Stuart Findlay says farewell to the Union with one last act of selflessness

What happened with Stuart Findlay in his last week with the Union is unusual, in soccer or any sport.

How often does a team agree to trade a player, then have another player suffer an injury days before the planned departure that forces a renegotiation to keep the initial player in town for another week? And then have that player play two entire games without a whisper of complaint?

It’s a testament to Findlay’s selflessness and his appreciation for his time in Philly that the Scotsman did that before finally leaving town on Sunday. His move to English third-tier club Oxford United became official on Tuesday, with the Union receiving a small transfer fee.

Findlay could easily have put his foot down and said he was leaving on July 10, when he was originally supposed to, and that would have been that. There would have been no risk of injury, no risk of offending Oxford by showing up late, and no headache having to unpack the belongings that he and his wife had already put away.

But he decided to stay here. So back on to the field he went, playing every minute against Miami and New England in a span of four days.

“Once it all happened, the manager [Jim Curtin] pulled me in and he spoke to me and said, ‘Look, Stuart, this is the situation we’re in — if you don’t want to play, if you’re not comfortable with this, I totally understand,’” Findlay told The Inquirer this week as he settled down in England. “The manager, first and foremost, he’s a fantastic human being. He always puts his players’ welfare first, he puts the players before anything, and he told me if I wasn’t in the mental position to do it, he would never ask me to do it.”

» READ MORE: Why Stuart Findlay is leaving the Union

Findlay thought about it and decided to trust his instinct.

“I’ve got too much respect for the manager, for all the backroom staff; I’ve got too much respect for my teammates in that situation,” he said. “I was never going to let them down. When I realized I had to get called upon for that last week, one, I would never let anybody down; two, I thought it would be a nice way to bow out. And especially after we got the two victories, I was proven correct with it.”

He sure was. After the game, Findlay got to bang the Union’s big drum at midfield as fans chanted his name. And during it, he almost brought the house down with a long-range shot in the eighth minute that was parried away by a diving New England goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

“The goalkeeper had done me a favor by palming it out — I think he could have caught that one and made that a bit less dramatic,” Findlay said with a laugh. “That would have been an amazing way to finish it off. But to get the victory, to have the fans serenading me the way they did, have me signing things, that was an amazing touch.”

» READ MORE: Why the Union are Philadelphia’s best chance for a championship right now

As strong as the fans’ bonds with Findlay were for a player who rarely played, the bonds that Findlay and his wife built with Union teammates and their families were even stronger.

“You can ask my wife, she’ll give the exact same answer — the two of us have absolutely loved it,” he said. “We were very lucky to go into a group with a lot of players of similar ages, similar cultures, and we managed to make a lot of really good friends, people that we’re going to be friends with for life.”

That is not something to take for granted, even if it’s something fans don’t often think about. When European teams make signings, the odds are decent that those players might have played against the team they’re joining, or against some of those players elsewhere, or maybe with them. Or maybe a new teammate knows someone else who put in a good word.

In MLS, it’s different. Front offices succeed just as much (and often more) by signing players people haven’t heard of. The Union’s locker room has players from 10 countries, and they’ve all come here in different ways. But they’ve got some of the best chemistry in the league.

“Philadelphia Union don’t just sign the player; Philadelphia Union like to sign the person as well,” Findlay said. “I think every single person that comes into the club, they’ve got a real good understanding and respect for each other. We all buy into the same thing, we all know why we’re coming.”

» READ MORE: The Union’s top attacking trio is finally playing at a top level

Turning back to matters on the field, Findlay gave his successor as the Union’s No. 3 centerback, Brandan Craig, a big endorsement.

“The technical ability he’s got for someone his age is amazing — I’m 26 now, I could only wish I’d been able to strike the ball as well as he can,” Findlay said of the 18-year-old from Northeast Philadelphia. “I’ve got no doubt at all that B.C. is going to be successful, because he’s got all the attributes needed at such a young age that I’m really excited to see what the future holds for him.”

Findlay said he could see Craig’s potential as the prospect rose through the Union’s youth ranks and reserve team.

» READ MORE: Born to soccer, two friends from Northeast Philly aim for the 2026 World Cup

“I got on him quite a lot in training, because I see what player could be in there, and I know how good he could be,” he said. “He knows there’s some things he has to add to his game, because he’s young, and as a centerback at that age it’s still hard to be at your maximum. ... He’s shown what he can do for America [with the U.S. under-20s], and he’s got two great guys in front of him to help show him the ropes in Jack [Elliott] and Jakob [Glesnes].”

And if Findlay is asked by his new teammates whether they should try playing in MLS someday, he said he’d give that an endorsement, too.

“Every team plays differently, every team has got [its] own unique style, you’re challenged in different ways in every game that you play,” he said. “Before I went, I wasn’t sure about coming, and then I spoke to a few people, and they were all resounding [in] saying, ‘Yes, you have to try it out.’ Now that I’ve been there myself, I’m one of these guys. I can totally understand why anybody that goes there, they love it, and a lot of people end up going back at some point.”

» READ MORE: The Union's young prospects starred for the U.S. national team in Olympics qualifying