Speaker 1: The bass has dropped on a special edition of Soccer
Speaker 1: Down Here SDHPM Live. A little bit different time spot here,
Speaker 1: but it's been one of those kind of days with
Speaker 1: news on the Atlanta United Front. We were on hand
Speaker 1: for the big press conference introducing Chris Henderson, so we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that any other news that has happened today
Speaker 1: as well. We'll try to get into it on a
Speaker 1: little short special edition of SDHPM alongside Madison Cruise. I'm
Speaker 1: Jason Longshore and Maddie. We got the chance to meet
Speaker 1: Chris Anderson this afternoon. The City of Atlanta got a
Speaker 1: chance to meet Chris Henderson this afternoon. Just your big
Speaker 1: picture thoughts on meeting the new person in charge, the
Speaker 1: chief soccer officer of Atlanta United.
Speaker 2: It's exciting. I'm excited. I think this was something that
Speaker 2: I think has been in the works for a while,
Speaker 2: so actually getting it announced is pretty cool. And finally
Speaker 2: being able to meet the person that you know, we've
Speaker 2: heard rumors about that is going to be the new
Speaker 2: GM for Atlanta United. It was nice to get to
Speaker 2: put a name to the face a little bit getting
Speaker 2: to see him in Atlanta. Believe I think he mentioned
Speaker 2: his press conference, only his second day in Atlanta, so
Speaker 2: very very brand new to everything, but very excited to
Speaker 2: see this duo back in action, I think for another
Speaker 2: MLS club. So you've seen what they've done with Seattle,
Speaker 2: so I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think one of the things that jumped out
Speaker 1: to me, and we'll get into it. I asked Garth
Speaker 1: Logerway and Chris Henderson kind of about this aspect of
Speaker 1: it is, Look, these are two guys who know one
Speaker 1: another really really well, and there are two guys who
Speaker 1: are friends, and you know, it's not a surprise that
Speaker 1: Chris Henderson is here in Atlanta. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people just assumed it straight out of hand. Now
Speaker 1: Garth didn't get into detail on the timeline of things,
Speaker 1: but it was under contract with Inner Miami and a
Speaker 1: draft pick had to be sent to Inner Miami to
Speaker 1: get this deal done. So keep that in mind when
Speaker 1: you hear rumors and you're like, oh, it's definitely going
Speaker 1: to be this, and then it's not, or why isn't
Speaker 1: it this? Somebody already said it was going to be this. Well,
Speaker 1: sometimes things aren't that simple. We've got a few clips
Speaker 1: from the press conference today. If you didn't have the
Speaker 1: chance to check it out live. It is archived and
Speaker 1: available on the Atlanta United YouTube channel. Here's a clip
Speaker 1: from very early on I believe Felipe Card and Us
Speaker 1: ask the question of Garth about choosing Chris Henderson and
Speaker 1: how the whole process played out. Here's Garth loger away
Speaker 1: from earlier today.
Speaker 3: In terms of timey, how we know, we interviewed a
Speaker 3: number of people. Some of that was just logistical in
Speaker 3: the sense that we had to have team seasons end
Speaker 3: before we could get permission to talk to their executives
Speaker 3: in a lot of cases, so that timey was kind
Speaker 3: of spread out.
Speaker 4: But look, given my track record with Chris, while it
Speaker 4: certainly wasn't clear if Chris was going to be available
Speaker 4: or not at the time when he became available, then
Speaker 4: honestly he went to the top of the list and
Speaker 4: we thought, hey, you know, there might be an opportunity here,
Speaker 4: you know, but certainly that was not known for a
Speaker 4: considerable period.
Speaker 3: And I we'd like to say thank you to Miami
Speaker 3: for allowing Chris to leave.
Speaker 5: It was it was.
Speaker 6: There were they were really gentlemanly about it, uh and
Speaker 6: you know, really appreciate, you know, working that collegiately across
Speaker 6: the league and hopefully have a great opportunity going forward
Speaker 6: to the Chris.
Speaker 1: It's not a surprise that they're reunited. It was a
Speaker 1: little bit of a surprise as how things played out
Speaker 1: in Miami with Chris Henderson. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: we'll ever truly get the behind the scenes on all
Speaker 1: of it, but they hired somebody in that basically replaced
Speaker 1: Henderson's link to the ownership. They put somebody in between that,
Speaker 1: so it got a little complicated, the role changed. Maybe
Speaker 1: that meant he was looking for a way out, maybe
Speaker 1: just opportunity all present itself. But now you are here
Speaker 1: and at Atlanta has their chief soccer officer and Chris Henderson, Maddie,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you hear from Chris, you hear
Speaker 1: Garth talk about Chris. These are two guys who just
Speaker 1: have a ton of respect for one another, and I
Speaker 1: think that part is abundantly clear with the two of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they look at each other and they've known
Speaker 2: each other for years, so there's obviously that mutual respect already,
Speaker 2: they've worked together for years. They have that bond that
Speaker 2: I think is so important. It's what made their run
Speaker 2: at Seattle so successful. I mean, you can't deny what
Speaker 2: they did at Seattle and what it has done even
Speaker 2: years now. Seattle Sanders is one of the clubs I
Speaker 2: think when you look at MLS, they're one of those
Speaker 2: powerhouse clubs. And a lot of that has to do
Speaker 2: with what Garth and what Chris did during their time there.
Speaker 2: Very early on too. It was very early on in
Speaker 2: Chris's journey of being an executive officers I believe actually
Speaker 2: from doing the deep dive he was it was his
Speaker 2: first executive physician job because he had just come from
Speaker 2: being the assistant head coach at the Kansas City Wizards
Speaker 2: Sport in Kansas City. But that's crazy, you know, he
Speaker 2: got that opportunity and to have that success in Seattle
Speaker 2: to then be able to bring into Inner Miami and
Speaker 2: what he did with Inner Miami with all of the
Speaker 2: roster limitations, the roster issues they were having, was able
Speaker 2: to bring that down and able to make it roster
Speaker 2: compliant with everything in MLS. And then now he's coming
Speaker 2: to Atlanta and he has a lot of really really
Speaker 2: nice things to do. He has two DV slots opened up,
Speaker 2: he can move things around, do what he wants to
Speaker 2: do and it's really appealing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fascinating how life and careers work sometimes. And
Speaker 1: you know, talking to Chris Henderson, this is somebody who
Speaker 1: played in the league from day one, played a long
Speaker 1: time in the league, missed maybe the early stages of
Speaker 1: his professional career, and there wasn't a league. You know.
Speaker 1: This is somebody who was on the nineteen ninety World
Speaker 1: Cup roster, the youngest player in that roster. There wasn't
Speaker 1: a place for him to play professionally at that time
Speaker 1: in the United States at this kind of a level.
Speaker 1: But he came back to MLS day one. Year one
Speaker 1: he played and was a you know, a legend in
Speaker 1: this league. And I think when you talk about the
Speaker 1: National Soccer Hall of Fame and you separate the MLS
Speaker 1: side of it out, Chris Henderson is an MLS Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, no question about it. On the field, then,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, his first executive job in MLS was
Speaker 1: helping to bring the Seattle Sounders into the league. You know,
Speaker 1: he took over in there as the technical director in
Speaker 1: January of two thousand and eight, going into their last
Speaker 1: season in the USL before they started in MLS. And
Speaker 1: then what's so fascinating is what happened to Chris in
Speaker 1: Miami where somebody was hired in between him. I don't
Speaker 1: know the structure in those early days in Seattle, but
Speaker 1: both of them talked about it today. Garth came to
Speaker 1: Seattle after a good bit of success that the Sounders
Speaker 1: had already had, with the expectation to take that even higher,
Speaker 1: and he came in above Chris, who had been there
Speaker 1: from day one. And what Garth said about how Chris
Speaker 1: Henderson was so welcoming and so, you know, let's work
Speaker 1: together to do even more. You don't always get that,
Speaker 1: and I think it says a lot about both individuals
Speaker 1: that that could have been a really awkward situation and
Speaker 1: it wasn't, and they found a way to work together
Speaker 1: and have a lot of success in Seattle before Garth
Speaker 1: came to Atlanta.
Speaker 2: It's almost like, you know, when you're somewhere and you
Speaker 2: get and someone else gets picked and they haven't been
Speaker 2: there for long, and you've been there for this long,
Speaker 2: and you're like, wait, what about me. It's nice to
Speaker 2: have that balance that they were able to come in
Speaker 2: and immediately click and get along and you bring back
Speaker 2: to Chris Anderson's I think whole history in what he's
Speaker 2: done for the league. I think what's so interesting is
Speaker 2: he helped UCLA get a championship at a sophomore year. He
Speaker 2: stopped playing soccer for a couple of years. He didn't
Speaker 2: play collegiately. He graduated college, and then he continued and
Speaker 2: then he went.
Speaker 1: To those those were the weird days of soccer in
Speaker 1: the US. He didn't stop playing, but he didn't have
Speaker 1: a club to play for. The US national team kind
Speaker 1: of essentially became a club in that time. Trust me,
Speaker 1: it's before your time, and you're better off for it,
Speaker 1: because it was chaos. You had players that didn't sign
Speaker 1: to a club. They were signed to the national team program.
Speaker 1: The nation had to be the club. So the national
Speaker 1: team like you see now where they play games, you know,
Speaker 1: not in international breaks and without full rosters. The national
Speaker 1: team played thirty forty games a year. That's why some
Speaker 1: of these guys have so many caps, because they were
Speaker 1: playing it like it was a pro club. It was
Speaker 1: craziness at that time. That's the era that Chris came
Speaker 1: out of, and that's why, honestly, I think it's really
Speaker 1: important to have somebody like this in the club, because
Speaker 1: when when we talk about MLS and ah, the rules
Speaker 1: are weird, and ah, why does it like this? And
Speaker 1: this is and you just get mad if you were
Speaker 1: there before the league and it got delayed. As Chris
Speaker 1: told us in our interview that you'll hear the whole
Speaker 1: thing tonight on Atlanta Soccer tonight on nineteen ninety game.
Speaker 1: You know, he was one of those guys who was
Speaker 1: ready for the league to start in nineteen ninety five
Speaker 1: and it didn't start. It had to wait other year
Speaker 1: because they needed to go get more investment. He went
Speaker 1: through that. So when you've been through that, and you've
Speaker 1: been through practicing in public parks and you know all
Speaker 1: of the things that were the early days of the
Speaker 1: league and then the professional days that predated the league,
Speaker 1: and you get to now and it's like, man, this
Speaker 1: rule book is kind of crazy. When you understand where
Speaker 1: you came from, you get past that really quick and
Speaker 1: you find a way to maximize it. And I think
Speaker 1: Chris has done that in Miami especially. He did a
Speaker 1: great job maximizing what that roster could be with Lionel
Speaker 1: Messi and friends. The second part of Felipe carden US's
Speaker 1: question about you know, kind of to set the scene
Speaker 1: for everything. Here was what lessons he had learned during
Speaker 1: his time in Miami that he'll carry forward. Here's Chris
Speaker 1: Henderson talking about that time in Miami.
Speaker 7: There's a lot of lessons learned over the last four years.
Speaker 7: What I have founded is there's many different ways to
Speaker 7: build a team, and there is different roster category stores
Speaker 7: and mechanisms how you can sign players in the league,
Speaker 7: and you can be successful on a young team. You
Speaker 7: can be successful mixing veteran players with young players.
Speaker 4: I feel.
Speaker 7: To have success in this league, you need to be
Speaker 7: able to have depth in each position. And that's going
Speaker 7: to be a focus is you know, you can have
Speaker 7: your starting group, but what happens when you have injuries,
Speaker 7: what happens when players get called up to international duty.
Speaker 7: You need to have those answers ready and give your
Speaker 7: coach and your coaching staff all the weapons they need
Speaker 7: to have success because there's going to be ups and
Speaker 7: downs in a season. And to go through last season
Speaker 7: where we had an incredible regular season, and knowing that
Speaker 7: you need you need a team that can compete in
Speaker 7: multiple tournaments. Sometimes you have two three different tournaments to
Speaker 7: go through during the season. So I'm really excited because
Speaker 7: we have two designated player spots open. There's huge potential
Speaker 7: for how we can build this team. The history of
Speaker 7: working together and with the staff of Demetrios, with Jonathan,
Speaker 7: with ours, and with the group that we have here,
Speaker 7: I think we have a lot of resource and really
Speaker 7: smart people who can help build a strong team.
Speaker 1: As Lady A on the comments, I believe that is
Speaker 1: Abby under a different name here on YouTube. As Lady
Speaker 1: A points out, they did cross over on the playing
Speaker 1: side of Miami Fusion for a minute, but I think
Speaker 1: it's really been since that time is when they've really
Speaker 1: built that relationship. Garthoger Way and Chris Henderson. Chris they
Speaker 1: are talking about enter Miami and I mean, what a
Speaker 1: crazy cycle that he's went through there, coming in with
Speaker 1: all the sanctions that you mentioned, having to find a
Speaker 1: way to put a good roster on the field, making
Speaker 1: them competitive. Before Messi shows up winning Leagues Cup in
Speaker 1: that first burst of excitement as Messi wears the Miami shirt,
Speaker 1: having the best regular season in history, but also getting
Speaker 1: knocked out in the first round by a little club
Speaker 1: called Atlanta United. There's a lot there that when you
Speaker 1: talk about Miami's ambitions you talk about Atlanta's ambitions, they're shared.
Speaker 1: They both want to be the biggest club in this hemisphere.
Speaker 1: And I think Chris Anderson's time in Miami and what
Speaker 1: he went through, it's going to be a different experience here,
Speaker 1: but I think it's going to help him a lot
Speaker 1: to have that four year time in Miami to then
Speaker 1: bring here to Atlanta.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean even too, with a lot of the
Speaker 2: trials that you had to go through when you come
Speaker 2: into Miami. The minute you get there, you're already dealing
Speaker 2: with violations with roster eligibility or roster cap limits. Like
Speaker 2: you're already dealing with all the money side of everything
Speaker 2: of just okay, how do we become roster compliant with everything?
Speaker 2: That's one hurdle you get to jump through, and that
Speaker 2: gives you, I think, some learning lessons when you do
Speaker 2: enter a new situation like this where you do have
Speaker 2: to do deep spots, open up how you can delegate that.
Speaker 2: Now you can sit there and be like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: I've seen this. This is what we did that didn't
Speaker 2: necessarily work. Here's how I fixed it. Let's go into
Speaker 2: this and let's make it different, and let's make sure
Speaker 2: that we are doing what we're supposed to do. That way,
Speaker 2: we can get the players on time and they're not
Speaker 2: scrambling because something's not in place, or this deal didn't
Speaker 2: go through, or there are things just going back and forth.
Speaker 2: You get everything situated and everything's good, and you've learned
Speaker 2: from it. Now, when you come into a new situation
Speaker 2: like you have here in Atlanta, it's a lot easier
Speaker 2: to deal with it, and it's really great because now
Speaker 2: you have a lot more flexibility and now like you
Speaker 2: are more comfortable with it too, you don't feel this
Speaker 2: immense pressure. I think when you enter a situation like
Speaker 2: this where it.
Speaker 8: Is very much a rebuilding hold that thought about, especially
Speaker 8: the roster build and what Chris has been through in
Speaker 8: Miami and what he's learned to bring here.
Speaker 1: I do want to play this clip from Garth loger Way.
Speaker 1: I ask the question to both of them. When you
Speaker 1: have a front office partnership like this had success, you
Speaker 1: have skills that complement one another. So I asked Garth
Speaker 1: about the skills that Chris brings to the table that
Speaker 1: maybe he doesn't have, and Vice versa. This applies to
Speaker 1: what you were just talking about. Here's Garth talking about
Speaker 1: Chris Henderson's skills that he brings to that partnership.
Speaker 5: I'm trained as a lawyer. I tend to think very
Speaker 5: linearly and.
Speaker 9: Maybe get bogged down in logic sometimes, but am very
Speaker 9: process oriented.
Speaker 5: Chris is again, I think, the best talent evaluator in
Speaker 5: the league.
Speaker 9: So again, different skill sets, and it's you know, I'm
Speaker 9: making it overly simple there, because to be clear, I
Speaker 9: think there's some good overlap where we collaborate on a
Speaker 9: number of things. But if you want to break it
Speaker 9: down really in the basics, Chris has an incredible eye
Speaker 9: for talent.
Speaker 5: Young players, old players.
Speaker 9: Again, He's built different teams in different models across different clubs,
Speaker 9: and I think that type of flexibility and experience that
Speaker 9: that all ladders up to.
Speaker 5: Chris is a proven winner, and so.
Speaker 9: I think, you know, you take our two skill sets
Speaker 9: and he had Chris's track record, and you say, hey,
Speaker 9: proven winner. We've been adding proven winners across all these departments.
Speaker 9: That's going to drive the club forward.
Speaker 1: So one thing that Garth really hit on was Chris's
Speaker 1: eye for talent. And you go back to the conversation
Speaker 1: that I had a few months ago with Garth and
Speaker 1: with Demetrios about managing the MLS rule book and the
Speaker 1: roster changes and the salary cap and how things have evolved.
Speaker 1: And Demetrios, I think has shown during his time here
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, and he was with the league before he
Speaker 1: came to Atlanta, he knows every little nook and cranny
Speaker 1: of that rule book that you can find and manipulate
Speaker 1: to maximize what you have. You know, I think the
Speaker 1: prime example is the last three and I put in
Speaker 1: air quotes designated player signings for Atlanta United that were
Speaker 1: able to be rotated through in terms of when the
Speaker 1: acquisition cost would hit the books, and then that would
Speaker 1: make somebody a DP and cycled through three windows to
Speaker 1: basically give you the most talent you could possibly have
Speaker 1: on this roster at a given time. So you take
Speaker 1: that which is already in place, and then you add
Speaker 1: an eye for talent that garthagger Way is raving about.
Speaker 1: And I think we've seen that in Miami too. Not
Speaker 1: talking about Messi and Suarez and Geordie Alba, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Yannick Bright. I'm talking about guys like that. Robert
Speaker 1: Taylor that have been big for that team, that maybe
Speaker 1: we're not the obvious choices. So you take those things
Speaker 1: and you combine them, and then you look at a
Speaker 1: roster that's got some holes in it and it's got
Speaker 1: two designated player spots and other spots to upgrade. It
Speaker 1: feels pretty exciting to see all of this come together
Speaker 1: with those skill sets coming into play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, also very intelligent of just you know, everything going on,
Speaker 2: especially with you know, dividing out, you know where, who's
Speaker 2: going to be a DP in this certain time. To
Speaker 2: be able to handle that because it was a weird
Speaker 2: time when you know, we didn't really know who would
Speaker 2: be the new DP, who we're bringing in, what's going on.
Speaker 2: It was weird. It was a weird time. So being
Speaker 2: able to do that, I think is so intelligent. And
Speaker 2: to be able to know the rule book of MLS
Speaker 2: like the back of your hand. That's also a huge
Speaker 2: plus because as we've seen with other clubs, it can
Speaker 2: be an issue if you don't know some of the
Speaker 2: nitty gritty stuff how difficult it can be to get
Speaker 2: a player somewhere when maybe something doesn't go through initially,
Speaker 2: How you can get a player as quickly as you
Speaker 2: can in MLS because that also can be in hindrance
Speaker 2: depending on certain situations. And you add that, then you
Speaker 2: also add Chris Henderson who having an eye for talent
Speaker 2: and what he's been able to do at Inner Miami.
Speaker 2: We talked about it in Game three, Miami missed Bright
Speaker 2: like they missed him in that year, like seriously, like
Speaker 2: that was I think the biggest thing that was, like
Speaker 2: what was missing from Miami in that game is they
Speaker 2: didn't have him in the midfield closing it down. They
Speaker 2: didn't have him at all, and that I think just
Speaker 2: shows you know, you can have all this star power,
Speaker 2: which I mean bringing in Messi, Sorez, Bousquets, you know,
Speaker 2: all of that is great, but you need to have
Speaker 2: players around it who can help support that. And that's
Speaker 2: one thing that they also said was, you know, Guard
Speaker 2: talked about in a press conference a lot earlier, earlier,
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, using this roster, trying to
Speaker 2: revolve it around Madanchuk right there and as a number ten,
Speaker 2: trying to make things work with him. We know kind
Speaker 2: of that connection that him and Saba already have. We
Speaker 2: know that connection to him and Bartech and Fortune and
Speaker 2: Moyumba have with him as well, finding those other pieces,
Speaker 2: finding someone on the left wing who can do that,
Speaker 2: finding a striker up top who can be that finisher
Speaker 2: who can find it. That's where you're gonna see the
Speaker 2: moving parts here, because that's the one thing that I
Speaker 2: give huge credit to Rob Valentino for this is connecting
Speaker 2: those pieces with Madanchuk, with the midfield, with Bartech, with Jay,
Speaker 2: with Dax, with Moyumba, connecting them to Saba. I think
Speaker 2: that is where it's so important going to be coming
Speaker 2: into next year. When you see those other pieces starting
Speaker 2: to fill in, you're going to see something more complete,
Speaker 2: and those players are going to be able to help
Speaker 2: the new dps who are coming in get associated with
Speaker 2: everything because it takes a long time to learn how
Speaker 2: a player acts and how a player does stuff. And
Speaker 2: to have already a lot of players who know how
Speaker 2: Madanchuk works, that's pretty nice to have.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think having all that and then having somebody who
Speaker 1: can fit the pieces together in Chris Henderson is going
Speaker 1: to be really exciting to see how this group comes
Speaker 1: together for Atlanta United, Harry Austin joining us. Yeah, The
Speaker 1: morning shows are on a little bit of a hiatus.
Speaker 1: Is John is being I think the way he puts
Speaker 1: it is other John. He like splits himself into different
Speaker 1: personalities in his head. I guess no, he says it,
Speaker 1: not me. I don't call him different people like he's
Speaker 1: like other John. I'm like, okay, whatever, you're in high
Speaker 1: school football, it's cool. So he is doing the Georgia
Speaker 1: State High School Championships. He's holed up in a hotel
Speaker 1: near the stadium because he's there. Pretty much like twenty
Speaker 1: four to seven, it seems like it's chaos. Friday, the
Speaker 1: Morning Show will be back in its normal time slot
Speaker 1: nine oh five. We hope to have some more content
Speaker 1: over the next couple of days. That is special for
Speaker 1: you guys that we can deliver as well, but thank
Speaker 1: you for sticking with us. And we're also going to
Speaker 1: have some some different kinds of content as we get
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty five, which is geez, like fourteen days away.
Speaker 2: Oh god, that's terrifying.
Speaker 1: Absolute chaos. But that's where we are right now. So
Speaker 1: the second part of my question to Garth and Chris,
Speaker 1: you heard what Garth said. Chris brings to the table
Speaker 1: that maybe he didn't that Chris brings that's unique. The
Speaker 1: flip side, this is what Chris Anderson had to say
Speaker 1: about what Garth Agerway brings to the table in terms
Speaker 1: of their partnership, and I.
Speaker 7: Would echo what Garth said about being a winner. Garth's
Speaker 7: a winner as well. He's done it at a smaller
Speaker 7: club in Salt Lake, he's done it in Seattle, and
Speaker 7: we're going to do it here in Atlanta. So I
Speaker 7: do feel like Garth sometimes will come at a different
Speaker 7: perspective and sometimes I'll see things in a different way
Speaker 7: because of what Garth brings to it. He's very direct,
Speaker 7: which I prefer. And yeah, we've been able to set
Speaker 7: goals together accomplish those. He's a great away from away
Speaker 7: from work too. He's a great family man and very
Speaker 7: close friend of mine. So there is something being able
Speaker 7: to work with a friend and have success together.
Speaker 1: It's very cool to hear that that sort of thing
Speaker 1: from Chris. You know, like we talk about it with
Speaker 1: the players and the coaches all the time. You know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about human beings. And you want to be
Speaker 1: in a place that you enjoy being and you're enjoying
Speaker 1: your time, and when you're working with friends and around friends.
Speaker 1: More than likely you're going to be enjoying that time.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure that was a huge appeal for Chris
Speaker 1: as well, to reunite with Garth after all the success
Speaker 1: they had. I think I miss said it earlier. Chris
Speaker 1: went to Miami, I think right before Garth came here,
Speaker 1: or right around the same time. It was right around
Speaker 1: the same time that they both left Seattle, and now
Speaker 1: they're back together here in Atlanta. I'm really intrigued as
Speaker 1: we get to know Chris, and again, make sure you're
Speaker 1: listening tonight on Atlanta Soccer. Tonight, Mike Contie and I
Speaker 1: had a chance to sit down with Chris for a
Speaker 1: full segment. It'll be the first segment of the show,
Speaker 1: and we got a little bit deeper into some of
Speaker 1: the things, and I think you got a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a sense of maybe what Chris is looking
Speaker 1: for in terms of those player acquisitions and how he
Speaker 1: I think expects to define what Atlanta United is. He
Speaker 1: did say attacking soccer, He did talk about entertaining this
Speaker 1: fan base, the things that I was definitely very happy
Speaker 1: to hear. So that whole conversation will be tonight ten
Speaker 1: o'clock ninety two ninety the game. You can listen on
Speaker 1: the Odyssey app. It'll go out as a podcast afterwards.
Speaker 1: I do want to share a clip from that because
Speaker 1: this was just kind of funny, a little bit of
Speaker 1: a teaser from this, so to give you guys the
Speaker 1: whole scope of things and fire the camera person from
Speaker 1: the clips that were playing earlier that was me.
Speaker 2: Oh, I thought you were pulling out my camera stuff
Speaker 2: for this.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, your camera workers good. I didn't want it
Speaker 1: to be in the same category. I was giving you
Speaker 1: credit here because you filmed our interview with Chris and
Speaker 1: it looks good and it looks like a professional, did
Speaker 1: it not where people's faces are half cut in the screen.
Speaker 1: I was worried about the audios, getting the audios, trying
Speaker 1: to get a couple other things, but I was getting
Speaker 1: the audio. I was talking and it happens. Okay, it happens.
Speaker 1: Here is the clip from Atlanta Soccer tonight at the
Speaker 1: end of the interview, and chaos ensued because that's what
Speaker 1: happens at times.
Speaker 10: One more, because I know you're out of time and
Speaker 10: we appreciate your time.
Speaker 5: I have to have a little bit of fun with you.
Speaker 10: Game three Messy scores, there's a little bit of a
Speaker 10: dust up in the net. It's two two. What were
Speaker 10: you thinking as all that was unfolding? And now that
Speaker 10: you're on the Atlanta side of things, you can be
Speaker 10: maybe a little less diplomatic because that's going to go
Speaker 10: down as one of the all time memories for this club.
Speaker 10: I think what was your reaction in your perspective as
Speaker 10: all that was unfolding in the final couple of minutes
Speaker 10: of that really very major upset.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was like that rights went out, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 7: the goal happens, you feel the adrenaline and then yeah,
Speaker 7: I was on the other side by the bench and
Speaker 7: I looked over and saw something happening in the goal.
Speaker 7: And then with Suarez and with with MESSI wanting to
Speaker 7: grab that. You know, after you score a goal, you
Speaker 7: always want to go grab the ball, and the defender
Speaker 7: the keeper want to grab the ball too, and it
Speaker 7: always causes problems. And I think it's just the competitive
Speaker 7: nature of both, you know, both teams, both players. I
Speaker 7: you know, I spoke with all of them after, including Brad,
Speaker 7: and it's just, you know, they all have tremendous respect
Speaker 7: for each other, but it was. It was an intense
Speaker 7: moment and it really was. You know, I was on
Speaker 7: the other end and lost that series. But it was
Speaker 7: an exciting series, and you understand why the playoffs come
Speaker 7: into it, and it's not just supporter shield playoffs are
Speaker 7: exciting and that was a prime. If you were a
Speaker 7: fan just watching, you would have been like, that was
Speaker 7: a good series.
Speaker 5: It was.
Speaker 10: It was great we especially in the outcome. But we're
Speaker 10: glad you're with us now. Chris, thank you so much
Speaker 10: for your time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the lights went out. I blame Luis Suarez. I
Speaker 1: think he had roombugged and flip the lights out, and
Speaker 1: we started talking about it. But you see two things. First,
Speaker 1: the absolute pro that my CONTI is because he just
Speaker 1: keeps going through because we know we're using the audio
Speaker 1: for radio, so completely doesn't even phase him. And then
Speaker 1: Chris completely uses it in his first line, So brilliant
Speaker 1: from both of them. It was a really fun conversation
Speaker 1: and hopefully get a little bit deeper into what Chris
Speaker 1: Anderson it's going to bring to you his time here
Speaker 1: in Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I really liked it being able to listen and you know,
Speaker 2: mee being a camera woman in that moment, but being
Speaker 2: able to hear some of the things he was talking about,
Speaker 2: I think just where he wants to go with the
Speaker 2: club and what he's saying. One thing that stuck out
Speaker 2: to me, I think, and I'm not going to spoil
Speaker 2: the whole interview before tonight, so I'm being very generic
Speaker 2: when i say this, but just kind of what he's
Speaker 2: looking for within, you know, the identity of Atlanta and
Speaker 2: even you know, finding players that want to be in Atlanta,
Speaker 2: because he said, you know, you talk to any of
Speaker 2: these players, they love it here, and that's what you're
Speaker 2: trying to find here. You know, you're trying to find
Speaker 2: people who want to be in Atlanta. And I'm excited.
Speaker 2: I'm very interested. To me and you talked about this,
Speaker 2: It wasn't really talked about in either interview, but I'm
Speaker 2: really interested further down the line, once Chris gets more
Speaker 2: acclimated and everything, his ideas on the academy and the
Speaker 2: second team, because he touched on it a little bit
Speaker 2: in that press conference, you know, bridging the gap and
Speaker 2: really having that seamless of like having young players who
Speaker 2: are developed here then they go to the twos to
Speaker 2: get that training, get that professional experience and then get
Speaker 2: them ready to be a first team and wanting to
Speaker 2: play for Atlanta. As we've seen so many homegrowns already
Speaker 2: do that with Jay, with Noah, with Ephra. You've already
Speaker 2: seen it was so many players, Luke Brennan, you're seeing
Speaker 2: it so many of them, and now you're getting a
Speaker 2: couple more in there. Ashton Gordon's another one who's coming
Speaker 2: in next year. Like, it's gonna be interesting to pick
Speaker 2: his brain later on down the line about his ideas
Speaker 2: of what he's thinking when trying to bridge that gap,
Speaker 2: because I think I don't think there is a big
Speaker 2: gap when it comes to Atlanta. I think there is
Speaker 2: a good transition, especially in developing it. But I'm interested
Speaker 2: to hear what he has to say about it and
Speaker 2: how he's thinking about doing that, especially when you add
Speaker 2: added Javier Perez included into that, and how they're gonna
Speaker 2: work together to try and create the seamless pathway for
Speaker 2: these players.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's definitely a process and there's a gap between
Speaker 1: the levels, But in Atlanta, I think the lack of
Speaker 1: a gap is down to the amount of talent that
Speaker 1: you have here in terms of just filling Academy roster
Speaker 1: spots and being competitive and creating that internal competition, and
Speaker 1: then having those guys like George Bellow and Caleb Wiley
Speaker 1: and George Campbell who have gone on and had success
Speaker 1: and warn a you know, US men's national team, Jersey,
Speaker 1: youth national team Jersey. You know that's gonna inspire the
Speaker 1: next group coming through. And then seeing guys like you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's Noah, whether it's Ashton, whether it's Jay who
Speaker 1: are coming through now, and the kids who are right
Speaker 1: behind them, they want to be those guys. So I
Speaker 1: think what's interesting is being you know, Chris and being
Speaker 1: somebody with that eye for talent. He's gonna love all
Speaker 1: of the options that he has here. And it's different
Speaker 1: than Miami, where I think Miami's done a really good
Speaker 1: job in a short period of time in terms of
Speaker 1: local talent. There's a ton of local talent South Florida.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. It's a little complicated at times
Speaker 1: with all the different tentacles into it, with different clubs
Speaker 1: that are very well established, maybe struggled at times with
Speaker 1: giving guys up to the inner Miami Academy. But then
Speaker 1: you look at a guy like Benjamin Kramowski who came
Speaker 1: through and he was fast tracked and he's been great
Speaker 1: and he's been a big contributor for that team. David
Speaker 1: Ruiz is a player that I always shout out when
Speaker 1: we talk about Inner Miami. That is a homegrown and
Speaker 1: that's a very young academy. In Seattle, I think it
Speaker 1: was a little bit more of a struggle getting the
Speaker 1: homegrowns active in that team, And I know it was
Speaker 1: something that would get talked about at times in those
Speaker 1: those years of success, especially the middle of the twenty tens,
Speaker 1: where they didn't have a lot of homegrowns that were
Speaker 1: impacting that. But you're talking about a different youth soccer
Speaker 1: culture in that area, and you maybe don't have as
Speaker 1: many players to pull from in that area. Here, you're
Speaker 1: not building an academy like from scratch or one or
Speaker 1: two years old like it was when Chris went to Miami.
Speaker 1: You're talking about an academy that is almost ten years old.
Speaker 1: You're talking about an academy that is developing players on
Speaker 1: the regular, and you're talking about an academy that I
Speaker 1: think is doing a really good job of giving guys opportunities,
Speaker 1: whether it's playing up in age group, moving into Atlantic
Speaker 1: ninety two, getting those tastes of competition in cup competitions
Speaker 1: with the first team. It's been very cool to see
Speaker 1: that pathway shake out. You have Javier Perez, who is
Speaker 1: gonna be here going into his second season next year
Speaker 1: with the club. Came in in mid season, so you'll
Speaker 1: have him being able to put more of his stamp
Speaker 1: on it. Chris Henderson will put his stamp on it.
Speaker 1: And I think you'll see young local players developed in
Speaker 1: the academy maybe be a bigger factor in Chris Henderson's
Speaker 1: strategy than it might have been in Seattle or in Miami,
Speaker 1: just because of the tools you have to work with.
Speaker 1: You know you can make a better dish. You've got
Speaker 1: better ingredients, and I think you've got more of them
Speaker 1: you're in Atlanta. So that's exciting to see. And as
Speaker 1: much as we cover academy and second team, I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see a jump in all of that as
Speaker 1: better as and Henderson really get cooking.
Speaker 2: Especially because you know Chris Henderson talked about depth in
Speaker 2: that in that clip we you just played a couple
Speaker 2: of minutes ago, Like depth is important, and when you
Speaker 2: have young players who can step up in those moments,
Speaker 2: and we've seen it so many times. We've seen Noah
Speaker 2: get thrown into the deep end and he's handled himself
Speaker 2: so well. Ephra same thing with him, Like we've seen
Speaker 2: these players get thrown into the deep end and they
Speaker 2: handle the pressure very well. We've seen it other times
Speaker 2: with the Academy. One that sticks out to me is
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like we've we've talked about him
Speaker 2: so many times. Dominic chunk Wi. I think is someone
Speaker 2: that is really really going to shine next year. I
Speaker 2: really do, because just from what we've seen from him
Speaker 2: in the twos, seeing him with Academy, now, I'm like,
Speaker 2: this kid is crazy, absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1: But left back university here in Atlanta, I don't know why.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you get some places that one position becomes the thing,
Speaker 1: and it's it's George Bellow, who is playing in Austria
Speaker 1: and playing very well now that he's gotten healthy. He's
Speaker 1: been in the right situation. I think the move to
Speaker 1: Germany wasn't the right one for him, but he's in
Speaker 1: a really good spot at lask in Austria. Then Caleb
Speaker 1: Wiley was the next one. That's what made Bellow not
Speaker 1: expendable but maybe fast tracked that a little bit because
Speaker 1: Caleb was ready to go, and then George moves, Caleb
Speaker 1: comes into that spot. Now Caleb is gone and there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a gap, and Peter Rombador's jumped
Speaker 1: right into that gap and been great. But Dominic choon
Speaker 1: Qui is chomping at the bit. And you're talking about
Speaker 1: a player who came in last season, second half of
Speaker 1: the twes year, and got better and better every game.
Speaker 1: And that's not easy to do because that is that
Speaker 1: gap is real in terms of level. He just jumped
Speaker 1: right over it. And you know, Steve Cook talked about
Speaker 1: it a lot like that's not what you normally see.
Speaker 1: You see somebody move up and they might start find
Speaker 1: and then they start to struggle a little bit because
Speaker 1: it's about consistency. Shuan Quey was really good, and I
Speaker 1: think what we've seen with him in the academy games
Speaker 1: we've done here in the last couple of months is defensively,
Speaker 1: that area of his game has dramatically improved. And look,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna be a left back, you want to
Speaker 1: get forward and you want to contribute in the attack,
Speaker 1: but you've got to be a good defender, and I
Speaker 1: think Shaun Quee that was a question mark now that
Speaker 1: is getting answered in the affirmative side of things pretty well.
Speaker 2: And you're going to see, I think, with that depth
Speaker 2: that Chris Henderson is talking about, you're going to see
Speaker 2: I think in those situations you're going to see it
Speaker 2: more likely when the Open Cup comes back around any
Speaker 2: of these competitions, that you're going to see, especially in
Speaker 2: those first couple rounds. I mean, I want to be
Speaker 2: shocked if you see a lot of those players on
Speaker 2: Academy on the twos, any of them who are on deals. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if you see a full roster
Speaker 2: where you see a lot of these young players get
Speaker 2: the chance to shine, because it's going to come in
Speaker 2: some weird moments. We saw it last we saw it
Speaker 2: this year, how compact the schedule was and how you
Speaker 2: needed that rotation, You needed those players to step up
Speaker 2: because you're going from playing a game on Saturday to
Speaker 2: having an Open Cup game on Tuesday, and you're like,
Speaker 2: oh gosh, you have two days to prepare. Who's stepping in?
Speaker 2: And I think that's what you're gonna see from this side.
Speaker 2: And that's why this depth is so important and having
Speaker 2: Javier Perez jump in, having Chris Henderson come in to
Speaker 2: help facilitate that depth, and I mean even huge creditude
Speaker 2: to Steve Cook and his staff what they've been able
Speaker 2: to to prepare these players to get ready to go
Speaker 2: jump up and be in the Open Cup. I think
Speaker 2: back to Alan Carlton when he jumped in and he
Speaker 2: was a huge, huge impact off the bench for the
Speaker 2: Open Cup run Like That's that's why it's so important.
Speaker 2: And to have a GM like Chris Henderson who already
Speaker 2: is noticing that, and to have already Hobbyer Pros has
Speaker 2: already been here for a little bit and has been
Speaker 2: analyzing the academy and the twos for a little bit.
Speaker 2: I think having them two together that's going to be
Speaker 2: a really fun combination to see where that plays.
Speaker 1: Out and having them be able to plan from day
Speaker 1: one of the season a minus one of the season.
Speaker 1: And that's where you're at right now. You're not quite
Speaker 1: into the season yet. Preseason will start in about a
Speaker 1: month's time. We know that Chattanooga's announced it there's a
Speaker 1: match the first Saturday or the last Saturday in January
Speaker 1: in Chattanooga against Chattanooga FC, and it sounds like you're
Speaker 1: going to have a full radio coverage of that one.
Speaker 1: And then there is a match the following Saturday that
Speaker 1: is at least on ticket Master, has not been announced
Speaker 1: by either club yet. With Birmingham Legion and Atlanta United
Speaker 1: and that one you will have some sort of broadcast.
Speaker 1: If you don't make the trip over to Birmingham, we
Speaker 1: will have soccer down here, content from those markets, from
Speaker 1: those post games situations to break everything down. So if
Speaker 1: you're going to make the trip, stay tuned. We'll let
Speaker 1: you know where we will be afterwards, so we know
Speaker 1: that's coming. You have the chief soccer officer now, you
Speaker 1: have David Tenney in place in terms of the performance side,
Speaker 1: You've had Javier Betrez in place in terms of the methodology,
Speaker 1: academy all the way through to the second team head
Speaker 1: coach is still there. That announcement has to happen. Garth,
Speaker 1: in one of the answers today, said in the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks he wanted to have that done. I'm
Speaker 1: sure he'd love to have it done in the next
Speaker 1: couple of days. I don't know where things stand. When
Speaker 1: Chris Henderson was asked about it. He said that he
Speaker 1: had been briefed on the candidates. So I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's down to a final two, if it's down
Speaker 1: to a final three, if it's down to a final four,
Speaker 1: I don't know where that stands. But that's got to
Speaker 1: come pretty soon. So you get ready for then that
Speaker 1: preseason that the training sessions will start in about a
Speaker 1: month's time, and you'll be able to be pointing everything
Speaker 1: into the same direction with Atlanta United. There's a couple
Speaker 1: other things I wanted to touch on before week go.
Speaker 1: I also wanted to touch on this Tomorrow night, if
Speaker 1: you're in the Atlanta area at the brew House Cafe
Speaker 1: from seven to nine, we are having our second ever
Speaker 1: broadcasters roundtable. Kevin Egan, Jessica Charman, Mike Conti, myself. We
Speaker 1: will be there purely, straight up taking your questions. We're
Speaker 1: not there to interview one another. We're not doing any
Speaker 1: of that. We are taking questions from the audience. This
Speaker 1: isn't gonna be broadcasts, this isn't gonna be streamed, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna be posted as a podcast later. If you're
Speaker 1: in the Atlanta area and you can come out, please
Speaker 1: do so. And one other element to that is we
Speaker 1: will be asking for donations to help us kick start
Speaker 1: our SDH Soccer for Good Fund. You'll be able to
Speaker 1: make the donations tomorrow via QR code. We are in
Speaker 1: the process of creating a community strategy for twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: which is really exciting. You guys know my story, I
Speaker 1: think in terms of working in soccer for Social change
Speaker 1: and working for Soccer in the Streets for a decade
Speaker 1: and watching that grow from two and a half employees
Speaker 1: and a five figure budget to what it was before
Speaker 1: I left and what it is now. We've always wanted
Speaker 1: to find ways and we've done the best that we
Speaker 1: can to give back via the SDH network. And we
Speaker 1: have a couple of really exciting things that we'll be
Speaker 1: doing in twenty twenty five, working with partners like Georgia
Speaker 1: Impact and Georgia Revolution and Patchyuka Georgia and helping raise
Speaker 1: money for them and getting you guys connected to their
Speaker 1: stories as well. That all starts tomorrow with the SDH
Speaker 1: Soccer for Good Fund. So you will not have I
Speaker 1: have to pay to come into the brew House. We
Speaker 1: don't have anybody at the door. We're not going to
Speaker 1: put Scott Flood on the door blocking people from getting
Speaker 1: in if you don't have your ticket. But we will
Speaker 1: be asking a few times to please make a donation
Speaker 1: if possible, because it will be for the kids and
Speaker 1: it will help the kids get more time on the
Speaker 1: soccer field. So that's tomorrow night, brew House seven to nine,
Speaker 1: come out if you can, poor favor. A couple of
Speaker 1: things that I wanted to touch on before we go quickly.
Speaker 1: Becky Sowerbrun, one of the all time greats with the
Speaker 1: US women's national team and in THEWSL, has retired sixteen
Speaker 1: year career thirty nine years old. She won the championship
Speaker 1: trophy in the top flight American League three times, Olympic
Speaker 1: gold in twenty twelve with the US. She missed the
Speaker 1: last World Cup due to injury, and it was a
Speaker 1: big miss to not have her in that tournament. One
Speaker 1: of those players, and I think a lot of times
Speaker 1: we overlook the contributions of defending in general national teams.
Speaker 1: We're talking about goalscorers, sometimes goalkeepers, but we're talking about
Speaker 1: goal scorers, we're talking about chance creators. Becky Souerburn was
Speaker 1: an absolute bedrock to the US women's national team and
Speaker 1: how good that team has been over the years, and
Speaker 1: she's a legend, and I hope that she's remembered in
Speaker 1: a very big way for how incredible her career has been.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, for someone who's been doing this for
Speaker 2: sixteen years is unbelievable. And the mark that she's going
Speaker 2: to be leaving for the US women's National Team and
Speaker 2: women's soccer in general, I think is so impactful. I
Speaker 2: agree with you. I don't think we give defenders their flowers,
Speaker 2: and I love giving defenders their flowers because without them
Speaker 2: half the time, everything would go astray. It wouldn't be crazy.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that because I.
Speaker 1: Play center back in Yeah, I was wondering.
Speaker 2: Listen, listen. I always have a soft spot for the
Speaker 2: center backs and for defenders as well. But I think
Speaker 2: the mark that she's going to be leaving with the
Speaker 2: US Women's National Team, with NWSL, with women's soccer as
Speaker 2: a whole is so huge, And she's an inspiration to
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot a lot of young girls
Speaker 2: who are trying to make it big, and especially with
Speaker 2: the growing platform that women's soccer now has in the
Speaker 2: US and all over, that's so important and to have
Speaker 2: someone that young kids can look up to and say, hey,
Speaker 2: I want to be like her, Like that's that's cool.
Speaker 1: FIFA announced their the best awards today. Venetius Junior won
Speaker 1: the FIFA Player of twenty twenty four, not the Ballandor,
Speaker 1: and he was very upset about not winning the Ballandor,
Speaker 1: so I did not watch any of the ceremony. If
Speaker 1: they had it, I hope he showed up and didn't
Speaker 1: have his club boycott it, like the whole balland'or ceremony
Speaker 1: and all of that, because that that Real Madrid in
Speaker 1: that whole situation. Itana bon Mati won the Women's Player
Speaker 1: Award again and she also did win the Ballandor earlier
Speaker 1: this year, two separate awards. They don't always fall in alignment,
Speaker 1: and they did it on the men's side they did
Speaker 1: on the women's side. Intercontinental Cup tomorrow Real Madrid Venetius
Speaker 1: Junior is or killing it. Bape is expected to be
Speaker 1: part of that. He has a thigh injury, but he's
Speaker 1: expected to play. They're playing Pachuca from Mexico, which will
Speaker 1: be really really interesting. The Intercontinental Cup is the former
Speaker 1: Club World Cup, which was the former Intercontinental Cup. All
Speaker 1: comes back around, doesn't it. Because now you have the
Speaker 1: gigantic Club World Cup that's coming here to Atlanta and
Speaker 1: the United States in twenty twenty five. Real Madrid will
Speaker 1: be favored by a ton We're not getting into juice
Speaker 1: boxes on this, but those games are always interesting and
Speaker 1: I hope Patchuca makes it a game. It'd be great
Speaker 1: for soccer in this hemisphere if Patchuka makes it a game,
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll create a little more excitement for League's
Speaker 1: Cup and all the different things going on with that,
Speaker 1: anything else that you wanted to jump into before we
Speaker 1: take off.
Speaker 2: Oh I don't think so. No, it's listen a Pachuka
Speaker 2: create chaos tomorrow, please, I would love to see chaos.
Speaker 2: I think that would be brilliant. Come out to the
Speaker 2: Burrosse Cafe. It's gonna be fun. We're gonna have a
Speaker 2: great time. I'm gonna be running around handing mics to people.
Speaker 2: It'll be great hanging out, having a good time. Maybe
Speaker 2: have a beer or two.
Speaker 1: Who knows it can happen.
Speaker 2: Night is young, but it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: It could happen.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be. It's gonna be fun tomorrow. It's it's
Speaker 2: so exciting because all four of those people, wonderful people
Speaker 2: I have looked up to for you, least three of them. Yeah,
Speaker 2: very much, I'll come on, Lord of Mercy. No, but
Speaker 2: it's it's it's awesome, it's cool to, you know, be
Speaker 2: a part of it. It's sick, and it's for a
Speaker 2: good cause as well. So make sure y'all donate.
Speaker 1: One last bit of news. I believe it. You just
Speaker 1: came out a little bit ago. Jimmy Mauer, who is
Speaker 1: Atlanta Developed Players, started his professional career here with the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Silverbacks back in the day. One of the really
Speaker 1: good guys in the league. Finished up his time with
Speaker 1: FC Dallas. He's not going very far. He's moving over
Speaker 1: to Houston Dynamo to be one of their goalkeepers in
Speaker 1: that goalkeeper room. Jimmy Maoer or somebody that I always
Speaker 1: hoped would somehow find his way back to Atlanta and
Speaker 1: Atlanta United. It just has never been in the carts
Speaker 1: for Jimmy to represent his hometown team again since the
Speaker 1: silver backstays. But one of the good guys, somebody that
Speaker 1: we've had the chance to catch up with at various
Speaker 1: points on the SDH network. So congrats to Jimmy Maller
Speaker 1: keeping his career rolling along with the Houston Dynamo. I
Speaker 1: don't know what tomorrow's content schedule will look like. I
Speaker 1: have Atlanta Soccer tonight this evening on ninety two ninety
Speaker 1: the game. You'll hear a whole conversation with Chris Anderson,
Speaker 1: with myself and Mike Conti. That'll be the first segment
Speaker 1: of the show. It's ten o'clock. You can listen on
Speaker 1: the radio old school style. You can listen in your
Speaker 1: car on the radio, you can listen on the Odyssey app.
Speaker 1: You can listen afterwards a podcast off the Woodwork. Make
Speaker 1: sure you subscribe to that wherever you get your podcasts,
Speaker 1: and you can consume that whole show. No John tomorrow.
Speaker 1: He is still a football John, not soccer John. So
Speaker 1: we will have some maybe bits and things during the
Speaker 1: day before our event tomorrow night at the Brewhouse Cafe
Speaker 1: seven to nine o'clock Thursday, we will have the fully
Speaker 1: loaded hour either live or on tape, with Nino Dorres
Speaker 1: and Nico Moreno, catching up with them and what's going
Speaker 1: on in their worlds. It's always fun to hear from
Speaker 1: those two. You will hear that on Thursday. I don't
Speaker 1: know the timing yet, so stay tuned, and then we'll
Speaker 1: be back normal Friday morning nine five with Soccer John
Speaker 1: back in place. Football John will be retired for the year,
Speaker 1: I think. I don't think he has any other like
Speaker 1: National Signing Day things or anything. Maybe he does, I
Speaker 1: don't know. There's only two weeks left in the year,
Speaker 1: so he's running out of time. Soccer John will be
Speaker 1: backday morning nine oh five as we start to put
Speaker 1: a bow on twenty twenty four. But thanks for hanging
Speaker 1: out with us SDHPM. You get to hear a lot
Speaker 1: about Chris Henderson hopefully at Land United. Fans are excited
Speaker 1: about his appointment, and I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: a fun ride with Chris driving the ship. We'll see
Speaker 1: when the head coach gets hired, We'll see when designated
Speaker 1: players get signed. All of that is to come, and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five can't happen soon enough. But thanks for
Speaker 1: hanging out with us today. We'll have more content all
Speaker 1: over the SDH network the rest of the week. And
Speaker 1: then I didn't really