Atlanta United, Gabriel Heinze (Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images)
Atlanta United got it right by bringing Gabriel Heinze aboard
Like most football/soccer clubs around the world, Atlanta United struggled in 2020. They were so bad that they fired their manager, Frank de Boer, just five games into the season. Things only got worse under interim manager Stephen Glass as the Five Stripes won just four of their final 18 matches.
While it’s easy to blame such a horrible season on a pandemic, the underlying factors for Atlanta’s failure actually stem from de Boer’s hiring in December of 2018, as well as the front office’s personnel decisions (made in tandem with de Boer) made during the offseason following the 2019 season.