With the announcement of Lenarduzzi stepping down as President, and the club’s subsequent search for a new Technical Director, the Whitecaps are finally taking the much needed steps towards becoming a proper football club.

Having spent the bulk of their MLS existence dependent upon agents for their recruitment, the misses in the transfer market have been debilitating for a small budget team like the Caps.

Whitecaps minority-owner, Jeff Mallet, had this to say, “There’s a realization we need to step it up and continue to invest across every level in the club. There are 82 leagues around the world, over 600,000 players, 2,000-plus agents. The complexity of all that is changing the business.”

He went on to describe what attributes they’re looking for in their target, “Someone who’s a student of the game, but who wants to write new rules…someone who flips it upside down – use analytics/data/etc, but has the ability to pull through and has enough experience to have a network.”

If they’re going to go the analytics route – which is absolutely the right way to go, given the need to identify undervalued talent – a couple names come to mind.

The first is Ted Knutson, who’s one of the world leaders in football analytics through his company Stats Bomb. Prior to owning his own company, Knutson was Head of Player Analytics for Brentford and Midtjylland. The former is now a mainstay in the Championship despite a shoestring budget; the latter won its first ever league title under Knutson’s tenure.

It’s an interesting story that you can learn more about here, https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cadence13/planet-futbol-podcast/e/54525751

With all of that in mind, I reached out to Knutson to see what he thought about the newly created position,

Given his work as a Head of Player Analytics, owning his own analytics company, and obvious love for Vancouver, Knutson would be a brilliant hire.

All of that being said, the second name that came to mind is also the candidate who would be at the top of my list, and that’s Daniel Stenz. Stenz was the Whitecaps Head of Scouting from 2014-2016, under his watch here, the club had its most successful years including a Voyageurs Cup victory and consecutive playoff berths with the youngest team in MLS.

Since leaving the Caps, Stenz has worked as the Chief Analyst for the Hungarian National Team and he’s currently the Technical Director for Chinese Super League club SD Luneng. Luneng were in danger of relegation before Stenz’s hire, they’re now about to finish in the top six of the table for the third consecutive year.

Along with his club commitments, Stenz also runs his own analytics consulting company Evaluation Sports.

For more on his career here’s a pretty comprehensive interview, https://bundesligafanatic.com/20170720/exclusive-interview-with-shandong-luneng-taishan-fc-technical-director-daniel-stenz/

Having discovered that his SD Luneng contract is expiring soon,

I asked if he’d have any interest in returning to the club he left years ago,

“It’s a fantastic club with lots of opportunities and a great fan base. I know the organization and the league very well and the fact that we still call Vancouver home would obviously not be a downside as well.”

Stenz’s familiarity with the Whitecaps and MLS, along with his highly successful experience as a Technical Director, is why he’d have the edge on Knutson as the Caps top candidate for me.

So much like when Robbo’s replacement was being discussed, and I campaigned for MDS to be hired, I’m starting the #SignStenz movement.