Daniel Sperry. What up?
How are we doing? Man?
You tell me you're the busy one.
Yeah, you're a busy one. It's been a crazy week. It's been a crazy week, I tell you that.
How crazy is it?
How crazy is it? Yeah? We uh, it's one of those we It's kind of funny. I had made some jokes at some point when the things were going bad, like what comes first, are newborn or a Sporting win? And the newborn has won, so that she came early, so that's she kind of cheated a little bit. But yeah, man, it's been it's been a crazy week here in Kansas City. Won for me personally too. She decided to come on the day that Sporting parted ways with their longest tenured
manager ever. So it's been, like I said, it's been a wild week here. But yeah, man, things on the soccer side in Kansas City have been interesting to start this year, and I think there was a lot of hope and optimism, especially with some of the new signings at the beginning of the year. But as the results came,
the pressure. As the results didn't come, pressure ramped up, right, and I think the dam finally broke in that regard, because you know, twenty three was mainly saved by a pretty dramatic and unrealistic and unsustainable turnaround that was really fun to watch but probably wasn't gonna happen again. And you know that's sandwiched by twenty two and twenty four, which were pretty disappointing. And to start out like this, it's a recipe for what you get.
I know that over the last couple of years we've been kind of looking at it Sporting and it's like, okay, bad start. They make some summer transfer window, you know, pickups, and then here they come. Here comes Zombie Sporting at a lane eight and they make it into the playoffs and they make a run. You know, it's it's like something happens and you're behind the eight ball proverbialate ball, and then something happens and you make the race in
and then everything goes crazy. And it just seemed like up down, up down, up down, up down. And what was the patience level of the fans the last couple of years where you had all of these waves and ebbs and flows, and yes things would finish, but you'd always you'd have to put up with that the rough start and then you make that race to get in What was the what was the vibe from the fans
the last couple of years? Taking this season up for a second question, but what was the vibe with all of the ups and downs coming into this year?
Yeah, after after twenty one, I think, you know, there were probably a correct handball decision away from finishing top spot in the West, you know, and maybe not having to play an RSL who knocked them out of the playoffs wouldn't have been in the playoffs if all that stuff had gone correct. So that was a funky one.
And then you have the Alan Palito and Gotti kinda is injured and they think he might be out, you know, for just a little bit, and then it turns out to me the whole season and they never bring anybody in, you know. Twenty three, they finally get those guys back healthy and things are rolling. But there's that stretch after
twenty two. People kind of understood and excused the injuries and they were like it was the feeling of like I don't think we're ready to move on from Peter yet, but there was still some like, look, if things don't go well, we got to start asking questions kind of a vibe from I think the fan base. And then those first ten games happened in twenty twenty three where they didn't pick up a win. There was, you know, three three draws over ten games was all they had accrued.
Three draws, three goals through ten games, and the fans were starting to get restless, and you were hearing you know, Vermes out chance. People were starting to bring signs and stuff like that, and you know, it made they made the miraculous recover to probably one of the coolest and most electric moments. I felt a children's mercy park. I wasn't here for any of the of the you know MLS Cup stuff, but and I was here for the Open Cup final in twenty seventeen and that was really cool.
But I think that win over Saint Louis in the playoffs, especially the home win. The loud noise that came from that goal is one of the it's still goosebumps. It was one of the loudest moments I've heard at that stadium, if not the loudest, and the reaction to that the
goal that kind of opened the damn. So you have this like really high moment here in twenty twenty three and they lose got a kinda going into twenty twenty four and they never replace him, and so there, you know, there's a lot of injuries, the teams getting a little bit older, and some things just weren't quite clicking at all last year, and they kind of piecemealed it and had a decent summer run through the Open Cup, but once they lost the Open Cup final, they really didn't
win another game from there on, and it was very downtrodden, and I think fans really were kind of like, Okay, like we understand you're telling us it's a rebuild. They've told them, you know, it's going to take three windows to rebuild this team. Well that's a really long time in soccer. And so I think my question personally was whether or not they were the result because to me, the result lineup was there for when you dismiss a manager and a lot of other scenarios and a lot
of other places. I think he doesn't even start this year, and so it was one of those like, Okay, how long is the leash and what does it Even though they've committed they've said we're going to allow Peter to rebuild. We've committed to this, so is six games when they finally cut bait with the project that if the project is how long they say it is, it's kind of in its infancy. And so that was that was my
whole question in this. But I also think there's a point to where if you're if you're the whole job here is to win and welcome to professional sports. And if you're not getting wins, and the windless run extends so far back into twenty twenty four that it does, then I think that's kind of how that's kind of how we got here.
How bad was it this season with Sporting with no no goals, no wins. How bad did it look?
It at times looked like there was something there, but nothing was like clicking into the final thing. And I think that if you go back and watch the game against Dallas, they didn't look that bad, really they didn't.
And they they had some they they weren't creating amazing chances, but they were they were eating around, they were active, they were doing stuff, and you know, they have a couple of defensive frailties that concedes the goals and they lose over a two minute period loses them the game when they were thoroughly dominant and really kind of heavily
you know, attacking in that game. And I but there were times there too where the first half of the of that three three draw against Minnesota, I thought they looked dead in the water. I thought they looked dead in the water with their game against LAFC. There were some other games where I thought they were kind of in it, but I didn't ever really think they were doing enough that was going to win them a game.
And so it was kind of this like patience point of like, Okay, we're we're a month into this season. Now you finally have had a few training sessions with your guys, and it doesn't look better. And that's and I think that that was probably the taking point for the ownership too, where they started coming around training sessions, you know, over the last couple of weeks, to take a look at what was going on and see if that if a change needed to be made, and ultimately that's the decision they did.
I will admit that we were looking at a match when Kansas City was sporting Kansas City was down three nil. We thought they were dead in the water, and then all of a sudden three goals in twelve minutes and you're like, whoa, Okay, then there's some there's something there there, But then you don't continue that kind of momentum.
Yeah, and that that loss to l a f C. I think was the one that for me, like, you have that game against Minnesota and you're like, okay, cool, like there's some assign of life. And they followed it up with a big dud against a team in l a FC that at the time looked vulnerable, they looked gettable with the way things had gone for their season, and so you know, they never really threatened them at all on the attack. They were probably lucky to not
concede more. They were getting run through the middle of the field, and you know, that's been an area that sporting has had a lot of issues. And I feel like, you know, you and I both know the sport well. If you're getting run over in the middle of the field, you're not gonna want to win a lot of games. If your spine is the problem, you're not gonna win a lot of games. And that's kind of that's just
kind of how it was. And you really thought, you know, the player, I'll say this The player vibe has never been bad per se, but I it's just one of those of like you can see the frustration, you can see confidence at times waiting or you know, coming back in it, and it just it was one of those situations that like you really you really needed them if you were if you were going to feel confident about where they're going after that to get some sort of
result or look a lot better against LAFC. But to follow up that three three draw with a dud like that was just kind of one of those big signs.
I think Carrie's the Wagnin's now the the interim and he's going to be the man on the touch line for the foreseeable future. Your vibe on are they going to be looking for someone here in this year? Are they gonna sit there and wait and see who's available? I can't believe I'm saying this after six month actually is in a thirty four match schedule. Are they gonna wait until you know, November and see who's available? Or are there gonna Is it gonna be a big gun?
Is it going to be a young guy who's gonna sit there and come in and go I see pieces here? I can work with this. Do you have any idea as to what the next step can be?
Yeah, I don't. I don't know. I think the other thing here is like that Peter technically held the chief soccer officer role too. Yeah, and for me and I think like for me, I think you get that guy in place before you get a manager. And because if it if you have someone up top, now that's gonna be vision casting for that in that role in that organization, you got to have someone like they've got to be
in line with the manager. And so what what happens to Like you you bring in a manager and then you bring in a CSO and then that CSA CSO doesn't like how his man, the manager, that he didn't take his doing, so he gets rid of him. I think Carrie, Carrie has been around the organization so long. I think it's a safe I think it he is a great interim for the safe, for the way that it's it's safe in the in the fact that there won't be so much volatility while they try and go
get a CSO. I don't think he'll be lockstep with the type of soccer necessarily Vermes played. I don't think I've never felt that Carries and even the other coaches on the staff's opinions have been one hundred percent Like Peter Vermeiz, I think they all do a good job of working together and presenting different ideas all the time. But this is going to be carries opportunity to run
the ship, and he might do some things different. So I think there might be a few things that do look a little bit different, and and he might do a few different things than Vermes did managerially throughout a
game as well, But ultimately there's not I don't. I think that the most important thing is to get that CSO position filled first before you get a manager, and I would hope personally, I would hope that ownership would think along those lines too, just because then you, like you just end up with a mess too if things go south with another manager, then you're changing managers. Now all of a sudden, you're starting to do this thing where you're changing managers all the time, and that's not
the greatest spot to be in for a club. So it'll be interesting to see what they choose to do. I think, knowing them, I think they'll probably look domestic, but I wouldn't be surprised if they if the CSO that they bring in is someone that, you know, who do they have in their rolodex in a way that can that they know they can kind of execute the vision that they're looking to do.
So Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, juggling both the new parenthood and putting up with us on the morning show here talking about everything sporting Kansas City. Could you see a window where the individual that they bring in gets both titles something bre Halty in something, We're haltery in something Bill parcels ish where I want both titles. I want that kind of control. And you know, Bob Bradley
is out there, Gios Avaresa is out there. Would you anticipate even them looking at somebody who wants both titles?
I mean, I think they could, but they've just had that for the last, you know, decade plus, and I think it I personally, I don't know how many how much that role and doing those two roles like that works as much anymore. And I think we're at a in a place now where I think, like you look at most places across the league that especially those at the top of the top of the league, those guys are kind of it's kind of top down where that
whole structure is. So I think I would I don't know that they will not do that necessarily if those guys, If if a guy like Savas is willing to not have that title, I think Geo would be a very interesting pick. He's a little bit different than for me. He's very fiery, uh but kind in the same in the same ilk that for me was so I but
kind of sees the game a little different. And so I think there's some interesting you know, Jim Curtin's a guy out there too, right, like these are these are some big names that are actually available now that they could go through and could go after. But you know, uh, the how do they choose the Cso do they keep the soccer you know ideals in the same structures the same you know as Peter was the one who kind of set all that up for the club, and so do they follow the road map that he's built or
do they completely you know, change things up. That'll be the question there. But I would like to see a little bit of ambition in the managers in the managerial search. I'm not not that I like Jim Curtin and Gosavasia side. Some MLS retreads, I think just kind of don't really give the fan base that idea that you're trying to push the needle. And I think Sporting for so long and when they were great or pushing the needle for
the league on the stadiums, on the training facility. You know, they when they built their training facility here, they were one of the first in the league to have this massive, beautiful, state of the art, you know, dedicated training facility for that team. And you know, everyone's followed suit after that.
Everyone started building these training centers and you know they were they came online with that with children Mercy Park and it was kind of a tone setting, uh soccer specific stadium that now you look back and you can see elements of Children Mercy Park that a bunch of places are borrowed in use. So do they kind of try and push the needle again as a small Midwestern market or do they try and at least get current
and that that'll be the question. I would. I just think that being a little bit more ambitious outside of an MLS retread would be the way for them. Or you know, some young guy you've never heard about. Might be great, but also could not go great. This is an organization that I think it's fan base is losing patients. And you have the current now in town at a very large level, competing for dollars with sporting and competing for eyeballs, and they are a fun they are a blast,
they win and it's really cool. Uh don't get that. I guess it's a lot of fun there and they need to find a way for themselves to get back into that same conversation of the fun, awesome environment, a great time to be had at the stadium, because ultimately, the soccer is what's bringing people in, and the soccer has got to start bringing people in.
Again, no doubt, especially when you've got a shiny new River Sits stadium and you're scoring like ninety eight goals in a season and you know, putting everything in the back of the net and just being absolutely nuts. Another couple minutes here with Daniel Sperry as he juggles both the Morning Show and New Parenthood here on SDH. You've got a lot of player decisions. I've got like three thoughts in my head. I want to try to get
as many of them in it's five minutes. You've got a lot of player decisions here at the end of this particular year, I think we were looking at the numbers and I think it's like seventeen roster decisions possibly, So whomever the individual or individuals are that come in, they really can put their stamp on most of the roster. Even though that you've got the you've got the base there with the Bishop dejon Jovolica and what you want to try and accomplish with sporting. Let me, I want
to ask this about Peter Vermes. Is Peter Vermes still would you characterize him as even being underappreciated now considering the market, considering all of the external actors, is he underappreciated? Do you think?
Yeah? I think so. I think I think what he when he took over in Kansas City, you know, the Wizards were an afterthought even with how bad the Royals were. I mean, the three professional sports were University of Kansas basketball, yeah, the Royals, and the Chiefs, and they were in a city outside of KU. They were in a city of non winners at the time. And their Open Cup, the Open Cup run in twelve started that the MLS Cup in thirteen was you know, came before the Royals started
being good. They were the city's first winner for a very long time, and they got people really excited about soccer to the point where we already had the foundation here. I think for that soccer fervor, that really helped the current when they re established the themselves, because those FCKC days, I think there was still a lot of people jumping on board with soccer, and I don't know that they were quite ready to jump on board with the nwslum
with women's soccer as they were now. But I mean Kansas City for a while was a kind of an after thought within the whole soccer sphere. And they're gonna
be hosting games in the World Cup. And I think a significant amount of that has to do with Peter Vermiz helping not only put the team on the map, but that he uh like, he brought people into the game and brought people with the success that they had here, introduced people to the game, and soccer in Kansas City became a huge soccer city in part because of that. The stadium, like I said, you know, he was pushing
really hard for that stadium. The trading facility for those if you've ever been out here, I highly encourage you to come out and if you can get out to the training facility. And like the tour that we went through was guy and when it opened in eighteen was guided by Peter Vermeis, and he had every little detail
in that building down to a tee. And when we're sitting there and apart in its construction phase, it's just a dirt lot and gigantic steel beams as they're just kind of erecting the frame of this building, and he's trying a vision cast. Okay, there's three fields here and another field, and there's gonna be ways for it all to be integrated in and on video, and that way
we can get everything into the room. And he's vision casting everything, and there's just so much going on in the details of like what happens when you walk in the room with the pool and the hot and the cold pools, and what logo is on what side of the wall. And I think it's really like he was so passionate about making soccer the best it could possibly be, not only in Kansas City, but around the rest of
the world. And I think that is that that is what makes him under because I don't know because of the market size, I don't know if people, and he's been here for so long, I don't know if people really got to see and appreciate the true passion not just for the team, the game, the coaching, but like for soccer period that he had and wanting to push
it to be the best. And he was very instrumental in a lot of big things in MLS and pushing the needle and helping rules happen and rule changes and getting all that kind of stuff going with the stadiums
and training facilities. So yes, I think very underappreciated. I do think though it has been good to see that the reaction, like after the news came out for those that have been around where it was very like, Okay, it kind of sucks sporting them, we're bad, but we're not going to just keep hounding on for Mes here like this dude absolutely needs to be praised for the legend that he is and it just time just ran out.
And that's why we wanted to have you on to discuss Peter Vermes and everything going on in Kansas City. Hit the promo for me so folks can follow you and all the intel and the info that you drop on a daily basis when you're not trying to in a nap to catch up on your.
Yeah, you can follow me of course on x Twitter or whatever the heck you call it now at Sperry Daniel nine to four and then you can find me Daniel Sperry over on Blue Sky as well. Any work on soccer, both NWSL and MLS done there so always great to and at this point you can see quick shots of our newborn and our daughter fawning over her and it's adorable.
So then that's all that matters. Congratulations on a bunch of different fronts, my friend. Find the value of naps. I'm hoping that that that you will be allowed to have that value at points and we'll catch up with you soon, my friend. Thanks for dropping by early on morning in Kansas City.