Fulham FC and DC United on July 26 at Everbank

[Gamblor]

lol, i'm semi-fluent in soccer but this conversation might as well have been in a different language.

Oh well if you'd like any translations feel free to PM me 

Appreciate the background and details of managers, etc. Thanks to you both for that.

as for Carrie Underwood...sometimes the idea is to cross-promote. Just sayin. 

I considered that... Maybe trying to win some "folks" over, but I don't think fullham vs DC united is the match to do that. Just think they'd probably be better off with something more in line with the crowd, and continuing to nurture the growth of soccer in the region but hey it ain't my dime 

I think the idea is not to win soccer fans over to carrie underwood, but to win Jaguars fans over as soccer fans. In that context it actually makes some sense...give them a taste of soccer with a chaser that a lot of em already enjoy.

I was saying more that I don't know if the soccer game will win many Carrie Underwood fans over. I could be wrong, and I hope I am. As for winning jags fans over it might. Hoping Eddie Johnson will be out there playing for DC. He is one of my favorite USMNT players of all time, and he is from Bunnell... and he use to play for Fulham

[JaxByDefault]

 

Lol, north London has had 2 top teams in tier 1 for over 30 years... but thats only if you count Tottenham as a team, which I admit is quite a stretch  #ForeverInArsenalsShadow

Cheating! That's across several post codes... and Spurs aren't a real side. #SpursCantBuyChampionsLeague     I give your team, Arsenal, full props for beautiful playing style and a great manager. It's never difficult to convince me to watch one of their matches.

I am sure by July that I'll be happy Fulham are here for a friendly, but the 1-2 gut punch of Chelsea's Champion's League run ending and Fulham's relegation has me a bit down this week. Watching Man City lift another trophy on Saturday just might drive me to drink at noon.

I hope the Fulham-DC united match goes over well, but in truth, Fulham will likely be bringing no players anyone has ever heard of. JAX only sold a few thousand tickets to see Thierry Henry a few months ago.

...and I'm still not convinced that Carrie Underwood is the right artist for those Jags fans who could potentially be swayed to support association football sides.

[pierre]

Obviously they wanted a famous artist for this event.

It has to be somewhat "family friendly".

And like it or not, country acts sell well in Jacksonville.

I don't even think the event is gearing towards soccer fans at all. I think of it more as a Jaguars fan appreciation event. The Fulham game is just a glorified scrimmage.

[pierre]

I hope the Fulham-DC united match goes over well, but in truth, Fulham will likely be bringing no players anyone has ever heard of. JAX only sold a few thousand tickets to see Thierry Henry a few months ago.

That MLS scrimmage was not well planned this year in my opinion. It started at 6pm on a week night. Not mention it ended up being a downpour.

[JaxByDefault]

I don't even think the event is gearing towards soccer fans at all. I think of it more as a Jaguars fan appreciation event. The Fulham game is just a glorified scrimmage.

True. I notice Jags season ticket holders get to go for free. That's nice. FFC has managed to bring players to JAX in the past and NOT invited dues-paying members to anything. I know it's only a few of us, but it would be nice to get some acknowledgment from our club that we exist. (That said, they're spectacular with members' stuff when one is in London, as they should be.)

And yes, the MLS friendly was difficult this year time and weather wise -- to say the least. The MX league game last year was fun, too -- hope we have another shot at something like that again.

[Gamblor]

Lol, north London has had 2 top teams in tier 1 for over 30 years... but thats only if you count Tottenham as a team, which I admit is quite a stretch  #ForeverInArsenalsShadow

Cheating! That's across several post codes... and Spurs aren't a real side. #SpursCantBuyChampionsLeague 

Indeed it is across two post codes, but we're only 3, 4 miles down the Seven Sisters road from each others. I have to admit it's a little strange for me to hear someone like Chelsea and Fulham. I've spent a lot of time in Kensington, and have a few friends who support Chelsea or Fulham. They don't seem to be so friendly, and usually describe one another as "That lot"... However I can totally understand being a fan of SW6. It's one dynamic area that is for sure.

I hope the Fulham-DC united match goes over well, but in truth, Fulham will likely be bringing no players anyone has ever heard of. JAX only sold a few thousand tickets to see Thierry Henry a few months ago.

That MLS scrimmage was not well planned this year in my opinion. It started at 6pm on a week night. Not mention it ended up being a downpour.

True they didn't do a good job. I think it was announced like 3-4 weeks ahead of time, hardly publized till the week off. Although I would have rather watched Thierry (MY MAN) on a crisp clear day, I remember thinking the rain was appropriate. Only fitting our first MLS game is horribly marketed and the fans that might have come were kept away by heavy showers.

Obviously they wanted a famous artist for this event.

It has to be somewhat "family friendly".

And like it or not, country acts sell well in Jacksonville.

I don't even think the event is gearing towards soccer fans at all. I think of it more as a Jaguars fan appreciation event. The Fulham game is just a glorified scrimmage.

You probably are right that it is more just an appreciation event. I just would have preferred the first time much of Jax gets a taste of English soccer in person, that the events correlate a little better. I'm well aware country sells well in this city, but so do plenty of other types of music, and I'd imagine significant portions of the country audience will not appreciate the game.

[JaxByDefault]

It wasn't our first MLS game -- Philadelphia Union agreed to a 3-year friendly deal in JAX. The first match was last year against Montreal Impact.

The rain was horrid and I expected to see more people out for the NY Red Bulls. However, the fans that braved the weather were fond of soccer and fun to talk to.

You get the Chelsea-Fulham thing a lot in West London (at least in Fulham proper, Putney, Brompton, parts of Wandsworth, etc.)  among the over-30/35 set. We're old enough to remember Chelsea being ify and Fulham being in the lower division. The Chelsea first- Fulham second is the most common permutation as most CFC fans don't think of FFC as a real rival. That's changed since FFC were promoted -- and managed to stay up -- and there's a more intense West London derby/rivalry now. FFC fans have always been rather more bitter toward CFC than the reverse, but the Black & Blue party exists for a reason: there are loads of conflicting loyalties within marriages/families/neighborhoods/and individual supporters. There's a bit of a money/class/pro-English prejudice mess that has lead to increasing FFC-CFC tension, too, which is not something a majority of the fans want to have anything to with but sadly don't often acknowledge. (To sum up: FFC used to be like Brentford. In the neighborhood, but not in the top league for quite some time.)

[bencrix]

Depressing to find the MetroJax forum populated by Tottenham-slagging Chel$ki and Le Arse fans. I guess its tradition for Arsenal, and they do run their club the right way (not too dissimilar from Tottenham, by the way, who -- until recently -- played very exciting football).

Anyway, excited to see Fulham come to Jax. What I am wondering is, what does their relegation mean for Jax, Kahn and the Jaguars?

Certainly for the exhibition it means a very different squad for FFC. Is their academy any good? I don't get that impression, but don't really know. It always seemed over the last few years that their strategy was to seek value among players just past their prime.

[CityLife]

Anyway, excited to see Fulham come to Jax. What I am wondering is, what does their relegation mean for Jax, Kahn and the Jaguars?

It means Khan is potentially going to lose a lot of money...and may have to spend a lot of his own cash just to get them back to the PL, which even then isn't a guarantee.

I believe JaxByDefault mentioned it, but Fulham will likely lose most of the quality players they have. Many of them have relegation clauses in their contracts, which stipulate that they must be sold for x amount of money if the club gets relegated. For instance, Fulham just bought a forward Mitroglou from the Greek league for 13 million pounds in January. He has a relegation clause, and will be sold at a loss. Teams usually scavenge players from relegated teams and pay substantially less than their market value.  I imagine there are good odds they will lose Steklenburg, Riether, Dejagah, Richardson, and other decent players they have. Then factor in how old their other players are Hangeland (32) Heitenga (30) Karagounis (37), Duff (35), Riise (33), Parker (33), Sidwell (31), Bent (30)...generally players are on the descent of their career after 30...So basically Khan will have some serious rebuilding to do, will have to pay above market salary to be competitive, and will have a tough battle to get them back to the EPL.

Hopefully, his investment in Fulham going south won't hurt his spending with the Jags.

[Tacachale]

^I can't imagine it will. He'll spend Fulham money on Fulham just as he spends Jags money on the Jags, we won't pump huge amounts of outside money into either team. He may have to put some of his own to get Fulham out of relegation as soon as possible, but it shouldn't affect the Jags, who had revenues of like $260 million last year.

[pierre]

Hopefully, his investment in Fulham going south won't hurt his spending with the Jags.

Seriously doubt that.

[Gamblor]

Depressing to find the MetroJax forum populated by Tottenham-slagging Chel$ki and Le Arse fans. I guess its tradition for Arsenal, and they do run their club the right way (not too dissimilar from Tottenham, by the way, who -- until recently -- played very exciting football).

Oh slag off our clubs and don't say what club you support. Lovely. From the sound of it, is it Spurs? You have the do have the jealous, we won the league in black in white, Spurs vibe. But would a Spurs fan be dumb enough to talk shite after the trashings the boys in red handed out this year? What am I saying of course they are. Anyway, remember...

http://www.youtube.com/v/JN3vwOwiLdI

http://www.youtube.com/v/YTBSX18Kwvg

http://www.youtube.com/v/0e_K2hiayoQ

#AlwaysInOurShadow

[JaxByDefault]

Certainly for the exhibition it means a very different squad for FFC. Is their academy any good? I don't get that impression, but don't really know. It always seemed over the last few years that their strategy was to seek value among players just past their prime.

FFC has a well-respected academy. Their youth side recently lost to Chelsea in the youth FA final.

FFC has pursued a terrible signing strategy for the past few seasons based modified "moneyball" metrics that favored hold/cross Opta stats. Liverpool tried a similar strategy several years ago with horrible results. FFC being a mid-table side at best paid dearly for the mistake. LFC, using similar metrics, invested in (overrated) young players; FFC invested in "undervalued" (but overrated) older players. It was a poor strategy from the jump and was woefully out-of-touch with the newer playing styles of the Premiership. When that strategy went south -- and far too late after the cracks in the foundation were evident -- they went into desperation buying (Mitroglu) from less competitive leagues, something smart sides only do in the summer to avoid high costs and give the players time to be Premiership fit. 

The side will now be picked clean of utility players at bargain prices for all of the reasons mentioned by CityLife. This means Khan will have to spend more to strengthen the side. However, Financial Fair Play (FFP) will limit that spending. Since FFP is especially burdensome to one-owner teams (the whole thing is basically a scheme to incentivize clubs to go to a share model a la Manchester United and punish owners who can spend and then buyback/liquidate their club's debt,) FFC is in a bit of pickle. Last year, merchandising, TV, sponsorship, and the FFP rules meant that Fulham could sustain wages of about £73 million and they come in very close to that number. This means they don't have a lot of buying power unless Khan wants to exercise the £105M loophole that exists for another two seasons and personally cover at least £90M of that expense. I do not know whether some of that loophole money was used in the Mitroglu signing, but my guess is it was.

What this means for Jags fans is that Kahn could spend almost nothing on FFC or he could spend about £90 million. Even the high-end figure isn't likely to impact his spending on the Jags. (Hopefully, it also won't impact the cash he's making available to downtown projects.)

The slog back to Premiership is going to be a lot tougher than most stateside FFC fans I've encountered seem to think. What this certainly hurts for Khan is the ability to cross-promote FFC to Jags fans and leverage his FFC supporters in London to support the Jags. FFC is already the ONLY club in England not to be the most supported side in any UK postcode (thanks to being less than a mile away from and sharing the SW6 postcode with Chelsea), so its following was already small before relegation. The lack of availability of all league Championship games on US TV and legal streaming services means that Khan will lose a ton of exposure for FFC stateside. If anything, that means Khan will be more likely to pay attention to the Jags and their brand, whilst treating FFC as a sideshow.


ETA: I'm not an Arsenal supporter, but even I'll confess that watching The Invincibles was a thing of beauty.

[Gamblor]

The slog back to Premiership is going to be a lot tougher than most stateside FFC fans I've encountered seem to think.

Very true, it will be interesting to see how many are still riding the wagon in a few years. Really this could be good for the club to move more to a swansea, west brom business model though, what are your thoughts on that?

[CityLife]

Hopefully, his investment in Fulham going south won't hurt his spending with the Jags.

Seriously doubt that.

Without personally knowing Mr. Khan's personal finances and long range plans, nobody but him can say that with any certainty.