A gentlemanly postgame tradition

Smith says benefits outweigh awkwardness in get-together with opposing coaches; plus Kahlina on new contract, Ream on new U.S. coach; and latest on Charlotte FC's potential playoff matchups

Oct 11, 2024

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Postgame drinks with opposing coaches do more than validate good sportsmanship; Smith says he’s a ‘single malt guy’ and that the chats are a chance ‘to chew the fat’

Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith — seen here with Burnley manager Sean Dyche before a Premier League game when Smith coached Aston Villa in a previous job — is known for cultivating relationships with fellow coaches. (Photo by PA Images/Alamy)

Can you imagine the late Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski getting together for a drink after a Duke vs. North Carolina basketball game? Would Nick Saban and whoever was coaching at Auburn — Gus Malzahn, maybe — have made it five minutes in the same room together after an Alabama-Auburn football game? Somebody call security!

It’s wild to think about, isn’t it? Coaches putting aside their differences for a little fraternization while the sweat is still fresh on their players. Apparently, not if you’re the British soccer coach Dean Smith.

One of the many things Charlotte FC’s first-year coach has brought to this side of the pond, in addition to know-how in building a playoff contender, is a tradition he says coaches in the U.K. have been employing for years: The coach of the home team invites the coach of the visiting team, and whatever staff he’d like to bring along, to his office for a postgame drink.

Talk about being an English gentleman. Smith said it’s a chance to relish similarities more than any differences.

“Listen, we can all empathize with each other,” Smith said. “We know how each other feels at the end of the game. We can’t change what’s happened; the result’s done. We’ve all won. We’ve all lost. We know how each other feels. And it’s just nice to chew the fat a little bit after the game.”

In his first season in Major League Soccer, Smith estimates he’s gotten together with opposing coaches 10 times out of 33 games. The majority of those encounters have been with coaches who have either played or coached in England and were familiar with the tradition. He’d like to see it grow in the U.S.

Smith met with Laurent Courtois, who played at West Ham, after Charlotte FC lost 2-1 in Montreal a couple of weeks ago. He welcomed in Columbus assistant coach Kwame Ampadu, who was born in England and raised in Ireland, after he filled in for an ill Wilfried Nancy during Columbus’ 2-0 loss at Bank of America Stadium on March 23.

“Their flight was delayed, so the Columbus guys could have a few more drinks,” said Smith, who then met with Nancy, the former Manchester United player, on Charlotte’s trip to Columbus three months later.

Among others he has visited with were Phil Neville of Portland who came to see Smith after Charlotte’s 2-0 win on May 4, and Nashville coach Gary Smith a week later, after Charlotte won 1-0. Both of those coaches are English.

Smith’s drink of choice? That’s got shades of the U.K., too.

“I’m a single malt guy,” said Smith, who said Macallan Scotch Whisky is his favorite, though during his time in America, he’s come to appreciate bourbon in an old fashioned. And like the free bottles he has promised his defenders for every shutout, Smith will enjoy a glass of red wine, too.

The informal gatherings usually start after coaches have finished their postgame press, as the teams are showering and dressing.

What makes it harder to pull off in the U.S., Smith said, is the distance between home and visiting locker rooms in bigger stadiums, and the rush required to catch flights. In England clubs are taking bus rides to nearby towns rather than boarding charters. If he’s declined on his offer, it’s usually because of travel constraints. But the invitation always stands.

“My room is always free to come and have a drink after,” he said.

So what’s fair game for these conversations? Is the game just played considered taboo?

“Sometimes you talk about the game,” Smith said. “If it's been a bit of a niggly game, you probably don't.”

“Niggly” in your British-to-American English dictionary is defined as “causing slight but persistent discomfort or anxiety.”

Instead, Smith said, they might talk about games coming up, or what’s going on with friends and staffers they know in common. Inevitably, somebody’s assistant coach has worked or played with somebody else’s former head coach.

And sure, Smith concedes, a safe topic might be officiating.

“You might moan about the officials or something like that, but you have the etiquette to just say ‘C’mon, let’s go and have a beer,’” Smith said. “It’s like playing against your best mate at times. You want to beat them, but afterwards, they’ll still be your best mate. After the game, they’re still coaches.”

Dean Smith working the sidelines for Charlotte FC. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)

When Smith was a young coach coming up through the English professional ranks, he figured out pretty quickly he could use those meetings to “pick the brains of the top coaches.”

Based in part on relationships he’d built in those settings while coaching at Walsall, Smith was invited to represent League One on the Executive Committee of the English professional coaches’ union, known as the LMA. The League Managers Association was made up primarily of Premier League coaches, including one “top coach” who has been knighted for his accomplishments as manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson.

When Smith got hired at Brentford, then in the English Championship, he sent “Fergie” what he described as a “cheeky” e-mail, saying, “It would be really nice if you could come and support a fellow executive of the LMA.”

Sir Alex obliged, and shortly upon his retirement from Manchester United, came and gave a talk to Smith’s team at Brentford. Then, when Smith moved on to his next job at Aston Villa, and earned a subsequent promotion to the Premier League, Ferguson invited him out to lunch to talk about what to expect from the top tier of English soccer.

“He said, ‘The most important person to you this season, now that you’re in the Premier League, is going to be the head of media,’” Smith said. “He said, ‘Because the media goes up tenfold. Now,’ he said, ‘You’re not just speaking to Sky Sports and [BBC] Radio 5 live. You're talking to FOX, American TV, European TV, Asian TV.’ He said, ‘You shouldn’t be reading any of it. He should be telling you everything.’”

When Smith was on the other end of the spectrum, facing relegation from the Premier League to the English Championship as head coach of Leicester City, he found comfort in the camaraderie he’d built with other coaches during postgame chats.

Smith was eight games into his “caretaking” tenure with Leicester City when his team beat West Ham 2-1 on the final game of the season. But Everton won shortly thereafter to claim 18th place, meaning Leicester was relegated anyway and Smith was soon to be fired.

But he met up with West Ham coach David Moyes — by then a golfing buddy, too — anyway.

“When we got relegated, he came in and had a drink with us after and was commiserating with us,” Smith said. “They had a big Europa League final, so we were talking about their game they had coming up as well.”

When Smith interviewed for his ensuing job with Charlotte FC, he made an impression in the room when he brought up something he had learned in a postgame chat with Liverpool’s legendary coach Jürgen Klopp.

“Everybody saw them as a high pressing team,” Smith said. “[Klopp] said, ‘We are at times, but we have [Mohamed] Salah and Sadio Mane. They need space to run into because that’s when they’re the most dangerous. We do set up a little bit deeper to win the ball, and then we could go run into that space.’”

That kind of insider info fueled Smith’s confidence in what he was doing as a coach.

“You get little insights to how they’ve been working,” Smith said. “And just a lot of it solidifies your thinking yourself, because, actually, we’re doing quite a lot of that, which is really good.”

Quotable: Kahlina happy to stay in Charlotte, Ream ready for new coaching regime with U.S. Men’s National team

Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, who signed a new contract last week, on staying with the team through 2026 with an option for 2027 and what he likes about Charlotte:

It was nice to sign a new contract with the club I really like, and I really enjoy being here in Charlotte and with all of these fans and new facilities where we train. I live in uptown. It’s really nice, because it’s not big traffic, like if you go on the highway. When I go to the facilities and then back, I don’t feel the traffic. I can enjoy afternoons with my daughter. We go to some parks. We have beautiful parks here, even the lake. I have many friends who have boats. We go to the lake, and for me, I really enjoy it here, like I’m home in Croatia.

Defender Tim Ream joined the U.S. Men’s National team on Sunday to prepare for “friendlies” against Panama (Saturday at 9 p.m.) and Mexico (Tuesday at 10:30 p.m.) This is his first action under new U.S. men’s coach Mauricio Pochettino, formerly of Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, whom Ream faced as a player at Fulham. Previous coach Greg Berhalter, who’d been on and off the hot seat since the 2024 World Cup, was fired after a first round exit in Copa America. Ream on the coaching change:

I think for some guys, it can bring on a little bit of anxiety and nervousness. I’m 37. I’ve seen it. I’ve had manager changes. You go in, adapt and work on what he wants to work on. If you have to change the way you play to stay involved, you have to change the way you play. But I think it’s an exciting time for the group to have a new voice and to move the program forward…. It’s nice to not have the unknown. We go in with someone who has managed some of the best players in the world, so we have to be excited about that and excited to move forward and continue to be a part of the program.

Playoff tickets on sale

By defeating Montreal 2-0 on Saturday, Charlotte assured itself of a berth in the best-of-three Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and the first home playoff game in franchise history. Charlotte will be hosting Game 2 with an opponent to be determined between Nov. 1-5. Playoff tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster. For more information go to https://www.charlottefootballclub.com/tickets/.

Up Next: Bye

Notable: Charlotte FC is off this weekend while a handful of players head to international duty, including Ream (U.S.), striker Karol Swiderski (Poland), Liel Abada (Israel) and left back Jere Uronen (Finland). Charlotte returns to action Oct. 19 at D.C. United, on what is known as “Decision Day,” on the last day of the MLS regular season. The decision remaining for Charlotte FC is where they’ll finish in the Eastern Conference. It could be anywhere from 5th to 7th place, in which case the team would face Orlando, Cincinnati or Columbus, respectively.

Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her third season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!

Email Carroll Walton

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