Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Hi all,

I live in Cleveland, OH USA and I'm a big football (I will say football, but I mean soccer not American football) fan. We have had numerous pro football teams in the past but it has never lasted even though we always do well. We won the league championship two years ago (it was USA div 3 championship) but the team went out of business the next year. Anyway, a new team (now USA div 4) has been created and the rumours are flying that this new team has a partnership with Accrington Stanley. Have any of you heard anything about partnering with a team in the States?

By the way, I saw Accrington play Fulham in the FA cup and was very impressed with their performance. I will be very happy if this relationship comes to be. Just so you know, I think football in the USA is about to explode and the region where Cleveland is, the midwest, dominates at the national level. I hope this will be good news for all involved.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

The chairman has a lot of business interests in the USA and spends a considerable amount of time over there. Would come as no suprise.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

I presume this is the team you refer to :)

AFC Cleveland - The Beautiful Game Returns to Northeast Ohio

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Nothing official as of yet at this end, however, Daves link would seem to confirm your claim. IMHO this could only be a good thing for both sides! So all the best for the upcoming season and welcome onboard the Stanley rollercoaster lol.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Dave, that is the team, AFC Cleveland. Not a fan of the logo. The Accrington Info on the website has disappeared, that's why we're still calling it a rumour. AFC's first season will not start until 2012, so we'll get one season before the end of the world ;). The fact that we're excited about a team that is a year away and has no players is an indication of how desparate some of us are for a professional team.

It is my understanding that the team will play in the National Premier Soccer League which is a fourth tier league. I know putting "premier" in the name of a fourth tier league is a bit confusing, but you know how we Americans are about sporting names. I consider it a semi-pro league because it includes college players that need to maintain their amateur status. They only play during the summer in what is a pretty short season.

My hope is that some of your players will come over here to play on the team during the summer. Does that seem like something that would be possible for your players?

Thanks for the info and well wishes

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Fat chance of our first team, the standard in the 4th tier will be poor if Luke Rodgers can play MLS. It could possibly be our youth players ?

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Didnt Luke Rodgers come from the Championship? While the English fourth division will clearly be higher quality than an American fourth division, there should be some very high quality among the college players in this American fourth division. Keep in mind that many of the USA's and Canada's best players spent at least a few years in college. Some of them go directly into MLS and play 90 minutes week in and week out. In comparision John Rooney has yet to feature for New York.

I'm still hoping for first team. Do they make much money? Maybe they would come over for a change of scenery and some extra cash. But we wil welcome youth players too!

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

He was playing League Two/One level for Notts County. I must admit I do like the ideas of USA Scholarships I think its defiantly an emerging market and a link-up would be good. I don't see why the likes of fringe players such as Turner, Burton couldnt benefit from overseas football. Friendlys would be a good fixture too.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

I agree Nickelson - about friendlies and fringe players. A yearly friendly, perhaps for Accrington's preseason preparations, would be good. We could alternate hosting. Having some of your fringe players and youth players over here for the summer I think would be good for both clubs. Your youth players would have the potetial benefit of a college scholarship. The league AFC Cleveland will be in is scouted by college coaches looking to recruit. The national champions in all of college football (Akron Zips) are here in the Cleveland area. They have the best college program in the nation, arguably the best coach too. College is just a nice way for a young player to continue to develop if they arent sure about a pro career or havent been offered a pro contract IMHO.

Word over here is that an official announcement hasnt been made because of Accrington's restructuring status. I hope this will not cause the arrangement between our two clubs to fall through.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Welcome onboard Clevelandmo

Links of any kind that can help build up Football particulary Stanley can only be good for both sides of the pond.

Pre-Season stuff for our first team I would imagine would be amazing for all concerend if it got to that sort of stage, but even scholars and academy players could benefit from maybe part schooling and different angles on the game.

What is the grass roots system like in the US is football taught from an early age at school or does it tend to be more of an extra curriculum activity or summer school thing?

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

i'm more surprised it's not going to be called the World Premier League Series Level 4 ;)

I think it was in 2000 that our manager John Coleman sent one of our forwards to America for the summer. Gary Williams had been injured and missed some football towards the end of the season. He went to play for New Jersey Barons to get fit in time for the new season.

is that the John Rooney who is Wayne Rooneys little brother? I'm not surprised if so. He had only played a handful of games for Macclesfield (same league as us and roughly the same sort of size club) and never acheived anything in terms of experience or stature. He was watched by a few bigger clubs, probably more interested in the link with his brother and whether talent ran in the family, but nothing materialised. You should rally gain the experience to fulfill whatever talent you have before upping sticks in that kind of manner.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Very little football is taught in school as part of a physical education class. Most communities in the US have recreational football through a volunteer-run local soccer association or club, and that is where most of the football is played. For more competitive players, there are travel and premier teams. As the first name implies, these teams travel to other communities to play against other competitive teams. In general, kids dont start playing football for their school (it is an after school, extra-curricular activity) until high school (U15 through U18). People say the grass roots system in the US is a problem because it is run and coached by parents that have never played the game. This may still be true in very rural areas but I dont think it is true any longer around cities of any significant size. There are tons of former pro players, european coaches, and south american/mexican coaches that are coaching at the youth level over here. My sons coach has the top dutch coaching license and the top USA youth license.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Oh yes, World Premier League or something would be much better!

And you are correct, the John Rooney I'm talking about is Wayne's little brother. You may recall that Sir Alex sent Wayne over here to the Nike Trianing ctr to get away from all the controversy surrounding him due wanting to leave ManU and his prostitute exploits. I'm thinking he arranged something for John while he was here, and I've always been suspicious that Sir Alex was the one who pulled the strings as a way of keeping Wayne at United. Just my suspicion based solely on the timing of everything. So far John has only managed to play for the New York reserve team. He has scored some goals on free kicks so that appears to be a talent of his. I havent seen him play so I cant speak to any other part of his game. I've always thought MLS was somewhere between England's league One and the Championship, but it's really not an apples to apples comparison due to the structure of our leagues. MLS has a salary cap, designated players, and no relegation/promotion system.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

good to hear Cleveland.

And I sincerely hope that there is some truth in this because it is a market that few have been able to tap. Hopefully the story of the little 'un might appeal more to Americans than the big corporate money clubs that keep trying.

Re: Accrington Stanley partnership with USA team
 

Sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong but that would be limited to one player who is the only one with a contract to say he will still be at the club in the summer ;)