Jay Sugarman knows there’s a ‘tension’ in the Union’s approach, and knows his key role in solving it

If there were any questions left about why the Union fired manager Jim Curtin, sporting director Ernst Tanner answered them clearly on Monday.

“This is definitely not a personal decision we are taking here — we have a lot of respect for Jimmy and what he did,” Tanner said at a news conference at Subaru Park. “Over the course of the last year, we felt that we are not really aligned in what we are doing here. I have, at least, that feeling.”

In particular, Tanner wanted Curtin to accelerate bringing the club’s young prospects through, not just in first-team practices but in games. Curtin’s perennial reluctance to make full use of his roster depth was always his biggest weakness, and it was symbolized one last time by his limited substitutions in the season-ending loss to Cincinnati.

“I’m always hearing the young ones are not ready to play,” Tanner said. “I tell you, I don’t know if they are ready to play, because we didn’t try it. We would rather try to be sure. That is a discussion we had for sure, and that is also one of the reasons we are not aligned.”

When that kind of disagreement exists, no coach is going to survive over his boss. Not even one with Curtin’s deep local roots and widespread popularity among fans.

» READ MORE: Union fire longtime manager Jim Curtin

But there were bigger questions at hand, too, and they were aimed at the man sitting next to Tanner on the podium: principal owner Jay Sugarman.

What exactly do the Union want to be? How much ambition do they really have to not just develop elite young players, but win trophies?

Here was another opportunity to ask Sugarman about a subject he has faced so often in his 15-plus years as the check-signer-in-chief.

Ambition can be a bad word in Philadelphia sometimes. Right now, though, the Philadelphia sports landscape is full of it. The Phillies, Eagles, and 76ers throw everything they can at pursuing championships, even if the last of them too often throws air balls.

The perception is that the Union don’t — and whether it’s right or wrong, it matters that the perception exists. It affects whether players want to play here, and more importantly whether fans want to spend their money at a stadium half an hour out of town where ticket prices keep rising.

“We have a different strategy, and it’s not a conventional strategy,” Sugarman said. “It’s not the easiest strategy to execute, and it’s not the flashiest strategy, but when we brought Ernst aboard, that was the strategy we wanted to bet on.”

» READ MORE: Former Union coach Jim Curtin left lasting moments from his time in Philly. Here’s 10.

Those words are the kind that leave Union fans — the team’s real fans, not just people who buy tickets to go watch a soccer game on a few Saturdays a year — outraged.

They don’t want “a different strategy.” They’d be just fine with “a conventional strategy,” because “conventional” has been defined by most of the teams in MLS that win trophies. Sugarman knows this.

“That long-term success is what we’re investing in,” he said. “But we’ve still got to win every Saturday, or we need to win enough. That balance between, youth development, player development at the senior level, and winning, is a tough balance.”

It’s also the root of the problem that defines the Union more than any other. There doesn’t have to be a balance between signing match-winning stars and developing young players to surround them. In the modern MLS, teams can do both, and do.

Look no further than the league’s best-run team right now, the Columbus Crew. In the last few years, it has developed superb young midfielder Aidan Morris, who’s now thriving at England’s Middlesbrough, and goalkeeper Patrick Schulte in house; and also spent nearly $30 million on transfer fees to sign Lucas Zelarayán, Cucho Hernández, and Diego Rossi.

That outlay has been rewarded with two MLS Cups, a Leagues Cup, and a runner-up finish in this year’s Concacaf Champions Cup.

» READ MORE: The upside of the Union's bad season is their young talent now knows what it takes to win

Amid the torrent of social media reaction to Curtin’s firing, one veteran observer of the American soccer scene wrote something that cut through the noise: “I suspect the departure of Jim Curtin signals a true push by the Union to become the development club in the U.S.”

A sports team, or any business, can have more than one goal at a time. But at a certain point, one goal has to stand above the rest. And if that goal is not winning championships, it will show on the field.

This theory was presented to Sugarman — this time calling it a “tension” instead of a “balance.” He bristled when that happened, but he had an answer ready.

“We spend a ton of time figuring out: Is this the right strategy for us to win? Not to develop players, to win?” he said. “And we think it is the right way to win. Now, there are other ways to win — again, this is not a conventional strategy. And if we didn’t have somebody who has seen it work around the world and has actually been at the forefront of it, I’m not sure I would have picked this strategy.”

That was news. The strategy began under Tanner’s predecessor, Earnie Stewart, and with guidance from part-owner and longtime academy bankroller Richie Graham. When Stewart left, the foundation was in place, but there hadn’t been enough time for full execution yet, and that’s what Tanner was brought in to do.

“We spend the most on our academy of any team in the league,” Sugarman said, and that’s true. “We believe in that, not because we can make money from it — we’re not making money from it right now. We believe we can create talent. We believe we can create a competitive advantage in this league.”

But he then admitted: “You’re right that the tension always exists. Do I play the young kids? Do I play my veterans? How do I mix and match? That’s not for me to say. That’s really [for] Ernst and our coaches to say. But I have seen the results around the world. I believe this strategy can work to not just be a good club, but to be a great club.”

» READ MORE: A bad call or the right time? Social media reacts to the firing of longtime Union coach Jim Curtin.

It worked once, when Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie starred for the 2020 team that won the Supporters’ Shield. It may yet work again soon, led by Cavan Sullivan, CJ Olney, and Neil Pierre. But right now, the Union just missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years, and it’s understandably hard to see a bigger picture.

“We’ve been successful,” Sugarman said, “but as you point out, ultimate success is winning these trophies.”

A few moments later, Sugarman said something that should have been his most important quote of the day.

“There is certainly not any owner in our group who goes, ‘We’re successful because we sell players,’” Sugarman said. “We are only successful if we win. And if we can win by developing players, we’re pretty special, and that’s what we’ve put our bet on.”

He added, with some emphasis: “We need to deliver on that. It’s not good enough to just say, ‘We’re investing at it.’ We actually need to execute it.”

Those are the kinds of words fans want to hear.

“We’re trying everything we can to find ways to build a successful club, look at the long-term path in this league and say, ‘How do we stay an elite club?’” Sugarman said. “Again, we’re not interested in moral victories, we’re not interested in, you know, ‘Gee, we’re good at this but we didn’t really win.’ We want to win. But you have to have a strategy to do that.”

This winter is one of the most crucial in team history to prove that right.