York United - 2024 Season Thread

[Shway]

58 minutes ago, narduch said:

Was it pay to play?

Seems like a cost savings measure by the new owners 

and it begins......
Toooo early for cost-saving measures. 

I was hoping there would be an alternative option you know like "York United FC has parted ways with United FC Academy. Look out for more information regarding the York United Academy 2024 season"

I'm big on academies and this is another reason not to get excited about the future. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Found this an interesting read on Reddit:

Only angle I would question is whether any scouting was actually involved or it was a purely pay-to-play exercise and something the previous ownership were doing to raise money rather than to develop players.

[Kent]

8 hours ago, Shway said:

and it begins......
Toooo early for cost-saving measures. 

I was hoping there would be an alternative option you know like "York United FC has parted ways with United FC Academy. Look out for more information regarding the York United Academy 2024 season"

I'm big on academies and this is another reason not to get excited about the future. 

I used to be big on academies, but I'm not sure it's necessarily the best option in Ontario. In a place like England, France, or Spain (full disclosure, I don't really know how their academies work there, so I could be out to lunch) the countries are small enough geographically that you could have the top pro academies play in a national league, so the best would be playing the best.

In a place like Canada, and more specifically Ontario, the country and even province are so big that it's not feasible for, say, York United to have an academy playing league games against HFX Wanderers, Cavalry, and Pacific academies. So if York United have an academy they probably play in the OPDL. If York United doesn't have an academy, those players that would have played for York United will probably just be playing for different teams in the OPDL, against the same level of competition. So the team might end up picking players at 13 and getting financially and emotionally invested in them, potentially signing them to a pro contract when they are older over someone who played in the same league and is maybe more deserving. Without an academy you just scout that league, and take the players that came out on top in the end.

This is all with the assumption that CPL teams aren't yet financially stable enough to run free-to-play academies with high level coaching. If they could do that, then they would have the benefit of unlocking the potential of kids who can't afford the high fees that go along with top level youth leagues (scouting them would still be a massive challenge though, so to go along with the free-to-play budget, you need budget for a scouting network as well), and of course in the long term you could implement your methodology for how to play (but not everybody is Barcelona with a clear identity year after year).

[An Observer]

11 hours ago, Kent said:

I used to be big on academies, but I'm not sure it's necessarily the best option in Ontario. In a place like England, France, or Spain (full disclosure, I don't really know how their academies work there, so I could be out to lunch) the countries are small enough geographically that you could have the top pro academies play in a national league, so the best would be playing the best.

In a place like Canada, and more specifically Ontario, the country and even province are so big that it's not feasible for, say, York United to have an academy playing league games against HFX Wanderers, Cavalry, and Pacific academies. So if York United have an academy they probably play in the OPDL. If York United doesn't have an academy, those players that would have played for York United will probably just be playing for different teams in the OPDL, against the same level of competition. So the team might end up picking players at 13 and getting financially and emotionally invested in them, potentially signing them to a pro contract when they are older over someone who played in the same league and is maybe more deserving. Without an academy you just scout that league, and take the players that came out on top in the end.

This is all with the assumption that CPL teams aren't yet financially stable enough to run free-to-play academies with high level coaching. If they could do that, then they would have the benefit of unlocking the potential of kids who can't afford the high fees that go along with top level youth leagues (scouting them would still be a massive challenge though, so to go along with the free-to-play budget, you need budget for a scouting network as well), and of course in the long term you could implement your methodology for how to play (but not everybody is Barcelona with a clear identity year after year).

I think you make some good points here.  It’s a conundrum whether the best pathway would be a European style academy system where the club invests heavily in it and makes it free to play but with expert coaching and a structured system or a Canadian hockey style system relying on independent club sides to develop players which the professional league scouts.  I can see +/- both ways. My concern with the latter is that its pay to play and those on limited resources will get missed and as soccer doesn’t have the popularity of hockey at the major junior level, the clubs won’t be well supported so players will just opt out to play university in the states where they can get a paid for education in a reasonably competitive environment.  On the former, you have already articulated the weaknesses of that model.

[SoccMan]

18 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Found this an interesting read on Reddit:

Only angle I would question is whether any scouting was actually involved or it was a purely pay-to-play exercise and something the previous ownership were doing to raise money rather than to develop players.

I’m pretty sure it was a pay to play situation. In terms of scouting I doubt much was done I’ll have to look into more. I think they basically affiliated themselves with an already existing private academy and that academy changed their name to York United more or less . However, they maybe had two age groups? I guess it was a start for the previous owners in getting their foot in the door of starting a youth academy. Don’t think it was a cost saving reason for folding it , don’t think it would have cost too much with it being pay per play and more or less running a couple of teams that were basically pre existing teams that were already around more or less .

[Aird25]

22 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Found this an interesting read on Reddit:

Only angle I would question is whether any scouting was actually involved or it was a purely pay-to-play exercise and something the previous ownership were doing to raise money rather than to develop players.

Personally, I found the responses, explanations and general reactions to be a more interesting read than the quoted comment

[Aird25]

 

[narduch]

Kinda cool to have a player with an actual cap in Canada's 2022 WCQ campaign join a CPL team.

Yes I know about Henry too.

[StillOnFire]

17 minutes ago, narduch said:

Kinda cool to have a player with an actual cap in Canada's 2022 WCQ campaign join a CPL team.

Yes I know about Henry too.

Did James not get any caps during that period. Exciting signing for York tbf. Not sure Sturing was ever really CNMT standard though.

[Kent]

6 hours ago, narduch said:

Kinda cool to have a player with an actual cap in Canada's 2022 WCQ campaign join a CPL team.

Yes I know about Henry too.

Yes, kinda cool. Hard to really know if he is any good or not, but still kinda cool. Not as cool as the guys that have played in the league with a much more significant number of caps.

[narduch]

 

 

[Aird25]

I'm not sure I like a decent York

[SoccMan]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

 

 

Compared to the pylons TFC right now have as their Center Backs I think with these two signings  put York United are on par with TFC maybe better at the Center Back positions and I’m not joking here. After watching the train wrecks that TFC have at the Center back positions , Mabika, Rosted and O’Neil this Mexican guy and the Dutch Canadian kid could easily slide into the Center Back position at TFC .  Anyways , hopefully these two signings can make a big difference back there and finally make this York team a factor in the CPL .

Edited January 19 by SoccMan

[toontownman]

Excited for the York rebuild! Could be a fun season ahead if the new additions gel.

Also could have copied and pasted the above every year the past 5 seasons...

Edited January 19 by toontownman

[fil]

7 hours ago, SoccMan said:

Compared to the pylons TFC right now have as their Center Backs I think with these two signings  put York United are on par with TFC maybe better at the Center Back positions and I’m not joking here. 

Yikes!

Didn't think I would see a statement like that said about a CPL side so soon. Especially York of all teams.

[Kent]

I think we need to chill out a bit. Encouraging signings, but have any of us seen this Mexican guy play? Have any of us seen Sturing play other than a game against each of Aruba and Cayman Islands, which probably any CPL team could beat.

I like the sounds of a lot of these signings, but I also learned from years of following TFC that even if someone sounds good, if you haven't seen them play, you don't really know. Fingers crossed though!

[jonovision]

I understand when a Canadian pro's career arc takes them back home from Europe to play in CPL, but it seems a bit more strange when a guy like Sturing, or Marcel de Jong, who have no real roots in this country but have played with the MNT, take this path. 

I hope he does well anyway.

[Shway]

5 hours ago, jonovision said:

I understand when a Canadian pro's career arc takes them back home from Europe to play in CPL, but it seems a bit more strange when a guy like Sturing, or Marcel de Jong, who have no real roots in this country but have played with the MNT, take this path. 

I hope he does well anyway.

Why strange, you feel like they aren't really....Canadian? lol. 

For me, I appreciate them a little more. It's almost like coming to know more about their roots.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Definitely helps foster a spirit of inclusiveness on here to suggest that a Canadian citizen who has played for the CMNT has no real roots in the country. Like a lot of things that happen when people start banging on about something being by Canadians for Canadians or whatever you are sometimes left wondering how inclusive their definition of Canadian really is or whether you are dealing with the sort of people who still hate Pierre Trudeau for introducing multiculturalism and official bilingualism. Let's have a microwave plate with only one of the official languages on it as the league trophy, etc.

Used to play soccer with a guy born in Canada from a Portuguese family who trained to be a lawyer. After months of applying for jobs and not getting anywhere he finally realized that he needed to stop using his first name that ended in a vowel. Sure enough as soon as he did that interviews and offers suddenly materialized and he was told on receiving a job offer that they couldn't understand how it could possibly have taken him so long to find a job. That always sticks in my mind about how hidden and insidious certain forms of discrimination can be in Canada even when people are all smiles and never say anything overtly discriminatory.

Edited January 23 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[K Edgar]

York signs Mexican CB

[Rocket Robin]

CPL schedule is out today and the only conflict with Toronto FC playing home games on the same day this year is the one on Wednesday June 19th with York hosting Pacific at 7:00pm while downtown Toronto FC plays Nashville at 7:30pm.  

I expect there's a dwindling overlapping fan base like the first two seasons, but this about erases any remaining scheduling complaints.  

[Shway]

The schedule allows them to be at a better venue...downtown.

[Shway]

I saw this article:

Toronto FC Ranks Second for Most Expensive Fan Experience

... and it strengthens my point about the angle they need to take with this club. Get the team smack dab in the city, be an alternative cheap option that focuses on the fan experience.

Cheap beers, cheap food l, cheap tickets....it's the way to go in the city being the "other guys". 

[SpursFlu]

6 minutes ago, Shway said:

I saw this article:

Toronto FC Ranks Second for Most Expensive Fan Experience

... and it strengthens my point about the angle they need to take with this club. Get the team smack dab in the city, be an alternative cheap option that focuses on the fan experience.

Cheap beers, cheap food l, cheap tickets....it's the way to go in the city being the "other guys". 

Whitecaps were like 6th or 8th

[Mihairokov]

5 hours ago, Shway said:

I saw this article:

Toronto FC Ranks Second for Most Expensive Fan Experience

... and it strengthens my point about the angle they need to take with this club. Get the team smack dab in the city, be an alternative cheap option that focuses on the fan experience.

Cheap beers, cheap food l, cheap tickets....it's the way to go in the city being the "other guys". 

L1O Alliance played at Varsity and there would be random people lined up around the fencing on Bloor just idly watching. Put a team downtown, have tickets be $15, and they'll pack the place out. Couldn't possibly have a worse outcome than York currently.

Edited January 25 by Mihairokov