Welcome to another edition of the Detroit City FC fancast. I am John Rosina alongside Vy Simmer. Hey everybody. Sean, unfortunately, the score is Stephen Bushkin-Rhodes 1, Sean 0, so he's not able to be with us tonight.
We are here at Motor City Growing Works, back at the mothership, and joined some delicious viewers and delicious pizza. As always, we dedicate these episodes, and this one's a special one, and we hope it's taken in a matter in which is intended. We'd like to dedicate this to Brett Moller, City goalkeeper, great goalkeeper coach, because of our admiration for just his evil supervillain plan that he told us this year. For those who aren't aware, Cairns, Alex Gwynneck was going off the coast of Carolina, where Brett was going to coach, and he was going to work with Brett in a great program, and we're excited and happy for Austin's going off the country, like great school.
And it's just definitely the day that Brett has taken out a coaching job at Michigan State University. Well, we certainly hope that means that Brett's going to be able to play for City this time. It also means that he does so there's not exactly any competition for the job there, because the competition is not looking in the care mind. So, well played Brett.
That is always our opinion. It's not that we don't have supporters. It's not that we're going to go to City. I see if you've got a problem with the, well, I speak French, then you can tell me.
And I don't see you can tell me, and I won't notice. And normally this is where I say we're going to be back, but we're going to be a little bit differently this week, because Sean's not here. We're going to be moving stuff around. So we're going to kick straight into the Ask Padres.
So we actually, we didn't have an Ask Padres when we got here in Motor City, and now we do. Yeah, and it's fascinating that I asked for Ask Padres. Nobody sends them, and then I asked them 15 minutes before we recorded, like, like seven. So, one of the Ask Padres, and it's kind of a long topic, so I'll just give you a short synopsis.
It was the question that NGS flint throughout, and this was, which is going to happen first and why. City has a women's club, and I believe it was an NWSL that was put out there in the question, or City is at the USL and ASL level, which of those two things happens first and why. And there were some follow up questions in regard to scheduling conflicts and things like that. Here's what I can tell you.
The City, least with the Hamtramat public schools, reads that City has up to 25 events per year written into their lease. So there's the flexibility to do NASL or add another program or a combination of the above and still work around Hamtrammics need for Keyworth. So I don't think Keyworth usage is going to be the big hurdle to wonder both of those things happening. The real challenge comes down to simple cost.
NWSL is a professional within SLEEC. So we're not looking at a scenario where, if that's a level we're talking about, we're not talking about an amateur women's side, it then eventually grows into a professional side. I would imagine, just based on our conversations with the front office and the direction of the club, and all along, whether it's the stream or the club or the stadium, they always said, we're not just going to do something to do it, we're going to do it well and do it correctly. So I don't think you're going to see a scenario where the club puts together a women's league thrown together team that calls a Detroit city just to say they have a women's club.
They're going to do it right when the time comes. I would imagine that the direction is the men's league team becomes a professional team, kind of grows its revenue base and things like that before they're expanding out of that. I don't know. There are also things that consider like sponsored partnerships.
They were able to do the youth camps because of the partnership with Metro Detroit Chevy dealers. They were able to bring in so many kitchen different neighborhoods and things like that because the partnership with Flagstar. So I'm certain that the front office might tell us that if the right partnership came along on the right timeline, things would change. But I think all the evidence is there that the direction is the men's club grows in a professional level squad before there's a new club added to the package.
And I would say that I think the evidence is there that in terms of adding another entire component to the FC, as Danny said last week, you know, you can't call a football club unless there's this infrastructure and ecosystem around it, but given that they've got more invested already in a youth developmental system than they do anything involving a women's team at any level that I suspected. It might be a professional men's club youth developmental system, then women's club and maybe the women's club grows out of the developmental system that way. That's given where they seem to have put their money and effort and where among those days, ladies, passion is. We might see a youth system before we see the women's club, not that they're opposed to that, because that's where they've got some skin in the game already.
Yeah, I think it all really comes down too. And I know this isn't the easiest thing to say because we're impatient people, but trusting the club on their business decisions. And the key words are big ones. So it's still an open business decision that remains to be seen.
But when you look at the stream, for example, I think we probably started hounding them about a stream by year two. And they didn't do one in year two, they didn't do one in year three, and it reached fever pitch somewhere after year three that we wanted a stream. And they had said all along, we were looking to do it right. And then they absolutely did it right.
And so I really think the club, the front office, kind of topped at the bottom of the corner section, I mean, we're not really a group that does things half-assed. And I think that's evidence in the club quality and things like that. So I really think that when you look at, do we want to have a team that's in a women's team that's in a league that may or may not exist the following year? I mean, Wikipedia, guys, is kind of like half the MVSL teams.
And so I think there's some real good questions there. And I think the club is engaged on those. And I think it's really a matter of the right partnership and the right timetable. I don't think the front office has some magical time people.
It says by 2025, we're going to have these four teams and this and this and that. I mean, they have to do that to have some sort of business plan. But I mean, I think timetables are flexible when you have the right partnerships and opportunities. And I think they're very in tune to those things.
But I've got to believe that what John's, what you said in terms of watching the narrative of how these have developed over the last four years, that youth club is something that they're starting to build towards. Maybe slowly, I mean, we saw the youth camps, don't be surprised to see that come on board in the next few years. And they have started to lay an obvious foundation for the women's club yet. I think it's going to come.
But I don't know that that's the next thing. I don't think the evidence is there. That's the next thing on the timetable. And I'm going to throw a random thought out there about the youth club, which is that I would love to see.
And I wouldn't be surprised to see if they figure out a way that they've got an ASL side and they've got the revenues coming in, but they figure out some way of doing a non-pay the party in the system. Right? I think that that would be if they had an opportunity to do that, especially getting kids out of some of the more disadvantaged communities in Detroit and in the hand tranik where they're going to be looking at this town full of kids in the grown up playing street soccer, essentially. I think that that would probably be, not even talk to anyone about this.
I suspect that if they had the opportunity to figure out somebody to do a non-US developmental pay to play only the rich kids get good system that would be out of those. But that's down the road. Who knows? I just passion for the city of the game.
They do tend to mean that as much as they can. And I think that that fits in there. Yeah, absolutely. Good, thoughtful question.
I know three or four people kind of built in that question as I've put on on Twitter. So you all get credit for it. Two extra points. Your four cards will be in the mail.
There are a couple other questions that also were submitted. We'll get to those next time. Good and humorous Ask Padre questions. As always, tweet us your questions at DCSCS.
You can email us at DCSCFancast.gnow.com or tweet me in hashtag Ask Padre. I feel like someone else also uses Ask Padre. I think there's sometimes an interesting theological question that said others that always makes me laugh. Good work.
Yeah, I can help with that too if you really want me to. But I don't usually do that on Twitter. Anyhow, yeah, good questions. Keep them up and I'll get to the next one's next episode.
Thanks everybody. So we were going to do these as a team. But since Sean couldn't be with us and this is more his and her degree than ours. You're Sean with a little bit of insight on what's going on around the league.
Hey everyone, Sean here. I wanted to take a couple minutes to talk through some of the off-season roster moves that we're starting to see trickle in. I guess the first thing for Detroit City FC that is of note is the open tryouts that are happening on February 5th. It's open to all the fans so you can show up and watch the talent on display there.
I have actually tried out for the team two years ago. So I've been through the process. I didn't make it. Obviously that's why I'm talking to you here.
But there have been players that have been selected, notably Charlie and Ross. We're at the trials last year and we're selected. Other players that show up on the team are either going to be returning from past squads or Ben will have recruited them through other means. Maybe he saw them play in college against Michigan State where he coaches or whatever.
However, he scouted them. You'll have players that aren't at tryouts show up on the roster but they probably won't announce any player additions until after tryouts which are February 5th. After that we'll start to see some of those players trickle in. The next question from there is what can we expect our roster to look like next year.
There will probably be some returning players. We already know that we've got several retirements that have been announced. We'll see if that was turned out to be true or not but I think one of the biggest changes is we're probably going to lose a lot of the graduating seniors from Michigan especially. Any time you graduate college it's a time of big change but some of those guys are probably trialing with pro teams.
We know that none of them ended up selected for the MLS draft but that doesn't mean they don't have pro opportunities. For instance, Tyler Arnone went through the MLS draft and didn't get selected and ended up trialing with Rochester Rhinos and eventually gone home out in Reel Salt Lake for their USL team. Now he's playing out there. If they didn't get selected in the MLS draft it doesn't mean they're not still trying to go pro.
Beyond that if they're not trying to go pro, maybe they've got a good decent job, they've got a good degree out of Michigan and like we've lost players that way before where they get a job out of college to offer isn't anywhere near Detroit and so they're gone too. So whenever the players graduate as a senior from college I basically rate them off as gone then and then if they return it's a pleasant surprise. So I wouldn't expect to see Will or James or Colin back unless a lot of things go right and they have a job in the Detroit area and they don't have pro soccer opportunities and whatever else needs to go right for them to come back. And I expect that means there's a lot of space between those retirements and players graduating that there is space and we're going to see a lot of new players show up.
I've already heard a rumor or two about players who may be joining in the summer and if they turn out to be true I'm going to be very very excited. So I'm just biting my tongue here. As far as what's happening with some of our divisional opponents I think Lansing has announced a decent chunk of their roster. They've got a couple of returning players.
They've got a whole bunch of new additions that they've added that seem to be pretty high quality players but from the lower college divisions not D1 which my theory on that is that it's entirely possible to have players who are top top talent for MPSL level and significant contributors to teams come out of the lower college divisions but it's also kind of hit or miss it seems to be. Not everyone who is a top level performer at one of those lower college divisions and it's a case of you really don't know until you get them into an environment where they are competing against the other top college players and some of them succeed and some of them look remarkably average when they get put into the the firing line. So we'll have to see I mean they're still a decent chunk of their roster that they have to announce and I have to do a bit of more research on some of these players. Grand Rapids has announced some of their roster too.
They seem to have some of their players returning from their GLPL campaign last year. If they don't significantly bolster that squad I think they're gonna have a really tough time. I saw that they announced they graduating high school Mr. Soccer just joined their team.
A couple other players they've signed but if they're banking on the very core of their team being that team that went had a losing record in the GLPL last year I think they're gonna be in for a difficult time. Ann Arbor obviously hired Lansing's old coach Eric Rudland which is a good hire to me. I mean he's got an A-license he actually taught when I took my E-license course he was the instructor on that so I've worked with him for a couple of days. I've got a lot of respect for him after working with him.
So I think that's a good hire for them. They haven't announced much of their roster I'll be interested to see if he steals any Lansing players from last year or what sort of recruiting he's able to do with Michigan right there and bring them to the team because he's not a Michigan coach so they can play there. Oh that walked back to Lansing Lansing also has a whole bunch of Michigan state players that they've announced for their team which Michigan state players are always quality and there's some decent Michigan state players that they've signed and I think the lesser travel that we've got going on in the region this year is really going to help them. They had trouble with their Michigan state players much the same way we had with the Michigan players being able to take them out to the longer road trips caused them some problems last year and I think that having more teams in Michigan means that we're going to see more of these Michigan state players be every week type of players.
Kelmazoo has not announced any roster yet. I have no idea where they're going to try and pull their base from the owner of that team owns a whole bunch of soccer facilities and they're out in West Michigan so I don't know some combination of whatever context he has that'll be interesting to see. Haven't gotten anything out of Dayton yet I don't think Buffalo held their open tryouts. It seemed to have a lot of really young players like these little talents but still really young trying out over there so I'm not sure that that's going to cut it.
We'll have to see again all these all these wrestlers they're only partial it's hard to make actual judgment calls on where I think teams are going to end up when the roster isn't even close to being complete and I can't rank them against any others that haven't even announced any players yet. Michigan Stars who knows they'll be lucky to spell all of the players on their team's name that's right and I say that because when they had two players at the NPSL Combine the other week they put out a press release that was three players and they spelled two of them wrong so yeah who knows what'll end up there if they even return players they seem to have very very high levels of player and staff turnover through the years so yeah that's what I've got as far as an introduction to the off-season moves that are about to start trickling out we're going to try and cover them all whole lot more in depth especially the DCFC signings as they start to come out VR Twitter account and via the podcast we're going to discuss where we see some of the players fitting in and that's what I got for now and hopefully I'll be back in the same room with the other guys for the next podcast and we're joined today by the DCFC player who probably has the strongest Japanese Twitter following so I'm here to step thanks for joining us today yeah no problem at all thanks for having me so I know you're not on Twitter you're aware of where we've seen some discussion you sort of see a little bit of what's going on here for the guys like did you catch any of that when there was like that that Japanese I think guy on Twitter who like somehow started watching the stream and like thought you were like the biggest thing ever and like was tweeting stuff about forklifts or whatever and we were that whole thing no I didn't catch any of that you know I know I know Sean when I was talking to you know where they're Sean new you know I know Sean for a while through soccer and stuff and I think he knew that I was working for a forklift company but I've never never heard about the gaps over there knowing that I uh I've worked for forklift I'm kind of awkward to think about it but it's uh or Japanese forklift yeah you're a forklift I think there was something in your bio on the on the clubs website and that's something about that like he was fairly researching you and it was all interesting experience it was part of the cool thing of the whole thing with the stream all that but anyway so despite the international families you got that way you are also just sort of like our our guest in the last episode day and you're going you're one of the city players who's experiencing you outside of the US soccer system and for folks who don't necessarily know sort of how you got where you are today you played for north of the town yep that's so walk us through if you could and this was a question that Sean asked us to make sure we got what was the process of a guy from Metro Detroit where you went to Oakland so from Metro Detroit I think I'm playing soccer in England but how did that work out yeah well uh you know I have family over in England that's where my parents were born and they were actually from Northampton okay so it's pretty cool how that stuff worked out but um one thing led to another my I played in the men's league here and we played in the Cup Gameverse Carpathia I think we ended up when he 5'1 I scored four goals my uncle just happened to be here for the summer from England and he thought I played very well and he thought I couldn't make it to you know the professional level over there um long story short he ended up uh getting me in contact with the youth coach the youth coach uh ended up calling me and said hey you know if you want to try out here come on over you have to be here tomorrow wow I literally packed one bag of shit and some clothes and I jumped out of point my parents paid for my plane ticket and I took out did you go a full kit wanker on your the kit you took with you yeah basically I wish kit did you wear it and then I'll be just I was just winging it okay you know I didn't have much to be honest with you I was a guy going through college right but I took my boots with me I took some pads I took you know but they they gave me everything else I needed right but it was a it was a great experience and I would never change for the world so how long did you spend I know you there are they just alone I was kids who were walkers or what they experienced like there yeah um you know I got over to England and my uncle was there like I said I family over there so I got to live with that I didn't have to live by myself like I think I mean you know I had to live by myself I didn't know anybody um but I had family there which was a big big plus for me um I just wanted to lean on you know when things weren't going well or um but I got to live there and it was just I ended up going to a try out basically it was just pre-season it was just we were just doing training and going day in day out of two a days and then I just I was one of those players I played up top that's what I played and I was one of those players that I just put my head down and worked as hard as I can I might not have the best skills at some things I mean you know the best moves but but I definitely worked with that you know and I think that's kind of one of the reasons what they saw on me why I ended up being able to stay they offered me a contract and there was only for six months and and uh and after that six months they re-evaluated it and they like my progress and they kept me back on so what what timeframe were you there like I was there from 2009 to 2011 so you were there for the uh the lead cut game I had field against Liverpool yep what was that like yeah I was on the bench before I never came on but I was one of the 18 which is just to get there is a big big plus because I think there's around 30 to 35 guys that could make the bench right um so if I was one of the 18 and you know it was experience of a lifetime uh going to Amfield just that club you know going to that the field and playing against all those guys it was a good unbelievable thing and like I saw Stephen draw I saw like certain players that didn't play that day because in those cup games they don't play their number one team right um but I got to see quite a field I mean it was it was an experience I mean that's what it was about it was about me getting on the field and playing against like I think Endog was playing the babble Lucas, Spieran, um Sertle played but um but it's just it was all about the experience and that's what my uncle's in my you know my dad told me was you know keep that experience for yourself you know enjoy it tell him to talk about which I do it was yeah but like you know I got I got players here Z after we ended up winning um it was uh 2-2 and I went into extra time we went into the penalty kit it was pouring down rain I think there's like 22 to 24 000 people there um and it was just uh his experience that's what it was all about one of the things that I noticed to the my I used to use the word research but I mean like it could be just really um was it looked like the club went through your club went through quite a bit of manager turnover while you were there from at that point you were you know kind of not to suggest you're older than me but you were still in the young up and coming player working on a professional career things like that when you have that level of manager turnover what does that do as far as young player development yeah it's it's hard you know it's you might go from one manager that loved you to the next one that's easy to play one time or just train one time and uh and they don't like it they say no he's not gonna work all right that's kind of how I ended up leaving England um we had I think through my time there I think I had three managers um you know and it went from one that liked me that signed me on the second one did like me but I never really you know I didn't play a lot um I think I once had played about the 38 games or something like that run 40 games but by the end of the day like it's difficult and it's it's one person's view on you you know and it's and that's what someone told me when I was there when I got let go there's I think 24 out of 30 guys that got let go from the last manager whoa I was I was injured I hurt my hip flutter um so I couldn't really play much anyway so he didn't really see me play but I think 24 out of 30 got released um and uh it is difficult but it's one person's opinion that all it is and that's what one guy uh I took I took that part and I thought yeah he's right it's one person out of another 100 coaches out there and then he's right but yeah it was uh it is difficult going from one to another so I did you you know you you took that opportunity did you try for a further sort of professional soccer career after that when you came home I mean I know you came back to the PDL didn't you? Yeah I came back to the uh Michigan Bucks um we uh right when I got back I could I could tell and I'm not trying to you know pop me on bubble here but I could tell like I was one of the best players that they you know that I was when I was there I was doing one too touch with everything just because that was what I was doing for the past two years everyone else was taking six seven eight touches and you could I could just see it I could just feel it I was more fit than anybody else and uh but right from there um Dan Duggan and Gary Parsons who was my Oakland coach he uh they got me to go I went to the Seattle Sounders Combine um I went out there nothing really happened there I talked to uh Ziggy I guess the name was yeah but I talked to him a little bit but nothing really came out of it right from there I came back back home um and I went straight out to Colorado Rapids they actually invited me back um but then the manager got sacked and nothing came out of that so it was just one thing back to when a manager goes away you don't know what's gonna happen um and uh but then after that one took home the screw um had a little trial for them with Tommy Catalano and uh and nothing came out of that either but like I said like you know it's one person's opinion over anybody else's and if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out but I do think it has something to do with um who you know unfortunately and sometimes it's not about how you play um it's about who you know and where you can go but um but it's definitely um that's where I did and then I came back from the corner screwing and came here I mean did you did you ever sort of make the decision that you know that's not being you know that's just not the patent always gonna take like you know I've done my soccer and took my shot at pro soccer and it's not there for whatever reason did you ever have to like make that decision at some point officially or is that still something that's even out there I mean did they got like a USR or anything else I'll get came across your path to still be interested in or is that even just yeah I mean it's it's every guy's dream you know to play a professional sport at some time um and mine just happened to be soccer you know and uh I did get the opportunity I did take my opportunity I thought I did a great job with it and again it was all about the experience it's not about where you played and um obviously what I like to play at Manchester United or Arsenal absolutely but it's about the experience and what you do with it um you know when I when I came home people and asked me about coaching if I wanted to coach and like I never even thought about that in my life but I never I never coached anyways it wasn't like you said it's not my path in life to take and you don't know what's there tomorrow you know you could get released from your job tomorrow you can and it's one of those things where it's a it's about what you're doing now and you know if if a team did come up and say hey we'd love to have you come and train with us and see what you could do there might be a possibility but at this time you know I'm a married man and sometimes you got to think about your family and that's that's just what you have to do your family comes first whether if it you can make a million dollars playing soccer or fifty thousand dollars at a different job it's you got a you know me and my wife it's just that's what it's about now it's if things something came up it definitely I would at least you know talk to her and see what she thinks but it's a it's a day and day out thing it's not it's not looking into the future too much anymore but I enjoyed every experience I have and something to come up I'd probably think about it okay one of the things that we noticed is that and you even some of the conversations you were having with us earlier too so you seem to play forward a decent amount through a big part of your career and then I know at least you're 2015 and I'm not sure about 2014 with City you played it toward the back a bit more was that a shift that was something you pushed forward was that something that Ben saw in you that he wanted to take advantage talk about how that worked out for you yeah so I'm growing up I've always played right wing all my life I could whip a ball in for crosses really well and that's what I did and I love the diag ball as well so and you guys all that city but um but growing up I played right wing when I got to college they didn't see me as a right winger they saw me as a striker I was one of the taller players on the team kind of like a Peter Crouch so to say and they uh that's what they saw me as so I adjusted from right wing to up top playing center forward so end up there all the college and then when I went over to England they saw me as a center back so I went from up top and I just couldn't get in the team we had a guy named we called him Beedle it was his last act of them law and he was one of the top players that you could play with actually like Charlie Charlie you know they just know all of them you played in the last I don't know if you played in the Premier League like played in the championship lead one then you two he's played all over him I'm just gonna get in the team and I'd be on the bench all the time and I'm in sub four on but um from there I one day at training they needed to center back because we had two out injured and I you know I raised my hands like hey I'll give it a shot and some ways I'm out I end up playing very well I've never played near my life so I've actually only played center back for maybe five years okay so but Josh has played there all his life I think anyways and uh but um I've only played it for like five years and um and if that's basically when my transition was from playing on top to the back I love going forward though I love like in uh men's league through the summer with force I only play on top form um but uh yeah just through England that's when they uh changed this to me and that's when uh when I took that turn to the place on her back so does Ben know that in an emergency he could slouch it when I'm top needed I think he does you know I'll tell him like hey throw me on top or like uh like a games where he can't coach you know like um when we played like Windsor Stars um you had Kobe coaching us and I'll always tell Kobe like hey you know if you need that player go up there let me know I'm the man right so he ends up uh every month of a lot he'll end up letting me go after just like five or ten minutes but I think last uh versus when um versus the win for the win for the day in arverter versus the in arver he kind of let me push forward and that's when we ended up scoring both of our goals um so it was it was just kind of cool but I like kind of top I like being on the goals score it's just one of those things just like well you know that's that's your job it's what you're right you're paid to do so to say and uh but the goals are going I like the goals that's I mean that the stars are there there's a lot of weird positional stuff going on there I think Josh was a center bit at one point there was all sorts of cool examples and they're like wait what's wait why is he why did I go yeah I go um we uh I don't know if you caught this um we did a sort of semi half-assed informal end of your own structure yeah everything about us a semi informal half-assed um except our dream uh that we we did an awards at the end of the season and we actually gave you the breakout player of the year award for 15 out of all folks out there um just sort of feeling like not saying that four people were like we felt like you know you became I think our line was something like um you know uncountable russured smothered more era than delta and beautiful you know two game winning goals um and was that is that how we said it something like that yeah I'm twitter at least I like it um I'm fine with that uh and did you sort of feel like 15 2015 that season was like that you know his drive a city that had been before that you got like a comfort zone or use driving how did it feel like do you yeah I thought it was you know I thought actually it was a pretty good year it sucked at the end you know but we're just good right but yeah let me just uh I don't know I just had a good preseason I came in pretty feeling good and um you know I scored against Agonaw Valley header and lo and behold all my goals were headers but uh it was two of them were game winners yep and it was just one of those things where I felt really good that uh this season or last season and um but between 14 and 15 I was a new player in 14 and it's like like when we're going back to the manager thing and one manager comes in things change they might like they might like one player they might hate the other player so um but it's one of those things where I think I took it and tried this year and I thought I had a pretty good season um and you know it's one of those things where they I felt good I felt good and all season I was healthy I don't think I got injured at all um so that was a good sign and um you know with work and stuff like that you can't make every single game right but uh but I thought the whole season in a hole like it was much better than 2014 so I mean you are one of the guys that has you know you're buried you have a day job um what does a day or week in the season look like for you trying to balance city which is something you do for fun and eventually you're not getting paid to do it with all of your other comments you know what's it like to try to be a sort of a built npsl player with responsibilities for a team like city with everything we hear of everything the number one word anybody uses about it we're never gonna talk to anybody you know around the club about his his professionalism so assuming he demands the same thing of you even though you're not technically professionals and I was like for you it was these things yeah I mean you know at the other day you kind of just put your head down grind you know it's I work nine to five you know I don't for some reason I don't really take lunch break I just work throughout the day um you know and at the other day I'm drained from work I'm tired you know and you know I have two dogs and my wife and sometimes I have to go home and let the dogs out before I can go to training and it's just one of those things where you just have to do it and put up with it and you just gotta shut up and go for it you know and if it's like we're talking about before with you know the professional side of it that's what you want to do in your life you just have to keep saying it but you have to just put your head down and do it regardless of what happens throughout the day it's just nice to you know take it day by day and do the best you can with whatever it is that you do like I said I work nine to five I right after that I go to training you know one day through Thursday or whatever days it is and I don't even think I missed a training this last season um training session right but I made every chance I can and but it's it's difficult it is quite a mean there's some guys that don't work at all you know they're just they're just here to play and go back home but um it is hard it's hard because I'm trained at the end of the day for my work day and then you got to go and think about positions and what you need to do and um but then's awesome with it you know like like you guys said professionalism that that's like a big word for him he allows you to like hey you know don't worry about being a little bit late but he just wants everybody to work hundred hundred hundred ten percent throughout the whole training session or a game um and but you do the best you can for who your manager is and and you want to show everybody what you can do but it is it is difficult working the nine to five and then come to training and then there's some days I I leave work I leave for work at eight o'clock I don't get home after training so eight thirty nine o'clock so it's a long day but and you do it day in day out but you do it because you love the club um that's why you do it you know that was going to be my question is is what to you makes it worth it it's it's you guys it's the fans it's you know trying to win a championship for this club it's that's what it's about um I enjoy every day that I'm here you know I enjoy I enjoy I love coming to training um I love you know you end up losing weight because you train every day and it's summertime and but you just it's it's about the club and where this club is going that's the that's the thing and everybody can see I believe you know it's not just me and and like the steps the key where you know that's that's where you can see it you start from a little school in Detroit that can only fit three thousand people and then all of a sudden you go up to keyword that can fit the six to ten thousand people whatever it is and but you can see it and that's why you do it because you love it you know one of the things that um you're talking about the path to city we asked Danny about this one of the potential moves for DCFC sort of unrooted to what everybody expects in the other thing is said is probably an NSL path skip USL and not get straight to MLS um is this interim step of paying NPSL players not having college players anymore because you couldn't do that since you pay anybody on the side paying that I think it's what the two thousand dollars a game max team and five thousand dollars a year per player there's a fairly tight NPSL salary cap I might be just quoting that through the memory um Danny was saying you know oh we have great team the talent pools here to do that I mean you think sort of thing you've been playing with the guys you've been around playing soccer this region for that long do you think that there's a pool of guys who would sort of make up a semi-pro hate you know five thousand a year whatever DCFC and do a good job of it yeah I believe so you know at the end of the day you can't use the college players because they're in CAA stuff and rules and but uh I believe so I mean there's also guys kind of like Ross and Charlie and you know those guys they end up traveling from Iowa was it to become a play for us there's people out there that will do that and I think just in just in this state we've done a lot of players go in the MLS and and you know teams like that and I do think there is good enough talent to start that but then you ought to also take in consideration that's your that's your that's your job you know sometimes you might have to put your full-time job that like I would have you can't I can't really put that on the back burner because to be honest with the MPSL salary like you said whatever like the five thousand dollars or whatever it is you know I you can't live off of that you know those are for those are for guys that are kind of in college but again you can't use the college players but um I just want to think for do I believe we could do it absolutely do I think you know you have to work at it to be one of the top clubs in you know absolutely I mean I guess to some extent it's it's one of the questions that we had sort of looking at that was if those guys are around where are they why aren't they playing for something I can't imagine it's just the extra five grand a year or something like that but that's the stumbling block I mean and some of them obviously like you know like you know they they do they've had words they've had to pay the guys were out of NCAA eligibility we know we have you know probably you know 789 guys like that already somewhere in and around the team but I mean is there a sort of pool of guys out there who are only gonna pay who are only to play it paid other than 770 I mean sorry your former team because you don't have to answer that everyone's former team it's literally played for everyone yes yeah I mean regardless if you work a full-time job and stuff a play and soccer to get paid for it if you play soccer all your life that's what you want to do right it just it all depends on how much it would be yes we're not all gonna become millionaires doing it or what not but it's it all comes down to there are players that would do it there's there are players that would say 85,000 bucks isn't enough for a whole year or whatever it is it's but in England they have lower leagues you know I played when I was at Northampton I came down to the Premier League North it's on low and I'm alone okay what's that like five or six tier yeah I'd be like the yeah I'd say like a because we were four I'd say that it would be the sixth year because of a blue square print was the was the fifth year but so I went on alone there and those guys worked full-time jobs they also got paid some of them got paid very well some of them got paid more than what most people here would get paid on average a full-time job but they would work full-time they would go and train every night so and I do know you know I was there I did it with them so there are things like that and it's not all about the money right that's not what it's about it's about the club and where it's going and I remember to this day I always remember I told one guy over Northampton I said I'm not doing this because I'm being paid to do it I'm doing it because I love the sport and this is what I want to do I want to try to get in higher league so I can you know be on TV and do all that and he told me and I just remember to this day he said it's all about the money it's not about loving the game anymore because those guys over there I mean in the league that I played in some of those guys are making two three four thousand pounds a week you know that's that's a lot of money and and I just remember him saying that and to me I thought what's he talking about you know but at the other day you need to make money to live off of you know you have family you have kids you have bills just like anybody else and and that's where it comes from and at the end of the day I could see them why they said that but I wasn't there for money I was there to get experience and enjoy my time right right without a doubt so I mean talking about teammates we sort of we sort of talk about some of the guys in terms of just like counting games playing you're in this sort of weird sort of middle zone like you're there's that core of guys who've been around the team since if not day one then pretty damn close you've got you know your uh t-fenn fenn guys do a different environments but we haven't been with city as long and some of them are you know there's a few years old in the year so how do you sort of see your role within the club sort of in that environment yeah I mean obviously the season or the last season was one of it was my best year as a city player only been here for two years so um I feel like Ben also has saw that and he was kind of making you know making me be a leader like if Josh wasn't that training for somebody's and he was gonna be late he would tell me and David Woodson and the old guys the chief and just say hey you'll get these guys going you know my first year there was nothing like that um and I feel like you know it's I think a van and I think some other players they kind of see you know they kind of know what you did in your past and um guys do know that I played professionally and so I'm that people look up to that um you know I am one of the older players on the team I just remember because Ben kept saying a 30 year old is beating you guys all in runny and fitness and I was like I am not 30 as I'm sprinting out of the field I said I'm 28 I'm not 30 so um but I do think um like you guys said it's my stride and I ended up doing pretty well this year and and I was I do think it's becoming more I think Ben seeing that it's more of a leader aspect that I'm taking and just like the day anybody else I've only been here for two years but they've been here a little longer than I have and but uh but it's definitely um it does come down to come on you've been at the club and and uh hopefully everything works out correctly and I'll be here again and yeah but yeah I definitely see myself being a leader um more or less due to the fact of my season. All right I got a couple of uh another roster related question for you but the most kind of relates that you haven't grown up in the area play soccer the area.
The first one is Danny brought this up last time that we asked him and who's a teammate that's someone you have a history with from playing locally or there's a back and forth or whatever maybe the first one usually is like an uncomfortable situation or something like that. Where does that what is besides just Danny where does that go for you in terms of guys that you've you know had tough face-offs with before you were in the same kit or or or all of that back and forth what's that like and how do you adjust to that? Yeah I mean uh Danny and I going back with his thing you know we didn't really like each other due to the fact that we played against each other that's right that's what it's about at the end of the game you can have a beer with um and hang out and stuff and but uh but I mean I never really clashed with too many people um Danny was one of them though a little bit and uh until you get to know the guy you know it's uh he's a really nice guy and stuff so but um but yeah I mean I don't clash with too many players um especially on city I don't even think really anybody I really played against I think Josh I played against um when Vardar and Metro Stars uh I was on Metro Stars who's on Vardar and then we actually merged that was the year they ended up merging the Vardar Stars so that was that was basically it but there's nobody really unfortunately that I really clashed heads with um one of these days I'm gonna run into somebody who doesn't have a playing against Josh Rogers story right so later yeah one day um do you think that Josh is the retire? I mean that it's hard because I know him as a person you know and um and he plays on my mentally team as well um it's it's difficult it's it's really really hard to tell you try to sometimes think he's just playing around um and saying like he's gonna retire and sometimes you think you know what he still loves the game he loves he loves the competitiveness you know I don't know if he's willing to drop out of playing the high level compared to just playing openly um I am I'm gonna say no I don't think he's gonna retire but I don't know I mean I watched him hand his captain's armpit to uh Drew Sergeant Scary and I'm sitting there going like that that at least at that particular point in time right Josh thought he was retired now he might be called drove like I can't get that back I mean if he does retire I mean who do you I mean that's a which one spot but I mean who do you see taking the R band for the team um I mean I could see Dave Davey on one of the top contenders for it you know um to be able to understand the captain what he's yelling I think so there are times where you're like what did he say but so you meet growing up and me growing up with family that are English you know my dad has really staked English accent okay my my wife you know she's like what did he say I don't know he said this and she's like oh okay but um but yeah Dave sometimes he puts like three words together and you're just like and it takes you a minute to figure out but you'll end up getting there but I can see Dave possibly to be honest maybe possibly me okay um but uh I mean there's there's guys that you can pick it doesn't and then a day as long as you like the guy you know he puts every percentage of ounce of energy into the game and for this club that's what it's about um it's and you know Dave's there day in day out you know he's there all the time um and but there's probably a handful of guys you can pick from but Dave's one of the ones that sticks out to me is there an advantage it seems like your Josh plays in the back Dave played could have been and last year those are the only people that I can think of that War the Arm band is there an advantage in your experience driving that captain in the back of the field or is it really just about the individual person I mean I think it's both you know like um I do think when you're in the when you're in the back you see the whole field um you can kind of tell guys where to go and what to do um like me and Josh will talk to Dave and say hey you know go left go right and do that um but it is it is a big advantage being that far back to to you're basically a guy with controller and you're basically putting people where you want to go and that is a good thing um you're talking a lot it's just what you do in the back it's that's that's your job is to talk a lot and um but even it's like Wayne Rooney you know he plays up top he doesn't get to see the whole field and but he's a little pit bull you know that's he's like bread like that he just works hard he he does everything for that club and that's why I think he's a captain there but he's going wrong super good right but he's he's there because it's attitude um you know he's there day in day out again and that's what it's about it's about like I said it'll be both things right see what's happening in the back but it doesn't matter at the end of the day it's it's who you are as a person and what you know not feel so I mean outside of leadership skills some player on the team so he's coming down and you with the ball one on one who do you need to like to see him though?
if you guys don't care you know it's gonna wreck him anyways but um but uh I mean uh obviously one would be will he's just super fast um where they call him flash and everybody starts calling him flash um well we probably won just because he's fast um but you also have uh Jeff Atkins you know a tricky player none of this you know he has a bag of tricks in there that he can pull out at any time but I'd say will or will or Jeff. I mean do you have a player that the team you think doesn't get the um love or understanding or respect the maybe from the supporters that they deserve that he deserves given what you see him do for the team compared to like how we yell talk about whatever? yeah I mean uh what you guys don't see is what happens off you know or like outside just the game you do see people out at a bar you know hanging out after the game and stuff but you don't you don't get to see that you know from six o'clock on the Monday to eight o'clock for training like who shows up and what happens um but I mean it's it's one of those things where unfortunately I wish you guys could see that because there are people that I mean for me for instance you know working that nine to five job and then you drive I'm driving an hour you know to go to just to train and then driving the elbow back home and there's guys up from like Saginaw you know like Troy and Zach and there's guys like that that you know like Troy for instance he you know he ran that center midfield last year he definitely did 100% and I'm always in college and I don't think he can get the MVP award at the end or whatever due to college and you can't get the bike and I'm not 100% sure but sure that's something like that but we called him on our awards we called him I think the most under-appreciated players and quietest whatever yes we talked a lot about it in addition to the interview we we sort of came clear half of the year like oh wait oh perhaps there's a guy who's like holding it there that's not good for us yeah you're just missing out on but he you know he just put a lot of work ethic into it and that's what it is it's it depends on how hard you can work and he worked very hard at training all the time and he was there all the time but like you said like you didn't really see him out in the field but it wasn't because he's not playing well it's due to the fact that he didn't need to see him he was just cleaning up everything to you know make everybody else look better but I could tell you put him out this game just put KT in the game and Troy will be you know change the game big time we heard about that think Josh was talking about that yeah no we actually we had a gift that we had on a twitter account back and they about sort of we we post like the coin essential Troy Watson play which was it was dangerous looking rush and he just sort of fanders over and sort of quietly steals the ball from this like rampaging I think I think it was the Lansing game I think it was back you know the back's coming up and he just sort of picked the ball off the back who otherwise was gonna have a really nice cross and he just sort of quietly thinks it back but I think off the day to take it back to field and there's no flash it just looked like the easiest thing in the world but I mean just smother to rush by himself with no excitement no slight tackle out about anything like that that's what you do go to you know that's you put your your effort in for the team you whether you're noticed or not you know and all the time was you know will notice you know but but there's just things that you do that you have to do it's a good work of it you just got to do it and that's what Troy did perfectly you know he cleaned up everything and he just did what most people don't do and I can tell you like I think in vs Yuri Dave was out with a tone injury and I actually went in the center mid and I give a lot of credit to those guys because all it is is running that's all it really is and like I kept saying it cleaning up and to be honest with you a difficult job and I only did it for like 25 minutes now I was done I just literally couldn't do it anymore and I ended up going I think played right back and then the team came in or something but it's a it's a difficult job and sentiment and I think Troy just kind of shows you know what it's about and what you need to do and I do think he was one of the players that one unnoticed really yeah I want to talk to you a little bit about kind of the Tri-City culture and how it relates to other soccer and stuff so the first thing about that is you mentioned playing at Anfield with 45,000 supporters for the opponents being there whatever obviously 3,000 people like asses it's not the same but there's some significance there how does that compare to tier 4 English soccer you know whether they're home or away or whatever where does that fit in your home soccer experience yeah I mean it's up there you know like don't get around going to Anfield that was one of the things that you don't get and then it just you can't really beat that unfortunately but you guys come very close it's uh I think when we when we took 5,000 fans of that game our normal home games you would get anywhere between four to five rough wow in that so it's not a lot obviously the higher you up in the league slightly one and then the championship that's when you get the I think league one roughly it'd be between 9,000 roughly and then that's where the sense of going up and points apparently you can stuff but it's definitely up there it's I think you guys make more noise in the 5,000 fans that Northampton you can tell it's a very European like feel which is awesome that's you don't get that anywhere else right but it's uh it definitely was up there with one of the one of the top places to play and and I think a lot of the teams that come to us to play home games they love it you know and they enjoy coming here and like I said I don't have twitter anything but you can see like some of the things that like when the goalkeeper broke his leg was it Madison uh no Minnesota Minnesota, Missouri, Missouri, um when the goalkeeper broke his leg like even though I'll give you guys hate him on the field um nobody else would go out of their way and say hey you know get better soon or I think you guys might have even like a care package I can't remember in the hospital or something and at the end of the day that's what it's about it's about you guys all coming together being as crazy and lunatic and stuff like that it's possible for 90 minutes and then all of a sudden everybody's friends and but that's that's awesome and but the noise you guys make out there is pretty so as someone who grew up in the area right you grew up in Metro Detroit what is it what would I guess you being a young soccer player 15 years ago or whatever how do you think city's existence in the last four years changes things for those youngest player and soccer players and stuff like that people that live an hour outside of Detroit or something like that even how do you think city fits in changes that narrative or whatever the case would be yeah I mean I think it changes a lot you know um I have like my little brother who's 11-12 years old that he never really wanted to do soccer that much you know and and he comes to our games and actually enjoys it and then all of a sudden he wants to play and then it makes it so you kind of give people hope you give them you give them something to kind of I know they're younger and they don't really know what they want to do in their life and stuff but you give them hope and they say hey you know I'm gonna play soccer I'm gonna get a good look and I'm gonna I want to play for Detroit City right um and but my dad is brought a guy that had nothing to do with soccer didn't know how to gain plays anything like that and he said it was one of the best he's got he said he's on the red games and lions games and stuff he said he's one of the best sporting events that he's been to due to you guys that's um and but my dad coach is also in Lake Oregon where we're from and he had a little kid that just came up to him and said oh you're someplace for Detroit said he said yes he does and he said I want to play for them one day and that's what it's about it's about you guys and what you've done to change this do the bucks get this absolutely not you know the bucks may be to get 50 fans and their family members and do you know I think the PEL championship a couple years ago about when it was that ultimate I was talking to Tommy Tommy played for the kids at Pumans for the final I think it was right in that area and Tommy said maybe there's two or three hundred fans there for a final in a PEL game that's that's ridiculous it's it's sad yeah they were rally but it's it's sad I know they do a great job there and stuff but but it's what you guys do and Ben and you know us guys the players off the field and interacting with players and like I'll go to my dad's like soccer games and people will ask you about Detroit City and and if people don't know they they should right because it's one of those things where whether you like soccer or not you guys change the game you guys make it worth going to it's not about us on the field it's about what's going to happen with this club and where it's going right so all right so changing gears a little bit I just kind of some of the more fun Detroit City stories are seven-area stories in Minnesota away I think you got the red card and I think we made it we managed to get four supporters out there which is a big gift that's a more great deal right right that is true I believe the general take away the stream if anything was terrible so I don't really we had much of the way of footage but the word phantom came up quite a bit and I was wondering if you could it was a weird year for Reds because we had Charlie's USC quality red and then cyber-style red so we can't really get more polar opposite than that what was the story on your red in Minnesota to be honest I don't think I did anything okay I'm always gonna say that right the worst thing that sucked about it was when the kid got up yeah I think I think he told Ben that I didn't hit him in the face and he went down pulling his face so you know we go and play the kid was doing all these moves and stuff I got chewy and you know when someone's doing all these moves you just get sick and tired of it right so I ended up going to tackle him hard and I ended up winning the ball and I put my hand out and I pushed him in the chest to run away but with the ball and he went down holding his face I do think I saw the stream I think it was filmed with rocks yeah I think it was really bad but you know even though four people showed up I think all four said it definitely wasn't a bad card right but at the end of the day that's the game could that have changed our season absolutely because we tied that game which was unbelievable right and the worst thing too is I went back and I ended up coming back to go sit in the stands and wouldn't allow me back there's like a security lady that says the rest that I could not go back in the facility so I actually told her to get me a chair so she got me a chair and she sat next to me for the almost the whole game and she's like you're not gonna move are you like coming there I was like no you know I had to watch the game outside and look to trap around the fence I didn't know that that's insane I'm just sitting there by myself for a while but there was a security lady that said I could not go back in the game they would not allow me back in the stands was it frustrating knowing that the officials were younger than your younger brother yes yeah yeah because I saw the picture like and I think I want to stay there average age was 11 yeah you know and that's what's next about it we travel all the way there I think yeah we flew that game yeah you know so we put up money to go do that and and something like that happened I think 25 minutes in was the chair comfortable no okay no it had no padding but it was uh it was just unfortunate and that's the way the game goes but we got a great tie out of it I think we end up scoring with a I can't remember like 10 minutes left or so bad but uh it was a great great road tie so to say we should have beat him we had it the whole time and then that just happened to change the game yep so I'm gonna save the uh save the legendary question I think it's the legendary question for last um what's your favorite two seasons what's your favorite city memory um I would say it was from last season it was going against Cleveland sure it was just it was a great way to kick off the year and I read that you know so I'm stealing that from someone else but yeah it was a good way of kicking off the year right um but uh no matter what you do when you score a game when you go up to the game but only a couple minutes left it's a great feeling you guys are crazy over there and I don't think I could see any fans my sport because I think there was yellow smoke going on there so I kind of ran over to smoke yep um but it was uh I'd say it was just for against Cleveland but then you also they're just games that you just think of that that was good games like first uh was it Madison that we went like or what game did we win like five no yeah that was a couple of games and there was Madison and they I remember the best part about that batch was the um when their local soccer blog covered the game and I think it was their coach they announced 3500 attendance and it sounded like 7500 yeah like they're worst they've been around for a while but they that was their worst defeat in something like 20 or 30 years or something like that was the worst they'd lost the day in that long and they basically blamed it on the cast atmosphere well mission accomplished yeah I mean like that winning any game three nothing or more than that those are good memories right sometimes just like an island people and that's what exactly what we did I believe two um I mean it's all the twin stars as well I think I'm an island of them but they're they're going broke they're like and stopping but it was uh I'd definitely say the Cleveland game game winner probably the uh the twin stars game was more that Simpson stopped after already dead that was anything um the slide for the Cleveland game is that was that pure adrenaline or head you said like at some point if I score a late you know this is what I'm gonna do well to be honest I thought it was a little better than what it was so I shut her to a halt yeah I kind of screeched you know but actually said a little further than I thought but I didn't play on that it was um I actually think I sprinted after the goal quicker than I did throughout whole game so um but uh we'll leave this from the broadcast so we'll chase Ben here today. Yeah I know right um but yeah but yeah I mean I didn't play that it was just pure adrenaline right um and it was what was really funny watching that clip I watched it probably five or ten times you know it's like everybody else did but right um just watching it once I started sprinting nobody could catch me so if you if you watch anybody yeah yeah yeah yeah but I was just sprinting and you could just see nobody could catch me I was yelling at the top of my lungs lungs and uh and I just slid in I kind of regretted every decision after that because I think we ended up having a five or six minutes of stoppage time so and that was funny because um the broadcast booth I was watching the replay of the game you know and everyone so I'll do that but I'm not really doing anything at home and um and they ended up saying that I celebrated too hard because there was five minutes of stoppage time and I had to play another five minutes and I just couldn't wait for the game to get over but um it was the thing said I think it was the thing said I think it's celebrated too hard but there's no celebrating too hard you know it seeks it no way yeah and when I got up I just remember yelling at the top of my lungs it just kept saying yeah you know and I everybody was just going crazy and it was it was awesome to be with you guys over there doing that but uh I think we said this before but we're glad you didn't over because we didn't know that you saw it.
Yep. So we only saw it on the replay so we appreciate it. Also we saw players like running toward us with their arms right so like oh yeah it's so cool. Right so that's more smooth than nobody saw it live.
No not really no um somebody did but not. From that with that header just real quick one of the things that I noted I you know I sort of assumed like oh you're good at headers because you're yeah I know that and that sort of thing but I saw a photo and I think it was John de Borde I asked John to try to track it down and he wasn't able to at least today I didn't get that much time. There's a photo of you getting up above by camera from your place somebody in red kit and like your shoulder was your waist was like in their shoulders like you just were up there like way over anybody else we're all also trying to jump at the same time but they had like a few inches of you guys like you know a small child. I mean is that something that's just natural?
What's that something you worked on? You've part of your skill and headed seems to be that you just get up there. Yeah that's basically it you know I'm just a tall guy and but I can also jump like you and I all of us were talking about earlier. There's guys that are tall there's something like me that I can jump quite high and you know that is a good aspect of the game.
I know the youth system now like I think you tend you tend and under they're not allowing them to head the ball in here. Is that a good thing? Yes just for the concussions and stuff like that but is it going to ruin the game? I believe so because you can't have all what you're gonna do just let it go and hope something else gets it or you know so but um but it's uh yeah I just you know I never practiced it I never you know did anything like that I just got the ability to do them by.
Can you build a basketball? Yep. Okay and then you're what like six three? Yeah okay three.
So favorite uh the standards of the questions give a favorite song and say it from us. One that goes D-Joyce. That one. If you don't sing that at least four times by you by the time you get home something's wrong.
Okay because I that's my wife will tell me to shut up. I turn it all game she goes now you can't do that anymore you know but she sings the song you've also don't put it up fully but um the one thing that's absolutely unbelievable is usually a night game when one side says D-C the other side says F-C the other side says F-C. That's like gives you goosebumps. It really really does um I don't know if it's just because it's a night game but it is so loud down on the field it is it's just the coolest thing and I just remember there was um a guy from Yuri who uh he ended up telling me he goes that is one of the coolest things I've heard playing on a soccer field you know and that's that's just it's just cool like there's some that you just sing when you're running around playing.
Right. What is it all the way? You kind of don't know what's going on and then all of a sudden you're like okay and then but it's uh it's all over awesome they're all so cool and but I would say my favorite one is the DCSC across the field. Okay I think when we went to Fort Pitt.
Yes he was the one over the other side. Yup I think when we went to Fort Pitt I hate traveling there too so far I think we took maybe like 70 people or 100 people or something like that. We're going to call it 50. Some of them 50 um they had zero or maybe five fans um but uh but yeah I just remember playing there and uh and you guys did that and I was thinking man that's you know nobody else does this and and that's what's so cool and I know Fort Pitt's like one of our first it might be one of our furthest if not the furthest traveling is it or I mentioned the Minnesota's further.
Yeah. Um even the hustle's really further. Yeah. But I mean the funny thing is we were trying to get the bench going with us and we're like trying to get them going and we're just like so that's not letting you.
Yeah then I think Ben frowned upon that. Right. But it was cool you know going to a way game and getting something like that and that's what's awesome about our supporters is they go away away games. You know it's it's just bring up like I said the european for the all uh England yes is England to fit in in Michigan.
That's all you know that's basically how small England is and you can travel across the whole country in like four or five hours. Right. Um and that's what's awesome about you guys and being able to go to games like that in Ohio games I think we take about 150 that's 200 people and I think if we could get um you know we could get buses and I think we did a few guys do a bus one time. I don't I think that's where you guys have beers and stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. But uh but um uh things like that was so cool. Yeah.
You don't get that in any other club I don't think in PSL. Well I mean hopefully this season given that we're making assumptions because we haven't seen the schedule but the assumption is that our entire schedule this year is going to be home and away with the clubs in our division which is probably going to be the Michigan clubs plus Dayton that we're going to have that sort of you know like you said the UK or England at least every trip can be a day trip home and away you can support your club every single match of play home and away on the train. Except for San Jose and Sowenski. Right.
Um you could pull that now with most of our schedule even Dayton something four hours there back to the top of the doable. Grand Rapids Calvisserie and our Atlantic so we usually we do the Lansing travel a couple hundred. I can't say it probably I thought but you guys I think maybe we're louder than about 200 people. Yeah.
Yeah. We definitely bring you know we definitely brought a few hundred people to Lansing in the fun. Yeah. Um and uh I think you'll see more of that with as the club continues to grow with Keyworth more people are part of the whole experience they want to go to a road experience and you know as John said with some of our clubs closer.
Um so I've noticed this I've gotten to know you a little bit you seem to have a legendary Halloween house. Yeah. Yeah. Talk a little bit about that the legend of Stav Harris is Halloween.
Now is Ryan do Halloween too? Ryan rumor? Uh uh Martel does. I don't know if Ryan might be a little.
Yeah. I'm not sure. No but I just thought I'll do everybody. Yeah.
That's where I go for. How did that Martel's house for Halloween? It's pretty hardcore. How did that come about?
How did the how did the how did the business that this soccer competitive just kind of cares over Halloween? Yeah I expect people when they come to my house saying hey you have the best house. What's up? Uh uh but yeah um I've always loved Halloween.
It's my favorite holiday. Um I like be able to scare people but I don't physically jump out at people but like me and my wife will get all dressed up and pass out candy and stuff and this year we ended up having like a little Halloween party with family and friends and we were just in our garage which you guys know it is a garage. Right. Um okay um but yeah we're just sitting there and having drinks and pass out candy and it was an awesome time but I don't know how it really started.
I just uh let me and my wife moved into our first house. We just uh I just start buying things here and there and then over the years I buy one or two things every year so then one day I'm just gonna have a massive collection of Halloween stuff but uh I'm really big into it. I like getting dressed up. I like putting stuff outside so kids can look at it and I think this year I had a hologram thing that was pretty sweet.
Yeah. Yeah. And everybody loved it. Yeah.
What's your what's your go-to costume? Go to costume? No I switched it over here. I think last year I was a doctor or uh well last year I was the one that passed and I told her we were zombies.
We were into the walking dead stuff. Um uh the year before that was a doctor. Um I just had all the doctor gear. She's a nurse so she got me all the scrubs and stuff and I just put blood all over me.
Um there you go. I don't mean to scare kids but if it happens it happens. Right. It's not you know you come into my yard that's what's gonna happen.
It's a side effect. Yep. Yep. Yep.
And uh I enjoy it. It's the mindset of a defender. I'm not saying you're gonna like run away crying. What if it happens it happens.
Yep. But uh it sucks that it's only for two hours. You know one day but but I it would you guys would be amazed by how much work. I built things myself so I actually built props and built things like so how much work actually goes into just two hours of fun for me.
It's worth it and I do it. I hope this all goes into the Japanese legend of forklift 7. Yeah. We do it in a shot.
Yeah. We'll go. All right well great. So thank you very much for joining us.
No we enjoyed the conversation. Um like you said assuming all goes well we we hope to see you at Keyworth and it's terrifying for if you're telling us the story that your dad was out that way and took a photo and he's like you're gonna be playing on this that's scary. Yeah thanks. Thanks for having me.
I really enjoyed it and um and I'll do it again anytime. That's good. Really. Thank you very much.
We'll be back. Let's do it for another edition of the Detroit City of St. Kankast. Uh thank you as always to the fine folks at Mojo City Drone Works for giving us their upstairs bar and I think it's a fine house for us.
Thank you so much for making the long cold so we trip down here to be with us and for the great discussion. I am John Azina at John Maas on Twitter. I'm Dean Simmer Fondre at Mojo Dean and John in lieu of his flat fire presence that we're going to be talking about. Uh the last thing I'm going to be talking about is the Black There Up is at rise AM understore on Twitter.
On Twitter. Uh we are collectively at DCFC 2FC. DCFC. DCFC.
Fantastic. Gmail.com DCFC.com. Email tweet message. We try to be fairly fairly fairly responsive to stuff.
Um we said we're gonna be doing these number two weeks. We're gonna be trying to get these over two weeks so far so good. That's two weeks. That's a good twice.
It's a trend. Uh we got some more coming up and we're looking forward to starting to get a bit more feel for the the the thought for soccer. And then if cold still out there. And as always if you have questions or as we're looking ahead to 2016 season if you have ideas or comments things that you'd like us to consider people that you'd love to have us talk to that we haven't yet send them our way.
We're always happy to consider new ideas for this project. It's a labor of love for all of us and we're always looking to make it a little bit better. Hope you're enjoying everything so far. Happy winter in Michigan and we will talk to you again soon.
Later everyone. Thanks for listening.