"We had outlined specific goals... and we saw very quickly that those objectives were not being met." Seven games. That's all Marco Donadel got before CF Montréal decided they'd seen enough.
Managing director Luca Saputo faced the press Monday to explain the dismissal, framing it as a considered decision rather than a knee-jerk reaction to Saturday's 2-1 home loss to last-place Philadelphia Union. Whether you buy that framing is another matter — the club's refusal to hold a post-match press conference after the Philadelphia defeat made the sacking feel anything but calm and deliberate.
A coaching carousel that never stops
Donadel is the 11th permanent head coach CF Montréal have cycled through since joining MLS in 2012. No franchise across the NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB, or MLS has burned through more coaches. That's not just a coaching problem — that's a structural one, and Saputo acknowledged it, accepting responsibility for errors in judgment that led to Donadel's permanent appointment in the first place.
Assistant coach Philippe Eullaffroy steps in as caretaker, but Saputo was blunt: he's not a candidate for the permanent role. The club wants a new head coach in place before the FIFA World Cup break at the end of May, giving them roughly six weeks to get the right appointment made and integrated.
What does "right" look like? Saputo was specific: attacking football, building from the back, players deployed in roles that make sense. Under Donadel, those demands apparently weren't met. "There were some instances of tactical decisions or player usage in roles that were difficult to understand," Saputo said, "and that ultimately falls on Marco."
The bigger problem sitting in the stands
Only 14,000 showed up to Saturday's home opener at Stade Saputo. Boos rang out at full-time. For a club that's watched MLS set consecutive attendance records off the back of Lionel Messi's arrival in the league, Montreal's declining gates are a damning contrast.
"You're down to the last of us," said longtime supporter Mathieu Charron of the 1642MTL group. That's not fan frustration — that's erosion. The kind that doesn't reverse with one good appointment.
Saputo says the CVs are already flooding in and that Montreal remains an attractive destination. At 1-5-0 on the season with a fanbase that's visibly checked out, whoever takes the job will need more than a good press conference to turn this around.
