Now that the World Cup circus has left town and there are no more haughty opinion pieces to be written regarding Fifa’s commercialisation of everything from water breaks to flogging the MetLife sod, the annual carpetbagging can begin in earnest.
A quartet of English clubs will be knocking around America for the next couple of weeks, shaking down the natives for the lucrative Yankee dollar as they have done relentlessly for two decades now. Overcharging gullible fans to watch shadow XIs has become as much a part of summer’s ritual as epic thunderstorms and power outages.
The cheapest ticket for some iteration of Liverpool versus a random Sunderland selection in Nashville this Saturday night is $129.95. A seat behind the dug-out to watch Andoni Iraola make his sideline debut goes for five times that amount, although that option includes food and drink.
NBC has done such a fine job hyping the Premier League this past few years that there must be 30,000 rubes in Tennessee with deep pockets and a healthy enough obsession with the English game to fill Geodis Park. Or maybe there are just a lot of tuneful Scouse and Mackem exiles knocking around the honky tonks on Music Row with guitars under their oxters?
In any case, that’s just the warm-up for the main event when Liverpool meet Wrexham at Yankee Stadium next Wednesday night. It is a testament to the power of marketing and the global nature of sport that New Yorkers will turn up to see one of the world’s most famous teams taking on an outfit that has never seen the inside of the top tier. Such is the impact of Hollywood.
Thanks to their Ted Lasso-ification by television, the Welsh club is an international brand now, even if you still see a lot more fictional Richmond AFC shirts on streets here than you do red jerseys with two dragons on the crest.
That last point is surprising because Wrexham, befitting a club part-owned by Ryan Reynolds, an actor who made $300 million from his canny involvement in a mobile phone company, know how to part Americans from their cash. Last summer, they ran a soccer camp on Long Island where children as young as six were charged $575 for five days coaching. For that, they went home with a t-shirt, a goodie bag, and a Wrexham AFC Development Certificate, presumably to parents no doubt convinced this was evidence their child was destined for greatness.
There is nothing wrong with clubs coming here to prepare for their new seasons. The weather is good, the training facilities excellent and there is obviously a commercial market to be tapped. However, there is zero creativity about the whole business.
For instance, Liverpool have missed a genuine opportunity to do something memorable and different this summer. Instead of gracing Yankee Stadium, a beautiful baseball diamond that looks ridiculous when hosting soccer, and Soldier Field (where they play Leeds United on August 2nd), they could have dipped into their own history and produced something to catch the imagination.
It is a testament to the power of marketing and the global nature of sport that New Yorkers will turn up to see one of the world’s most famous teams, Liverpool, taking on an outfit that has never seen the inside of the top tier. Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
It is a testament to the power of marketing and the global nature of sport that New Yorkers will turn up to see one of the world’s most famous teams, Liverpool, taking on an outfit that has never seen the inside of the top tier. Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
This year marks the 80th anniversary of George Kay bringing his Liverpool squad, including future boss Bob Paisley, to the US just nine months after the end of the second World War . There was no shameless cashing-in back then. Sailing on the RMS Queen Mary to New York had been the brainchild of chairman Bill McConnell who, through his role with the British ministry of food, saw that America wasn’t subjected to the strict food rationing still afflicting England. Wanting undernourished players to spend six weeks tucking into the richer diet available, he organised 10 games against various American teams.
This noble enterprise is what brought them to Fall River, Massachusetts, an industrial town at the mouth of the Taunton river, a place with a thriving soccer culture due to being a magnet for Portuguese immigrants going back to the late 19th century.
Before a ball was kicked there was a pre-match spat about the width of the field, with Liverpool threatening to pull out unless it was at least 70 yards across. When another row ensued about whether to use a local ref or an import from New York, the cocky hosts mocked the celebrity visitors, figuring their trepidation was born out of fear they might get turned over by the amateurs.
A crowd of 6,387 paid $1.20 each to watch a five-goal thriller that kicked off under floodlights at 8.30pm, more than a decade before Anfield could boast such a modern facility. Following an opening goal by Jack Balmer, a second-half brace by South-African born Robert Priday, and Willie Fagan catching the eye, Liverpool were cruising until two late Fall River strikes made for a dramatic, tension-filled finale.
[Dave Hannigan: The World Cup is proving football has become ridiculously overcomplicatedOpens in new window ]
The local Herald News reported the XI culled from various New England clubs gave “the Britishers the hardest game of their tour”.
Kay reckoned his players were seven pounds heavier, 25 per cent better due to their improved vittles and suitably fortified by the sustenance gained in America. They went home and won the old First Division the following spring.
Liverpool could have paid homage to that heritage by retracing their steps this summer. Imagine the goodwill and publicity they could have generated playing a tiny venue in Fall River today. Instead, they are heading to the cathedral in the Bronx and charging more than $100 for nosebleed seats. Business as bloody usual.