Chelsea fans are just like anyone else. They have their biases and prejudices. If he performs well he will be accepted and possibly loved. They may consider him an excepption. If he doesn't do well, than they will give him a hard time and look for a reason that he was signed. What Pulisic has going for him is a reasonably good start to his career....I would say excellent but his transfer fee puts him in the stratosphere with the very top players. He is no longer a mortal but a soccer god and there has never been an American in his position (like there was never a PL coach before Bradley. He will need to be successful from the start because he won't get a long leash.
transfer ban, might make the leash a little longer or more chances, but that isn't a xenophobic thing that is a big club thing.
Why oh why do 'some' Americans seem to think they are subject to some kind of 'special' treatment?? Bob Bradley failed at Swansea, it has nothing to do with his nationality and he most certainly wasn't the only 'failure' there, if Bradley had the same record with Chelsea then I'm sure there would be a real possibility of the sack but EXACLTY the same can be said of Sarri (who is on very thin ice) and it isn't because he is Italian!! I tell you now if Bradley came to Stamford Bridge and put Chelsea back at the top I wouldn't care if he was American, Mongolian or Martian he would be my hero!
Although I would definitely not put any of the "discrimination" against USA players that we are talking about into the xenophobic category. That is a much different and uglier side to soccer (and society in general...not just European). Some Americans have been exposed to it but not because they are American.
I tend to agree that another coach may have been sacked with Bobo's results, but there was much hostility in the media aimed toward him for his American background, including petty attacks on his vocabulary. It is impossible to know how this air of negativity may have factored into the decision to sack him.
I am certain it wasn't an 'air of negativity' that got him the sack, more like the on field results!! I think you will find a lot of managers suffer from an 'air of negativity' when results are bad (yes even Mourinho), it has NOTHING to do with their nationality.
The belittling of Bradley started before he even arrived in England. Heard a couple of English commentators saying "I bet he couldn't find Swansea on a map."
Why American should be able to find Swansea on the map? I bet 99% won't (including me). Should we be able to find every 200K little city on the world map?
Is Tom going to the premiere league? Cool!! On a more serious note, I’m concerned about the lack of playing time and these injuries that will keep Pulisic from playing prior to next season in England. Chelsea is in another league from Dortmund
Completely agree. They are in a 'WTF going on here" sort of league. They're a hot mess right now. You don't want to go anywhere near 1 million mile radius of this club.
What's funny is that anyone who bothers to follow the Prem could have told Pulisic that Chelsea are a tire fire right now. He's made a huge mistake.
I can find Wales, but after you're on your own. TBH most Americans probably couldn't find more than 15 states on the map. So asking them to find other countries is a stretch.
At least he didn't make the cardinal sin of saying he was in England. Would have needed to swim his way to Bristol if he had. On another point this Bradley thing is really tiresome. If people genuinely think he was hard done simply because he was American you need to check that chip on your shoulder. First there is a lot to unpack, and it is true he was never really given a chance from the start, but there are some real reasons for that. First he came out of a coaching system, the US, that has no history of producing top level managers. That's a fact. It would have been the same if he had been Japanese or Australian (or about 100 other countries not in Western Europe or South American). Second he had connections with the ownership group which is rightly hated by the Swansea fans. Third he had no experience at this level. The closest he came was nearly reaching the French first division. This is the biggest reason I heard from Swansea fans. All of it together really made them feel like they're ownership didn't have a clue and the appointment of Bradley was an overt sign of this. And guess what they were right.
Ok, this is pretty funny. "He wasn't targeted because he is American" But, "he was never really given a chance from the start" and two of the three reasons why are his nationality. Um, ok. I never said Bradley didn't deserve the sack. I said he was never given a chance by the fans and all of the English media. The Brad Bobley thing (ripping him for being American) started before he managed a match.
Unfortunately Bradley got a chance to manage an EPL team simply because he is an American and the team had American ownership. The EPL does not typically hire managers with Bradley's background. Coming in with his background he had to nail it and he didn't!
That's true too. He was hired b/c he was an American. And, he was never given a chance by the fans and media because he is American.
Not sure what part of this you missed. He was never given a chance from the start but that wasn't because he was an American. If he was Australian with an identical resume it would have been the same. Maybe the only thing different would have been the content of the jokes. (more Kangaroos, Ashes, and fake aussie accents)
He was given a chance. Sure, he got some stick in the papers and among fans, but enough with being so thin skinned. Yeah, they told some American jokes. Know what? Had he succeeded, the narrative would have shifted. Just because the country didn't roll out the red carpet and shower him with praise up front doesn't mean he wasn't given a chance. His chance was to succeed with the team and he failed. But, he certainly received a chance.
Oh c'mon! Will you just stop! He WAS NOT sacked because he is American, he is NOT a special case just because he is American - nobody gave a sh*t about his nationality, he was sacked because he failed! The results under him were godamn awful, yes even worse than the 'other' Swansea managers at the time............and they all failed and were ultimately sacked as well!
Swansea fans may not have cared where he was from but there were a lot of raised eyebrows and snide comments elsewhere.
There were FAR more 'snide' comments when Christian Gross took over Spurs, he wasn't American! I'm sorry but this 'thing' about Americans is actually something that seems to be in 'American' heads not English ones! You didn't have to be a genius to realise that Bradley was probably not the 'best' option for Swansea and it had NOTHING to do with his nationality!
You keep saying "Bob Bradley", who has never coached there. Brad Bobley, now there's a keeper. Him and Ted Lasso, the American trailblazers. There aren't enough Swiss coaches/players for there to be an overarching stereotype about Swiss coaches like Gross. Unlike the USA, which has a giant league, historical indifference to soccer, and a brand-name that carries a ton of stereotypes. BB didn't do well there, but the speculation regarding his success/failure is colored because he's American, which does not happen for every coach.