Ralph Kruger

I live in the US so I can offer some insight. The reason that Premier League football stands a chance against all those other sports is timing. It is on at a time of day when no other sport is on. Saturday morning is wonderfully clear of competing programming options. Similarly this is why European competition is less important here. It is on during the middle of a week day on obscure channels with a plethora of more storied European teams to stand out against.

I just so happened to be listening to Ralph Krueger's Men In Blazers interview from May this morning on my way to work.

And he set out their blue print for the US and it was to spread coaching football. Playing the long game, not only are they trying to develope not buy players it looks like they want to do something similar with support.

Out here in Iowa there is not much support for soccer, but all the kids play it, so it will be these kids growing up looking for a team to watch that will be our future support here.

When I was out in Seattle I took my girlfriends kids to the park for an hour (one boy and one girl). I expected them to take an American football with them but they took a "proper" football and we had a great kick around. I spoke to my gf about it and she said they both loved football and played it at school. If they can get the TV sorted out you can see the game really taking off there - but it is taking an age and the likes of Pele and Beckham don't seem to have had much of an effect. I am surprised that Murdoch hasn't pushed it more there.

Can imagine a prem club, with the endorsement of the authorities, agreeing to play one of its home matches in the US. Much like Jackonsville's relationship with Wenbley in the NFL -only difference that the prem side would be relatively competitive.

When I was out in Seattle I took my girlfriends kids to the park for an hour (one boy and one girl). I expected them to take an American football with them but they took a "proper" football and we had a great kick around. I spoke to my gf about it and she said they both loved football and played it at school. If they can get the TV sorted out you can see the game really taking off there - but it is taking an age and the likes of Pele and Beckham don't seem to have had much of an effect. I am surprised that Murdoch hasn't pushed it more there.

The sport is at the starting end of a generational shift in North America. Two hitherto-unthinkable things have happened in the last five years or so - there are more American kids registered for soccer than (base)ball, and there are more Canadian kids registered for soccer than (ice) hockey. The third major element is the fact that many major U.S. universities now offer soccer scholarships, which, in turn, breaks down parental resistance to a sport they never grew up with themselves - a sport which, until recently, offered no prospect of a cheap education for their kids.

There's no point in expecting too much too soon. It's very much a long-term strategy, so Krueger shouldn't be beaten-up for not delivering big results in two years, although the short term mentality of many contributors to forums like this pretty much ensure that he will be. If I were him, I'd think about opening up some (potentially self-funding) satellite academies over here because that really would garner some Saints-focused attention and could act as a feeder for down the road.

When it comes to Krueger, I'd prefer to focus on the fact that, under him, the Club now operates in a way that draws admiration from all quarters, at home and abroad. It has developed an infrastructure that will serve us for far, far longer than his term of office. And all this has happened because he has the trust and confidence of Katharina - something decidedly lacking under his predecessor, to the point at which she may well have been ready to sell-up to god-knows-who.

His speaking style may grate on people, he may never convince the saddos who think that nobody from North America understands the game - because they're from North America, and he will never, ever please some no matter what he does.

But he's clearly doing a lot of things very well beyond the sight and hearing of those on here who are slow to think and quick to sneer.

Only people in Saint George's utterly fictional world.

Where red shirts are fine, navy and white stripes are fine but red and white stripes - absolutely not!

Do you think 2m commercial revenue increase is sufficient considering our significant increase in profile within English football ? We are the fastest increasing / improving sports brand in the world, apparently.

 

Personally, I find it a little on the light side too, I have to say.

For last year (13/14) the median YoY revenue growth for all PL clubs that weren't promoted or relegated across the two years was ~£5m however if you take out the big 6 and their mind boggling commercial deals the figure drops to ~£2.3m.

For those wanting to scrutinize my calculations, my source was the guardian website, figures were for commercial revenue exc TV rights and matchday, and it was the year our commercial revenue grew by £3.5m. I couldn't use latest figures because they are not released for all clubs.

Make of that what you will, but my take on it is that increasing revenue outside the top 6 is easier said than done.

Would we have gone to USA/Canada if we didn't have the early Europa League rounds this year? I guess we could have still accommodated 5 days over there based on our time in Austria/Holland anyway.

 

The problem is, unless you're one of the big teams, is there even that much potential for making money over there? Generating £millions? How many tickets/shirts would we have to sell to make it worthwhile? Plus the USA's own "Soccer" is taking off more and more, not sure if that makes it more or less likely for someone over there to want to spend money on stuff associated with an English side.

 

I think Japan might be a bit of a better shout, doesn't seem as saturated for visiting English teams as Thailand/USA?

You probably need to schedule a friendly against Seattle, Los Angeles, or, maybe, the Red Bulls in New York to make good money. Or maybe tour with other PL clubs. If we toured with Swansea and West Ham (playing each of them once and one MLS club) it might bring in good money.

Some people only see what exists already and what others have done before. Some just like to stay still and keep things how they are. Others see opportunities where those who only see what they know do not. These people and organisations are leaders, and maybe the club under Krueger et al have a different approach that those without imagination cannot see yet because no one else has done it.

The sport is at the starting end of a generational shift in North America. Two hitherto-unthinkable things have happened in the last five years or so - there are more American kids registered for soccer than (base)ball, and there are more Canadian kids registered for soccer than (ice) hockey. The third major element is the fact that many major U.S. universities now offer soccer scholarships, which, in turn, breaks down parental resistance to a sport they never grew up with themselves - a sport which, until recently, offered no prospect of a cheap education for their kids.

 

There's no point in expecting too much too soon. It's very much a long-term strategy, so Krueger shouldn't be beaten-up for not delivering big results in two years, although the short term mentality of many contributors to forums like this pretty much ensure that he will be. If I were him, I'd think about opening up some (potentially self-funding) satellite academies over here because that really would garner some Saints-focused attention and could act as a feeder for down the road.

 

When it comes to Krueger, I'd prefer to focus on the fact that, under him, the Club now operates in a way that draws admiration from all quarters, at home and abroad. It has developed an infrastructure that will serve us for far, far longer than his term of office. And all this has happened because he has the trust and confidence of Katharina - something decidedly lacking under his predecessor, to the point at which she may well have been ready to sell-up to god-knows-who.

 

His speaking style may grate on people, he may never convince the saddos who think that nobody from North America understands the game - because they're from North America, and he will never, ever please some no matter what he does.

 

But he's clearly doing a lot of things very well beyond the sight and hearing of those on here who are slow to think and quick to sneer.

Don't underestimate the influence of concussions and parents wanting to protect their kids here. Football has concussions but American Football and Ice Hockey are built on concussions. More and more parents will not let their kids play those sports. When this change takes full effect soccer may become the big North American sport.

Don't underestimate the influence of concussions and parents wanting to protect their kids here. Football has concussions but American Football and Ice Hockey are built on concussions. More and more parents will not let their kids play those sports. When this change takes full effect soccer may become the big North American sport.

Several different US friends have said soccer is already the preferred curriculum sport in smaller schools and colleges. Its easier to organise and coach for and requires less equipment.

Don't underestimate the influence of concussions and parents wanting to protect their kids here. Football has concussions but American Football and Ice Hockey are built on concussions. More and more parents will not let their kids play those sports. When this change takes full effect soccer may become the big North American sport.

I hate to admit it on here but I got concussion once playing with that weird shaped ball.

The biggest threat to football here in the US is the growing frustration with the national team, a lot of people are calling for Klinsmans head. as Rodney (twonker) Marsh put it so eloquently on his Sirius Radio show this morning "Basically all American players are crap!" If they don't start getting some international success then the public might switch off as its a win or nothing mentality here. (Not trying to offend any American posters).

Don't underestimate the influence of concussions and parents wanting to protect their kids here. Football has concussions but American Football and Ice Hockey are built on concussions. More and more parents will not let their kids play those sports. When this change takes full effect soccer may become the big North American sport.

Great point. I've posted on here several times about the need for football (soccer) to remedy its rather cavalier attitude towards concussions, but it's still a far less dangerous sport than either American Football or Ice Hockey. Add that to the far lower relative cost and it's a recipe for a continuation of the sport's meteoric rise in popularity over here. The question is how can Saints best ride that wave?

For me, the route to progress for a club like Saints is not to rely on achieving it through TV exposure of our games because the American psyche is all about supporting a winner, and we're not going to be able to compete with the big boys on that front for the foreseeable future. But we could become a very fashionable club for Americans by opening a few (largely self-financing) satellite academies in major cities and raising our profile and popularity in that way. I'm not sure it's about unearthing gems for our own use so much as being seen to be contributing to the growth of the sport, helping young players to develop, and creating hope that a career in professional football may be down the road. In some ways the Southampton "brand" is more about doing that really well than about actually winning things, so we'd be playing to our strengths.

But I'm off thread topic. Again.

The biggest threat to football here in the US is the growing frustration with the national team, a lot of people are calling for Klinsmans head. as Rodney (twonker) Marsh put it so eloquently on his Sirius Radio show this morning "Basically all American players are crap!" If they don't start getting some international success then the public might switch off as its a win or nothing mentality here. (Not trying to offend any American posters).

Rodney Marsh is a sub-talksport moron. His 'chemistry' with a washed-up George Best was basically the only reason he was retained as Sky pundit for so many years.

All things considered, 'Team USA' has done pretty well in major tournaments given the amount of catch-up it has had to do. It certainly put England to shame in the last WC. Alot of people are going to be disappointed, if they expect more in the short- to medium-term.

The sport is at the starting end of a generational shift in North America. Two hitherto-unthinkable things have happened in the last five years or so - there are more American kids registered for soccer than (base)ball, and there are more Canadian kids registered for soccer than (ice) hockey. The third major element is the fact that many major U.S. universities now offer soccer scholarships, which, in turn, breaks down parental resistance to a sport they never grew up with themselves - a sport which, until recently, offered no prospect of a cheap education for their kids.

 

There's no point in expecting too much too soon. It's very much a long-term strategy, so Krueger shouldn't be beaten-up for not delivering big results in two years, although the short term mentality of many contributors to forums like this pretty much ensure that he will be. If I were him, I'd think about opening up some (potentially self-funding) satellite academies over here because that really would garner some Saints-focused attention and could act as a feeder for down the road.

 

When it comes to Krueger, I'd prefer to focus on the fact that, under him, the Club now operates in a way that draws admiration from all quarters, at home and abroad. It has developed an infrastructure that will serve us for far, far longer than his term of office. And all this has happened because he has the trust and confidence of Katharina - something decidedly lacking under his predecessor, to the point at which she may well have been ready to sell-up to god-knows-who.

 

His speaking style may grate on people, he may never convince the saddos who think that nobody from North America understands the game - because they're from North America, and he will never, ever please some no matter what he does.

 

But he's clearly doing a lot of things very well beyond the sight and hearing of those on here who are slow to think and quick to sneer.

Some good points - the third is very telling.

Don't underestimate the influence of concussions and parents wanting to protect their kids here. Football has concussions but American Football and Ice Hockey are built on concussions. More and more parents will not let their kids play those sports. When this change takes full effect soccer may become the big North American sport.

Not sure about the US but this has phenomena has been around for donkey's years in Australia, where the kids first sport tends to be soccer where mums don't want their precious angels hurt - concussion injuries is just one excuse in a long line that mums will have in their armory in an effort to wrap their young ones up in cotton wool. The problem for football being though that when the kids grow into their teens they swap codes through pressure from peers, dads or dare I say it is just a more enjoyable environment (ie Australian Rules being one of them).

I think the key takeaway is as CanadaSaint put it, its going to be a generational shift.

When you look at the size of the USA statistically the ammount of good players should be quite large. The infrastructure in the US is growing and as that gets better they will improve. If they start to throw cash to the levels the PL has and the world's better players and coaches, decide it is a better option over there especially if they were to limit oversea players the US players will improve their skills. It will take time but they will become a powerhouse in world football one day.

Despite not living in the States, I thought I might add my 0.02c to the conversation.

I manage our United States of Southampton FC group along with a handful of other Southampton fans living in the U.S.

The SFCUSA page has reached an audience of 230,000 so far in October and can also drive hundreds of people a day through to the club's online store.

The group now has a dozen live venues for Saints fans to watch matches in, although it's still a consistent fight against the "Big 6" for screen time.

These live venues are a way to match up a vibrant online community with the more traditional offline aspects of football.

There's also a SaintsWeb style (minus the trolling) forum dedicated to the Saints on Reddit - with the majority of contributors from the States.

For those interested in which Premier League teams Americans are following, these are the Facebook figures taken from October 1st.

1st Manchester United: 2,388,155

2nd Chelsea: 1,080,257

3rd Arsenal: 900,542

4th Liverpool: 605,187

5th Man City: 429,682

6th Tottenham: 169,494

7th Everton: 67,243

8th Newcastle: 43,893

9th Aston Villa: 42,164

10th West Ham: 35,232

11th Swansea: 20,606

12th SOUTHAMPTON: 19,993

13th Sunderland: 14,420

14th Crystal Palace: 11,991

15th Stoke: 11,329

16th Norwich: 10,646

17th West Brom: 9,303

18th Leicester: 7,922

19th Watford: 5,563

20th Bournemouth: 2,862

-

I wrote the below recently referring to our massive potential global fan base. It was modelled towards non-native English speaking countries, but is certainly relevant to the USA as well. I know the idea of overseas supporters is cringeworthy to some on here, but the fact of the matter is that they will end supporting a Premier League team regardless. Why not Southampton?

'With the Premier League now being broadcast to 700million+ households around the world, there is a huge potential supporter base available for Premier League clubs. In a traditional media sense a young football fan is going to be inundated with coverage focussed towards the “Big 6”, both in the matches being shown and through day-to-day reporting. However, teams outside the "Big 6" now have their own platform to promote their club, in their own way: Social Media.

The key to Southampton winning the hearts and minds of young football fans around the world is through positive and consistent engagement, using controllable modern media sources to position our club as a unique and viable option outside the traditional "Big 6". The remaining hurdle then is how do we increase the chances of the young football fan hearing our positive SFC message, preferably, consistently.

The key to sharing this unique Southampton message with the rest of the world is localised social media accounts. This has proved to have already worked in both Brasil and Thailand, where our localised supporter groups have driven higher numbers than some of the otherwise out-of-reach "Big 6". Localised supporter groups can also provide a boost in short-term revenue, through directing traffic to the official online store & in the long-term by creating strong online and offline communities which help to continually grow and solidify our overseas supporter bases.

Obviously Premier League and European success is the main driver of a club's following, but there is a lot that can be done within that space to improve a club's standing and support, regardless of form.

If you were wondering what a Saints fan in the States looks like, here's a few of our SFCUSA's.

The sport is at the starting end of a generational shift in North America. Two hitherto-unthinkable things have happened in the last five years or so - there are more American kids registered for soccer than (base)ball, and there are more Canadian kids registered for soccer than (ice) hockey. The third major element is the fact that many major U.S. universities now offer soccer scholarships, which, in turn, breaks down parental resistance to a sport they never grew up with themselves - a sport which, until recently, offered no prospect of a cheap education for their kids.

 

There's no point in expecting too much too soon. It's very much a long-term strategy, so Krueger shouldn't be beaten-up for not delivering big results in two years, although the short term mentality of many contributors to forums like this pretty much ensure that he will be. If I were him, I'd think about opening up some (potentially self-funding) satellite academies over here because that really would garner some Saints-focused attention and could act as a feeder for down the road.

 

When it comes to Krueger, I'd prefer to focus on the fact that, under him, the Club now operates in a way that draws admiration from all quarters, at home and abroad. It has developed an infrastructure that will serve us for far, far longer than his term of office. And all this has happened because he has the trust and confidence of Katharina - something decidedly lacking under his predecessor, to the point at which she may well have been ready to sell-up to god-knows-who.

 

His speaking style may grate on people, he may never convince the saddos who think that nobody from North America understands the game - because they're from North America, and he will never, ever please some no matter what he does.

 

But he's clearly doing a lot of things very well beyond the sight and hearing of those on here who are slow to think and quick to sneer.

Good post. I still fail to see what those who call him Wreck It Ralph think that he has wrecked. The club is stable and well run. We are a decent Premiership outfit. All of the people running the club deserve credit for that.

It's difficult to see how he could do better.

It's difficult to see how he could do better.

None of us really know what impact he is having internally, but you have to assume the owner is happy with him and that is a marker that he is doing his job to her satisfaction. All we directly see of him as fans are his public / media bits and bobs and lets be honest if it was Brendon Rodgers saying the things he does then we'd all be ****ing ourselves laughing.

He gets some slack obviously as football is a new sport to him but overall he does come across as a Canadian who appears to know how to run teams in business but has no idea about football. He doesn't need an idea about football to be good at his job of course, but when he talks publicly the way he does it is cringey.

None of us really know what impact he is having internally, but you have to assume the owner is happy with him and that is a marker that he is doing his job to her satisfaction. All we directly see of him as fans are his public / media bits and bobs and lets be honest if it was Brendon Rodgers saying the things he does then we'd all be ****ing ourselves laughing.

 

He gets some slack obviously as football is a new sport to him but overall he does come across as a Canadian who appears to know how to run teams in business but has no idea about football. He doesn't need an idea about football to be good at his job of course, but when he talks publicly the way he does it is cringey.

He actually played football till he was 16, when he had to dedicate himself full time to ice hockey. So I think it is unfair to say he knows nothing about the game.

The ramblings of a fantasist.

 

I'd forgotten his classic routine about red and white stripes. Saint George gold, straight outta Sholing.

 

"All the folks I know in America where I live and everything honest I do live there I mean here honest gee whizz howdy anyway all my good old American friends I live with all hate red and white striped items of clothing they do oh you limeys that's what we call you here where I live in America oh I love a Twinkie bar me. Yee-ha."

Bearing in mind the US national team has worn red and white stripes in the past.

Don't underestimate the influence of concussions and parents wanting to protect their kids here. Football has concussions but American Football and Ice Hockey are built on concussions. More and more parents will not let their kids play those sports. When this change takes full effect soccer may become the big North American sport.

As someone who's broken their nose 7 times during football matches and has a concern in the back of my head about 30 years heading gigantic hoofed clearances, goal kicks and corners, and who has actually seen stars after heading a ball, I'm pretty sure there's plenty of scope for head injuries (not to mention other injuries) in football.

As someone who's broken their nose 7 times during football matches and has a concern in the back of my head about 30 years heading gigantic hoofed clearances, goal kicks and corners, and who has actually seen stars after heading a ball, I'm pretty sure there's plenty of scope for head injuries (not to mention other injuries) in football.

It seems to me that your technique needs some attention

On a serious note you are quite right. I have never broken my nose but two split eyebrows and a cut lip are witnesses to some head clashes and I too have seen coloured stars on a few occasions. I remember one match where a colleague asked me what the score was because he had a complete memory blank for the previous few minutes, something that these days should involve a trip to hospital. I'm just old enough to remember leather footballs before the plastic-coated ones arrived in the mid sixties. My dad played full back in Isthmian and Athenian League before that and he refused to head the ball if it was wet and told me that I should avoid it as well.

It used to be said that football injuries tended to be leg-related whilst rugby were all necks and collar bones.

Bearing in mind the US national team has worn red and white stripes in the past.

We've played in Red Hoops too, really cool looking rugby style shirt and a far better representation of the national flag than the "Clown effect" in 94. That's when the USMNT wore red and white stripes while hosting the 94 World cup it was part of a disastrous representation of the national flag....red and white stripes on the home kit and blue and white stars on the away kit

First comment i found on it was this

"The U.S. team only wore this kit in one of its four games in the 1994 World Cup, its 1-0 loss to Brazil in the Round of 16. Not only was the loss on July 4, but Tab Ramos suffered a fractured skull from a vicious elbow and the Americans had to play the entire match in this awful jersey.

2nd was..

"The Horrifying True Story of the Ugliest Jerseys in U.S. Soccer History"

"Dressing up your fledgling national team like a bunch of psychedelic patriots may seem like a risky move, but it was a calculated one. “In my world, if you have a strong reaction, that’s a positive,” says Peter Moore, then global creative director at Adidas and president of the German company’s American subsidiary. If people are angry, then at least they’re paying attention."

"As the World Cup neared, the players laughed about their uniforms to keep from crying. In 1994, People named U.S. midfielder John Harkes to its “Most Beautiful” list. When Ramos saw what he’d be wearing against America’s arch rival, he said, “Even John Harkes cannot make this uniform look good.” Another player joked that the wavy stripes on the secondary kit made the ginger-haired Lalas look “like Raggedy Ann.” The jokes were an obvious coping mechanism, a way to mask the Americans’ self-consciousness."

But hey...At least some liked it

The home kit featured these wavy red lines like an American flag blowing in the wind. Cheesey? Totally. But at six-years-old, I loved it

..........

Now check out Aussiesaint20's Facebook stats.....Take out the most recently promoted teams and all 3 teams that play in Red and white stripes are bottom of the pile

Like i said...red and white candy stripes will not fly in the US....If the Board have any serious intentions of capitalizing on the exploding US market they're going to need to learn something from Cortese and drop the stripes...The sash would probably be a big hit here and would pull a respectable amount of support as long as we maintain decent results.

 

When it comes to Krueger, I'd prefer to focus on the fact that, under him, the Club now operates in a way that draws admiration from all quarters, at home and abroad.

 

His speaking style may grate on people, he may never convince the saddos who think that nobody from North America understands the game - because they're from North America, and he will never, ever please some no matter what he does.

 

But he's clearly doing a lot of things very well beyond the sight and hearing of those on here who are slow to think and quick to sneer.

Good comments Canada,

unfortunately, some of his critics (at SMS) see no clearer than the view from the Chapel, and it's easy to miss a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

YES - it's a generational thing, but he has a lot of respect from his past success (even though it's not football), but an outsider can bring new vision with a fresh appraoch.

As soon as we win something ..... everyone will start to praise his " leadership style ".

We've played in Red Hoops too, really cool looking rugby style shirt and a far better representation of the national flag than the "Clown effect" in 94. That's when the USMNT wore red and white stripes while hosting the 94 World cup it was part of a disastrous representation of the national flag....red and white stripes on the home kit and blue and white stars on the away kit

 

First comment i found on it was this

 

"The U.S. team only wore this kit in one of its four games in the 1994 World Cup, its 1-0 loss to Brazil in the Round of 16. Not only was the loss on July 4, but Tab Ramos suffered a fractured skull from a vicious elbow and the Americans had to play the entire match in this awful jersey.

 

2nd was..

 

"The Horrifying True Story of the Ugliest Jerseys in U.S. Soccer History"

 

"Dressing up your fledgling national team like a bunch of psychedelic patriots may seem like a risky move, but it was a calculated one. “In my world, if you have a strong reaction, that’s a positive,” says Peter Moore, then global creative director at Adidas and president of the German company’s American subsidiary. If people are angry, then at least they’re paying attention."

 

"As the World Cup neared, the players laughed about their uniforms to keep from crying. In 1994, People named U.S. midfielder John Harkes to its “Most Beautiful” list. When Ramos saw what he’d be wearing against America’s arch rival, he said, “Even John Harkes cannot make this uniform look good.” Another player joked that the wavy stripes on the secondary kit made the ginger-haired Lalas look “like Raggedy Ann.” The jokes were an obvious coping mechanism, a way to mask the Americans’ self-consciousness."

 

But hey...At least some liked it

 

The home kit featured these wavy red lines like an American flag blowing in the wind. Cheesey? Totally. But at six-years-old, I loved it

 

..........

Now check out Aussiesaint20's Facebook stats.....Take out the most recently promoted teams and all 3 teams that play in Red and white stripes are bottom of the pile

 

Like i said...red and white candy stripes will not fly in the US....If the Board have any serious intentions of capitalizing on the exploding US market they're going to need to learn something from Cortese and drop the stripes...The sash would probably be a big hit here and would pull a respectable amount of support as long as we maintain decent results.

Is this a serious post?

Is this a serious post?

Oh you are a troll, just seen you're post on he Fonte contract thread.

Is this a serious post?

No. He's a fantasist who likes to pretend he lives in the United States.

No. He's a fantasist who likes to pretend he lives in the United States.

Cheers. Sounds like a top guy.