LOS ANGELES -- AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke addressed the crowd at Wednesday's unveiling for the LA Galaxy's new second kit and admitted that not only is the "best one" coming in terms of a player transfer, but he is more than pleased with the state of the club heading into 2013.
Leiweke spoke briefly to the crowd while moving between the event at The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. LIVE and the Los Angeles Kings game against the Detroit Red Wings across the street at Staples Center. During his comments, Leiweke stressed that he was incredibly pleased with the work of LA head coach and general manager Bruce Arena.
"I think that it's unique to find a manager in Bruce and a coaching staff underneath him and a group of players that want to create a legacy. It's not an easy thing to do to find guys who want to step up and put that target on their back. Yet, we not only do it, but we do it and go out and perform to the highest standards, but we do it with guys that choose to be here over other places like the Premier League or Brazil," said Leiweke. "[Because] the fact is that Juninho made a decision to stay here, the fact that Robbie Keane could have gone back to the Premier League after the year that he had. The fact that Bruce was able to go out and get Carlo [Cudicini] to be our 'keeper this year.
"I promise that we're not done, the best one is coming, well, don't tell Robbie that the best one is coming, the second best one to Robbie is coming," Leiweke added. "As long as these guys stay committed to wanting to have that target on their back and wanting to create a legacy and wanting to step up to the pressure of being part of the LA Galaxy, I always tell Bruce, we've got your back and we'll get you the resources that we need."
Leiweke also mentioned that he was pleased that critics from across the American soccer media were choosing to underestimate his club this season.
"It astounds me that people don't understand the character and the commitment of our organization," said Leiweke. "We love being in that position, we love everyone underestimating us and last time that I checked, the most successful coach in this sport in this country is Bruce Arena and this team is the back to back champions. They can kiss my you know what...trust me when I tell you that the organization from Mr. [Phillip] Anschutz and AEG to Bruce Arena and Chris Klein, and to most importantly this team, we're committed to doing it again. We want everyone to look past us and we're going to continue to give this organization and [the fans] every resource necessary to create a team that one day they write books about."
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