http://www.youtube.com/user/la2stl#p/u/3/OEuYYrw7kKk Cooper says they were "pivotal to making this happen". He said they were "investors" and would have "active participation". Pretty clear what was going on. Certainly enough to put NASL on notice if they felt they needed to do further investigation.
I don't know, people keep saying that about various online sources. There was a podcast from someone a couple of weeks ago that everyone kept swearing was so great and always accurate, but they said the Vaids were Belgian and reported that Cooper had quit the team about 5 days after he'd returned to the team to deal with the financial crap.
I'm done with the rumors. I've watched teams fold before and I'll do the same thing now that I did then. Have a ball with the team.
"There's no point to any of this. It's all just a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details...and I sit back and I smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt." Troy Dyer, Reality Bites. If the team goes down, we're all just gonna ride the melt.
I wouldn't be so dismissive of these two. They were the ones who first reported that both Portland and Vancouver were to receive MLS teams. I myself questioned their insight and info into this, but they turned out to be right. As far as their credentials are concerned, Ben Rycroft blogs for metronews.ca, which carries his columns through various outlets across Canada. And Duane Rollins is also a trained journalist who's written for various Canadian publications, according to this bio: I hate to say this, but I see this as the beginning of the end for AC St. Louis and for any hopes of an MLS team there for a long time. And that's tragic. I, like many supporters outside of St. Louis want to see a top level team placed in the Gateway City for good reasons and were pulling for Jeff Cooper to make it happen. But the more I look into this, the more I wonder just how upfront Cooper has been in all of this. IMO, Cooper's reputation has been severly tarnished, and so I fear has St. Louis soccer.
Okay, I just realized my other problem with this story...what does the NASL have to do with anything? It's not a league yet, and even if it was, Cooper was acting commissioner at the time the Vaids were brought on board, so at the very least, he told the commissioner about their investment. All there is this year is the USSF-D2. And since the USSF-D2 was thrown together at the last minute, I seriously doubt they checked the ownership shares of any teams. They just took whoever was around for this one year and promised stricter ownership standards down the road. This whole story sounds like the reporters have the NASL and WPS mixed up. Questions about what WPS knew have definitely been raised by multiple sources, which may explain why they were reluctant to help float the Athletica while this mess was going on.
They also were the first to get Montreal right and reported the meeting between Joey Supoto and Don Garber.
If I'd been waiting this long for Canadian soccer to be either competent or relevant, I'd be giddy at the difficulties of others, too.
Explain how he is being giddy?? He's stating his opinion and facts in regards to things those 2 guys talked about which turned out to be correct (MLS expansion to Portland and Vancouver ect.)... If you don't don't want outside opinions on a "soccer forum" start your own forum for St-Louis fans only and don't let people join that forum unless approved by administrators. Red Rover said absolutely nothing to bash St-Louis or it's supporters..
No I'm not giddy, Sport Billy. I'm quite upset in all this as much as you guys are. I want to see St. Louis represented at the highest level of U.S. professional soccer. Anyone who cares about this game wants to see it succeed where it matters. But I'm looking at this differently from you guys. And the cold hard fact is, Jeff Cooper has been the only one spearheading efforts to bring big time soccer to St. Louis. And right now everything seems to be falling apart for him. I don't believe there was any malice involved on his part, but when you want something bad enough you might try and roll the dice to make your dreams a reality and hope everything eventually falls into place. And it looks like Cooper rolled snake eyes with the Vaid brothers. If he fails, who in the region with the cash will step up to see it through? I hope I'm wrong in the end. I hope this team comes through and continues to compete for years to come, and eventually makes it's way to MLS. But as I've said before, Ben and Duane are far more than just random soccer bloggers. They know people in the North American soccer establishment. They have no agenda in all this, and they too want St. Louis to succeed at the highest level. If they see something wrong in this, well...
I'm assuming you haven't been followed this much. He's a KC fan who enjoys making backhanded complements at St. Louis' expense.
I'm sorry you feel this way about me, Sport Billy. As I've said, I'm very supportive of the efforts for St. Louis into MLS. Far more than in Miami or New York 2. Please don't go off the deep end in all this. You and your fellow supporters of Eads Brigade. You'll come off looking like those in the Borough Boys or Miami Ultras.
I think you maybe mistaking RedRover with Redhawk who works for KC. RedRover, your from Canada, right?
This seems like a good place to lock this rather large thread. Please continue posting on this subject here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20901890#post20901890