One thing I think has to be said though, these guys who started this aren’t professionals and thats perfectly fine. They are soccer fans like all of us who saw a good idea, and wanted to try it here in the states. I respect them for trying this, just as long as they are legally legit.

All I’m asking is for some simple questions to be answered regarding this venture. The founder simply refuses to answer questions on repeated occasions about this venture’s status.

MyFC, whatever one thinks of it, at least explain where the money is going (27.5GPB to the “trust”, and 7.50 to “administration”), whereas MySoccerClub is not explaining things. If people still want to give them their money, then fine — I’m just asking questions, which is perfectly legitimate whether it makes me “sad” or not.

I would be all in favour of this were it properly organised, and I’ve repeated twice that this does not appear to be a “scam” — such is not my claim. It seems to be well-meaning.

But on this site, we question all those who take football fans’ money and are not transparent in their activities, from Fifa to Manchester United to Mysoccerclub. The bottom of the ladder might be more well-meaning, but I’d say they should be working to set an example in transparency (given the lack of it at the top of the ladder) rather than in obfuscating things.

Call me “sad”, fine, that’s your opinion; claim I’m perpetrating a “smear”, and you’ll need to back that up.

Evidence: One user commenting on MyFC is called “walkingcity”, and funnily enough, there are domain redirects from walking-city.com coming up when you go to mysoccerclubusa.com. He also answers the latest question on that thread by saying “we’re still researching several locations to find the best fit, members are suggesting locations on the forums.”

Furthermore, there is a thread on Bigsoccer started by “walkingcity” that begins with the line “Hey, im trying to gauge support for a scheme similiar to myfootballclub.co.uk, based in the US, possible a USL2/PDL or NPSL team i’ve seen some related posts, but they are looking to do some different things, would anyone be interested in a very similiar set up as the UK folks?” — posted at 02 Aug 2007, 10:03 PM.

The WHOIS records for http://www.mysoccerclubusa.com give the following details:

Hayward, Trevor
tv@walking-city.com
Walking City Records

Finally, my request to Trevor for further information was not responded to for weeks. I received a speedy reply initially; then as soon as I asked questions about the financial set-up, no response for weeks. He finally responded yesterday, and I’ll update with that information soon. But if you’re going to take people’s money, it’s slapdash to not respond in a reasonable timeframe — and that’s measured in days, not weeks.

Don’t accuse me of inaccuracy with no evidence of your own. They are marketing off of the MyFC idea. And actually, that’s not my problem with it at all, that’s perfectly valid. The problem is the rushed nature of this, taking people’s money without everything in place. And again, I didn’t attribute malice to this or call it a scam. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be judged for what it is.

However, they only really got off the ground after the success of MyFC, and I’ve seen one of their founders trying to attract members on the MyFC board. It’s become a key part of their marketing strategy everywhere I’ve seen them tout it.