Soccer <\/p>\n
By all appearances, Matt Wells occupied an enviable position at Tottenham Hotspur.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Wells earned a role as one of manager Thomas Frank\u2019s top assistants this season, the only member of the first-team staff to remain from his Europa League-winning predecessor Ange Postecoglou, a sign of leadership\u2019s respect for his abilities in an industry where churn is the norm.<\/p>\n
Working under the bright lights of the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League are life goals for players and coaches around the world, and Wells reached that stage earlier than most, having dived headlong into coaching at age 20 after injuries cut his playing career short. In fact, Tottenham were his third EPL gig, having already worked under Scott Parker at Fulham FC and AFC Bournemouth.<\/p>\n
Spurs were more than just a job, too. His grandfather, Cliff Jones, is a club icon, a star of Tottenham\u2019s 1960s heyday and still one of its all-time leading scorers. Wells himself climbed their academy ranks in his youth.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Why leave all that behind to transplant his wife, their dog and 15-month-old daughter to distant, unfamiliar Colorado<\/a> to take over as the Rapids\u2019 new head coach?<\/p>\n \u201cQuite a few people have asked me that,\u201d Wells told MLSsoccer.com with a smile shortly before his hiring was officially announced<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI had that upbringing as a Tottenham boy, and was in the academy from eight years old \u2018til I was 20, and then came back and coached their [Under-]12s, 13s, 16s, 18s, 21s, became assistant manager, won the first trophy in 17 years and the first European trophy in 40 years. So it was never, ever going to be an easy choice to leave a club that means that much to you.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I’m an ambitious person, and I have personal goals, and I was also never going to let that stand in the way of a next step, if it was the right move. And this one definitely fit the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d taken note of MLS\u2019s dramatic growth and the role several talented young coaches were playing in it \u2013 and had the luxury of direct contact with one of the chief examples, Minnesota United FC<\/a> boss Eric Ramsay, who left Manchester United to become the league\u2019s youngest-ever head coach in February 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n It can only have helped that Wells could also ring up another notable MLS name for some firsthand perspectives: LAFC<\/a> superstar and Spurs legend Son Heung-Min<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a league that I followed; I know there’s a lot of world-class players out there,\u201d the 37-year-old explained. \u201cI’m very close with Sonny, and so I spoke to him through this whole process, and he was nothing but positive about the experience of playing \u2013 and the level as well, by the way.<\/p>\n \u201cSame with Eric Ramsay, who obviously I know well. And speaking to Eric a lot, again, nothing but positive about the experience, the level of the league. So that was never a concern for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Coach is excited to build something special \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f #Rapids96<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/c2Xu5rmMrT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) December 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Even as he developed a reputation as one of the EPL\u2019s brightest young minds, Wells had an eye on North America all along. At the dawn of his coaching journey, he cut his teeth with several hectic months of Stateside youth summer camps with Challenger Sports, offering early exposure to this side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n He and his wife grew fond of vacationing in the US, and a few years ago he was all set to join Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a> to lead their residential academy program, only for Spurs to talk him out of that departure by promoting him to take charge of their U-21 team. He hints at \u201ca fair bit of interest\u201d from more than one MLS club more recently, before making clear that the ethos of the Rapids and club president P\u00e1draig Smith made his final decision an easy one.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s my first head coach role, it has to be a success,\u201d Wells said. \u201cAnd of all the people I spoke to, Colorado was, by far and away, the organization I felt that matched my ambition, my values. The opportunity to come here and improve on last season and create something special was just too big of a draw for me.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you’re an assistant, of course you’re contributing, but the team’s never playing in your image.\u201d<\/p>\n Wells has made the conscious choice to leave his homeland behind and cut against the conventional pathway for aspiring managers in Britain: Drop down to the English Championship or another lower division, where it\u2019s perceived to be simpler to build a track record.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m a bold person, and I also look at other people \u2013 obviously Eric, but there’s other coaches that are coaching in different leagues across the world, the likes of Robbie Keane and Liam Rosenior, coaches I really, really respect,\u201d he explained. \u201cI actually love the fact that they take a different pathway. They don’t take the easy option just to go to the Championship. I think the rate of development I’m going to get by moving here is going to be far accelerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Indeed, the Rapids have fashioned themselves into a development-centric organization, trending younger with signings like Paxten Aaronson<\/a>, Josh Atencio<\/a>, Noah Cobb<\/a> and a cadre of homegrowns headlined by Cole Bassett<\/a> and Darren Yapi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Wells is ready to work with what he\u2019s got, though he\u2019s already been providing his input in recent weeks on areas of need in a team that faded down the stretch in 2025, missing out on the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs after spending most of the season above the playoff line under now-former coach Chris Armas<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTo play my way effectively,\u201d he said, \u201cwe need to add certain qualities to the squad that don’t exist, and [Colorado’s] been brilliant in terms of being receptive to that and putting a process in place.<\/p>\n \u201cTouch wood, I think before preseason begins, we’ll have two new signings through the door, one right winger and one central midfielder, and they come with specific qualities that I was adamant that we needed to have in the squad.\u201d<\/p>\n So just what is Wells\u2019 way of playing? He centers his explanation around one phrase.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s called the \u2018dominate framework,\u2019\u201d he explained. \u201cThere’s a lot of detail that goes into it, but every game, we’re going to try to dominate and we need to have that \u2018big team\u2019 mentality when we step on the pitch. I don’t care who we’re playing, where we’re playing, what referee\u2019s reffing the game, how many fans are there or not there, because we’re going into the game to dominate and be the proactive team on the pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cOK, what are the actual tangible football things that allow you to do that? And that’s going to be in our pressing, making sure that tactically, we’re so well-drilled that we can regain the ball high up the pitch. If teams then decide \u2013 which I think will happen, because we’ll be pressing well \u2013 to go longer, then how do we control the first ball and the second ball to turn that into a possession phase?<\/p>\n “But we have to dominate the opponent by pressing. Then it’s about how we dominate the ball. And that’s going to be a large focus of our work through preseason.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Premier League pedigree at the helm in Colorado \ud83d\udc4f#Rapids96<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dKKCnwxdxi<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Stateside arrival<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
‘Dominate framework’<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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