Carlos Bocanegra takes lessons from Rangers as he looks to turn Atlanta into MLS big boys

Publish date: 2024-05-27

Former Rangers skipper Carlos Bocanegra has revealed he is building his brand new American side in the same mould as the Ibrox club he still holds dear to his heart.

Affectionately known as Captain America during his stint in Scotland from 2011 to 2013, Bocanegra retired two years ago and is now technical director at Atlanta United.

The Georgia-based team are thenewest expansion franchise to be added to Major League Soccer and will begin their footballing journey next season.

With pre-season training just months away, Bocanegra has already helped appoint former Barcelona and Argentina manager Gerardo Martino as boss.

And in the run up to Christmas the 37-year-old US hero is desperately trying to recruit new players.

Former Premier League star Kenwyne Jones is the biggest name added so far but Bocanegra hasn’t ruled out similar blockbuster signings to the likes of rival clubs New York City, who signed Andrea Pirlo, and Orlando who got Kaka.

He is also keeping a close eye onScottish players while scouring the globe for talent.

Bocanegra said: “ I always keep an eye on Rangers. The bad thing is that I’m not doing it as much as I had before because of everything going on at my club right now.

“I loved it in Glasgow. Rangers are an excellent club and I’ve taken a lot of traditions and culture I learned there and will try to implement that in Atlanta.

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“It was stressed that Rangers are a family club and I want it to be like that here.

“Everybody was equal, that’s what I felt at Rangers. People would make coffee and hold doors for each other and that’s how it should be.

“Some stadiums like Ibrox arelegendary and we hope our Mercedes-Benz stadium can be the same.

“It can hold 70,000 and has a six-storeys high halo screen that I think is the biggest in the world.

“It’s one of the best stadiums on earth and it’s brand new.

“I was speaking with my old Rangers team-mates Steven Davis and AndyLittle not so long ago and it’s amazing what I’m doing now compared to my playing days.

“I don’t miss playing too much but I do miss working out for a living.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity and I learned a lot about the business side as I was the second person hired and sat in on marketing meetings and all of the early stuff.

“A balance is needed as nobody expected me to come in and have abusiness degree. That wasn’t expected and the company addressed that this would be my weakness.

“Working off the pitch is a lot more difficult now. When playing you affect a game but now you can’t affect too much ahead of time.

“I wish I could run and kick and try to help everyone else. But it’s now my job to sign the players.

“I’m trying to keep up with every other side and put a top staff together. This is a fantastic city, a growing league and we already have 22,000 season ticket holders.”

After Rangers went into liquidation, Bocanegra followed several other big-name stars out the door at Ibrox.

Firstly he went on loan to Spanishside Racing Santander then made apermanent move back to his homeland with Chivas in the MLS.

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He said: “Playing for the USA national side had a big part in me leaving Rangers.

“I wanted to stay at the club butRangers wanted and needed to get me off the wage bill.

“Part of me was sad because I didn’t come back and help finish the journey back to the top.

“But because of the wages involved, it just wasn’t going to work out. Honestly, I didn’t want to leave.”

“I wish I’d signed for Rangers a lot earlier in my career. If I had I couldeasily have spent five or 10 years there. That’s how much I enjoyed it.”

Bocanegra points to the success of Scots stars Adam Moffat and Kenny Miller in North America as reasons why he’s looking at this country for players.

He hopes to get a few signed soon and added: “Scottish players translate well to this league so we are looking carefully at them.

“The biggest challenge is that there is definitely a climate change with the heat here. But I’m hoping we can become Scotland’s favourite MLS side.

“There’s lots going on at the moment, we start pre-season on January 23. Our front office staff and coaching staff are pretty much sorted sonow it’s about gettingplayers which is the fun part.

“We’ve got six under contract and have agreed to some trades. MLS squads are allowed a total of 28 players and then eight to supplement the roster.

“We have all different mechanisms to get new guys. We’ve got some foreign players already from Argentina, Trinidad and the UK and we started the academy the year before the team started to get youngsters involved.

“I’m not too interested in big-name players – first and foremost it’s about if they can contribute.

“If the name attached sells jerseys that’s just a bonus.

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“The ownership grouphas put me under nopressure to sign bigstars, they just want to be competitive and to go for the league championship.

“If people on lowersalaries outperform their wages, that’s what we want and we will reward them.

“Football is driven by money and the English Premier League has changed things. But football in America is growing and I don’t know if we can compete with that.

“I have friends I played with around Europe who are desperate to come and play here for me.

“But there are only eight foreign spots so we need to be very selective with that. In Europe you can spend whatever you want but you need to be clever as there is a salary cap in the MLS.

“The idea of a brand new team all of a sudden appearing is strange in Scotland because of the football history there, which is amazing.

“The sport is still quite young here, not a lot of dads have favourite teams they pass on to their sonslike they do in American football or baseball.

“I had my time in football. Now it’s over and I feelfortunate and reallyhappy to be in a high-level environment with a clublike this.

“Our new stadiumtransforms for derbygames against Orlando and can hold 72,000 people. Imagine what theatmosphere will be like.But it will still be hard to top Ibrox or Celtic Park.”

“We haven’t completely finalisedour pre-season tournament forFebruary so hopefully it can involve Rangers or a Scottish team – only this time I won’t be playing on the pitchor be on the sidelines, I’ll be in a suit inthe directors box.”

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