Given the chance to fire back, to plant the Stars and Stripes defiantly on English soil and remind them that “soccer” is, by the way, their word—one that was used comfortably in the U.K. for decades—Jesse Marsch instead opted for humor and humility.
"I think there's probably a stigma,” he said Thursday when speaking about American coaches at the top tier of the global game. “I'm not sure Ted Lasso helped. I haven't watched the show, but I get it. I get it. People hate hearing the word ‘soccer.’ I’ve used the word ‘football’ since I was a professional football player.”
Marsch’s first press conference as head coach—sorry, manager—of Leeds United immediately brought to mind the cultural and linguistic wringer through which Marsch’s mentor, Bob Bradley, was shoved five years ago. Bradley’s use of disqualifying Americanisms like “PK” and “road game” became a story and then, as struggling Swansea City failed to reverse course under the veteran coach, a weapon used to highlight his supposed lack of suitability for the job.
Bradley lasted just 11 games/matches at Swansea (2-7-2) and never got the chance to bolster his squad during a transfer window. The Swans wound up staying up that season but then were relegated from the Premier League in 2018. They’re now 16th in the second-tier Championship.
“I wish they hadn't come and called, quite honestly, in that respect because the situation required real work and some time. And if they didn't think I was the right guy, and everybody wasn't on board—and 'everybody' needed to not just be the two American owners, but the chairman, the supporters' trust and more of the supporters—look, if they didn't think I was the right guy, they shouldn't have called,” Bradley told ESPN in 2018.
"So you either go somewhere where people recognize what you're all about, and know that to get it right it's going to take some time,” he continued. “Or you go places where at the end, when the wind starts blowing, everybody gets nervous, everybody's shaking, everybody's covering their own heads, and you know what happens at that moment.”
What Bradley lacked was the benefit of the doubt. He was “Brad Bobley,” the loud and abusive caricature portrayed on Sky Sports’ Soccer AM show—yes, it’s called Soccer AM—who whacked players in the face with a clipboard and used outrageous terms like “cleat” and “upper 90.”
He’d spent 20 years on pro sidelines, finished above England at the 2010 World Cup and nearly took Egypt to the next one despite a revolution and the Port Said riot. But he was also born and bred in the U.S., and while European clubs are coming to grips with the fact that American men can play the game, acknowledging that they also might know it requires another step entirely.
Bradley may or may not have been the right fit at Swansea, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a qualified manager. He wasn’t Ted Lasso or Brad Bobley. There’s a point at which established coaches in all sports achieve tenure—not with a specific team, but in the profession. They’re allowed to fail but they’re still employable. They move from gig to gig, and have enough benefit of the doubt built up so that one slide or setback doesn’t ruin their résumé. American born-and-bred soccer coaches haven’t established that in Europe.
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Bradley moved from Egypt, to Norway, to the French second division and then to the Premier League. But after three months there, he was bound for MLS. Gregg Berhalter got 14 months at Sweden’s Hammarby, was fired after a 1-3-4 rut in the summer of 2013 and then returned to MLS. Pellegrino Matarazzo, a New Jerseyan who’s been in Germany for more than 20 years, is clinging to his first head coaching job at relegation-threatened VfB Stuttgart. Californian Joe Enochs is managing in the German third division. David Wagner has established some measure of tenure—he bounced from Huddersfield Town to Schalke 04 to Swiss champion Young Boys—but his footballing ties to the U.S. are limited to his eight national team appearances in the late 1990s. He was born, raised and developed in Germany. There’s no stigma there.
American coaches are in no position to be defiant. Their very existence prompts skepticism. And Marsch, who’ll make his Premier League debut on Saturday at Leicester City, didn’t hide from that Thursday. It’s his job to fit in, demonstrate deference for local football culture—not to mention the contributions of his iconic predecessor, Marcelo Bielsa—and then hope he gets the leeway to turn Leeds (5-13-8) around.
“I think more and more in the States, we’re adapting to what the game here is in England and our connection with what this league is and what the culture of the sport is in this country,” Marsch said. “You know, I can understand that they don't think that we have the experiences that can be created here in Europe. Frankly, they're right. It was the reason I came to Europe. It was the reason I learned German. It was the reason I tried to adapt to new cultures.”
Marsch may be trying to merge with the European football mainstream, but he’s still in position to alter perception and break barriers. This isn’t the first time an American has earned a high-profile coaching opportunity, but it’s still historic in a critical way: it’s the first high-profile second chance. It’s the first real shot at tenure.
After progressing through the Red Bull system from New York to Salzburg and Leipzig, Marsch lasted just 20 games in Germany. His high tempo, high-pressing style wasn’t the right fit for a Bundesliga team in transition. At that point, it would’ve been easy to dismiss Marsch’s credentials. Maybe he got that far thanks only to Red Bull and when reaching the sport’s highest level, he was exposed as another American wannabe.
Serious clubs didn’t pursue U.S. coaches out of the blue. Swansea, after all, was controlled by Americans Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien. Hammarby is partly held by AEG, which also owns the LA Galaxy—the club where Berhalter finished his playing career. There were established connections that paved the way. But Marsch appears to have been hired by Leeds solely because of what he’s achieved as a coach (the San Francisco 49ers are minority shareholders). There’s a reputation and some benefit of the doubt being established.
“Jesse is someone we identified a number of years ago during his time at Red Bull Salzburg, and we believe his philosophy and style of football aligns with that of the club and will suit the players very well,” Leeds director of football Victor Orta said when announcing Marsch’s appointment.
For all of Bielsa’s laudable success in bringing Leeds to the Premier League as Championship winners in 2020 and then finishing ninth last season, his man-to-man marking system and lack of English fluency separate him from Marsch. The latter is a firm believer in communication and connection and so in that case, may have a bit of Ted Lasso in him. But Marsch said Thursday that who he is as a manager—not what he is—is the reason he’s been hired.
“I will always be respectful of what has happened here in the past three-and-a-half years … but I can say that I think even after talking to Victor Orta, he felt like I was the right type of person to come here and take over the team and help it make the next steps,” Marsch explained. "I think that my way of communicating and having relationships … obviously we know we don’t have a lot of time and that we have to find success quickly, but it’s also I think so much more than that. It’s about the character of the players and it’s about the character of the people here. Again, that makes me optimistic.”
Naturally, there’s usually ample optimism at the start of any journey. We’ll see what happens if Leeds drops a couple of games in a row, or if Marsch accidentally says “shutout” instead of “clean sheet.” There’s plenty of pressure already placed on a well-known club that spent 16 years trying to return to the Premier League, only to see its stay threatened in its second season back. But there’s more on Marsch’s shoulders, fairly or not, from a U.S. perspective. He’s been given an historic second chance to make a first impression at soccer’s highest level. He has a shot at establishing an unprecedented degree of traction for a U.S. coach abroad. He’s the first to be given some genuine benefit of the doubt. If Marsch is successful at Leeds, the powers that be finally might acknowledge that Americans can know the game.
Marsch is embracing the challenge, and the opportunity, with his own brand of dedication, humility and confidence. He’ll try to balance deference with the personality and persistence that have brought him this far, perhaps establishing a blueprint in the process.
"It takes me out of my comfort zone, every time,” he said of each stop on his coaching journey. “It challenges me to grow and develop and learn new things. I'm very open to that.
"I'm very cognizant of the fact that I'm not perfect. and I don't want to be,” he continued. “All I can say is that the only way I know how to do things is to go all in, to give everything I have, to believe in who I am, to believe in the people that I work with and to try to maximize what we are every day. And I find If you can do that effectively, that you can be incredibly surprised with the human spirit and what you can achieve. So that sounds like Ted Lasso, I think, from what I've heard.”
