Christian Lattanzio OUT as Manager of Charlotte FC

As Charlotte FC head into year three of an organization, they will be looking for their third manager in club history. A few weeks ago Charlotte FC announced that the organization moved on from Christian Lattanzio. This 2023 season Lattanzio and Charlotte FC did make some postseason action, qualifying for the play-in game to the MLS Cup Playoffs. Charlotte would end up getting dominated in that game, losing to the New York Red Bulls by a score of 5-2. With additional runs in the U.S. Open Cup and Leagues Cup, Charlotte FC fell short across the board in even sniffing a trophy this season. We’ve seen that Charlotte has high expectations and will move on from coaches/players if those expectations aren’t met. Lattanzio finishes his Charlotte FC career with 24 wins, 15 draws, and 24 losses across his 63 games in charge. 

For Lattanzio, I do believe that he can find another home within MLS if he wanted. He seems to be a guy who at times had good ideas, just maybe not the right grouping of players around him. But, there were some tactical decisions over the course of weeks in charge that did leave you scratching your head a bit. I would like to see him get a shot at being an Assistant Manager somewhere else in MLS, maybe even back at NYCFC? But could Europe be in the future for him? The Italian born coach does have a background with the City Football Group and was an Assistant Manager at OGC Nice for roughly a 2 year stretch. 

For Charlotte, where do they go from here? Well, first and foremost, they need to hit a homerun with this next hire. The hiring of Miguel Angel Ramirez as the club’s inaugural Manager was a failure. Lattanzio had hope and some promise… but that ended up not being enough. No matter who Charlotte hires as their next manager they need stability. Someone who can control the on field stuff. The club has one of the richest owners in the league, a new state of the art facility, a top notch MLS Next Pro side… now the first team success needs to come and that won’t come unless there is stability from the managerial position. Some realistic options I’d consider if I were David Tepper and Zoran Krneta are; Jesse Marsch, Gio Savarese, Troy Lesesne, Adrian Heath, or even… Thierry Henry? If I’m being ambitious, I’d love to see them go after; Graham Potter, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, or even a Hansi Flick? We will have to wait and see who the leads at Charlotte decide to move forward into the club’s next era with.