ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis City SC officially found a new head coach last week, naming former Aston Villa and Juventus defender and former Sweden captain Olof Mellberg as City SC's second permanent head coach in its club's history.
City SC Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel joined KMOX Sports Director Tom Ackerman on 'Sports On A Sunday Morning' to discuss the hiring and told Ackerman that the process began in August and there were as many as 30 names under consideration before City SC ultimately decided to hand the keys to Mellberg.
"We wanted to find the right guy with the right mentality, but also most important for me, someone who understands our playing style." said Pfannenstiel. "The playing style still stays unnegotiable, but of course, it's always a different approach. Every coach has a slightly different demeanor about how he implements that style."
Pfannenstiel says that what stood out about Mellberg, who he has known for 20 years, was that he is very clear and very focused and he understands the details.
"When I met him again, we discussed those details and we decided to recommend Mellberg to take over in January and get us back on track," said Pfannenstiel.
Pfannenstiel says Mellberg's biggest strength is his ability to implement youth players into the first-team, stemming from his time as manager at IF Brommapojkarna (BP)
"(BP) is the biggest youth club in the world with 5,500 kids, which is a crazy number," said Pfannenstiel. "When it comes to academy football, they are some of the best in Europe. They can beat the Chelsea's, the Arsenal's, the Bayern Munich's in this world in a U-14 to U-16 level, but obviously they are also focused on the first-team."
"(Mellberg) was used to intergrating young players into the team, he was used to working on a small budget and he always outperformed the budget."
Pfannenstiel also highlighted Mellberg as someone who is a "no-nonsense guy" and the way he plays and understands football.
"His way is very very clear," said Pfannenstiel. "He based on discipline, on a clear structure and I think this is what (City SC) has to work on, especially defensively. Having him as a former world-class international central defender who really knows what he is talking about when it comes to defensive shape was another really important part there."
"There were lots of things for me where he was the standout candidate and I really look forward to work with him."