Holy umlaut! Columbus Crew name Nancy's successor: Henrik Rydström, formerly of Malmö
"Of course we need to win. But let's go out and enjoy ourselves by playing a football that we can feel." -- Henrik Rydström, in a 2024 interview with Sky Sports
The Crew on Wednesday announced that their next coach is Henrik Rydström, who led Malmo of the Swedish Championship to back-to-back titles in 2023-24. The news leaked and was confirmed in the morning and the official Crew announcement came at 3:30 p.m.
A brief bio of Rydström
Rydström is an interesting cat. First, a few biographical details ...
- Rydström played midfield for the Swedish team Kalmar FF for 20 years (1994-2013). Twenty years with one team. That says something.
- Rydström began his coaching career as an assistant and then an interim with Kalmar (2016-18), had head-coaching jobs with Sirius and Kalmar (2019-22) before he landed a bigger job at Malmö.
- Rydström brings with him a modern, possession-based system known has "Relationism." (For much more on that, see below.
- Rydström in his first two seasons at Malmo (2023-24) went 39-9-12, won two Swedish Championships and one Swedish Cup. In his third season, the slipped to 12-6-9 and he was fired in September.
- Rydström's three-year league record at Malmö was 51-15-21.
- Rydström was linked to a job opening at Dutch giant Ajax earlier this month.
- Rydström is out-of-country at the moment. Presumably, he is getting his visa paperwork in order back in his native Sweden.
- Rydström will be bringing two assistants – Theodor Olssen and Mak Pakhei – with him to Columbus. His staff will also include two current Crew assistants – goalkeeper coach Phil Boerger and video coach Marc O'Neill.
- Rydström will turn 50 in February.
Columbus, meet Relationism
Wilfried Nancy, who oversaw the most glorious three-year stretch in the 30-year history of the Crew, left to become coach of Scottish Premiership power Celtic about a month ago.
Crew GM Issa Tall has long been bracing for Nancy's exit. He has a list of six to 10 candidates at the beginning of December. He said:
"It sounds stupid here, but we’d rather draw 2-2 and everyone has memories and fun and we were dominant as opposed to winning in a scrappy 1-0, something that is not sustainable. We believe that it is in our DNA, we believe it’s our identity. We want people (players) to continue enjoying playing this style. We also want fans and media to enjoy coming to our games because it will be an entertaining brand of football. "
One can see how Tall was attracted to Rydström, referred to by Sky Sports as "Europe's most innovative coach."
Adam Bate
"Relationism," was born in Brazil, brought to Europe by Rydström (among others) and now gaining a toehold in the U.S. with the first chartered team in MLS.
In a gross oversimplification, Relationalism is about tight quarters, chaos and player reads. It is called "anti-positional" by its father, Fernando Diniz.
From Sky Sports:
This style of play is marked out by one-twos, interchanges of possession and position to move up the pitch - tabelas (tables) and escadinhas (ladders) in the nomenclature of Diniz. The patterns can appear unusual - football from the street, not the stadium.
"It goes against everything that is logical," says Rydstrom.
"Logically, you should open up the pitch to have more space. Even I sometimes think we should switch the play but we stay where the pressure is. Playing away from pressure feels good. But most of the time you lose it later anyway and then you are too spread out."
The Football Analyst
Disrespected Media's technical staff (Patrick) supplied the following bullet points:
- This guy has more style than even Nancy.
- Nancy likes to press a bit too much to play true Relationism.
- Diniz is someone who is 10 years ahead of the game.
- A team that masters organizing around the ball has space to organize itself for it. (I don't get this sentence. But Patrick does.)
- That principle is where the old genius of Brazil was sourced from, which they've spent three decades forgetting.
- Completely anti-Spanish/Dutch idea.
Let's go to the video
I'm looking forward to Matthew Doyle's take on all of this at his Tactics Free Zone.
A home-run hire for Issa Tall?
Nancy played a system of unyielding possess-and-attack that required intense instruction, attention to detail and total buy in. Nancy's personality, inner beliefs and humanity were woven into his success. Replicating the chapter-and-verse of what he did is nigh impossible, and Tall knew this.
Tall said that "attractive soccer" is a prerequisite for his next coach. He has also said "a good person" with a collaborative bent is imperative. Upon first impression, it appears that tall has checked these boxes with Rydström.
Put it this way: News broke on Tuesday that former Rangers manager Russell Martin was a finalist for the Crew job – and, if you did a quick scan of social media, this news was not met with confetti and balloons. A day later, the Ryström leaked, and it was met with relief and excitement. Crew supporters. At least, that's the way I witnessed it.
Here is a coach who has excelled with a big European club, competed in continental tournaments and brings with him cutting-edge tactics. What is more, Rydström seems like a good dude.
Once again from Sky Sports:
But whatever happens next, this is a coach who has captured the imagination by encouraging a way of playing that nobody else in Europe was really pursuing. Why? "You can probably find some psychological reasons in my childhood," he laughs.
"But if there is one thing that is really satisfying, it is that the players are enjoying playing football. We came away from this mentality that we just have to win.
"Of course, we need to win. But let's go out and enjoy ourselves by playing a football that we can feel."
Thanks for reading. If you're enjoying what you see and you are of a mind, click on the link below and leave a tip. If you've yet to subscribe, consider making a small hop over a paywall. It'll help keep local, independent media disrespected. You can follow me @MichaelArace1.bsky.social. Have a nice day.
Click below to leave a tip. Thanks.
Michael Arace
