Lofty

Somehow Marc's original point seems to be getting lost: if you are tearing it up on the pitch you won't get dropped/released because you wore the wrong t-shirt. Aird seems to have bags of potential so let's hope he tears it up for Valour and gets his career back on track.

Petrasso finally official: https://york9fc.canpl.ca/article/york9-fc-signs-winger-michael-petrasso Best of luck to him at York 9 -- except when they play Valour of course!

Correct. It is all bad. A team in the Canadian Premier League calling itself "Canadians"? How f'kin stupid do they think people are?!

Questions for you Al: 1. If you thought that the presence of MLS franchises in the 3 biggest Canadian markets would reduce the chances of CPL survival, would you still be in favour of keeping those MLS franchises? 2. If it were apparent that the presence of those 3 MLS franchises would be fatal to CPL, which would you choose: CPL and no MLS franchises in Canada; or no CPL and 3 MLS franchises in Canada?

Glasgow Rangers --> ... --> Dundee United --> Queen of the South (Loan) --> Released --> Cove Rangers. Each move less desirable than the previous one. I should really have said "recently on a steady downward trajectory". But I am encouraged by what others have said above. I'm sure he will turn out to be better than I initially feared.

Wow. That is an emphatic vote of confidence. I certainly hope you are right and I am wrong!

Fraser Aird was recently sacked by Cove Rangers for making the "wankers" gesture towards Celtic fans from the Rangers away end as Rangers won 2-1. Ho hum. I'm sure the Celtic fans were giving as good as they got. Should have known better but unlucky to be caught by the Sky TV cameras. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7837743/Fraser-Aird-SACKED-League-Two-Cove-Rangers-caught-camera-making-offensive-gesture.html

Fraser Aird comes to Valour from Cove Rangers in Scottish League Two (Scottish fourth tier): Average attendance so far this season 795; capacity 2,602 (370 seated). http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/avesco.htm His career seems to have been on a steady downward trajectory and I'm pretty sure that year-one CPL was better than Scottish League Two. I see this as more of a depth signing and not exactly one to be trumpeted as a "player with National Team experience"! If Valour are counting on Fraser Aird to be an attacking force in CPL then Valour's year-two will look much like year-one. Still, it is good that Canadian players now have a way to ply their trade at home. Best of luck to Fraser and here's hoping he can use this change to jump start his career.

I'll start by saying that I like and rate Bustos and think he was almost Valour's best player last season (just shaded to it by LBG IMHO). I think some of your comments are a little harsh but I agree with your main point that he is perhaps a little over rated right now. 5 goals from open play (plus 3 assists) in 27 apps is good for an attacking mid/winger, but not fantastic. And ironically (based on your stated need) I'd call him a winger far more than a #10, albeit a winger that likes to cut inside rather than go outside and put in crosses. Ideally suited to (and often used on) the outside of the attacking 3 in a 4-2-3-1. I don't think he ever occupied a #10 role for Valour -- he was always on the outside. So, he might actually fill the need you have suggested but the cost may indeed be too high. Edit: I'll just add that his weakness is that he is fairly one dimensional in that whenever he gets the ball he seems to set off on a dribble towards goal. He would be far better if he added more clever forward passes to his repertoire because those dribbles far too often end with the ball being lost and at higher levels that will not be tolerated.

^ I don't think Waters or Campanile are signed yet.

Hands off!! He is coming to Valour!

Well, we were looking for a replacement for Petrasso...

As much as I would like to agree with you, I suspect that CPL is his level.

Telfer was a top CPL player but the fact he has been quickly released by TFC does not augur well for his chances elsewhere. Perhaps one of the bigger USL sides would give him a bigger pay packet although not a higher level of play. Or maybe Europe will provide him with the opportunity it does not seem to have presented Petrasso or LBG. But CPL is looking a lot better (at least for quality) than many people would have guessed, so fingers crossed. Yes, Petrasso was 4/4 on pens and every one of them was unstoppable. It wasn't a case of "if only the keeper had guessed right". Superb penalty taker.

It's not worth getting into a long discussion over (and also way off topic) but since three people have now questioned my admittedly cryptic post I may as well expand a little on why I think the advent of CPL has had a positive effect on the number of Canadian players in MLS. USA is ten times the size of Canada. MLS teams, including the Canadian ones, can quite easily fill all of their needs without ever even looking at a Canadian player. It happens all the time that very capable players get overlooked, with Leicester's Jamie Vardy being a high profile recent example. They get overlooked because nobody notices them. CPL has the NA football world noticing Canadian players. And that is why, at least in part, I think we are seeing more Canadians in MLS, although of course there are other factors. MLS teams have the budget to sign any player they want (over CPL) so it isn't likely that CPL will be taking away players that MLS want. On the contrary, MLS are now looking more closely at the available talent and liking what they see. The fact there is another league looking at these players puts them into the shop window, so to speak. Raised profile of Canadians equals more players signed. Just my theory and of course others may disagree. I don't plan on doing a study!