What makes Johnny Russell a great captain, as told by his Sporting KC teammates
Johnny Russell entered the 2024 season in his fourth year as captain of the Sporting KC squad. The Scotsman has captivated not only the hearts and minds of Sporting KC fans, but his own teammates, too, in that time.
During Sporting KC’s media day, The Star asked those teammates about what makes Johnny Russell … Johnny Russell. What makes him a captain and leader players want to follow?
Here’s what we learned...
Johnny Russell can flip a switch
Russell is known as quite the jokester. There are stories you’ve probably heard on podcasts or seen online. In 2021, he accidentally broke the windshield of Gianluca Busio’s car while trying to send a prank video to Busio following his transfer to Venezia.
“He’s kind of crazy sometimes off the pitch,” Tim Leibold said with a laugh. “But when he comes on the pitch, (he’s) a different person. It’s a great mentality.”
“I can’t imagine him as a kid,” Kayden Pierre added. “He’d be running all over the place.”
Nobody has been caught in the crosshairs of Russell’s antics as much as Jake Davis.
“He’s not cold, even though he looks all tough with the tattoos and the beard,” Davis joked. “He thinks it looks good. But he’s actually a nice guy.”
That relationship between Russell and Davis is special, whether it’s sharing jokes, competing over simple tasks in practice or Russell downright ripping up Davis’ name tag and tackling him right as reporters began talking with players at media day.
And despite being the target of many of Russell’s antics, Davis says it makes him and others feel acknowledged.
“It’s just random little things that add up,” Davis said. “He does it with everybody, and I think it makes people feel acknowledged and welcome to our team.”
What’s most important for Davis and others is that Russell knows the right time to push certain buttons.
“I think what makes him a good leader is that he knows the right time to joke around,” Davis said.
But what all of the players echoed is that, while the jokes are great, when it comes time to lock in and be serious, he can get everyone there, too.
“He can … not necessarily take the pressure off the team, but he can kind of detox it by making a joke or doing something funny,” Davis said. But at the same time, he knows when to be serious and when we all have to stay locked in when it matters most.”
“You really want to go to war with him,” Pierre added.
He brings everyone together
Part of what Davis described with Russell is his ability to unite others. Khiry Shelton says Russell’s vulnerability with his teammates makes an impact.
“He’s easy to talk to, he’s very open-minded,” Shelton said.
“The way he embraces everybody, he’s very open-minded, very outgoing,” Danny Flores agreed. “It’s very easy to connect with him.”
Willy Agada called Russell a “special person” for the way he looks after guys in the locker room, hyping them up when things are good and helping lift them when things aren’t going so well.
“He’s always trying to check on and look after the boys,” Agada said. “Even if everyone is down, you can see him as the only happy guy in the locker room.”
Russell also seems to know what buttons to push with each player.
“He knows what each player needs,” Shelton continued. “Whether they need to be fired up or they need to relax a little bit.”
During pregame preparation in the locker room, Russell meets with each player for a moment.
“He goes up to every player and gives them a little something,” Shelton said. “A little energy or a relaxing quote, it may be a message … that’s special. It’s hard to come across many leaders that take the time to really do that.”
When Peter Vermes named Russell captain in 2021, he knew Russell already had the qualities inside of him. Having been a part of the team for three years then, Russell’s leadership traits were starting to show.
“I think Johnny already had a lot of those qualities,” Vermes said. “Sometimes I don’t think he knew it, and I don’t think he knew how much of an impact he already had just as a guy on the team.”
Brings them to another level
You don’t get to this trait without the two above.
Russell has had many “drag the team to victory” moments over his career. The first one that stands out was the solo run against the LA Galaxy in 2018, earning a late draw in the rain against the surging, Zlatan Ibrahimovic-led Galaxy.
There are many other examples over the past five seasons of how Russell’s performance — sometimes through injury — dragged the team to victory.
None more recent than Decision Day last season.
Down to its last life, Sporting KC had only one option to get into the 2023 postseason: Win, or the season was over. During warmups, though, there was a moment of concern, not for a result, but for captain and fearless leader Johnny Russell.
“He was struggling with an injury, and I was watching him in warmups,” Daniel Salloi said. “And me and Fonti (Andreu Fontas) just looked at each other, and we were like, ‘I don’t even know if he can go like even 45 minutes. He looks like he’s in pain.’
“Then he just comes out determined to get the result, and he would not give up. He’d rather play with one leg.”
After a tense and nervous 20 minutes, Sporting broke open the game.
Thanks to ... you guessed it. Captain Johnny Russell.
The goal lifted the cap off the building and released the nervous energy that had pent up. Russell fell to his knees instead of running to the corner. It was an emotional breakthrough for everyone, including him.
But as leaders lead, the rest follow. Minutes later, Remi Walter doubled the lead, and the rest is history. Russell went on to score another goal and played 81 minutes.
“I think he’s as good at dragging the team with him as he is leading,” Salloi said. “That’s what you want from your leader and your captain. He just knows how to get it done.”
