Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank offered his first public comments about the MLS team this season and its recent managerial change Thursday at the opening of training camp for the Falcons, which he also owns.
Gabriel Heinze was fired by club President Darren Eales and Vice President Carlos Bocanegra on July 18 after 17 games, 13 within MLS, with the team stuck in a franchise-worst eight-game winless streak.
“Well, you’re not happy when you have to turn over coaches the way we’ve had to,” Blank said. “There are lot of reasons for it. At the end of the day, you point one finger, three point back at you. So you have to start out with what could we have done better?
“I think in this last coach, there were some things in terms of cultural, aspirations and the way he was treating our players, et cetera, et cetera. I think we probably could have done a better job with our homework, upfront on that.
“Certainly, from a technical standpoint, he was very well-qualified. You learn from those lessons and you move on.
“I think we have the nucleus of a really good squad. You have to show appreciation, true appreciation for our fans who have been incredible on the AU side and the Falcons side as well. We have a tremendous amount of support from Falcons season ticket holders this year. AU, in the last match we had 67,000 people in the building. I love our fans. I love their energy, commitment, compassion, all of the things they gave us. We want to give them back a product that is equally important to them.”
With the promotion of Rob Valentino to interim manager in place of Heinze, Atlanta United has gone through four different leaders in the past two seasons. Frank de Boer was fired about five MLS games into the 2020 season. He was replaced by interim Stephen Glass. Heinze was hired in December 2020 to take over the squad.
Heinze came with a reputation for developing young talent and playing aggressive soccer. It didn’t translate with Atlanta United. The team scored 13 goals in 13 league games.
Heinze may be more noted for the MLSPA filing grievances with the league regarding his training practices. The league has yet to announce the findings of its investigation.
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