Changes confirmed

The rumored changes at the top of the New York Cosmos group were confirmed today by Mike Lewis

About a month ago, Jack Bell tweeted that Paul Kemsley was being bought out but there was no news since that information.

Mike Lewis spoke to Joe Fraga and he states that while there will be changes at the top, operations will remain the same at the aspiring club.

There will be those that feel that this is good news because of the uncertainty around Paul Kemsley's character. Would he have fit in well with the other owners in the league? It is to soon to say if this is good or bad as just don't know anything about the new ownership group or their resources.

Yesterday Paul Gardner put out an opinion piece which revealed that there was a falling out between the Saudi backers and Kemsley due to his questionable business decisions.

So the Cosmos are moving on from Paul Kemsley and so must the fans. It seems that the transition is still in progress but as soon as its complete, the pressure will be on the Cosmos to show that they once again are players in the expansion race. Don Garber mentioned that they had some ownership issues that they needed to sort out and they are sorting them out. Is it enough though?

ADDED
The New York Cosmos also released this http://nycosmos.com/news/paul-kemsley-steps-down-chairmanceo-new-york-cosmos-0

Fans still waiting for more answers

In response to Don Garber's recent comments that the Cosmos no longer in the mix for the MLS NYC franchise, the Cosmos Front office released a statement saying that they are "willing to work with other investors."

While it was nice to hear something out of the Cosmos camp, fans still have a lot of questions and concerns that this statement did not answer.

Many are dying to know what is going on internally at the Cosmos as there is still that rumor lingering that Paul Kemsley has sold out to foreign investors.

We understand that the Cosmos are a private organization and changes at the top do not need to be announced in public. However, the fact remains that they are aspiring to be a professional sports organization, they should be behooved to act like one. Like any professional franchise, fans want to know what is going on with the team they have emotionally and financially invested in.

Take a glance at the Cosmos Facebook page, you will see fans expressing their anger. Some have expressed thos in a mild manner while others in a more colorful tone. From a financial standpoint, many of these fans ran out in the past year and spent their hard earned money on gear for the team that promised top flight by 2013. Now, with that date looking less likely, fans are asking for updates and sadly not getting a response.

However, this is not time to jump off the Cosmos bridge. If we've learned anything from past expansion history is there will be more twists in this story before the final chapter is written. In the meantime, fans have every right to question. They question out of anger, out of frustration but most of all, question out of passion.

At this point, there's no reason to point our fingers solely at the Cosmos as Don Garber is not really being open and honest with fans as well. He speaks of mysterious investors who refuse to be mentioned at this time.

Who's to say that Garber is using the fans emotions to get leverage from expansion groups such as the Cosmos. Also, are the Wilpon's still going to be somehow involved in this?

Perhaps all these big decision makers should be reminded of words from the great European Cup winning Celtic coach Jock Stein "Football without fans is nothing".

Cosmos have issues

Tonight during the USA - Ecuador friendly in Harrison, New Jersey, Don Garber opened up a little more about the New York City expansion team.

"As for the league’s 20th franchise, it is becoming more and more obvious that New York remains his top choice. He mentioned that he was entertaining three potential ownership groups during the U.S. match and stressed once again that the stadium is the most important step towards making it a reality. "

“We’re making progress and the city has been supportive,” he said. “If we can build the stadium, we will have the 20th team in New York City.” 

Clearly getting a stadium built is the biggest challenge and tonight Garber even spoke about Randalls Island as a potential location As previously stated on this site, Randalls Island would be a great location with the skyline as a backdrop, but would be a disaster in terms of traffic and getting to the venue. 


Garber hosted three potential investors in his box and none of them were from the Cosmos group. When will their identities be revealed? 


As for the Cosmos, Garber hinted that there are some ownership issues that the Cosmos have to sort out before the league considers them as a potential owner. 

They’ve got some things that they’ve got to work out in their ownership group. As I’ve said before, they’ve done a great job of building their brand and when we’re ready to get that team launched if they want to be a part of that, we’d be happy to talk with them.”

So what is your take? Are the Cosmos falling apart? Is Garber trying to keep the pressure on the Cosmos to get their ownership sorted out? Will one of these other investors buy the Cosmos brand being the current group can not get their shit together? 


The ride continues. 

Silly Rumor and Detroit

While we were going through some changes, we saw a few pieces of interest. One of them being about MLS expansion, but not NYC.

First was this silly rumor that the Cosmos might be invited to the UEFA Champions league. How could a team, well, that does not exist get an invite to play in a competition such as the Champions League? More importantly, why would UEFA want to hurt the stature of Europe's top club competition?

There was an interesting story involving Pele and him possibly returning to the pitch to join Santos at the FIFA Club World Cup later in the year. Hopefully, FIFA stops this decision because honestly it would hurt the reputation of a tournament that is trying to become bigger.

6-8 Months is now a punchline

Oh we know how this one ends. "6-8 months"

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was on NBC Sports Talk on Versus TV tonight and he spoke about the big night for US soccer as there is a huge league game as well as the US Open Cup final at which 40 thousand fans are expected to attend.

Earlier in the day, Russ Thaler, who hosted the interview asked fans for questions and the question he selected was about the 20th team. Thaler mentioned that there was an overwhelming response from fans on this topic so he asked when the 20th team will be announced and if it will be the Cosmos.

Garber did not dodge the question but really did not offer much. He said they continue to talk to the city, and yes, the Cosmos as well. Garber made it clear that the stadium is the challenge and that after that gets sorted out the rest will be easy to put into place.

Then came the same old story. Don Garber said that he expects more on it in the next "6-8-12 months".

For those who have been involved in this movement or even just following, this is the same timeline we have heard at least 3 times in the past 12 months. You are begining to wonder that in 10 years you will be tucking your kid into bed saying "Don't worry, the Cosmos will be here in 6-8 months".

The whole saga has grown tiresome for many fans around the area, and many are no longer as excited as they were back on August 5th when the Cosmos played Manchester Untied. The fans are aware of the challenges building a stadium, but they really want a little more transparency.Many are stating that "fans are the heart and soul of a soccer team and should not be left in the complete darkness".

A little applause for the Borough Boys because clearly an impression was made on Mr. Thayer as he made sure he pointed out how many people asked about it. It seems that last second internet campaign to get people to contact him did in fact work. See what happens when we all come together?

PK no longer involved?

Jack Bell, who is both a great soccer writer and a credible source of information used twitter today to reveal some interesting news about the Cosmos. His post was:

"JackBell JackBell 

I hear that Englishman Paul Kemsley is out at the Cosmos, as in bought out by his investor group from Saudi Arabia."

The Cosmos have not said much in the past month and a half and now this. As imagined, this news has fans completely confused. Fans are asking what this means for the Cosmos and MLS.

It was always known that Paul Kemsley was seeking foreign investment, and there was a lot of speculation that there was a Saudi investment group involved, but it is a surprise to see that Kemsley was completely bought out.

There is a lot of money in that region of the world, so this can actually be a very positive development for the financing of a NYC team. If this group has been involved with Kemsley, then they are fully aware of the costs of this venture. They know the costs of a stadium in the city and they know about Garber's 100 Million price tag, so this action has to mean this group has the financial power to finish the job.

The roller coaster ride continues.

Foreign Investment - Proof and more speculation

This interesting tidbit was brought to our attention on by an anonymous user on the BigSoccer message boards.

It would seem that the law firm that assisted with getting Pele his work visa in the US, has also represented foreign investors in their acquisition of a 50% interest in the New York Cosmos. This was in September 2010, which was about a month or so after Pele announced at Flushing Meadows Park that the New York Cosmos were back.

So it seems there is foreign investment in the Cosmos and now the fans will wonder who.

Please do not forget to send us your letters for the Cosmos or Garber so we can publish the next edition of our Online Soccer Magazine. The submission deadline is Friday.

Have your say!

All,

Do you have a letter you would like to write for the Cosmos? Would you like to tell them how badly you want his team? Do you want to write a letter to Commissioner Garber? Do you want to tell him to pick the Cosmos? Do you want to tell him to not charge 100 Million?

here is your chance. Our next edition of our Soccer Fanzine is going to be all about the fans. We want the fans to voice there opinion.

Please send your letter to thisiscosmoscountry@boroughboysnyc.com and we will publish it in our next edition.

Deadline is Friday, September 30th.

The NYC Kit-League Table (Week 2)

After two weeks of keeping track of every single soccer logo I see, I'm starting to learn a few things. Some neighborhoods love soccer jerseys a lot more than others. In just two trips to Spanish Harlem I came across seven different soccer badges and shockingly they were from 5 different countries. Meanwhile countless trips into the Upper East Side have only produced 5 badges and 4 of those belong to Barca. I've also learned that If two big clubs play each other then fans of those teams are way more likely to wear their soccer kit around town. United and Chelsea both had huge weeks for this reason. I spotted 4 Man U and 3 Chelsea jerseys on Sunday alone compared to just 1 each the previous week when they played West Brom and Stoke respectively. The third interesting thing I can take away from this study is that for whatever reason Thursdays are the slowest in terms of people showing support for their clubs, in two weeks only one solitary point has been scored on a Thursday. Lets take a look at the bottom of our table...

Not too much to point out here but I was surprised to see the German National Team represented in Spanish Harlem of all places. I also had to look up both Toluca and ULD Quito after seeing their logos but not knowing the name of either club. Then there is Red Bull NY who saved an entire country from the embarrassment of being shut out on home turf. We went the first 6 days and 11 hours of this week without seeing a single American team get on the board until a Red Bull NY cap was seen in the dying moments of the week. (that also puts them in 2nd place among NY area clubs) Lets move on to the top ten...

United, Chivas, Barca, and Chelsea have established themselves as the Big four in this competition and I'd bet against anyone beside the Mexican NT cracking the top four from here on out. That said United takes 1st thanks to the big match with Chelsea and a grown man in a suit wearing a Utd back pack. Chivas and Barca each have another solid week and are early favorites to be the most consistent clubs. In the highest position for any club making its first appearance in the table, it's 6th place Inter Milan with the help of an awful chinatown bootleg jersey(1 pt). In 8th place is the Mexican NT which prevented a clean sheet with a hideous bootleg jersey of their own (all jerseys deemed to be bootleg are considered t-shirts and worth 1 point.) Cosmos, Pumas, and Atletico all got shut out this week but still barely hold on to top ten spots.

As for next week, I need to figure out exactly how to cut the teams down so that we don't have a table of forty teams. hmmm somebody might have to be relegated...

Site Identified?

Talksport radio is a fantastic spot for EPL fans to get news and information on the league as well as other aspects of sports in Europe and even sport in the Untied States. 

They did an interview today with ESPN's Mark Donaldson and on that interview Mr. Donaldson said that he has spoken to Shep Messing and that the Cosmos are desperately trying to get into MLS around 2014 and the big quote from Mr. Donaldson is that "They have identified a site up in Queens in New York"

Click here for the Audio and start listening around 3:10

This conversation is all started because they are speculating about David Beckham's future. Donaldson said the Cosmos are looking for investment and Beckham would be a perfect fit. 

The news here that they possibly identified a final stadium spot in Queens.