New York City FC Part Ways With Manager Nick Cushing

New York City FC have parted ways with their Manager Nick Cushing. Cushing joined NYCFC in the summer of 2022 as Interim Manager before being hired as the full time Manager heading into the 2023 MLS season. Between his time as Manager and Interim Manager, Cushing finished with a record of 40 wins, 27 draws, and 40 losses. He also won the 2022 Campeones Cup over Liga MX side Atlas.

Cushing was brought into New York City FC as a City Football Group guy. Someone who was a younger coach that was brought in to help develop young talent from the Americas. Cushing eventually earned the opportunity to be the Manager of this club and I would say his time in charge was fine, nothing great but just fine. If you are a Manager of a CFG club that is not Manchester City you are held to two standards; developing talent to move to other CFG or larger clubs in Europe for a profit AND to bring trophies into the organization. In terms of talent development, I don’t think that Cushing was able to achieve success. The organization spent roughly $20m to bring in the likes of Julian Fernandez, Agustin Ojeda, Jovan Mijatovic, Monsef Bakrar, and Birk Risa. None of these players were starters by the end of the season, many not seeing the field in the biggest games of the year in 2024. CFG will not allow that to slide, especially after the botched job that was the development of Talles Magno. In term of success, Cushing did technically bring home the club’s 2nd ever trophy in a Leagues Cup title. However, in terms of trophies that a MLS club can win… that might be the bottom of the barrel. 

So now where do New York City FC go from here? The club has not hired a “non-City Football Group” Manager since the 1st ever Manager in club history, Jason Kreis. That tends to make me believe that this front office will bring in another CFG guy for the job. When you take a look at the CFG multiverse, there is one name that sticks out to me, Carlos Vicens. Vicens is a 41 year old Assistant Manager currently at Manchester City and has been since 2021. He’s not the ideal name for me (as a NYCFC fan), but, he is one that seems like the most realistic hire for the job if he wants it.