Real Salt Lake: Is firing Mike Petke the right decision?

This week, Real Salt Lake terminated the contract of Mike Petke after an alleged homophobic slur. But was it the right call? Here, I delve into both sides of the argument.

For the fiery and intense Mike Petke, it was a tortuous, sudden and unquestionably shocking end to his time at Real Salt Lake. The former New York Red Bulls head coach is renowned for his outbursts, his explosive tendencies, his propensity to lose his temper, his calm, his cool, and every other mature quality that a modern-day manager should possess.

Real Salt Lake knew what they were getting into when they hired Petke, and in fact, the club even embraced his hard-nosed style somewhat, playing up to what his proprietors would delineate as ‘passion’, not ‘abuse’. But this was a step further than what even they might have expected.

Petke was initially suspended for two weeks and later fired for using a homophobic slur aimed at the referee in a Leagues Cup defeat to Tigres UANL. He used the word repeatedly, including in the face of the referee in a horribly aggressive manner, and is reported to have written the slur down and hand it to the referee or have it delivered.

Initially, MLS and RSL chose to heavily fine Petke and suspend him without pay for two weeks. It was an honourable decision. However, as Petke prepared to return to the team following his serving of this suspension, Salt Lake decided that they had enough of their oft-outlandish head coach and ‘terminated’ his contract.

In a statement, RSL stated:

"“On Tuesday, July 30, after an investigation and in conjunction with Major League Soccer, the club levied the steepest sanctions ever imposed on an MLS coach when we suspended Mike Petke without pay for two weeks in addition to his three-match suspension in MLS and $25,000 fine. After further deliberations and a series of constructive discussions internally and with various members of our community, we have concluded, pursuant to his employment agreement, to immediately terminate Mike Petke’s employment.”"

But was this actually the correct decision? Do Petke’s actions justify such a harsh punishment?

I think the clear distinction that must be made in this instance is the continued, meditated element of Petke’s outburst. The usual ‘heat of the moment’ defence does not really apply in this instance. He engaged in specific, targetted, and consistent harassment of an official, and that is very different to one, short, untamed outburst.

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Everyone loses their temper from time to time. Everyone can be overly zealous, a little too eager to defend their team, slightly unhinged in a moment before quickly realising their wrongdoing. Alan Pardew once headbutted a player, for goodness sake! But Petke, if the wide-ranging reports are true, actually wrote down the slur and delivered it to the referee. There were plenty of opportunities in which he could just stop and think about his actions. But he didn’t, and that is very different.

In defence of Petke, he was already handed the toughest sanction in MLS history, and according to Petke himself, there was an agreement that he would return as the coach of Real Salt Lake upon the completion of the suspension, which he accepted and undertook with grace and humility. Nevertheless, when his actions are thrust into the harsh light of day, it is difficult to support a man who has a history of such behaviour and is clearly not learning from his past mistakes.

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Is Petke a bad man? No, probably not. And in fact, he is a darn good football coach. But he needs to rail in his anger problems. And this is proof of why. Real Salt Lake made that the right decision, and they should be praised for it.

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