Reply With QuoteI will plan to do the same thing once I'm in my 30s. Do something like VP maybe.
John Pugh & Ottawa Fury
There is a piece in the new issue of Financial Post Magazine, under the heading "Labours of Love", about John Pugh and his plans for developing young Canadian soccer talent, building on the Fury platforms. The full article is about a number of people who are in it for making a difference, rather than making money.
http://www.nationalpost.com/Labours+...336/story.html
I will plan to do the same thing once I'm in my 30s. Do something like VP maybe.
Interesting link, thanks for posting.
John Pugh and Neil Malhotra both talking to NASL about formalizing their application for 2012
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/589838
They are competing against each other apparently.
From what I understand John Pugh is grouped with Jeff Hunt who owns the 67s and the new CFL team coming to Ottawa. Neil Malhotra last I heard wanted to put a team at the Ottawa baseball stadium which will never work. So my moneys on Hunt and Pugh. Hunt has turned the 67s into very succesful junior team financially and has the backing of three of the largest real estate developers in Ottawa. As a rabib soccer fan and Ottawa resident I'd be hesistant to support a team playing on a baseball fields as opposed to a team playing at a newly redovelped Lansdowne park.
I will buy season tickets to either of these groups, but I have real doubts that either will succeed with their current stadium plans. The concerns with the baseball stadium are obvious, but I don't think a 24,000 seat CFL venue will be much better in terms of atmosphere.
Soccer backer gets in Lansdowne game
Pugh fifth partner in group working on redevelopment plan
BY RICHARD STARNES, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SEPTEMBER 28, 2010
John Pugh, the man behind the Ottawa Fury soccer organization, has become the fifth partner in the group leading the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park.
Pugh becomes a financially committed member of Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, joining Roger Greenberg, John Ruddy, Bill Shenkman and Jeff Hunt as they work with the city on the Lansdowne Transformation Plan.
However, it is the development of soccer that is foremost in the mind of the man who ran Carleton University's School of Computer Science for eight years before building a multi-national high-tech company, The Object People.
When he sold that company, he turned his attention to the sport he loves.
"I am honoured to be able to participate," Pugh said Monday. "Asking me to join shows clearly the group's commitment to soccer and, hopefully, it will bring to fruition my hopes for a pro soccer franchise here in the city.
"The next step is to lead the thrust to acquire a professional franchise. Once that is achieved, we will begin the whole process of putting together staff and making sure we hit the field running, successful right out of the gate."
That Pugh has joined the group does not come as a surprise.
Pugh and OSEG joined forces a year ago to look toward a franchise in a reconstituted North American Soccer League. Once Lansdowne redevelopment is complete and there is a place to play, it is widely expected that a franchise will be granted.
Pugh has his sights set on the 2013 season, the same year as a prospective Canadian Football League franchise would make its debut.
"Having hockey -- the 67's -- football and soccer out of the same facility brings enormous benefits to the organization and to the city," he said.
The latest development almost certainly puts to an end any thoughts Ottawa Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk might have had for a soccer franchise playing out of a facility to be developed adjacent to Scotiabank Place in Kanata.
Out of the blue, in September 2008, Melnyk launched a proposal to bring Major League Soccer to Ottawa. Part of the plan involved building a stadium on city land.
At the same time, what was then the Lansdowne Live group was working on a Lansdowne Park development deal that would include renovation of Frank Clair Stadium for a Canadian Football League franchise and, possibly, a professional soccer team.
When the city opted to work with Lansdowne Live -- now OSEG -- Melnyk decided to go silent on his soccer plans, and he has remained that way since.
There is no indication he will revive any those plans.
Also, Montreal has been granted a franchise for what will become the third MLS team in Canada following those in Toronto and Vancouver.
Today, Pugh is delighted with the development, indicating that an NASL franchise would fit extremely well with his Ottawa Fury.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has been working on guidelines and regulations on what a new NASL would look like.
"One of these standards is a requirement that each team will commit to the development of players at the youth level," Pugh said. "The Fury is a ready-made solution for this.
"When I started eight years ago, there were two elements to my vision. One was to make sure young players in our region got the same opportunities as kids from larger cities. That has been achieved. Some have reached international status, some have signed with pro clubs, and 65 plus have gone on to full (college) scholarships in the U.S.
"The second element has always been to provide the highest level of soccer for spectators. This will be a massive opportunity to build to that."
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/...#ixzz10qQrRdU4
Christ. I think I knew him back in the day. Good luck on the NASL front.
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He'll need it. Footy lines are never an easy sell. Putting them in the same facility is not going to help his cause.
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