FC Cincinnati: How much work has been done?
FC Cincinnati General Manager Gerard Nijkamp confirmed that the club has their head coach lined up. But how much have they actually done behind the scene?
FC Cincinnati have their man. Or do they? It is all a bit confusing.
After Ron Jans resigned from his post as head coach before the season amid reports that he uttered a racial slur in the dressing room that upset several players, the former MLS new boys who were entering their second year in the league with hopes of banishing their historically poor rookie year have taken their time.
It is now three months — and only two games — since Jans walked away from FC Cincinnati. But the club finally has their replacement, apparently.
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General Manager Gerard Nijkamp has said that he and the club will not rush the decision. They also conceded that the coronavirus has caused substantial disruption to the search and that they have had to delay their decision as a result. However, this week, he seemingly confirmed that they have their man. He just wouldn’t say who it was.
“I think that this candidate can help us move over to the next phase, to our next stadium, to achieve our goals in the future, making players better and bringing his knowledge and experience inside the club,” Nijkamp told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s at this moment a fact that it is not allowed if this candidate is coming from abroad because I’m still not talking about the name. But it is a fact that if it is an international candidate, the borders are closed.”
One potential candidate is Jaap Stam. Nijkamp, who flew to the Netherlands and has been working remotely from there, mentions the difficulties of hiring a candidate from abroad. Stam is also Dutch. He has spoken about having an interview with FC Cincinnati. It is not hard to put two and two together.
Whether it is Stam or not, however, it is reasonable to question just how much work the new head coach has been able to do. They were not hired until COVID-19 laid waste to the football calendar. They will have not been able to conduct any training sessions. Every interaction they will have had with the players, if any, will have been via video call. As MLS aims for a June return with a tournament-style competition in Orlando, FC Cincinnati and the head coach has a lot of preparation to do. And at present, they have little way to do it.
If we are to read between the lines a little, Nijkamp heavily implies that the coach is not currently in America. The borders will not be opened any time soon. Perhaps a special case can be made, but as players return to individual training this week across the league, it seems as though FC Cincinnati will not have their head coach in place to lead any of the sessions, however limited that influence might be.
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FCC have a huge season ahead of them. They do not want to follow up the humiliation of their first season in MLS with another underwhelming year. Finding the right head coach is a crucial step to addressing their problems. But how much work has that head coach been able to do? In the current climate, their impact will have been minimal, and that is concerning.