Monday, October 3, 2016

Bob Bradley becomes first American to manage a major European club, finally

Former United States men’s national team manager Bob Bradley, who brought the Yanks to extra time of the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup and a second-place finish at the 2009 Confederations Cup, has become the first American to manage a major European soccer club.
On Monday morning, Swansea City announced that he will be replacing Francesco Guidolin at the Premier League club effective immediately.
The news was confirmed by Bradley’s agent, Ron Waxman.
It was no big secret that the 58-year-old Bradley had been coveting a Premier League job for years, and he roamed the soccer earth far and wide in pursuit of it. It seemed every time a Premiership job at all but the biggest clubs opened up, his name was in the discussion, but he never did land one until now.
The knock on him, and the thing that prevented him from getting a Premier League job, was that he hadn’t been a Premier League manager before. It was the sort of obstructionist logic that has traditionally kept the pool of managerial candidates for such jobs limited to retreads and former players. But some clubs have grown more creative, and Swansea has shown daring and cunning in its managerial hires in recent years.
Guidolin had taken over last January and not only saved the club from relegation but also guided it all the way up to a 12th-place finish. When he got to a 1-5-1 start to the season, however, putting Swansea in relegation danger once again, chairman Huw Jenkins decided to take a chance on Bradley.
“We are obviously disappointed to part company with Francesco,” Jenkins said in a statement. “We felt he deserved his opportunity after the work he did last season. Unfortunately, we have not been able to carry performances over from last season and we felt we needed to change things as soon as possible in order to move forward in a positive way.”
“We are delighted Bob has agreed to join us,” Jenkins continued. “He is highly regarded as a coach and has a wealth of experience on the international and domestic front. He is well aware of the club’s footballing philosophy and will provide us with strong leadership qualities and a renewed belief to compete at this level. It is never easy changing managers, but we are looking at a long-term appointment and we are confident Bob can settle us down and stabilize matters on and off the pitch.”
And so, as another season threatens to come apart, the Swans were willing to overlook Bradley’s lack of Premier League experience, although, tellingly a “fact file” on the club’s website opens with “Bob Bradley may never have worked in the Premier League …”
Instead, he parlayed an 11-year stint as head coach at Princeton University – beginning at age 26 – into an assistant job with Bruce Arena’s D.C. United in Major League Soccer in 1996. From there, he went on to coach the Chicago Fire, winning the 1998 MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup in its expansion season, and then the New York MetroStars and Chivas USA. In 2006, he succeeded Arena as national team head coach, posting a 43-12-25 record before his firing in 2011 after a 4-2 Gold Cup final loss to Mexico.
Thereafter, Bradley went abroad. He brought Egypt within a game of reaching the World Cup in spite of unspeakable violence and unrelenting turmoil in the country, which shut down the local league that provided him most of his players. Next, he took puny Norwegian club Stabaek, a team apparently doomed to relegation when upon Bradley’s appointment Stabaek not only survived but also reached the Europa League the next season. Almost a year ago, Bradley signed with French second division club Le Havre, which had ambitions to reach Ligue 1, and he very nearly delivered on the final day of the season, falling a single goal short.
In spite of his typically strong body of work – although it should be said, Le Havre had made a forgettable start to the season and lingers in 10th place – it took a club with American ownership to give Bradley his big shot. In July, an American consortium that includes Landon Donovan as a stakeholder took over the club, and so it was unsurprising that it was willing to consider a countryman.
That isn’t to say the appointment is in any way undeserved. It was long overdue, on the strength of the organization, consistency and over-performance Bradley and his teams have consistently demonstrated.
Now he finally gets the chance to show his coaching chops in the most visible league in the world. Swansea’s next game is away to Arsenal on Oct. 15. And the only thing keeping the Swans out of the relegation zone is goal difference.
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