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View Full Version : John Carver eyes success with Toronto FC



alexintoronto
01-22-2009, 09:52 AM
NEWCASTLE United may well have a mammoth battle on their hands to stay in the Premier League – but thousands of miles away across the pond a Geordie whose heart is still close to the Toon crest, is pulling off his own personal mission to gain global acclaim.
John Carver – the coach who assisted Sir Bobby Robson when United won a place in the Champions League – goes in for his second season in charge of Toronto FC looking to build on the job that has already made him a national hero in Canada.
These days Carver rubs shoulders with the likes of David Beckham and major stars in North America, with his club owned by the same franchise in charge of the world-renowned ice hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs and NBA side Toronto Raptors.
Fans in Canada had been starved of their own professional football team until the Reds of Toronto burst on to the scene in 2007 and, 12 months after taking over, Carver is aiming to win a place in Hogtown folklore by leading TFC to glory in Major League Soccer.
A crippling injury crisis and international call-ups dented Carver’s hopes of making the MLS end-of-season play-offs last term, with the team that play at BMO Field missing out by just four points.
Now, though, with Toronto now embarking on their pre-season programme, Carver is looking forward to the challenge.
He told the Chronicle from Toronto: “In past years I have been used to dealing with the January transfer window, but with the way the Major League Soccer season runs, we are looking to get our new players in for the new season, which starts in March, and get things ready for pre-season.

More:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/01/22/john-carver-eyes-success-with-toronto-fc-72703-22752948/ (http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2009/01/22/john-carver-eyes-success-with-toronto-fc-72703-22752948/)

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/nechronical/may2008/1/0/24C00354-F681-BF3A-2711C4640EEDEC55.jpg

alexintoronto
01-22-2009, 09:53 AM
This is interesting, hope we can get all players in for the pre-season:


“In past years I have been used to dealing with the January transfer window, but with the way the Major League Soccer season runs, we are looking to get our new players in for the new season, which starts in March, and get things ready for pre-season.

Phil
01-22-2009, 09:58 AM
The author of that article came up last year and took in a game at BMO (first Columbus one I think). He covers the Newcastle hockey team (vipers?) and showed a real keen intrest in TFC. Nice find!

joshpa
01-22-2009, 10:01 AM
in John Carver I trust...

BakaGaijin
01-22-2009, 10:05 AM
NEWCASTLE

John Carver – the coach who assisted Sir Bobby Robson when United won a place in the Champions League – goes in for his second season in charge of Toronto FC looking to build on the job that has already made him a national hero in Canada.



This statement is quite sensational..............99.8% of Canadians don't even know who John Carver is.

T_Mizz
01-22-2009, 10:19 AM
with former Premier League stars such as Danny Dichio, Carl Robinson and Rohan Ricketts in his squad
That's a bit of an exaggeration, n'est-ce pas?

Also I love when Brits write articles about North American sports because things we take for granted (that hockey is played on ice, or that its called an NBA team or franchise, not a side, or that the playoffs are at the end of the season) they don't have that luxury

Stugatzo
01-22-2009, 10:32 AM
This statement is quite sensational..............99.9% of Canadians don't even know who John Carver is.
I disagree...using your math only 30,000 Canadians know who he is.
I would submit that only 99.8 per cent of Canadians don't know who he is.
:hump:

James17930
01-22-2009, 10:34 AM
We play in the Champion's League?

Not yet.

This year. :D

T_Mizz
01-22-2009, 10:36 AM
We play in the Champion's League?

Not yet.

This year. :D
I hope JC's not counting his champions league berths before they hatch:D

jabbronies
01-22-2009, 10:38 AM
Wow, is it just me or does article make some of our accomplishments from last season seem epic!

Roogsy
01-22-2009, 10:39 AM
Wow, is it just me or does article make some of our accomplishments from last season seem epic!

LOL!

Can you imagine if we actually win something? :D

Parkdale
01-22-2009, 10:40 AM
I always like hearing about outsiders looking in.

hell... in England, this comment holds more weight than here: world-renowned ice hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs

Parkdale
01-22-2009, 10:40 AM
I always like hearing about outsiders looking in.

hell... in England, this comment holds more weight than here: world-renowned ice hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs

deltox
01-22-2009, 10:42 AM
field hockey is bigger there than ice hockey....so saying "hockey" doesnt work

ensco
01-22-2009, 10:44 AM
"AN HISTORIC victory over former Toon boss Ruud Gullit and David Beckham’s LA Galaxy, plus famous victories over New York at the Giants Stadium and Chicago Fire."

Funny! Do any of the supporters think this way about these wins last year? Imagine the hyperbole if he'd been writing about the first Chicago game in 2007....

Oldtimer
01-22-2009, 10:50 AM
“We signed three young players of enormous potential in Sam Cronin, forward O’Brian White and keeper Stefan Frei, who we all have high hopes for here this season.:party:

rocker
01-22-2009, 11:43 AM
there's definitely a lot of sensation in that article. I guess they wanna make readers back home think the article's subject is very important.

joel
01-22-2009, 11:45 AM
Hey John Carver is a National Hero! Can't wait for John Carver day in Winnipeg!

tfcleeds
01-22-2009, 11:55 AM
I always like hearing about outsiders looking in.

hell... in England, this comment holds more weight than here: world-renowned ice hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs are world-renowned - for losing and for having sad-sack management!

JDG
01-22-2009, 11:59 AM
I like the way it's written. He's writing for an audience who probably know very little about us, so the sensational descriptions are just right if we want people over there to pay attention.

BakaGaijin
01-22-2009, 12:19 PM
I disagree...using your math only 30,000 Canadians know who he is.
I would submit that only 99.8 per cent of Canadians don't know who he is.
:hump:

Sorry, that was a typo. My bad. I have made the correction.

:)

Steve
01-22-2009, 12:23 PM
"with his club owned by the same franchise in charge of the world-renowned ice hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs and NBA side Toronto Raptors."

Umm, I don't think he understands what that word means, I'm pretty sure MLSE is not a franchise....

I_AM_CANADIAN
01-22-2009, 12:27 PM
Well, the article makes us sound bigger than we are, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that from my point of view. We can use all the sending-up we can get.

And, of course, JC rules.

Pachuco
01-22-2009, 12:39 PM
my god, this article is so full of shit, sorry to be negative but:

1. Carver is a national hero?
2. We play in the champions league?
3. We had a historic win over David Beckham and the LA Galaxy who finished BELOW us in the rankings?
4. The raptors and the Leafs are world renowned?

Anyways, it's hard not to pick this article apart. I'm sure he had good intensions, but that's just bad reporting.

I_AM_CANADIAN
01-22-2009, 12:46 PM
He said the Leafs are world-renowned, which is true. They're by far the most well-known ice hockey team in the world.

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with a bit of exaggeration in my opinion. Hell, we could use any publicity we get.

T_Mizz
01-22-2009, 12:50 PM
true but i wish we could do that through our quality

Yohan
01-22-2009, 01:25 PM
I like the way it's written. He's writing for an audience who probably know very little about us, so the sensational descriptions are just right if we want people over there to pay attention.
i'd rather have a bit more accurate reporting than sensationalism

but hey. there's no such thing as bad PR

and that game vs galaxy was a good one...

Parkdale
01-22-2009, 01:48 PM
just did a big edit on some stuff that was going off topic.

back to the article at hand guys.

Broadview
01-22-2009, 01:55 PM
For all the sensationalism and hyperbole that there was in there, what I noticed was that they shorted the size of the seasons ticket waiting list.

9,000? Pffft...I wish.

Lucky Strike
01-22-2009, 02:09 PM
He said the Leafs are world-renowned, which is true. They're by far the most well-known ice hockey team in the world.

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with a bit of exaggeration in my opinion. Hell, we could use any publicity we get.

At the risk of attacking the team you likely support (and side-tracking the thread), maybe. You can make a case that both the Montreal Canadiens (the other most storied franchise of the NHL) and the Pittsburgh Penguins give competition to the Leafs for that title. For the latter, it's probably mostly because of Sidney Crosby; he is the most popular player in the world right now and everyone who likes him knows what team he plays on. Either way, I'd place these teams 1-2-3 in the world in terms of popularity

Anyway, I didn't bring this up just to be a contrarian to piss people off; it's one of the many things you could point to that have been exaggerated in the article. The one that makes me laugh the most is beating LA as an historic victory. Ha! :rolleyes:

Oldtimer
01-22-2009, 02:19 PM
At the risk of attacking the team you likely support (and side-tracking the thread), maybe. You can make a case that both the Montreal Canadiens (the other most storied franchise of the NHL) and the Pittsburgh Penguins give competition to the Leafs for that title. For the latter, it's probably mostly because of Sidney Crosby; he is the most popular player in the world right now and everyone who likes him knows what team he plays on. Either way, I'd place these teams 1-2-3 in the world in terms of popularity

Anyway, I didn't bring this up just to be a contrarian to piss people off; it's one of the many things you could point to that have been exaggerated in the article. The one that makes me laugh the most is beating LA as an historic victory. Ha! :rolleyes:

It really depends how you measure fame. The Leafs actually sell more merchandise than any other club and more than all of the U.S. -based NHL teams put together.

james
01-22-2009, 02:24 PM
if this article attracts readers in the UK, and leads to some people showing interrest in teams like the sensational Leafs and Raptors and start to follow these teams then it wont take long for them to realize how mislead they have been! :D

Beach_Red
01-22-2009, 02:26 PM
At the risk of attacking the team you likely support (and side-tracking the thread), maybe. You can make a case that both the Montreal Canadiens (the other most storied franchise of the NHL) and the Pittsburgh Penguins give competition to the Leafs for that title. For the latter, it's probably mostly because of Sidney Crosby; he is the most popular player in the world right now and everyone who likes him knows what team he plays on. Either way, I'd place these teams 1-2-3 in the world in terms of popularity


If you're right that's such a sad indictment of the NHL in the US - after 100 years and 30 teams, the ranking is the two oldest Canadian teams and the "team du jour" in the US. When Crosby's gone, Pittsburgh will drop off that list to be replaced by the next sensation on the next team.

of course, I think you're right ;), but still...

nfitz
01-22-2009, 02:26 PM
Is Sidney Crosby that well known outside of hockey circles? If you asked me who he was, and who he played for, I'd probably get hockey, but I'd probably not get the team. And I'm not that ignorant of the sport - but haven't watched or payed much attention regularily since the 1980s.

And I'd have to say that in non-hockey circles, Montreal Canadiens are probably better known in Europe at least ... but that doesn't mean that what the article said was wrong.

But I really think you guys are reading WAY too much into this ... what we need is some games to discuss, rather than all this silly season stuff.

joel
01-22-2009, 02:29 PM
my god, this article is so full of shit, sorry to be negative but:

1. Carver is a national hero?
2. We play in the champions league?
3. We had a historic win over David Beckham and the LA Galaxy who finished BELOW us in the rankings?
4. The raptors and the Leafs are world renowned?

Anyways, it's hard not to pick this article apart. I'm sure he had good intensions, but that's just bad reporting.

3. he is referring to carver beating gullit, ie. his former boss.
4. They are. Leafs are center of the hockey universe. Raps because of Chris Bosh.

james
01-22-2009, 02:41 PM
At the risk of attacking the team you likely support (and side-tracking the thread), maybe. You can make a case that both the Montreal Canadiens (the other most storied franchise of the NHL) and the Pittsburgh Penguins give competition to the Leafs for that title. For the latter, it's probably mostly because of Sidney Crosby; he is the most popular player in the world right now and everyone who likes him knows what team he plays on. Either way, I'd place these teams 1-2-3 in the world in terms of popularity

Anyway, I didn't bring this up just to be a contrarian to piss people off; it's one of the many things you could point to that have been exaggerated in the article. The one that makes me laugh the most is beating LA as an historic victory. Ha! :rolleyes:

I know the 3 biggest teams in the NHL, by that i meanning selling merchandise, selling tickets, TV audience, advertising and so on, have been :
1) Toronto
2) New York Rangers
3) Detroit

i read a few years ago they have been the 3 biggest teams in NHL since the early 90's. Im sure Crosby has helped the popularity in Pittsburgh, but prior to 2006 Pittsburgh was lossing money, and talking about moving. So i dont think even Crosby can make them bigger then these 3 big teams.

Montreal is the most winning NHL team in history, and are legendary in Hockey history. However i think not to many fans support Montreal outside of Montreal. And i guess they cant sell ticket prices as high or generate as much money from sponsors and such as some of the other big teams can. I think before the NHL strike Montreal was ranked around 8th in profit making in the NHL. Not sure how much things have changed since.

JDG
01-22-2009, 02:57 PM
Guys, the author has no more knowledge about Canada, Toronto, or our sports scene than most tourists that come to visit.
He spent less than a week in this city, and came away with the same understanding that most tourists would get after visiting.
There is no harm in glossing things up for a UK article - that's the way they write things over there much of the time. He has painted a picture that hilights things that his local audience will react to.
If we got this from a writer at the Star,the Globe, the Sun, or the National Post, I could understand picking it to pieces, but you should really take this article for what it is.
The article is about Carver - not the Leafs.

Derko
01-22-2009, 03:24 PM
JC was just promoting TFC in the UK , and the article was interesting to the UK reader, It is interesting how an article can create such banter, which in my humble opinion is nonsense (the waste of effort picking apart the article).
Another interesting and positive thread about TFC gone sour. Huh!!

Yohan
01-22-2009, 03:27 PM
JC was just promoting TFC in the UK , and the article was interesting to the UK reader, It is interesting how an article can create such banter, which in my humble opinion is nonsense (the waste of effort picking apart the article).
Another interesting and positive thread about TFC gone sour. Huh!!
it's not that having an article about TFC that is the problem. it's the bit of inaccuracy and sensationalism

If I was a Geordie, and I looked up TFC based upon this article, I'd have a good laugh at the somewhat contradiction between the article and what TFC is about.

like FFS. Ricketts, Robinson, Dichio EPL stars? LOL!

Truth is that TFC is a young, vibrant and exciting club in MLS. Not something over the top that this article seems to sugggest

I_AM_CANADIAN
01-22-2009, 03:39 PM
I can't believe that even this thread has turned into a gigantic bitchfest... Take one of these, people.

http://www.geocities.com/vibestothemax/chill_pill.jpg