mattock said:

Seathanaich said: . I think they try to walk the walk when it comes to Canada and MLS.

Canada yes - MLS no. Their blog editor Richard Whittall is basically scornful about the MLS, you get the drift that it's a chore when he has to scribble about the MLS - often Canada ( you sense his career path that he wished for - making a living writing about soccer - didn't quite turn out as he imagined ) and to show you the priority they placed on MLS,Canada - they assigned Duane Rollins to that beat....it's cool that he's earning some extra beer money, but he ain't no Paolo Bandini, Ethan Dean - Richards - obviously they didn't beat the bushes for domestic coverage.

As I was at one time a contributor to the Footy Blog, I should step in and say that a) to call Richard "basically scornful" of MLS isn't fair; he isn't a fan of any of the MLS clubs but he's only as scornful of MLS as he is of everything else in soccer, b) you'd be surprised how much pressure Richard gets onto the direction of his coverage, and c) they usually don't "sign someone for a beat" as "ask him to sell them articles once a month".

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/08/16/teibert-proves-his-point-canadas-2-0-win-over-tt

Lord_Bob said:

As I was at one time a contributor to the Footy Blog, I should step in and say that a) to call Richard "basically scornful" of MLS isn't fair; he isn't a fan of any of the MLS clubs but he's only as scornful of MLS as he is of everything else in soccer, b) you'd be surprised how much pressure Richard gets onto the direction of his coverage, and c) they usually don't "sign someone for a beat" as "ask him to sell them articles once a month".

I remember you dressing up your offerings for that snazzy site - as opposed to the presumed sandals,shorts and - daring someone to criticize - vintage Backstreet Boys t -shirt that you bought for a song at Value Village dress code of Maple Leaf/86 Forever. Your inter-action here has tempered my perception of you - your burn notice from Miami had me thinking this is a strange fella.....

Your abc doesn't have bite a) I guess his autobiography wouldn't be titled "For the love of the game" -his AMSL had passion for bringing the Canadian soccer past to life, brought him to the canuck footy fans attention, he stretched his writing chops on other sites and has earned his gig with the Footy Blog. He entered the ttp,"hello professor with the fifty dollar vocabulary" smarmy snide commentary of the Brit Blokes/locals who breathe the global game -he didn't seem out of his depth when he went on their weekly quiz show when the topics were e-mailed in advance .. you would think he really knew Serie A etc. The year - ender dropped the curtain and I thought he was heading for the Rubber Ramada / emergency room the way he vocalised his anguish at becoming a laughing stock - and to self-seal the facade he wrote an article about how he would study for the next year's quiz- yeah, that is what the public craves....he hasn't been smart enough to stay- frequently visit- his wheelhouse, be himself. His noticeable occasional souring is an issue that has to eventually come to the forefront.

b) I presume that Serie A,the england beat would be the focus, but he covers a wide range of topics, I'm sure management leaves the content for those who know the game - though they should have been tempted to walk down and deliver (perhaps only in a verbal intensity) a Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade/Bogart to Joel Cairo/Lorre - "you're gonna stay slapped - and like it!" for the anemic "Canada loses to Japan 2-1,earth turns, water's wet".

My point is - you would think one of the perks of having the editorship/clout of the score is that he can pick up the phone and talk to/interview folks that would create articles that stray from the fare that is offered at his/other sites - I believe he's conducted 2 interviews in his tenure. He is happy to offer kudos to a handful of writers that he obviously admires, but doesn't seem to feel (for a creative writer) the potential euphoria - even if it's only bi-monthly - to leave the gleaming of other sites/stories to provide us with an original offering - hell, he could brighten up his tfc short hits by asking Frings about his academy days as tfc opened their new shop, etc- a 100 potential riffs comes to mind that would suggest that he has blood flowing, craves to treat his readers with more than predominately well - structured summations. Mr. Whittall is bright, obviously has talent - just wish he would display more of a pulse.

c) Duane is the freelancer that covers Canada/tfc, and whatever the pymt arrangement is, his appearing on the site is by Richard's choice, not default.

Have a nice day.

The Footy Show crew is amongst the best football coverage in Canada and they do a very good job in my opinion of covering the game including the Canadian national team (if you read the blog, watch the show/vodcast or listen to their old podcasts, you'd hear quite a bit about it near matchday).

wow, and wow. Those are two epic posts

Fynnsky said: wow, and wow. Those are two epic posts

Jon has a style that I call 'ungrammatical yet poetic Englishman'. Talking to Jon was captivating (and not just because his accent was very similar to Mike Meyers doing Austin Powers). He was a real character.

mattock said: You flatter, as I believe you're referring to Jonathan Himsworth, whose first three offerings -in the first three issues of World Football Pages - was brilliant, in heart, structure and word flow, out-stripping anything Richard Whittall has ever written.

That's the guy. He put me up at his apartment during a few of my visits from the Island to watch the 86ers/Caps. Big Chelsea fan before it was fashionable.