Gotham FC GM details next step she wants defending champs to take this upcoming season

Gotham FC general manager Yael Averbuch West penned her annual letter to fans this week, expressing excitement for the club’s upcoming title defense.But Averbuch West’s words also highlighted the organization’s relentless desire to be the undisputed best.Gotham has been one of the most brilliant postseason teams in recent memory, having won two of the last three NWSL championships.But the dominance that shows up each November hasn’t consistently been the case during the regular season.By Gotham’s brazen standards, that’s unacceptable.So Averbuch West publicly outlined Gotham’s expectations for 2026 as a form of accountability.“One of our goals is to be a perennial top-four NWSL team and a true Shield contender,” she wrote.

“We want consistency.We want to be playing our best soccer in the playoffs, and we want our regular-season performance to reflect the championship standards we hold.”In a conversation with The Post ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Boston, Averbuch West echoed a similar sentiment.“We feel very ambitious about where we still want to go,” Averbuch West said.

“We both felt dissatisfied with the season and also obviously very, very satisfied and happy with how it ended.”It’s sort of poetic that Gotham is set to open its title defense Saturday at Gillette Stadium, the home of one of the greatest modern sports dynasties.Gotham aspires to have Patriots-level success, where opposing fans get annoyed at how constantly good the club is.

Gotham always seems to peak at the right time under Juan Carlos Amorós’ guidance.But the club brass expects more.“We’ve seen bits and pieces of both, but we’ve not yet put together a full season of dominance in the way that we aspire to,” Averbuch West said.

“And that does take time, that takes continued progress, but we’re very ambitious about reaching a new level of consistent high performance.”That means being bold, like signing Norwegian star Guro Reiten from...