Can Dean Smith’s Charlotte FC defy expectations in the MLS?

Dean Smith arrives as a once-revered Premier League manager. His best spells came in charge of a climbing Brentford from 2015 to 2018 and in charge of Aston Villa, where he averaged 1.41 points per game over 138 outings.
He’s got a lot of experience with lower-league English clubs, those on the rise, and those with more sizable budgets. While his spells with Norwich City and Leicester City didn’t end ceremoniously, Smith certainly arrives as the young MLS club’s highest-profile appointment to date. By the look of the results, Smith has made a quick impact, but most pundits are holding onto very low expectations.
Charlotte FC started the season as well as they could, all things considered. They opened with a win at home against New York City, beating them 1-0 and beating them on shots on goal despite ceding 57.4 per cent of possession. Next, it was off to Vancouver to face the Whitecaps. Coming away 1-1, but this time with an edge in possession, marked a decent result for the travellers.
Still, even with these decent results against teams who are expected to jostle with them for a place in the standings, even local-facing bookmakers aren’t offering much hope in the odds. Using the BetMGM NC bonus code, local fans can get $200 in bonus bets, but the bookmaker wouldn’t expect them to go towards the MLS futures. Charlotte FC sits out at +5000 to win the league – on par with Vancouver but behind the +4000 New York City.
Yet, it’s clear that Smith has the team playing efficient soccer with defence and good passing at the forefront of the game plan. At the very least, Charlotte FC has been hard to beat and will most likely continue to prove to be a tricky team to face. However, soon, the club will be getting an incredibly creative and proven winger to make them more of a threat going forward, with that player being Celtic’s Liel Abada.
Last season, Charlotte FC went to the playoffs, making them the first major league side in North Carolina to achieve such a feat since 2017. Funnily enough, the club ended the season with three fewer wins than in their inaugural campaign the previous year, but an additional ten ties helped seal the deal. That said, in terms of position, Charlotte FC still finished ninth in the conference and 19th overall – the same as in 2022.
In any case, it got the local soccer fans excited for the next steps. Tickets sell very well, the club has worked hard to create an electric stadium experience, and the team’s already proving itself to be hard to beat, as Smith told Axios it would be this season. It’s clear that what the team’s doing is connecting with fans, especially as Charlotte only trailed Atlanta United in average attendance last season with 35,544. Inter Miami only averaged 17,579.
It seems that an entertaining day at the soccer and the scrappy underdog mentality is enough to get people into the seats and, just as importantly, get Charlotte FC some points on the board. All of this combined certainly gives the team more of an edge than the odds would suggest.