Not Quite Emergency Pod: Sporting KC Hire a CSO!!

For the Glory KC is back with the 149th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City did what we've been asking for and hired a new President of Soccer Operations. David Lee is in charge of all things soccer over at Sporting KC, and he'll report directly to ownership. That's actually the first (serious) subject on the pod. CSO? PoSO? General Manager? Sporting Director? Technical Director? To quote the former King of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert Baratheon, "titles, titles, titles."

On today's, not quite an emergency podcast, we learn about David Lee's professional past, his time with NYCFC and his track record of success.

He also comes out of the City Football Group (CFG) empire, so we tell you what the heck that means and what impact that likely had on the resources he had at his disposal and how it could both be benefiting him and limiting him at other times.

Sheena and I also weigh in on Lee's history of youth development and a knack for signing young talent. A lot of that is CFG related, but it also could be the direction he decides to take with Sporting KC. There is so much to talk about with Lee, you should probably just download the episode already!

As a tease, here are some of the quotes from the media we'll cite around the excitement of the David Lee hire:

• David Gass: "This is probably better than what I would have guessed is a best-case scenario for SKC.”
• Tom Bogert: "David Lee joining Sporting KC from NYCFC as CSO is a big move. Impressive by SKC to court and land Lee, as it's rare for a CSO to leave for another CSO role. Lee one of league’s respected sporting executives. Gets to rebuild SKC around Dejan Joveljic, Manu Garcia and more."
• Joe Lowery: "SKC fans should be pleased with the David Lee hire. While it's hard to know how much of NYCFC's success during Lee's time there stemmed from his roster-building vs. CFG's resources, he's got real experience in a recruiting machine."
• Taylor Twellman: "Smart. Clever. Great Hire from Sporting KC. David Lee is someone who can really get SKC over the hump and his experience with NYCFC in MLS will be invaluable in turning around the franchise in Kansas."
• Andrew Weibe: "This is truly a great get for Kansas City. Lee has repeatedly hit at every roster designation with his signings (not all HRs, of course, before you get in the mentions). Pascal Jansen has been an A+ managerial hire. NYCFC has been consistently good to excellent under his watch."

In the Digital Crawl, we hit on a few more topics, including:

• MLS Offseason schedule
• SKC International call-ups
• A new job for Peter Vermes?
• World Cup Ticket Prices
• and more!

Here is a rundown of topics and start times:

• Sporting KC hire a CSO - 2:50
• Digital Crawl - 59:59

Upcoming Games

• Sporting KC @ Minnesota United, Sat. Oct 4th at 7:30PM CDT
• SKC II @ MNUFC2, Sun. Oct 5th at 3:00PM
• USMNT U-20s vs. South Africa, Sun. Oct 5th at 3:00PM
• KC Current @ Angel City FC, Mon. Oct 6th at 9:30PM
• KC Current vs. Gotham FC, Sat. Oct 11th at 4:00PM

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.