Football General Manager
After his media responsibilities, Michael Bradley knew what he was going to do. He would leave his office, and head to first team training. There, he would watch head coach Sandro Schwarz put the team through their paces.
Of course, Bradley knew the drills and the methodology. This is the famed Red Bull system, a global soccer conglomerate with aligned playing principles, recruitment methods, and training strategies. The whole thing is designed so that players, coaches and staff can rise through the ranks.
And Bradley is the next one, partaking in his daily duties. On June 12, New York Red Bulls II the immensely successful MLS Next Pro side affiliated with the MLS club, announced the former USMNT captain as their head coach. It is his first head coaching role in professional soccer, a position that many expected him to walk into someday. And for a true student of the game, a stout midfielder and on-pitch leader, the Red Bull system, and MLS Next Pro at large, is the perfect setup for a young coach to cut his teeth.
"The biggest thing for me is the opportunity with Red Bull," Bradley told BALLGM. "The opportunity inside an organization like Red Bull, a club like Red Bull New York, the history and the track record they have of not just developing really good young players, but also developing and supporting really good young coaches."
After his media responsibilities, Michael Bradley knew what he was going to do. He would leave his office, and head to first team training. There, he would watch head coach Sandro Schwarz put the team through their paces.
Of course, Bradley knew the drills and the methodology. This is the famed Red Bull system, a global soccer conglomerate with aligned playing principles, recruitment methods, and training strategies. The whole thing is designed so that players, coaches and staff can rise through the ranks.
And Bradley is the next one, partaking in his daily duties. On June 12, New York Red Bulls II, the immensely successful MLS Next Pro side affiliated with the MLS club, announced the former USMNT captain as their head coach. It is his first head coaching role in professional soccer, a position that many expected him to walk into someday. And for a true student of the game, a stout midfielder and on-pitch leader, the Red Bull system, and MLS Next Pro at large, is the perfect setup for a young coach to cut his teeth.
“The biggest thing for me is the opportunity with Red Bull,” Bradley told BALLGM. “The opportunity inside an organization like Red Bull, a club like Red Bull New York, the history and the track record they have of not just developing really good young players, but also developing and supporting really good young coaches.”
Bradley, in theory, could have had his pick of organizations throughout American soccer. He retains an excellent reputation in the game. This is a USMNT legend, who played for his country 151 times, and captained them 49. He wore the armband at the 2014 World Cup, scored from the halfway line at the Azteca against Mexico, and led Toronto FC to a historic MLS treble in 2017.
Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard are remembered as the stars of the U.S. teams of the early 2010s. Bradley made those sides tick. It is of little surprise, to some, that Bradley went into coaching.
“There’s so much that he can provide based on his experiences,” Canada men’s National Team head coach Jesse Marsch told BALLGM.
He has connections all over the game. American soccer is a small world. If Bradley didn’t play with someone, he was coached by them. If that wasn’t the case, his father – who has been a professional coach since 1997 – likely did at some point. His roots in the game run deep. A U.S. job seemed inevitable. He just needed the right place.
It helps, too, that Bradley is something of a perfectionist. On the pitch, he orchestrated, tinkered and moved. He’s like that in management, too. For the Red Bulls, he has his hands in every possible area: meetings, logistics, training, food, nutrition, staff management.
For him, coaching is the perfect spot to put those instincts to use.
“For a young coach, the ability to now start to have the practice of how to manage all of these things, how to put each day together, so that now you’re getting out of it what we need,” he said.
Jurgen Klopp has aura. At least, that’s how Bradley describes it. The former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund manager is now at the helm of the Red Bull organization, overseeing the entire company from top to bottom. He has an eye everywhere, from Bragantino to New Jersey. And his involvement was crucial in bringing Bradley in.
“One of the things that I’ve been able to do in the last few months is spend some time on a few different occasions with Jurgen, as well. And when you get that opportunity, and you hear him talk about the game, and you hear the way he speaks, and you see his passion and his energy, it’s amazing,” Bradley said.
His pitch was simple: Red Bull could help him develop. Bradley was sold.
“The opportunity for a young coach to be inside this organization with people like this. That opportunity doesn’t come around very often,” he said.
But taking over a Red Bulls job isn’t without its contradictions. This is the organization that first proliferated the ideas of geggenpressing throughout German football. Their teams are supposed to be active, energetic and fiercely vertical. The focus is entirely on attacking an opponent – almost to a fault.
How that is interpreted changes from coach to coach. Formations can be different, personnel can switch, systems, loosely, can change – but the idea is to get the ball forward and put it in the net. That, of course, requires alignment from the top down.
“All of the things that have made Red Bull ‘Red Bull’ in the past, in terms of being aggressive, stepping on the field, no matter who you’re playing against, to go after the other team, ball-oriented pressing, counter pressing, like all of those things will continue to be there,” Bradley said. “Those will be foundational parts of Red Bull football going forward.”
It’s why Klopp is a perfect fit at the top. Bradley is aware of the notion, even assumption, that he would have to fall in line, and play in the same way as other great coaches – many of them German raised in the Bundesliga. But Klopp rubbished that notion. In fact, he encouraged Bradley to interpret the game in his own way – even if that meant some stylistic clashes.
“You’re given the freedom in the space to make it your and take the ideas and bring them to life. So that part is really, really cool,” Bradley said.
Young coaches often speak about their influences. It’s the first question most have: Who do you want to learn from? Who’s the best manager you’ve ever had? Who can you compare your play style to?
For most managers, the answer is universal: a bit of everyone. Bradley is no different. He said as much at his introductory news conference:
“You take all of the experiences that you have as a player, and now you try to bring them together in a way that that now your ideas and your personality comes out,” he said.
But there are some more specific reference points for Bradley. Marsch is one of them. The two have known each other for years. And as Bradley was going through his coaching search, and figuring out the next steps in his career, Marsch was a constant point of reference. They talked on the phone, retaining a relationship that stretches back years. And when it came round to Canada’s pre-Gold Cup friendlies, Marsch invited Bradley over for a few days – simply to observe.
It made sense. Not only are the two friends, but Bradley is also remarkably familiar with his coaching staff: either having been coached by or playing with most of them. And, crucially, Marsch, too, had been through the Red Bull system.
“It was a completely open door,” Bradley said. “It was a really enjoyable little less than a week, but just a period to go in and see how they do things, to learn from [Marsch] and his staff, and be a fly on the wall and see how he’s working these days.”
Marsch saw an excellent coach in him, too.
“He’s been at World Cups. The guys all know who he is. He has a good way of just connecting with guys and sharing experiences. He’s a high-level football thinker. He’s excited about starting his coaching career,”
Bradley knew that he could have perhaps taken a head coaching job for a team elsewhere. There might have been offers, and there could have been opportunities. But this one seemed perfect – if part because it is out of the spotlight. RBNY II are a very good side, top of MLS Next Pro by three points, and blessed with some of the best academy talent the United States has to offer. The New Jersey market is full of top players, many of which Bradley will coach. This is an elite second team.
The key word there, though, is “second.”
Bradley was aware that a first team job was, in some ways, more risky. When it comes to the professional game, few care about the process. In the eyes of the expectant fans and a demanding board, it’s what the scoreline says that counts.
“When you coach a first team, we all know still the number one factor is always going to be on Saturday or Sunday night, like, ‘Have you won? Have you lost?’ And how to then move on to the next one.” Bradley said.
For a second team, the pressure is less on just winning, with a focus on player development. The Red Bulls want Bradley to learn, but they also want him to mold the kind of talents that can some day make an impact in MLS – or even be moved on abroad. That allows for some crucial flexibility – and less of a focus on the box score.
“Relatively speaking, there is a little bit less pressure,” he admitted.
Someday, that pressure could quite comfortably increase. The reason the RBNY II needed a new head coach is because former manager Ibrahim Sekagya was moved into the first team staff. He is now an assistant to Schwarz, and is, presumably, well on the way to taking a full time head coaching job – either for the Red Bulls or elsewhere.
This whole thing is a pipeline, where everyone is connected. The focus, to be sure, is on the present – training sessions, food, nutrition, and winning football matches. Future opportunities will likely come – that’s just how this thing works. Early results have been slightly mixed – RBNY are 1-2 in his first three games in charge. But that’s not really the point. Bradley insists his side has put in a trio of good performances. He is starting to see his vision come to life.
Schwarz, too, has chipped in. He texted Bradley before his first game, and has kept in touch, watching the side from afar. And Bradley does have an eye on the future. He is planning to start the process of obtaining his UEFA Pro license next year. There is no secret as to what that might mean: a career overseas.
Management, like actually playing, is all about pathways. Some of the best coaches out there: Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Thomas Tuchel, Xabi Alonso, all started out by coaching reserve sides.
Those, of course, are the elites. But it’s ground well trodden, especially for those who are hell bent on watching first team training, and learning a little more, day-by-day, without expectant eyes on them every second. For Bradley, that’s just fine for now, to be away from it all – yet working relentlessly in the background.
“The spotlight doesn’t come on quite as bright,” he said.
