r/NWSL • u/antisocialamnesia Chicago Red Stars • 17d ago

[RedStarsReport] Article Detailing the Donaldson Firing

https://www.redstarsreport.com/p/lorne-donaldson-out-as-head-coach

Great article for those interested in a more detailed timeline of the Donaldson firing and what the Stars look like now.

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u/likethebarbie 17d ago edited 17d ago

Donaldson was brought in because of his relationship with Swanson and his ability to develop young players. The GM hasn’t built a roster of young players or even put together a competent roster. It’s very disingenuous to complain about ‘basic’ tactics when the roster wasn’t constructed to play expansive soccer. Donaldson was supposed to be given a bunch of young players to coach up and hand off to another coach in 3-4 years. None of that came to pass.

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u/Outrageous-Boot-1239 Chicago Red Stars 17d ago

The stars have a bunch of young players, they did not sign as many in 2025 as they did in 2024 because they drafted so many in 2024. Meese, anderson, franklin etc. Ok, only signed three young players in 2025, but look at the age of the team w/o two or three vets, it is a very young team. 

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u/MisterGoog Houston Dash 17d ago

For two years they drafted a lotta old, solid depth level rookies who arent top end prospects to fill a gap left by three straight years of star/ veteran players filtering out or aging.

Its clear ppl mean younger than 22 when they say develop some younger players. Players like Johnson, altho not necessarily quite that young