Making sense of the Miguel Angel Ramirez firing
A drumbeat of perceived slights and off-the-field miscues by Charlotte FC’s coach, not always apparent to outsiders, pushed club leadership to say ‘enough’
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What went wrong: Beneath the surface, frayed relationships were at the heart of this week’s stunning dismissal
Miguel Angel Ramirez relationship with players called into question after his firing. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Even with three extra days to process the firing of Charlotte FC coach Miguel Angel Ramirez, it still feels like a head-scratcher. On the surface, everything looked good.
Here was a young and upcoming coach, 14 games into Charlotte’s inaugural season, with his team just two points out of the playoff hunt in Major League Soccer, in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. He was engaging with fans — both collectively in his interactions with crowds after games, and personally, going so far as inviting fans to practice and even to dinner.
He was charming and open with the media. He was a darling on social media, both from his own accounts and in team photos and videos of him tussling and joking around with players, or consoling and congratulating a worthy opponent.
And still, in a press release that went out at 8:43 a.m. Tuesday — just two days after the team gave the defending CONCACAF Champions League winner Seattle a run for its money — the club announced it had parted ways with Ramirez, as well as three other staffers. Assistant coach Christian Lattanzio will take over as interim coach for the remainder of the 2022 season.
The team had no public explanation, offering only a cryptic press conference with few if any answers from sporting director Zoran Krneta. Players dispersed over the international break and have been mum anyway, and Ramirez has yet to give his side of the story, at least on the record.
So here we are, left to piece together what really happened. Based on published reports, some sleuthing of my own, hindsight, instinct and a whole lot of reading between the lines, here’s what I keep coming back to:
This was a franchise that knew how unpopular this decision would be. It was going to punctuate a long list of public relations bombshells like criticism over high ticket prices and permanent seat licenses, the sudden departure of Tepper Sports & Entertainment CEO Nick Kelly two months into the season, the lack of a permanent practice facility, indecision on property plans for its academy at Eastland Mall, and — oh yeah — the recent revelations that Charlotte FC is working with the second-lowest payroll in MLS in terms of guaranteed salary.
And the team fired Ramirez anyway.
“It was very difficult for all of us,” Krneta said. “But at the end of the day, we had no choice, and we had to do it.”
But why? Krneta didn’t have to say the decision wasn’t performance-based. How could it be? And the team clarified to reporters that it wasn’t a legal or ethical issue. So what’s left? Relationships.
A reporter for The Athletic addressed that sticky question first, tweeting that one of Charlotte FC’s designated (or star) players was refusing to return to the team after this week’s international break if Ramirez wasn’t fired.
Then in a published article Wednesday, The Athletic named the player as Polish striker Karol Swiderski.
Multiple sources elaborated on that account, saying that the player in question was Polish striker Karol Swiderski, and that he delivered his message to Krneta.
But on Thursday, Jorge Gonzalez of @Topbin90, a well-connected reporter with Charlotte players and staff, disputed it in a tweet, saying: “Can confirm that Karol Swiderski never refused to play for Charlotte FC upon his return from his duties with the Polish national team.”
It’s certainly plausible that Swiderski was frustrated with Ramirez’s system. He has struggled to get offensive opportunities and hasn’t scored a goal in eight games. His body language during games often reads frustration. But from what I’m told by a source, Swiderski was unfairly singled out in those reports, because in actuality Ramirez had “completely lost a majority of the locker room.”
How does that kind of dissent happen in such a short amount of time? Because it happened from the start.
The same outspokenness that endeared Ramirez to fans and media is also what fractured his relationships in private, and according to sources, it all dates back to the “we’re screwed” comment Ramirez made before the start of the season.
Ramirez said it after he’d been asked how he thought the team would fare given the roster as it was. The stunner of a comment came as a shot against his own front office, which had assembled that roster. An MLS source suggested to MLSsoccer.com writer Tom Bogert this week that the comment had put Ramirez “immediately on the hot seat.”
But from what I’m told, the problem wasn’t as much the strain it put on Ramirez’s relationship with the front office as it was the division it created within the locker room among players who felt slighted.
When Krneta was asked in the press conference about his rapport with Ramirez, he said, “Like in any organization, there are often different opinions, but Miguel and I had a very good working relationship.”
But when Krneta was asked whether Ramirez had “lost” the locker room, he said, “No comment.”
Shortly after he made the inflammatory comment, Ramirez revealed that he apologized to the team, telling players the comment was made in frustration over the breakdown of a deal with Venezuelan standout Darwin Machis. But the explanation apparently fell short, because sources said the locker room dissent dates back to the preseason tournament in Charleston, which was two days after the “we’re screwed” comment was made.
Ramirez continued to raise eyebrows with some public complaints he made about the team’s salary limitations and about not having a proper practice facility, reportedly to the point where some players wondered about his commitment to the team long-term.
By April 30, problems were showing up on the field, too. Against Orlando, Charlotte gave up an easy goal after nobody stayed back to defend during a corner kick in front of Orlando’s goal. After Orlando scored on the breakaway, Charlotte players could be seen shouting at each other on the field. After the game, Ramirez was an hour late to the postgame press conference. Sources said it was because a popular veteran player, not named Swiderski, called a 1-on-1 meeting to hash it out with Ramirez.
Not that any of these instances on its own stands as a fireable offense — but collectively, at least, they should give an indication that all was not shiny under the surface.
I understand the argument that you can’t let the inmates rule the asylum. (Trust me, I have three boys under the age of 6!) And I believe the best coaches always instill a little bit of fear as they’re commanding respect. But in my time as a sportswriter, I’ve also seen the trouble wrought when players lose trust in a new coach before he even really establishes it.
My first year covering college sports in 1994, I watched an unranked Georgia Tech football team play Arizona, which had been picked No. 1 in the preseason by Sports Illustrated (remember Tedy Bruschi and the Desert Swarm defense?) in one of those first-ever ESPN Thursday night games.
Georgia Tech had a new quarterback, a junior college transfer named Tommy Luginbill. He threw a long touchdown pass 45 seconds into the game, totaled almost 200 yards passing and two touchdowns and nearly led Tech to an upset. After the game, one of the receivers who had caught a Luginbill touchdown pass couldn’t find anything nice to say about him.
Here I was, having just covered high school football for two years, but my instincts told me something was off. I followed up with a story a couple of days later, and what unfolded in the weeks and months to follow was the picture of a program mired in a quarterback controversy between teammates who supported Luginbill and those who supported incumbent Donnie Davis. Because of it, a team that had almost upset a nationally ranked opponent in the season-opener finished 1-10. The coach, Bill Lewis, was fired with three games left in the season.
A quarterback controversy might be an apples-to-oranges comparison for soccer, but maybe at least, what can happen beneath the surface as a result of discontent is not.
Up Next: A week off
Notable: After a bye this weekend for the international break — and a change of head coaches — Charlotte FC will return to action Saturday, June 11, under interim head coach Christian Lattanzio. It’s a home game against the New York Red Bulls.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now cutting her teeth on soccer and the Charlotte FC just as fans in Charlotte do. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project