Electric City FC Parts Ways With Head Coach Randy Ribeiro

Peterborough’s League1 Ontario side is set for more turnover when it comes to its head coach.

Former head coach Randy Ribeiro announced his departure on social media today, confirming that the men’s and women’s gaffer had his contracted terminated by Electric City FC last month – meaning the League1 Ontario side will enter its third season with a fourth head coach helm.

Ribeiro initially joined the team to be an assistant coach ahead of their debut season, stepping in as interim head coach after Michael Marcoccia exited for personal reasons. He then assisted Jamie Sherwood, who was sacked some four games into the season, with Ribeiro eventually taking over both the men’s and women’s sides.

The club failed to make playoffs in both seasons, with fan turnout proving to be less than expected in year two. While the Peterborough-based club had kicked off with professional aspirations, their overall direction points to them seeking much smaller-scale sustainability first: having locked in premier division spots for both squads under Ribeiro, they will now move on without him.

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“I just wanted to take a minute to thank each and every one of you for your continued support over the last two seasons,” said Ribeiro online. “There have been many ups and downs but I can’t express my gratitude enough to all of you that stuck with us through it all.”

“To all of the players that I had the opportunity to work with over the past two years, thank you for making this such an incredible experience for me. We went through a lot together and each and every one of you have helped me develop into a better person and a better coach.”

The gaffer points to the accumulative team record of 38 wins, 23 losses, and 10 draws over the last two seasons as evidence of a strong fighting spirit within the club, with players like Eleias Himaras and Jordan Brown (among others) jumping to professional pastures following spells with the side.

“We have seen players move on to professional opportunities, and these are accomplishments I am extremely proud of and would never have been possible without the fantastic group of men and women I had the privilege to work with over the past two seasons.”

“Finally, to the supporters and specifically The Current 1819, thank you for absolutely everything. All of you are what makes the club what it is, and I cannot say thank you enough for being by my side and behind the players through it all.”

The fact that Ribeiro was released weeks ago without announcement from the club shows an alarming lack of transparency from the side, which also gave Rob Jenkins the well before it became public knowledge. At the time of writing, their last online posting came some 37 days ago.

With League1 Ontario becoming more professionalized in terms of club structure, one hopes that ECFC will invest more into what we saw it do in year one in an effort to get more butts in seats.

As for what’s next? It remains to be seen if the club will adopt a more traditional approach of securing an individual head coach for its men’s and women’s sides. Hopefully, they’ll announce Ribeiro’s departure from three weeks ago soon.

The former ECFC gaffer remains head coach for Trent University, though it remains unclear if he’ll return to League1 Ontario pastures elsewhere. Prior to his time in Peterborough, Ribeiro had assisted Marcoccia with the FC London women’s program along with the Fanshaw College Women’s team. A dual citizen of Portuguese descent, he also spent some time coaching with CD Santa Clara, too.

Header Image Photo Credit: Martin Bazyl