Republic FC Head Coach and Technical Director Paul Buckle sat down to answer fan questions in a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Thursday, Jan. 13.
From preseason training to the USL being sanctioned a Division 2 league by US Soccer, Buckle answered what fans want to know about the upcoming season.
Republic FC Head Coach and Technical Director Paul Buckle sat down to answer fan questions in a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Thursday, Jan. 13.
From preseason training to the USL being sanctioned a Division 2 league by US Soccer, Buckle answered what fans want to know about the upcoming season.
Midtownsrfc: As you enter your second full year with Sacramento, what lessons have you learned about the league or American soccer in general? Can you compare your coaching style with a English background to the style an American coach trains/coaches their team in USL?
Buckle: I learned that the league improves every season. I feel that the new teams entering the league, it will improve even more. I like the signings that we have made as you never want to stand still. We have set high standards and the biggest thing that we are chasing is a championship. We would also like to have a good run in the Open Cup. We would like to play a good brand of football that our fans have become accustomed to.
I think every manager globally has their own style. To win and play attractive football is our focus always, in that order.
thehumongous11: How far off do you think the club is from being able to consistently lean on academy development as a source of new players for the team? I recognize our club and academy are both very young.
for example are U-18 academy players eligible to play in USL league play or are there rules/contract limitations preventing this?
Buckle: We are a lot further ahead than when I arrived. When I arrived, one of my biggest focuses was the Academy and to make sure our standards are high. We've had 11 kids go on to national team camps and now the next step is developing players for the first team. I've had lot of interaction with the U-16s and U-18s because they are the closest to breaking into the first team in terms of age and level. When I interact with the Academy players, I've conveyed to those players the reason why we are here which is to earn our place. Academies come at a big expense so you need to have players coming through but at the same time you need to have some patience because the standards are very high. I will involve players in the first team environment, which is crucial to their development.
druken-fumble: Do you feel the loss of affiliation [with the San Jose Earthquakes] has impacted the ability to attract or retain some players?
No I don't think it's affected us in those two ways. Time will tell and we must not underestimate the positive effect of the affiliation on our play. The relationship last year with Dominic Kinnear was great for both clubs. When the likes of Tommy Thompson and Adam Jahn was coming over there was a buzz around the place.
A positive this year will be that the players here will know that they are fighting among each other for a position and not against loan players as well. It would be quite interesting of the stat of how effective the affiliation has been on the field.
And lastly, as we prepare for the potential of MLS, we will no longer have an affiliation because we will be at that higher level. This can only add to the stability of the club as well as prepare the boys who are competing to be with the club as we grow and look long term.
ryuns: You've brought on a few players with impressive experience this year. What do you expect veterans players to bring to the field? How do you expect them to affect the team's style of play this year?
Experienced players like Moffat and Hall bring a common influence into what is a young squad. They can give the younger players more confidence, and in the bigger the games like playoff matches, that kind of player can be very effective. You can't buy experience but what we've done is brought in players to balance the squad, not only from a tactical side but also in mentality.
bingbew: What does the switch to Division II mean to the Republic? Will there be any changes as a result?
Do you expect to make any changes in the team's style of play since last season?
The D2 status is a reflection of all the hard work the league and clubs like ourselves have done. We do things very professionally to help grow the game. I think we've been leaders. There's a lot of eyes and a lot of focus on the American game and this only enhances the reputation of the game here and the USL league.
I think we always have to look for some new ideas. I've had a good idea of how we want to play, looking back on how good we did in the regular season. We are going to make a few changes to what we do, with the speed I feel we have more pace in the team which will allow our more creative midfield players to play our strikers in on goal rather than always having to build up. It will give us an opportunity to use the pace of players like Blackwood and Gissie and gives us new route to use.
Midtownsrfc: Could you explain the pre-season preparations for this year? Last year you took the team to Mexico, however with the friendly in SJ (February) and a game in Reno (March) the timeline for a long distance trip does not seem possible…
We plan to go to Mexico again as it was a highly successful exercise last season. With seven new additions to the squad it is important that we fast track the relationships within the squad and the training camp in Mexico is an ideal space to facilitate that. We are also working on the possibility of giving the fans an in-depth, day-by-day look at training camp while we are in Mexico, so stay tuned for that. We will also have some opportunities for fans to attend an opening training session.
I am as excited as the fans must be to get working and take a look at our new squad. And the friendlies we are lining up will be another example of us challenging ourselves in the best way possible as we prepare for the season.
taskfree: What is your focus when it comes to scouting/player development?
Where recruitment is concerned, we identify positions where we feel we need to improve and then we do everything humanly possible to find not only the right player, but the right person. That is our policy.
A good example of development is Cameron Iwasa. We create an environment where everyone feels comfortable and I feel that this is the case with Iwasa. We build an environment that focuses on winning games on the weekend, but also pushing players to reach their potentials.
In terms of recruitment, we go to Europe and Mexico to build relationships, which helps us find players and Graham also has a great wealth of knowledge which we can lean on as well.
An example of these relationships was in the signing of Tyler Blackwood. We knew he was a player that we liked, but it was not right to bring him in straight away. In this case we keep tabs on the player and took longer to do our homework. With Blackwood, I tracked him through my contacts at Queens Park Rangers and when it came to signing him I talked with Jamie Mackie, who I have a background with, and he helped give us background on what type of player and person Blackwood is and helped us on the decision to sign him and attract him to signing with Sacramento.
Midtownsrfc: As you enter your second full year with Sacramento, what lessons have you learned about the league or American soccer in general? Can you compare your coaching style with a English background to the style an American coach trains/coaches their team in USL?
Buckle: I learned that the league improves every season. I feel that the new teams entering the league, it will improve even more. I like the signings that we have made as you never want to stand still. We have set high standards and the biggest thing that we are chasing is a championship. We would also like to have a good run in the Open Cup. We would like to play a good brand of football that our fans have become accustomed to.
I think every manager globally has their own style. To win and play attractive football is our focus always, in that order.
thehumongous11: How far off do you think the club is from being able to consistently lean on academy development as a source of new players for the team? I recognize our club and academy are both very young.
for example are U-18 academy players eligible to play in USL league play or are there rules/contract limitations preventing this?
Buckle: We are a lot further ahead than when I arrived. When I arrived, one of my biggest focuses was the Academy and to make sure our standards are high. We’ve had 11 kids go on to national team camps and now the next step is developing players for the first team. I’ve had lot of interaction with the U-16s and U-18s because they are the closest to breaking into the first team in terms of age and level. When I interact with the Academy players, I’ve conveyed to those players the reason why we are here which is to earn our place. Academies come at a big expense so you need to have players coming through but at the same time you need to have some patience because the standards are very high. I will involve players in the first team environment, which is crucial to their development.
druken-fumble: Do you feel the loss of affiliation [with the San Jose Earthquakes] has impacted the ability to attract or retain some players?
No I don’t think it’s affected us in those two ways. Time will tell and we must not underestimate the positive effect of the affiliation on our play. The relationship last year with Dominic Kinnear was great for both clubs. When the likes of Tommy Thompson and Adam Jahn was coming over there was a buzz around the place.
A positive this year will be that the players here will know that they are fighting among each other for a position and not against loan players as well. It would be quite interesting of the stat of how effective the affiliation has been on the field.
And lastly, as we prepare for the potential of MLS, we will no longer have an affiliation because we will be at that higher level. This can only add to the stability of the club as well as prepare the boys who are competing to be with the club as we grow and look long term.
ryuns: You’ve brought on a few players with impressive experience this year. What do you expect veterans players to bring to the field? How do you expect them to affect the team’s style of play this year?
Experienced players like Moffat and Hall bring a common influence into what is a young squad. They can give the younger players more confidence, and in the bigger the games like playoff matches, that kind of player can be very effective. You can’t buy experience but what we’ve done is brought in players to balance the squad, not only from a tactical side but also in mentality.
bingbew: What does the switch to Division II mean to the Republic? Will there be any changes as a result?
Do you expect to make any changes in the team’s style of play since last season?
The D2 status is a reflection of all the hard work the league and clubs like ourselves have done. We do things very professionally to help grow the game. I think we’ve been leaders. There’s a lot of eyes and a lot of focus on the American game and this only enhances the reputation of the game here and the USL league.
I think we always have to look for some new ideas. I’ve had a good idea of how we want to play, looking back on how good we did in the regular season. We are going to make a few changes to what we do, with the speed I feel we have more pace in the team which will allow our more creative midfield players to play our strikers in on goal rather than always having to build up. It will give us an opportunity to use the pace of players like Blackwood and Gissie and gives us new route to use.
Midtownsrfc: Could you explain the pre-season preparations for this year? Last year you took the team to Mexico, however with the friendly in SJ (February) and a game in Reno (March) the timeline for a long distance trip does not seem possible…
We plan to go to Mexico again as it was a highly successful exercise last season. With seven new additions to the squad it is important that we fast track the relationships within the squad and the training camp in Mexico is an ideal space to facilitate that. We are also working on the possibility of giving the fans an in-depth, day-by-day look at training camp while we are in Mexico, so stay tuned for that. We will also have some opportunities for fans to attend an opening training session.
I am as excited as the fans must be to get working and take a look at our new squad. And the friendlies we are lining up will be another example of us challenging ourselves in the best way possible as we prepare for the season.
taskfree: What is your focus when it comes to scouting/player development?
Where recruitment is concerned, we identify positions where we feel we need to improve and then we do everything humanly possible to find not only the right player, but the right person. That is our policy.
A good example of development is Cameron Iwasa. We create an environment where everyone feels comfortable and I feel that this is the case with Iwasa. We build an environment that focuses on winning games on the weekend, but also pushing players to reach their potentials.
In terms of recruitment, we go to Europe and Mexico to build relationships, which helps us find players and Graham also has a great wealth of knowledge which we can lean on as well.
An example of these relationships was in the signing of Tyler Blackwood. We knew he was a player that we liked, but it was not right to bring him in straight away. In this case we keep tabs on the player and took longer to do our homework. With Blackwood, I tracked him through my contacts at Queens Park Rangers and when it came to signing him I talked with Jamie Mackie, who I have a background with, and he helped give us background on what type of player and person Blackwood is and helped us on the decision to sign him and attract him to signing with Sacramento.
