ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Matrix Midwest) - On Wednesday, St. Louis CITY SC held its first press conference since hiring new head coach Yoann Damet.
Damet was joined by CITY SC’s new Sporting Director, Corey Wray.
Here’s what they had to say:
Damet on what drew him to St. Louis and the job:
“First, the same way you’d ask me, what do I need to be successful?” said Damet. “I’d answer the people; I think the main thing that makes the project is the people. Meeting ownership, meeting Diego [Gigliani], knowing a lot about Corey is definitely something that having that vision of alignment and that possibility that it could be real definitely had a big attraction to me. The second thing, of course, the fans, when you look at the fan base, there aren’t many teams that can say they have the fan base that there is here in St Louis. For my first time at the stadium earlier this season, I was amazed to see the atmosphere at the stadium. And then the last thing is the resources. When you see the facilities and the stadium we’ve got, there is no better place to come and start a new project and actually have all the tools and resources to help the team in terms of what you want to implement. So, these three things coming together, the people, the fans and the resources, for me, were incredible in terms of making a decision and being here today.”
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Wray on the biggest area of need for the squad right now:
“It’s a great question,” said Wray. “We’re working on that now. I think there are obvious answers, in terms of just openings, so I don’t need to necessarily go through each one. I think it’s clear there’s certain positions that are open that we will target first, and then as we evolve the discussions a little bit deeper, it will be more around the profile type and like the squad’s evolution over the next six to 12 months. But, in the short term, I think we definitely have a need on the back line. I think that needs to be addressed, and then we’ll work on the rest as we get through the profiles together.”
Damet on his vision for the club:
“I don’t think it’s too much of my place to look back on the past three years of the club," said Damet. “I think I came here to know that there is a history of the past three years. Where I come from, I can understand better the team, the way the team has been performing, and the way the team has been playing. I think the main thing that should give you an understanding of the direction we want to take is the word alignment. Again, having people working together, creating a path that we want to take for the future, and sticking to that path and constantly evaluating and constantly looking to improve. That’s for me, it’s about. Again, there have been tons of learning for me as well, to get to understand what they are. Those are parts of the questions that I’ve been asking that I’m going to keep asking. And again, everybody’s got a different story to tell, but I’m not there to dwell on the past, I’m here to build the future, and that’s what I’m excited about.”
Wray on David Critchley’s future role within the club:
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“I think it’s important to address that,” said Wray. “So, first of all, the entire organization and the playing staff are very thankful for everything he’s done. We’re in discussions about a role within the club and keeping him here, and that’s something that’ll work with him over the next few days to determine what’s best for him. But the club holds him in high regard. It’d be great to keep him if we could.”
Damet on creating a winning environment and giving passion to the fans:
“I’d speak about winning the fans, for sure. Winning is everything, you want the fan to live an experience, and the experience starts with the performance, and that’s where we’re going to work really hard, is bringing consistency in the performances, and that goes again with clarity and process that I was speaking about,” said Damet. “So, can we bring that consistency in performance that will allow us to win? Like, more often than not? So, I know how much it matters to the fans, and it matters to us as well. At the end of the day, I don’t know anybody who doesn’t want to win, whether it’s a board game, whether it’s a soccer game, everybody wants to win. So, I want to bring that back in terms of the mindset we need to have, especially playing here at Energizer Park. The fans, we need to feed off their energy. I think they’re amazing from what I’ve seen. They never gave up on the team, either. So, I think we need to build that back as soon as we can. The winning piece, for me, is also not getting carried away with the winning. Sometimes winning can hide a lot of things. So, can we also be stable enough to understand that in the winning, there are also some lessons to learn, and use those lessons to build on the consistency that I’m speaking about.”
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