Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union

The following is a transcript of the January 2nd press conference that introduced new Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell. Both he and club Sporting Director Ernst Tanner answered questions about the current state of the club, their vision and plans for the future, the sentiment of the fanbase, and other procedural questions.

Carnell likely earned some points with the Philly Phaithful when he referred to his stint with the Red Bulls as time spent, “in New Jersey” as well as describing Philly sports team as ‘gritty, tough, and edgy’.

Perhaps most insightful was Carnell’s answer to Question 4 about play style. He answered that he would like to instill a ’60/30/10′ rule wherein 60% of the team’s goals come from transition, or counterattacks, 30% come from set pieces, and 10% come from possession. This certainly aligns with Tanner’s philosophy of play.

Another interesting moment was when Tanner answered Question 11 about the feelings of discontent from the fans. Tanner acknowledged those feelings and pointed to the hiring of Carnell, which implies the firing of Jim Curtin, was the necessary steps to alleviate those feelings. He also promised there would be additional signings in the winter window.

With preseason starting next week, and a Head Coach finally in place, a new era of the Philadelphia Union is underway. Only time will tell how successful it will be.

Read on for the full transcription of the press conference. The video of the conference can be found on the Philadelphia Union’s YouTube channel.

Tanner’s Opening Statement: “..hello and also happy New Year to everyone. Over the couple of last weeks ownership and myself, we were putting a profile together for our new head coach, and at the end of that process we decided to go for Bradley Carnell, as you recognize and can see sitting next to me. We were very convinced when we were starting the discussions about the abilities of him bringing us back on track, bringing us back to a winning team, making most out of our resources. Out of the discussions I’m really convinced that we have the right person sitting in this room. I still have him in mind as a player in Bundesliga for different good clubs and I liked his attributes as a player, and I hope that I can even like his attributes as a coach more, but I also know that he is regarding our playing style and methodology capable to do that. Since I’m over here, we are in recent discussions and we always had phone calls and we share the same conviction about the game and I wish him all the best and welcome to Philly”.

Bradley Carnell: “First of all good afternoon everybody and Happy New Year I’m excited to get to work with you all and get to know you all over the next couple of months and years here.  I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the ownership group Jay, Richie, Richard as well, and as well as everyone sitting next to me here for the faith and the confidence put in me to move the Union forward here in 2025 and beyond. This place is no doubt a great foundation that’s been laid over the last 10 plus years, it’s an exciting project. It’s a wonderful project to be part of, a wonderful team to be part of. I’m looking forward to getting back to the way that Ernst, and the development of this club, and the philosophy of this club, getting back to the ways that defines us, defines the players, defines the style, defines the community. I’m not just looking ahead, but also looking back at certain points to to file on the philosophy again a little bit and make us something different, edgy, and difficult to play against. This is something that’s part of me, what you see is what you get, it’s in my DNA as a player as a coach and I’ve had a history of doing that at all the stations I’ve been at whether as a player or a coach so it’s an exciting project. Looking forward to connecting with sons of Ben, getting to know them as well, and being part of a Philly sports team is something special. You know there’s something special about, when you speak about the major leagues in Philadelphia, there’s always a grittiness, there’s always a toughness, there’s always an edge that each team plays with. I’m excited to be part of that community and part of that and continue to build the culture. Thank you.”

Question 1: “… how many candidates were there over time out of which Bradley was picked and two months without a manager for football clubs is a fairly long time what do you think?”

Tanner: “Well good things take its times as you know, and we had probably close to 100 applications, but we needed to shrink that down to 10. It is not that easy when you are looking for somebody who is good enough to train our methodology. As you all know, we are a club which has a competitive strategy in a certain style of play, and that requires the right knowledge about methodology and the conviction. There are not too many guys out now, a lot of them over in Europe, a lot of them yeah also here in US but most of them are at clubs, so we narrowed it down to very few candidates we were dealing with.”

Follow up: “How long is [Carnell’s] contract?”

Tanner: “Two Years”.

Question 2: “Ernst, what have you made of specifically Bradley’s experience in MLS and how important that was for you and your guys’ process? Bradley for you I wonder how you processed the last two years that you spend in St Louis what maybe worked in ‘23 that didn’t work in ‘24 and how that informs this next project that you’re undertaking here.”

Tanner: “I would not have been shy to bring somebody in from Europe to be honest, but under the preconditions I mentioned but it is certainly always easier if somebody knows about what we are talking in terms of our league and we find the right guy here.”

Carnell: “If you look at historically even from the days in New Jersey as an interim head coach there and and trying to guide my way and forge my way into what it means to be a to be a head coach, there were some successes and some failures and even in St Louis I look back with extreme pride. It was an honor to set up that team, coach that team, have the successes that we did and even in 2024 I would still say we were extremely competitive, extremely aggressive to the core of who I stand for and the identity we played with. Some results got away from us here and there, but I use these as all learning opportunities and I’m excited about what goes forward. I’m not one to dwell on the past and think what was, this is definitely not me. I’m really excited about this new adventure here in Philadelphia.”

Question 3: “When you look at the roster itself, there’s a lot of familiar faces that are staying, there’s not going to be a lot of roster overhaul, ones that will be will be young players. How comfortable are you coming in knowing that this roster isn’t fully set, but there’s a lot of guys that are on long contracts, and that they may not be your guys?”

Carnell: “One of the club’s core philosophies is development and I think if you’ve looked at my history over the last two and a half years or three years as a coach, now giving debuts and homegrown. This is me to a core, this is my DNA in terms of development right, and I’m not talking about development just as young guys in the two teams there’s definitely development still to be done with seasoned pros. I’m excited to get my feet on the ground, and get a crack into work here because I still feel that even the seasoned, established Pros can still grow a little bit.”

Question 4: “You’ve obviously scouted or seen the Union, and how they’ve played, from the philosophy and all the principles that Ernst has been talking about. What would you like as a coach to install in order to get back to the way they were playing when they were at the top of the table?”

Carnell: ”I believe in the 60/30/10 right? 60% of all our transition goals or moments come from transition right? So, the 30% set pieces, 10% from possession. I’m not a 75% possession guy, and I believe being [on the] front foot, proactive in your face, aggressive and very counterattacking. I’m not here to judge anything that happened last year, this is not my space and not my place. The foundations are strong and that’s a good platform to work with and now it’s just about sharpening and filing and coming in there with a lot of the work done and who I am and how I built and what I believe in and how development should look like. I feel this is a perfect fit and you know we’ve spoken about it, we’ve been in touch for many years even in Germany and I think there are very common synergies there and we synchronized in those ideas. Now my plan is to get the players synchronized on the field.”

Question 5: “Bradley, what is your initial impressions about the city of Philadelphia and what is your message to the fan base?”

Carnell: “Landing here late yesterday, there’s a certain energy. Obviously I’ve traveled here a few times, when I was up at the Red Bulls, but there’s there’s a certain energy. I’m living downtown now in in the old city and you just feel the energy and this is what I love most. Then obviously historical buildings here in Chester and the landmarks that you have here, speak about power, energy, and this is about what I do and no wonder the style of play, what we want to get back to, is exactly that. It just seems that there’s so many pieces of this puzzle that fit in a perfect way and I’m excited to get out there for sure.”

Question 6: “You had Tyler Adams back in the day you had Caden Clark when he was a phenom, but Cavan Sullivan with what he’s about to be and the spotlight is about to be and is going to potentially put all of that in the shade how do you handle that as a manager of the footballer, and then as a human and Ernst when you went out to look for somebody who was going to handle Cavan and CJ Olney and Neil Pierre and all these other prospects properly, develop in the way you want what were you looking for in terms of coaching the footballers?”

Carnell: “I believe I gave Caden Clark his debut against Atlanta away from home as a youngster back then. People is the core of my philosophy. Working with people, developing players, this is the core of my philosophy and I feel it’s my duty here it’s, it’s what I do. I’m not here to coach for me, I’m not here to- for sure I enjoy the success that comes with it, but for me when I see players succeeding, this is the most exciting thing to happen. When I see a player get promoted through the ranks, as I was once- I was a 16year old playing in the Pro ranks in South Africa and somebody gave a chance, somebody gave a shot at me, so I’m all for that and I’m excited about Cavan’s development as well as developing some other youngsters here in camp. I’m excited about that whole process and like I said people are the core of my philosophy.”

Tanner: “That’s exactly what we have been looking out for, we needed strong communicator with young people, to show the right abilities to work with them, and also of course have the awareness for player development of young players in particular. That’s what Bradley did already, and I think that we have a fantastic group of young players. I think, and I said it multiple times, probably the best in the country and it takes some time, we all know that, and we we all know that we cannot only play with young players, but we need to do our best for that development and that was one of the most important criteria.”

Question 7: “For both you but first for Ernst, if at all did you talk to a player like Alejandra Bedoya or any of veterans throughout this process to keep them either informed or get their opinions on what they might like in a head coach? For you Bradley, to that topic you have these veterans, club icons, how do you go about the development part with the exciting prospects but also balancing that to winning and getting the right combination of those players on the field, and finding that core so the team can go back to winning?”

Tanner: “Well I talked to Ale, but about different things. To be honest, the coach’s selection is in the discretion of ownership and the sporting director. We will do the right things that’s clear to me. It’s not about the development of only young people and about only playing with young people, everybody in our system needs to earn his spot. That’s how it is, but at the same time if you want to be a winning team you need to develop something before you can win. As long as we have been cohesive and successful and nobody was complaining about anything. Once we started to play more as an individual and we lost cohesion then we all of a sudden were not winning again and that shows us exactly where we need to get back to.”

Carnell: “I really enjoyed setting up the process in St. Louis. We set up a roster there with guys that were not just young guns but also seasoned pros and guys that were out of favor at their former clubs and what have you. We managed to turn them around, we managed to find out the new purpose of each player and each individual. Some guys have just have become fathers, some guys just become married, and what have you so each player finds themselves in a different scenario in their development status, regardless of age. Reestablishing that, reigniting that with a current roster and a current squad, some guys are out of favor, were out of favor, some guys have a new chance, some guys- I have to find out now what drives them. This journey and I you know for sure message that to the players, this is not about me, this has never been about me, my purpose is to serve the players as best I can and drive the success that the club demands and deserves. I’m excited to get to know the players, I’m excited to get to know what are they interested in you know, where do they want to take this, regardless of age? And even the older guys, to see what they want to get out of it still in their careers, and when everything comes together and everybody’s on the same page it’s a thing of beauty to watch. I’m excited about getting everyone together

Question 8: “… there’s a lot of negativity within the fan base towards the back end of last season, because the form was not where the expectation was set. There’s a lot of factions of the fan base now that are have lost complete faith in the team, in the philosophy, all of that. How do you perceive that coming in as the new manager knowing that there is going to be that- you kind of have to rebuild a little bit of that foundation because of how, not to your fault, but to how last year-?”

Carnell: “Listen, I think it’s all about how we present ourselves at home. This is a big one for me, you know home form, home image, home territorial advantage, how we play, how we start games, play quick, fast, aggressive, this is this is how we want to be portraying ourselves at home especially. The next part of my philosophy is also a process, there’s a process to this all and like I said the foundations are excellent for me to work with, and there’s so many pieces of the puzzle that do make a fit, and they fit really well, and I’m excited to work with the players because there may be some guys on the roster that you’ve never seen in a way that maybe I can help promote and you saw how good [U II] was last year and the success that they had… Competition is good, we should thrive on competition, you know I accept it when my coaches challenge me, I accept it when my players challenge me. I don’t have all the answers, and I’m going to learn, and I’m going to continue learning and I think Ernst is still learning as well as, us all in the room here we’re still learning. So you know, it’s not the finished product for sure, but I’m excited about showing the fans something different within the philosophy.”

Question 9: “Ernst any decisions on the coaching staff? What is the process going to be in the coming days and weeks as you work with Bradley on crafting a staff? Anyone that you know will be back, won’t be back, any updates there?”

Tanner: “Bradley takes the existing coaching staff over, and we will in addition have some additions, but that’s to announce shortly.”

Question 10: “You mentioned having a relationship with Ernst, what can you say just about what you know about Ernst and what are you looking for in terms of the relationship that you’ll have with him, and what he’s done at this club and what makes you want to you know take this position and and be in in the spot?”

Carnell: “I believe in growth, I believe in growth of taking the Philadelphia Union ahead of where they want to be, now it’s taking steps forward, leaps and bounds. I know Ernst drives high standards, I know he drives a lot of within the philosophy especially, he has a lot of expectations, which is great because I’m going to learn, I’m going to surprise him, because maybe I have a lot of those expectations and demands met already. So you know I’m enjoying this process now as Ernst and I get to know each other, on a sort of colleague level. We’ve known each other as peers through the industry, obviously, but now to get in the walls, in the four walls behind closed doors. I’m excited to see his vision and to share my vision and collaborate and together take the Philadelphia Union forward.”

Question 11: Ernest what is your message to the fan base? There are some in the fanbase who think that are you the right guy to make this roster right and everything going for it, especially how last season ended?”

Tanner: “Well I can understand that there is a lot of pessimism in our fanbase regarding the last season, maybe the last one and a half seasons, and that was the reason why we changed. What I can promise is that we will definitely add some players in addition to the one we did already, that we will utilize all the mechanisms, or the possibilities the league gives us according to our new rules, but we also trust in what we have. That’s not not only just the players we’re bringing up from the second team, I think that we have a way better roster  and we can get ways more out of it than we showed in the last season. It might take a little bit but, you can be assured that from the 13th of January, or the 14th of January, when we are on the pitch, we will get back to work and work as hard as possible to make that happen.”

Question 12: “Ernst, question a clarification on the assistant coaches. Taking the same staff, possibly some additions, but Dean Costalas left in any given offseason, and I know Marlon was out of contract and so on. Has anybody gone and is anybody going?”

Tanner: “Yeah, well I cannot tell you directly, but we will definitely work with Phil Whedon as a goalkeeping coach, and we will work with Frank Leicht as an assistant coach, and we will bring in another assistant coach, as well as an analyst.”