The Orlando Pride are Building a Club Culture the Right Way

On New Year’s Eve NJ/NY Gotham FC signed Crystal Dunn to a multi-year contract. There had been short-lived rumors that Dunn going to the Orlando Pride was a possibility, but those fell by the wayside pretty quickly. I have my thoughts on why it all went down the way it did.

Before the rumors were squashed, I thought that Dunn to Orlando was, at least for Dunn, a good move.I knew that her husband, Pierre Soubrier, was working for my new local USL W League club, the Tallahassee Reckoning. My thinking was that the distance between Tallahassee and Orlando was much more manageable than Tallahassee and some other NWSL clubs. Looking back, it was silly of me to think that might happen.

One thing Gotham did to improve its chances of signing Dunn became obvious on Wednesday when Meg Linehan of The Athletic first reported Gotham hired Soubrier as a consultant. In her article she said that Soubrier’s hiring was effective Jan. 1, only one day after Gotham announced Dunn’s signing. Soubrier was let go by the Portland Thorns and suspended for the 2023 season by the NWSL due to a league investigation that found he had provided two Thorns players with medication that contained codeine during a match. Codeine is a prescription drug and can only be administered by a physician.

While it is just conjecture on my part, it’s not a stretch to think that Dunn made her decision based on which club was willing to also employ her husband. I don’t blame her for making that decision. She is doing what is best for her family, and the Pride didn’t entertain such a deal because the club is doing what is best for the Pride. Bringing in Soubrier in order to secure Dunn’s services is not the culture that the Pride, Haley Carter, nor anyone in the organization want to build. 

That is no small thing. Building a culture at a club is often as important as building a roster. Indeed, the two things go hand in hand. Sometimes that means passing on a player — even someone world class, like Dunn. Not too long ago, many players didn’t want to even talk about coming to Orlando. How the club handled the Amanda Cromwell issue, how the front office is conducting business, and how Seb Hines is treating his players is changing all of that.

Don’t worry too much about missing out on Dunn, and don’t worry too much about Gotham “signing everyone.” I have a feeling that the Pride still have some moves that will make us forget about what wasn’t and instead will put the focus on what will be.