'Harry Hood: Bringing the Thunder,' Larry Cafiero, Celtic's American Blogger

I know he owned angels in uddingston and I'm sure he owned the Sherwood in viewpark
That was it kaiser. Seemed every wedding reception or funeral ended up there. I knew little of him as a player I must say but I've seen a few articles over the last couple of years. Seemed a very well respected player.
Great insight into the American move Larry. Nae bad if you outscore Geoff Hurst!
 
What was your view on soccer in the days when the big European stars were coming over???

Well, Lubo, I thought it was OK, overall. I lived in South Florida in the mid-'70s and my team was the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and they had a lot of Brits on the team. Gordon Banks was in goal and George Best of Northern Ireland also played for Fort Lauderdale for awhile (met Banks once and had a picture taken with him -- I have no idea where it is, though). I remember a guy named Tony Whelan who played for either Man City or Man United, and Bobby Bell who was with the Spurs (I think) at one time, Teofilo Cubillas who played for Porto, and Gerd Mueller from Bayern. Bear in mind that all these guys were way past their prime, and the idea was to get them playing with homegrown talent (we had a kid from the local university named Curtis Leeper, who wasn't half bad, but really never went anywhere) to bring up the level in local football here.

It never really quite worked out for the NASL in the '70s, because they kept importing players and, generally speaking, American sport fans (a fickle lot) lost interest since there weren't any star-spangled stars. The system now, both the MLS and the USL (the latter which is tiered into divisions), works a lot better.

The Cosmos in New York really cornered the market on stars, like Pele, Giorgio Chignalia and Franz Beckenbauer, who were essentially the holy trinity of the NASL. Being in the East, Ft. Lauderdale and Cosmos were always at loggerheads, though in '77 (I think, maybe '78) we won the division, but lost to Cosmos in the playoffs. The real rivals for us were the Tampa Bay Rowdies across the state -- hated those assholes with a passion. They had a guy who played for -- I want to say Man City (but I'm not sure) -- named Rodney Marsh who always gave us fits.

I don't know if any of those names ring any bells, but that's who we had.

[Oh, one more: We had a Jamaican named Colin Fowles which, when you say his name aloud, sounds like "calling fouls" (at least in American English)]
 
Some legend's there Larry, but like ye say, well past their sell by date,but the seed was sown,MLS,is on the up and up,hope thing's work out with our American Bhoys, and be interestin tae see how Beckham's franchise works out, who know's,he might sign Slippy g as manager!!!!!
 
Well, Lubo, I thought it was OK, overall. I lived in South Florida in the mid-'70s and my team was the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and they had a lot of Brits on the team. Gordon Banks was in goal and George Best of Northern Ireland also played for Fort Lauderdale for awhile (met Banks once and had a picture taken with him -- I have no idea where it is, though). I remember a guy named Tony Whelan who played for either Man City or Man United, and Bobby Bell who was with the Spurs (I think) at one time, Teofilo Cubillas who played for Porto, and Gerd Mueller from Bayern. Bear in mind that all these guys were way past their prime, and the idea was to get them playing with homegrown talent (we had a kid from the local university named Curtis Leeper, who wasn't half bad, but really never went anywhere) to bring up the level in local football here.

It never really quite worked out for the NASL in the '70s, because they kept importing players and, generally speaking, American sport fans (a fickle lot) lost interest since there weren't any star-spangled stars. The system now, both the MLS and the USL (the latter which is tiered into divisions), works a lot better.

The Cosmos in New York really cornered the market on stars, like Pele, Giorgio Chignalia and Franz Beckenbauer, who were essentially the holy trinity of the NASL. Being in the East, Ft. Lauderdale and Cosmos were always at loggerheads, though in '77 (I think, maybe '78) we won the division, but lost to Cosmos in the playoffs. The real rivals for us were the Tampa Bay Rowdies across the state -- hated those assholes with a passion. They had a guy who played for -- I want to say Man City (but I'm not sure) -- named Rodney Marsh who always gave us fits.

I don't know if any of those names ring any bells, but that's who we had.

[Oh, one more: We had a Jamaican named Colin Fowles which, when you say his name aloud, sounds like "calling fouls" (at least in American English)]
Rodney Marsh, QPR
He was some player but his attitude and sense of 'it's all about me' did not endear him to opposing fans
I remember meeting some of those guys you mentioned Larry
Some were humble nice guys, others were self centred pricks
Yes, the old NASL, was a retirement league for 'over the hill' players who couldn't cut it in Europe any longer, not all, but a lot of cases
The game in North America, has come a long way and is a much better product
HH
 
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