for his club not securing three points.

Gale leaves Valour with an all-time 18-8-30 record. He’s only the third CPL coach to lose his job and the first professional sports head coach in this town to get canned since the Manitoba Moose let go of Keith McCambridge in 2016.

It’ll be up to Dos Santos to try to get Valour to a point where they can pose a threat to Forge FC, Cavalry FC, and Pacific FC. As for Gale, his resume, connections, and football knowledge will help him land on his feet somewhere. He’s well respected as several coaches around the CPL have publicly shown their gratitude for Gale’s efforts to grow the league. Prior to this season, a rumour floated around that Guangzhou FC of the Chinese Super League had interest in Gale as his brother-in-law John Peacock is a supervisor at their academy.

But wherever Gale ends up, hopefully for his case, he’ll have a cooler, or better yet, a freezer with him.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @TaylorAllen31