CPL General

[Toronto Ruffrider]

3 hours ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

Ya, I understand the logic of this hire, but I am not happy about it. Can't stand how obnoxious he is on twitter, picking fights with supporters (especially in relation to CPL) ... let alone him being a trump apologist/problematic politics...

The Trump apologist angle is really a reflection of that entire newspaper - I could go on and on ranting about it, but I digress...

It took a long time for Larson's opinion on the CPL to come around. To be honest, it felt like Larson was too much of a cheerleader for TFC/MLS, and it showed with respect to his initial stance on the CPL. Larson has been strongly opinionated on topics (i.e. Greg Vanney for TFC, VAR for the World Cup), and he doesn't hesitate to gloat when he's proven right on an issue. This side of Larson's reporting has always been weak in my opinion.

One thing I can't fault Larson on is his passion. There aren't many dedicated soccer journalists in any paper, so I've enjoyed reading Larson's columns, even if I don't always agree with them. There are a lot of hacks out there who only write about soccer when something sensational or dramatic (usually bad) takes place. Next to these people (and we all know who they are), Larson was the level-headed beat writer who genuinely cared about the sport he covered.

Regardless of his ups and downs at the Sun, I hope Larson has a successful and productive tenure at the CPL.

[Alex D]

Sun media thrives on hate clicks. I will give him a grace period to prove he was following the company line and can actually contribute something worthwhile. 

[Kent]

I'm not on twitter (sometimes read tweets though) so I don't really know about his twitter personality, but I think he's fine to good as a soccer writer. I'm sure the initial opinion he had on CPL was in part due to being so deep into the trenches for MLS/TFC. He says it in his little intro to the CPL there that he was passionate about that league and basically he had to not just report on it, but be an evangelist for the league too. It's a bit of a weird position we have in the media for soccer in this country where the people reporting also have to be cheerleaders, or risk becoming irrelevant. After being in that world long enough he's naturally going to show his bias against a new league that threatens his bread and butter. But they've made a believer out of him and I think he can probably help drive traffic to CPL coverage. He doesn't just give you a game report and call it a day. He writes a lot and gives you stories you can't get in other places.

I think this is good for CPL.

[deschamp86]

I think he is a good writer when he chooses to be. He's had some pieces in the past that were very good and insightful. I remember he had reported on how TFC had pursued Defoe and found it very interesting.

He definitely comes off as a dick on Twitter, but judging by all the praise he has gotten for his job switch from other media including a lot of journalists from the states, it seems like a lot of his colleagues like him, so I'm hoping like a lot of people say and that he was just trying to get hate clicks for the Sun.

He did often come off as a homer for TFC so I will imagine he will be able to put a positive spin on the CPL

[lazlo_80]

I think it's a good choice. The guy clearly knows how to draw attention, and this league is going to need attention.

[Unnamed Trialist]

COACHING CREDENTIALS

Has the CPL established a minimum credential for all head coaches, in the league?

I hope we can hear this soon, I am a bit worried they might waive a basic credential that is not that hard to acquire. 

If they haven't, or won't, the CSA should do what all other national federations do: lay out a clear level of coaching certificate for each tier. If this is CSA D1, then that level should be accompanied by a licensing minimum for coaches, without which someone cannot sit on a bench. 

 

[Complete Homer]

59 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I hope we can hear this soon, I am a bit worried they might waive a basic credential that is not that hard to acquire. 

A quick google shows

-Gale has his UEFA A

-Wheeldon has his UEFA A

-An old website listed Hart as having a UEFA B license, hopefully he's acquired or is working on his A

- Brennan had a UEFA B/USSF A license when he began at Aurora hired him and he was in the process of getting his UEFA A license

Despite not officially announcing a coaching standard (yet), I think the hires we've seen so far have reasonable qualifications from a badge perspective

[matty]

42 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

A quick google shows

-Gale has his UEFA A

-Wheeldon has his UEFA A

-An old website listed Hart as having a UEFA B license, hopefully he's acquired or is working on his A

- Brennan had a UEFA B/USSF A license when he began at Aurora hired him and he was in the process of getting his UEFA A license

Despite not officially announcing a coaching standard (yet), I think the hires we've seen so far have reasonable qualifications from a badge perspective

Curious whether someone having a CSA A license would be able to coach a CPL team.

[Watchmen]

23 hours ago, matty said:

Crazy news re: Larson. Did not see that happening. I wonder how this impacts coverage from Post Media.

I don't know how this will impact coverage from Post Media.  I do know he's feuded with other soccer reporters in this country, while blocking a few of them.  I've seen people his announcement (who are huge supporters of the league) saying they want to know what twitter account he runs so that they can block him.  He's an antagonistic person that a lot of people seem to have no time for, and that's probably not someone you should be hiring to run your content creation department.

[Keegan]

I’ve never been a huge fan and he does get under people’s skin.. but if his job is to train oversea/train 8 writers in this country to put out content like he has for tfc this is great because it’s going to generate interest.  For better or worse he’s made a name for himself and he’s not as annoying as he once was.. actually he’s seemed very pro Canadian for the last year or so.

[Complete Homer]

Quite a good turnout considering one side was amateur and the initial reactions to pricing. Hope to see them carry this momentum forward

[Shortdutchcanuck]

Interesting to see there are people tracking daily CanPL membership increases:

Check out @VictoriaGooner’s Tweet:

Big surge from Forge FC yesterday, maybe due to TiCats game.  

Halifax Wanderers solid, hoping to see even more of a surge following that successful and reportedly very entertaining friendly.  

Cavalry FC with a little bump, some excitement there maybe surrounding Foothills making PDL final?

Not a bad day for York9 FC, finally about to cross 200 mark.  I also think York will have the most local players, meaning possibly a lot of friends and family buying memberships once signings are announced.

Pacific FC with an excellent Saturday too so maybe some momentum and excitement starting to build?

 

[baulderdash77]

13 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Quite a good turnout considering one side was amateur and the initial reactions to pricing. Hope to see them carry this momentum forward

I’m very happy to see the turnout for Halifax yesterday. It’s a good sign for them that they can get almost 5,000 people to a friendly with an amateur side.

I hope they can translate that to memberships and season seats for next year.

Side note-  I know that my wife and I are looking for an excuse to go to Halifax and Flair Air has those 300 return tickets from Hamilton to Halifax.  Next season I think that will be something we do.

Flair Air could be an airline partner for the CPL.

[Complete Homer]

1 hour ago, baulderdash77 said:

Flair Air could be an airline partner for the CPL.

For what it's worth, I think these discount airlines are a little more shoestring than we realize, not sure if sponsorship is realistic from them. 

I offhandedly commented way back on twitter that the one operating out of Hamilton (leaf?) should develop a partnership with CPL, and their PR guy actually got back to me saying he liked the idea but since their fleet was only 3 planes it was unrealistic 

Flair is slightly bigger (7 planes), but probably not big enough where subsidizing multiple flights a week for dozens of players is realistic 

[shorty]

1 hour ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

Interesting to see there are people tracking daily CanPL membership increases:

Check out @VictoriaGooner’s Tweet:

Big surge from Forge FC yesterday, maybe due to TiCats game.  

Halifax Wanderers solid, hoping to see even more of a surge following that successful and reportedly very entertaining friendly.  

Cavalry FC with a little bump, some excitement there maybe surrounding Foothills making PDL final?

Not a bad day for York9 FC, finally about to cross 200 mark.  I also think York will have the most local players, meaning possibly a lot of friends and family buying memberships once signings are announced.

Pacific FC with an excellent Saturday too so maybe some momentum and excitement starting to build?

 

These aren't daily numbers.  You're mixing up the previous tweets from Canpl Hub (which were tracking daily) with this tweet from Mike (who has gone back and calculated increases over the past 6 days).  Probably weekly is a better indicator, but having the two now going simultaneously from different sources is bound to confuse some people.

[Shortdutchcanuck]

17 minutes ago, shorty said:

These aren't daily numbers.  You're mixing up the previous tweets from Canpl Hub (which were tracking daily) with this tweet from Mike (who has gone back and calculated increases over the past 6 days).  Probably weekly is a better indicator, but having the two now going simultaneously from different sources is bound to confuse some people.

Ha, good catch, I had looked at a daily tracker a few days ago and didn't even notice this was weekly.  So no big one day surges, but some steady gains from some clubs.  And apparently I'm occasionally blinded by my CanPL optimism ?

[shorty]

Thanks and thanks for the props in the other thread.   I do think that week over week is a better choice, but posting in the exact same format was bound to confuse people.  

Edited July 29, 2018 by shorty
bads pacing :)

[dyslexic nam]

Someone on the V's FB page was claiming that (thought) they had read confirmation from Fury execs that Ottawa wouldn't be in next year at launch.   Not that no one confirmed it yet, but that they confirmed they wouldn't be in.  He couldn't recall the source.

Does anyone know of anything declaring non-involvement?  I assume it would be n he, but will all the new CPL threads I don't check in to everything as much as I used to.

If true, that would suck because I am still hoping to see Ottawa in at launch.

[Complete Homer]

4 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Someone on the V's FB page was claiming that (thought) they had read confirmation from Fury execs that Ottawa wouldn't be in next year at launch.   Not that no one confirmed it yet, but that they confirmed they wouldn't be in.  He couldn't recall the source.

Does anyone know of anything declaring non-involvement?  I assume it would be n he, but will all the new CPL threads I don't check in to everything as much as I used to.

If true, that would suck because I am still hoping to see Ottawa in at launch.

I know it got brushed off as a necessity of Ottawa needing to keep things under wraps during the USL season, but Clanachan's comments a couple weeks ago didn't read that way to me. I would not be shocked if Ottawa was out for now 

Hopefully there is an 8th team regardless. The optics of 8 teams vs 7 teams is important in my opinion

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, Complete Homer said:

I know it got brushed off as a necessity of Ottawa needing to keep things under wraps during the USL season, but Clanachan's comments a couple weeks ago didn't read that way to me. I would not be shocked if Ottawa was out for now 

Hopefully there is an 8th team regardless. The optics of 8 teams vs 7 teams is important in my opinion

Do you have a link?  Curious what he said specifically.  

[Complete Homer]

11 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Do you have a link?  Curious what he said specifically.  

"There’s no doubt it's something we’d want to talk to them about, but right now they are involved with the USL and we don’t want to be meddling in that. It would be great to have a team from the nation’s capital playing in the #CanPL."

http://ckstam.streamon.fm/listen-pl-10666?smc=10

Haven't heard the interview though, I might be missing context 

[dyslexic nam]

Yeah, I don't take that as "they are not in next year".  That seems to me very much to be respectful silence on the issue since they are still playing in USL (and no need to burn bridges).  

 

Thanks though

Edited July 30, 2018 by dyslexic nam

[Complete Homer]

7 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Thanks though

No problem. Not launching into doom and gloom mode, it just seems to be the best fit with what we've seen so far in my (subjective) view, I hope you are right

[Toronto Ruffrider]

3 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Yeah, I don't take that as "they are not in next year".  That seems to me very much to be respectful silence on the issue since they are still playing in USL (and no need to burn bridges).  

 

Thanks though

Yep, that reads like the CanPL doesn't want to be caught tampering. I get the same impression when there is silence on the free agent front in the NHL on June 30, and the very next day complex contracts are completed and players are signed. ?

[shamrock]

Why would they want to stay in USL while there is excitement about a new national league and where they probably have a 60% shot of winning it in year one? Doesn't make sense to me, especially cause they already have half their team Canadians (more than any year before).