26 February 2024 , 17:00
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British bosses are taking the MLS by storm as Lionel Messi's box-office arrival continues to elevate the league's profile to new heights.
Manchester United assistant Eric Ramsay will become the sixth coach from the UK to arrive in North America next month when he takes charge of Minnesota United. The Welshman has already signed his contract and will join Charlotte's Dean Smith, Phil Neville of Portland Timbers, Nashville's Gary Smith, John Herdman of Toronto and New York City's Nick Cushing Stateside.
“If somebody asked for my advice, I would tell anybody in England to come to MLS," says Chester-born Cushing, who joined New York City in 2020 after seven years with Manchester City Women. “The challenge is like the Championship in the sense it's really competitive.
"The atmospheres are incredible, the games never stop. The games will go for 96 minutes, they don't die down. There's so much involved to succeed in this league. It isn't as simple as just getting on the bus and going down the M6 to another game.”
Cushing's English sporting director David Lee, who was cherry-picked from Exeter City by New York Red Bulls in 2011, believes perceptions of British managers in the MLS are now changing. He explained: "Five to seven years ago there was a perception that foreign coaches didn't work.
"Over time clubs started to realise that it's not where you're from it is just how good you are. More clubs are now being more adventurous. The level of our league has increased to where it becomes more interesting for English coaches than it would have been five years ago.
"I'd have been surprised if five years ago you could have got someone like Dean Smith into this league. It's a big change."
Smith, who secured his first MLS win over compatriot Cushing on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 62,000 at the Bank of America Stadium, turned down multiple Championship jobs before moving to North Carolina. While he did not bring any of his coaching staff with him on his American adventure, he's long been eyeing the chance to work overseas.
Ex-Aston Villa boss Dean Smith is now in charge at Charlotte (CHARLOTTE FOOTBALL CLUB)
He said: “I always felt as a British coach that if I wanted to manage in the Premier League, I had to win promotion. I don't think there are too many coaches, maybe Graham Potter and one other where a Premier League club has gone and grabbed a young British coach.
“When this came about and I got asked if I wanted to join in the process, I just thought it’d be a challenge, it’d be exciting. It would get the juices flowing again. I've been welcomed really well here. Maybe because of my experience in the Premier League, one of the top leagues in the world."
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