D.C. United fires General Manager Lucy Rushton, changes begin
When D.C. United hired Wayne Rooney, they made a clear message: the rebuild has begun. Today the rebuild continued as D.C. United made some personnel changes at the top. That included reliving the duties of General Manger Lucy Rushton and the First Team Performance Director Victor Lonchuk.
More from the D.C. United press release:
D.C. United have announced that they have parted ways with General Manager and Head of Technical Recruitment and Analysis Lucy Rushton and First Team Performance Director Victor Lonchuk as part of the restructuring of the club’s soccer operations. The ongoing work on improving the club’s soccer operations and processes will continue in the off-season.
“We want to thank Lucy and Victor for their contributions over the past seasons. We wish both of them success in their future endeavors,” said Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan, Co-Chairman of D.C. United.
D.C. United will immediately commence a global search for a new General Manager to lead day-to-day operations of the soccer department and will also announce the appointment of a new Performance Director.
The new General Manager will have broad responsibility in all aspects of the first team soccer operations including roster makeup, player recruitment, and talent identification and will report directly to club ownership.
“The club’s on-field performance this season was unacceptable. We owe it to our supporters, our players, and our greater community to compete at a high-level. We are focused on bringing leadership that will work closely with Head Coach Wayne Rooney and our management team to build a squad that once again competes at the top echelon of Major League Soccer. In order to accomplish this and to evolve as a club, we felt it was necessary to make this decision and bring in new leadership.”
The incoming General Manager will be entering an organization with key elements in place, including recent investments in the expansion of the technical staff, enhanced analytics and technology, the dramatic growth of the D.C. United Academy, and the opening of the state-of-the-art training facility and performance center in Leesburg, Virginia.
