New England Revolution Focused On Future Heading Into 2024
"Moving forward, not backwards.”
The 2023 MLS season is over and the New England Revolution don’t have any plans on looking back on the most turmoil season in club history. Instead, they are looking ahead to the future and that started with naming Curt Onalfo as the permanent sporting director.
Onalfo has 20 years of front office and coaching experience including the last four-plus seasons as the Revolution’s technical director. In this role he played an important role in the organization’s personnel and scouting operations and helmed the club’s acclaimed Pro Player Pathway.
“I am grateful to the Kraft family and Brian Bilello for the trust they have put in me to guide this proud and historic MLS club into a new era of success on the field,” Onalfo said. “Since I joined this club in 2019, I have dedicated myself fully to enhancing the club through every avenue available and will continue to commit all of my focus into building a winning on-field product for the Revolution and all of our supporters.”
Onalfo’s job will not be easy. While he has inherited a talented roster filled with the likes of Dylan Borrero, Tomas Chancalay, and of course Carles Gil, Onalfo will need to find Bruce Arena’s replacement as well as replace Gustavo Bou’s scoring.
The former designated player is out of contract and posted a goodbye to Revolution fans on his social media.
Most importantly the Revs need to be a contender in the Eastern Conference. With the roster they have, they should be one of the best teams in the East if not a top team in MLS.
Considering the turmoil and the poor results at the end of the season, the confidence of some fans has wavered. The Blazing Musket asked Onalfo and club president Brian Bilello why fans should be confident about their leadership and Bilello made it clear that the club is headed in the right direction.
“I think the the club where we are now from my perspective, has a lot to look forward to and the fans in general have been great and very supportive of the club,” the club president said. “You know we're coming off our best year ever in terms of attendance and I can say just where we are now, we're going to be way ahead of that next year. We're looking at probably near 28,000 average attendance for next year just based on season membership sales and what we see happening right now. Our fans have been tremendously supportive of this club and it is very much appreciated by everyone at the club, by myself, and I think they see, going back five or so years, the direction we've taken as a club.
“I think collectively, all of us, everyone who's been with the club this last five years, has done a tremendous job at building that reputation within the league, with players, and really around the world,” Bilello added. “If you think about the types of players we’ve been able to attract and also the clubs that are looking at our club and buying players from our club, I think we've turned this club into a great destination for players, for technical staff and I think none of that has changed. What we see in terms of players coming back to the club, guys like Henry Kessler re-signing with the club, the move with Tomas Chancalay like there's more good players staying, more good players coming to this club and I don't see any reason why that would slow down. We have a great staff, not just Curt but he called out guys like Chris Tierney, Remi Roy who have been with this club and have been a big part of building this club and they remain with the club. From my perspective, I think fans can really take faith in what we built here, that that's going to continue to be built here, and we hope to have as many mechanisms available to us as possible to continue to build this roster.”
Bilello noted that currently there are rumors regarding MLS changing some roster rules (he later indicated he wasn’t specifically speaking about the rumored addition of a 4th DP slot).
“I know there's some stuff out there right now about MLS and what they're considering doing. I know from our club, we're hopeful to have as much flexibility as possible to build this roster out,” he said. “Because again, we've done a lot of things on the transactional side of this club and I think we showed in the last few years every sort of transaction we've done, we've done another transaction to bring a player in. Tomas is the latest example of buying another designated player for this club. For us, we're going to continue to invest in the club and continue to bring quality people in this club both on and off the field. In that marketplace and with those folks the reputation is stellar. I just mentioned the fan support and the attendance, I think Gillette Stadium is a really great place right now to come watch the game. Doesn't mean we're not interested in building our own stadium and that project but we've really focused on building a home field advantage and making a great environment. I think fans that are coming to the games the last few years are continuing to do that, tell friends about it and why we've been able to grow as fast if not faster than anyone in this league in terms of fan attendance. That, to me is really about how much we're impacting the community, what a great experience people are having here, and I see that only moving forward, not backwards.”
So while the wounds of the 2023 season are fresh for Revs fans, the club is already on to 2024 and hoping to get the club back to the top. With New England finishing 5th in the Eastern Conference and possessing some stars already on the roster, the path to the throne isn’t as steep as one might think.
More useless platitudes from Bilello. He never says anything meaningful, it's just the same vacuous spin. I have no reason to trust that he and other Revs management are going to right this team.