European Club Soccer Thread! (EPL, Champions League, Europa, etc... :D )

[sunny_cat]

City up 3-2 at Bayern. 74'

 

One more goal and we win the group

'Grats on the meaningless win and the second place finish in the group

:bayern:

Thanks. Feels good.

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[pissclams]

i just disagree.  american fans are new to the world of soccer.  we're not only talking about teams losing their very best players year in and year out, but those teams are promoting that loss (rightfully so). we're not talking about the royals cutting chris getz.  this is boston winning the world series with big papi and him leaving to play baseball in japan, or the yanks losing jeter and mariano rivera. brady to the canadian football league.

i don't care about how euros view players and clubs.  what's important as it relates to MLS is how americans do.  we're used to the connection between player, team, and fan, in every sport.  this is how we connect. 

and while the type of movement in soccer leagues might be more accepted in europe because the connection fans have with their clubs, that connection doesn't exist in the US.  it's all too new. there's no history between the clubs and their fans.

you have to quit thinking like a soccer fan.  for the sport to grow you will need the non-soccer SKC fan to learn the game and become a fan of the sport at which point they'll watch the game independent of who's wearing the jersey.

i think another reason it's easier for euro fans to accept the movement of players between leagues is the close proximity of the teams to each other, europe is like 1/3rd the size of the usa and fans over there are surrounded by intercountry leagues, intracountry leagues, etc etc and coverage is everywhere.  that doesn't exist here so tracking players and teams half of a world away is just that much more inconvenient.  tracking what tony gonzales does when traded from the chiefs to the falcons is easy.  this might be a stupid point, i need to get back to watching ku get hammered by florida.

[sunny_cat]

Jason Kreis to NYCFC.

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[MakeItRain]

-Soccer, all around the world, is built off of local/regional passion. Fans of clubs everywhere identify with their neighborhood club, not the players. The clubs that are now iconic globally, and there are less than 10 of them, didn't become that way by having the same players in the uniforms year in and year out, which leads me to point two.

As someone who lives in Kansas, how does one become fans of certain European teams? Just a random connection?

As you'd likely expect every story I've heard about how any American picked their favorite EPL team is very random.  For me the first like 10 EPL matches I saw like 20 years ago featured Man U. Also the only soccer fan I know who's favorite Euro team is not in the EPL is my brother in law. Hes 16 and has been a legit FCB fan for 9 years.

[sunny_cat]

-Soccer, all around the world, is built off of local/regional passion. Fans of clubs everywhere identify with their neighborhood club, not the players. The clubs that are now iconic globally, and there are less than 10 of them, didn't become that way by having the same players in the uniforms year in and year out, which leads me to point two.

As someone who lives in Kansas, how does one become fans of certain European teams? Just a random connection?

As you'd likely expect every story I've heard about how any American picked their favorite EPL team is very random.  For me the first like 10 EPL matches I saw like 20 years ago featured Man U. Also the only soccer fan I know who's favorite Euro team is not in the EPL is my brother in law. Hes 16 and has been a legit FCB fan for 9 years.

I don't have a problem with people who are Bundesliga or La Liga or Serie A fans, but I don't see how you could be. EPL gets ten times the exposure. Unless you have beIN Sport or golTV or whatever, you can only see EPL games and Champions League.

[Tobias]

i dunno, champions league-ish teams are some of the most attractive to draw random american fans.  a lot of times it's just as simple as what cities/players people find interesting, and then the rest of the history gets filled in over the years

[sunny_cat]

i dunno, champions league-ish teams are some of the most attractive to draw random american fans.  a lot of times it's just as simple as what cities/players people find interesting, and then the rest of the history gets filled in over the years

How could you be a fan of a team and almost never be able to watch them play in their league or cup matches? How could someone be a Barca or Bayern fan and only see them play their 10-12 games per year in UCL?

[Tobias]

for me, it was early 2000's, not a ton of games to catch on expanded cable.  saw spurs a few times, judas stuff was going down, and i found it all pretty fascinating.  got much easier to follow the epl in earnest a couple of years when i went off to college and had FSC

[Tobias]

i dunno, champions league-ish teams are some of the most attractive to draw random american fans.  a lot of times it's just as simple as what cities/players people find interesting, and then the rest of the history gets filled in over the years

How could you be a fan of a team and almost never be able to watch them play in their league or cup matches? How could someone be a Barca or Bayern fan and only see them play their 10-12 games per year in UCL?

i think it really depends on the definition of "fan" for the average american following european soccer.  i'd wager there's a ton of people who self-identify as fans of teams in la liga/serie a (and maybe a few bundesliga) that don't have regular access to watch their matches

[sunny_cat]

i dunno, champions league-ish teams are some of the most attractive to draw random american fans.  a lot of times it's just as simple as what cities/players people find interesting, and then the rest of the history gets filled in over the years

How could you be a fan of a team and almost never be able to watch them play in their league or cup matches? How could someone be a Barca or Bayern fan and only see them play their 10-12 games per year in UCL?

i think it really depends on the definition of "fan" for the average american following european soccer.  i'd wager there's a ton of people who self-identify as fans of teams in la liga/serie a (and maybe a few bundesliga) that don't have regular access to watch their matches

Probably true

[MakeItRain]

i just disagree.  american fans are new to the world of soccer.  we're not only talking about teams losing their very best players year in and year out, but those teams are promoting that loss (rightfully so). we're not talking about the royals cutting chris getz.  this is boston winning the world series with big papi and him leaving to play baseball in japan, or the yanks losing jeter and mariano rivera. brady to the canadian football league.

i don't care about how euros view players and clubs.  what's important as it relates to MLS is how americans do.  we're used to the connection between player, team, and fan, in every sport.  this is how we connect. 

and while the type of movement in soccer leagues might be more accepted in europe because the connection fans have with their clubs, that connection doesn't exist in the US.  it's all too new. there's no history between the clubs and their fans.

you have to quit thinking like a soccer fan.  for the sport to grow you will need the non-soccer SKC fan to learn the game and become a fan of the sport at which point they'll watch the game independent of who's wearing the jersey.

i think another reason it's easier for euro fans to accept the movement of players between leagues is the close proximity of the teams to each other, europe is like 1/3rd the size of the usa and fans over there are surrounded by intercountry leagues, intracountry leagues, etc etc and coverage is everywhere.  that doesn't exist here so tracking players and teams half of a world away is just that much more inconvenient.  tracking what tony gonzales does when traded from the chiefs to the falcons is easy.  this might be a stupid point, i need to get back to watching ku get hammered by florida.

I'm not thinking like a soccer fan, just the opposite of that. Bottom line is that players leave all of the time in all sports.  Devoted fans aren't going to say that their fandom is tied to their favorite player, then they'd be team hoppers, casual fans don't know enough about player movement to care. They care about winning, fan amenities, fun, etc. Fans in all sports are generally about the team, not the players I'm not sure why MLS would be any different.

[Belvis Noland]

I imagine most Americans choose an EPL team that is really good and then make up some bullshit reason justifying their fandom.  Very similar to KU and Boston fans. Like, never met a die hard American Bolton fan, ya know?

Regarding growing MLS, answer is simple.  Slowly, systematically buy the best talent.  Americans love to be the best.  Hard to support a 2nd tier product for non die hard.  Local viewership may be the norm elsewhere, but f MLS is going to grow, needs to boost national tv audiences.  That's where money is.

[sunny_cat]

I imagine most Americans choose an EPL team that is really good and then make up some bullshit reason justifying their fandom.  Very similar to KU and Boston fans. Like, never met a die hard American Bolton fan, ya know?

Regarding growing MLS, answer is simple.  Slowly, systematically buy the best talent.  Americans love to be the best.  Hard to support a 2nd tier product for non die hard.  Local viewership may be the norm elsewhere, but f MLS is going to grow, needs to boost national tv audiences.  That's where money is.

They exist but are extremely rare. I've found an SKC fan on twitter who said he was a Birmingham City fan. Like, what the eff? Also saw a Cardiff fans when they were still in the Championship. You usually find Manchester United/Chelsea/Arsenal fans.

[sunny_cat]

Jason Kreis to NYCFC.

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RLS's assistant head coach just left for Chicago too.

[3maw]

for me it was living in london for a semester, had to take the train past arsenal on my way to london, and thought emirates stadium wasn't all that special. then i saw a few spur fans and started taking the long way to london with them going by whl and loved it.

[sunny_cat]

http://nypost.com/2013/12/10/bronx-scores-400m-soccer-stadium/

After looking at sites in Queens and Brooklyn, a Major League Soccer franchise on Tuesday stood close to a deal to build a 28,000-seat stadium in The Bronx just south of Yankee Stadium

$400 million

[scottwildcat]

Very intrigued to see how NYCFC does and how they go about attracting fans. Stadium will be nice and a better location than Red Bulls but still skeptical with very isolating partners like the Yankees and Manchester City.

[sunny_cat]

I fully admit that branding themselves as the Man City of the USA is a terrible idea. City is not a popular club here at all relative to other big clubs. I don't think identifying with the Yankees is such a terrible thing.

[scottwildcat]

I fully admit that branding themselves as the Man City of the USA is a terrible idea. City is not a popular club here at all relative to other big clubs. I don't think identifying with the Yankees is such a terrible thing.

NYCFC already won't get any of the true Red Bull fans, won't get any diehard Mets fans, and won't get anyone who has a strong identification with a non-City team in the EPL. That is cutting your pool of potential MLS expansion club fans by a lot.

[sunny_cat]

I fully admit that branding themselves as the Man City of the USA is a terrible idea. City is not a popular club here at all relative to other big clubs. I don't think identifying with the Yankees is such a terrible thing.

NYCFC already won't get any of the true Red Bull fans, won't get any diehard Mets fans, and won't get anyone who has a strong identification with a non-City team in the EPL. That is cutting your pool of potential MLS expansion club fans by a lot.

A lot of people live in New York. There's always potential there. I think there will be plenty of Manchester United fans in NYC that give NYCFC a chance. I don't think Mets fans are automatically not going to be NYCFC fans.

Idk, RBNY's fanbase doesn't appear to be that big. NYCFC has millions of people to draw from.

[sunny_cat]

http://www.nycfc.com/

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

Mirror images of each other.

[Tobias]

i think if they just brand themselves as "not NJRB" then it'll be for the better

[pissclams]

i just disagree.  american fans are new to the world of soccer.  we're not only talking about teams losing their very best players year in and year out, but those teams are promoting that loss (rightfully so). we're not talking about the royals cutting chris getz.  this is boston winning the world series with big papi and him leaving to play baseball in japan, or the yanks losing jeter and mariano rivera. brady to the canadian football league.

i don't care about how euros view players and clubs.  what's important as it relates to MLS is how americans do.  we're used to the connection between player, team, and fan, in every sport.  this is how we connect. 

and while the type of movement in soccer leagues might be more accepted in europe because the connection fans have with their clubs, that connection doesn't exist in the US.  it's all too new. there's no history between the clubs and their fans.

you have to quit thinking like a soccer fan.  for the sport to grow you will need the non-soccer SKC fan to learn the game and become a fan of the sport at which point they'll watch the game independent of who's wearing the jersey.

i think another reason it's easier for euro fans to accept the movement of players between leagues is the close proximity of the teams to each other, europe is like 1/3rd the size of the usa and fans over there are surrounded by intercountry leagues, intracountry leagues, etc etc and coverage is everywhere.  that doesn't exist here so tracking players and teams half of a world away is just that much more inconvenient.  tracking what tony gonzales does when traded from the chiefs to the falcons is easy.  this might be a stupid point, i need to get back to watching ku get hammered by florida.

I'm not thinking like a soccer fan, just the opposite of that. Bottom line is that players leave all of the time in all sports.  Devoted fans aren't going to say that their fandom is tied to their favorite player, then they'd be team hoppers, casual fans don't know enough about player movement to care. They care about winning, fan amenities, fun, etc. Fans in all sports are generally about the team, not the players I'm not sure why MLS would be any different.

who's on our team this year?  who cares!

/flush

i must be thinking like a soccer fan, hence me agreeing with the model working here so well. 

[mocat]

I fully admit that branding themselves as the Man City of the USA is a terrible idea. City is not a popular club here at all relative to other big clubs. I don't think identifying with the Yankees is such a terrible thing.

NYCFC already won't get any of the true Red Bull fans, won't get any diehard Mets fans, and won't get anyone who has a strong identification with a non-City team in the EPL. That is cutting your pool of potential MLS expansion club fans by a lot.

don't forget that they just hired a douche box from nebraska to be their first coach

[scottwildcat]

i think if they just brand themselves as "not NJRB" then it'll be for the better

this. but they aren't going to. My guess is that their kits badge and other things will mirror City, and that the Yankees will have a visual presence, hell they are building the stadium just next door. very skeptical.