CHESTER, Pa. - New sporting director, same youthful strategy for the Union.
The Union on Thursday hired former Red Bull Salzburg academy manager and youth talent expert Ernst Tanner as the team's second sporting director, continuing the club's drive to meld youth development and academy program with the first team.
"Ernst comes to Philadelphia with a strong track record of methodology implementation as well as player development and recruitment," Union owner Jay Sugarman said in a statement. "He has worked for successful clubs at the highest level in Europe, signing and nurturing premier level talent at every stop."
Tanner, known primarily as a key talent evaluator and his eye for young talent, will fill the void left by Earnie Stewart, and bring the Union's youth-first strategy into a new era.
"We believe that Ernst is the perfect leader to continue building and improving upon the promising foundation we have established," Sugarman said.
The 51-year-old German-born Tanner had been with Salzburg in Austria since 2010. He began his career as academy manager of 1860 Munich from 2003 through 2009, before jumping to TSG Hoffenheim, where he held numerous titles.
"I have followed the Union since the early days of the club, and over the past three seasons, there have obviously been many productive changes in terms of methodology and player development," Tanner said. "I'm looking forward to utilizing my almost 25 years of experience and global player recruitment abilities to continue and forward the club's trajectory. I also look forward to generating new ideas to advance the Union to even greater heights."
Stewart, the former Union sporting director, left the club in August to take the open general manager position with the U.S. Men's National Team. Stewart was key in improving the Union's infrastructure in an attempt to the barebones organization into an international entity known for its youth opportunity and development.
"Earnie's time here was great and he did a lot of great things," Union manager Jim Curtin said following the team's 3-0 U.S. Open Cup semifinals win over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday (see story). "There will be someone coming in new. I'm excited to get it to work with him because again it will be some new ideas for sure, which is good. It's healthy."
