The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
‘Innovator’ Tanner named sporting director
CHESTER » Ernst Tanner has spent a quarter century in the ranks of European soccer, always with an eye on the growing market of the United States.
So when he had a conversation with Richie Graham, minority owner of the Philadelphia Union and an acquaintance from elite soccer training circles, about the Union’s opening for sporting director, something clicked.
“When I read the job description, this was exactly what I would like to do,” Tanner said Thursday. “When I got approached by Richie who I’ve known for years now, I said, ‘yeah that is exactly suited for me.’ And he told me, ‘OK, let’s work on that.’”
Tanner was announced as the Union’s new sporting director Thursday. He’ll take over the job in mid-tolate September, once his duties with Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg wrap up. He replaces Earnie Stewart, who spent two and a half years at the helm before leaving to be the first general manager of the U.S. Men’s National Team on Aug. 1.
Tanner signed a threeyear contract through the end of the 2021 season.
In Tanner, Union majority owner Jay Sugarman saw many of the traits he prizes. The Union studied foreign models in recent years to shape their vision of the future, and one club they often encountered was Red Bull Salzburg, which Sugarman called, “one of the hotbeds of innovation.”
Sugarman’s ideal candidate needed to have three primary characteristics: Espousing a “collective, connected style of play,” embracing innovation, and familiarity with a model driven by development. Tanner ticked all those boxes and recognized a reciprocal match in the organization’s aspirations.
“For what we were looking for, for those criteria that we laid out, Ernst kind of stood out very quickly,” Sugarman said. “That track record in the transfer part, the developmental success he’s had with top players, the innovation we’ve seen at Salzburg and other clubs he’s been at have always been some of the guideposts here.”
“To be honest, this is one of the reasons why I’m coming here because I want to continue in that way,” Tanner said. “I think (Stewart) did a good job in structuring the club, and this is a good foundation we are finding now. But we can build on that. That’s quite easy.”
Tanner, 51, has worked for clubs in Austria and Germany with reputations for developing young talent. For the last six years, he oversaw Red Bull Salzburg’s academy, winning the UEFA Youth League title in 2016-17. The Red Bull first team has won the Austrian Bundesliga each of the last five years.
Tanner worked for German club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim from 2009-12, the last two as sporting director, navigating the club through its early era in the German Bundesliga. He spent 15 years at TSV 1860 Munich starting in 1994, first as a coach, then the Academy Director for a decade.
His track record includes helping to develop such players as Roberto Firmino, David Alaba and Sadio Mane. He’s also excelled in identifying and recruiting high-ceiling talent within the highly competitive European market.
“In a good club, the academy is like a backbone, not only for the players but for the staff to develop,” Tanner said. “That is for me mandatory to be successful.”
Tanner’s arrival signals a maturation of the club’s mindset. When Stewart was hired in the fall of 2015, the club was organizationally a shambles on the soccer side, without clear protocols or standards. Stewart changed that, codifying roles and responsibilities and making it easier to identify not just a successor but what that person would be called upon to do.
Many of the structures that Stewart bequeathed will serve as guidelines within which Tanner will operate, with ample opportunity to apply his own stamp. One department in which Tanner initially doesn’t seem as rigid with is in tactics. Where Stewart was a religious devotee of the 4-2-3-1, which is unfailingly utilized by the first team and implemented throughout the academy, Tanner seems more flexible. A hallmark of the Red Bull system is the 4-2-2-2, which stresses tactical connectivity over formational placement. More vital than formation is philosophy, in Tanner’s eyes.