NC FC on its progression.

John Bradford is the head coach or manager. We'll find out which one he likes better for North Carolina FC. The season starts on Friday against South Georgia over at Wake Med Soccer Park and he joins us on the Adam Gold Show. Do you prefer head coach or manager?

Oof, that's a good question. I think I'll go with head coach. I like that.

That's very American. I've tried to train myself to say football. Do you say football or soccer? You know, I actually am one of these guys that goes back and forth a little bit and I somewhat cater to my audience every now and then to be fair.

But I think if I'm really in like a purist mode then I'm going to refer to it as football. Let's talk about, before we get to the team and the season, a couple of things that I think are worth pointing out. I know the club had a landmark, I guess it's a transfer, with Britton Fisher going over to what I guess Man U's academy.

So explain why that's so important, what that does for what you guys are trying to do. Yeah, so Britton Fisher, he's headed to Minnesota United. Oh, it's Minnesota United, not Manchester United. What am I doing? I saw M U. That's where my brain is at.

No, I hear you, I hear you. But no, for us it's a landmark movement and first and foremost just thrilled for Britton at the challenge that's going to be presented to him and the development that he's done over the years. So it's great for that young man. But for the club it's something where obviously the shift of a few years ago from going to the U.S.L. championship, trying to find a better mechanism of supporting our strong academy program and talented young player pool.

And then going into U.S.L. league one, having more academy players tied into the professional first team, ultimately signing three players in that first year in 2021, and Britton being one of those players. And so developing players, getting them actual professional minutes, and then helping them move to an environment that's going to continue to challenge them and provide quality for their career is a huge piece of what our kind of club mandate has become. And so for him to be the first one that's made that movement is kind of some proof within the idea of how we're going about it. So I think it's a great moment for the club and great moment for soccer in our community. What is the season of soccer? That's right. What is the development and the progress of Nick Holliday, the goalkeeper who's a local kid?

What does that mean? Yeah, no, I mean, Nick Nick has been a phenomenal young talent and amazing for me to kind of be a part of his development over the several years now. You know, I often tell the story about meeting with his family at Dunkin Donuts up the street from WRLU soccer center when he was like 11 or 12 years old and kind of forecasting out that even at that young age, we thought he was going to have a great trajectory of development. But yeah, where he is now, he's just coming off his best performance of a preseason game as a pro. I thought he was exceptional against Charlotte Independence this past weekend. And he's set to be the starter on Friday night as we start our season, you know, for 2023.

So I think that speaks volumes for a young man that turned 17 in January of this year. John Bradford is the head coach. We've determined his head coach of North Carolina FC, the home opener, the opener against South Georgia on Friday night at Wakeman Soccer Park. I know there was there's like a movement to get a name for the rivalry matches with Charlotte Independence.

Does it need one? Can't we just call it a derby? Yeah, I'm fine with that, you know, but I think for the fans and supporters to have something to be catchy and whatever that, you know, I'm all good with that as well. So I just hope we win every time we play and that's all I care about.

Yes. So where is the club in your in your mind? Where is the club on its on its like Arc and as you're trying to progress and take this as far as you can, where is the roster versus where it was a year ago as we progress towards whatever your goals are?

Yeah, I think that it's on a very clear upward trajectory, you know, from from the overall standpoint of where the club is. And I think it's at an exciting moment, you know, it's one thing to play young players and to give them opportunities. But without, you know, the proper kind of balance within a roster that has enough experience and enough veterans and enough quality, frankly, and numbers of professional players, then you're you're missing out on that. And so I think we, you know, continue to learn and evolve every year and this season right now and the roster we put together this offseason is reflective of the idea of let's bring in more quality spring and more experience. Let's be more specific and identifying which young talents we want to help support and give opportunities to.

And at the end of the day, let's let's, you know, develop a culture of winning and being successful versus just giving opportunities. So that's that's what has me very excited about this upcoming season and getting started on Friday. Also, you have Sunderland coming for a for a friendly this year. How cool is that?

It's awesome. Yeah, that's going to be a nice opportunity for our players and for our club to play in July when they come and visit and we're just thrilled that they're going to do so. And I think when people are outside clubs, look at Wake megs soccer park and what's going to see in the history of the teams that we played, it's something that's appealing to them.

So so we're excited to welcome later this summer. Yeah, there there are I've been I've said this before, and I don't know if you were there. I know you were in the area.

I'm pretty sure you're in the area. I've been in that place when the it was for a big match, whether it was the old one or the old one. I've seen the women's national team come through.

I went to a match against I forget which team from the Mexican League was up here. I mean, I have that place when it's rocking is a phenomenal place to watch and it has to be incredible to play a soccer match. The fields are also even the outside fields are just tremendous to be on. How cool will it be to have an environment like that?

No, it's going to be phenomenal. And you're right, you know, kind of carry that the runs wake megs soccer park does a great job. Not only on the stadium, but all the training fields and other fields that are out there. But yeah, I've been around a long time in this area, you know, as you know, and I've seen a lot of these games and that's what I really want for our players and for our club this year is to have a full stadium and, you know, to have the environment where everybody's really enjoying the same kind of event all at once. And that's also a goal of ours in terms of our club, you know, and our team and roster this year. We know we need to earn it. We know we need to get points and show, you know, good quality in terms of on the field and get results to get people to come and see us. And that's what we intend to do. I want to ask you one thing.

This might be a touchy subject. I don't know, but I've been here and been in like interested in the progress of the sport here as at the professional level. I remember when it seemed inevitable that Major League Soccer was going to choose Raleigh.

I mean, I've got t-shirts 919 to MLS. I remember that time and I remember that there were for a lot of reasons. It went the other way. David Tepper came in with, you know, billions and bought a team, which is I think a fair assessment for how that happened.

How do you get that momentum back? Yeah, and I agree with you on how that whole kind of process went down, you know, I mean, it was something where I think the club on both the youth and the pro side, the community, the city, everything was was moving in a kind of a football soccer direction of MLS and kind of evolving to that. And then it quickly changed with the introduction of pepper and Charlotte and how all that happened. So I think what the club had to do was kind of reassess. Okay, if we're not going to be in the MLS, how do we, you know, who are we going to be and how do we go about supporting the strengths that we currently have and how do we evolve with it?

And so I think, you know, being outside of the MLS, being within the usl, supporting our Academy program, providing great opportunities, great facilities, great development for other professional players that aren't just younger talents, but are guys that want to use our platform to be able to excel and in the development, maybe move on to a higher league or whatever. Maybe I think those have been the bullet points that you go to and try to grow with. And so I think that's where we're at. And ultimately, you know, I think that's where we're at. And ultimately, you know, we have to tell the story of what we're doing and we have to show the story of what we're doing. So, you know, when COVID hit, I think the club, you know, it didn't have the same marketing, didn't have the same communications.

You know, people kind of had a pause of what are they doing over there and we're not hearing much. And so I think that's what 2023 represents is a brand new opportunity to kind of reestablish who we are on the men's professional side here in town and hopefully get a community rally behind it. And final thing for John Bradford, the head coach of North Carolina FC, and they will open against South Georgia on Friday at Wake Med Soccer Park.

You can go to North Carolina FC.com for tickets. It's always a blast. It's a great environment to watch a match. And I know they've done a lot of upgrades to the stadium and concessions and all of that.

So if you've been out there before and you've struggled to get concessions, I have it on pretty good authority that that stuff should be rectified this year. But I see I've seen you because I'm at the soccer park at WRAL soccer park a lot because I have a son who's who's practicing like he's got five practices a week up there. So I'm there a lot. I've seen you work with your your academy teams. The importance of that element to what you do now. Yeah, no, I think it shows the true connection of what we're trying to do.

It doesn't work if you're on two opposite sides of town and never present. And obviously I would love to be more present in each environment as much as possible. But I think what we're trying to strike, you know, for for the academy players and what kind of see youth to have a true opportunity to step into the professional environment when when they've earned it has to have someone who can see them both within their academy environment and then hopefully provide opportunities. And that that goes hand in hand with a great staff that we have with the academy program in the youth club. But also just being there to witness it and see how trainings go, how games go, how players respond to this, that or the other. And, you know, it becomes competitive. And I can I can tell just in the last, you know, two years and especially this year, you know, players are looking forward to getting to a certain age in the academy program and hopefully earning those opportunities.

And then seeing kind of what their future lives is. Is it college? Is it professional? But knowing that they're part of a club that helps support those opportunities, I think is massive. And so I'm excited to be out there every night with the academy program and watching these young players develop.

Yeah. And again, I've watched you work because I'm just there lurking in the shadows. Don't don't have me arrested, John. Please don't.

No, I would never do it. Hey, thank you. I'll see you soon. Good luck on Friday against South Georgia and we'll talk to you again. I appreciate it. Thank you.