Man U's New Goalie.. commercial signing? (americans read this too!)

[Don Seer]

For the Americans.. Man U's new goalie Tim Howard is an American, which is a pretty strange thing really since we know americans arent really into soccer.
He seems pretty good in the games i've seen, and he's defo better to me that bartez.. who i was always dubious of.. maybe coz he looks like a mates dad. lol


Here's the low down on the guy
http://www.manutd.com/bio/bio.sps?iBiographyID=9583

So.. Now Man U can have more fans that dont live in manchester - LOL

Anyways.. my point.. is this signing a sneaky way to break Man U merchandise + awareness into the American market?


(btw i'm not a man u fan. )

[bez]

I dont think man utd needed to buy an american player to make their club more well known in the U.S.A.  I bet if you asked n e american teenager to name a football club from england they wud say Man utd.  He is a good keeper and Ferguson bought him knowing that he was a good keeper.  Keller, Fridel, nowwww Tim Howard.  

[Don Seer]

Gives americans more of a reason to support Man U tho.. mmm. merchandising.. lol

with real madrid aquiring beckham, which is expected to launch their merchandising to new levels seems the game may be played more than just on the pitch... better merchandising = more money = more to spend on players = more big names = more sales = more money...

[bez]

Beckham will get Madrid loads of money from Asia and that prob a reason they bought him, because beckhams face can appear on n e product in China, japan etc and whatever the product is it will prob sell just because beckham face is on it.  I doubt sticking Tim Howards face on a bottle of shampoo is gunna sell alot in America.  

No doubt a few shirts  will sell in America with Howard on the back but apart from that I cant see how Man Utd are gunna make the kind of money off howard that Madrid will make off beckham.  The comparison of the players is in totally different worlds.

[Don Seer]

well I dont mean the players themselves, from real madrid's perspective beckham will help raise real madrids profile as a brand.

Man U is already a brand, but I believe they are trying to enhance their awareness by slowly infiltrating america

[Trauma-san]

I bet if you asked n e american teenager to name a football club from england they wud say Man utd.  

Um... no.  Honestly, most americans have no idea what football clubs are from england.  I know about Manchester, but I think that's because Oasis are always pulling for them.  

[Don Seer]

oasis are man city (not united) fans..  (blues not reds)

interesting tho scorpion.. seems weird ya'll in a soccer free vacuum from the rest of the world.. lol


scorpion.. u think having americans in the big british / european leagues will help promote soccer in the US?

man united - american goalie
man city - has the american national team captain


had a look around, its very hard to find out even what the american soccer governing body is called.. let alone anything else.. looks like soccer over there is in trouble..

[Jay ay Beee]

1.  Who are "Man U"?

2.  Donnelly is going to be fuming about Trauma's post.

city, Manchester city, nobody knows your name.

3.  He is a quality keeper that's why we signed him.

And Bez, Beckham makes a lot of money for himself in the far east, but very little for the clubs he plays for.  

[Don Seer]

1 - pick fucka, u know its Manchester United
2 - yeah pretty funny, even funnier if ppl mistakenly support man u (< lol) because of oasis
3 - yeah he is, i said i was impressed with him, better than barthez.

but all the people in the east will want beckham's new shirt, and become real madrid fans now... groupies. lol

[Adam Donnelly]

Why would I be mad about that post ?
And WTF U on about nobody knows us
We were the most watched team last season

Singin HI HI Hipi
His dads got a Chipy
Hi Hi Hipi
Sun Jihai

[bez]

1.  Who are "Man U"?

2.  Donnelly is going to be fuming about Trauma's post.

city, Manchester city, nobody knows your name.

3.  He is a quality keeper that's why we signed him.

And Bez, Beckham makes a lot of money for himself in the far east, but very little for the clubs he plays for.  

actually jay beckham has to split his profits with real madrid 50/50

[Don Seer]

Why would I be mad about that post ?
And WTF U on about nobody knows us
We were the most watched team last season

Singin HI HI Hipi
His dads got a Chipy
Hi Hi Hipi
Sun Jihai

i believe he means how trauma didnt know that oasis didnt support man u, but actually support man city

[Adam Donnelly]

Why would I be mad about that post ?
And WTF U on about nobody knows us
We were the most watched team last season

Singin HI HI Hipi
His dads got a Chipy
Hi Hi Hipi
Sun Jihai

i believe he means how trauma didnt know that oasis didnt support man u, but actually support man city

Who gives a shit what he thinks  

[Trauma-san]

So, there's two teams from Manchester?  See, things are just totally different over there.  I guess not too much, is Manchester huge?  For instance, we have two baseball teams in New York, etc.  

I dunno why americans don't like Soccer.  It's probably just that it's a european thing, that's flourished over there and we haven't gotten into the league or whatever yall call it, so it never took off over here like it has over there.

ON a political note, and i'm serious.  I think this way.  Most teachers in high school in america are pretty liberal, and liberals are all about the united states being culturally diverse, and a member of the 'world community'.  What I'm getting at is, in America, almost ever high school has a soccer team, started mainly by these same liberal teachers; (I could care less, more sports is good in my mind).  but yet nobody watches or pays attention to anything but high school soccer.  Strange, heh?  

[Trauma-san]

Oh, and what the fuck was "Bend it like Bechkam" all about then? The whole premise of the movie was that all the good secondary school soccer players on that girls team were getting courted by american schools wanting them to play on their college teams.  So we must have a big college league over here, too.