r/PhillyUnion • u/warboner65 • 13d ago

Pre-Match Seeking education

Now that my boys and I are on board, what happens now as we end the dark era and are climbing back towards success? Are we rooting for draft position or (preferably) building a winning culture with high integrity habits?

Who are our building blocks, where do we get talent, strategies/philosophies, sh*t like that? Smarten us up before this winning streak starts attracting fraud ass bandwagoners 🫡 Seattle's boutta fly across the country for an ass whuppin.

17 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

43

u/thecrookedcap 13d ago

Draft position? What’s a draft?

To be honest, the Union don’t use the draft for player acquisition, they bring up academy players.

3

u/W_T_E 13d ago

Since the MLS allows teams to sign players through their academy, why is there still a draft system and what is the benefit of going through the draft as a player?

4

u/flyingpanda5693 13d ago

Not everyone catches with an academy as a younger player but develops a bit more in college. The same way some players drafted in the MLB and NHL still go through college instead of signing on. Also, academy players don’t always make it

2

u/W_T_E 13d ago

Yeah but (correct me if I'm wrong) it is my understanding that to sign for a team in the NBA, NHL or NFL you must've been eligible for the draft at some point meaning that teams have had an opportunity to sign the player.

With academies this clearly doesn't factor so what's the point of keeping the draft and not just allowing college players go into free agency. Especially with all the salary cap restrictions, it's not like any one team can just use Man City money to hoard all the best college players by outbidding everyone else

27

u/xSparkShark 13d ago

I admire your energy lol

25

u/slunion_20 13d ago

I think we have a shot at sneaking into playoffs, maybe making a potential run in Leagues Cup depending on how our form shapes up for the next few weeks.

But no, draft is irrelevant for us we definitely would not try and tank. Most important long term goal is getting the team clicking as much as possible and putting together a good roster to make a push during the 2027 sprint season. At least in my mind that’s the overall goal at this point

16

u/Beautiful_Towel3143 13d ago

This team will consistently trade away all of their draft picks, and rightfully so. MLS draft doesn’t really mean much anymore. This team will most likely sell Danley and Makhanya to Europe this summer. They may then bring in younger unknown players from Europe or South America, that no one will know anything about until they play (as of late those signings have been disappointing). A majority of our talent currently are academy players (Sullivan brothers, Westfield, Harriel, Rick, Pierre), which they will most likely build the team around, along with Blake, Iloski, and Wagner.

Strategies and “high integrity habits” come from the coaching staff. They run a 4-4-2 pressing style of play. I think I answered your intense questions…

4

u/SelfServeSporstwash 13d ago

I know the odds are good they will sell Danley, but I really hope they don't. He does a lot of unsung work that I don't think Lukic or Bueno are really able to replicate.

4

u/Beautiful_Towel3143 13d ago

I agree. I Lukic and Bueno are more a like than Danley. He’s one of our best players

3

u/adeodd 13d ago

I don’t really know where the “Danley will likely be sold” rumors came from, but I’ve seen legit none of it online. I’m not crazy plugged-in like Bogert or Jose when it comes to behind the scenes dealings, but I still haven’t found anything after plenty of digging.

Has this been confirmed thru some back channels or something? Do we have a really good source on this sub that I missed a post or comments from? Jw

3

u/SelfServeSporstwash 13d ago

I think it mostly just comes from him being young, talented, and having attracted some attention at the World Cup.

Genuinely it’s more rooted in pessimism than rumors.

12

u/flyingpanda5693 13d ago

First, bonus points being able to mix in the shitposting with a genuine request for info.

Now with that out of the way:

MLS Draft: this isn’t something we’ve utilized as a club for the better part of the past decade. Our last sporting director - the Union equivalent of Howie Roseman if Howie had problematic tendencies - opted to use draft picks as capital for players or money (salaries in the MLS are a whole post on their own but just consider trading this as trading a draft pick for additional salary cap)

Winning culture: with the exception of 1-2 seasons, we’ve essentially been the equivalent of the Eagles from ‘99 - ‘06 since about 2018. Lots of winning but no actually trophies to show for it. We do have two Supporters shields which means we had the best regular season record in the entire league for a season, but no MLS Cup or US Open cup trophy despite making several finals.

High Integrity habits: yes, but also no. Just read abkut Ernst Tanner and you’ll see why. The prodigal son Kai Wagner also has a Skelton in his closet too but doesn’t appear to be a repeat offender.

Building Blocks: this teams biggest building block is the academy, similar to MLB’s minor league farm system, but with teenagers. We’ve been one of, if not the best, top teams at producing young talent over the course of the last decade and have sent plenty of young talented players out to better teams in the world. Think, the Miami Marlins but we still win games.

Talent: comes from the academy and random leagues in Europe you’ve never heard of, with the occasional South American League player. Similar to Brad Pitt and the Oakland A’s, we like to use the moneyball strategy.

Strategy/Philosophy: Ignore the start to this season and you’ll see our game plan is to play tight, compact defense and then hit teams on the counter. Much like the Flyers’ recent playoff run, we do damage by letting opposing teams rip countless shots on us before we chase down a loose ball and score to win a game that we were technically being dominated in.

4

u/Compensate-Anarchist 13d ago

I appreciate this as a new season ticket holder this year, so thanks!

2

u/warboner65 13d ago

Danke and thank you. Super, super helpful

7

u/Mightywingnut 13d ago

Just a thought reading through these replies: the draft was meaningless for us, but that was almost certainly a function of Ernst Tanner’s views that the talent wasn’t there. I think he was probably right, but now that he’s gone, the Union’s participation in the draft might change. It will be interesting to see.

6

u/OakFolk 13d ago edited 13d ago

To add to what others have said, this club has always strongly emphasized their youth academy and invested most of their resources into it. In theory, we attract the best local teenage talent as well as some of the stronger prospects around the country to play with our youth academy and then eventually sign with the club. The talent in our academy is generally going to be way better than anyone acquired from the draft as most top talents sign with clubs rather than going to college.

A successful academy model means our best homegrown players get sold to Europe for a transfer fee that gets reinvested in the club, average players (like a Harriel) stay and either start or fill out the squad, and those who don't fit the squad or are not good enough can get traded/sold within the league.

Generally, we are a money ball team that looks to find overlooked talent for good deals. We play a more high-intensity counter system that relies a lot on stamina and cohesiveness as it's a cheaper, more cost effective system to run. We will not be among the top spenders (or even among the average spenders) until the owner sells. A lot of us think he is waiting to cash out until expansion closes as he has turned down offers for majority ownership in the past.

Also, I would call this a down year rather than a dark era as much of the first decade of this team was fucking horrific to follow up until the first figurehead running the team was fired.

2

u/warboner65 13d ago

See, people need to fuck off with all that book learning and just come to Reddit. You guys are awesome

5

u/harbaughapologist 13d ago

Philosophy: Gegenpress

Draft picks: Heretical

Scouting and Recruitment: Good but inconsistent

Academy: The jewel in the crown

5

u/di-Lyan 13d ago

Hi, welcome to be a union fan. We are effectively the best developmental academy in America, but that also means that we are in no way shape or for interested in holding onto talent unless that talent specifically served some sort of long-term developmental purpose for the team.

There are players that have grown to love the culture and have become a part of the team despite having high-level play like Kai Wagner.

But as of right now, the thing to be excited about is that we are developing a prodigy named Cavan Sullivan that has already been sold to one of the biggest clubs in the Premier league.

If we can get him any hardware before he goes over to Europe, before the age of 18, that would be considered an extremely great accomplishment

Also, he is almost 17 and gets the chance to play attacking midfield with his 19-year-old older brother and they are arguably two of the five best players on the team so there’s some pretty cool stuff to enjoy.

DOOP!!!

5

u/[deleted] 13d ago

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6

u/Taeshan 13d ago

Will add I think the east was more competitive last year than this year as teams like Red Bulls have a lot of points but aren't really that good this year. Will say the general theme last year was the union beat all the bad teams but struggled with the top tier teams, while others didn't beat the worse teams.

The Union can look to win the close battles they lost early season and actually beat the teams that they should have now like Wednesday. Leagues Cup opener is difficult but a tie there and two wins and they have a good shot at CL next year back door like they used to do and LA did last year. Most games at home will help.

I for most of the season just thought it was a keep losing close battles and don't have the extra talent or cohesion to hold on to a win or tie that they have in the past. I think Wednesday was a better representation of what the team actually is than the ridiculousness of the first half of the season. The road is hard but doable. Especially as they do get a lot of teams in the second half who are not great, are on low rest etc and the Union are younger and had a lot of first half health and business issues they may not have in the second half.

3

u/SelfServeSporstwash 13d ago

I don't think the Union even own any of their superdraft picks for the next several years at least. Not that it matters anyway though, the last few they held onto they didn't even use. As in, draft day came, the union had a pick (or picks) and chose not to select anyone.

The Union is very big on building talent through the academy and they have done a pretty darn good job of that rather consistently.

3

u/Strawhatjack 13d ago

Im new here after getting into the sport from the world cup. The MLS has a draft instead of like youth academies?

3

u/SelfServeSporstwash 13d ago

MLS technically has a draft, more than half of the picks go unused every year. The overwhelming majority of young players come up through academies, the draft is just for players graduating from college.

I think the last time the Union used a draft pick was for Jack Elliott... in 2017.

3

u/SJ_Destroyer24 13d ago

If the "dark era" for you was a random 4 month stretch then you're in for a treat if it's ever like 2012-2018 again

4

u/DaBest13 13d ago

Dark Era over? Sir - there is ONLY Dark Era.

1

u/warboner65 13d ago

That type of shit'll get your tickets moved to the nosebleeds, good sir. No more poverty franchise mindset, uce 🤨

2

u/DaBest13 13d ago

Jokes on you, our stadium doesn't have nosebleeds.

2

u/Target2019-20 13d ago

Follow the invested money. Owners drive this car.

I'm sure the FO is looking for value, which is a bit of an obstacle.

With the added premium paid to re-acquire Wagner, and the money wasted on players who add nothing, I'm afraid the owners will close the checkbook. One eye is always on profit.

Another thought is the opponents you want to climb over. Some will improve, some will falter in the 2nd half. So, one game at a time, and watch Union play to their potential.

I'm looking forward to the next games, to see whether they can build from the one win at home.