WITH a new MLS season under way, Colorado Rapids may hog most of the Irish attention.

After Robbie Keane’s departure from LA Galaxy, the Rapids’ Kevin Doyle is now the most recognisable face from these shores playing in the USA.

5 Robbie Keane has departed LA Galaxy Credit: USA Today

But an Irishman you may not have heard of — and will not see — could be the key figure in their push for glory.

While the Colorado club will look to striker Doyle for goals, the man who helped bring the former Reading and Wolves star to Denver — Pádraig Smith — is also crucial to their success.

Smith has been the club’s sporting director for the last two years, having previously worked for Uefa handling Financial Fair Play.

Before that, the Meath native implemented the Salary Cost Protocol in the League of Ireland when working with the FAI, who he joined from Ernst & Young.

5 Padraig Smith is the man leading Colorado Rapids' playoff push Credit: Sportsfile

Front-office roles such as those of Smith are often dismissed on this side of the world, where the belief that you have to have played the game to understand it is still widely held.

But in the USA it is different — it does not matter if your background is sport, statistics or business once you can bring some expertise to the table. For instance, Theo Epstein never played baseball but is credited as the genius behind ending long waits for World Series victories for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs.

Smith told SunSport: “They’re aware that there is front office, that is the big difference between American sports and European sports where, historically, there has been the manager or the head coach.

“But even some of the best coaches haven’t played at the highest level. In Germany they are holding places on coaching courses for people who have never coached before. It is evolving.

“The front person should always be the coach because he has the daily interaction with the players and is putting in place a system to be successful on the field.

“Behind that, it is about having a group that works towards a common goal. It is about bringing in different skill sets to make better decisions.

5 Kevin Doyle has starred up front for the Colarado side Credit: Getty Images

“You can challenge each other, you’re not just looking at conventional wisdom but you are asking why. You are asking is this way better. It is challenging each other.”

The Colorado brains trust works, as they are always open to new ideas — head coach Pablo Mastroeni has been to study non-football industries to see if he can glean anything.

Smith brings his background on the financial side and data analysis.

When still based in Ireland, he started developing his own player-profiling system and now has access to a much more advanced version at Colorado. He explained: “We’ve built our own player evaluation system, which is a database which currently has over 8,800 players in it and is growing every day.

“It combines subjective scouting platforms across technical, tactical, physical, mental and lifestyle, along with objective performance metrics.

“We then have a data algorithm combing those, which gives us a ranking system of players best suited to Pablo’s playing structure. We’re honing that all the time.”

Colorado came close to national glory last year, just losing out in the two-legged Western Conference final — essentially the semi-final to the MLS Cup — which was won by their conquerors Seattle Sounders.

5 Smith on the training field Credit: luke.oriordan@the-sun.ie

As they look to go that little bit further this year, they started the 2017 season with a 1-0 victory last Saturday.

Doyle was involved in the goal, heading against a post before Senegalese native Dominique Badji found the net in the home win over New England Revolution.

Smith insists that the stats are only part of the decision process in building a squad to outperform their rivals.

He added: “You cannot scout every player because of the sheer volume of players to pick from around the world. So the data helps us cut back on it.

“We’re still in the early stages of data analysis in football and are still improving.

“No one is ever going to get 100 per cent of decisions right — even greats like Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho did not do that. But we want to have the information to improve our decision-making.”

When players are selected, Smith’s financial background means he handles negotiations — and he jokes that the MLS salary cap is now second nature to him after his work with the FAI and Uefa.

He said: “My previous work means I’ve a pretty good knowledge of the world’s salary-cap systems and it’s really something that I enjoy over here. It’s a big jigsaw and it’s definitely a challenge.

“It means there is a level playing field over here and, because of that, you have to look for marginal advantages that can make you successful. That intrigues me.

“If we can make smarter decisions then hopefully we can be more successful on the field. We proved that last year reaching the semi-finals, and we want to sustain that and improve year in, year out.”

While Smith is happy to operate in the background, there is a good chance Irish fans tuning into games on Sky Sports this season will hear his name mentioned.

That the games are on Sky also highlights the growth of MLS since it was formed in 1996 — it is now the eighth-most well-attended league in the world, with an average of 21,692 at each game.

From a league that was initially played out of baseball and NFL stadia, most teams, including Colorado, now have their own state-of-the-art facilities. The reputation the league once had as a retirement home for fading world stars has also changed dramatically, as epitomised by the Rapids’ recent purchases.

Smith explained: “Last year we signed Shkelzen Gashi from Basel at the age of 27. This year, we decided not to re-sign 35-year-old Jermaine Jones and when we were looking for a replacement, we didn’t want someone at his age level.

5 Doyle is hoping his MLS form can help him earn more Ireland caps Credit: Getty Images

“We ended up bringing in a 22-year-old Bismark Boateng, who was with Manchester City but had been playing with Stromsgodset in Norway.

“The league has evolved from the salary cap to designated players and is now TAM — targeted allocation money. That has changed the landscape.

“It allows us to compete for players in the €500,000, €600,000 or €700,000 mark.

“Financially, we can compete with all the leagues in Europe outside of the top five — leagues like the Dutch league, the Danish league or the Greek league, but we have other inherent advantages to attract very talented young players.

“People do want to come to the US, they do want to play here. They understand that when Americans do things, they tend to do them right and do them big.”

With those advantages unlikely to change, Smith is confident the MLS can keep growing.

And it may mean sporting directors becoming a bit more common on this side of the world too.