Friday 5 March 2010

MCFC To Become Citizens Of America

According to latest reports City are attempting to succeed where the likes United and Chelsea have failed in conquering America.

Both Chelsea and United have tried to conquer the hearts of the American soccer public with  off-season tours against the likes of the Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy.

Old Taggart has surrendered United's US campaign for fear of losing ground in the Far East an easier and traditionally more profitable market for the Reds.

City however it seems have found a use for CEO Garry Cook's 'skillset' and plan to conquer the US Soccer market one step at a time.

Instead of touring in far off places like Los Angeles where the population is predominately Hispanic and therefore favours South American or Mediterranean club sides through descent, Cook has no doubt sought to concentrate on the areas where Americans of Northern European decent are based.

Plans are under way to invest in a Major League Soccer franchise with Vancouver, Philadelphia and Portland, where Cook has major contacts, being touted as possible targets.



The acquisition would be the perfect platform to launch a US City Academy and allow Jim Cassell and his team to develop and send over the Friedels, Dempseys and Donovans of this world earlier to hone their skills to become better players.

It would also make the difficult task touring in places like New York and New England easier and Cook has held preliminary talks with MLS commissioner Don Garber this week in Manchester.

Garber apparently wants to improve the quality and profile of the MLS by getting European clubs involved and has already held talks with Barcelona and Real Madrid about investing in one of their franchises.

According to City sources, Cook has strong links with Portland, where he worked with Nike, and is said to be keen on a summer tour there as well as in Philadelphia and New York.

Garber on the talks said,

"Part of the relaunch of that team is for them to think strategically about their business and where international expansion fits into that, and where the US might fit into that.

"We've had very preliminary discussions about that."


Would it be a good idea for City to buy a MLS franchise? Are there better and easier markets out there like Asia or Australia who produce better quality players?

With all of the economic problems in the Argentinian League at the moment what about a team out there? In the shot term finding the new Messi, Tevez or Maradona would certainly seem more likely than in the MLS.

To improve the clubs brand on a global level it does seem like a sound and smarter strategy than the ones previously applied by Baconface and Co.

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