The Olof Mellberg era is over in St. Louis. City SC announced his dismissal as manager on Tuesday evening as the club is mired in an 11 match league winless streak. Under the Swede’s leadership the club has yet to find an identity, often struggling to score goals en route to a 2-5-8 record through 15 games. While the club isn’t mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the task to get back into the race for a wild card berth will be a daunting one. As the offensive woes continued over the last three matches, which included a collapse and exit from the U.S Open Cup, pressure had been mounting on the club to make a change.
“The decision to part ways with Olof goes beyond just results. We’ve analyzed the team’s performance across a number of factors, including the need to execute against a style of play that led to the team’s initial success and has been part of our DNA for four years. As a club, we have certain standards we need to meet and believe a coaching change was necessary to improve our overall performance and return to a winning culture,” said City SC Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel. “Our fans deserve a better performing team, and we intend to give them one,” Pfannenstiel continued.
The results are far from what City leadership expected as they were confident they had hired the right man to help transform the club into City 2.0 when he was appointed. “He’s very good in forming a winning team,” Pfannenstiel said in January. “We want to evolve our play style, we want to get better every year. We want to tighten up our our defense and most important, get better with the ball; play some attractive football.” Aside from a defense that was difficult to breakdown early in the season, the club had continued to regress under Mellberg over the last two months, due in part to a string of injuries that prevented him from having several of his best players available for large portions of the season. While the club had seemed willing to give him time, it seems the lack of progress with the resources available caused the patience to wear thin, ultimately leading to Tuesday’s dismissal.
“We understood it would take time for Olof to become acclimated to Major League Soccer and certainly acknowledge injuries made his job difficult, but we simply could not continue down this path,” said St. Louis City SC President and GM Diego Gigliani. “We are disappointed that we were not able to find success under Olof,” continued Gigliani. “He moved over here from Sweden and worked tirelessly on behalf of the club during his tenure. We wish him nothing but success in his future endeavors.”
David Critchley Appointed Caretaker Manager
As the club begins searching for its’ next head coach, current St. Louis City 2 coach David Critchley will assume first team manager responsibilities in a caretaker role. Critchley is credited with helping build a successful academy in his time with the club. Since his hire in 2021, he has spent time coaching at the U-16 and U-17 levels before taking over duties for City’s MLS Next Pro team this season. Through his time with the club he has become known for developing players and displaying a vast understanding of tactics while implementing a style of play consistent with club values.
Critchley”s CIty 2 side currently sits 2nd in MLS Next Pro’s Frontier Division with a 6-1-4 record. They have played an entertaining style of soccer scoring 20 total goals though 11 matches; tying them for third in Next Pro in that metric. Along with Critchley, assistant coach Baggio Hušidić will join the first team coaching staff.
Current City Technical Director John Hackworth, who lead the first team to a late season surge during his stint as interim manager in 2024, is stepping back into the technical area again as he takes over management of City 2 in place of Critchley.
City will hope to get the new coach bounce on Saturday when they welcome San Jose to Energizer Park for an afternoon tilt. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
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