On the most important next steps in helping Sporting KC evolve as a club…
There has been a tremendous amount of progress made from when the (current) ownership took over. I started here with the ownership in 2006 when they bought the team, so if you look from then until now, there’s been incredible progress in so many ways—front office, technical side, facilities, all these different things. And obviously we’ve accumulated some incredible resources along the way—our stadium, our training facilities, those types of things. I think it’s now important that we make sure we become really, really good at some of the things that we have said are our biggest initiatives. One of those is the pro pathway. If you look right now, we have (forward) Daniel Salloi who came through our Academy, and he’s playing on a regular basis as a starter.
I know this is a lofty goal, but it would be tremendous if one day we put out 11 players on the field that have gone through our Academy, Swope Park Rangers and then the senior team in some way, shape or form through that structure. We now need to focus on that and make sure we’re really good there. And we have some other ideas as an organization, but they’re not for right now. They’re probably a couple of years down the line. But I believe right now it’s focusing in on our backyard and making sure that everything is taken care of really well and that we’re getting really, really good at the development of our pro pathway and player enterprise.
On the long-term project of building Sporting KC’s roster…
Any great club in the world that develops their own players will always still have a part of their mix of going out and finding a player that did not come through their system. And I think the reason why is because every single year, you’re not developing every single position on the field that can eventually make it to the senior team. So there are times, and I’ll give you an example: at Barcelona, they’ve developed a lot of players in their system, but (Luis) Suarez didn’t go through their academy, and he’s their striker, and they had to buy him from somewhere else because that’s a position they did not develop within their system. I don’t think that we’re immune to that. We’ll be in the same situation, it just could be for a different position. We always have to be open, and we also have to be organic in that way, as well.
We’re never going to stop looking around the world for other potential players that can fit into our system. I also think that you’re going to find that the Swope Park Rangers will have some players eventually on it who are 18 or 19 years old who are coming from overseas—foreign players who are working within our system who are just coming at a different time within the structure.
On the long-term stability created by his contract extension…
If I’m not here and someone else comes in, there are a couple of ways you have to look at it. If someone’s coming in and adapting and adjusting to what’s already here, you’re building from there. If someone’s coming in with a bunch of new ideas, a lot of times that comes with a lot of new people. So all of the sudden you shift what you’re doing. Our objective—and I’m speaking for ownership on this—is we want to be along the lines of (the former). We want to have stability in our staff. We think that’s been a very important aspect of the success of this organization.
At the same time, we want to be really smart to make sure that all the investment and brain trust that has been used to put this all together, that we don’t suddenly shift gears and go in a completely different direction. We just don’t want to do that. So as time goes on, it’s also going to be about (having) a really good succession plan as well. I’m very motivated—I’m not sitting here saying that after five years I’m also done. What I’m saying is that it’s important for us as an organization to have a succession plan. For all of the success, why would you want to completely change how you’re doing things? Don’t fix what isn’t broken.
On the details of Vermes’ contract…
I can’t speak to specifics around my contract, but what I will say is I’m sitting up here because I’m committed to this. I love what I do here. I always say that when I first came in, the technical side wound up being a blank canvas. It was on the business side as well, and our club has done a tremendous job rebranding and all of those things. But at the same time, it was a blank canvas for me on the technical side and the staff. Obviously we have an incredible collaboration with ownership over the years in creating that vision of who we want to be and how we want to create players in our system. But at the end, this is my project, and I’m committed to it. It’s why I’m here and it’s why we’ve done this long-term deal.
I thought the extension was going to be for shorter, and (Sporting KC co-owner) Mike (Illig) offered it longer. We had talked about something and then he came in for longer, and I was 100 percent behind the idea because I do think it’s one of the things in sports that doesn’t get looked at enough, and that is you need time. There are a lot of teams that can have one-hit wonders and do really well and then kind of fall off the screen. But it’s really about every year trying to be competitive and be in a place to try and win something. And I think we’ve proven that. I don’t have to sell that to you guys. I think we’ve proven that we do that. It’s also securing and insulating ourselves for the future, because look at the team we’re going to play on Wednesday night. (Atlanta United FC) spent $15 million on a transfer fee for one player. Financially we could do that, but what I respect about our ownership group is that they are running a business. And they want to run it the correct way and want to be successful in that business.
Our model is centered around something else based on our marketplace and what we believe in who we are. Going forward, we believe that the pro pathway that we’ve created is going to be the lifeblood of this club moving forward, and we want to make sure that we continue to develop and evolve that to where it needs to be. I’m not going to tell you that we’re going to send two or three Academy guys into the first team every year, but we’ve got to be doing that every couple of years—getting a couple of kids coming out of there who are really going to have an impact. Right now we’ve been stuffing the pipe, and now we’re starting to get some stuff coming out on the back end with those kids getting experience at the Swope Park Rangers level, which we never had before. All of this is evolving, and this time allows me to help participate and grow that.
On how the process of his contract extension developed…
Every year I have a meeting with ownership. We kind of go over the past year and do a review, and then we talk about the next steps going forward and how that plan has changed. We always have a long-term plan. So (in November 2017) it was time for me to present this five-year plan to the owners. Ownership was very supportive of the plan, and I remember after the meeting, Mike (Illig) said, “I have one problem with this plan.” I said, “What’s that?” And he said, “The guy that is the architect is someone we don’t have here for the same amount of time. So I’d like to start talking about an extension.” And so that’s how it started last November. We were in the midst of a retool with quite a few guys on our team, so I was very focused on that. And then we picked (discussions) back up in late January or early February. It wasn’t a very long process to be honest with you. It was more just schedule-wise us getting together. But we were both under the same opinion that this is what we wanted to do.
On the challenges of being both manager and technical director at Sporting KC…
I would tell you that when I was first technical director (in 2006), that was one thing. When I became the coach at the same time a couple of years later (in 2009), I can tell you that first 10 games (of 2009) and the next year was really, really difficult for me. It was difficult because of time management. I wasn’t very good at it. So that part was hard, but over the years, because the staff has grown, that assistance has helped greatly. Now we have a player personnel department that’s headed up by Brian Bliss, and those things have helped immensely. But I also think that our club is maybe structured a little differently, too. My direct connection every day is to Mike and Cliff Illig. So that’s probably not the norm, either. So I probably have more responsibility, but there’s more collaboration within our staff. Personally speaking, a lot of times when you have a separate technical director and a coach, there are times where you can get into some disagreements that cause problems within that relationship. At least right now, I haven’t had any problems with myself. So I’m going to keep that going.
On the generation of ideas with the ownership group…
It’s different at different times. I can remember when we started talking about the player enterprise of eventually having our Academy built out and then the importance of the Swope Park Rangers. And then talking about where the financial spend is going in the League when you look at all the other teams that are coming into the League and the way that they are spending money and how you continue to stay relevant and competitive. That gap could widen. So how do we stay competitive? It’s different topics at different times. I like to think that we’re ahead of the game in thinking about a lot of those things. That’s one of the reasons why I really enjoy and have learned a lot as well because I get to sit in with some incredible business minds, not just in and amongst Kansas City but nationally and around the world within our ownership group. I get a chance to collaborate with them and explain to them what I’m thinking. Then they share, ‘Well, if we’re going to do this then we might think about it this way.’ I love the fact that we have some rooms in some of the office spaces that our owners have where there’s white boards that are as long as a whole hallway. We really storyboard things out. We spend a lot of time talking about them. They know the vision because they’re a part of building it and that’s what’s great. I don’t know how many teams in the league that you can say this about where you come to every game at home and all of your ownership is represented at every game at home. That’s pretty amazing, let alone away games.
On being patient with a long-term plan…
I’m always thinking about the long term no matter how much time I have here. I’m always thinking that way. Felipe Gutierrez is a perfect example. In some way, shape or form we could have pushed him through his injury but I just don’t think that would be the smart play. We have him signed up here for four years. He’s a very important player to who we want to be as we continue to move forward so let’s do the right thing by that player. That was important to us. At the same time, it’s with everything else that we’re doing. There are some really quality players that have been brought to our attention, and there are players that we probably could have moved on. The problem is financial. It’s not that we can’t afford it, but it wouldn’t be a good spend for us for so many different reasons. We found Johnny Russell. We found Felipe Gutierrez. We found Khiry Shelton in our League and I think he’s a great addition. We found Yohan Croizet. From a financial perspective, we’ve been able to stay within our model. At the same time, we do have resources that we can spend but it’s got to be the right person that fits us and also can have the right staying power here. That’s an important aspect, as well. I don’t want to put a ton of time, resources and effort into somebody that’s not going to be here for a long time.
On representing himself in negotiations…
I’m probably a different guy when it comes to that. The hardest thing about being your own agent is it’s hard to talk about yourself. It’s not something I’m very comfortable with. On a serious note, I think also know what I want. I also think I’m extremely fair. And I’m the same way with the players. I think one of the reasons you see guys like Graham Zusi and Matt Besler and all those guys still here is because I think that we’ve always treated them fairly and also with a tremendous amount of respect. We didn’t wait to do their contracts when they went to the World Cup. When they came back, we brought them into a room and slapped a piece of paper down in front of them and said, ‘Here’s a new deal for you.’ They were both blown away. They didn’t expect it. They didn’t need to. We had just done their deals a year before. Since they made it, we felt like it was the right thing for us to do. I have to say the owners have been extremely fair with me in that regard, too, since I started here.
On what keeps him in Kansas City…
I really mean this. When you walk out into Children’s Mercy Park like Saturday night when it’s full the way it is, the fans are incredibly passionate, our players leave everything out on the field – I don’t mean this disrespectfully to all the other clubs in MLS -- but I really think that if we’re not the, we’re easily in the top three or four model franchises in this League. I just don’t think that grass is greener on the other side. When you’re in the place that you’re extremely happy to go to work every day, you’re excited and motivated, I don’t know what else I would be searching and trying to find when it’s right here in front of me. Sometimes things are just right in front of you and you just don’t spend the time to look at them. When I was really young as a player, I probably didn’t realize that. As I’ve gotten older, it’s become very apparent to me. My career path as a player was a hard one. I played in three different countries. My first one in Hungary, I lived at the stadium because I was trying to find my career path because it didn’t really exist in the United States. I think that I’m someone that also realizes that I’m extremely fortunate to be a part of an organization like I am. I work with great people. The staff is tremendous. If you look at the immediate staff with Kerry Zavagnin and Zoran Savic, we’ve been together for a long, long time. Look at Chet North who was the trainer here for 18-19 years and he’s still a part of the organization. He works a very specific position down in our medical staff. It tells you a lot about our ownership group and how committed they are to the people here. At the same time, it makes it really easy to be committed to the project. I also know that I’m not a mercenary. I’m not the guy that goes one year to this club and two years to this club and just keep bumping around. I consider myself to be more of a builder. I think we’re still building this project and I want to continue to be a part of it.
On thinking long-term for the club…
In 2011, when we were starting at the stadium. The stadium was being built still and we had to start June 9 our first game was. We had to play all of our first 10 games on the road and we were one win, six losses and three ties at that point. I had a meeting with Michael Illig, Cliff Illig and Neal Patterson. It was a long meeting, probably three or four hours at dinner. I think it was a lunch but lunch went to dinner it was so long. It was a difficult meeting. I remember Neal had made a statement. He said, ‘Peter, you’ve got to figure out how we’re going to win because if the team’s not winning, we’re not going to have success.’ From day one when I started, I wanted to win. You’re trying to build something and you’re trying to get there. Every year it’s the same thing. No matter how good the team is, somebody always falls away from the group because they don’t evolve with the group in the way that we’re going. At that moment, nothing had changed for me. I know there was a lot of press that thought it was time for me to go at that time. I never once wavered on what I believed was going to make the team successful because I’ve always viewed it as a long-term play. I never viewed it as a short-term play. That’s just not the way I am. I remember when I got traded twice in this League. And I remember both times when I got traded, it bothered me because I saw myself being at that club for my whole life. The great thing is that wound up being the case here. That’s the way I see this club now. I’ve been here for a long time, since 2000, as a player and now a manager.
On the importance of stability in a club…
I would say that the majority of players are here because they want to be here. They’re here because I believe that they’ve gotten a chance to see what the club is all about, what the culture is all about with the stadium environment. At the end, the people that you work closely with everyday is the staff. If that’s who you came into play for and now they’re leaving and now things are changing, I also think that can be a difficult process going forward. Now you’re trying to bring in a new staff and get them acclimated to what you have. Now you’re changing players. It’s also financially straining on the club because when a new coach comes in, maybe he doesn’t like three of the players you brought in. Maybe they’re three of the more expensive players. How do you get rid of them? Do you now have to eat some of the money? There’s all of those things that you have to talk about. I do think – for the players – I think consistency and continuity is an important thing. Obviously, it comes down to if they like what they’re a part of.
