Pacific FC Launch / 2019 off season thread

[davey_twelve]

37 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

I assume Victor Blasco being signed kills off the all Canadian roster scenario that some people seemed to think might be happening with this team?

 

There is at least a common connection to the island/BC. The team (so far) doesn't need to worry about players dealing with homesickness. 

[Grandbloke]

1 hour ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

Just don't tell my wife that I'm moving because of a soccer player.

Good one! ?

[Shortdutchcanuck]

4 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

I assume Victor Blasco being signed kills off the all Canadian roster scenario that some people seemed to think might be happening with this team?

 

Qualifies as a domestic according to league rules so they can still market themselves as all-Canadian ?

[Unnamed Trialist]

Well I am happy about all signings. I think I have probably seen Hernández play but he would have been young.

As I've posted before in the summer of 2017 I went to a Van United match with a few people who have been on here, and one player for Mid-Island stood out...at the end a guy I did not know turned to us and said "I think that's Blasco". He is a skilled attacking mid, with goal, has great pace, can turn it on. Plays better right side. I spoke to him in Catalan that day. Been two years since being dropped by Caps to make his way back to pro soccer.

I admit I have a liking for him being from Barcelona and ex FCB player. They say he was on the same team as Deulofeu, now at Watford.

Blasco was recruited young from Mallorca to go to SFU to play with Alan Koch but did not have the English, ended up at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, where James Merriman's father took him in, so he has that connection too. Then signed with Whitecaps2 when Koch took it over, at the same time as the keeper Village, so they were teammates there. He was with Chung as well I believe. 

I like the way the team has all this internal cohesion, and looks well balanced, and has character, but then there will be this Dane there coaching them, the true outsider amongst them. 

Fisk, by the way, spent time playing fullback when he was in Spain, he's a versatile player.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Can't believe McKendry though. What's his problem?

[Bison44]

2 hours ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

Can't believe McKendry though. What's his problem?

Big ABBA fan?

 

[Senorpopps]

Disappointing to see him go to a THIRD tier Swedish team rather than come back to Canada

[Keegan]

1 minute ago, Senorpopps said:

Disappointing to see him go to a THIRD tier Swedish team rather than come back to Canada

Yeah, this is a head scratcher.  Even if Sweden is underrated playing 3rd tier is a step too far.  He may get called to New Zealand at that level anyway (actually has a kiwi teammate from WFC2 on this club). In addition to De Vries, former USA u20 player Croft is on the squad so maybe there’s something more to it.  All 3 players should be at a higher level arguably. 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

2 hours ago, Senorpopps said:

Disappointing to see him go to a THIRD tier Swedish team rather than come back to Canada

...especially when it is a club with average home crowds of 273 that has been bouncing between the third and fourth tiers for the last twenty-five years:

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/aveswe.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyköpings_BIS

It would be different if it was a recently relegated club with a bit of a following that are normally in the top two tiers that can be expected to soon bounce back.

[Keegan]

Imagine we find out that @BringBackTheBlizzard has actually been tg11 this entire time.. seriously, the same repetitive and senseless points over and over. 

[deschamp86]

29 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Imagine we find out that @BringBackTheBlizzard has actually been tg11 this entire time.. seriously, the same repetitive and senseless points over and over. 

Hopefully we can get a few more players to join Hume in the Indian Super League because they have an average attendance of 26,376 which is just under La Liga (27,700)

[Keegan]

17 hours ago, Shortdutchcanuck said:

Qualifies as a domestic according to league rules so they can still market themselves as all-Canadian ?

He’s also born on July 1 - so he’s got that going for him... which is nice.

Edited February 8, 2019 by Keegan

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

1 hour ago, Keegan said:

Imagine we find out that @BringBackTheBlizzard has actually been tg11 this entire time.. seriously, the same repetitive and senseless points over and over. 

You do understand that I was questioning the player's sanity for preferring to play for this club rather than in CanPL, because I see CanPL as being a step up from where he is going?

[Keegan]

10 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

You do understand that I was questioning the player's sanity for preferring to play for this club rather than in CanPL, because I see CanPL as being a step up from where he is going?

Once you start talking about attendances it’s hard to see what your point is. 

I don’t agree with the move but your surface level analysis is ignorant at best.  As I said, look at the roster - they have a US U20 player who scored the winning penalty at the 2017 u20 concacaf championship and has played in MLS.  That leads me to believe there is something else at play here that a typical BBTB attendance analysis may fail to catch. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

21 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Once you start talking about attendances it’s hard to see what your point is. 

I don’t agree with the move but your surface level analysis is ignorant at best.  As I said, look at the roster - they have a US U20 player who scored the winning penalty at the 2017 u20 concacaf championship and has played in MLS.  That leads me to believe there is something else at play here that a typical BBTB attendance analysis may fail to catch. 

If BBTB had his way, they'd all end up playing NCAA where attendances are wonderful. 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

3 minutes ago, Keegan said:

...they have a US U20 player who scored the winning penalty at the 2017 u20 concacaf championship and has played in MLS...

If his career was heading in the right direction, he wouldn't be in the Swedish third tier. Alphonso Davies is three years younger and is with Bayern Munich at the moment. Promising youth players don't always follow the same career trajectories. You are basically only ever as good as your last game as a soccer player playing competitively and your stock can fall quickly when you string a few bad ones together.

As for the crowds thing, in most European countries there is a very strong correlation between average home support and league position, so the average home support tends to be used a lot to gauge how big a club is and how much potential it has in the years ahead. If I posted something like that on a Scottish messageboard nobody would find it the least bit strange. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

This is what I get from your response, BBTB:

You've chosen to ignore content by BringBackTheBlizzard. Options 

[Senorpopps]

9 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

...especially when it is a club with average home crowds of 273 that has been bouncing between the third and fourth tiers for the last twenty-five years:

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/aveswe.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyköpings_BIS

It would be different if it was a recently relegated club with a bit of a following that are normally in the top two tiers that can be expected to soon bounce back.

I agree with you, its not like Nykopings is a historically bigger club that has done poorly in recent years (a la Leeds United a few years ago before making it back to championship). They appear to be more of a Forest Green Rovers in that respect.

Maybe he's about to have a kid and needs that good ole Scandinavian paid time off. I mean, common', lets be fair, those socialist Scandinavian perks are a huge attraction, even at the third tier ... on that note, I'm about to go tryout myself as my job no longer covers Dental. Any joiners? 

Edited February 8, 2019 by Senorpopps

[shamrock]

55 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

As for the crowds thing, in most European countries there is a very strong correlation between average home support and league position, so the average home support tends to be used a lot to gauge how big a club is and how much potential it has in the years ahead.

Just not true. There is no correlation (let alone a strong one) and it only might say something about potential.

For instance, Fortuna Sittard dwelled in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie (formerly known as Jupiler League) for a decade, averaging between 1 and 2k. Now they won promotion last season (and playing Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord) , they're all of a sudden averaging 7-8k. What correlation?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I'll believe there is no correlation when I see clubs like Telstar, Almere and Dordrecht in the top half of the Eredivisie, while clubs like PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord are slumming it in the bottom half of the Eerste divisie. Checked the stats on this and Fortuna Sittard were usually in the 3 to 4k range* as an Eerste divisie club in recent years, so factor in larger away supports and 7 to 8k is nothing that spectacular after promotion and unlikely to fund the budgets that will be needed moving forward to stay in the Eredivisie for too long.

{edit: a slight overstatement now I go through them very carefully but I don't see too many sub-2000 ones}

Edited February 8, 2019 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[Unnamed Trialist]

37 minutes ago, shamrock said:

Just not true. There is no correlation (let alone a strong one) and it only might say something about potential.

For instance, Fortuna Sittard dwelled in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie (formerly known as Jupiler League) for a decade, averaging between 1 and 2k. Now they won promotion last season (and playing Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord) , they're all of a sudden averaging 7-8k. What correlation?

It's a totally ludicrous theory. And you are right, it only plays to potential, flying in the face of reality. In fact, with sponsors, tv rights, money laundering, betting flows, the movement of international capital and merchandising, home support has never been less relevant for results in the history of world football--money can be gotten elsewhere.

This is why "minor" clubs in relatively irrelevant places in football teams, like Hoffenheim, Eibar, Guingamp, Bournemouth, can withstand top flight while in the same countries former powerhouses with huge stadiums are in lower tiers. 

In the Spanish third tier group where Ballou was playing with Barça B, the biggest crowds by far were for Castellon, which is in relegation zone. No other club averages even half what they get. Over and over again you can disprove this silly theory. 

I am so glad I have blocked him but have been sucked into responding by you quoting him, so my fault. But I do recommend blocking, his posting is psychotic.

[tyler453]

4 hours ago, deschamp86 said:

Hopefully we can get a few more players to join Hume in the Indian Super League because they have an average attendance of 26,376 which is just under La Liga (27,700)

I'm curious to know how much they sell tickets for. Even if it were 200 rupees, thats only 4 CAD. I'm sure its easy to get that kind of attendance as well when there's like 20 million people in each city.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 minutes ago, tyler453 said:

I'm curious to know how much they sell tickets for. Even if it were 200 rupees, thats only 4 CAD. I'm sure its easy to get that kind of attendance as well when there's like 20 million people in each city.

And the Super League is a show league, the season is short and the games are sold as feature events. There are foreign players, there is good hype. 

I watched Barça B destroy one of their sides in the fall in a friendly, I think the level must be lower than most top European third tiers. 

[Macksam]

7 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

This is what I get from your response, BBTB:

You've chosen to ignore content by BringBackTheBlizzard. Options 

I wonder who has me on ignore...

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

And the Super League is a show league, the season is short and the games are sold as feature events. There are foreign players, there is good hype. 

I watched Barça B destroy one of their sides in the fall in a friendly, I think the level must be lower than most top European third tiers. 

Currently in strict footballing terms, India is in the same boat as a late 1980s/early 1990s Japan, when the sport was aggressively being pushed onto the mainstream public by mangas, animes and the J league was formed by wealthy financial backers. I was surprised during the U17 World Cup how the Indian kids were just as athletic as the Ghanan and American kids. The only issue was fundamentals which they will slowly learn. It's just taking a little longer than usual because contact sports are not prevalent in south, east, and southeast Asian countries. Once they get over this hump, it will be interesting to see what the future holds.

 

Edited February 8, 2019 by Macksam

[Keegan]

20 minutes ago, Macksam said:

Currently in strict footballing terms, India is in the same boat as a late 1980s/early 1990s Japan, when the sport was aggressively being pushed onto the mainstream public by mangas, animes and the J league was formed by wealthy financial backers. I was surprised during the U17 World Cup how the Indian kids were just as athletic as the Ghanan and American kids. The only issue was fundamentals which they will slowly learn. It's just taking a little longer than usual because contact sports are not prevalent in south, east, and southeast Asian countries. Once they get over this hump, it will be interesting to see what the future holds.

 

India has a ton of challenges.. think of how many players slip through the cracks in Canada.  I can't even imagine in a country like India with a class system, limited coaching and scouting and a population of 1 billion+.  It's the craziest thing in the world to me that they have never even produced a player good enough for MLS (Sunil Chetri, their all-time best player, couldn't even get a match in MLS 2.0).  It's interesting/promising that you say the Indian kids were just as athletic in that tournament because I've always thought that their players looked very weak physically.  Contrast that with a guy like Sammy Piette who has had legs the size of tree trunks since he was 16 years old or Alphonso Davies who already at 17/18 looked/looks like a beast.  

The people are there, the league is there, the popularity is there - they just need to find a way to filter their top athletes into programs and get some players developed.  Still - I can't believe that an outlier hasn't popped out who against all odds becomes a star (same for China, Indonesia etc.).