Alistair Johnston

He must have a fair amount of assists this season...

 

Hope we keep him in summer, imagine him and KT bombing forward

 

See David Ornstein suggesting Fulham and Ipswich are keen on him alongside others. It wouldn’t totally surprise me if we receive a decent offer for him in the summer.

 

9 so far I think. Highest in the team.

 

Aye but not from Fulham or Ipswich FFS

 

Jesse Marsch went viral on Wednesday, as they say, with his passionate comments about the US’ treatment of Canada and the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state

In case you somehow missed those comments, we wrote about them here and you can also check our video player. Or just look anywhere right now, because they’re everywhere.

In Canada, by and large, the result from anyone who paid attention has been a swell of both national pride and appreciation for how American coach Marsch has taken to Canada like a duck to water


Hearing Jesse speaking so eloquently, would be the best way to describe it, I think everyone could really resonate with his words,” defender Alistair Johnston told TSN. “I think he really summarized how a lot of Canadians feel… To hear it coming from him, I think, was really powerful.”

Many of our Canadian readers will think that’s nothing new, really. Time and time again, Marsch has shown that Canadianism resonates with him.

“They’ve accepted me as a Canadian,” he said in November of his CanMNT players.

“The responsibility [the players] feel to the national team and to the country is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he had said a month earlier.


A month before that, last September, around the time that Canada were gearing up to face and ultimately beat the US national team in a friendly on American soil, he spelled it out crystal clear: “Every day I feel more Canadian, man.”

“There are a lot of things about being Canadian that resonate with me. I’m trying to do them proud,” he added at that time.

He’s doing a pretty good job.

If you thought that September friendly and the debate over whether Marsch would sing the American anthem or just the Canadian one was something, imagine what’s on deck if Canada and the USMNT both win their CONCACAF Nations League semi-finals in three weeks’ time.

Marsch’s comments this week have been met in some corners, of course, with the tired old “stick to soccer” line. Johnston says that’s nonsense.

“Something that’s important leading into this Nations League tournament for us has been adding that extra emphasis on what really is going on in the world,” he told TSN. “Because as much as we like to say we’re in a bubble, keep politics out of sports and all these different things, no, we’re human beings. We hear everything, this is our country that people are proclaiming as the 51st state. It’s something that you need to stand up and fight for, as well.”

Johnston acknowledged that in an ideal world, it wouldn’t be necessary to use geopolitics as a driving force to raise more interest in the Canadian national teams.

But when things like this happen, it only fuels the fire.

“We’ve got to use this now as extra fuel,” he stressed. “I think everyone, the entire nation, should use this as extra fuel, kind of like we did in the 4 Nations. You saw that with the hockey, how much it meant to the players.

“It’s going to feel the same for us when we’re down in the U.S. in March competing.

 

From a footballing point oh view I agree but with Fulham I could see there being an interest for lifestyle reasons, be based in London, probably at least double his salary if not more and they are a pretty steady EPL team.

 

I would like to think he has more ambition than that.

 

Fulham well run EPL team, good coach some excellent players.. London etc..

Wouldn't be a bad move mate.

 

We say this about everyone tbf. But aside from KT, the teams our players have went to in the EPL are Southampton (x3), Norwich, Brentford, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Brighton. Hardly heavyweights.

Ultimately playing at in a top league for a lot of money is an ambition for most footballers.

 

I don’t disagree on that but it depends what that ambition is for, a guy at 26/27 has a fiancée and probably 4 to 6 years at a gold level of football left in him. If someone offers him the chance to at least double if not more his wages.

Also remembering he is not from a club supporting background. It is a lot to turn down.

Further if he’s talking to his advisors and family, in the cold light of day, what is his footballing level and earning ceiling? I am not sure it’s that much higher than mid table EPL.

 

Barcelona too

 

It's a * move mate. They have a statue of Michael Jackson FFS. Plus they aren't Celtic

 

* bless Canada.