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"He has started a football revolution here and we hope we can maintain our new, attractive style of play."

I have to say that, as a boy my fondest football memories were supporting Davids, Cocu, de Boer, Kluivert, Bergkamp et al with that blind passion that only childhood can bring, and never expecting to be able to see him play in the flesh, actually watching him was utterly disappointing. The team of niggly, falling down, just nasty footballers that he has constructed is one of the most distasteful I have EVER seen at Plainmoor, and whilst I wouldn't wish relegation on any club's supporters, in Barnet's case I felt that justice had been more than slightly served. As for the football they played, I saw nothing different to any other 'stylish' League 2 side's tactic of 'pass to wing, try to beat man, cross'.

Personally, seeing the general disdain for Davids on the Barnet forums, have to say this goes down as one of the most surprising choices of retaining a manager this season for me. Was he contracted for next season? If so, I guess the spectre of a pay-off for a recently relegated club was too large to stomach, as many on here speculated would have been the case with Lingy.

Benitez - Wins the European Cup (the Mickey Mouse version, but a Cup none-the-less) - Gets sacked.

Davids - Gets team relegated - Keeps job.

Yo, Benitez, you mad, bro?

As it happens, Barnet were one of the two or three best sides to come to our place last year and it was a bit of a farce that they got relegated, where as Northampton, with their 'hack it towards Akinfenwa and hope' approach made the Playoff Final. Still, that's football, I guess...

Matt.

Yup, seems a pretty strange state of affairs to be honest, but as you say, that's football now, it seems...

ferrarilover wrote:Benitez - Wins the European Cup (the Mickey Mouse version, but a Cup none-the-less) - Gets sacked.

Davids - Gets team relegated - Keeps job.

Technically Benitez hasn't been sacked - he was hired as Interim Manager therefore when he leaves, it'll just be the end of his contract. He's still with them now (just got back from seeing Chelsea/Man City at Yankee Stadium)

Not quite as pithy as I'd like though.

Saw the game, compete waste of time, not even Americans are stupid enough to believe that comes close to resembling a proper Premier League game.

Matt.

ferrarilover wrote:
Saw the game, compete waste of time, not even Americans are stupid enough to believe that comes close to resembling a proper Premier League game.

Matt.

agreed. it was kinda fun, though. mostly a marketing exercise for Man City's new team, though - http://www.prostamerika.com/2013/05/25/ ... kees/82094

happytorq wrote:
agreed. it was kinda fun, though. mostly a marketing exercise for Man City's new team, though - http://www.prostamerika.com/2013/05/25/ ... kees/82094

What happened to the relaunched New York Cosmos? I assumed they were going to be joining the MLS.

New York Cosmos are set to play in the North American Soccer League, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Amer ... cer_League which is one below the MLS.

PhilGull wrote:New York Cosmos are set to play in the North American Soccer League, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Amer ... cer_League which is one below the MLS.

Ok. First thing to say before my head explodes.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE "THE" WHEN DESCRIBING MLS!! (Jerry and Philgull!)

Torquay do not play in the league 2.
I know this is pedantic, and it might annoy you but it's essentially wrong.
Look at is this way - expand the acronym, and try again. Does it make sense to say "..which is one below the Major League Soccer"?. No it, does not.
Anyway, with that rather pitiful rant over -

NASL isn't actually below MLS. Becuase there's no promotion or relegation within the US soccer system, there's no way of ascertaining the hierarchy. As it happens, there are two competing leagues outside of MLS; NASL is one, but the other is USL-PRO. Teams that have been put into MLS recently have generally come from USL. NASL has not - to date - ever had a team that later joined MLS, although it is expanding quite a lot (3 new teams coming soon). The next team that is like to join MLS is Orlando, and they currently play in USL-PRO

Back to the Cosmos - I think the assumption was that they would eventually be asked to join MLS, but with their ownership issues over the past couple of years MLS backed away, presumably because they weren't sure they'd get paid. (in order to join you need to pay MLS a 'franchise fee' - for the first few teams it was about $5m but New York City FC have paid $100m). There was also some back and forth with MLS about a stadium; MLS has had a very aggressive plan in place to put a stadium in Queens near Citi Field, but the Cosmos released artist's renderings of their new home last year, and that supposed to be in Elmont NY next to Belmont Racetrack. The plans are actually pretty impressive but as ever in NY, it'll be a real bitch to get done (http://cosmosstadium.com/). It's interesting that NASL accepted them because they're not even going to be ready until half way through the season anyway.

Of course, more than 8 million people live in New York, so in theory they have the population to support 3 teams - with that said, I really think the Cosmos will be left behind for various reasons: first, NYCFC has a huge wheelbarrow of cash for promotion and marketing (something the Red Bulls have been useless at), and they are playing in the most visible league here, *and* they get to leverage the power of the Yankees and Man City. Second, even the Cosmos are an evocative name the game here, the reason for that is because they had Pele, Chinaglia and Beckenbauer playing for them. there is no way on earth they could get guys remotely close to that level; so far they've signed a few MLS cast-offs. So people expecting the 70s cosmos will be disappointed. Third (and finally for now), there are doubts over NASL's longevity; this new version has only been around for 4 years, and they have a high turnover of teams and no TV contract so you have to ask if they can make it work. Probably why they thought bringing the Cosmos in was a good idea.

happytorq wrote:
Ok. First thing to say before my head explodes.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE "THE" WHEN DESCRIBING MLS!! (Jerry and Philgull!)

Torquay do not play in the league 2.

No, but they do play in the football league. :na:

Anyway, thanks for the info. Is Cantona still involved?

Jerry wrote:Anyway, thanks for the info. Is Cantona still involved?

Yeah, he's their director of football (well, soccer really..). Not exactly sure what that entails, since they're not going to be playing any games until August 3rd. (thinking about it, and despite all my moaning, I may end up actually being there).

They've also got Pele as honorary president, thus proving that he's always happy to be wheeled out his crypt for a pay cheque.