17,000 is very poor in 1 of the biggest cities in the states. Astros get double this Texans are at about 70ish? If 1 of the biggest American cities cant generate more than 25 + for Soccccer then my point remains
If your point is that you refuse to listen to anyone else's point - you have made it I have already claimed it is faulty logic to use MLS attendance in this argument but if you insist we could go back and forth (except I won't be doing that other than this once): Texans play 8 home games - coming to around 560k home attendance in a season. Dynamo play 15 home games - coming to 255k home attendance. Not a bad comparison for a league barely over 10 years in existence. But I am sure we can play numbers games all day if we like - the fact remains there are plenty of EPL fans spread across the US that never attend MLS games for various reason - just as I did not until an MLS team came to Houston. Anyway - interesting - wish you guys a great day!
This is such a pointless thread it really is. It's like knitting fog. None of this matters does it. What does make sense is investing into a growing market. No matter what your hatred of America, the population of their country dictates that there will be a really world class player coming from there if the sport continues to grow and if we can get him at Everton. Then that makes sense to me. I don't care where any player is from, as long as he does well for the team.
Difference between listening and thinking what you say is complete rubbish, but you carry on thinking its what you said
MLS been going how long......17yrs? When is this world class player going to emerge? So your arguement that a WC player will emerge doesnt stand
So you're saying players like Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and Landon Donovan aren't too good for the MLS? There's been many good American players and they've steadily gotten better, from your Roy Wegerle's and Cobi Jones's right up to your Landons. America are improving and if you want to ignore that, that's your own mistake. In the next 10 years one of the top 20 players in the world will be American. Need I remind you of a certain player who came from a poor domestic league took on the world with Manchester United and was said to be one of the best players to play the game? Your argument is ridiculous.
Which of them are world class? Answer none As for your prediction of the next 10yrs, what are you smoking? I suggest you stop immediately. As for the united reference, i have no idea to whom your referring
Then you have zero Football knowledge it seems. Ever heard of George Best? He came from a country so small it has but two speed cameras. Their Football League isn't even as good as MLS, and none of their players are world class in the present time. The closest they have is Jonny Evans, yet there you have it, George Best became one of the worlds best players but came from a small country with a bad league. USA is a huge country with a mediocre league, it just makes sense that with a huge population that is becoming more and more interested in football, that it's going to happen.
I'm not sure about the avg. gate, but the Home Depot Ctr. (Galaxy) is 27,000 after adding 7,000 seats since I was last there ( 2 years +).
MLS' team in Seattle is doing very well attendance-wise. In their first season last year, Seattle had an average attendance of 30,897. And in yesterday's home opener, Seattle had an attendance of 36,300. EPL and MLS attendance from last season: Manchester United..................75,304 Arsenal..................................60,039 Newcastle United.....................48,749 Liverpool................................43,611 Manchester City......................42,900 Chelsea.................................41,588 Sunderland.............................40,168 Aston Villa..............................39,811 Tottenham Hotspur..................35,928 Everton.................................35,667 West Ham United.....................34,226 Seattle Sounders..................30,897 Middlesbrough.........................28,428 Stoke City..............................26,993 West Bromwich Albion...............25,827 Hull City..................................24,816 Fulham...................................24,340 Blackburn Rovers.....................23,479 Bolton Wanderers.....................22,485 Los Angeles Galaxy...............20,416 Toronto FC...........................20,344 Portsmouth............................19,829 Wigan Athletic........................18,350 Houston Dynamo..................17,047 Real Salt Lake.......................16,375 DC United.............................16,088 Chivas USA..........................15,092 Chicago Fire.........................14,689 Columbus Crew....................14,447 San Jose Earthquakes...........14,114 New England Revolution........13,732 New York Red Bulls................12,491 FC Dallas.............................12,441 Colorado Rapids...................12,331 Kansas City Wizards.............10,053
You do know Besty didnt play in the Norn Irish league till much later in his career dont you? Of course you did as you wouldnt make such a big gaffe. He was brought over as a very young kid and put through their academy. Still waiting for this World Class player to come from the land of the idiot....sorry brave!
You're missing the point, I know full well about George Best. The point is, that your problem with America is that they're shit and have a shit league and produce no talent. NI are shit and have a shit league yet they produced George Best.
Best was 15 when he signed by Man United -- hardly "very young" in those days. Best was already a skilled player at age 15, and Man United's academy had little to do with his progress.
Well you havent produced any, so when you do you can bring this point up with me. I will be waiting a very long time for the land of idiot to produce a world class player
Anyway getting back on topic. Look at the group of guys we were linked with during the transfer window. We were primarily interested in loan moves during the winter transfer window. The majority of these guys are attacking players. Now notice the dates. We continued to pursue additional attacking players after we got Donovan. The majority of those guys do not have any more EPL experience than Donovan and are around the level of Donovan. Now how many of them have taken a large share of corners, free kicks and penalty kicks for their club and country (something that we were missing with Arteta out)? How many play wide and have speed (something missing from Everton's attack)? And how many of them have been known for their work rate to get back and help their defenders? And how many of them earn around $43k/wk? That is why I've been saying it wasn't primarily about getting Americans to buy into the Everton brand. For Moyes, it was a no brainer. If it didn't work out, the cost was minimal. There was a gamble since Donovan didn't fare well when he went to the Bundesliga but we have seen what he did outside of those years. So for 430k I think it was worth a gamble on someone who had the qualities that the team was desperately lacking either because of injuries or never having the players with those qualities on the team already. Any additional Everton merchandise sold to Americans would be a bonus or American sponsorships. Rumors via ToffeeWeb: Dec 8 - Landon Donovan (USA) Deal done on Dec 18 Dec 15 - Lewis Holtby (GER) Dec 16 - Samuel Galindo (BOL) - Signed with Arsenal Dec 22 - Manuel Fernandez (POR) Dec 22 - Jose Antonio Reyes (ESP) Dec 26 - Jo on his way out Dec 30 - Rod Fanni (FRA) Jan 4 - Matthew Kilgallon (ENG) Jan 6 - Benni McCarthy (RSA) Jan 7 - Maxime Lestienne (BEL) Jan 18 - Jemaine Beckford (ENG) Jan 19 - Onder Turac (TUR) Jan 21 - Andras Gosztonyi (HUN) Jan 21 - Jan Mucha (SLV) Jan 21 - Philippe Senderos (SWI) Jan 23 - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (NED) Jan 24 - Razak Boukari (TOG) Jan 24 - Charlie Adam (SCO) Jan 25 - Even Hovland (NOR) Jan 29 - Knut Olav Rindaroy (NOR) Deadline Feb 1 - Axel Witsel (BEL) Bolded are the signings/loans completed.
He was speaking from an American POV. I couldnt care less where Tony is from quite frankly, quite obvious to all what i was getting at....well maybe not all! LOL
Ahhhh! Excellent. Reminds me of myself after the 1994 WC. That exposure made me a fan for life. Had they shown the sport on TV more than once or twice a year before then, I probably would've been a fan from childhood. It's amazing to think about now, how a whole generation (my own) grew up playing youth soccer, coached primarily by dads and converted American football/basketball, etc coaches who had never played the game and learned everything they knew out of coaching seminars taught mostly by British ex-pats (or those who learned from them), and very few of us had ever even seen a professional match growing up, apart from a few who saw the odd NASL match here or there. I remember my friends and I watching and re-watching that movie "Victory" over and over again, because that was pretty much the only "professional" soccer we ever got to see... and that was to real soccer as "Rocky" is to real boxing. In high school I--like all the rest--quit playing soccer for football, and why? Because we simply didn't have a chance to give the game a chance. Then the World Cup came and that changed everything. Slowly but surely. When the boomers are gone (who have never and who will never follow this sport by-and-large, except of course immigrants), the Gen Xers are the older generation, and the kids playing the sport now (actually being able to see the game on TV and growing up knowing what the professional version of the sport looks like, my how things have changed already!) are adults, then this game will have a fairly widespread, mainstream following in the States.