GG: We’ve made several announcements today, the main objective of which is to improve our club’s performance and make us more competitive. The changes we’ve made will enable us to put in place a sports structure that’s focused on teamwork, analytics and thoroughness. We aim to build a winning culture and mentality with the highest standards of discipline and work ethic. The club would like to thank all the coaches and players who will not be returning for their commitment and contribution.
Q: Why is Laurent Ciman no longer on the coaching staff?
GG: I’m not going to go into the details of Laurent Ciman’s departure. We’ve had confidential discussions, and we all recognize the work he’s done as a player and as a coach, and we wish him all the best for the rest of his career. However, what I can say is that after the season we, along with the whole technical team, took a step back and I included coach Laurent Courtois in this, and we made an analysis of the players and staff on the coaching side. All the changes we announced to you have been with a view to making us more consistent, competitive, and successful, and really to have this winning culture and mentality. So, all the decisions have been taken in that direction.
Q: Is there a hiring process to replace these assistant coaches? Have people already been identified and will they have more affinities, perhaps with Laurent Courtois’ style of play or personality?
GG: Yes, we already started the process a few weeks ago, we’ve already met with some candidates and we’re really looking for specific profiles for each role, a bit like for the players too where we have specific profiles that we’re looking for. Yes, the process will take its due course, and we hope to announce the team by the start of the camp. The team of players and coaches too.
Q: In the case of Josef Martinez, there have been several rumors over the last few days, which were confirmed today. What explains the split between you and Josef?
GG: We met with Josef and his agent and had very open discussions and came to the conclusion that taking the option was not the right trajectory to take and that parting ways at this point would be the best decision for both parties, so that’s the decision that was taken with Josef.
Q: Was injury history or age a factor?
GG: We weighed all the possible factors in making this decision, but again, it was a mutual decision on both sides to go in this direction.
Q: You’ve announced a new structure, can you tell us a little more about the dynamics there’s going to be between Corey Wray, Luca Saputo, Daniel Pozzi, and everyone else involved so we can understand a little better who reports to whom, how and where it fits? Also, is the committee concept you used during the year still present in your decision-making?
GG: Yes, absolutely. First, Luca, Simone Saputo and Corey report to me, as does Coach Laurent Courtois. When I looked at the sporting structure, I took a step back and broke it down into four different parts. 1) There’s a whole section on recruitment and synergies with Bologna. 2) The second was around MLS. When I say MLS, I mean the rules of MLS, the management of the workforce and its rules. The wage bill, GAM, TAM, DP, U22, Young DP and all that. All that put together with relations with our counterparts at MLS as well as the whole network of agents who gravitate around MLS. 3) there was the whole analytics side of things, there’s analytics for player performance on the pitch, but also analytics from the point of view of player recruitment. 4) The whole academy aspect, we have one of the youngest teams in the league and we’re among the teams where our academy players play the most minutes, the Homegrowns we call them. So, there are the four components: recruitment and our synergies with Bologna, the MLS component, the analytical component and then the academy component. Every team has a different reality, every market has a different reality, and the one I’m breaking down for you is ours. We’re lucky to be with our sister club in Bologna, where we can benefit from a lot of synergy around recruitment and scouting and use their scouts. We now use the same analytical systems and templates for recruiting, which is an extremely important aspect. Luca Saputo has already been working as a liaison with them for several years and he spends a lot of time over there. He’s really immersed in European soccer, so it was a logical move for him to take on all the recruitment work with the synergies we have with Bologna. The savings we can make with their whole team of scouts and recruiters over there. With Raffaele Frassetti, as CF Montreal’s head scout, we’re going to complement and look deeper into North America, whether it’s the CPL or the USL, to get more local scouting. On the other hand, with Simone Saputo, he was already working with me at the Academy. He finished his studies and was working more on one side of the business and now he was working with me at the Academy. MLS has restructured the ages of the academies so MLS Next, U15, U16, U18 where there are even older players who can play in U18. With Simone, we restructured our academy from a player development and sports point of view, of course, but also from a commercial point of view, like everything we do with soccer schools, camps, etc. Simone oversaw the development of the academy, so the evolution for me is that he continues. He’s going to oversee the academy, but also has knowledge of squad management. Then we want Corey Wray to really get into the whole management side of things including everything I’ve said about MLS. He already has all the relationships with the other clubs, our colleagues who work for the league, and with the agents. He also represents us at league level with all the other sports leaders of the other clubs. So, he’s really anchored in all of that. The idea of squad management and being compliant, of course Corey currently has the most knowledge, but what I wanted to put in place is a lot of redundancy in the team through knowledge of the rules. For those who are familiar, it’s extremely important to know the rules well, to be on the lookout for the rules so that you can make the right choices from a recruitment point of view and choose the right players and squad. I absolutely wanted it to be Corey, who knows the rules well, and we have Daniel Pozzi working with him around everything to do with squad compliance. Daniel has learned a lot in the last few months, even if he’d already been aware of it before, now he knows it well, and Simone Saputo is starting to know a lot about rules management, so we’re less at risk if there’s a loss on one side or the other from a redundancy point of view for MLS. So, to some extent, these are the major projects I’ve set up around the sports structure.
Q: Regarding the decisions made by the committee, is this something you continue to use? In the past, correct me if I’m wrong, we had the impression from the outside that your soccer vision was embodied by a strong figure in Olivier Renard, and today, if I understand correctly, it’s not Corey Wray who’s going to embody this soccer figure, but rather all of you together who are driving a vision. Is that fair?
GG: It’s well put, it’s a collective, it really is. As I said in my introduction, it’s really a structure based on the collective, consensus and teamwork, and that’s how we make decisions, in fact, that’s how we made our decisions during the last transfer window. We made almost twelve transactions in a short period of time. It was all done as a team, by consensus, you could say by committee. That’s how we work, and I would include Daniel Pozzi and Raffaele Frassetti among the committee members. I think it’s a great value to involve several people with different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, different experiences. We have a good combination of resources with a lot of experience, and breath of fresh air with younger people, so we have a little bit of everything. It’s good to take comments and opinions on board, but ultimately, we come to a decision as a committee. This worked very well. We saw the results at the end of the year with the expected results, we made the playoffs, and we had a great campaign at the end of the season, so I’m very comfortable with this way of operating.
Q: They all ultimately report to you because you’re the president, but between them, who reports to whom?
GG: Once again, they report to me, but we work on a committee to make the decisions. Daniel reports directly to Corey, because he’s in charge of team operations, and Raffaele reports to Luca, so that was in the smaller group. I just want to add that we’ve already launched the position for an analytics leader, so we hope to fill that soon. We’ve also launched positions for scouts, as I mentioned earlier, to focus more on North America.
Q: I’d like to come back to the Martinez issue, because today we’re announcing a major shake-up of the players. When you talk about the structure on the pitch and the money that will no longer be used for the players who are leaving, what’s going to be the priority for you? Is it going to be to find another star player? Is it going to be the development of younger players? What are the team’s priorities?
GG: We’re going to use the money diligently. And yes, it’s no secret that we want to look for another striker to replace Josef Martinez. Once again, we have clear profiles across different positions. It’s no secret that we want to strengthen our defense in general, and when I say defense, I’m not just talking about our goalkeepers and defensemen, I’m talking about the team as a whole because we start to defend with our forwards, so it’s really from that perspective that we want to improve the squad in general. You can’t allow 64 goals in a season and expect to be successful. It’s just not possible. That’s why we want to improve the whole team. And yes, there were a lot of announcements today about players leaving, so we have a lot of positions to fill, but we’re already working on that.
Q: Simone and Lucas are two senior directors, and Corey Wray is the soccer director, are the three on equal level or is Corey a bit beneath them.
GG: In the hierarchy, I’m still in charge of the sporting side and I have the three who report to me, that’s the simplest way of explaining it.
Q: Who’s in charge of recruiting the staff in all this, and what’s the process for recruiting the next staff?
GG: We have Lucas, Corey, Simone, me and the coach who are involved in the interviews. When I tell you that we really work as a team, it’s really the team as a collective that’s involved, and we go through all the interviews together. We have specific criteria and profiles that we’re looking for, and that’s how we’ll decide.
Q: I presume you’ve done the same inventory as you’ve done for the rest of the tasks that go into a staff. What were your findings, whether general or specific, in terms of what’s needed in a Montreal staff to make it work?
GG: There are different models, and it’s also to support our young coach in the best possible way. We really need a mix of experiences to support him. We have a better understanding of our coach’s strengths and weaknesses, so we’re really going to fill in some of the areas where we think there’s room for improvement. I’m not going to hide it from you, from a defensive point of view, once again, we gave up far too many goals. We gave up a lot of goals from set-piece situations, including the last game of the year against Atlanta. Just a parallel there, we didn’t lose the game against Atlanta because Atlanta was a better team than us, we ultimately lost the game against Atlanta because we conceded two bad goals. In my humble opinion, two goals are symptomatic of a large part of our season. Where were we getting beaten by our opponents at the far post, through inattention or whatever? That can’t happen, especially in the playoffs. When I talk about changing the mentality, I mean changing the mentality in training. If you’re giving up goals like that in training, and I’ve seen them, we were giving up goals like that in training. Many of you were often there in practice, where the team gave up goals because you get overrun in a mini match, and then “it’s okay, it’s just a goal.” That’s the mentality that we need to change and it’s not just the players but also the staff in place who have to work, day after day, on putting the little details in place so that we can be successful.
Q: Just to clarify the assistant coaches who left, were they fired? Like Laurent Ciman?
GG:I won’t go into the nature of the discussions or the nature of the coaches’ departures. We just decided to go in a different direction.
Q: Are these contracts with a term for Lucas, Simone and Corey?
GG: I won’t go into the details of specific contracts.
Q: So, no length of time?
GG:It’s our team that’s in place now, and we’re going to do our best to put the best structure and the best team in place.
Q: Among the coaches who left this morning, several were there before Laurent Comtois arrived. Was there a desire expressed by the coach to perhaps have a greater say in the coaching staff around him? Was this part of the discussions you had?
GG: It’s an overall decision, and once again, it’s a team decision. It’s not just Laurent Courtois who made the decision, it was really a reflection after the season where we took a step back, looked at the needs and priorities and that’s how the decisions were made.
Q: How involved is he in the process of hiring new coaches?
GG: He is involved in the process.
Q: Who’s going to be the face, whether for the fans or the media, to come and talk to? Olivier Renard did it, and now you’ve done it since. Are you still the spokesperson, so to speak, for the project?
GG: Yes, I am still in charge of the sporting department, so I’ll be your spokesperson in the future, as I have been in recent months, and I’ll make myself as available as I can.
Q: Family dynamics can be invaluable, but they can also be complicated. What advantages do you see in having Luca and Simone? What are the pitfalls to avoid, perhaps based on your experience?
GG: First, Luca and Simone have been at the club since they were kids. It’s in their blood and they want the team to succeed. They studied sports management and have already taken on prominent roles in the club. For me, it’s a continuation of their evolution in professional terms and as leaders. I see it as an incredible advantage to have two motivated young people who want to see soccer succeed in Quebec and who want Quebecers to shine and make their dreams come true. I think that’s fantastic. They know the values of the club and the values of the family. What’s important to me in this whole structure, and my team knows it is that everyone has a precise and specific role. So yes, we work as a team, but ultimately, each team member is accountable and responsible for his or her work. For me, I think whether it’s family or not, if everyone respects each other’s swim lane things will go very well. Whether it’s family or not, for me, it’s all the same.
Q: That’s a lot to digest in one day. What do you want people to take away from today?
GG: Once again, that all the decisions and announcements we make are really to improve the club’s performance, to be more competitive. The other word I’d use is to be more consistent and put on a better show on the pitch, to really target the right players and coaches to maximize our club’s potential and maximize the development of our prospects, but also of our youngsters at the Academy. I want people to remember that we’re not afraid to make decisions that may be difficult, but for the good of the club.
Q: I’m not familiar with the internal dynamics, how does it work? Do you have to get the board to approve the hiring of Lucas and Simone?
GG: Yes, it was ratified, of course. I presented the structure and my reasoning, and it was ratified by the Board of Directors.
Q: Did everyone fall off their chairs because no one knew?
GG: Honestly, when we presented it, it just made sense. It was good news for everyone.
Q: A lot of players are leaving the club today and there will be no return for their departure, they leave for nothing essentially. Is it perhaps an admission of failure in the sporting philosophy that we haven’t managed to get anything in return from these players who are leaving the club today?
GG: Yes, if I take a step back, and I’ve been here for three years now, one thing I’ve seen that I didn’t see when I was necessarily playing is seeing even 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds getting chances with the first team. I know that soccer has changed over the last ten or twenty years, and I’ve seen 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds get a lot of chances on the pitch under the different coaches we’ve had. There’s no one who can tell me, especially not this year, that youngsters haven’t had a chance. Some of them were injured at the worst possible times. I’m thinking of Grayson Doody who they were supposed to play and then he got injured, but otherwise everyone got a chance to play. Rida Zouhir, since I’ve been here in 2022, there have been several chances. We tried with a loan, he came back, and we tried again, so at some point you conclude that the youngster doesn’t manage to develop here. We hope he’ll thrive elsewhere, because we want him to, because he’s a product of the academy and we want his dreams to come true. There are other young people too who, unfortunately, we have to let go. I don’t see it as a failure because it won’t always work out. It’s not necessarily for everyone that Montreal is the best place to blossom, and here we see some cases. In retrospect, we also have to think about which team we’re sending the player on loan to. If I look at the case of Matteo Schiavoni, there was a loan to Hamilton. Looking back, was it the best team where he was going to get the most playing time? Maybe not. So, we’ll have to think for ourselves and learn from that. The other players we’ve loaned out to USL, they’ve had a lot of minutes, and some have developed in the way we wanted, and some haven’t. We’re making decisions now. Right now, we’re making decisions. Don’t forget that there are young people in the academy. There are some great prospects coming up, who are growing extremely strong, so we’re going to give other young people a chance.
Q: Among the list of players who’s the option has not been exercised are there any players with whom you are in discussions to sign a new contract?
GG: We’re in discussions with Ousman Jabang and Logan Ketterer, those are the ones that come to mind now. For the others, we’ll move on to other things.
Q: If we were talking about the priority for a new player, with the departure of Victor Wanyama, there is no longer a designated player. Is it one of the club’s priorities to look for a new designated player?
GG: Once again, we have specific profiles, and when I say profiles, I mean tactical and physical profiles in each position. It’s clear what kind of player we want to find in the way the club wants to play and the way our coach wants to play. That’s very important to optimize the formation we want to put on the pitch. Yes, we have a little more flexibility on the budget side, with the departure of certain players who were on the payroll with a high salary. That frees up some budget and we’re going to navigate that intelligently, but to say we’re going to look for another DP to replace Victor Wanyama, I can’t say that. Maybe we’ll look for a Young DP, maybe we’ll look for a U-22, maybe we’ll look for two or three players. We’re going to do it very intelligently and diligently to make the right decisions.
Q: With the minutes of Saliba and Sirois, Montreal CF is generally well placed in terms of the number of first-team minutes played by Academy players. The fact remains, however, that there were just three Quebecers on the pitch against Atlanta, with the addition of Samuel Piette. On several occasions you’ve stressed the fact that you want to have Quebecers on the pitch and that you really want to spearhead the development of soccer here. What are we going to see that’s different from what I just said, which may be circumstantial because Jules-Anthony could have played, but what are you going to do differently? I’m also kind of thumbing at the situation with Mathieu Choiniere, this feeling that maybe we could pay these players a bit more because they’re home-grown, are there any changes we can anticipate in your approach to Quebecers?
GG: Once again, I think we’re doing a very good job of getting the youngsters from the Academy up to the first team and giving them a chance. Yes, there’s Nathan and Jonathan who got a lot of minutes too, and Mathieu before he left, so they’re the ones who were getting us a lot of minutes from our academy players. When you compare yourself to other teams and really see local products playing in the first team, there aren’t many clubs that have as many as we do. We’re very proud of that. As far as the academy is concerned, with Simone Saputo, we’ve set up a program called HPP (High Performance Players), which already includes double sessions. These are very high-potential youngsters we’re already targeting to potentially bring to the training camp in January, or send to a training camp in Bologna, so that ultimately, they get the best opportunities to move up to the first team and go on to the national teams. We do a lot of things to train our youngsters so that they can continue to progress. Yes, when they move up to the first team, we pay them what they’re worth, and that’s just normal.
Q: Is it premium? Do you consider the fact that he’s a local player in the way you assess his fair value?
GG: Yes, we do.
Q: Just in relation to this development when we talk about this program, I’ve had the opportunity to see practices and sessions, but there’s still this hole there. This is a year when it was decided that the reserve League One team would be discontinued, is MLS Next Pro on the table for you, or are we sticking with the idea that it’s the loan system that will bridge the gap between the academy and the first team?
GG: We’re not interested in going to MLS Next Pro. I already mentioned from a financial and operational point of view, it doesn’t make sense for us. For now, the change in ages to U15, U16 and U18 is favorable for us because we can send even youngsters who have signed with the first team. We can send them to tournaments or matches with the U18 academy, where I think you’re allowed up to three older players, so we’re going to use this formula, and yes, we’ll continue to use the loan formula. With all due respect to MLS Next Pro, the CPL and USL are stronger in terms of competition. It’s finding the right team where our youngsters are going to get minutes that will be, I think, the most important thing for us. Just to sum it all up, no, we’re not going to MLS Next Pro, we’re going to use the U18s from the academy, where we can get even older players and then with the loan system to the CPL or USL.
Q: How will analytics help you? Let’s take the case of Grayson Doody, he was drafted this year, he played and was eventually loaned out to USL and now he’s been released. How can we better maximize the MLS Superdraft thanks to analytics to optimize the choices you’re going to make?
GG: Analytics are important, but there’s also watching matches, so now we’ve got more people watching matches. It’s funny you should say that, but as we prepare for the NCAA draft, we have scouting reports that are very, very good, so we can target the right players. The scouts know the kind of players we’re looking for, so that’s already started. In terms of analytics and recruiting, there are certain tools that allow you to gather tactical data. If I give an example of a central defender, how many times has the central defender broken lines? So, if you’re looking for a more technical defender, or a more physical central defender or full-back, you can look at tackles and duels. There’s software that lets you do that, and on the other hand, there’s other software that takes match broadcasts. Here, we don’t have GPS on the players, but in a fairly precise way, it tells you the mileage covered, the high-speed sprints. In our coach’s system, the full backs have to cover a lot of ground, so we have minimum and physical standards, so we monitor whether the players are meeting these performance indicators. I gave you two examples from an analytical point of view of things we’re doing now.
Q: Gabriel Corbo and Raheem Edwards, two of this season’s most important players, are leaving. What explains their departure, given that they were important players for Laurent Courtois?
GG: We had to make changes defensively. I said the statistics earlier, so we had to make some changes. It’s a question of player profiles that didn’t fit exactly with what we were looking for.
Q: I’d like to give you the opportunity to comment on Joel Waterman’s contract extension, which arrived yesterday. How satisfied are you that you were able to reach an agreement with him? What do you see for his potential over the next few years? Can he still evolve?
GG: Yes, he is able to evolve. You’ve seen his evolution over the last five years with us. He’s been to a World Cup and he’s knocking on the door of maybe another World Cup. He’s in Jesse Marsh’s plans with the national team, at least according to the latest news. He’s a very intense player and very strong technically. He’s a leader, so with Sam Piette and Nathan Saliba, they’ve really provided leadership for the team this year. I’m delighted because I know how hard he’s worked to get where he is today, and we’re delighted that he and his wife have chosen Montreal as their home. He wants to stay here, he wants to help the club and for us, Joel, he’s a great leader and he can play in many positions. He can play anywhere in the back three and he even played in the six this year in a crucial game against New York. I think he did very well, it’s his natural position when he was developing as a young player. He’s a nice guy and I’m really glad he’s going to be with us for a long time now.
Q: Can you guarantee beyond any doubt that Nathan Saliba will be in the starting line-up in 2025?
GG: That’s something you’d have to ask the coach, not me. We’ve just picked up his option.
Q: Could you decide to use this option to transfer him?
GG: No, we expect him to be here at training camp.
Q: You said that Montreal isn’t the best place for all players to blossom. In your opinion, what’s the solution to making Montreal the best place to grow as a player?
GG: Every player is different. Sometimes, it can be the environment, the climate, it can be so many things. You can send a player to Florida or California, and it’s not a good environment for that player. I’m just saying that not all cities are necessarily where a player feels comfortable. There’s also the way the coach plays, maybe he’s not the right profile for the coaches in place. There are so many factors. I’m convinced that we have everything here for a youngster to blossom, but I just want to make sure that people understand what I’m saying. When we see that a young player, year after year, hasn’t succeeded, whether for reasons of discipline, performance, or local pressure maybe it’s better for that youngster to go somewhere else, where he’ll be able to reach the level he’s aiming for.
Q: Are there more people in the sports department? You mentioned the potential recruitment of a director for analytics, is this a replacement or new positions? Can you confirm that you’re investing in making your structure bigger?
GG: Definitely bigger. From a screening point of view, we’re going to look for more local screening. We’re going to look for analytical support, so if we don’t have people in-house, we’ll use outside consultants to help us. Then, there’s the part I haven’t really touched on, and that’s another thing Lucas Saputo will be looking at, and that’s performance. We really want to have a performance club department. When we say performance department we mean the gym, nutrition, and mental health. Yes, we’re investing a lot more from a personnel point of view in the athlete to give us the best chance of performing.
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