Coach Laurie Calloway clings to his job, but should he? Eric Wynalda is on the field long after the Clash’s fifth loss in a row. ááFans lean over the sideline railing and he signs an autograph every two seconds, except when he’s asked to personalize the signature. An autograph for “Leonel” takes five seconds. He signs a child’s shirt, a large Mexican flag, and a baby bottle that a father, with infant in the other arm, has handed him. A girl touches his head. “I love your hair.” Then she tells her friend, “Don’t touch his hair, it’s mine.” Wynalda heads toward the locker room. A club official intercepts him and warns him that fans by the field exit ù also leaning over railings ù have been “abusive” and tells Wynalda to be careful and not to stop. The hero ù he had scored and played well in a thrilling 3-2 loss June 8 ù says, “Don’t worry, I’ll calm them down.” He stops under the throng and starts signing autographs. A man wearing a Chivas replica jersey yells, “Eric, don’t go. Stay in San Jose.” Others express that sentiment. They badmouth coach Laurie Calloway, who has clearly become, in the fans’ eyes, the villain. He had been the one receiving the abuse. They swore at him, told him to leave, and threw fliers that read, “The coach is a roach.” In the previous home game, an airplane flew around the stadium trailing a banner that read, “Can the coach! The Clash deserve better!” In the week between the two games, Wynalda announced his demand for a transfer. Mexican striker Daniel Guzman defected after only three league games, citing personal reasons. President Peter Bridgwater had been quoted by the San Jose Mercury ù Bridgwater says he has proof it was a misquote ù as blaming bad performances on Wynalda. Then the team issued a press release announcing that after a two-and-a-half hour meeting between Bridgwater and Wynalda, the striker says he wants to stay. “I raised some concerns and Peter promised they would be dealt with,” Wynalda said. Bridgwater said these were “minor” administrative concerns about the scheduling of practices and public appearances. Other players say they agreed with some of Wynalda’s requests. Calloway said grievances from players against him included “too long” and “amateur” practices. “All that sort of stuff is just mind-boggling to me,” Calloway said, “because nobody has worked harder than me for 35 years in terms of my profession to become professional… My demeanor, which is abrasive to some players, according to the comments … I haven’t changed at all [over the years].” The club says this hasn’t been a Wynalda-Calloway clash, a one or the other must go. Wynalda, too, says it’s not about Calloway. But that’s the way it came across. So the fans, who had long cried for Calloway’s sacking now feared they’d lose their only real star. A player who in seven starts has scored four goals and seven assists on the league’s second-worst team. The worst team, the L.A. Galaxy, has fired its coach, Lothar Osiander Going downhill Exactly one year ago, Wynalda had said this about the Clash: “I’ve given my opinion five times to the club and they did the exact opposite thing that I thought was in the best interest of the club five times.” A year ago, the Clash had a 5-5 record. Today, it’s 4-9. A year ago, the Clash’s foreign players were disappointing. Now the Mexican player the team wanted, has fled. Hungarian Istvan Urbanyi certainly isn’t offering much. A year ago, the Clash’s nucleus consisted of loyal Calloway soldiers, local boys who played for his San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, some of whom picked up pocket change in local leagues while hoping that MLS would arrive in town with the coach who would have them. That same nucleus is still largely intact. When Calloway addressed possible dissension in his ranks, he said: “You can only hope that the nucleus of this team ù which has been around me for a long time and knows what I am and how I am, and that I have a lot of integrity and desire to be successful, using players the way I use players ù that they’ll support me and make that message strong to the players who haven’t been around so long. You can only hope that that nucleus of players is strong enough to stop anything that may be of a dividing nature.” But that nucleus, on which Calloway seems dependent on, hasn’t created a winning team. Bridgwater’s solution? He says he will spend more time with the team, attending more practices and going into the locker room more often. Not a coaching change. “My plan would be to give him the whole season,” he said. Meanwhile, the boos that greeted Calloway before the season opener get louder. “I can’t feel bad about people who boo,” Calloway said. “They’ve paid their dollar. They may not love me, but I love them. They pay my salary. Coaches don’t get cheered. When you win it’s the players and when you lose it’s the coach. If you don’t realize that you shouldn’t be in the job.” If Bridgwater thinks he can repair this team without changing the coach, he’s taking the more difficult path, and the responsibility. by Soccer America Senior Editor Mike Woitalla