York 9 2019 launch/offseason thread

[rob.notenboom]

So while everyone’s dissecting the small details of CanPL, let’s just stop for a second and think back to this time four years ago. I don’t think at that time it was reasonable to think a pro soccer league was in the near future in Canada. 

And now it’s 5 months away. 

Seriously ... holy crap. ?

 

Doh. Meant to post this in CanPL General. 

Edited November 23, 2018 by rob.notenboom

[RS]

39 minutes ago, Ansem said:

 

Now he just needs to recruit big brother Alec for some real star power!

[Kent]

38 minutes ago, rob.notenboom said:

So while everyone’s dissecting the small details of CanPL, let’s just stop for a second and think back to this time four years ago. I don’t think at that time it was reasonable to think a pro soccer league was in the near future in Canada. 

And now it’s 5 months away. 

Seriously ... holy crap. ?

This time 4 years ago, the original CPL thread (then something about a "division 1A") was only 5 months old and was only on it's second page of comments. The seed was planted, but we've come a long way since then.

It is pretty surreal how close it is to happening now.

[LAK]

9 hours ago, RS said:

Now he just needs to recruit big brother Alec for some real star power!

Stephen Baldwin however is a fan of Cavalry FC because he thought it was Calvary FC.

[Macksam]

8 hours ago, LAK said:

Stephen Baldwin however is a fan of Cavalry FC because he thought it was Calvary FC.

Clever

[Rocket Robin]

I expect this #867 Daniel Baldwin is the writer for Northern Starting XI.     

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

On 11/23/2018 at 9:41 PM, rob.notenboom said:

So while everyone’s dissecting the small details of CanPL, let’s just stop for a second and think back to this time four years ago. I don’t think at that time it was reasonable to think a pro soccer league was in the near future in Canada....

Four years ago we were usually being told about a league run by CFL owners playing in CFL stadia with budgets comparable to what the NASL were doing at that time all possibly tied into a solo 2026 hosting bid.

That was never likely to materialize as there aren't enough large non-MLS markets available with amenable CFL owners to easily reach 8, but something more akin to the low budget USL regional D3 type operations scaling up from PDL that were blocked by the moratorium back in 2010 was always reasonably credible.

What will be interesting to watch unfold next summer is how comfortably the league can accommodate the interests and aspirations of Hamilton and Winnipeg with their CFL stadium scale operations on the one hand and Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, York and Halifax on the other.

There's a vague feeling of deja vu from 1987 in some ways given there were some franchises like the Blizzard still hoping to emulate the original NASL in some ways that had folded only two years earlier, while others like National Capital Region and North York looked more like mediocre NSL franchises.

Think they are doing a much better job of ensuring minimum standards are met this time and keeping everyone on the same page and pushing in the same direction. Time will tell.

[Macksam]

 

[m-g-williams]

15 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Four years ago we were usually being told about a league run by CFL owners playing in CFL stadia with budgets comparable to what the NASL were doing at that time all possibly tied into a solo 2026 hosting bid.

That was never likely to materialize as there aren't enough large non-MLS markets available with amenable CFL owners to easily reach 8, but something more akin to the low budget USL regional D3 type operations scaling up from PDL that were blocked by the moratorium back in 2010 was always reasonably credible.

What will be interesting to watch unfold next summer is how comfortably the league can accommodate the interests and aspirations of Hamilton and Winnipeg with their CFL stadium scale operations on the one hand and Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, York and Halifax on the other.

There's a vague feeling of deja vu from 1987 in some ways given there were some franchises like the Blizzard still hoping to emulate the original NASL in some ways that had folded only two years earlier, while others like National Capital Region and North York looked more like mediocre NSL franchises.

Think they are doing a much better job of ensuring minimum standards are met this time and keeping everyone on the same page and pushing in the same direction. Time will tell.

Did things pan out exactly as planned? No. But that's not to say that what we have won't eventually get us to that point. Things certainly look as though they're moving in the right direction, even if it is through what some see as baby steps. 

Can't we just be a bit more optimistic and celebrate the fact that we finally have a league, rather than speculate on its potential demise? 

"The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes — openly bad and secretly bad." - Henry Ward Beecher

Edited November 25, 2018 by m-g-williams

[SthMelbRed]

9 hours ago, m-g-williams said:

Did things pan out exactly as planned? No. But that's not to say that what we have won't eventually get us to that point. Things certainly look as though they're moving in the right direction, even if it is through what some see as baby steps. 

Can't we just be a bit more optimistic and celebrate the fact that we finally have a league, rather than speculate on its potential demise? 

"The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes — openly bad and secretly bad." - Henry Ward Beecher

Have you any idea who you're responding to? The guy can't resist any opportunity to dismiss and shit on the slightest bit of optimistic assessment of the CPL's chances of succeeding. Save your breath.

[m-g-williams]

2 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

Have you any idea who you're responding to? The guy can't resist any opportunity to dismiss and shit on the slightest bit of optimistic assessment of the CPL's chances of succeeding. Save your breath.

I'm well aware; we've traded barbs on a number of occasions. I've tried different approaches to call him out/reason with him because while I disagree strongly with his perspective, his knowledge is almost second to none. Admittedly, though, none of my attempts have worked to date.

I largely ignore him nowadays, but every now and then his needless put-downs just get my blood boiling. And this latest rain-on-your-parade moment when others were simply taking a moment to appreciate how far we've come more than did the trick.

Edited November 26, 2018 by m-g-williams

[rob.notenboom]

3 hours ago, m-g-williams said:

... while I disagree strongly with his perspective, his knowledge is almost second to none. 

It’s actually not though. From what I can see he has absolutely zero inside knowledge of CanPL. He is virtually always speculating on what might happen based on his own, often flawed, interpretations. And speculation is not knowledge. 

Additionally, I can tell you with 100% certainty that many of his most repeated assertions are off base. I honestly wish I could be more forthcoming as it pains me to see the many keenly interested people on the forum get drawn down into these trajectories to nowhere and end up starting to treat non-information as if it had some legitimacy. 

So as a conclusion, if you have any connection to Derek Martin and the folks at SEA, you very likely have more real knowledge than he does. 

Edited November 26, 2018 by rob.notenboom

[1996]

 

1 hour ago, rob.notenboom said:

It’s actually not though. From what I can see he has absolutely zero inside knowledge of CanPL. He is virtually always speculating on what might happen based on his own, often flawed, interpretations. And speculation is not knowledge. 

Additionally, I can tell you with 100% certainty that many of his most repeated assertions are off base. I honestly wish I could be more forthcoming as it pains me to see the many keenly interested people on the forum get drawn down into these trajectories to nowhere and end up starting to treat non-information as if it had some legitimacy. 

So as a conclusion, if you have any connection to Derek Martin and the folks at SEA, you very likely have more real knowledge than he does. 

I don’t see anything wrong with what was posted regarding the CPL in that post. Of course regardless the positive is that there is an actual league that will be starting soon that is being talked about. He was just stating the obvious that when the people involved with starting this league first started talking about the league they  were talking about a league of teams owned by mostly CFL owners playing mainly in CFL stadiums giving these stadiums another 15 or so dates where these stadiums would have events staged there , which is not a bad proposal to present to these CFL owners to fill their stadiums with more dates. However, as time went on and not many CFL owners were interested the people behind the CPL decided to take another approach by scaling it down budget wise and include smaller stadiums so that’s how you got the FC Edmonton’s , Halifax, York 9 , Victoria and so on involved , which was a great move and voila we actually have a league to talk about which is starting in 2019. I would have liked to see all teams start off in small stadiums like Halifax and Calgary and so on, get these stadiums packed for most games and then go from there , Winnipeg and Hamilton playing in these big stadiums won’t be a good look even with 5 to 8 thousand in the stadium but who knows maybe they will be like the Cincinnati’s of the world who pulled in crowds of 20 to 30000 to a lot of games playing in the USL so you never know. But there is nothing wrong with the fact that the CPL that was first proposed is different budget wise from the one that will be starting, I would rather they start small and survive and grow and slowly increase the budget and learn from past mistakes that others have made at attempts to start a Canadian league in the past . The MLS is still around and growing because it learned from all the past failures and it looks like the people behind the CPl are doing the same they know their history and good for them.

Edited November 26, 2018 by 1996

[m-g-williams]

2 hours ago, rob.notenboom said:

It’s actually not though. From what I can see he has absolutely zero inside knowledge of CanPL. He is virtually always speculating on what might happen based on his own, often flawed, interpretations. And speculation is not knowledge. 

Additionally, I can tell you with 100% certainty that many of his most repeated assertions are off base. I honestly wish I could be more forthcoming as it pains me to see the many keenly interested people on the forum get drawn down into these trajectories to nowhere and end up starting to treat non-information as if it had some legitimacy. 

So as a conclusion, if you have any connection to Derek Martin and the folks at SEA, you very likely have more real knowledge than he does. 

I should have been more clear in my previous post; I was referring to his knowledge about the soccer landscape/history, not his knowledge re: CPL. He seems to know an incredible amount about what has happened and does happen (i.e., results and outcomes), but trust me, I find his perspectives, interpretations and assertions on why these things happen to be . . . less than stellar. I almost never bother to engage him anymore, for precisely the reasons you mentioned; it's a waste of time and effort. But every now and then, I just need to say something so as not to be complicit in my silence (and get it out of my system).

As for Derek Martin and SEA, I wish I had a connection! I'm an ex-pat Bluenoser who's actually living a self-imposed exile in Onterrible. With Ottawa having decided to shoot themselves in the foot (and many of their fans in the face), I'm just reverting to my natural state and cheering for the lads back home.

Edited November 26, 2018 by m-g-williams

[1996]

As some of you may know I’m a big TFC fan and even an MLS fan I starting following the MLS from day one I even invested in a satellite dish so I could watch  the MLS when they started in 1996 lol. I always hoped Toronto would get a team and also hoped that a few other Canadian cities would get teams and they did. This interest in the MLS stemmed from being a fan of the old NASl and the Toronto Metros and Blizzard and the other Canadian teams that were in that league from the 70’s until 1984 when the league folded. However,  stating all that I think the CSA should put their foot down and not allow Ottawa to play in the USL and tell them it’s either the CPL or nothing. Give or take for the first few years the CPL will be more or less at the same level as the USL so why should the CSA allow them to play in a similar level league when we will now have one with the CPL it makes no sense. So I’m a bit surprised that the CSA has not stopped Ottawa from going back to the USL.

[rob.notenboom]

1 hour ago, 1996 said:

 

I don’t see anything wrong with what was posted regarding the CPL in that post. Of course regardless the positive is that there is an actual league that will be starting soon that is being talked about. He was just stating the obvious that when the people involved with starting this league first started talking about the league they  were talking about a league of teams owned by mostly CFL owners playing mainly in CFL stadiums giving these stadiums another 15 or so dates where these stadiums would have events staged there , which is not a bad proposal to present to these CFL owners to fill their stadiums with more dates. However, as time went on and not many CFL owners were interested the people behind the CPL decided to take another approach by scaling it down budget wise and include smaller stadiums so that’s how you got the FC Edmonton’s , Halifax, York 9 , Victoria and so on involved , which was a great move and voila we actually have a league to talk about which is starting in 2019. I would have liked to see all teams start off in small stadiums like Halifax and Calgary and so on, get these stadiums packed for most games and then go from there , Winnipeg and Hamilton playing in these big stadiums won’t be a good look even with 5 to 8 thousand in the stadium but who knows maybe they will be like the Cincinnati’s of the world who pulled in crowds of 20 to 30000 to a lot of games playing in the USL so you never know. But there is nothing wrong with the fact that the CPL that was first proposed is different budget wise from the one that will be starting, I would rather they start small and survive and grow and slowly increase the budget and learn from past mistakes that others have made at attempts to start a Canadian league in the past . The MLS is still around and growing because it learned from all the past failures and it looks like the people behind the CPl are doing the same they know their history and good for them.

Just to be clear, I’m not addressing anything in particular in BBTB’s post. I was only addressing the idea that he is has knowledge about CanPL (and of course I am referring to knowledge and not interpretation, extrapolation, inference, and conjecture whether these eventually turn out to be close to the mark or not). 

[rob.notenboom]

1 hour ago, m-g-williams said:

I should have been more clear in my previous post; I was referring to his knowledge about the soccer landscape/history, not his knowledge re: CPL. He seems to know an incredible amount about what has happened and does happen (i.e., results and outcomes), but trust me, I find his perspectives, interpretations and assertions on why these things happen to be . . . less than stellar. I almost never bother to engage him anymore, for precisely the reasons you mentioned; it's a waste of time and effort. But every now and then, I just need to say something so as not to be complicit in my silence (and get it out of my system).

As for Derek Martin and SEA, I wish I had a connection! I'm an ex-pat Bluenoser who's actually living a self-imposed exile in Onterrible. With Ottawa having decided to shoot themselves in the foot (and many of their fans in the face), I'm just reverting to my natural state and cheering for the lads back home.

Thanks. I appreciate the clarification. I’ve also chosen to disengage but I get concerned when the conversation might take an unfortunate turn, hence my response.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Just now, 1996 said:

As some of you may know I’m a big TFC fan and even an MLS fan I starting following the MLS from day one I even invested in a satellite dish so I could watch  the MLS when they started in 1996 lol. I always hoped Toronto would get a team and also hoped that a few other Canadian cities would get teams and they did. This interest in the MLS stemmed from being a fan of the old NASl and the Toronto Metros and Blizzard and the other Canadian teams that were in that league from the 70’s until 1984 when the league folded. However,  stating all that I think the CSA should put their foot down and not allow Ottawa to play in the USL and tell them it’s either the CPL or nothing. Give or take for the first few years the CPL will be more or less at the same level as the USL so why should the CSA allow them to play in a similar level league when we will now have one with the CPL it makes no sense. So I’m a bit surprised that the CSA has not stopped Ottawa from going back to the USL.

Your sentiment is where a lot of people are now, including many of their own fans, but we have to be responsible and remember something important: it's a negotiation. So better not to go overboard, or be rash. We are not in a strong position in Canada, and we want Ottawa in the league eventually. Even soon. 

I would say you should put this option out for Ottawa, starting 2019-20 season, or even 20-21, as the last in a US-based league. That allows them to fulfil whatever commitments they think they have there, and make good on any investments, and then transition into the CPL. But even better would be for the CSA to hear from Ottawa that they are indeed serious about joining CPL next season, so that no ultimatum has to be ever made. 

I also think that this is a key reason why we have to ensure the stronger CPL teams are not stymied by lower budgets or caps or ambitions of the weaker teams. We have to let the strong set a standard, as for Ottawa, I think quite clearly, that sets out a standard they can be interested in. They would clearly see themselves as rightful rivals of Hamilton and Winnipeg, and want in on that basis, not on the basis of matching themselves with a team in the outskirts of Victoria, with all due respects.

[Blackjack15]

So at the VIP Business Launch they will reveal the first players of York 9 FC

When is this? Wednesday is what I’m hearing

Are just certain companies invited or can fans attend as well? 

Just wondering because it’s would be cool  for IX Generation or someone from the GTA to give a different perspective on the signings! Maybe a few interviews as well would be awesome 

[tyler453]

Nearing 1000 apparently

https://twitter.com/York9FC/status/1067125996393062405

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

^^^while all the others seem to remain close to static. I guess sales through York Region youth clubs is the most likely explanation. Given TFC have never had to go after that market to be able to get at or near capicity at BMO Field there is a niche for it in the GTA that TFC II had been exploiting to a certain extent at the Ontario Soccer Centre.

10 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

...They would clearly see themselves as rightful rivals of Hamilton and Winnipeg, and want in on that basis, not on the basis of matching themselves with a team in the outskirts of Victoria, with all due respects.

...which is what the alleged 500k salary cap and L1O players being billeted with local families narrative from people close to their front office was probably all about. You can't have a league with only three teams and you are only as strong as your weakest link in many ways when numbers are below ten and losing teams calls the whole project into question, so not sure what CanPL could have done differently. If Port City FC hadn't metamorphosed into Pacific FC by moving to Langford from Surrey, it's open to question whether there could even have been a launch and the struggle to put the numbers together for that gave investors who wanted to downscale budgets and adopt a conservative approach (as the main Pacific FC investor is on record as having wanted) a lot of leverage.

Edited November 27, 2018 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[zeelaw]

Anyone else get a Thank You note in the mail this week?

[Ansem]

 

[Rocket Robin]

3 hours ago, zeelaw1555362314 said:

Anyone else get a Thank You note in the mail this week?

I did.   Handwritten by Preben Ganzhorn. 

[Ams1984]

1 hour ago, Rocket Robin said:

I did.   Handwritten by Preben Ganzhorn. 

Where’s my note?!