Less than a week after claiming that he will not leave the club, Alexi Lalas is posed to do just that, quitting as RBNY's GM and president to assume a similar job at the Los Angeles Galaxy. "Unless I get [myself] fired, I plan on being here," Lalas said on Media Day. "I have no intention of leaving," he told the Star-Ledger just last Thursday. And now it looks like he is doing exactly that, less than a year after the surprising takeover from Nick Sakiewicz.

Of course, this is not the first time Lalas has engaged in double-talk. From claiming that he would let Bob Bradley finish out the season to firing him before it was over, to offering Frank Yallop the coaching job while saying that doing so would not be fair to then-interim coach Mo Johnston, to many other examples, too numerous to mention. His feud with Amado Guevara this offseason was one for the tabloids, if US tabloids ever cared about soccer.

But other than the double-talk, Lalas seemed to excel where previous Metro GM's failed; reaching out to fans, listening, trying to create converts. The Red Bull takeover probably derailed his efforts in some way, as the company supposedly wants to go in a different direction than the one Lalas was pointing Metro.

So as we look toward... a return of Sakiewicz? Giorgio Chinaglia, the pompous jackass? Lothar Matthaus? Franz Beckenabuer himself? The circus that is Metro is not closing after all.