TRVMP

Just looking at the scores as I watch Tauro-FC Dallas in the CONCACAF Champions League, and our neighbors in CONMEBOL are well underway in the Libertadores. After 18 minutes, Jorge Wilstermann of Bolivia are 3-0 up against Vasco da Gama of Brazil in the third qualifying round. That would be weird in itself, except Vasco won the first leg 4-0, with two goals in the last minute. Football in the Americas may be lower quality than in Europe but results like this keep it very exciting.

I've never been to an Orlando FC game but their 'ultra' scene sounds a lot like that. The fans in the beer garden section behind the goal at Dallas in fairness at least do watch the game but also focus a lot on their drums and trumpets. In Seattle and Portland they seem to combine their left-wing ultra scene with an actual interest in the game. It'll be interesting to see how Orlando do once the novelty wears off, but it's a very fast-growing area (I spend a lot of time in central and northern Florida and the central area is a boomtown right now) and even if they eventually lose the tourist traffic I think they'll be alright in terms of gates and TV coverage. Then there are teams like Dallas that have dreadful support despite being good for years. Fan culture here is a bit odd, the 'preMEER league' is becoming fairly popular among Anglos, and Barcelona/Madrid/Bayern have good support among both Hispanics and everyone else, and LigaMX is huge with Mexicans. MLS is really in fourth place in most of the country and I think its fans overcompensate a bit. That said I do like going to the occasional Dallas match (although I'm giving tonight's friendly with Santa Tecla of El Salvador a miss.)

On the subject of development leagues it can work here - look up minor league baseball. A dizzying array of development and pro teams that run parallel to and after college baseball.

This is a total guess and I don't have any intel on it at all but I think the college route is less important because of all the US sports this is probably the one with the second most imports, or the most (ice hockey will either be ahead, or not far behind.) Ice hockey also doesn't have much of a collegiate aspect to it, with the overwhelming majority of imports coming up through the Junior Hockey system in Canada or from Europe. Similarly in soccer players come in from mostly Latin America preformed. That's not to say there's no path to professional MLS play from soccer - the laughably named "super draft" is good for a few players each season who go on to have decent careers. But it's just not the only way to go here, whereas there is no path at all to the NFL that doesn't involve college or st the very least high school football. And you're right about the MLS, it's unwieldy and it suffers from neither having powerhouse teams full of big names nor nail-biting competitiveness. It's moored awkwardly between those two extremes. Until every single team has some star power that won't change, and the league is too big for that to happen. Teams like Columbus will never have it (arguably Dallas won't either).

The TRVMP train has no brakes!

A quick Google shows the rump NASL is suing US Soccer (their FA) directors: https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/76674/nasls-legal-barrage-continues-with-suit-against-u.html https://www.courthousenews.com/us-soccer-under-fire-from-desanctioned-minor-league/ This looks very messy and I don't know the ins and outs, but I think the thrust is that because USS makes so much cash off MLS it was seen as not caring at all about NASL and instead only focusing on MLS and (due to the presence of MLS youth teams) the USL. For all I know there's truth in that, but I would add that the NASL looked like a league with relatively little fan support and the teams that did have it were openly and blatantly using it as a springboard, so its own frailties were plain to see. So although the lawsuit says that USS was trying to entice teams away from the NASL, from the outside looking in it doesn't look like they had to do much enticing. Every team remotely big enough (and some that aren't) wants a shot at the majors.

I dunno what happens, haven't read about it in a few weeks. Last I saw they were appealing. The clubs in the NASL ranged from major outfits hoping for a shot at the MLS to places that, with respect, had no business having a second tier team (eg Edmonton, Alberta). My guess is there was just too much instability - the teams that showed strong management and fan appeal were quick to move on (Minnesota, Atlanta, Montreal), then there were only a few clubs that seemed secure and happy at tier 2 level (the Cosmos, to their credit, seemed to do OK given that their path to the MLS was closed), and a whole lot that had no business there. Edmonton in fairness to them managed a good few years. The biggest failure of all was Rayo OKC, set up in Oklahoma City by Rayo Vallecano. This upset their own left-wing fans because it looked like a Yank-flavored cash grab, and the people of OKC never really took to them because they already had a team called the Energy who have a decent level of support in the US. Players who showed up for this inexplicable joke included Georgios Samaras. My general feeling is that pro soccer in the US is expanding too quickly and the NASL is a victim of that. We need a period of consolidation. Far too many clubs are running at a loss even given the very low to non-existent wages being paid by many outfits at tier 3 and below. One advantage we have here over the old days is a massive player pool from all around the world, given immigration to the US has changed so much since the 60s, but this doesn't translate into a good professional environment. The NASL is proof.

That's a very good move for him, in fairness. They're technically tier 2 but that's because the "actual" tier 2 league, the NASL, was denied a license this year, so the USL Pro (formerly tier 3) moved up one almost by default. The quality ranges in USL ranges from fairly good, with high attendances and foreign stars (clubs like Cincinnati, San Antonio, and Sacramento are looking at eventually moving up to MLS, as Atlanta did from NASL*), to what are essentially youth teams and reserve teams. I'd fancy Morton to thrash the vast majority (but not all) USL teams based on what I've seen but nonetheless the standard is not awful and Caraux will be able to live cheaply in club facilities and maybe get a bit of exposure. I think he's an absolutely rotten goalkeeper but I bear him no ill will whatsoever and hope he can improve and forge a good career for himself over here. Good luck to him. *well, technically it's a "new" club but it was based on the potential shown by the Silverbacks. Indianapolis are hoping to be next to make the jump.

And another!

And your heroics for Greenock Juniors no doubt put them both to shame. Have a red dot in recognition of your feats.

James McPake has retired. He was captain at Dundee but failed to recover from an injury that's kept him out for over two years.

Fair play.

Did we actually get a fee for Bachirou?

Nobody has a 100% track record at spotting players but I really question the judgement of anyone who watched McKay play and didn't think he had a future at a high level.

Being nearly ever-present in their first Premiership season before securing a signing to a (presumably) richer club where he also is a regular starter and semi-regular goalscorer. But some fans don't like it that he doesn't launch into sliding tackles every 15 seconds so he must be rubbish.

Yep, I said so at the time. I've been wrong about players before but I said at the time that McKay would go on to have a fine career because he was so effortlessly ahead of the game.

His attitude was questionable but his talent was not, it was clear as day he was going to make it at Rangers.

Was a player? No, is a player. He's clearly and obviously one of the top three players at Morton in the past five years. Barrie McKay is another, and people didn't rate him either.

If OFK had signed him and he didn't make an impact, there would be merit in this position. But he was a key player in a team that has gone far in Europe. He played the vast majority of their games and then got a transfer to Sweden's biggest club. For him to get one (relatively) good transfer, fine, that can be luck. But if it happens twice, what's more likely here - that both clubs are wrong, or that you're wrong? Yes, he had economy of movement, which is unfashionable in Scotland.

Ten percent of that would have been nice. Presumably that was his minimum release clause or at least close to it. He had two years left on his deal and was a key player in a massively successful Ostersund team. You'd have to think that if that deal was being renegotiated today his minimum fee would be significantly higher.

He probably left a tenner in his locker.

https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/sport/fotboll/allsvenskan/malmo-ff-allt-narmre-konkurrentens-stjarna/ Assuming Google Translate is accurate... long story short, he's snaked his way out of another club because his agent was disclosing contractual details (e.g. release clause) without authorization. Fair play because his agent, Blash Hosseini, appears to be absolutely ruthless and gets the best deal for his clients (and himself, needless to say) without things like rules getting in the way. I bet we'd all like someone like that fighting our corner. Unfortunately Morton haven't got the stones for anything like this so we'll continue to fall prey to people who take their work seriously.

And he's jumped off that sinking ship to FGR, a bigger club and former European Cup winners under Brian Clough. He's already been made vice-captain.

Ed's sculpting the whole thing from a single piece of wood as we speak.

Ed mad af about Sir Gav's effortless swordings of League Two - again. Sad!