There he is! Thanks for joining, again! When I get some free time at work later I'll be checking out some of your work.
Since you are an out-of-towner I'd like to get your perspective on a hot-topic here:
What is your EPL team of choice? How does it effect your interest in NYC FC/does it effect your interest...?
As an MLS writer in UK; what is the general concensus of American soccer amongst your readers - in your opinion, how can you, I, we change that?
edit: tagging you
A
Alex Manning just in case you miss the responses!
Hey, thanks for the welcome!
I support Hull City, who will be in the Europa League next season, and FA Cup final this season!!! please cheer us on!!! I support Hull City because they are my local team, and I don't understand when people have a big dislike towards their home team?!?! (That is sometimes the case in England). I love the idea of supporting the club from my origin's, it gives you a better connection to the team. I suppose there is no direct link between Hull City and NYCFC, but I struggles to choose a team in the MLS I wanted to support, when the announcement came about NYCFC I knew I would choose this team even before they step foot on the field. I'm guessing it's everyone's dream to go to New York plus, the fact that this club was created by an English team only attracted me in even more. Going back to local clubs topic, I also thought that the most famous city in the world, surely, deserved to have its own team, combining all these points...I chose to follow NYCFC #5boroughs1city
It's sad to say, there is nobody I know, apart from myself that likes/follows MLS. When I have spoken to my friends about it, these are the type of answers I got, some points I can argue, however in my opinion, being an Englishman I agree with them. I've had things like, 'its boring, standard of football isn't great'. I have to disagree with this, as I think it is an entertaining league, obviously not up to Premier League standards and has it's boring games, but doesn't every league?... another thing was that they don't like the American mentality towards the game, the way they glamorise it all. This I'm sorry to say, I do agree with this point in a way and I can see why it would put people off, but I just look past it. The fact that it is an 'American' sports league, I think put's people off because the majority of English people and European people don't like American sports in general, therefore just tend to stay away from that scene altogether. The only American sports I watch, is American Football and I watch the NFL every year, but because the games last too long, there are too many breaks just deters people from watching these sports.
NYCFC's introduction is only going to help the league out a great deal. Due to Manchester City being co-owner, it is only going to be publicised around the world, and because a big club like Man City have shown interest in the MLS more people are going to see what the league is all about. Broadcasting is another thing they should try to improve on outside of the USA. The only way I am able to view the MLS is by watching highlights on YouTube or MLS.com, because they are not shown on Sky, but sometimes on BT but I don't have either so... There is no real place to watch MLS other than the internet. If the US MNT perform well at the World Cup, this will help as well. The MLS is growing in popularity rapidly so I have heard from interviews with Nick Chavez, Christian Dean and Mike Chabala, before they can reach out to the world, they need to get the U.S. gripped on the beautiful game!
Thanks. Hope these answered your questions
