Tim Ream got inundated by a deluge of congratulations and well-wishes when his exit from Fulham FC was confirmed earlier this summer – understandably, given his near-decade of loyal service (the Cottagers’ final match of the 2023-24 season marked his 300th start for the club) and high standing among the London side’s tight-knit fanbase.
One recurring sort of salutation hit him harder than most: Laments from young supporters with no conception of FFC without him.
“The relationships and everything that's formed through nine years, the messages that have come through have been – yeah, it's been emotional,” Ream told reporters last week, “as you’d expect. And to think that some kids are telling me, ‘Oh, I came to my first game at 8, and now I'm 17, and you've always been there.’
“When those messages come through, and the messages from parents saying that their kids are upset, it's nice that you've had that kind of impact on people and on a club.”
Back where it started
This weekend Ream will come full circle again, this time on American soil. Nearly 13 years after his last MLS appearance, he’s in line to make his Charlotte FC debut on Saturday as The Crown host his first professional club, New York Red Bulls, in a key Eastern Conference clash at Bank of America Stadium (7:30 pm ET | Apple TV - Free).
Touching down in tar heel country this month prompted another tsunami of text messages and phone calls from those who know how much it means to make this homecoming. It took Ream days to sift through it all.
“It's a big deal to make this decision and make a big change. But also, I think I've formed so many amazing and incredible relationships because of this game, because of what I've been able to do, that I think it's mostly just happiness for my family [more] than anything,” said the longtime US international.
“That's the coolest thing, is that you're not getting the congratulations and everything from a soccer standpoint, you're getting it from a personal standpoint. And for me, that matters more than anything to do with the on-field stuff.”
"I get to do this because of them"
Few exports have been better ambassadors for North American soccer in this century, even at Fulham, an outfit rich in connections to the United States and Canada. The St. Louis native played his part in three promotion campaigns from the Championship and won FFC’s Player of the Year award in 2018, aging like fine wine through the years.
The cerebral center back is 36, a full 10 years beyond the average age of English Premier League central defenders last season, yet remained a trusted contributor, albeit with a dip in minutes played from the previous year. He’d already earned a contract extension to summer 2025, diligently keeping hold of his starting role with the US men’s national team along the way.
When a US return began to materialize, Cottagers manager Marco Silva tried to convince Ream to stick around for one more year, to at least give it a second thought.
“The day after the season finished, I sat down with Marco and we had a good chat and I told him,” he recalled. “They wanted me to stay. They tried to push me to stay and really think about it … But I really think through things, and we really thought through this whole move, and it was, for us personally, as a family, it was the right thing to do. It was time to move on.”
As comfortably settled as Tim, his wife Kristen and their three young children Aidan, Theo and Lilia were along the River Thames, as much as he relished the daily battle to keep pace in the vaunted EPL, the distance from loved ones in the United States was taking its toll. A spring visit Stateside, while Ream and the USMNT defended their Concacaf Nations League trophy, prompted deeper conversations about the future.
“I get to do this because of them – because of my wife, because of the sacrifices that they’ve been making. There are a lot of things that I've missed, and a lot of times that they've been put second, and it was time to decide that they needed to come first in this situation,” said Ream. “So that's really what it boiled down to, is putting them first while still being able to do what I love to do, and that's play the game. And this was the opportunity that came up, and one that we grabbed with both hands.
“With all the national team responsibilities, with all the traveling, with all the games, with all the preseason and the trips you take away and the things that you miss out on … how much time that I've already put into the game, and how much time my family has not had me at their disposal, and not had me under the same roof.”
Choosing Charlotte
Their next move was simplified by the extensive recruiting pitch laid out by Charlotte FC, who from early in the process made it clear to Ream and his family how much they wanted him in Carolina blue, despite already possessing a sturdy young center-back duo in Andrew Privett and Adilson Malanda, the foundation of a back line that’s allowed 27 goals in 25 league matches, second-fewest in MLS.
Ask CLTFC leaders, and they’ll explain why their showcase defensive signing of a busy summer transfer window is a can’t-miss reinforcement for the spine of their team as well as its soul.
“I'll take any of the first 11, first 15 of the US national team in our team. So that's one thing,” general manager Zoran Krneta told MLSsoccer.com this week. “Second thing is the player has a huge experience in Premier League, Championship, on the highest level. He’s a natural-born winner, if you like. He’s a warrior, he’s a leader, he’s someone that would add perfectly well to a few other leaders that we have in the changing room.
“We have a lot of young players – don't forget we moved up four players from MLS NEXT Pro last year,” he added. “These young players, they need a general. They need a couple of people who will raise the standard; they’ll show up to every training at the same level, they'll raise intensity of the training … Also, I think Ream is still at the level that he can be one of the best defenders in the league.”
A different MLS
Those are no small expectations. Ream, who played alongside the likes of Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez and Dax McCarty at RBNY, returns to a vastly evolved and expanded MLS that bears limited resemblance to the league he once knew.
“It's definitely improved. You know, the reason I left in the first place was because I felt I needed to move on for my development,” he noted. “There’s still a lot of room to develop further, but it's so much further than what it was when I first came in, and I had guys to learn off of like Thierry Henry, so the situation was a little bit different.
“But looking at it now, it's incredible, where it was to where it is now, and it's part of why I felt comfortable and ready to make the move and come back, because it is such a higher level now.”
A competition once centered on athleticism, with limited stylistic diversity, now teems with varying ideas and global influences among both the player pool and the coaching ranks.
“There's more of a focus on being technical, but also being tactically astute, being fully aware of in-game situations, to where before it was, ‘OK, let's just run over people, let's just run past people, let's just be physical, and we'll win that way,’” said Ream. “Now you have to find different ways to win games. I think that's a sign of the league developing, but I think it's also a sign of the players developing and managers developing, and bringing in better managers, better players.”
He says he has no desire to transition towards coaching like Christian Fuchs, another Premier League veteran who finished his playing days at Charlotte and is now an assistant under Dean Smith, given how much time away from family they, too, must navigate. But he can be something of a coach on the pitch for Smith, who has earned plaudits for his work to shape CLT into a rugged, organized contender in the East.
“His experience on the training ground already has shown through,” said Smith. “He's a talker, he's a leader, and he adds to what we've already got: Ashley Westwood, leader, talker, Nathan Byrne, leader, talker. It'll give the younger players the opportunity to see somebody who's played at the top level and reinforce what we're telling them, what takes to be a good leader, and hopefully they can learn from that. And I think he won't fail to improve some of the players around him.”
And much like his role on the USMNT, where he’s added greatly to the collective memory of a very young player pool, Ream can help a fledgling club build a sense of place.
“Sometimes I look at the players – and this can be both XIs – when the national anthem’s on, there's only probably four or five players, really, with the hands on the heart giving the national anthem out,” added Smith. “And I just think it would be pretty cool for us to have a few more of them players. They do come at a premium, but I believe they bring that care and attention to the squad as well.”
"Earn your place"
How much does Ream have left in the tank? He himself sounds as curious about that question as anyone. His distribution out of the back has always been his calling card, he remains surprisingly fleet of foot in the open field and his astute reading of the game further enhances that. With role models like Portuguese icon Pepe, who this summer became the oldest player in the history of the European Championships at age 41, the perception of what’s possible for veteran defenders has broadened.
“I don't really look at my age as a hindrance. I actually look at it as a positive. I've seen a lot of things, I've played a lot of games, experienced a lot of different situations, and it's up to me to use that to my advantage. So I'll play as long as I feel physically and mentally good, which I do,” Ream said.
“I still try to compare myself to the guys who are 21, 22 who are within the team, and what are they doing physically? OK, I need to be matching that physically, or better, because that's the way you stay in the game.”
With 37 points from a 10W-8L-7D record leading up to the Leagues Cup break, Charlotte sit sixth in the East as the home stretch of the season kicks into gear. They’re comfortably clear of the playoff line, but recognize that any sort of realistic prospects for MLS Cup Playoffs success tend to hinge on home-field advantage in Round One, a privilege that requires a top-four finish.
Ream’s been there before, in every sense of the word.
“The way I always treat any transition is you have to go in and you have to earn your place,” he said. “I don't think that changes, no matter what your age is, how many clubs you played for, how many countries you played in. I think the basis of having a long career is putting your head down and just getting after the work, understanding what is being asked of you, understanding what is being asked of the team, and then going out and doing it.”
