



This piece is part of our “State of the Team” series, previewing each MLS squad ahead of the 2020 season. Read the other teams’ stories here.



New York City FC coach Ronny Deila chuckled and leaned over to nudge a member of the team’s communications staff sitting next to him on a padded bench in the restaurant of a Manhattan Beach, California hotel.



“That’s following me everywhere,” he said, his eyes looking up toward the ceiling with mild annoyance because the time that he stripped down to his underwear a decade ago to celebrate saving Stromsgodset from relegation during his first managerial stop was brought up again.



Deila has promised another Magic Mike-like stripdown again if NYCFC wins a trophy. But if you look beyond the novelty of the celebration, there is something tangible in that memory that motivates Deila as he takes the reins in New York City.



His next job after Stromsgodset...