New coach keeping Valour’s core intact

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This article was published 11/01/2022 (1372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new sheriff in town typically leads to plenty of changes.

Despite coming off of three losing seasons, that hasn’t been the case for Valour FC since Phillip Dos Santos was given the badge.

Dos Santos replaced Rob Gale as the team’s head coach and general manager on Sept. 23 with 10 games left in the 2021 campaign. It was too late to make any big splashes, but now in his first offseason as boss, Dos Santos has the time to tear everything down and build it back up to his liking.

Instead of doing that, Dos Santos, a Montreal native and a former assistant with the Vancouver Whitecaps, has been keeping Valour’s core intact. On Tuesday he picked up the player options on promising young forwards Moses Dyer and William Akio. Prior to that, he re-signed defenders Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Stefan Cebara and midfielders Raphael Ohin and Daryl Fordyce.

The only “new” player signed so far is midfielder Diego Gutiérrez, but he’s no stranger to the club as he played for Valour from 2019-2020 before spending last season in Chile.

“When it comes to players, continuity is very important,” Dos Santos told the Free Press in a phone interview.

“I understand the team hasn’t made the playoffs in three years, but I also look at it in a way where the team has also changed rosters a lot in the offseason, for whatever reason. Either it’s COVID hit and seasons were a bit awkward, but I can’t think about that. I have to build on what my time here with the club was. We’ll still be changing seven to eight players and that’s roughly 30-35 per cent of your roster. For me, it’s about keeping the pieces we believe fit in what we want to build here. Sometimes you’re three or four players away from success and I believe that’s the case with this team.”

There will also be continuity on the coaching staff as the club is expected to announce today that they will be retaining assistant coach/GM Damian Rocke and goalkeeper coach Patrick Di Stefani. Rocke and Di Stefani were hired by Gale and have been with Valour since Day 1.

“I like to give people a chance. I came in and it was very quick. I hit the ground and needed to go. My first thought is always ‘What’s the best thing for the club?’ It’s not about me or my ego… I just thought if I cleaned house at that time, it’s too quick. I’d be bringing in people that aren’t necessarily my first choice, but people that are available at that time. So, I gave Damian and Patrick a chance to work for the final two or three months with me and I saw value in their work,” said Dos Santos.

“… I’m not from Winnipeg. There’s not a big professional history of the sport here in Winnipeg. It’s hard to find people that have been in the pro game. So, for me, it was important to keep people that are from the city, from the province, and know our fanbase.”

Fordyce, a 35-year-old veteran, sees the rarity in what Dos Santos is doing. It makes him appreciate his new bench boss that much more. It also gives Fordyce and his fellow returnees a boost in confidence.

“I think it shows Phil’s character. You get a lot of people that come into a place, and not even just soccer, in any sport or business, and managers will come in and want their own people. They’ll overlook the people that are already there and that happens all around the world. But it shows that Phil is humble and has great character to come in and like what he’s already seen,” Fordyce said.

“Rob and Damian built a fantastic squad. We should’ve done far better last year to be honest and we should’ve made the playoffs, but regardless of that, there’s already a lot of good pieces in place at the club… For me, as an older player, that speaks volumes.”

To Valour’s credit, they took some steps in the right direction in 2021. A victory over FC Edmonton in the regular season finale would’ve given them one of the Canadian Premier League’s four playoff spots, but the Eddies spoiled that by forcing a 3-3 draw.

Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, a 20-year-old on loan from CF Montreal of the MLS, was a major reason for Valour’s progress. He led the CPL in saves (94) and clean sheets (nine) and was voted the league’s top goalie. Convincing Montreal to sign off on another loan would be a huge win for Valour.

“We like our chances. We’ve been in talks with CF Montreal and they know our intentions to have him back,” Dos Santos said.

“They also want him to play. They see the value and they saw the value in having him play. So, I think there’s a good possibility there, but the player doesn’t belong to us and anything can happen.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31