What a great interview. He's got such a fantastic outlook on things. Very level headed and gives very diplomatic responses. I hope the Fulham crowd grow to respect and admire him as much as we have over the years. At one point in the interview, he denied being an ambassador for the US players. Although he said he wasn't, I can't imagine a better one than him. Thanks for posting that!
Seriously, Brian McBride is a class act. From his interviews and reports that you hear about him, it is appearent that his family comes first. Good luck to him.
Sky had a brief interview with Bocanegra -- and discussed McBride and Keller "America's Major League Soccer could be a gold mine for Premiership clubs looking for new talent". Carlos had a bit of the deer in the headlights -- but the piece had a clip of Kasey (the pioneer) with the mullet, then, and balding Kasey, now.
MLS probably has a lot of talent that can be plucked by the EPL. Our department of state needs to help get rid of this "Work Permit" crap. We don't require Europeans from playing in the NBA if they don't have enough CAPS.
I agree about the Work Permit business. I wonder if it violates any sort of trade agreements we have with the EU. Put Baby Bush on the case!!! I personally feel that there is a gold mine of young undeveloped talent here. Imagine if a team like Man U could buy Ricardo Clark and develop him over a few years. Right now they couldn't do that because he doesn't have enough caps. What if Man City wanted to get DJ Countess while he's cheap and develop him for a few years. There would be a flood!!!
England is not part of the EU....And the FA has the right to whatever work permit rules they choose. MLS does the same thing with their quotas of American players. I'm happy for McB, Carlos, and hopefully LD (someday) but I wouldn't want to see a mass exodus of American players. ...AND keep W. right out of all things soccer! (etc.) Did you say DJ Countess?
It is part of the EU, that is why EU players can play in the UK without a permit, because by the rules of the EU they have as much right to work in the UK as someone from the UK.
For those that can't access the interview - decent article about McBride: McBride: Saha's too quick for me "I think my agent talked to Graeme Souness and my understanding was that things were okay. I hope there was no bad blood and I really appreciated their interest."
Who the frick are you?!?!?! England _IS_ a part of the European Union... don't know where you get the idea they aren't. (As a notice, England is part of the United Kingdom which is part of the EU... maybe you got confused.... I dunno!) Nevertheless, England has labor laws which state that it has to serve members of EU as well as the British, so yeah, while they can make more stringent rules, they'll get their ass sued off by people from the EU who want to play in the Premiership and can't due to more stringent rules. The reason MLS is different is because we aren't a part of the European Union or any other Union for that matter. (NAFTA don't count....) Completely different my friend. In other news... apples and oranges are compared by newbie! Footage, at six!