I’ve been that way from the beginning with Lalas and to a lesser degree with Ruud Gullit.

Today as we all know both have left the Galaxy either on their own accord or by way of the ol’ pink slip. Again, most of you know I’ve been saying Lalas would be gone before long anyways regardless of what would happen this season unless that result was a MLS Cup win for the Galaxy. And now it looks as though that may have not been enough with his firing today.

Let me get Gullit out of the way here first. The Dutch coach put it out there for people to see with his recent sale of his LA home. Sure he said his wife didn’t like the place but that as we all know was a poor excuse for what really was going on here. While I never thought he would be a success in the league, I did think he would be a decent short term fix for the club seeing how he would know how to handle having a super star like David Beckham around.

We know both Gullit and Lalas didn’t see eye-to-eye. Hell, Lalas rarely sees eye-to-eye with any coach he works with. From San Jose to New York to LA, all stops on the post-Lalas playing days have been a disaster for not just Lalas but the club he has left. San Jose may be the only that was still decent after he left but I’m sure there are even some that point the move to Houston on Lalas just for kicks.

The writing has been on the wall for Lalas. For months, and months, okay, and maybe a year we’ve been waiting on this day as either a Galaxy supporter or a non-Galaxy supporter.

Let’s all hope this is the last stop on the Lalas as GM/President tour we see in MLS. I’d honestly like to see him just ride this off into the California sunset and not back into an ESPN broadcast booth like I suspect will happen.

Whether it was the moves that made little sense, the out landish Super Club comments, or just the litte understanding of how to run a MLS club are all reasons for getting rid of Lalas over these past few years.

Now let’s hope the club can rebuild like they should have and like they’ve done in the past, being stable from top to bottom. Stability works in this league, look at New England. To a lesser degree patience works, look at the plus side with Columbus and Sigi Schmid and to the lesser side with all the coaches that have passed through New York over the years.

Cobi Jones now steps in as the coach, don’t be shocked if after this year he becomes the general manager and that is a good thing. Jones is a solid leader who won’t incert his foot in his mouth (or his ass) like Lalas would. Plus he honestly knows the league better than anyone right now I believe. I see the Galaxy going after a Paul Merinar or a John Spencer to then coach this club if Jones heads to the front office. Both are smart moves for this club.

Even with today’s shake up I still believe the Galaxy have what it takes to turn it around in the short run and make a play for the playoffs here. As forgiving as the western conference is they are not yet out of things here. With a big match against Chivas USA coming up they could do little harm to getting back on the horse with a win over their HDC rivals.

Some moves will still be made shortly. I still see a move to ship Carlos Ruiz out of this club before long. I doubt Paul Bravo or Tom Payne will wait around for a great offer for a guy that isn’t doing much on the field and that is eatting up a bulk of their salary cap space.

So what is really next for the Galaxy. Its a wait and see kind of thing but I doubt we will have to wait too long before something does go down.

“We are stepping up and doing what we need to do to straighten this thing out,” Galaxy investor/operator Tim Leiweke told The Associated Press on Monday as he announced the changes.

“There are two good people that for different reasons aren’t part of this organization today, and that’s a shame,” Leiweke said. “The fact is, the players have to look deep inside themselves and understand they have to be responsible for some of this.

“The Galaxy hasn’t made the playoffs for a couple years. Punting on this season is not acceptable. It starts Thursday.”

I am a little shocked to see Gullit out here but this will just open the floodgates for the Galaxy I believe. Don’t be shocked to see more moves in the coming hours here, that is unless someone wise enough steps in for Lalas who is probably just getting the boot all together.

Lalas we all knew would be out the door before long. His job will now be done by Paul Bravo and Tom Payne.

Once I get more details on this I will pass it along to you all.

What do you all make of this news?

Yesterday, SI.com’s Jonah Freedman uncovered some very interesting things going on with the Galaxy, AEG president and CEO Tim Lieweke visited the Galaxy locker room last week and issued an ultimatum that if the team didn’t straighten things out that there would be “dire consequences.”

As we’ve seen before things are too peachy with General Manager Alexi Lalas and head coach Ruud Gullit. It seems as though now days Gullit and Lalas are not getting along too well. Big shocker huh?

I talked about it last week that Lalas’s job was probably entering it’s final hours. After yesterday’s loss the Galaxy are quickly playing themselves out of the playoff picture. Its not that the offense isn’t working, no its still the same issues in defense and in the defensive part of the midfield that are causing the most problems.

With a big match against rivals Chivas USA looming in the distance, is it time for someone to get the boot in Hollywood? I can’t see it being Gullit here, so that would have to mean Lalas right? Or will this club finally step up and address the one need that they really need, a defensive midfielder? The same question has to be asked of if they are going to trade Carlos Ruiz or not here soon.

Honestly, a move that could happen based on money and overall need for two clubs is a trade with Colorado for LA. Trade Ruiz to the Rapids and get Pablo Mastroeni in return. I know Mastroeni is looking to go elsewhere after this year or hell even right now but this is a deal they both should make. Ruiz adds some much needed fire power to the Rapids who have been largely inconsistent in that department all year. LA gets their biggest hole filled by Mastroeni in the defensive side of the midfield.

Its a trade no one has talked about yet but its one that needs to happen. Call me crazy if you will but it could save a couple jobs if everything works out.

What do you all think will happen here? Some trades, some firings? What?

No one has been fired since but seeing that we are now at the “All-Star break” here (well sorta, there is a game tonight) it seemed like a good time to revisit this once more.

To be honest, I have kept up a little bit on the sidebar with this list but haven’t gone into any detail about it. The names you see are in the heat. Though I did have to take Real Salt Lake’s Jason Kries off the list due to his club’s recent success in the standings.

So who makes this list? Who is feeling the heat now at the All-Star break? Well, its still a couple of the same names and maybe one or two new ones that are fairly close to going on the hot seat. Let’s see, shall we?

1. Fernando Clavijo, Colorado Rapids: I think at this point we all know that Clavijo is and will forever be on the hot seat. He is a lame duck coach right now and I honestly see no way of him being resigned by the Rapids this winter. The only way however would be a MLS Cup run, meaning either get to the game and win it all or just get to the game. That may really be the only way to save him at this point is a trip to the MLS Cup.

It won’t happen though. His club is like his coaching style, inconsistent. Sure, they are currently still in the run of things here but its that inconsistent play that continues to haunt them. For the first couple months of the season it was win-lose, win-lose. No winning streaks and no losing streaks. By summer we finally saw streaks but none of them have been a winning streak. I believe the only other club this season to not have a winning streak of at least two games is San Jose. That’s not good company to be in.

An all-time record of 52-67-32 leaves me wondering why he has had a job this long in the league.

If they are to get back on track the games coming up will certainly help. Three straight at home coming up, but then another three straight on the road. Their final two months see them play the likes of Houston, Chicago, RSL, and New England at home. Not the clubs I’d like to face late in the year.

2. Juan Carlos Osorio, New York Red Bulls: Ah yes, another year and another New York coach feeling the heat. That’s probably the biggest reason why this club has yet to see success in it’s history, they quickly give up on a coach. Will that happen to Osorio this year? Well, it still may.

The club currently sits below .500% at 5-6-6 on the year. I know they recently sign a slew of players, while losing Jozy Altidore to Europe and seeing Claudio Reyna retire. Not to mention their best player has been injured a majority of this season. I get that, I do.

But aside from all of that this club has a terrible defense that was expected to be so much better with Osorio. I don’t know if it was because they cased too many former players of his like Wilman Conde before the season that they forgot to actually sign talent. Some people thought their defense was really good at the beginning of the year but over time its gotten to be pretty bad (26 goals allowed, tied for second most allowed in the league).

Now if these new players that Osorio has gone out and signed this summer actually work. There is some hope with a guy like Jorge Rojas but one guy isn’t going to turn around that defense over night.

I look at that remaining schedule and while they have plenty of winable games to get them in contention, all of their road games look rough (at SJ, twice at Chicago, at RSL, at Columbus, and at DC). All of them are places they don’t play well at. With 13 games left, they have to make the most of their home games. They can get it done but its going to take a lot of work and some Osorio magic to take place.

3. Ruud Gullit, LA Galaxy: They’ve been great at times and have been absolutely bad at times this season. We know the offense can score, we do. And we know the defense can’t defend a team of 90-year old women, we do.

Management has said that its MLS Cup or bust for this club. Now I don’t know if that means they would buy-out Gullits contract that was for a couple years or if they would just up and fire the guy. I think most still would like to see them fire Alexi Lalas regardless of what happens this season.

If he can improve that defense before the end of the year, this club has what it takes to win it all. With that offense you can pretty much beat anyone on a good day. Plus it doesn’t hurt that the MLS Cup is in the HDC this year.

Their schedule left sees them on the road eight times. Yikes, only five home games! Well, okay six because they play Chivas one more time. Still, for a club that isn’t great on the road, that isn’t a good thing. Not to mention with the up coming World Cup qualifiers this fall, they will be without Landon Donovan for some time, Carlos Ruiz (if they don’t trade him), possibly David Beckham, and possibly Edson Buddle. All key parts to this club.

Others close to the fire:

• Curt Onalfo, Kansas City Wizards: Another season with no playoffs could be trouble for Onalfo, even with a young team. I doubt he will really get the boot this year or even in the winter but their offense and defense leaves me little reason to get excited about them this year.
• John Carver, Toronto FC: Should the Reds see another second half stumble like last year you can bet Mo Johnston won’t think twice about pulling Carver off the job. But Mo better be finding Carver a striker ASAP. Ten goals in the last nine games isn’t going to cut it.
• Dominic Kinnear, Houston Dynamo: No way Kinnear will get the boot but the fact that his club sits currently at 4-4-8 on the year isn’t too good either. I’m hoping SuperLiga put a spark in this club.

Who is missing here? Let’s hear it, did I miss a coach that deserves to be on the hot seat right now? Don’t like the main three that I picked? Comment below.