CHESTER — Read what you will into the dismissal of Jim Curtin as manager of the Philadelphia Union last week. Just do it knowing that, like Curtin’s last meeting with sporting director Ernst Tanner, it won’t reach a resolution. What was made certain Monday, as Tanner and owner Jay Sugarman shared at a press conference on the dais Curtin occupied weekly for a full decade, was that Curtin was “not really aligned” with the on-field vision of the club, in Tanner’s words. In plainer English: Union ownership has generally not wanted to spend money on players. Curtin, after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017, saw a greater need to spend this year. When push came to shove, the guy whose name is on the lease usually wins. Monday’s press conference illustrated that neither camp is entirely in the right. More disheartening for fans, it doesn’t bring the club any closer to winning anything of substance. The arguments on both sides carry weight. Could Curtin have made changes that forestalled a drop from 55 points to 37 and a ballooning from 41 goals allowed to a club-record 55 this year? Does he shoulder blame for 10 straight losses in one-goal games? Might more squad rotation have helped?  Would any coach escape flak for a team that goes 4-8-5 at home or earns all of one of its final 12 points with the playoffs on the line? As Tanner correctly pointed out, a stretch of one win in 17 games would’ve been enough for the axe to fall had this been a European, non-playoff league. Curtin erred in his assessment of Tai Baribo, who played 151 minutes in all competitions in his first 10 months, then scored 15 goals in 17 games after his first start. It opens the door to wonder if he gave short shrift to anyone else that went down as a Tanner transfer blunder. The most pressing at the moment is Under-22 Initiative center back Olwethu Makhanya, to whom Curtin preferred an out-of-position Nate Harriel when left with one true center back late in the season. Not that Tanner has been a model executive of late. The Union’s era of ascendancy relied on signings like Kai Wagner and Jakob Glesnes, swindles like the trade for Julian Carranza and of Kacper Przybylko. But there have been far more Matej Oravecs than Jose Martinezes in recent years. The lack of cover behind Andre Blake in goal this year is indefensible. With the Union getting nothing from Feyenoord for Carranza this summer, they’re not exactly cleaning up on the other side of the ledger. “You’re competing with some very, very large clubs in the world with tremendous resources, so we have to find our own path,” was Sugarman’s assessment of Tanner’s work. “I think we’ve had some tremendous successes, and obviously you’ll always have some misses, and particularly when you’re shooting at younger players, you’re not going to get every one right. But we have to be better at it.” In some ways, Curtin was the victim of his own success, doubly so since that success didn’t result in a championship. The Union in 2022 scored 72 goals and allowed 26, one of the most prolific statistical seasons ever. They were one Gareth Bale header away from winning it all. But they decided to run it back with a largely unchanged roster in 2023 and 2024. A counterpressing style that sought to get the most out of limited resources was eased by the coach when the talent was more plentiful, opening up games. But he failed to adjust as players regressed or were sold on. Stagnancy in the roster begat a stale air around the team. Less competition for spots in the lineup each week came from less talent in training, or was it the other way around? Players that knew each other too well could cross the narrow divide from fighting for one another to tuning each other out. Build a team around a coach getting his roster to overperform and any regression in that coach’s ability has major consequences. The reality that Curtin could be fired says something about the way the value system had shifted. Many fans will read that and say, sure, but FC Cincinnati was linked to a $15 million striker this week, and Atlanta played $12 million for Aleksey Miranchuk and Inter Miami is handing out Messi discounts for a Barcelona alumni team and none of that will change, so how do the Union compete? Sugarman would answer by doubling down on core principles – youth development, counterattacking soccer, continuity. He’d point at players in the system, Cavan Sullivan among them, that are potential superstars, and the $75 million he’s pouring into the Academy would (eventually) be able to produce more players of better quality more consistently then spending $10 million on any one developed individual. He does that by handing the keys to Tanner. Expect the next coach of the Union to be a counterattacking soccer dogmatist, likely from Tanner’s European past. Expect the offseason transactions to be middling, to allow young players a chance to come through and play. But expect a change in the Union’s status in MLS? That, too, is up for interpretation. Contact Matthew De George at [email protected].