no, it just means Hornchurch's spending is completely out of line with their income. They can ONLY pay that amount because their owner is paying 95% of their wage bill NOBODY at Man Utd is being paid £100 million a year. £2 million a year, yes, hence my pointing towards your week/year confusion. So you think buying cheap unknown foreign 'talent' is the way to go? How many of those players are 'internationals'? I wouldn't say it means nothing, as it does show a top team from europe can't turn up an stroll to a win without trying, but the fact that they aren't trying does need to be recognised. Napoli averaged 14000 last season in Serie B. The club folded and it looked like they'd have no club. A new club formed and this has provided a surge in interest. If they were in Serie C under normal circumstances they'd be playing to around 5000 people. Brazilian teams get big (but not that big) crowds once or twice a year. For most games the crowds are very poor. I'd imagine the poor support for the two folded teams had a tad more to do with the cities they were in that the number of teams overall. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Pro/rel was never brought in to stimulate growth. It was brought in because there was a healthy number of viable clubs already in existence outside the top division, and the football league realised letting them in made their league stronger. That is still the case, by the way. it doesn't help when people like yourself don't listen to why things won't work. it proves nothing but your lack of understanding, I'm afraid.
One...and were replaced by a team playing amateur football/soccer ten years ago. That's the dream and the whoel point of this discussion.
It's true this whole post has become extremely boring. A couple of sign-off points before I let you guys revel in your own ignorance. 1. I concede I actually meant to say parachute payments (not balloon). My bad, but if you had any understanding of prom/rel you would have understood. It's payments from the league to stop clubs that are carrying large EPL payrolls after relegation from going bust. It's substantial and softens the blow considerably. I'd also imagine that from the rate MLS teams turn over rosters that shedding payroll wouldn't be so difficult. 2. " Further, regardless of what you believe, soccer in this country is not yet popular enough to play league games in November/December & January/February given the climate of cities such as NY/Chicago/Detroit/Minnesota. " Well, only one of those cities actually has an MLS club, now who's not paying attention? Yes, I'm just being an ************** too. 3. As for midweek games, yes I do realise there is an impact. Yet I've never had an adequate explanation as to why this is? More fairweather supporters? Too difficult to go out on a week night? It's not a huge problem for hockey or baseball? (though no doubt you can find an example or two to the contrary.) I'll refer you to Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks who've been selling out games on any day for years in a row. 4. I agree CURRENTLY, and perhaps even in the forseeable future there are no ownership groups or SSS ready to jump into the MLS fray. That doesn't mean that the league shouldn't have long term plans. Market research is important to any business. They need to know where they want to go and then see what they can get. IF something outside of the plan presents itself, weigh it on it;'s merits. 5. I don't care what you say, the wages in MLS should never attract a top professional and it shouldn't retain a top player either. Anyone who is in MLS is either using it as a stepping stone (from a low profile league), is playing at the MLS's level and is being suitably compensated (i.e they're crap), lacks all ambition to further themselves (See Eddie Pope) or they're past their prime and back for a final paycheck or maybe to get residency before they retire. (frankly I think the residency thing is something MLS should use more to their advantage. If you think Hong was in MLS for any reason other than to stay here after he retired you're very much mistaken). 6. I maintain that the league should not have an entry fee. The money should be used towards a stadium or any other team building related expenses. Regardless of what you say, $10m (and didn't it used to be much more - $25m?) is a barrier. 7. Having watched the first playoff game last night I would say that last's night's game was no better than Scottish D1 (and not D2 as you stated. The second level in Scotland is D1). The passing was a disgrace, the tempo of the game laboured and the only high point was another classy display by Cannon. 8. Which brings me to my next point - goalkeepers. I agree , US now has a very good track record with keepers (even though Meola couldn't cut it in England, even at a low level, a good while back). But as well as being an asset it is also to the detriment of the league as the strikers are well below the standard of the keepers, leading to low scoring games, low entertainment (and Im not saying goals are a prerequisite of a good game, but most Americans seem to think so) and goalies with a save percentage over 80% like Joe Cannon. Having a Haitian, or some other second rate footballing nation as your main striker is laughable. It's like having a Faroe Islander in the EPL, or a Leichenstein player or some other weak nation. Again, I'm not saying that small nations can't produce top players (Zidane is half Algerian, Weah was Liberian etc...) but looking at those players, my beliefs are well founded. 9. My reference to the MLS salary cap and a top player was directed at other top footballing leagues (just pick me up one more time on 'football' you pricks, you know damn well what I mean). MLS salary cap = $1.8m (and not every team even reaches that). It's no wonder the standard is so low. 10. I don't know if you even realise this but I watch probably 10 or more games a week from various leagues. I watch every MLS game I have reasonable access to (FSW and HDNet). The game isn't good enough to warrant me paying $70 for direct kick. And my point about undetermined teams meant that You may not see (random eg) Kansas for a couple of months. You don't think teams can pick up fans through regulkar broadcasts? Well the Atlanta (TBS) Braves would probably disagree with you. 11. As for the UK WP requirements (and that is an English thing btw and not EU wide), you should be grateful else you'd have very little left to watch in the MLS. Odd how that despite such limitations players like Simek, Mascarenhas, Spector and Whitbred have ended up in the EPL. Not to mention the ones that have gone to Germany, Holland, even Norway. 12. As for Adu, obviously he still COULD sign elsewhere at 16, but as was pointed out at 14 he couldn't. Given he's committed himself for the time-being to MLS that he will sign somewhere else is extremely unlikely. Given he's seemingly made his decision I say again - he COULD have signed elsewhere at 16 [but given his comitment to MLS this now seems unlikely]. I figured, wrongly, that you would have been smart enough to read between the lines. You probably could and were just being an **************. Enough, I'm really bored of going in circles here.
God, not this again. You understand, don't you, that "soccer" is an English term, right? I mean, you don't need to convince me that we Americans are very often a boorish, insular people. Fine. But we didn't invent the term soccer. And if you'd give the issue a moment's thought you'd be able to figure why the US - and most English-speaking countries in the world, I might add - uses it; because we already have a sport called football. Just like they do in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which is why they use soccer, too. Or do you think that US made them use it? Aren't you Irish (I seem to recall this form the first part of this thread)? Soccer is a fairly commonly used term for the game there, too, thanks to Gaelic Football, I assume. I mean, check out the Irish Times on-line, go to the Sports section and see what how they refer to the game. The fact is, by and large, the US DOES play the game just like it's played in most other countries: 11 guys a side, two 45 minute halves, three subs. And we're hardly the only nation on the planet that plays in the summer, doesn't have a single table, doesn't use a pro/rel system, has playoffs, etc. Jesus, have you seen what type of a system they use in Mexico?