June 6, 2018

To all Philadelphia Union supporters,

I wanted to address you directly in the wake of today’s news that Earnie Stewart has accepted the position of General Manager of the U.S. Men’s National Team – to answer some of the questions you might have, and to give you insight on how we will continue to progress from here.

First, I hope you’ll join me in congratulating and supporting Earnie on the critical new role he will play at U.S. Soccer. When Earnie came to Philadelphia from his job at AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, he did so with a passion to contribute to the growth of the game in the United States, the country for which he starred at the international level. During my initial conversations with Earnie, it was clear one of his career ambitions in coming back to the U.S. was to play an important role in developing soccer at the national level and we look forward to the impact he will have on the U.S. soccer landscape over the coming years.

During his time here in Philadelphia, Earnie put his heart and soul into the club. Within his tenure, we built a completely new system and methodology, affecting every level of our club, from the First Team to the Pre Academy. Earnie’s vision and expertise helped us to create and institutionalize our youth development strategy, a plan that we are starting to see come to fruition on the field with exciting First Team Homegrown Players on the field this season and a steady stream of young talent waiting in the wings at the Union Academy.

We were fortunate that he chose the Union when he decided to come back to the United States, and his work here has prepared him to become General Manager of the U.S. Men’s National Team. There is, simply put, no greater honor for someone who loves this game and this country as much as he does. I am proud and supportive of him taking this tremendous step in his career, and I’d like to sincerely thank him for his work here as our Sporting Director.

Second, I want to express my confidence in our plan going forward. When we set out to define our youth development strategy, one of the tenets of that plan was the belief that we could help develop world-class talent here in Philadelphia – talent that would garner the world’s attention, either playing for us in MLS or eventually transferring on to other clubs abroad. In many ways, Earnie’s move to U.S. Soccer is a result of that very mindset – recognition of the unique development environment and distinctive strategy we have established in Philadelphia.

Over the past two years, we have built institutionalized programming for both our technical vision and our day-to-day technical activity that will guide us into the future. We will continue to execute on that plan at all levels. As Earnie transitions out of his role over the next two months through July 31, we will search for a successor that will continue our progress and lead us to success.

I thank you all for your passion for our club, and know you will join me in wishing Earnie and his family the very best.

Jay Sugarman