Stewart stresses consistency, confirms Curtin will return
CHESTER » In a wide-ranging opening statement that clocked in at seven and a half minutes and included his endorsement for Jim Curtin as the coach of the 2018 Philadelphia Union, sporting director Earnie Stewart stressed consistency: In approach, in mentality, in his coaching position.
So anyone hoping that Stewart would avow a new direction for the franchise after a sixth playofffree season out of eight was sorely disappointed Wednesday at the end-ofseason press conference.
“We’ve chosen a path that we have as a club, that we started at least since I’ve been here two years ago. That’s our pathway,” Stewart said at Talen Energy Stadium. “That’s who we are, that’s who we want to be, and the most important part is we’ve got to come to grips with that. It’s who we are.
“I think a lot of times, this is, can you spend like the Torontos? No, we can’t. It’s as simple as that. So we have to do it in a different, way, and I think we’ve found that way.”
That path, Stewart reiterated Wednesday, hit all the touchstones of his tenure. It requires a foundation sourced first from the club’s backyard (i.e. its Academy) and augmented from outside. The process of building this season, Stewart admitted, “was more from the bottom and from the side,” with additions like Haris Medunjanin and Fafa
Picault. He played down the lack of progress from a heralded rookie class that fueled the playoff run in 2016. And he promised improvement via the open market without committing to any monetary figures or specific positional targets beyond what’s been said in the past.
So in short, more of the same. But the cognitive dissonance surrounding the team’s languishing season leaves those assertions open for interpretation. In Stewart’s fixation on process and “systembased” approach, it’s consistency. For fans focused on outcomes that were so often lacking this year, it smacks of stagnation.
Stewart acknowledged many aspects of the season in a 45-minute conversation with the media. The start, with players struggling under pressure in Fabian Herbers and Ilsinho; and forward Charlie Davies. Chris Pontius and Fabinho are also out of contract and free to explore options, the former as a free agent.
Sporting director Earnie Stewart addressed many of the names on the list in his season-ending press conference Wednesday, including that Pontius will not return to the club next season. He left the door open on others, including Ilsinho and Fabinho. Fabian Herbers, who endured an injury-plagued sophomore season, is graduating from his Generation Adidas contract . The club will look to restructure his deal with an eye toward a return.
Alberg, who was yesterday introduced by Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia, and Onyewu attracted international interest, per the club. Stewart added that Wijnaldum is likely to return to Europe.
an eight-game winless run, both distorted the perceptions of the season and provided a lens through which to evaluate the durability of the club’s identity, as well as the mettle of Curtin. As much as anything, that’s what induced Stewart to hand Curtin, the longest tenured manager in club history, a fourth full season in charge.
“I think he’s a big part of this foundation that we’ve laid down,” Stewart said. “Once again, when we talk about progress, I think the system-based approach and the stability of good organization, continuity is very, very important. And I think that has shown in this season and in a time where everybody thought we were down and out, we were at one point in a position once again to get back into the playoffs,
and that is a great credit to Jim and his coaching staff. So very pleased with that, very pleased that he will be back.”
Stewart didn’t dispute the need to supplement the roster this winter, and he characterized the discussions with majority owner Jay Sugarman in finding the funds to do so as productive. Yet the club’s brass is still straddling the ideological line between acknowledging a need to spend and knowing that dumping a lumpsum salary well over the designated-player threshold on one player won’t single-handedly change the team’s course.
What will determine the club’s future is how the youthful pieces of that framework continue their development. The snafus in that process this season were systematically downplayed by Curtin and Stewart. Keegan Rosenberry’s sophomore swoon limited him to 11 starts. Josh Yaro endured just six errorplagued appearances after preseason shoulder trouble. Derrick Jones didn’t make a start after early July. Auston Trusty hasn’t made his MLS debut yet.
But all are on track, Stewart said, even if the weekend fruits of their daily labors underwhelmed.
“Development never stops, and our players are out there every single day and sometimes twice a day, so they do develop themselves, except the output at times can be totally different, and that all has to do with where are you as a team? And how does that go?,” Stewart said. “… Young teams need help, and the help that we tried to give them is consistency, consistency of what we ask of them.”
Stewart Wednesday united a desire to continue onward with the slow-and-steady pace of his tenure, which includes hanging on to Curtin as coach. But as much as it was cast as the preferable road forward, it also sounded like the most financially attainable for a club of modest resources.
“When you look at least the last two years and what was spent and the job Jim has done, I think it’s been great. It’s been an amazing job,” Stewart said. “And now we’re looking forward to doing more than we’ve done in the past and that’s very exciting for us. And not going overboard, because we are who we are, and we’ll go forward from here with the same attitude and the same ideology as we have in the past.”