The Philadelphia Union kicks off its 2025 season tomorrow! The new season brings an optimistic feel to the bleakness of an offseason riddled with uncertainty. Philadelphia has overhauled its roster; they have 13 homegrown players and soon-to-be four new additions to the club. Can this version of the Union under a new head coach bring back a culture of being the underdog and punching above their weight?
We’ll get a first taste of that tomorrow evening when Philly travels to Orlando to take on Orlando City, but before all of that, it is important to set expectations for the year. Here’s a look at how that’s going.
- The MLS Campaign
- The US Open Cup
- Player Development
- Coaching Tactics/Adaptability
- The overall club culture/vibes
We have taken a look at and set expectations for MLS, US Open Cup, player development, and coaching tactics. Now it’s time to look at something that is more on the fan side of things, club culture, and overall vibes.
Philadelphia Union’s Culture & Vibes Expectations
It’s the elephant in the room; the vibes surrounding Philadelphia have not been the best. Ever since the club lost the 2022 MLS Cup final in PKs, the philosophy was to run it back with a very similar roster and hope that they could will their way to a championship. That blew up in their faces, and the club missed the playoffs for the first time in six years in 2024. This led to the firing of longtime coach Jim Curtin, the appointment of Bradley Carnell, and the commitment to a Red Bull style of soccer.
Many fans have been vocal in their disapproval of the firing of Curtin and seeing longtime players like Jack Elliott, Leon Flach, and Jack McGlynn leave the club. The vibes are down, and Tanner is doubling down on his style of soccer. It was clear that Curtin and Tanner were butting heads, and Jim went away from the way Tanner wanted Philly to play. Now, there is a new coach who will play that way. What will that mean for the culture of the team and the vibes for the fans? Let’s set some expectations.
Baseline Success: Field a competitive team that fans can connect with
The Union is a team full of young players who are hungry to show that they can make this city and the fans proud. Just yesterday, homegrown Quinn Sullivan said that “You’re gonna see a team that fights their asses off” this season. That will connect with the fans and will bring the culture and the vibes up from where they have been.
The baseline success for this team is if it is competitive and can connect with the fans who come to see it game in and game out. At times last year, the club failed to do this, leading to a lot of discontent in discontent. Some fans even canceled their season tickets. The Job of Tanner is to field a competitive team that Carnell can coach into being one that fans have a genuine connection with. Do that, and the club’s culture and vibes will go up, even if the team isn’t the best in MLS.
Unmitigated Failure: Ostracize the fans when they voice their complaints
The flip side of this for Philly is if the club tries and fails to make any progress. If Carnell sticks to Tanner’s system, and it leads to defeat after defeat, then fans will turn on the team. Notice I didn’t say the players; Union fans are notoriously passionate about the players who wear the badge. If Philly is a team in the basement of the Eastern Conference after the first third of the season, the vibes will plummet.
We saw this last season, and fans made their frustrations known. The club itself didn’t listen to a lot of those frustration to fix them right then and there. It seems they have tried to do that this offseason, spending much more money on incoming transfers than in years past, but if it doesn’t lead to anything, fans will be livid. The club has not been the best at letting fans vent, and if that happens again, many of the core fans who are left from the early days will likely feel excluded.
Vibes would go all the way down, and the culture of a club that exists because of its fans would be fractured—but that’s the absolute worst-case scenario.
Overachieving Success: Get fans to buy into the Ernst System while winning matches
The thing that cures all, especially in Philadelphia, is winning. If Tanner’s breakneck pressing system is taken by Carnell and executed to perfection, and the Union is a team contending for a top-four finish in the East, then the majority of the chirping will quiet down. Fans will enjoy the vibes being up, and the club’s culture will be celebrated like it was for its most successful stretch between 2019 and 2022.
Union fans know what to expect from their team on the field: a narrow one that presses to create counterattacks, with players who give their all when they’re on the pitch. Some fans don’t like that very much; they want to see their team play the beautiful game more beautifully. However, if this team can play smashmouth soccer and be successful, then there will be more buy-in from those fans who are more skeptical.
Only time will tell if Philly can pull this off. They are betting on themselves yet again this year. We’ll have to see if a new coach and a few new faces will be enough to turn this thing around. The expectations are lower than they have been in recent years. The metrics are in place for success; they just have to execute. Failure to do so will lead to another failure of a season!
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