Atlanta United FC at a crossroads after another manager change

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Football Editor

Atlanta United FC’s decision on Sunday to sack Gabriel Heinze just 13 appearances in the Argentina coach’s first MLS season has certainly shocked a lot of people in the league.

But inside the club itself, the change was not surprising – at least not for several sources at the club who spoke anonymously to FOX Sports about how the former Manchester defender’s harsh driving style United and Real Madrid had alienated their roster since its introduction in December.

Things were going so badly that the MLS Players Association filed a grievance with the league on behalf of the Atlanta players, who cited numerous collective agreement violations, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported shortly after the announcement of the dismissal of Heinze.

Heinze staff limited the amount of water players could drink during preseason training, to the point that club medics were forced to intervene, sources said. Heinze refused to give players their guaranteed days off and demanded that they always be available to answer their phones or report to the training center at all times.

“Tactics and football are one thing, but there was so much going on off the pitch that the players were mentally exhausted on a daily basis,” said a source at the club.

Upon joining MLS in 2017, Atlanta quickly established itself as one of the most successful expansion teams in North American professional sports history. The franchise performed in front of NFL-sized crowds and won the 2018 MLS Cup in its second season.

Today, the club are at a crossroads again after firing a top-level, highly paid head coach for the second time in less than 12 months, following Frank De Boer’s sacking in July 2020.

THE FALL OF ATLANTA FROM ITS FIRST SUMMITS

Everything club president Darren Eales and vice president Carlos Bocanegra touched turned to gold in United’s first two seasons in MLS. But the Five Stripes fell victim to their own early success, leading to the departure of several personalities, including manager Tata Martino and striker Miguel Almiron.

Martino, who had previously coached Lionel Messi with Barcelona and Argentina, was drawn to the Mexico national team.

Almiron, the team’s Paraguayan spark plug, has been sold for a nice profit to Newcastle of the Premier League.

De Boer, the former Ajax and Inter Milan boss, has been hired as the new head coach, and reigning South American player of the year, Pity Martinez, has been signed to energize Training. But neither matched Atlanta, and both were dumped before the end of the 2020 campaign.

Heinze, another Argentinian, was meant to represent a return to the club’s swashbuckling roots. He played at the highest levels in the sport and was considered one of South America’s best young coaches after three successful seasons at Velez Sarsfield. But almost immediately it became clear that on a personality level he was the opposite of Martino. Heinze failed to adapt to his new surroundings.

“It was hell everyday for six months,” another United source said of Heinze’s tenure.

WHAT’S GOING UNDER HEINZE?

Sources described a culture in which Heinze barely spoke to his players, instead using intermediaries. He and his hand-picked staff made little effort to develop relationships with existing club employees, resulting in poor communication and low morale throughout the organization.

Heinze frustrated players and staff by not sharing the squad’s schedule up front and then brushed aside those concerns when confronted.

The bad vibrations manifested in the field; after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to New England, Atlanta (0V-3N-5T in their last eight games) placed 10th in the 14-team MLS Eastern Conference.

Eales insisted on Sunday that Heinze’s bench from star striker Josef Martinez was not the reason for his dismissal. But that probably accelerated the inevitable.

WHAT’S NEXT NEXT FOR UNITED?

The struggles of a club that seemed invincible in their first three years are a reminder that it is more difficult to maintain success than to achieve it.

It’s hard to keep the right mix in the locker room no matter how much homework you do or how much money you spend on transfer fees and well-heeled coaches.

But all is far from being lost.

Atlanta’s fan base remains among the biggest, if not the biggest, in MLS. The club, which plays in front of huge crowds at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, was valued last week by Sportico at $ 845 million, just behind LAFC among 27 MLS teams.

United remain about as well positioned as they can get off the pitch.

On that matter, it’s impossible to deny that this once-model franchise has become a shadow of itself, and other departures could be considered if the team doesn’t bounce back under the guidance of interim coach Rob. Valentino.

The search for a permanent manager is already underway. Doing this move correctly will be essential for the future of Eales and Bocanegra.

After swinging hard and failing spectacularly twice in a row, United need their next hire to rekindle some of the magic that helped put the club on the map in the first place.

One of North America’s foremost football journalists, Doug McIntyre has covered the US men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including several FIFA World Cups. Prior to joining FOX Sports, the New York native was a writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.

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