After miserable season, Atlanta United fires manager Ronny Deila

Atlanta United fired manager Ronny Deila, the team announced Sunday morning.

Firing Deila is the first of what likely will be many moves made by Lagerwey to put the club in a more competitive position. It hasn’t appeared in a final of any tournament since winning the 2019 U.S. Open Cup under team president Darren Eales, vice president Carlos Bocanegra and manager Frank de Boer.

“It’s going to be a hard offseason,” team captain Brad Guzan said after Saturday’s draw. “There needs to be real conversations had. There needs to be tough conversations had because I think this group can be special. I mentioned in terms of always adding to it, but it can’t just be change for change; it has to be the right type of change. And if we do that, then I think we put ourselves in a real position to go and be successful in 2026.”

Deila was an interesting hire. He won an MLS Cup with NYCFC in 2021 and trophies at other clubs but neither Lagerwey nor Deila could articulate what made him stand out as a tactician or motivator.

Neither his tactics nor his skills as a motivator worked well at Atlanta United.

The team was shut out 13 times, despite spending more than $40 million on attacking players Emmanuel Latte Lath, Miguel Almirón and Alexey Miranchuk. The defense, riddled by injuries, gave up 63 goals.

It won one league match since Memorial Day.

Finding answers

Deila said Saturday he thinks the team is three or four pieces away from contending, but he didn’t say what those pieces are. He did say there needs to be stability and then consistency in the players at fullback and central defense. The team was able to use its first-choice back line once in the first two-thirds of the season.

Deila said he’s never seen a team allow 63 goals, noting that its expected goals allowed was in the 40s. Fotmob.com had the total at 50.2. Atlanta United scored 38, with an expected goals of 46.1. Instead of a goal differential of 25, it should have had a goal differential of 4.1, which would have led to a massive change in results.

As Deila noted Saturday, it drew 13 of its 34 matches, so it wasn’t being outplayed. It just needed to execute better in both 18-yard boxes.

Deila always accepted responsibility for the results but would also frequently talk about the players not executing what was trained. The poor season could either be explained by Deila not being understood by the players — which was on him — the players not wanting to execute what was expected — which is on them — or the players not being able to execute what was expected, which is on the scouting department and sporting director Chris Henderson.

Lagerwey needs to find the answer.

Since his hire in November 2022, Atlanta United has made the playoffs twice but hasn’t come close to competing for any trophies.

The team has had consistent problems with keeping players healthy and finding the right combination of skills.

Deila complained more than once about the team being too old and too imbalanced by position. Guzan also talked about the team’s lack of youth and confidence Saturday.

The first likely candidate to replace Deila is one who Atlanta United and Henderson are very familiar with: Gerardo Martino.

Martino led Atlanta United to the MLS Cup in 2018 before he resigned to take over Mexico’s national team. Martino came back to MLS to lead Inter Miami, where Henderson was sporting director before joining Atlanta United before the 2025 season. Martino guided the Herons to the 2023 Leagues Cup and last year’s Supporters’ Shield.

The second could be Jim Curtin, who led Philadelphia to success before resigning after the 2024 season.

Both are unemployed.

Whomever Lagerwey selects, it will be the second manager he has hired at the club in four seasons, which doesn’t bode well for his future.