CF Montréal bets on Marco Donadel to pull squad out of an early season hole
Donadel replaced Laurent Coutrois, who was fired 5 games into MLS season, as interim head coach
Marco Donadel wasn't expecting to be calling the shots for CF Montréal at this point.
But after a rocky start to the MLS season, the club decided it was time to part ways with head coach Laurent Courtois and promote Donadel — the first former player from the club's MLS era to coach the team.
"It's a great feeling," Donadel said about his new role as interim head coach.
But the 41-year-old Italian national admits he hasn't had time to let it all sink in yet. He only joined the team as an assistant coach in January, 10 years to the month that he first joined Montreal as a player in 2015.
Montreal has yet to play a home game this season, with its home opener scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today, but with five losses and two draws over seven road games, there is already a sense of urgency at the club that the opportunity for making this a successful year is slipping away.
"I'm very, very focused on the things I need to fix," Donadel said.
Courtois had only coached the team for one full season and five of the seven road games. His firing falls in line with Montreal's reputation of turning over coaches regularly. Donadel is now CF Montréal's 11th coach since the franchise joined the MLS in 2012 and it's fair to assume, like the 10 others, Donadel will also be on a short leash.
"I'm here to take on the responsibility," Donadel said. "I don't have any kind of expectation, just to have fun every day with the guys."
Donadel's coaching experience includes working as an assistant coach with Russian team Spartak Moscow and being the head coach of an Italian 3rd division team, Ancona, where he was dismissed after six months.
Getting back to a culture of success
Donadel played in Montreal during what some consider a golden era for the club. During his tenure, Montreal made its deepest run in the MLS playoffs in franchise history, reaching the semifinals before losing to Toronto FC.
The team also came within 45 minutes of winning the CONCACAF Champions League before a second half collapse, ultimately losing to Mexican side Club America in front of more than 60,000 fans at Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the final.
Donadel said defeating the New York Red Bulls in the MLS during the MLS Cup playoff run in 2015 was one of the top moments of his playing career. He hopes to deliver fans more moments like that now that he's the coach.
"We need a bit of time, but we have a lot of energy and passion and desire," Donadel said.
It also appears that the team's owner, Joey Saputo, would welcome a return to the era when Donadel played, and that culture that was around the team at the time.
In March, Saputo — who is also the owner of Italian side Bologna FC — did an interview with Italian television station OMNI. During the interview, he said that his decision to resign as club president in Montreal and step away from the day-to-day operations in 2019 might have been a mistake.
"When I see where the club is today, there is no longer the culture that was there when I was," Saputo said, in Italian.
Donadel says since rejoining the club as a coach, he's also noticed that things aren't the same as they were.
"From the day I left in 2018 and the day I came [back] here, the feeling changed a bit. Something changed, I don't know exactly what," Donadel said about the club culture.
"Right now I don't know if it's a personal feeling, or if the owner is right [about the cultural shift]."
Donadel says that starting the season away from home with seven road games makes it difficult to really assess what has happened. He added that once he gets back to Saputo Stadium for home games, he will better understand how, or if, the vibe and culture around the club has changed.
Full circle moment for Donadel's family
Donadel is the father of three girls, ages 11 to 18, and he says that for his family, returning to Montreal is a dream come true.
His youngest spent her early childhood in Montreal and is a Canadian citizen. His girls all speak French, English and Italian, and Donadel says they will join him in the city once the school year in Italy finishes.
As for Donadel's linguistic prowess, his French is a work in progress, but he says he is actively working on it and hopes to communicate to much of CF Montréal's fan base in their mother tongue in short order.
If those conversations are about wins, all the better.
Donadel says it would be a mistake for anyone to write off CF Montréal at this point in the season. With 17 of the 27 remaining games at home, he believes home field advantage is exactly what the squad needs to turn the year into a success.
"[Home field], it's huge for many reasons, but especially for us. Stade Saputo [brings the fans close] and it's compact."
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