New WG bosses Freedman and Johns in an interview: “Maybe we can convince Bale to make a comeback”

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The final details were clarified on Wednesday and on Thursday Stacy Johns and Larry Freedman, the American representatives of the new GC club Los Angeles FC, received Blick for an interview. The interim president of the classification and her manager in the network with LAFC, Bayern Munich, Wacker Innsbruck (Austria), Racing Montevideo (Uru) and Gambinos Stars (Gambia) say what the coming weeks will bring.

Blick: You said you wanted to bring the Grasshoppers back to life. What do you mean?
Larry Freedman: We have a short history with Los Angeles FC and have only been around for six seasons. GC, on the other hand, is a club with a long and proud tradition. Unfortunately things haven’t been going well lately, things are going downhill, the last owners weren’t very popular. But the people who love this club still live in Zurich. They just don’t come to the games anymore.

How do you want to change that?
freedman: We will ask the fans, the donors, the business partners: why is that? We want to show that we are a reliable partner and actively help to bring the club closer to the fans.
Stacy Johns: And we want to be successful. Success never hurts!
freedman: On Wednesday evening everyone asked us when we would be at the top of the table again.

And?
freedman: You can’t plan that. We do it step by step.
Jansen: But we analyzed the Super League before going to the rankings. In the competition, places for international business are not pre-allocated. That is attractive to us.

What do you know about the rivalry between GC and FC Zurich?
freedman: We’re from Los Angeles, this city has two: two NBA teams, two NHL teams, two MLB teams, two NFL teams. We know something about rivalry. Above all, we know that rivalry is best when both opponents are strong.

Currently GC is clearly number 2 in the city.
freedman: There are always phases when things don’t go well. Even the Los Angeles Lakers had dark times. Until LeBron James came along and the Lakers won again.

Who will be the LeBron James of GC?
Jansen: (laughs) Who knows, we might be able to convince Gareth Bale to postpone his golf career a bit and put his football boots back on. (Bale played for LAFC at the end of his career until the end of 2022, ed.)

You are joking. Or do you see an opportunity in it?
Jansen:(laughs) No chance.

Then no joke: will you take well-known kickers to the rankings?
Jansen: Football is a team sport. For us it’s more about bringing players forward and developing them.
freedman: You can have a superstar on the team, that’s great. But even a superstar gets injured sometimes. It takes more than big names.
Jansen: We are proud to have developed players in LA. That’s how we brought out Diego Rossi, who then moved to Fenerbahce for a large sum. We signed Denis Bouanga from France – he is now the league’s top scorer in MLS. When he arrived our fans weren’t that excited, now everyone wants to buy his jersey!

What does this mean for GC?
Jansen: In football, where buying and selling players is important, building your own talent is crucial. We also need to find good talent for this.

Ms. Johns, prior to your time at LAFC, you worked for the NFL franchise Indianapolis Colts for 15 years. The NFL is the benchmark for everything in football. The MLS is, as you say, deeper. What brought you from football to football?
Jansen: I like challenges! I was looking for something new. You said it right: the NFL was created and dominates everything in the US: the TV money, the advertising money, the ratings. It’s crazy. But I wanted to work somewhere where I could really make a difference.

And that’s how you got into football?
Jansen: What interests me about football is the complexity of the sport and the business: it’s international, you transfer players back and forth between countries, you have youth sections at the clubs – something that the NFL doesn’t have at all. You don’t develop the rising stars yourself.

The GC junior campus has stagnated in recent years.
Jansen: If you can show a young player that he can develop here, that he can then play for the first team, that he can then perhaps take the next step, to Bayern Munich, to LAFC or even to a club outside our network like Fenerbahce at Rossi – that should be another argument for WG.

FC Lugano, another Super League club, has been in American hands for three years and has since developed into a top team. Are the people of Ticino your role models?
freedman: Our owners are involved in clubs in various sports and have developed a lot of knowledge. If we want to know something, we can always contact Joe Mansueto (Owner of Lugano; editor) produce. But we go our own way.

Speaking of owners, they include household names like Magic Johnson, Will Ferrell and Mia Hamm. Did you have to get permission to buy GC?
Jansen: Funny – that’s exactly what I wanted to know from Larry when I had my interview (laughs).
freedman: Our management is very structured. Three of the owners are involved in the daily operations and make all decisions. In the rotation system, one of them is chairman and can, if necessary, make decisions alone. To answer your question: No, that wasn’t necessary.
Jansen: Last week there was the annual meeting with all 26 owners and Will Ferrell wanted to know everything about the timeline of the GC deal. His wife is Swedish and he is often in Europe. I think he will be attending a home game soon.

Ms. Johns, you are “only” interim president. Should the eventual president come from Switzerland?
Jansen: The person does not necessarily have to be from Switzerland, but from Europe. She will take care of the daily management on site. In close contact with Larry and me in Los Angeles.

Who will lead the GC until this person is found? You will travel back to the US on Friday.
Jansen: I assure you, I sleep very little (laughs). And I’ll be back here soon. For the time being, Harald Gärtner, our Managing Director for Europe, will be on site. His focus will be on the transfer market, we want to strengthen the team.
freedman: Our Managing Director and Co-President John Thorrington is coming to the Derby next week. See: We don’t just say it, we are really there! (laughs)
Jansen: We would like to introduce the CEO as soon as possible. Then we come here, get together and make this thing work.

Source : Blick