...Listen to Coops: "what i'm trying to understand here is,this league in operation 10 plus yrs,isn't there some criteria or system in place for teams wanting to join the Pro league? How teams who already there got in?how teams who already there stays in?how teams who was there left? I am sure everybody associated with Pro league Football knows how to get in the Pro League,i can't undersatnd what the problem is. In a nutschell from what i understand is once you have the money you can get in the League"...
Bring your cash and come. THAT is the ONLY criterion for entry. Over the years we have seen teams come last for donkey years and remain in membership. Teams pulling in a school or some youth side to masquerade as their "development programme". Teams wet their foot and jump in for a year or two and then disappear. I could go on. Nothing personal - but this is glorified minor league business and the "Pro" League is grasping at a straw here, the professional consequences be damned. I repeat this could never happen in MLS, Central America, or anywhere football is taken seriously. Coops - you right...
But MLS only manifested itself from the ghost of NASL. In that league you just needed money. When MLS began, what was the criteria? Money. The problem is that the Pro League is suffering from the lack of a consortium to bankroll it because there is no money to be made.
Professional Football Leagues everywhere are now big business. If not, they fail. Simple. There's a lot wrong with the Pro League, but don't make the MLS look like some wonderful football utopia. European Leagues have a pure ancestry of working class amateurism fueled by local supporters. MLS was built by businessmen to make money.
With no matchday supporters or TV audience, the Pro League cannot evolve traditionally. It has to build a fanbase from a generally disinterested population. I absolutely believe the league and T&T football in general must be reborn and more professional. But by taking some kind of moral high ground you won't change anything.
Yes, any team can join the league. Just like if I knocked on the MLS door with US$100 million, and a team called Minnesota Muff Divers they would let me in. The only way to change this is to become part of it and change it from the inside. And if a club can't raise money to pay it's players for the season, it doesn't deserve to be in the league as that will just make players suffer.
What are the "professional consequences"? How about Man Utd being £1 billion in debt? You really think that if the banks call in the debt, the EPL will say to Sir Alex "Don't worry about it mate, you have over 100 years history...you can play for free. You have no stadium, but you can play at the park. You can't pay players so bring some guys from the local pub team"?
Professional Football is absoloutely, definately about money. The only difference is that the Pro League is struggling in a country that doesn't support professional football. From the Govt, to Business, to the media, to TTFF, to the public. No one supports it. So, yes, it's easy to knock the Pro League, but if you look closely, you'll see that the Pro League is the only body trying to improve the status of T&T football in this country.
As we used to sing in England when our team would be losing 3-0..."We're shit, and we know we are" But we would still go back next week and support, because that "shit" was our shit, and although its much easier to walk away, sometimes you have to look to yourself to turn shit into success.
The question people should be asking is "Do we want success?"