🫨Chinaglia shouts again! Second part of the article series dedicated to the career of Gordon Bradley, the first coach the NY Cosmos ever had. This week, we will review his time as a player in Canada and the United States.

In this series of articles, we will take a journey through the life and career of Gordon Bradley, a pioneer and key figure in the development and spread of soccer in North America.

We will review his career, from his humble beginnings in the mines of England and his early days as a player, through his transition to professionalism in Toronto and New York, his brief stint as the United States national team coach, and his two US Open Cup victories, to becoming a historic cornerstone of the Cosmos, where he served as player-coach, managing stars of the caliber of “Pelé,” Beckenbauer, and Chinaglia.

Additionally, we will remember the turning point in his career marked by his bitter departure from the New York franchise to land in Washington. There, he became an equally influential figure during his time on the bench of the Diplomats—working with figures such as—his role in the failed Team America project, the subsequent frustrated attempt to establish a new professional franchise in the nation’s capital, and his successful consolidation in youth soccer at the helm of George Mason University.

I have a question. I’m an older NASL fan from the early 80s, who had to learn how to like The Cosmos. Now that they are back, how is the brand holding up? Should they have started in The USL Championship first? The Brand was well known internationally, back in the day. Now it’s not. Would the Championship have helped it?

https://cosmoscountrypodcast.substack.com/p/new-york-is-forever-green-the-new-a20?r=45bb7h&utm_medium=ios

Breakdown of all things New York Cosmos last week.

Hi everyone!

My name's Perrin and I write the soccer/travel SubStack “The Football Was My Savior”. It's a travelogue which focuses on telling stories of my adventures as I explore American soccer at the local, grassroots level, and this September I’m heading out on a six week road trip through the northeast and the mid Atlantic to visit as many local scenes as I can!

While much of the writing is focused on my own experience, I’m also looking to incorporate the voices of the folks who support the clubs I’m visiting. I'll be in the NYC area for about a week, checking out several of the clubs in and around the city, and am planning to head to the Cosmos match on Saturday, 9/19 against Westchester.

With the Cosmos being such a recognizable and historic club in the American soccer landscape, I'd love to connect with some folks and do an interview or two to learn about your team, and hear what makes this club special to you. I’m open to meeting up for a beer or a coffee, or just chatting on Reddit, whatever you feel comfortable with!

If this sounds interesting to you, shoot me a message and I’ll reach out :) ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest fan on the planet, or if you’ve only been to a few games, if you’ve got something interesting to share about the team/club, I’d like to pick your brain!

If anyone’s interested, here is a link to the SubStack so that you can check out the work I've done so far on this Fall Tour, and get a feel for the project:

https://open.substack.com/pub/perrinhess

Cheers, ya’ll and hope to hear from some of you soon!