Domenec Torrent Out as NYCFC Coach
NYCFC is looking for yet another head coach.
Domenec Torrent is out after his first full season in charge, with the club and manager parting ways on Friday. Torrent didn't mince his words after NYCFC's playoff ouster at the hands of Toronto FC, and they wound up being prophetic after all.
"They are ready for another coach, because they are a group, a big group. They are ready. But don’t worry. Patrick is not here, it’s Dome. If Dome is not here, another coach," Torrent curiously said, among other comments that shed light on his frustration with MLS's general setup and the inability to spend on reinforcements.
Torrent took over for Patrick Vieira midway through the 2018 season but really put his stamp on the team in 2019, the first post-David-Villa season for the club. A more balanced attack helped NYCFC to the best record in the Eastern Conference, but the top seed in the playoffs proved of little value. NYCFC, which had to relocate its conference semifinal game to Citi Field from Yankee Stadium due to conflicts with the Major League Baseball playoffs, fell to Toronto and had its season come to an abrupt end.
"While I’ve greatly enjoyed coaching NYCFC and the incredible life experience of living in New York, in mutual discussion with the club, I feel this is the right time for myself and my family to look for other opportunities as I develop my career as a head coach," Torrent, whose backroom staff is also departing, said in a statement.
Whoever takes over for Torrent will be the club's fourth coach in six seasons of existence. Jason Kreis lasted just the inaugural 2015 season, with Vieira taking charge for 2016 and 2017 and into June of last season. Torrent, Pep Guardiola's former right-hand man at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, stepped in, but did not prove to be a long-term solution.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst, a former teammate of NYCFC director Claudio Reyna at Rangers, has been tipped to be the successor. He last managed Feyenoord in the Eredivisie.
