X's and The U Episode 25 - Jim Curtin No More

Just when it seemed like the Philadelphia Union's offseason would be a quiet one, Ernst Tanner and the front office decided to throw a grenade into the Union den. The crew had to record an emergency podcast to share their reactions following the press conference on Monday afternoon. Special guest Joe Tansey joined the pod to offer his insights on the entire situation.- SB

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome back everybody to X's in the U, where we
are bringing you everything that's been happening in the Union
Verse and the soccer world. The first thing I want
to tell you is we're gonna have a guest today.
But the first thing we just we haven't had a
pod in a week or two. We all want to
give our condolences to Holden Trent's family. As everybody probably

(00:31):
already knows, Holden passed away about one week and a
half two weeks ago. Services were last weekend. So I
just wanted to, uh to give our condolences to everybody.
And now we will get into the pod up. First,
our guest is who I call Adam, the original JT
of the soccer Union reporting world, you know, and that's

(00:54):
no slight to the other JT. But yeah, we have
Joe Tansy on with us to talk all things that
have been happening. Adam and Joe. As you know, we're
joined with Union Legends Spashional. Two. Have you guys heard
any news that's happening recently in the Philadelphia Union Verse.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, I actually just went down the Chester today for
a nice like stroll along.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
The river front property myself.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
You know, I was saying, like, there's a lot of
these nice little premium seating arrangements.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
I saw that we possibly could have, so yeah, one fs.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah it was nice, but like everyone knows, it's an
end of an error. Jim Curtain was let's you say
he was fired. It wasn't a party in the ways
they fired him. Jim stormed out. So he was ten
years eleven seasons started, he tried to become a player
for the team. Except but were you you were playing

(01:48):
when he was trying out or were you not with
the squad by then?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
No, Yeah, I got traded, so I wasn't not there yet.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, because I know he tried out, they said you
ain't got it anymore. And then he became an academy,
a youth coach before and then came in for Hack
and has been the coach ever since, coach since twenty fourteen,
two time Coach of the Year in twenty twenty, twenty
twenty two. Probably dealt with more sporting directors and I'll

(02:16):
put that in quotes sporting directors than any manager in
MLS on the planet. Three US Open Cup Finals, MLS
Cup Finals, Lead Cup. I mean, where do we start
with Jim, and do you want to say a few
things first, and then we'll kind of dive into this
and round robin this thing.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Short, sweet phenomenal coach, better person.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Really enjoyed watching him, really enjoyed being able to see
a guy who was that passionate about the club, but
that passionate about the city. You know, I think we
as fans attach ourselves to these teams geographically, but so
much of these teams are now made up of people
who were actually from here, So it's always a little

(03:04):
bit of a disconnect when I remember famously Chip Kelly
said once we're from Philadelphia and we fight, and I'm like, Chip,
you are not a Philadelphia in any capacity whatsoever. But
I see how what you're saying overall, But to have Jim,
who was actually hashtag from here, who wanted to be
a part of this organization as a player, went through

(03:24):
the entire system, you know, ten years as a head coach,
I mean, but it was in the academy and all
that for a decade plus gave us the most joy
we've ever had his Union fans. I mean, we've had
a couple of coaches and sporting directors before that, and
they did not succeed in any of the capacity that
Jim did, so you know, he probably had I think

(03:48):
he was my second longest tenured coach in Major League
Soccer at the time, you know, So he he had
a run and it was a great run, and I
hope I was really hoping it would be punctuated by
a couple of trophies to see him lift it for
his home city.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
But uh, you know, I'll miss the gentleman. I'll fly
out say it.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, No, I think I think anybody here will will
test to Jim as a human being that you're going
to gonna miss him. I mean, Joe, you were telling
me he texted you congratulating on the birth of your child.
So I mean, if you want to talk about Jim
the Man real quick, and then we can get into coaching,
and then I definitely need to get Sebastian Lato's opinion
on both Jim the Man and the coach, because you're

(04:30):
qualified beyond belief for you know, explaining both sides of this,
because you probably spent more time with Jim than any
of us in this in this group. But Joe, what
did you get your thoughts on Jim the firing everything.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I kind of second what Adam said. I mean,
anytime you'd ask him for anything, but yeah, what do
you need me to do where?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
When?

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Stuff like that and you don't get that out of
even head coaches in MLS is very very you know,
from a human standpoint, very commenting, very easy to cover,
very easy to have conversations with about a lot of
the things. But I do think something had to change,
you know, this offseason, right, and this is kind of

(05:15):
the perfect off season too, to make that change in
some regard, everything that could go wrong went wrong. And
I think we mentioned it before we started recording. It
probably had to be Jim or Ernst. Whether whether it's
the right decision, that's something time will tell, right, But

(05:36):
it's kind of it kind of has that irreplaceable feeling
to it, and I think it I think it would
feel that way even more had he won, you know,
an MLS cup. I mean, let's be honest, they had
two within the reach. Covid struck down one, Gareth Bale
the other. But there are people in that building that

(05:56):
are still to this day say they should have at
least two trophies. And we're talking about it wildly differently
at the end of twenty twenty four. If if everything
that happened in twenty four happens, I think we it
happens maybe a little bit differently with Jim if they
part ways or if he stays on, because they would

(06:18):
have won more than just a supporter ship. But yeah,
it's it definitely took me by surprise. Every indication I
got from going into this season and even halfway through
it is that they were gonna stick stick through it
with him. But a lot of things behind the scenes,
just disagreements about little things just kind of added up,

(06:40):
and they felt like it was time for a new
coach to come in and we'll get to what was
said in the press conference, But don't expect a lot
to change, you know, And that's that's to me. What
is striking is usually when you hear coaching change, like
something drastically different is going to happen. No, they're just

(07:03):
going to bring in ye it's gonna it's gonna be
no Doubty're gonna bring in somebody to replace him, to
try and do a better job than him that has
no connection to the city. And from that standpoint, it's
going to feel really, really awkward.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, Sobastian thoughts Jim the man and then Jim the coach.

Speaker 5 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean I was you know, lucky enough to
start his career as a player with him.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
As a coach. He you know, as a person, you know,
he's been amazing.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
You know, I'm sure for anybody in his room or
anybody who knows him who talked to an interview or
took with him, he's always know the best, you.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Know, the nicest.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
Nothing, you know, anything bad to say about about Jimmy,
always courteous, polite, always you know, talk the right way,
you know, to twist player. He never saw him you know,
kind of saying anything stupid or bad. He was always
you know, great with everybody and a great person to
be around. You know, it's somebody, I think who is

(08:05):
going to be missed that way, you know, in the in.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
The club because people can.

Speaker 5 (08:10):
Always go to him and you know ask him to
for some help and everything.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
He was always good for that. But you know, after,
like you say.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
You know, it's kind of an end of an eraror
we have been seeing a lot of good stuff, you know,
happening on the field, you know, since he has been
the coach but you know, I think the final piece,
you know, missing winning the titles have been a part
of it. In a you know too final of Open
Cup who didn't win, he didn't get the MNS Cup

(08:40):
as well. And you know, like I said, Joe Tendys say,
it's for all other people who lets say, just know
what's on your face. And I'm lucky, you know, to
be more inside you know, the team and the club
and knowing both you know, Jim and there's a lot
you know of things like we don't know happened, you know,
being and the door and the philosophy at the club

(09:02):
wants to to go, you know, in the future with
of course we all know the development of of the
young players and the academy and bringing more and more players,
you know, through these developments and you can see, let's say,
from the past, let's say years that Gym was not
a big guy bringing up a lot of new players

(09:26):
or making some substitutional for the team, thinking that for him,
you know, he thought that maybe the player were not
ready or cannot play, and in the same time, you.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Know, maybe maybe he could. You know, it's kind of like.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
Always we're always thinking, but he was always you know,
giving all his confidence to all his main players and
you know, try to win with them and maybe with
just twelve or thirteen, which sometimes it's hard more especially
when you're a team like who don't spend.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Money and lack of the team in big names or
regreting everything.

Speaker 6 (09:59):
So he was definitely you know a lot of stuff
that people don't know about, you know, what happened behind
the scenes, especially in the managing with with him, with
the sugar Man everybody.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
So he could be you.

Speaker 5 (10:14):
Know, something that the team needed as well, because it
feels like in the past, you know, two, you know,
three years, we kind of saw the same you know,
over and over on the field. So maybe he's going
to wake up now a lot of guys on the
team who have big contracts, you know, maybe didn't play
as well as this year, and he's going maybe to

(10:34):
motivate some young guys. Maybe he can see they can
have now a chance to show what they can do
and player to the next level.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
I will I will say to add to whatever was saying.
I mean, he's a player's coach to a t yeah,
and almost to a fault, right, And I think that's
probably one of the main criticisms that if you look
back on his tenure, it's probably one of the things,
especially in twenty four, that probably adds to him getting fired.

(11:03):
But I mean, anybody in that locker room would, especially
the veteran players, would go to bat for him every
single day, every single game. But at the end of
twenty four the regular season, you just felt like something,
something was broken, something was missing, and the players couldn't

(11:23):
pinpoint it. Throughout the year, the message was let's let's
stick to what we've been doing. It won us so much.
But yeah, it it is gonna be weird. There's no
kind of way around it. It's gonna be weird and
different to usher in a new era in a in
a sport where, I mean, what a Premier League team

(11:46):
can fire coat you know what, four coaches in the
year and it'd be seen as normal. So the fact
that you know one, you know, granted it's still MLS,
but one hung around for a decade is it really
is remarkable.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, I mean, you don't see that in in the
sport of soccer. You don't see managers staying on so long,
and you definitely don't see a new sporting director coming
in and extending the manager, the existing manager, not once,
not twice, but I think three times. Ernst has extended Jim.
I believe this with this last contract. So you knew
at some point Ernest wanted to get his own guy. Period.

(12:20):
And then but Seba was alluding to and Joe and Adam.
You know, we were here in whispers that there was
that disconnect between them. And then even on this pod,
you know, we've we've hammered it a thousand times. We're like,
all of a sudden, Tyberribo can play, but we heard
for a year and a half that he couldn't play.
Those things definitely hurt Jim, you know, and they were

(12:42):
his choices of those guys to play, you know, the
Marcus Anderson's of the world. Kid makes one mistake and
he's been on Union two Island and playing for Union too.
He's getting braces in you know, playoff games. So you
we're like, wait, can this kid play? Can this kid not?
So I was initially win and Adam you sent me
the text that they fired Jim. I was like, I

(13:04):
didn't see that coming. And then somebody goes really, and
I go, you know what, You're right, I probably should
have seen that coming. I just was got used to
the status quo that you know, the sunrises the next
day and Jim Curtin's always the coach of Philadelphia Union.
So this is definitely gonna be the biggest offseason that
this team has ever had, Adam.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
And that's a belabor the point. I know, we need
to move on.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
But it's just the idea that you know, good coaches,
good coaches get fired all the time.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
You know, great coaches get fired all the time. Andy
Reid got fired. You know, whatever you want.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
In comparison, I keep going to, Yeah, I mean, it's
the only one I know.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, it's it's it's it's a situation where you look
at a guy who's just like, look, this guy wasn't
a problem for the organization overall. Like this, this man
ushered in easily the great I mean, we have a
short history, but it was the best era in Union
soccer in the same way that Loki Andy Reid ushered
in the best air of Eagles FOOTBA, you know, up
until the Super Bowl. So I'm saying, ultimately, you know,

(14:03):
Jim could easily find himself in a situation and win
and be successful. One of the things that I always
admired about him was as much as the Union's team
was a commodity. I would talk to fans of other
teams of Red Bull of Cincinnati before they got noon
in of a lot of other organizations that would say,
we would love to have Jim Kurtin running our team

(14:24):
right now, Like that would be almost the missing piece
to our organization if we had Jim Kirkin running us
right now. And it speaks volumes to who he is
and how he's admired not just in the Delaware Valley
but outside of our borders. And it's you know, I
suspect that he's going to take some time off, but
he it's not going to be a hard sell for
him to find another job after this.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, and just to say, open open jobs right now? Atlanta, Houston,
the Canadian Men's Assistance, you know, will will Kansas City
open up? Will they get rid of the pea me?
I mean, could could happen? And then New York City? Uh,
you know, so there there could be some jobs open form.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
But let's let's.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Not feel terrible because Jim is the fourth highest paid
coach in MLS soccer and he's got two years left
on his deal.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
So yeah, which is also very union on union like right.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Oh, because everybody's saying that they don't spend money. He's
the fourth highest coach, but underneath of Neville, Timbers, Uh
Martino in Miami, you are both making a million. Peter
Vermiz is making seven hundred and fifty and Jim was
making seven hundred. So I mean, like you can't always
say that, oh, they don't spend any money. They will
spend money on certain things.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
It's just one of the money that I hate to
make the joke, but the money on your backup left
back was used to buy how your head coach this offseason? Sorry,
you have won lass acquisition in the transfer market.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Now, Yeah, I think the Union ownership have to know
that they can't like that be a hindrance that you know,
they're paying him for two years and they cannot let
that get out that that's an excuse why they didn't
spend on players because they will be crucified on social media.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
It's the most union thing ever to be like probably
this guy, but we came up one guy short on
our off season wish list.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Yeah. So, but I and Adam maybe you can touch
on this just real quick, because you're you dive into
Union social media more than I do. But I dove
in and I really just have to call some people
out and I almost put some receipts up there because
there were so many people that were like this is
a travesty blah blah blah, and six months ago they

(16:41):
were under the hashtag curtain out. So if you were
curtain out, you can't be now you're curtain in, Like
pick a lane and stick with it.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
Like no, I mean, look, that's if you want to
have a deep dive about that. Psychologically, that's just a
reflex against ownership. So they're basically just rebelling against anything
that they do that is possibly negative. I mean, like
that's what that is. If you're if you were a
curtain out person even as late as this season, and
now you're upset about it, you're just mad at Jay
and therefore all of this is manifesting.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
But yeah, yeah, it's it's it's just crazy.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
But so to break it to you, guys are just
gonna be a lot of more anger towards Jay. Totally.
I can't.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
This is gonna be the longest off season.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
This is this is the best you guys, Adam Joe,
you both have some transcripts. I know. Then it gets
to watch the press conference, so I want you to
hear what they say. How the press conference was with
Seba and then way in on your you can guess
which way went. So, uh, who wants to go with

(17:44):
their notes? Joe or Adam? Who wants to start with
this beautiful press conference? Was did it start on time?
Was it ten am?

Speaker 2 (17:51):
They moved it to eleven?

Speaker 4 (17:52):
Okay, of course, But look, I'll start so that Joe
sounds much more intelligent on the back end of anything
that I'm okay, because I.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
That's assuming I sound intelligent.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
No, but here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
It's been a while since I've been actually a hashtag journalist,
so this is uh, this is me trying to, you know,
get back into my foray that was covering Penn basketball once.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
So here we go. Basically, he's got notes.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
I've never seen you have notes before. This is awesome.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Several all of this my chin sham pen from Japan.
All of this is very important for me. All Right,
So first, basically, Ernest is holding Jim accountable for a
lot of this stuff. Was what I kind of get
Ernest got that from like the beginning of it. It
just it felt that it wasn't a full under the
bus throwing, but it definitely felt that he was just saying, look,

(18:42):
we were kind of there was friction, We were kind
of getting into a point where we wanted to go
a certain way. He didn't really feel like he wanted
to go that way with us, so we just had
to kind of let him go, which I mean is
what ownership speaks about when they fire coaches ninety two
percent of the time.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Either.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
But ironically today I was listening to We're Not ironically Coincidentally,
I was listening to the David Sampson podcast. And if
you do not remember who David Sampson is, he was
the owner of the now Miami or the president of
operations for the then Miami Marlins that he was there
through their two thousand and three championship and sold to
Derek Jeter when they owned it, And he basically said,

(19:21):
there were several times in my career where the team
was bad and I fired a manager because I wasn't
gonna fire myself. And I was just like, well, kind
of felt like this might have been one of those times,
because it definitely felt like it was either him or me.
But it definitely felt like a lot of people have
been like, and you, bro, it might be you. But

(19:42):
that was the first.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Thought I had.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
Second was, and I always say this, I like to
apply stuff in a video in video game logic, which
is in a vacuum. So if we weren't dealing with emotions,
we were just dealing with numbers, bites and crunches and
all that, what would be the explanation for this season?
And it would definitely just be straight up them saying
Jim doesn't sub people and doesn't play kids, and therefore,
and we want him to sell people and play kids,

(20:06):
and therefore we're going.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
To have him be coach anymore.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
That would be the video game logic explanation for me,
because other than that, there has to be some emotional
thing behind this too. There have to be some budding
of the heads, because it just felt like if the
reports are that Jim storms out of a room like that,
than just we don't see Idi with an ideology about
how to run the game, you know, so I don't know,

(20:30):
it felt that they're trying to kind of put squash
the idea that this was anything more volatile than it was,
but it's hard for me to believe that it wasn't.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Look Sugarman knows what he wants to do with this team.
He wants to keep this team.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
He said the word flashy, which we all know means expensive,
and he's like, we're not gonna get the flashy players,
and I'm just.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
Like, fair, okay. I mean, you've literally told us.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
That since day one, so I appreciate the consistency about that,
but it's not gonna get any one excited.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
It's not gonna get anyone in the doors.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
And you know, if you're gonna have this Oklahoma City
thunder approach to how we're gonna build this franchise and
hope that everyone hits him, we get a shake, Gil,
Chris Alexander out of this.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
It's gonna be a tough sledding.

Speaker 4 (21:15):
You know, this is gonna be tough sledding for the
fans to digest what they're going to get as a product.
It may even still work out, but the philosophy and
how you're going to run it, especially when teams around you,
like New York, like Miami, like Los Angeles and all
parts in between are gaining more talent searching and uncovering.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
Rumor has it Cincinnati's looking.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
At a fifteen million dollar player, a fifteen million dollar
transfer fee for sant Cy Cincinnati. That would literally give
Jay a heart attack. And I can't even imagine what
it's gonna be like if he has to now compete
with people doing fifteen million dollar transfers when I believe
we're still flirting with four million dollar transfers.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
It's big deals for us.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
So look, he basically believes that getting the big guy
is like getting binech A for Washington, where it's cool,
it's flashy, it gets some seats, Washington still don't make
the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
And that's what I think he thinks is happening.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
And I just believe, if you have a good enough
foundation behind it, a benech A becomes now a David
Villa and not a hindrance to the team. And if
you think your foundation and your youth is good enough,
then why not swing my guy. It just that's the
thing that just doesn't make sense to me as a consumer.
You're telling me what you have, and I actually believe

(22:33):
what you have is pretty decent, But then what doesn't say, hey,
let me get out of the literal basement of spending
in mls and just give it a couple of extra
hundred thousand dollars here and swing a little.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
It just doesn't make any sense. Does that mean?

Speaker 2 (22:48):
I asked specific question. I was like, well, you see
all these teams spending, what would you want to increase
the transfer spending? And look, he was very steadfast. I
guess I give him credit for at least having a plan.
He is. He is steadfast on this, on the youth development,

(23:10):
We believe in the American player, all of the above.
And look, it's great that you have a plan. But
to your point, Adam, if Cincinnati's spending eight figures on
a striker, you have to up to spending a little
bit on uncertain spots and can't just be like, well,

(23:31):
we paid millions of dollars for mikail Uha, which is yeah,
sure that that was a at that point that was spending. Well,
but even if you go up into the five to
seven million dollar range, right, I don't think anybody's asking
you to go out and buy the twenty million dollar player. Realistically,

(23:54):
if there was you know, Bookoo Bucks behind this thing,
I think yes, that would be the expectation. But I
think think even going up in the in the bracket
of player or in the bracket of transfer fee for
one or two guys, I think would even go a
long way because they have had the eye for talent.
You have to give Tan or that. But the problem

(24:15):
is there's been so many more misses than hits in
the last two and a half years that the strategy
was great. I understand you believe in this and a
lot of the core players on this team are here
because of that strategy and ernest finding you know, victories
in the margins, but that's dried up. And if you're

(24:37):
if you're gonna keep with the same exact strategy of
of mining these gems, bringing up youth products who are
all not gonna hit. Let's just be honest with ourselves,
and we've seen that firsthand. They're all not gonna hit.
From the academy, They're gonna some of them are just
gonna move on, maybe not play for the first team ever.
You know, that's just what's going on happen. But if

(25:01):
you can if you can put that extra million or
two right, if you're able to commit, I think the
number he threw out there was seventy five million on
everything that's going on down in Chester that they're building,
getting the academy set up. Yeah, he's invested. He's very
much invested in that part of the club and spending

(25:23):
a lot of his own money in it. But it
needs to translate into a trophy, you know, consistency in
the top three. And when you see, like you said,
the Cincinnati example's perfect because if you're going to spend
on this team, spend one guy in the five to
seven million range, one guy in the three to five boom,

(25:45):
there are your cornerstone DP pieces and then you can
build around it. And if this youth talent is really
that good, then you start to have a pretty damn
good roster. But it feels like there's a hard ceiling
on how much he's willing to spend in a player.
At least that's what I got from today, and that's
going to be the hindrance. These young guys like Cavin

(26:07):
Sullivan can be as great as he can be, but
I think there's got to have to be there's got
to be a roster balance. And look these guys that
they've signed that there were transfer gems, you know, the Gladsness,
Kai Wagner, Daniel goazdeg all these guys. They're under contract
for quite some time because everyone signed off on running

(26:28):
it back, and now you fired the coach, But now
you still have all these contracts and it's not like
in MLS you can get off of them if you
want to that quickly, which it doesn't sound like they
want to either. That's the whole thing that baffles me too,
is this. You know, multiple times Sugarman and Tanner said
they believed in this team in twenty twenty four with

(26:50):
what they had could make the playoffs. There was belief
behind the scenes in this group. So then Jim has
to be the scapegoat, right because if if Sugarman, the
owner who's putting all this money into the team, leaves
tan or the guy who's found all these guys believes, well,
the results aren't on the field. So Curtain's got to
be the guy that goes by that process. But it's

(27:13):
it confuses me looking at from the outside that you
just had your worst season in with seven years and
the only thing you've really committed to three weeks after
the season is well, we're you know, we're maybe gonna
add one guy at each position, and we're committed to
the youth and that's it. I think that would be frustrating,

(27:34):
and you fired the coach, the well loved coach who's
you know, a local guy. So I think that's there's
a lot of questions that need to be answered, and
I don't think you if you came in looking for
a clear cut answer on what this off season is
going to be, at least in that press conference, you
definitely didn't get it. You got more of the same today.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
The one thing I got that Ernst mentioned than he
kind of glossed over it that if they didn't it
sounded to me if they didn't make a running League's
Cup that they did, that they might have fired Jim
midway through the season. I got that from that that he,
you know, and that both Jay and Ernest believed in
the players that they had, that if there wasn't injuries,

(28:15):
they think they would have had more success, and that
they didn't believe there was a lack of depth. They
thought they had depth in within Union two and younger players.
So they were all kind of putting it on Jim,
Like Jim keeps saying he needs depth, but we keep
thinking we have the depth, and they were fine with
the team that they had and that the League's Cup

(28:38):
kept him around a little bit longer. So that that
was one of the things I thought was it was
pretty pretty telling.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
In that very clearly was a little bit upset when
I asked him about, you know, the lack of depth
that was a concern throughout the season, and he thought, yeah,
that wasn't an issue. I think, like you said, he
kind of shifted it towards well, we had these guys here,
they just didn't play.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, And I mean, Seba, you've you've said in the past,
you know, some of these guys they get the bigger
contract and nobody's pushing them. So maybe that's why they
had such such bad years. So you know, what, what
do you think is going to change with the new
coach or what do you hope could change with the
new coach?

Speaker 5 (29:22):
I mean listen, and I you know think you know,
if you have a commanding there about what is you
know the success have been for the philisopast six years.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yes it's Jim, but.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
Every the same time, Yeah, so if you look at
both and I'm from the outside because I'm really inside
as well, I know something that happening some you.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Know, players or whatever.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
But when you see both, you're like, okay, something is
being done right.

Speaker 7 (29:52):
And if you look now from all those years.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
The guys that Earned brought and he happened a lot
of the time. None most of them didn't get played
by Jim. He was always confident. Like I remember one
year he preferred to play Warren Crable, which I play
with him and respect to Warren, instead of playing Martinez.

(30:17):
Martinez was not even a part of the plan of
Gym at the beginning of the year and he.

Speaker 7 (30:22):
Was forced, like he was forced to play Barribo that year.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
And Martinez was amazing, and of course, you know, all
the Philip Fine.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
Loved him the way he fired everything and you're amazing.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
And then he stayed premier in Tanta, and of course
he was in that case, you know, in the local
room and having a look at every game. But it
was kind of those type of things. And I know,
I'm not saying that every players and Ernst brought were amazing,
but a lot of them were. We were all like,
who is that And you're like, oh wow, okay, you

(30:53):
can't play, you know, Cavner, The gladness the Martinez now
the Barriboo were.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Like a player and you plan is go.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
So I feel arms like as a roller player, you
wanted to play in.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
The depth of the roster.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
But I think maybe the management of gym with those players,
especially when they are new and knowing that gym we're
confident about all his core group he had were kind
of like feeling by themselves and as a human being.
And it doesn't matter if you're a soccer player or
you have a job. If not, your boss come talk
to you when you are new and telling you, hey,

(31:31):
I believe in you. You don't play right now, but
you know, keep working hard. Of course you know, of
course you've got injured and if you got practice and
you know you have no change to play because your
head coach don't talk to you that much, and it's
just confident on twelve guys, you're not going to play well,
you know. So I think it was that big gap
between player who play and player we are supposed to

(31:54):
help and play and maybe start a little bit, not
saying they are going to start every game, but they
can play from me there fecially with a big schedule
the team had the past two years playing on most
of these three days the Champions League, Jim didn't.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
And then when.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
You're an older player and you did very well for
the team in the past couple of years and you
are rewarded by a new contract, which is totally well
deserved for all of them. It's always in the head
of and I've been a player, you start to be
your contract and you don't you know that you don't
have that much let's say, more players who can play
instead of you, because you know your head coach will

(32:28):
play you because he likes you and he.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Doesn't play anybody else. You know that.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
Okay, I'm fine, You're not going to work Harder parties
are not even to try if one guy play instead
of me.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
And it happened, and you know.

Speaker 5 (32:41):
I was like, fuck, okay, I'm going to work hard
next to you because I want to start next weekend.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
You know.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
So it's all of that.

Speaker 5 (32:48):
You need to find a balance, I think in the
team and the Jim was not doing this. And at
the end we had like, yeah, certain player like we
knew and they were like, okay, we're on a bench
like Raffanelo. Why you're not going to play. We are valuable?
Is not going to play. We have mccanyer is not
going to play. We have all of those guys because
we never saw them. And then you just trust what
of course Jim is saying, impress comperments that I is

(33:10):
not already, is not already, is not already is going
to play you too.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yeah, of course you two is not the same level.

Speaker 5 (33:15):
And if you play, even if you're paying you two,
even if you have a confidence from the coach, it's
hard to be good, you know, And for a lot
of them, it's what happens. So I understand that it
was definitely a break between and Jim about what the
player bringing and he wanted them to play more and
develop them because it's a part of the thing too,
the player like a mistake. They are young sometimes as well,

(33:38):
like Marcus Anderson was supposed to play. Then you know,
I say, injury, didn't add a good game, and then
redn't seem for the rest of the season, which was
kind of weird. But it's how Jim used to deal
with the thing and just play his own player. But
at the end of motivation for them is not the same.
So I'm really exciting to look forward for next year

(33:58):
because if it's a new coach, everybody's going to start
pretty much at the same It's like you have the
best to play even if you make you know, seven
hundred thousand and you had like a great two years,
let's work together and you have a great season, not
just with ten eleven players. When I've been sex really
this seam, it's like you have sixteen eighteen, you know,

(34:18):
guys who can play, twenty guys who is a part
of it.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
And when you come to practice, you you know, help
each other. So it would be interesting to see who
comes in who you know, try to bring back.

Speaker 5 (34:30):
You know, the player we have, and we have a
lot of guys who have been here when we've been
in a fine against a LFC, So it's possible they're
a bit older than more excience, so let's use that
to then help you know, the youngest coming and you know,
try to have another success reason. But I think it's
possible with the player we have. I think we have
death and I think there is some quality in orcoming.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
But what the team is trying.

Speaker 5 (34:53):
To do, and I've been now a little bit with
the use in development is like when you have you know, players,
let's say from you know, the sixth team who are
pushed up to play with the eighteen because they are
good enough, and the level in America, it's hard in
a used level. The eighteen has got push to play
with the YouTube and then you have all those YouTube
players are maybe good enough to maybe get some minute
to the first team, but you.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
Never give them minutes.

Speaker 5 (35:15):
Then there's all of those seas who are like to
the top and they are saying, I'm not going to
play here.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
The head coach doesn't you know, give a chance.

Speaker 5 (35:25):
So it's hard as well for then all the people
in a US level to keep de wropping those player
and try to help them to reach you know, the
high level, because at the end of the day, if
you push everybody, you're going to have maybe Sudi player
with Marlon you know, in you two and it's kind
of like, Okay, who I'm supposed to plan now. So

(35:45):
it's it's difficult when the guy the first thing Gym
was not really you know, playing, especially when the team
was losing at the winning of the year, and I
think he should have play a lot of other guys
you know, to kind of try, but he didn't.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
You stick, you know, the same type of multin gai
or play Yeah, the.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Go ahead, Joe No. I just want to some of
the points that seven made. You now have these players
like Mkanya Anderson, Rafanello, guys that are what probably the
fourteen to twenty guys on the roster. If you look
down at the bench, we don't know what they can do.
And that's I think, from an outside perspective, is what

(36:28):
makes this offseason so hard to quantify, right, because, yes,
the new coach is going to come in and change
always happenings with new coaches, but you can only have
so much change within the MLS roster rules. So, like
you look at a guy like Mkanye, you have Marcus Anderson,
who we saw it very briefly, Rafanello, who they like
enough to sign to a new contract before the end

(36:50):
of the season. And those are just three examples off
the top of my head. You have these guys who
are just unknown quantities to the outside world. Internally, they
may be measuring very well, they may be performing very
well in training, we just don't know. We have not
seen them play MLS games. Does that end up being
a detriment to the team. Now in twenty twenty five

(37:11):
and moving forward, because you're not going to see a
sweeping roster overall. That just doesn't happen in MLS without
some financial difficulties. So it is going to be interesting
to see what those guys actually have, right, And I
think the one knock on Jim was he was very
loyal to his guys and that those guys have obviously

(37:33):
had a ton of respect for him. But I think
if you're a young guy who didn't get time, yeah,
I think you have eyes bied open for twenty twenty five.
But we also have no idea what these guys are
capable of, right, So it kind of puts this club
in a really, really weird spot of you have these
established veterans, you have these homegrowns who are incredibly talented.

(37:56):
You know, Cavin Sullivan's going to play more for the
first team next year. Neil here is most likely getting
a homegoing contract at some point because a lot of
people inside the organization like him, c j Only, you know,
Frankie Westfield. So like, where do these middle guys play
and then what can they actually do?

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (38:17):
And if they can if the question, if the answer
is all these guys are actually really good, then oh
my God, this team has the most stepth you've ever
seen in the MLS squad. But if it's not, But
if not, we haven't got You.

Speaker 7 (38:31):
Need a coach who a new coach who is able
to do.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
That and understand the balance between you know, the whatever
it's done at the academy and which player are coming
through every level and then is they ready to play?

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Can he play?

Speaker 7 (38:44):
And give him a chance because you know the time,
it's like you never know sin.

Speaker 5 (38:48):
You see them and I'm not saying like one game,
but like you told it here at all half one
time and they won't they playing top one hard game?

Speaker 3 (38:56):
He started, he play this game for a guy is new,
but since then, never think Bueno came on.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
Forgot what he was away and they won in his
care since then didn't at all?

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Well he's good exactly.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
It's like all of those things.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
And when you have like player and like you say,
and you say, well, I'm a young guy, I'm excited
because I know now maybe I would have more chance
to play, maybe if I play hard, and you know
it's a different but now it's to them.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Of course, you have your chance. You have to take it.
I have, But I think as a fan.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
You are going to hopefully the more younger player, you know,
a more turnaround, depending on cause, the resort, and you know,
try to give a good rest for the guys who
maybe play a lot, and see and see what we
can do with not just twelve and thirteen, but with
you know, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and then you will really
be known as a team in MLS.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Don't buy, but really.

Speaker 5 (39:59):
Do a good job starting from the US level to
then you know, create lots of very good soccer players
and yeah, maybe they're going to go then in Europe
to go bigger club, but it will really attract a
lot of young guys who don't know do I want
to play for the Red Bulls or do you want
to play for the Union, Because then it's like you know,
and with that thing, the training festivalties, they are building

(40:20):
and they already start building. My god, like ten years ago, guys.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
I training a public path with dog poop on it.

Speaker 5 (40:31):
Okay, but now you know, there is this and it's
much more professional and those kids are lucky to have this,
but they know and whatever they are trying to do,
it's really the way that they're doing it. In Europe,
and in hopefully a couple of years not coming the
Union will be really went out for their methods the
way they do andy orfully a lot of people from

(40:52):
the US will come to the Union and see how
it works to create hopefully all those you.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Know, good players. I think it's the goal of just.

Speaker 5 (40:59):
Recommend and stand up, but you need to have the
head coach of the first team in the same type
of mind and spirit. And I'm not sure that Jim
kind of was at that point, you know, this season,
because he was talking a lot in that no death,
I don't have players, you know, that's like the Union herre.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Become Red Bull Salzburg, like just I think that. I
think that's the expectation, and I hate I know Union
fans are gonna hate any comparison to a Red Bull team,
but that that's what all this vision that you're hearing
Jay Sugarman, Ernst Tanner. They they want to be kind
of the MLS version of Red Bull Salzburg where all

(41:41):
of these young players are thriving in these types of roles.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
And let's not forget Salzburg wins their league a lot,
so if we win.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
There in the Champions League every year.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Yeah, so that that's and the one thing I just
want to let everybody out there know, like there was
this difference between Ernest and Jim where if you watch
that press conference, if Ern's got a chance to talk
about the union to and development, it was the only
time he's cracking a smile. And Ernst doesn't smile that much.
Maybe for a picture. That's it. You know, he's very
German that way. But Jim and I can tell you,

(42:15):
like I've heard it from his family members that he
believes that if you're getting the big paycheck as a player,
you deserve the most time to earn your money. And
that was one of his you know, he believed in
veteran players, and I think he was a little afraid to.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Play when you stopped.

Speaker 5 (42:31):
He changed his thing too, because when I play, I
was making him some money and he put me on
the bench.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
So this is not true.

Speaker 5 (42:37):
And I'm just saying, like, you know, you change as
a person, and you know you could change as well.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
But when I Jim put me on the bench, and.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah, well this was this was later, This was during
COVID when we were talking and he literally was They were.

Speaker 5 (42:52):
Like, I know, but I'm just thing like you know,
you can change, you know, it's like, yeah, he was
right or wrong.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
He was probably right to put on the bench. It
was probably not to be that time. But it's you know,
plays Chris Donovan.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Like this is the thing that has just been the
most baffling piece of information this entire time, is he
was ahead of Barribo.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
He's a young, younger kid.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
So it's like, it's the it's the it's the it's
the canary and the coal mine for me, where I'm
just like, but why is he playing Chris Donovan?

Speaker 3 (43:24):
That doesn't make any It goes against literally every other
thing we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Here, and and so it's going a tangent real quick,
the Barripo thing. I mean, if that's a little bit
of a slide indoors moment, because if the Julian Kranza
Diverter Brayman transfer actually happens, Barribo plays right away because
he was signed as Kranza's replacement. Uh, the Kanza Brayman

(43:52):
deal got asked for personal reasons, and then and and
then the union were in because the transfer windows doing
a line. Baribo was kind of stuck in this weird
spot of why was brought in to be your replacement,
but now I'm not playing. You're still here. And of course,
you know, fast forward six months or whatever along the

(44:14):
timeline was he ends up being his replacement but doesn't
play in the time between then because Jim has a
Julian Caranza in front of him. It's just it's a
really bizarre and that's the only like unique example. The
rest of them are. You know, some of these guys
should have should have played. But the Bereba thing is
fascinating because you know, the inside baseball thing here is

(44:37):
Corn's and Braemen was done. That was I was a
done deal. Everyone behind the scenes will tell you that.
And it got killed because they were selling Fulkirg I
believe to Dortmund. I think.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
I think that's the think so, but that's it's just one.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Of those weird things. Everything else is straightforward.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
But yeah, killed for behind the scenes stupid ass reasons.
Pretty much. You can allude to a girlfriend, but yeah,
so that's that's why that gott But yeah, I mean,
Brebo is the thing. You even look at a peree
in New York now like we never used them, which is.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
Even weirder because he played well in Champions League and
then just Joaquin Torres scored that one goal in his
first game and then just disappeared because he didn't fit
in the system.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, I think I think Jim just confusing with Roger
Torres and just didn't think he should be on the field.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
Oh man, Roger Torres, what a what a time? What
a time in Union history.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Yeah, well, the guy had too much glitter on during practices.
So because he couldn't stay out of a certain establishment
off of Spring Garden Street.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
I mean we all suffer from Yes, that was a
particular one and worked for uh what James Arden right, right.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
He did make a career out of that. You're you're,
you're true, He's had a heck of a career, but
didn't didn't the same for Roger. But yeah, there's we're
gonna get down a rabbit hole and that we don't
really want to get into. Yeah. So yeah, it's just
the I mean, there was a lot of things, and
I think now that the dust is settled that hopefully
Union fans can look at this, like Joe said, like

(46:18):
we've kind of been saying behind the scenes, this is
probably more like Andy Reid where it ran its course
and you need it to shake things up, and they're
not going to shake up their whole philosophy. And they're
not all of a sudden going to say, hey, we
found all this money and we're going to become Miami,
you know when which Miami got bounced out of the
playoffs too, So let's see how Well, yeah, that's a

(46:40):
whole other conversation. So you knew something how to get
shaken up, and everybody here wanted something different for this
team after this season. We all said something had to
change one way or the other. So hopefully the shock
is wearing off for people and they can get excited
about you know this all season.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
I think you're right they wanted something different, but didn't
they didn't want this to.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
Be the different.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yeah, well they wanted Jada cell that's what they want it.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Well, you could. Jay's not selling until what after the
World Cup?

Speaker 4 (47:12):
After I've been saying that for for literal months, ever
since they started to sell the team, like not intil
for the World Cup.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
He would be he would be stupid from an investment
standpoint to even considered anything.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
Before the development in Chester has to be done. And
then after World Cup hits American soil.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
And let him buffer, let him buffer. Yeah, very good.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Yeah, sorry about that. Something something something blipped for me.
But yeah, guys, anything else on the departure of Jim
Curtains and then we can kind of a couple more
things and wrap.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Up in a few notes that I got from the
coaching search.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Yeah yeah, yeah. Well, well my rumor is it's going
to be Peter Novak Part two Electricals. That's where I'm
putting some of my money on MGM apps that we
run it back with that.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
So, from my understanding, Marlon LeBlanc, the Union team manager,
is well liked by a Tanner. He wants to keep
him in the in the organization if possible, but not
as the Union head coach. I think from talking to
a few different people, he's not there yet, but they
would love to keep Marlon in some capacity. I'm not

(48:47):
sure what capacity, because you know how coaching changes go.
Pelgrino Matterazzo, the American he got let go. Yeah, he's
I kind of threw that past Earns today He's like
he'd no, no, no, that was it was just knowing
that's it, and he would know because he's still of

(49:07):
those people at Offenheim, and then it sounds like he
wants someone with m less experience, but also someone with
experience in the system. From what I understand is there
was frustration that the the basically the formation and the
high pressing was just too loose towards the end of
the year. They want to get kind of get back

(49:30):
to the basics with that, but it's hard to find
like the mesh of like who has MLS experience but
also comes from I guess the Red Bull Tree. Brabby
Carnell's one that fits, but I don't think he's the
right fit for the job. Savaris is out there, but
I don't know if that's a good fit for Philly.
So I expect it's it's someone foreign with some sort

(49:56):
of Salzburg roots that will kind of be the yes
man to Ernston Jay and really drive home the development stuff.
That's at least my expectation.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
I mean that I got from you know, texting back
and forth with one Kevin Kinkaid. He threw out Renee Mark,
who's an assistant manager for Bayern Munich.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
I've seen that name tossed around a few Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Thirty two years old assistant coach and come from the
Salzburg tree. And then a lot of people keep saying
Danny Kruse, which I keep laughing at.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
If ERNs Tanner wasn't the sporting director, you might be
able to promote from USL.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
But yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
I don't think Ernest is a big fan of the
the league's beneath MLS.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
No, I don't think so either. I mean he likes MLS.
Next and and let's really, I mean, guys, Adam Sabba,
have you heard any names or do you have anything
on a wish list that you've heard? I know it's
pretty early, but it's varied. But what are you guys thinking?

Speaker 3 (51:01):
What's Maurinho doing these days?

Speaker 1 (51:04):
He's he's understanding everyone in Turkey.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
Oh so he'll be back soon then, yeah, yeah, hold
out for a couple of weeks. He'll be available. I
mean I heard France want to get rid of DESCHAMPSA
is he available?

Speaker 3 (51:17):
Like what are we doing now? Like? No, I mean, look, you're.

Speaker 4 (51:21):
If it ends up being like Ryan Richtter, I'm gonna
fight somebody because that just seems ridiculous to me. Like,
if I think we need I would like for them
to get out of the continent. I would not in
one of those like pretentious kind of ways where we
get like a Wayne Rooney who has no idea how
this thing works, but like someone who understands a little

(51:44):
bit of what Philadelphia's unique position is in MLS, because
I feel like it's not talked about enough is in
every other major sport. Philadelphia is kind of a sexy
destination because of you know, fans, because of the size
of the market, because of you know, what ownership is
to pay, like the Middletons, like the Lorries and all
of that. Trying to convince people who once played on

(52:06):
the French Riviera to come to Chester Pennsylvania is not
the easiest sell in the universe. And I even wanted
to talk to a little bit about but we kind
of went over. But I wanted to talk to this
about Seba about he mentioned it earns them investing into
the facilities is really important, I think for the future
of this club, because if you're going to get people
to come to play in super Ru Park right now,
I believe the second smallest park grades to it in Philadelphia.

(52:32):
For these places, for these gentlemen who go anywhere like
a Miami or Los Angeles, you're going to have to
do some serious searching for a skipper who can possibly
bring those guys in as a recruiter themselves.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
Or you're going to go around the moneyball route.

Speaker 4 (52:48):
You got really too, Like I mentioned to Oklahoma City
Thunder earlier, because it's kind of a similar situation, I
don't think you can really they will struggle to attract
premium free agents for the rest of their teams existence
only because of their geographical location, nothing else unless they
build something there. You know, once you already have Kevin Durant,
Anna James Harden, Anna Russell Westbrook, Anna ser Jabaka, you

(53:11):
can bring other people in. But if you're just dealing
with from scratch, then you have to at least build
a foundation of something else here. So look, I would
I wanna. I don't want. I don't need a home
run like a lot of these other things. I don't
need it to be the best available, you know, you know,
coach on the market. But it's got to be someone

(53:32):
who is going to be sexier outside of the lower
forty eight. You know, it's got to be someone who's
not just appealing to America. I want someone who's appealing
to at least Europe, if not South America, Like, I
need someone who can turn mark to turn stones, you know.
And Jim's shockingly Philadelphian, which is great for us, but

(53:52):
also it's not necessarily gonna be a seducer of people
in Brazil.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
So with Adam, if i'm if I'm reading in between
the lines of what you're spelling out, I'm saying you're
thinking the next coach is gonna come from the interact
and the school. Is that what you're positioning right here
on the pod you're trying to get to take over
the manager role.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
We're gonna have a pipeline to La Ligas and all
the other because we're gonna go back to Europe. It's
gonna be League one. It's gonna be great. No, I mean, LOOKOK,
I'm just saying we need something fresh. If we're not
gonna do it, we're gonna do the whole running back
system with the players. At least give me something fresca
with my with my coach, you know, something that's gonna
breathe a new life into this. We went from Novak

(54:36):
to Hackworth to Curtain, which feels like MLS one and
two point Oh. This is three point Oh, let's see
what three point o brings me.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Or let's get somebody three point five. You know, let's
get ahead of the curve. That would be nice to Sebastian.
When's your press conference for this?

Speaker 5 (54:54):
I mean, I'm not gonna be uh as much as
Adam because the place, but U for me, I don't know,
we'll see. I'm just excited for just the kind of
a new now, a new era, and see, you know
what the team can do with the whatever coach. But
he's definitely going to be somebody who is hand percent
on the same page with a.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Jay Definitely definitely uh one. Just I want to because
we're running into the time actual time that we normally do.
But congratulate Union too. I mean, I'm sure everybody here
has watched a little bit of that. It's not the
way we wanted it to end, but those kids played
fearless and and almost foot on the gas the entire time,

(55:39):
something that I would love have seen from the first
team throughout the year. So congratulations to them. They do
fall to North down North, North Texas, But again, how
how appropriate was that? Where you've got the two best
academies in North America? And they're there playing analysts next championship.
So congratulations to the season they had and and to

(56:00):
the Bridge Brigade and everything that that they did. And
then just real quick so we can wrap it up.
What Joe then then Suba, then Adam besides the coach,
what's the biggest thing this all season that they need
to do.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Oh, that's a good question. I don't want to say rebuild,
but refurbish parts of the roster, backup goalkeeper, an extra
center back, potentially another attacker, but the especially the the
spine of the team. It has to be refurbished. There's

(56:36):
got to be I'd say three to four new faces
between the goalkeeper, uh defender and defensive midfield positions to
just freshen up and add some competition there.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Yeah, Sebastian, your thoughts on off season needs.

Speaker 7 (56:52):
Yeah, I mean exactly what I think Jojah.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
In every team, and I know even for the best
team in the world, everybody goes.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
You know, like a little refresh.

Speaker 5 (57:02):
It's not always the same team who you know, go
back to back, and especially now in the years that
we make the playoffs, you will definitely see I think
more new faces, you know, right away from the preseason,
maybe's starting maybe you know, defferent position for them. Like
you said, like young guys coming through playing showing what
you can do, and we might see probably maybe not

(57:23):
always the same starting even in in the first maybe
like three or five games, who knows, you know, how
the team goes, but definitely you know looking forward to
to see you know, more dynamic and use and you know,
energize no player in the team to to try to
you know, bring the level up on.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
The Adam your thoughts for the off season.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
We have to figure out if this, if who we
brought into end the season, is the true replacement for
Jose Martinez, because I believe that's really where this season
kind of fell apart from me, was when the cover
all for Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnz disappeared and then
they got exposed in a lot of ways on speed

(58:10):
and on positioning when they didn't have the dog that
wasn't Martinez in front of them. So I think replacing
Martinez is really important. I would like to upgrade right back.
I don't have a problem with Nathan Herrel or Mbizo,
but I definitely believe that as a position you could
upgrade and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the
universe to do, so I think that would be really helpful.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
That wouldn't be opposed to exposing guys on the expansion
draft exactly.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
I mean, that's that I mean because I think Herrel
is fine, he's good, he's solid, he can grow. But
and Mbazo is not a bad player. But I'm saying definitely,
it's like going back to like the Ray Gatus years.
It's like, it's not a bad player there, but you
definitely could upgrade. And it would be an interesting upgrade
if you had a person who was able to, you know,

(58:56):
create from the right side in the same way you
have Kaile creating from the left side. That would make
an interesting dynamic, especially if we're going to have more
Jack McGlenn and you know, Quinn Sullivan moving forward, because
I would assume they're going to be stalwarts moving forward
until one of them gets sold, are both And that
would also lead to more depth in midfield, you know,

(59:17):
I think that's really important.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
I think what happened was when we.

Speaker 4 (59:19):
Made substitutions, especially in the midfield outside of those gentlemen.
You know, is it Haesus Buindo, is he going to
play next year?

Speaker 3 (59:26):
Is he going to be good?

Speaker 4 (59:27):
If that's our depth that I'm here to see his development. Otherwise,
you're probably gonna have to look at something in midfield
to help those guys out. And I'm doing this based
off of what the press conference said to me yesterday
or today. You know, I'm not doing this based off
of a really a wish list. I'm doing this based
off of what I heard jar Jay and Ernt kind

(59:48):
of say. And I'm saying, well, if we're going to
go that route, these are kind of the ways that
you can replace this and still put a team on
there that I still might be thinking as the top
five in the East.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
I'll leave you a bold prediction about that midfield. I
don't think Jack mclenn quinn saw then gets sold. I
think there's star Wars for the Union for a long time, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
I think that's good. I mean, it'd be great.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
That's a very good thing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
I think it'd be a fantastic thing.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
And they're both phenomenal players, and if they want to,
you know, build the core for the future of that minfield,
I'm great with that. They're gonna need a guy behind
them with confidence. I'm not sure if it's Leon Flock,
We'll see, you know. If he's here, I know that's
I keep forgetting his name. But the newest gentleman we got,
I don't know if it's him. That to me is

(01:00:34):
the biggest piece is you have to figure out who
your defensive mind is, because that's how the Union got exposed,
especially at Lake games.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
Lake games are having people walk.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
Through the middle of cart of the the eighteen and
that's where Jose Martinez is usually laying an elbow or
a thigh into someone and letting him no, that's not
their house.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
So that, to me is my biggest kind of immediate
thing that you can fix. That wouldn't be like, okay,
now it's a thirteen million dollar dude, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Yeah, Well, all seasons starts h Martin Luther King weekend
in January. That's when springs raining starts for the Union Spain.
Then Clearwater, so we're gonna we don't Arts does not
have a lot of time to get moving on this.
And then the expansion draft is coming up too, so
there's there's there's a lot of parts that are moving.
Let's just remind everybody there still is MLS and NWSL playoffs.

(01:01:26):
So you don't want to watch European games, You've got
some playoffs that you can watch. And the Sons have been.
Elections are announced, bios are out. So for people that
think the Sons have been need to do a better
job in protesting or doing whatever you think they need
to do, start looking at the bios. You got two
people running for president and two people running for a

(01:01:47):
couple other offices, so look at it. If you're not
a member, you join, spend thirty five dollars. You can vote.
So if you want some change, you can be the change.
And I think that is everything that is. Anyone have
anything else to just kind of wrap this up before
we get out of here. This was a marathon, guys,
So Sebastian Lato, thank you very much, Adam, thank you,

(01:02:11):
and the og JT of Philadelphia Soccer, Joe Tansey, thanks
for hopping on with us for this special curtain out
edition of X's in the U. Now that Gym's an X,
maybe we can get them on as a guest.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
There we go, a couple of dms. We'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
There you go. Gentlemen, thank you so much, and everybody
have a great week and we will get through all this.
Thanks