Sakiewicz releases statement about team, Meulensteen

Shortly after the Sons of Ben marched to the stadium carrying a banner saying, "Union Fans Deserve Better," Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz issued a brief statement.

We agree wholeheartedly with the Sons of Ben and we share the frustrations of all fans to the start of the season. We are committed to assisting Jim and his Staff in every way so we can get the team back on the right track

Soon after this statement was released, there was a belief that the above statement was lacking, especially due to the big gesture that the Sons of Ben made. As it turns out though, last night's statement from Sakiewicz was an Inception-style comment, a press release to the press release if you will. Today, Sakiewicz released another statement, further reaffirming his points from last night while dropping some interesting news throughout the release.

To All Union Fans:

Thank you for your continued support of the players last night at PPL Park. It is your passion, even your frustrations, that has fueled their hearts to pull out a victory against the number one team in the Eastern Conference, D.C. United. Last night was a glimpse of the promise we saw from a solid preseason camp with new player acquisitions and Jim Curtin taking the helm for his first full year in charge.  With that said, we are still not where we need to be. To be competitive season long, game in and game out, we need to continue to explore additional options to make the team successful.

Therefore, we as ownership will not sit idly without exploring every opportunity available to us in order to restore the promise our team showed during the preseason. It is our utmost priority to assist Jim and his current staff in getting the team back on track and competing to get into the playoffs.

Rene Meulensteen's six-month consultancy is ending this month. He will be sending us his final report, which we will then review and consider all of his analysis and recommendations. It is for personal reasons that Rene will not be continuing in his role as a consultant and we thank him for his time and efforts.

Jay Sugarman, I and the entire ownership group remain deeply committed to bringing in the right people in every facet of this organization including on and off field personnel to turn things around. That starts with a Head of Soccer Operations.

As we stated firmly back in November, we remain committed to hiring the right person to oversee these operations including first team, reserves, technical staff, scouting, Union Academy including all youth soccer programming and our overall strategy. We have several ongoing conversations at the present time and we are working to get that person in place once we agree upon who we believe the best candidate is to help us achieve our goals.

Finally, and of most importance, we want to again extend our deepest gratitude to our supporters as we both understand and appreciate your frustrations. All of us here are committed to winning on the field. Our ultimate goal is to bring a championship to you, the very best fans in Major League Soccer.  We will continue to work tirelessly to achieve that goal and will never give up that top priority to get there. Never!

Thank you,

Nick Sakiewicz

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founding Partner

The most interesting parts of the statement are in the third and fourth paragraphs where Sakiewicz finally gave an update on Union mystery executive/consultant Rene Meulensteen. His six-month consultancy has ended and Meulensteen will now move on to other projects due to "personal reasons."

Meulensteen was hired in the summer as a consultant to the team, but it was always unclear what his exact job was. Was he there to oversee the continued building of the academy? Was he there to assist Technical Director Chris Albright with player acquisitions? We never really got an answer on his specific tasks, but it now appears that he will make his final "recommendations" and leave the team.

Now, the Union will look to hire someone to fill the position of "Head of Soccer Operations." It is still unclear what that position entail. If anything, it will give Union fans something new to speculate about throughout the season and possibly the off-season as well.