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Didier Drogba To Join Phoenix Rising


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  • The title was changed to Didier Drogba To Join Phoenix Rising

Phoenix Rising fan here. This is massive news!

He did well for Montreal when he was there so I've no doubt he can still contribute on the pitch, but what's perhaps more important for a young team (founded 2014) is the excitement he'll generate off the pitch.

2 hours ago, HoneyNUFC said:

Not even MLS team 

Not yet. We've submitted an application to be an expansion team as the MLS plans to add four teams by 2020. There are 11 or 12 applicants, but I honestly think we've got a good chance. Phoenix is one of (if not the) the fastest growing cities in the USA and, of the prospective expansion cities, has the highest population of the two groups you want if you're marketing a soccer team: Hispanics and millennials.

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8 hours ago, Burning Gold said:

Phoenix Rising fan here. This is massive news!

He did well for Montreal when he was there so I've no doubt he can still contribute on the pitch, but what's perhaps more important for a young team (founded 2014) is the excitement he'll generate off the pitch.

Not yet. We've submitted an application to be an expansion team as the MLS plans to add four teams by 2020. There are 11 or 12 applicants, but I honestly think we've got a good chance. Phoenix is one of (if not the) the fastest growing cities in the USA and, of the prospective expansion cities, has the highest population of the two groups you want if you're marketing a soccer team: Hispanics and millennials.

Do you think signing people like Drogba is to help your application? Make a statement about the potential size of the club?

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football forum
23 minutes ago, True Blue said:

Love Didier and i am certain he isn't short on money. However why just not enjoy your retirement, he has hardly anything to prove. Maybe he is just bored and enjoys playing football for fun now.

He probably enjoys playing football so wants to keep doing it for as long as he can. The idea of playing for Pheonix is probably a lot more attractive than sitting at home or on a beach for him.

I think it's admirable what he's doing as it shows he's a true lover of football.

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He continues to play because of the Hospital he built in his home country. While his charity has come under the microscope for possible dodgy dealings, all said to have been cleared in a court of law and soon to have a huge income of cash from the untruthful  bastards at the Daily Mail, he is struggling to keep all sections of the Hospital open.

I am sure he can still do a job at that level of football if used in the correct manner.

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3 hours ago, HoneyNUFC said:

Do you think signing people like Drogba is to help your application? Make a statement about the potential size of the club?

I think it's a big factor, yeah. As I said, I have no doubt he can contribute on the pitch, but the team have gone on a big marketing push recently with the rebrand from Arizona United to Phoenix Rising, their own brand new stadium (it's not common for a USL team to have its own stadium), and a slightly unorthodox new kit sponsored by a record label (below), all of which seems to be geared towards appealing to the powers that be at MLS. Marquee signings are just another part of that and Drogba would be a massive coup for a team who, a few weeks ago, were falling over themselves to celebrate the signings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Omar Bravo.

phoenix-rising-2017-umbro-kit-5-e1486259625489.jpg

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17 hours ago, Burning Gold said:

Phoenix Rising fan here. This is massive news!

He did well for Montreal when he was there so I've no doubt he can still contribute on the pitch, but what's perhaps more important for a young team (founded 2014) is the excitement he'll generate off the pitch.

Not yet. We've submitted an application to be an expansion team as the MLS plans to add four teams by 2020. There are 11 or 12 applicants, but I honestly think we've got a good chance. Phoenix is one of (if not the) the fastest growing cities in the USA and, of the prospective expansion cities, has the highest population of the two groups you want if you're marketing a soccer team: Hispanics and millennials.

I thought you were joking until the end. 

Don't think there is a way that Phoenix gets an MLS expansion team, especially with these attendance numbers - 

Year Reg. Season
2014-  2,395
2015 -  3,304
2016 - 

1,470

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Oh, and Drogba is okay for USL, terrible for the MLS. We are not a league for players to retire in, or at least we shouldn't try to be. Chicago getting Bastian is just awful business for the league and team. Go young and build your own players. 

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31 minutes ago, ATL said:

I thought you were joking until the end. 

Don't think there is a way that Phoenix gets an MLS expansion team, especially with these attendance numbers - 

Year Reg. Season
2014-  2,395
2015 -  3,304
2016 - 

1,470

There's a lot of room for improvement, no doubt about it, but let's not forget those are Arizona United attendances in spring training baseball stadiums.

This is the first season as Phoenix Rising under an ambitious ownership group in a proper stadium. Our home opener tomorrow is a sell out at 6,000 and our next game is headed that way too. That's a comparable figure to what Orlando City were bringing in before they became an MLS team:

2011 - 5,265
2012 - 6,606
2013 - 8,053
2014 - 4,743

I don't think we'll be in the first batch announced later this year, but the MLS plans to add more teams shortly afterwards and Phoenix could definitely be one of those.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Massive coup, as I said before.

He'll play for a year before moving upstairs, which is a bit of a shame because he could probably play til he's 50 in this league. Still, should be sufficient to get the team on the map, which was the primary reason for the signing.

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