Nashville became the 24th team in mls they brought in former Liverpool executives to "transform" a football team

No coaches, no players, no solid pitches, no training grounds, no offices, no infrastructure, not even a team name.

Give you 20 months, from scratch, to "change" a professional football team and to participate in the country's top league. That's the new job of former Premier League club Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre in Nashville – building the 24th soccer team for major league soccer.

Nashville's boss is American billionaire John Ingram. On December 20, 2017, the MLS side confirmed that Nashville will become a newly expanded team.

Nashville hopes to begin its campaign for MLS in March 2020. But with the mountains of tasks in front of him, how should Al start?

In May, Al was appointed team general manager, but he didn't embark on his trip to the U.S. until July, according to BBC Sports.

Al himself has been a die-hard Liverpool fan, and since 2007, his career stories have taken place at Anfield. Starting as a commercial director, he has risen through the ranks of managing director and chief executive officer. In April 2017, he joined Bundesweliga 1860 Munich, but resigned eight weeks later due to conflicting shareholders and the inability to continue working.

As a professional sportsman, Ayre is keenly aware of nashville's value — it's also the home city for NFL teams Tennessee Titans and NHL side Nashville Predators.

Previously, the local Nashville football club played in the second division of U.S. soccer, but they have always wanted to be promoted to MLS.

Al's remarks showed his optimism:

"This is a unique opportunity where we can create endless possibilities on a blank piece of paper."

"We have a lot of resources: a great city, a high-profile sports scene, and a sport that's about to explode in America."

"John Ingram is a very persistent man who, like me, is looking forward to the novelties, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead."

However, when it comes to forming a football team, there is no shortage of coaches and players, but now Nashville has none.

But first of all, Al wanted to create an exclusive identity for the team.

"When you're going to start from scratch, you need to create your own DNA and then get the right people on board," he says. You look at liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp now, and culturally he and the team are a match made in heaven. ”

'For us, scouting and analysis are needed now, and with that work we can be clear about the type of players we need in a limited amount of time.'

But the process of selecting a coach will be more complicated, and Al said discussions have already begun within management, hoping to screen out a viable candidate list and complete the head coach recruitment by the end of the year.

In the future, Nashville's football club will play at nissan stadium, which can accommodate 69,000 spectators, which is also home to the Titans.

In July 2017, a pre-season warm-up match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in the Premier League was held here, when 56,232 spectators poured into the stadium, and the enthusiasm and atmosphere of the stadium were impressive.

Nashville plans to build a new stadium in the city, but there are still some official procedures that must be implemented before the stadium can officially begin.

However, more important than building a stadium is to form a squad.

Al has two options ahead of him: recruit a few big stars so that the world can remember the team's name the fastest, as New York City FC brought in Spanish striker David Villa, England midfielder Lampard and Italian star Pirlo when it made its major league appearance in 2015.

Alternatively, Nashville could refer to another Briton, Darren Miller. Darren Eales built Atlanta United in 2017.

Atalanta selected lesser-known young players from South America.

In their first season in the major leagues, New York ranked eighth in the East; Atalanta ranked fourth in the East and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

"What we're after is real value, and we want the players to be able to give their all to the game," Al said, "and that doesn't mean we don't accept players from overseas leagues, but players who want to come here to pan for gold can not think about Nashville." ”

Don't look at Al's ambitions now, a year ago he was still in a bad experience.

Previously, Al joined the German club 1860 Munich, but resigned after only 8 weeks there.

"At the time, what attracted me to Munich, much like Nashville now, was an opportunity to transform. The club is no longer glorious, but the bosses want it to be glorified again. ”

But Al found the club's shareholders torn apart. The scene is no stranger to Al, who once witnessed in Liverpool how former shareholders Tom Hicks and George Gillett put Liverpool in a debt crisis.

He said: "At that time, the internal contradictions and disputes could not be reconciled, and my work could not be carried out under such circumstances. Instead of going through a new fall apart, I heeded the legal advice and resigned. ”

'I was reluctant to work in football until Nashville offered an opportunity I couldn't refuse.