Joseph Lowery
Where we left off last year
2024 season: 37 points, 12th in the Eastern Conference, 23rd in MLS
It’s been a long, long time since the Philadelphia Union had endured a season like 2024. After five consecutive years of finishing inside the top four in the East, the Union dropped all the way to 12th, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Uncharacteristic defensive errors mixed with some brutal breaks in both boxes saw a team that managed to stay undefeated for longer than anyone else in MLS quickly spiral out of control.
Jim Curtin, 11 years into his tenure, paid for that spiral with his job. Sporting director Ernst Tanner was no longer seeing eye-to-eye with his coach. Tanner wanted more pressing and direct attacks where Curtin had shifted to a slightly more controlled style of play. The result? Curtin was fired in November and the Union went searching for a new manager.
