Two days before Angel City FC Opens its pre-season training camp, the NWSL team carried out one of its main intersection tasks on Wednesday by appointing Mark Parsons its sports director.
Parsons, a former NWSL year coach who won a championship with Portland, is the first major football hiring in Willow Bay and her husband, Disney Managing Director, Bob Iger, have become the owners of the majority of Angel City Last summer. Now he has to find a coach to Replace Becki Tweedwhich was dismissed last month after Angel City (7-13-6) finished 12th in the league at 14 teams. And Starts has clearly indicated that it would not be rushed.
“I have a deadline I want to do this,” said Parsons during a phone call on Wednesday. “The objective is that this team is competing in trophies year after year and that we have a lot of work to get to this point.
Players reporting on Friday for the Thousand Oaks training camp, Parsons also has a list to fill out. Angel City lost five key players this winter, including goalkeeper Didi Haracic and defender Jasmyne Spencer, who ranked 1-2 during the appearances for the three-year club. And Starts also plans to take his time there.
“I am very diligent with regard to staff and players. We must first know who we are and who we are looking for, ”said Parsons, who designed successful reconstruction projects in Washington and Portland. “We have the right players you need to win. We have a little work to do and you will probably see us becoming more active in summer and head for the end of the season.”
Parsons, 38, will supervise all football operations, including technical staff, scouting and analysis and sports medicine and will be club president Julie Uhrman.
Parsons passed parts of three seasons as a coach and managing director of Washington's mind before moving to Portland where he won six trophies with Thorns, becoming the only coach in the history of the League to win a NWSL SHIELD, an NWSL Challenge Cup and a championship.
After leaving Portland, he trained the Dutch women's team for 11 months, then returned to mind, replacing Kris Ward as a permanent coach for the 2023 season. His teams made seven appearances in the playoffs.
Originally from Surrey, England, Parsons began his coach career with the Chelsea reserve team at the age of 18. He joined the thorns after the club separated from Paul Riley, which was at the center of a scandal of sexual harassment and sexual abuse that rocked the NWSL. And Ward, coach Parsons replaced in Washington, was dismissed after using aggressive behavior and racist language during a training session.
Riley, Ward and two other NWSL coaches were prohibited from the League for life.
