Just ten months since his arrival to Atlanta United, Ronny Deila is now departing the club. The Five Stripes announced on Sunday that they are parting ways with the Norwegian manager. The move comes one day after the conclusion of the worst season in club history.
“It was evident that our standard of play was not met this season, and together with our senior leadership team, we have decided that it was in Atlanta United’s best interest to move the team in a different direction. Ultimately, we owe our fans a much better on-field product and it is our unwavering commitment to provide that to this community as soon as possible,” Atlanta United CEO and President Garth Lagerwey said. “We want to thank Ronny for his time and commitment to the organization and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Despite entering the Atlanta setup as a manager with an impressive MLS pedigree and being handed a three-pronged attack worth over $40 million in transfer fees, Deila was only able to amass five wins in 34 league matches.
In addition to a dismal wins-losses record, the team finished 2025 with the third worst goal differential in all of MLS.
Atlanta United are now in search of their sixth permanent manager. Only Gabriel Heinze’s seven-plus months in charge in 2021 is a shorter tenure at the club than Deila’s.
Major changes after a season like this are to be expected. The question now becomes, who is the right person to turn this club’s on-field performances around?
After a season of mundane and uninspiring play, the next manager needs to bring great motivational skills along with an exciting brand of soccer. From the players to the supporters, a giant shift in personality on the field is desperately needed to revitalize this once proud juggernaut.
Thank god.
I've never been one to quickly jump on the coach-out train, but from the very beginning Deila has been an utter disaster. From the way that he treated and talked about players, to his head scratching tactical decisions and slowness to adjust in-game, to the almost universal regression we've seen at the player level and the complete failure to develop chemistry at the team level; it's all been terrible. I continue to believe that all of the potential everyone saw in this team at the beginning of the season was very much real. In my mind there's only one real culprit here. Good riddance.