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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Full Interview with Vermont Green’s Adam Pfeifer and Chris Taylor
00:35:34
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- [00:00]
A
We've got people in the, in the crowd that are like you're representing for months. And because of how much the club means to the community, this means more to us. And no other team could, could feel what we were feeling. So we felt we were more talented than any other team. One of the big things was nobody will outrun us, no one will out fight us. Because this crowd deserves to see passion.
- [00:22]
B
Unfiltered. Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for over five years.
- [00:32]
C
LDA fun one. Today we get an opportunity chat to some pretty cool folks from Vermont Green. And for those of you who don't know who Vermont Green is, you should, but they play in the USL League Two. They had their inaugural season in 2022 and then this past season, undefeated season playoff champions, they were voted 2023 USL League Two franchise of the year. There's just a lot of amazing things, literally amazing things going on with Vermont Green. And the crazy thing, Landon, that you and I talk about is sometimes geographically teams don't get enough love. This is one of those teams because if Vermont Green was in Chicago, the world would be talking about them. I know, I know you love this group. And today we have sporting director Adam Pfeiffer and head coach Chris Taylor who is been very boastful about his Liverpool to two blues who have been down in the dumps. But guys, we're so excited to have you. I mean we literally have been talking about your team for about a year now. So thank you for joining us.
- [01:40]
D
Thanks for having us.
- [01:41]
B
Yeah, thank you guys. And just to start. So we, we spoke to Rob Dow earlier in the year and there's something crazy going on with Vermont soccer and it has been captivating. And then just next door to you guys with Portland with hearts of pine, there's there. That part of the country I think has been underserved from a soccer perspective. And you guys were captivating this summer. I was tweeting about it following it. Your late winners, your stoppage time winners, your penalty winners. And first of all, congrats for people who don't understand. Can you start? And maybe we'll start, Adam, because you've been there. Well, Chris has been there too, as you said, since day one. But help people understand what USL League two is because it's quite unique in the soccer landscape. And Chris, obviously coming from Liverpool, it's unlike anything you'd probably ever seen before. So just help people understand how USL League two works, so they get a better grip of that.
- [02:39]
D
Yeah, I think, you know, it's, it's a couple things, like from a community standpoint, it's, this is our club here in Vermont and in the Burlington area. This is the club that every little kid has the jersey from. Every day when I go and pick up my kids from school, I see at least one jersey. And when you go to games on the weekends, you see a lot of the parents wearing the hats. So you see that every single day. So it is the community's club. But from a soccer standpoint, USL2 is, it's kind of a gap filler for aspiring amateur, amateur players that want to be professionals, that maybe didn't take the path that you two guys took where you're not going to college. These guys need to, need to fill that time and get games and be training in a quality structured environment between sort of the ages of 18 to 23. That sort of space, maybe because of some of the rules in college, can be difficult for guys to keep up with. Again, I use Landon as an example. He's a pro at a very young age. You know, you're playing, you know, how many games, you know, between 18 and 23 per season. We don't get that in the NCAA. And so these guys need that, that, that sort of gap to be filled with, with quality matches. And, and so that's kind of what we provide for U.S. soccer. But really, you know, for, for those.
- [04:26]
B
Players and how long, how long, Adam, is the season? And it's mostly, it runs through the summer. Right. So it's college kids who, whatever, they're done in May and then through the summer they can play.
- [04:36]
D
Yeah. So for us this year we played like, I want to say the first game may have been like May 15th, let's call it. And then the national final was August 2nd. These guys were in preseason August 4th, so. And starting to train August 5th. So that, you know, that was the space. So basically when these guys get done with finals and stuff like that in their spring semester, they come right away, we start training right away.
- [05:03]
C
So a follow up question to that because it's really important, it's important for me to understand, but the global soccer landscape in this country, I think needs to hear this. Because, you know, Chris, when I, when I look at, when I look at where you grew up in Liverpool and having lived over in Manchester for 13 years, like it doesn't matter the size of the club, like the club is part of the community, whether you're Macclesfield Town or your Liverpool football club. Like, it's, it's. The club is everything. It creates jobs, it creates entertainment, it creates a lifestyle. And so, Adam, I just want to go back to what you guys have built in terms of that community and that togetherness and the butts that you're putting in seats. If you listen to our show at all, you'll hear me clamor on every single episode like, putting butts in seats is a us Is an American soccer problem. The US national team games have a problem with it. Mls, usl. Landon and I have been a part of two USL clubs that we thought were run pretty good. It's hard to put butts in seats. So I think there's about five to 10 teams in America at every level that have figured out how to do that, but the rest of them, it's so difficult. How have you done that? What have you created that others can't seem to figure out?
- [06:18]
D
Yeah, I think one, I'm probably not the best person to answer this question because I'm not the one who's responsible for all the marketing and stuff like that. But that said, the marketing in the club is obviously tremendous. Obviously, the visual identity of the club is tremendous. You guys are probably familiar with Matt Wolf and all the work that he's done. He's one of our founders and owners, and I think that he and our other founders, Pat Inferna and Sam Glickman, were incredibly aware of the things that people in this community care about. And the club was catered towards, you know, connecting with the community. And, you know, I obviously, it sounds super simple, but they did, they did an incredible job. And I think it's something that, like, you know, for me as, you know, growing up here, you know, I grew up in Newton, Mass. Just outside of Boston, like, like, you know, we had professional sports and we had a deep connection with those professional sports franchises. Like, I grew up in the 80s with the Celtics. That kind of, that, that, that hard mentality and that kind of team mentality within, you know, that, that group really resonated with me and, and, and our community. And, And I think that, you know, from a, from a football standpoint, you know, we found a way to, to do that here. But, you know, it's something that, that Chris grew up with. Like, he, he has an incredible connection with, with his community club and, and, and at Liverpool. And, you know, it's. It's always the. Listening to him talk about Liverpool is, you know, yes, he talks about the football, you know, yes, he talks about, you know, the way that they play and all that stuff, but, but, but a lot of it is really just like the community aspect and like, you know, he even talks about how the Liverpool team is. You know, for him that's like his national team, whereas for me it was always the US national team. It wasn't really the Revs. So it's a little bit different here. And so I think that we're, we're finding some of that here in this community and it's, it's exciting and it' well worth our time.
- [08:33]
B
It's pretty clear that Chris learned those real values from the Everton supporters, the people's club, as they say. Chris, how does, how does a guy from Liverpool end up in Vermont? That's a, that's a, that's a crazy leap.
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A
Yeah.
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D
Yeah.
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A
I mean, I've, I've been in the US for, I'm coming up on 20 years this spring, so just kind of came out on a whim after finishing playing or, you know, I didn't choose to finish playing. Coaches chose for me to finish in England. You know, I was, I was bouncing around some of the academies and just came out by chance and ended up playing in college and got into coach and figured out really quickly that I was a much better coach than a player. And you know, when I heard about, I heard some rumblings that something was going to start in Vermont and there was going to be a club and for me, you know, a coach at a Division 3 school in college that works. It's a location that works for my family and we love it here. But there's always that craving to try and work with the best players you can possibly work with. So I heard about something happening and I was familiar with Adam, but we'd actually never met before. And so, you know, just one of those things where I started reaching out and being like, hey, I heard you might be doing something if you need any help. And I like to think I kind of begged my way onto the staff, to be honest. I was like, you need someone to pick up cones. You need someone to just run around and do stuff. I just love football and I love, you know, the chance to be part of something. And then it just so happened that a club started that represented so many values that I have. And like you say, it started to feel like what I grew up with, where it's more than a club, it's not a franchise really, that's just plunked in the middle somewhere that they think, oh, this is a Big market, there's enough people, whatever this is, I know this is a club that's going to represent people and represents a community and I'm very passionate about that type of thing. And I honestly sat there and was like I couldn't believe that this was happening near me. And luckily Adam, you know, allowed me to come on the staff and to be honest, you know, him and I hit it off straight away and for two people that never met each other, we've become really close and you know, work so well together and been really lucky to be part of the journey. So yeah, it's definitely still after 20 years, a bit of a culture shock with some of these things, but so fortunate to be part of this journey.
- [10:55]
C
Chris the, you know, I think of, of the values you put forth as a, as a coach and whether you're a blue or red liverpuddle, for those of you who don't know, are hardworking, tough, loyal, you know, kind of have to fight and scrap. If you've ever lived and been to Liverpool, you understand that it's a, it's a working class town. And so I just wonder from a coaching standpoint and having had the journey you've had, how are you able to get that across to your players, right, because your players are not necessarily world beaters, good footballers, right that you need to help try and develop them. How have you gotten them to believe in that mentality?
- [11:35]
A
I think, you know, again the similarities of, of being a Liverpool fan and knowing that the team is there to their custodians of the club for the fans, the player. And you guys know you played for obviously a club that's got incredibly passionate fans and you're there to almost save the fans and make them proud and be their representation on the pitch. And we're lucky that we've actually got that as a USL club. We've got people in the, in the crowd that are like you're representing for months and it's. And we had the same throughout the whole season that because of our crowd, because of how much the club means to the community, this means more to us. And no other team could, could feel what we were feeling. And we kept saying to the players and we, I was lucky. Adam brought in some of the best college players in the country for me to work with. So we felt we were more tal talented than any other team. But one of the big things was nobody will outrun us, no one will out fight us because this crowd deserves to see passion. And we talked about when do you hear the crowd that they're loudest in our games. Yeah, there's a bit of skill. Yeah, there's a goal, but they didn't half love a tackle and they didn't laugh. You know, a winger tracking back and chasing someone 20 yards and tackling someone for a throw in. The crowd got off the seats for that because they. They believed in hard work, they believed in grit, and they believed in guts. And so we just tried to. The crowd's reaction to those small details and show the players that that meant just as much as making a beautiful pass or moving the ball around. They want to see that. If you're going to wear Vermont on your chest, you've got to play for Vermont.
- [13:05]
B
I love that because I told. Tim, I've told this story before, but my first week at Everton, I was walking through the halls and I think it was Stubsy who grabbed me, a former player, and he said, landon, if you never score a goal, never complete a pass, never have an assist, never do anything, but you just run and work, they will love you. Those people will get goosebumps talking about it. And he was right. And I just carried that on. And it's very rare that you'll see that anywhere in America, to be honest, but especially in a. In a USL League two club. Right. If. Which is technically the fourth division in our country. You talked about recruiting, having the best players. So, Adam, how do you guys. How do you recruit? How does that process work? And where do you get players from? Are they exclusively college players? How does that. Because they're all amateur, I presume, or some not amateur.
- [13:58]
D
Yeah, so all this amateurism conversation is. Is a little bit more complex, these changes. Yeah, I mean, a lot of these guys have been, you know, many of them have played in USL championship games, Many of them have played in MLS next pro games before they, you know, entered college. And then you have, you know, the. The. The European guys that, you know, a lot of them were on, you know, professional contracts that were essentially, you know, that basically paid for their living expenses. Right. Like, so. So that kind of thing is. Is. Is legal now.
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B
So you're saying that's legal in college now?
- [14:41]
D
Yeah, yeah. Those guys can come over now if you're making, you know, if you're just making expenses and. And it's nothing more than, you know, I don't know what. But if it's not kind of beyond.
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B
What you're still considering an amateur at that point.
- [14:53]
D
Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, and then we have a handful of guys a Small handful of guys that had to, to basically sign amateurism reinstatement contracts, guys that were, you know, maybe had gone and, you know, been drafted and gone and played for a year or two and just, it just didn't work out. And so we have some of those guys back. But realistically, when it comes to the recruitment, like, you know, we talk about the people and all that, it's, it's, it's relationships, you know, that, that we have with, with college coaches around the country that are going to trust us to, to, you know, have their players here for two to three months and we're not going to, you know, play them with, with any kinds of, you know, sort of soft tissue injuries, stuff like that. We're not going to push them out there when, when they're not ready to play. We had lots of guys in the playoffs that were on minute limits that was like, you know, that's really difficult. You know, some of our best players. So you know, it was, it was funny like Chris was being questioned by our fans constantly for some of his selections and it was like, you know, I didn't say anything. I was like, I was like, I know, I don't know what this guy's doing, but yeah, I mean he had, you know, we had, you know, maybe one of our best, best players this summer, Julian Labordalus was on, was on pretty strict minute limits for, for a few games. And so those are conversations that, that happen between, between me and, and the college coaches. But, but really like it is that trust. I think that, that, that helps us attract guys. And then, you know, I think we're, we're putting players into a really, you know, consistent, you know, as high level of a training environment. It's hard to tell you guys that it's a high level environment, but for us it's, you know, for, for amateur players it is a really high level environment. And you know, the consistency of the training, the level of the training, the competition in the training, which you know, boiled over a little bit in the first few weeks of the season, which was, which was really hard. You know, so that's, that's kind of our recruiting pitch that you're going to get to come and play in that kind of environment, have that kind of competition, have that, that stress every day at training that, that you have to go out and win, win a job. And then we have the reward of playing in this incredible environment that, that, that has just continued to grow each year. I mean it is like the environment from probably halfway through the Season till the end of the season. It was legit. Like, it was legit. It was a legit, loud, exciting environment. Like, you know, I grew up going to Revs games. It was unlike that, you know, and so that's a big part of the pitch, you know, the recruiting is we have to bring in a really large squad, you know, so that we can rotate the team throughout the summer. You know, we're going to take some hits through the summer. Lost some guys that were like, really top players for us that maybe left halfway through, their coaches decided to pull them. Maybe they had already planned to pull them back. We have other guys that will go off and train with an MLS team for a week, train with the USL championship team for a week. So we have to have a really big squad to be able to take some of those hits. And then honestly, we have some guys that just can't hack it in the summer that aren't getting games, that get frustrated and they're not on the kind of contracts where we can force them to say so. You know, we'll have some guys that, some guys that leave and. But at the end of the day, like the guys that are there in the. At the end of the season, like the true believers is what we call them, you know. You know, those, those guys are. Have a little bit of metal to them and, and, you know, helped us get over the line this year. It was. It was great. Foreign.
- [18:42]
C
The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.
- [18:47]
B
As the U.S. gets ready to host the world for soccer's biggest moment, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the US from deaf.
- [18:58]
C
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- [19:13]
B
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I'm excited to support them in their mission to increase visibility of all forms of soccer. I was recently on set with them shooting their new campaign to do just that.
- [19:24]
C
Keep an eye out for that launching soon alongside the all new redesigned 2025 Tiguan. It's a beautiful car. We've even had one with us at a recent live show. Make sure to check it out in person and learn more@vw.com there's nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done without you even having to ask.
- [19:43]
B
Like fans who start to sing and chant at the exact moment their team needs to rally.
- [19:48]
C
A coach who can change strategies at halftime to help their team win.
- [19:51]
B
A keeper you know is defending your.
- [19:53]
C
Goal or a forward who is always.
- [19:55]
B
Ready to receive the ball at unfiltered soccer. Tim and I know all too well how important it is to be sure someone out there has your back. That's precisely why AT and T has a new guarantee.
- [20:05]
C
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- [20:22]
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- [20:25]
B
Credit for Fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guarantee for full details. All right, Timmy, I want to tell you about a time I had to choose a much chiller path. 2009 in Seattle. We're playing Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup Final. We go to penalties. Who misses a penalty? This guy you got back on the bus. I was crying in the back of the bus. And I had this moment where I had a realization that, yes, I missed the penalty, yes, we lost chance at winning an MLS Cup Final. But I had really given everything that year. It was a time in my life that was really tumultuous and I really put everything, everything, everything into my career and my sport. And I said, you know what? Like, I did everything I could have. I tried my hardest and it didn't work out. And so it was time in that moment to really chill, appreciate what I did. Appreciate that moment doesn't always go your way, but you gotta choose chill sometimes and just relax. And when you embrace that chill mindset, it's a good time to choose chill. And as always, crack open a Coors Light.
- [21:46]
A
Absolutely.
- [21:47]
C
Make the most of the times you choose to chill. Choose Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit coorslight.com USLNT Celebrate responsibly Coors Brewing Co. Golden, Colorado Beer I think about what you just talked about and I want to lead you in a similar direction like this buy in. I'll give you an example. Okay, so Landon and I had similar roles at both San Diego and Memphis, right? And so it's usl. And with respect, USL was A mercenary league. And what I mean by that is I want these guys to go get paid like the amount of times that I sat in an office and I said, look, we can give you like 75 grand. And he's saying, yeah, but this other team can pay me 110. I'm saying, you should probably go to that other team. Like I'm letting, I'm letting guys out of their contract to go do that because that's the kind of, that's they're trying to earn a living. And I just think about, you know, when I got to Everton, Atlanta and spoke about this, I sat in a dressing room, I came from Man United, just a kid from New Jersey. And I sat in the dressing room, I looked at Alan Stubbs, I looked at Tony Hibbert, I looked at Leon Osman and I was like, I, I want to be one of you. I want to be an Evertonian. So I just watched what they did every day. I mimicked what they did because I was like, I, I want the crowd to love me. I'm not from here, but I want, I want to be one, one of you. So that buy in was easy. And I just, you, you just talked about like getting these guys to roll their sleeves up and work and, and in a, in a league where there's all sorts of comings and goings and they kind of get plopped in for a summer, like, how do you, how do you, as a coach, like, what are you sprinkling in their oatmeal to get them to buy in at such a high level? That's very hard to do.
- [23:27]
A
Yeah, I mean it was challenging to be honest. And Adam laughs a little bit because like every coach I was moaning all sorts about, you know, this guy's leaving, this guy's coming and no coach is ever happy. Right. But again, I do think we had an incredible strength and depth. And I learned a lot as a coach, to be honest. I, I think sometimes the 11 was not the 11 I wanted to put out, but I had to trust players that maybe I wouldn't have if I wasn't in that situation. And I think once we started trusting those players, like, hang on a minute, look at the way this player is playing because he feels that belief that he's playing and now he's getting better. And I think it allowed me to maybe just adjust. Like, you don't have to play your strongest 11 every time. And we had incredible impact off the bench this summer. We were making subs halfway through second half. Every single playoff Game and these guys are hit raise a subs scoring or assisting a goal was unbelievable. So you need a little bit of luck in those situations where I think players were coming on, having an impact in a game. And now we had a couple of players being like, I love my role coming off the bench, I'm coming to win the game. That just spread that belief between the guys and I think it just kind of grew on its own. I don't know if I did anything specific except for, you know, maybe have some, have some trust in some guys that maybe didn't think they were going to get the trust in big moments. And again, I was blessed that, you know, I was bringing on some of the top players in the country off the bench to change games. And we were behind in most playoff games and then these subs were coming on and we just kept saying, we will. As the longer this game goes, we're going to get better and better and better. With every change, our team gets better. And it proved true. And I think the guys coming off the bench were really buying into, I'm coming on to finish this game. And even though I'm not starting the starting players, we were saying, listen, you're not going to get deployed. These lads coming off the bench are going to be the ones who get the headlines. But we know that you've ground the other team down for 60 minutes and then we're going to try and win it.
- [25:28]
C
It's such a great point, Chris, and I'm let Landon go. But I just think I oftentimes say the best skill a coach can give a player is self belief. Yeah. You have to teach and develop kids for sure. But when a coach believes in you, Jesus, I mean, you're ready to run, run through a wall. So I truly believe that. Well done.
- [25:46]
B
So a couple, couple more guys and we'll let you guys get out of here. We appreciate you taking the time. So now by winning the USA League 2 championship, you get an automatic bid now into the Open cup, which you're well aware of. I don't know. It's not guaranteed that that game's at home, Right? Or is it?
- [26:04]
D
No, no, no guarantee.
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B
Let's paint a picture that it's. It's at home. What would that mean to the community and what would you expect from that?
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D
Yeah, so we did that a year ago. A year and a half ago, I guess it was now. And you won your first round game, right? Yeah, we won our first round game. So, you know, it was, it was an incredible experience. I Think it was like one of the. It may have been the first time that, like, there was like, a. A competitive game that involved a professional team on Vermont soil, which, you know, for me, having not played as a professional, you know, Chris, having not played as a professional, you know, that was meaningful for us to be able to go, you know, toe to toe with those teams. And, you know, but beyond that, it was also really meaningful for us to be able to bring in college, like, current college players. And that hadn't really been done very much before. You know, you're allowed to. Those college players are allowed to be released by their. By their institutions during. During the, you know, regular academic year to play for us in that competition because it is the country's national championship. So.
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B
Interesting, because those games are in March, usually.
- [27:23]
D
Yeah, they're in March. So typically, the college players were never involved in those first few rounds. You know, if you were lucky enough to make it to the summer, they could play in that. So, you know, that was something that we ran through the NCAA and, you know, we were able to bring in, you know, players. You know, we flew them in and flew them back. So they came in for, like, three days. We trained, prepared. We did not release our squad. So, you know, when Lexington came up here, they didn't know that we were going to have current college players. I honestly think that they thought that I was going to be going out there, Chris was going to be going out there. And, I mean, I'm not, and I'm being funny, but. But I think that that's what they thought. And they kind of, you know, really released the squad, like, the day before. And I kept getting phone calls from college coaches, being like, hey, like, what's the deal? Like, you know, they're. They're, you know, the coach at Lexington is calling us. He's my buddy. Like, are you allowed? I was like, yeah, we're allowed to use these players. We ran it through the ncaa, and. And so I remember talking to him right before the match, and he's just watching the guys warm up, and he's like, you know, what the hell is going on here? Like, they just, you know, I think they wanted to come up here, rotate their team a little bit, and. And, you know, that. That obviously wasn't going to be option. Then we. We scored. We scored two goals, like, right off the bat. And so we were, you know, we had three days to prepare. We. We. We did what we could to. To get ready. We knew that we were going to be up against it for like the last 30 minutes of the game. As much as we had current college players, they weren't like, you know, a lot of them were spring break the week before.
- [28:50]
C
So the story gets better and better.
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D
Again, I' but I'm not like that's actually true. Like they were on spring break the week before. So, you know, we, we, we had a plan to, to try to limit the amount of running that we were doing. We knew we weren't going to be able to press every blade of grass and we got, you know, we were up 4:1, we wound up winning 4:3 and we were up against it at the end there a bit. But, but yeah, it was, you know, like the original question, like, what did it mean? It meant a ton to the community and it, it gave exposure to, you know, that kind of competition, you know, to our supporters. And so certainly we hope to be hosting again. But if we're on the road, you know, we get an opportunity to go up against Portland or RAFC or Hartford, like, that would be incredibly meaningful as well.
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C
So it's really interesting, you know, for four people on the screen who have sat in USL seats and we've all worn other different hats, but we could have pro and con conversations about U.S. open Cup. That's not what this is about. If you sit in a USL seat, you realize the power of the US Open Cup. Just for gosh, I remember being like, if we can get a home game or if we can win, we can sell that as a season ticket package. Like, by the way, we want, we beat the MLS team in the US Open Cup. It's incredible. And obviously Chris, you know, from, from the FA cup, like it's. The FA cup is more about the smaller teams than it actually is the big teams. The big teams oftentimes are the ones that are at Wembley at the end. Sure. But like, I don't know, some of the stories, some of the stories in the opening round of the FA cup are as inspiring as Man City lifting the trophy, you know, in May. So it's a, it's a special thing.
- [30:29]
D
Yeah. I will just add like, Chris is the one that like, kind of got me to believe like that we could, you know, go and get a result because, you know, he's been watching since he was a young kid. It wasn't as much like in the, in the psyche of an, you know, of a. For me, like, you know, I didn't, it just wasn't as public publicized. Like growing up in the Boston area. I didn't know when the Okra games were. And it's really, you know, it's obviously incredibly disappointing. I feel deprived of that. But now, obviously, it's a lot more. You know, at least around here, it's. It's a big deal. But Chris was the one that was like, we. We have to nick one here. Like, we have to get one. And. And like, I was like, all right, well, we're, you know, maybe, you know, maybe we can stay in the game doing this. And he's like, no, we got to win this game. And I was like, all right, let's go. Like, let's try to figure it out. And so he. He. That really got me to believe that. That we could do that, because I think he's seen it quite a bit.
- [31:20]
B
That's great. Last couple questions, guys. So you. Where you guys sit. It's. It's interesting as USL is now changing and evolving and. And will continue to change, and they've publicly stated that promotion, relegation will be real. So from where you guys, I mean, Chris, you're going to have a. I'm guessing a pretty strong opinion about promotion relegation. Is that something that Vermont Green as a club wants to see? Are you happy with your place in the landscape and you like what you have, or is there a clamoring for, like, hey, let's go more. Let's be where Portland is. Let's be eventually a USL Premier team or a championship team. How do you guys feel about that?
- [32:02]
D
Yeah, I mean, I. I can take the beginning of that and, and just say, like, I do think that at some point we. We do want to be in that. In that kind of landscape and that we do hope to be a professional club one day. I think for Chris and I, it's very difficult having, you know, like we spoke about earlier, the comings and goings and having players kind of leave so easily. Now, obviously the other side of that is that we can bring players in pretty easily. Like, you know, we were signing players up until the day before the. You know, a few. The week before the playoffs. Right. So the guy who scored the goal in the national final, I think in the. The winning goal in the national final, we got him the week before, or we got him to sign finally the week before. We chasing him all summer. It was Maxi Kissel. He scored the winner. Yeah, in. For. For UVM as well. So. So, yeah, I mean, I think from. From that standpoint, having a little bit more stability with. With. From a footballing standpoint with the roster and. And, you know, having players kind of under Contract, having a longer season, it kills us when, you know, we get so excited for the season to begin and then it's over in two and a half months. And so that part of it's difficult. So from that standpoint, you know, yes, we would love this to be like a full time club but you know, with that comes a lot of different challenges and you know, as two guys that maybe weren't in, that didn't play as professionals and haven't coached in that environment, like, will we be still welcome? Like, like that's, that's one of the thoughts as well. So I think Chris feels somewhat similarly.
- [33:39]
A
But yeah, yeah, I just think, you know, as you said growing up with promotion, relegation, what it, what it does for communities, it's not just what it does for, you know, the team and the players and the staff, but a community being part of a rise. You look at Bournemouth, Luton, many teams in, in other countries as well. And, and it's, it can give a community hope and belief that, that does, you know, there's a way forward and it can, it can sustain communities as well with the commercial revenue can bring in as well. So yeah, I think it, it would improve the game in this country, no doubt, but I think it would improve communities even more, which is just as important.
- [34:17]
C
Yeah, just real quick and we talk about ambition as a club and, and first I'll ask you, Chris, and then, and then Adam, as a follow up, as you're having this success, Chris, you naturally, bearing in mind your, your boss and employer is on the line, you naturally are going to. We all want to grow, we all want to get, you know, you have success and you want to challenge yourself at the next level. Like there has to be, I'm guessing, within you. You want to take this club to as high as you can, but also as a manager, you want to, you want to grow your, your status and stature and challenge yourself. What does that look like for you in the next three to five years?
- [34:53]
A
Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, one of the things was when I first joined the staff with Adam, I was very happy to be there. And Adam and I had conversations after the first year about me becoming the coach and I kind of held it off because I was enjoying being the assistant and I liked working with him. But there came a point where like you say, I'm competitive and I've got, you know, a belief in myself that I can maybe do something. So after the last year before it took over, we sat down halfway through and I said, I'm ready To do this, I think I can take this to another level. And it was no disrespect to him. It was just more, I think I'm ready for this next challenge. But, you know, I don't know where it stands for me. In a few years, I think it's been nice to get some attention for winning the national championship, and it's certainly led to, you know, some other conversations around. But this club is really, really special. And like I said, it's really hard in life to find something that matches your values and matches what you stand for and matches what you think the world should be like. And this club does that. So I hope that if this club grows, no matter what my role is in the organization, I'll always stay so connected to the club because I believe in what it stands for and what it's done for the community. I hope I can stay with them as long as possible. And if they decide to grow and move on, I'd love to be the person that does that and challenge myself. But at the same time, if it takes someone better, it takes someone better. And I want this club to be as successful as possible because I've seen the impact it has on the kids in the community. As Adam said, there's no better feeling than after our games than seeing hundreds of kids in the kids getting pictures and autographs with the players. And it's like every kid that is now born into Vermont, it's almost like you're born into a Vermont Green household. Like, you don't have a choice. That's who you support and that's how it is across the world. It's not, you know, I know Everton fans say I was. I was chosen, right? I didn't choose Everton, it chose me. Sometimes that's a life of misery, right? But, yes, at the same time with Vermont, we hope that, you know, the kids grow up being like, yeah, my. My parents were Vermont Green supporters, so that means I'm a Vermont Green supporter and I'll always believe in that. So I hope I'm with the club for a very long time.
- [37:05]
C
Well said. Yeah. Well, gentlemen, thank you. That was. That was incredible. Really, really enjoyed that.
- [37:10]
B
We really appreciate it. Wishing you the very, very best in the Open cup and into next season and for both you individually for your careers in the future. And at some point, we will be up there to take in a game, if you'll have us. So it's been fun to watch. Guys. Thanks for the inspiration. We've really enjoyed it.
- [37:26]
D
Thank you.
- [37:27]
A
Thanks, guys.
- [37:38]
D
For a limited time at.
- [37:40]
C
McDonald's, get a Big Mac Extra Value meal for $8. That means two all beef patties, special.
- [37:45]
D
Sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun and medium fries. And a drink. We may need to change that jingle. Prices and participation may vary.