It is just under 60 years since Stoke City were used as football evangelists in the United States.
Tony Waddington took up an invitation for his squad to play as the Cleveland Stokers in a summer league, the United Soccer Association, in 1967, with the hope and expectation that the locals would be hooked and the sport would take off.
Waddington even wrote a booklet for the people of Ohio explaining the laws of the game and how football was seen in England, describing it as a working man’s ballet.
It is safe to say it didn’t prove an instant success story but the US has gradually and sometimes grudgingly embraced the game and this week it will host its second World Cup, alongside Mexico and Canada.
There have been plenty of people who have helped the cause along the way, including Stoke legend Alan Hudson – at what should have probably been the peak of his career but was actually in the middle of a hiatus.
FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest Stoke City news, analysis and more via the Sentinel
Hudson had missed out on the Cleveland Stokers adventure but, at the age of 27 and while on strike from Arsenal and via a chance meeting with World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore, he took the chance to play for Seattle Sounders. He loved it.
“I had four of the best years of my life there,” he told The Sentinel this week.
“I had been at Arsenal at the time but walked out and was out of work for about five months or so. I was training on my own. Luckily enough I went to Chelsea one day and bumped into Bobby Moore, who talked me into going to Seattle. That was how it all came about.
“I was running a box at Stamford Bridge. I knew the girl at Chelsea and she had a spare box. I could invite friends as guests and have food and drink. I went at half-time to go to the bathroom, saw Bobby and asked him to pop in after the game to have a drink. He did, he came in and he started telling me off about what I was doing.
“I said I can’t go back to Arsenal. I really can’t get on with the manager, Terry Neill, and everything else. So Bobby told me that Jimmy Gabriel was in the other room having a drink, he’s managing Seattle and he was sure he’d jump at the chance to have me over there. He said he’d been over and loved it there. He’d had a couple of games for Seattle.
“So I went in the other room to see Jimmy and on the Monday I signed. By the Wednesday I had bought a home over there. I couldn’t wait to get out of the country. Nobody wanted me when I left Arsenal because I’d walked out. I was off the radar and I thought it was a great new start in a beautiful city.
“I loved my time there, loved playing in the NASL against (Franz) Beckenbauer again, against (Giorgio) Chinaglia and (Johan) Cruyff again. It was an incredible experience.”
Hudson helped Seattle to the most wins in the 1980 NASL season but they then lost in the Conference semi-finals, which was the post-season path to what was called the Soccer Bowl. Hudson was named in the All-Star second XI. He was named in the same selection a year later, alongside George Best (San Jose).
In fact there are plenty of eye-catching names in the all-star groups, also including Carlos Alberto (New York then California), Rudi Krol (Vancouver) and Johan Neeskens (New York). Enough skill and fame to make sure that the football missionaries from across the world eventually won over their hosts – even if it took the collapse of the NASL and launch of MLS to get there.
Hudson, who also played indoor football for Cleveland Force, said: “There were so many outstanding players in America at that time that you could bet your bottom dollar that they were going to have a good team one day. There were so many different players from different countries; Spain, Mexico, Colombia… There were some players who, to be honest, I’d never heard of who had so much fantastic ability.
“The players who were going over there in the early years were mostly going at the end of our season and they spend three months over there, which was a great idea. But I was there for four years. I went lock, stock and barrel. I sold my house here and I had a ball. I never thought I would come back.
“But you can sometimes see why owners fall out with people and I fell out with one and he sacked me. Some owners think that because they’ve got all this money they know everything about the game, like the Chelsea owner now…”
Hudson had found a level few others have ever reached in a Stoke shirt after he joined from Chelsea in early 1974. He helped turn the Potters into genuine title contenders and he loved working under Waddington. It is no coincidence that his own autobiography is called The Working Man’s Ballet.
He left for Arsenal in 1976 when Stoke were in a financial crisis. He picked up an FA Cup runners-up medal a couple of years later and, before he fell out with Neill and left for the US, was playing well enough to be summoned for England duty. Almost.
“I was picked to play against Brazil by Ron Greenwood but refused to play,” he said. “They were playing Brazil on the Wednesday. We’d played a club game on the Saturday and on the Sunday I was standing in my local pub and I got a phone call. Somebody told me it was Ron Greenwood and I told them to go away. After about three attempts I went over and answered it and it actually was Ron Greenwood.
“He said, ‘Will you turn up Wednesday, you’re playing against Brazil?’ I said, ‘No thanks Ron. I know why you’ve phoned me. You’ve obviously had someone cry off this morning and you’ve put me in. If I’d been in the original squad then great but I’m not just making up the numbers because someone is injured.’ So I turned him down. Years later I saw him at Upton Park. I went over to speak to him and, bless him, he’d had Alzheimer’s, which was sad.
“I never regretted not playing against Brazil. I was carrying an injury all the time I was at Arsenal. I had an abdominal strain and I was far from my best. If it had been when I was playing for Stoke, at my best, I would have jumped at the chance to play against Brazil but I thought about it very quickly, knew they were a tough team to play against when you’re fit. With an abdominal injury you’ve got to be bang on. You never know when it’s going to start.
“So I never regretted turning Ron Greenwood down but I did apologise to him and explained my reasons.”
Hudson will be watching on television over the next few weeks as England try to do themselves justice in North America. There will probably be some extreme weather along the way but that shouldn’t be too much of a factor.
“I played all over from Seattle to Florida,” said Hudson. “I really enjoyed playing in Washington. I loved playing in the heat anyway. There are so many players playing all around the world now they’ll be used to it.
“But even if you look at the way England performed in Mexico in 1970, I thought we were better than when we had won it in 66. We were a far superior team and that was in the Mexican heat.
“It’s a matter of going early enough and acclimatising and you do get used to it. If we bring it up for England it’ll be an excuse but we shouldn’t worry about things like that. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
There are a couple of surprises in the squad put together by manager Thomas Tuchel, another with Chelsea connections – but not quite Stoke.
Hudson, now aged 74, said: “When Tuchel first got the job I thought it was a tremendous appointment. He’s surprised me that he’s gone the same way as everyone else. When I saw him pick Jordan Henderson I thought he’d lost it. We’ve got a young kid at Crystal Palace, Adam Wharton, who is outstanding. If you put Henderson next to him there’s no comparison yet Wharton isn’t going. I don’t think he’s got it right.
“As for Cole Palmer, if you were basing it on his first 20 games at Chelsea you would pick him in the world XI but he just hasn’t lived up to that. It looks like something has happened to him, more mental than physical. He just doesn’t look the same boy, he doesn’t look the same player.
“He was winning Chelsea games on his own. I would still take him, although he’s not really in form. I think a great manager would be able to talk him into playing properly.”
Knee surgery last year means that Hudson can’t be over in the States himself for this tournament and he’s had to postpone a trip to Bangkok to watch Thailand, who are managed by his son Anthony.
“I am still looking forward to watching the World Cup on television,” he said. “I wish I was going over even though it’s going to be very, very expensive. This is off the radar. Ridiculous.
“When we were going in the 70s it was three dollars to the pound. Now it’s near enough level. To go over there used to be cheap but this is going to be astronomical. You’re going to have to be pretty wealthy to go over for the whole tournament.
“I’ve still got a few friends of mine who live just outside Seattle. Ray Evans, who played for Stoke too, is there and I wish I could go and see him rather than just take a phone call.”
If he can’t make it across the Atlantic, he’ll make it up to the Potteries next season for a game or two at the bet365 Stadium.
He said: “I’m always in with [roofer and Stoke fan] Anton Booth, he’s my main man in Stoke, a fabulous man. He’s a fantastic supporter. I love him, he’s a great man.
“To tell the truth it feels like they’re a different team every time I go. I was a big admirer of Tony Pulis. I thought the Pulis era was absolutely superb, they packed the ground out every week. You knew what you were going to get and Tony didn’t mess about. He did the city proud and they should have never let him go. But let’s hope we can win some games again.”
What do you think? Click HERE to join the debate
We have launched a WhatsApp group to deliver the latest Stoke news directly to your phone. Click the link select 'Join Chat' and you're in. If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave at any time by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking 'Exit Group', simple as that.
Every day, The Sentinel football desk strive to deliver news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Stoke City content.
Our dedicated reporter Pete Smith - who you can follow on X - follows Stoke home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.
With so much going on, we send out a daily free Stoke City newsletter which you can sign up for - and means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox.
If you prefer reading our Stoke stories on your phone, consider downloading The Sentinel app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Stoke City as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple