Leadership transition at Cartilage Free Captain

Kevin McCauley:

Hello friends. Today is the day my baby becomes old enough to leave the nest, and I have to let it go off on its own.

In August of 2010, after reading Sounder at Heart, Black and Red United, 7500 to Holte and World Soccer Digest for a few months, I emailed someone at SB Nation and asked if they'd be interested in a Tottenham Hotspur blog. I'd been a fan for eight years at that point, but only a small percentage of the various blogging projects I'd done to that point had anything to do with the club or my fandom. I'd written a lot of pieces and done a lot of podcasts for a lot of blogs, but I'd never run a team blog, and I wanted to give it a shot.

As it turns out, I was pretty decent at it, and I picked the right network to do it for. I started getting some paid work with SB Nation by that January, was getting enough to live through doing about five different freelance jobs by that August, and between the mothership's soccer coverage and this site, we were doing well enough that I took a full time job with Vox Media in September of 2012.

While I had no idea when it would be, I knew the day would eventually come when I would have to give up management of this blog to focus all of my efforts on the main site's soccer coverage. That day came this fall, when a member of our team moved to another arm of the company and I was handed more responsibility. Today, I hand over management of Cartilage Free Captain to Dustin Menno, who regular readers of this site know and love.

I'll still be around, mainly doing Europa League recaps and occasional news. I'm still a fan of Tottenham Hotspur and always will be. But this site is not about me, it wasn't even when I was the only person writing for it, and it will never be about one voice or personality. It's a community, and it's being left in very capable hands.

Dustin Menno:

Four years ago I discovered Cartilage Free Captain and joined the community as a commenter. Today I'm being given the opportunity to manage day-to-day operations. I am enormously gratified and humbled by the opportunity to take a leadership role at CFC, and for the trust that Kevin has put in me. These are enormous shoes to fill – Kevin has done an incredible job in building this community over the past years. I'm looking forward to continuing that forward trajectory.

I don't anticipate major changes to the way the site operates, at least initially. The writing team is exceptional (even Skipjack), and you'll continue to see outstanding articles by members of the masthead on a consistent basis. When changes happen, we'll let you know. I'm grateful that Kevin has expressed a willingness to stay on the masthead and continue to contribute to the site in a more limited capacity. And of course, I also value the incredible community members who frequent the site and post insightful comments and fanposts. You are also what makes this community great.

Even under new leadership Cartilage Free Captain will continue to be a destination site for Tottenham Hotspur news, analysis, conversation, and community. Please bear with me and with all of us as we settle into the new reality, even as we make mistakes along the way.

Good luck to Kevin as he moves on to bigger and better things. Thanks to all of you for being a part of this community. And come on you Spurs!