Put down the hemlock! Nick Sakiewicz says you don’t have to kill yourself. Yet …

Reports that the Cosmos cronies alumni who are apparently about to take full control of the team formerly known as the MetroStars were “re-evaluating the plan to build a new stadium in Harrison, N.J.” are, Nick Sakiewicz says, “completely 100 percent untrue.”

Part of me is relieved; the level-headed, responsible part. That’s the side of me that cares seriously about Major League Soccer, the part of me that buys absolutely into the Gospel according to Don Garber, the teaching of salary caps and soccer-specific stadiums.

But there’s another part of me, the part of me that loves chaos and disaster, the part of me that secretly hopes Chinaglia and Company take over the New York Red Bulls and run the franchise into the proverbial ground.

I suppose I could rationalize this calamitous longing and say I only want disaster because it would prove that salary caps and soccer specific stadiums really are the gospel truth. I could say that. And maybe there’s something to that. But if I was really pressed, and had to be honest, I’d have to admit a certain appreciation of disaster and calamity in and of itself.

Now I’m still pretty sure that calamity is coming down the pike because I’m willing to bet that Jack Bell didn’t get it all wrong. And some things, like Chinaglia’s involvement, have been reported from multiple, reliable, sources. I have confidence that where Chinaglia goes disaster will follow.

Still, I’m relieved that perhaps the new regime isn’t completely divorced from the realities of professional soccer in the United States, and that they will, it would seem, continue on with the Harrison project as expected.

The only thing, right now, that really bothers me is Michael Lewis’s report that Mo Johnston will be fired, perhaps even before this weekend’s match against DC United. There are some truly horrific coaches in this league, but Johnston isn’t among them. In his short time in charge Johnston seemed to be building a solid MLS side. It’s not there yet, but it was going in the right direction and that’s better than right near any coach that team’s ever had in the past.

To fire Johnston now indicates a certain impatience that I think both inappropriate and obnoxious. I can’t help but recall Chinaglia’s bluster that “I’m the only person who can change things in New York and I mean change everything — the front office, the coach and the team. And I can do it fast.”

The key for MLS has never been doing it fast. It’s always been about doing it right. I can’t say the New York market was ever handled right, but I can’t but be skeptical at this attempt to fix it fast. Just like Chivas, Red Bull may have to learn some hard lessons. And they will – eventually. But in the meantime … well, while they try to fix things fast, they won’t get it right all the time, they might not even get it right half the time. You’ve gotta expect that. (I do wonder, however, how many fans they’ll alienate before they figure things out.)

Still, it is unfortunate that a guy like Johnston is going to end up on the outs. Hopefully he will land another gig in Major League Soccer. I mean, let’s face it, Ellinger and Clavijo aren’t going to last forever. And, now that I think about it, there’s certainly good reason to believe it’s only a matter of time before Alexi Lalas gives the boot to Steve Sampson. I know he says “Any problems that Steve and I had in 1998 were long put to bed,” but I also know not so long ago Lalas denied his intention to resign his position in New York.