Atlanta MLS club introduces Darren Eales as inaugural president

Atlanta’s new MLS team has taken one step closer to becoming fully staffed and fully functional, as it has named Darren Eales, the current executive director of the English Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, as the team’s first President.

Eales is a former Ivy League Player of the Year (Brown University) and U.S. professional soccer player. While with Tottenham, he had his hand in everything – from the club’s overall soccer strategy, planning succession, acquiring players, performance analysis, player development and so on. He was key in a huge EPL transfer last year, when he sent leading EPL goal scorer Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, as well as other notable names (such as the MLS’ Robbie Keane, Clint Dempsey and Jermain Defoe).

If you know nothing about soccer, the fact that the Atlanta team is able to tab someone from Tottenham, one of the most storied and consistently competing teams in all of the Premier League, should speak volumes. The club has already had more than 5,300 fans sign up for the Founders Club season ticket program, which has lead to over 15,000 seats to be reserved (meaning there are 11,000 left. Let that sink in). Atlanta is no stranger to expansion team woes – the first 30 years of the Falcons, the first 20 of the Braves, the entirety of the Thrashers – but, even though a single player has yet to be named to the squad, I already feel like this team will be very well put together, and will go through minimal (2-3 years before we see a competitive club) expansion woes, if any at all.

How do you feel about tabbing an EPL mind for the ATL club? Have you signed up for the Founders Club? Let us know on Twitter at@ATLBeatBlog (or on my personal handle at @FletchTopper) or below in the comments.