Bob Bradley deserves his chance
Bob Bradley will lead Swansea into the Emirates to face Arsenal this weekend, and for the American manager this job in the English Premier League is a well-earned promotion from the lesser tiers of Europe. He has proven many people (including myself) wrong after his terminations from managing both the USMNT and Egypt and he deserves this opportunity.
I, along with many other USMNT fans, were relieved and excited for US Soccer to move on from Bradley to Jurgen Klinsmann in 2011. The perception of his time with the men’s national team was that he would win games that he was supposed to but couldn’t win the big game or move the team past the round of 16 matches in the World Cup when he lost to Ghana. However, his overall record with the USMNT was better than his reputation as the team suggested, going 43–12–25 in his 80 matches in charge. A majority of people assumed Jurgen would be the manager to get the team to the next level, which has yet to happen.
Bradley moved on to take charge of the Egyptian national team in a time of turmoil and crisis in the country. In his 36 games in charge, he went 24–5–7 but was again released from his contract when the Pharaohs were eliminated by Ghana from World Cup contention 7–3 on aggregate.
It might have been because he was terminated from two straight international jobs despite overall success, or just because it was the only job he was offered, but Bradley decided to move back to the club side of things by signing on with Norwegian side Stabæk a few months later, becoming the first American manager to manage in a European top flight league. De Blaa had had some success, finishing top 5 in the league from 2006–2009. However, from 2010 to the time that Bradley took over in 2014 they had been relegated to the 2nd division and gain promotion back to the top flight just before his appointment as manager. His first season he saw them stay up and his second season he guided them to the Europa League, once again becoming the first American manager to lead a European club into a major European competition. He was able to accomplish all of this despite the club lacking the financial backing or funds to compete with the bigger clubs in Norway and Europe. He left after the 2015 season to take over French side Le Havre and Stabæk once again have slumped back into a relegation battle this season.
His move to Le Havre was another step in the right direction despite the drop down from a 1st division team to a 2nd division team as the French league is much more competitive than Norway. He once again joined a team that struggled to financially compete with the bigger teams in France and Europe. They had finished 7th the previous season and although he joined the club mid-season, Le Havre was two goals away from promotion to Ligue 1 finishing tied on points and goal differential with promoted Metz but behind on goals scored.
Despite being in charge of clubs with limited resources, Bradley has succeeded at winning at these smaller teams. If he didn’t have an American passport, his success would have seen him being given a chance at a bigger job much quicker than he has. The fact that an American ownership group was the one to take a chance on Bradley shouldn’t change the fact that Bradley has earned this chance at managing in the most popular league in the world. He has a tough first match against Arsenal but I wouldn’t bet on Bradley continuing to prove more people wrong.
