We’re really pleased that we did the whole succession plan in reverse. We got our player in [Martínez] before we moved the player on to Europe [Almirón]. Hypothetically, if we first sold a player for $30 million and went out to buy a player, everyone’s going to quote us $30 million. It’s the nature of the beast. So to secure our replacement in advance with a number we were comfortable with, it gave us a little more carte blanche.
You also had to replace Tata Martino, whose reputation was instrumental in attracting young players to Atlanta for the first year.
When we sat there after winning the Cup, we knew the coach was going. The reality is, it’s no different than Nick Saban, who has said how he loses his coordinators every year but he doesn’t mind because he knows the replacements come in and work hard because they have a chance to move on. We can embrace that as a club. When coaches want to come to Atlanta, they can see that as well. Frank de Boer coached at Ajax, at Inter and Crystal Palace. For me, I’m really excited because certain coaches fit players. With Ajax, he had great success. He went into situations [at Inter and Crystal Palace] that weren’t good fits. But he was the right fit for us.
A lot has had to go right: Not just the success on the field, but an owner with deep pockets, a new stadium, enthusiastic fans. You have all of that.
Everyone’s been asking when soccer is going to succeed in America, but if you watched the Cup final, with 73,000 passionate fans who were tailgating all afternoon, with an exciting style of play, it really has happened in America already. It’s great for me because yes, I wanted to make Atlanta United a real success story. But we’re also part of the bigger story, which is growing the game of soccer in America, being the pioneers to hopefully one day make it one of the top leagues in the world.
Can other M.L.S. teams replicate what you’ve done?
I’m not sure about replicating, but like every other business, you look at what other businesses are doing successfully and try to take those things that might work. I’m a fan of how L.A.F.C. came into the league. You saw the way they filled out their roster; there were similarities. I wouldn’t say they were copying us, but there were similarities. That’s a good thing. We were in a strange situation as pioneers trying to grow the league. There will be more teams looking, when they think of their out-of-pocket expenditures, money above the cap, not just the salaries — there’s much more awareness around investing more than we would have in a transfer fee for a younger player because we might have a chance to make a profit, or make our investment back. That’s going to open up an avenue for a few more clubs.
With all this activity, did you get a chance to take any time off this winter?
My aim is to get to March, the international break. I promised the wife and family I’ll take a week off, and football won’t be mentioned. I’m hoping to get to the end of March and then I’ll crash.
Source : NYtimes
