 Wel i'n gweithio'n gweithio T-TV ar y studio ar y James yng Nghymru a Alex a ffraith y Pond o gael y Pond yw'r American Trophy podcast. Cymru ychydig i'r Pond i'r sefydl. A'r cyflwyll yn gweithio'n gweithio. Wel, dweud! Dwi'n cael ei ddweud. Gweithio'n gweithio. Fel ei ddweud. Efallai'n gweithio'n gweithio. Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio. Now is coming up on a week now. It feels like it's been a few days and it feels like it's been a lifetime at the same time. So it's been a dream come true in a lot of ways. Couldn't have possibly imagined that we'd be doing half the things we've been able to do so far. So it's been amazing. What was good as fun part like Alex? It was amazing. I've said this before right? You watch on TV and I understand you hear that Goodison Park is like a bear pit right? The seats are so close to the pitch. It creates a great atmosphere. Mae'r meddwl wedi cael ei wneud am y cwmysig og wedi rhaid i cysyllt ystod am hyn y meddwl. Mae'n meddwl ar y dyfyrdd ag pethau'r gweld yn gwrthod. Rwy'n Crew Pethau i ddatblygu ar einм dahl, i ddim yn deall i wneud, ac mae'n meddwl yn ddim yn credu bod yn dynnu bod rhaid i ddefnyllgor. Oeddi'r cwmysig rydw i'w ddysgu'r gweithiau ar y gwaith yr hwn, dylai'r math lle mae'r meddwl i gwybodaeth o'r meddwl ar yr meddwl yna o gilydd hon i gwneud â'r gweithio i dyna. Felly byrwyr yn ddiolch yn gwiswyl. Rydyn ni'n gwybod y bydd yn gweithio am gweithio, ond fyddwn ni'n ychydig fan y bydd. Be gyd, mae fydd yn nhw'n gweithio padd, a syniad yw maen nhw. Ac yna Гifethau'r Gwydiannaeth ym ydy yw'r iawn a wedi'i ddweud drwychon yn bai. Yn gyfnod, rydyn ni'n gallu'n gwneud. Arferaf, mae'r gwneud o'r gweithio,not y gall Clyde, mae gilydd. Mae'n gwahaniaeth, ond rwy'n fawr yn siŵn i ddweud yn Llyfrodraeth a Llyfrodraeth a bod wrth i wneud yn yng Nghymru yng Nghymru. felly rwy'n gweithio sy'n gwybod i'r traffen a fydde'u arw monarch o gwirloedd o'r enghread a'i bod nhw'n gwahaniaeth yng nghyngwch arall. Rwy'n credu o'r traffennu a phobl oedd eraill Brewing oedd Wythnu'r Cyrydwr yn hynny. Felly yn hynny'n gweithio'n gallwch hynnyicked off and get downhill, meet him in first place, but we had been in touch with Christine from the Fan Engagement committee and to her credit, we've said it before, but she deserves all the plot trips because she's been unbelievable to work with and she emailed and said, you-know oh, I don't think you'd be able to make that time slot maybe we can make something else work during the rest of the week Lo en behold we were a pitch side doing a little piece with the club chatting with the content team and then we feel a tap on our shoulder Ond rai'n gweithio'n gweithio'n bwysig yn y fideo. Felly, mae'n arfer a gweld yna. Mae'n gymmydd Tim Howard, yn ffamil o'r amgylcheddon i'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio. Mae'n olygu'n gweithio ar y dyfodol o'r club. Felly mae'n gweld cyflau yn y ffordd i'r prif yn oed yn fwy o'r gweithio'n gweithio'n gwaith. Let's talk about that then, obviously, your actions will give away that, you know, not from anywhere close here, so Alex, how have you become an American Trophy? So it was the 2014 World Cup, Tim Howard, right? The Heroics against Lukaku's Belgium. I was taking courses and so as I had hours and hours of work to do, I just turned on any World Cup match that I could find, quickly got into the sport and decided I'm going to follow the Secretary of Defense as they called him. And so I started to catch a couple Everton matches and whether it's fortunate or unfortunate enough, I haven't been able to stop. And so that's kind of how the Everton fandom came about. Yeah, and for me, so it was probably a little bit earlier than Alex, you used to be able to catch the audio European match on American television, but it wasn't widely broadcast or widely popular. But there was one day I turned on an Everton match and I can't pick at one specific thing that really drew me in at that time. It might have been just I like the badge. But again, at that time, I had no conception of European football, of the different competitions. I knew that there were international teams. And so I started to follow from a distance because it was hard. You wouldn't impossible to watch every Premier League match, much less every Everton match. But then, of course, FIFA was a big part of that as well, the video game. I'm sure many Americans would echo that. I started playing and it was around the time of Joseph Yobo in those days. Oh, cool. And then as I started to follow up more closely, learn about the history, I think that's what really drew me in was the tremendous history and the ambition of the club to start to compete amongst the top of the Premier League. And I really didn't want to be a glory hunter, so to speak, I think. So choosing Everton was easy. And then as I learned more and more, I truly fell in love with the club. So here we are today. No one can accuse you of being a glory hunter. No, that's true. Coming after us in the past 25 years, did you like football? Shut up. I'm going to call you football. You can call football. You didn't have a backing up call on the football. Did you like football prior to that, Alex, or? So, believe it or not, my family, like my parents specifically, they follow essentially no sport. My grandparents followed college American football, right? So that was part of growing up, but otherwise no sport at all. It was literally just the 2014 World Cup. I was taking classes and I said please just anything but just physics, right? And so that's kind of how it came about. And what about you, James? I had played football growing up, so I had a conception of the game, but it really wasn't a big spectator sport in the U.S. I followed, interestingly enough, I followed college basketball very, very closely growing up, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, which I'm sure most of your audience won't know, but they're similar to Everton where they're a smaller school, but they try to compete amongst the top tier. So it's a bit of a weird one because they're based across the U.S., but I did follow soccer. I hadn't followed the MLS particularly closely, but as I learned about the Premier League and the history of the league and how closely it was intertwined with the culture, the politics, even the economic side of the country and the history, it just struck me as something completely unique and very different from American sports in it. I found it incredibly fascinating, so I couldn't get enough. Awesome, so a grifrewn there. All of those trophies we've won since you started following Will of Health, obviously. So tell us about this then, how did the American Toffee podcast come about? So essentially I knew literally no one in real life, personally, that was an Everton fan. No one. I mean that's terrible, but go on. Right, so all of my friends, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, blah, blah, blah. And so I had been following for I guess about four years at that point, I mean every single weekend, and I was consuming as much content as possible online, but I had no one to share the excitement with or even kind of complain with pretty often. And so I kind of just gauged a little bit of interest on Reddit, the internet site, and there were about 20 people that were also Americans that said, yeah, I'd be interested in hearing Americans perspective, and so I kind of just started doing it for fun, but you only go so far speaking into a mic by yourself, and so James kind of reached out and said, hey, you know, I'd love to be your first guest on the show, so I had him on, and he kind of alluded to the fact that he'd like to join me permanently. And although we had never met, even up until literally a week ago, at that point in time I kind of figured, well, I don't really have a whole lot here, so if you want to take it, or if I can't trust him, then you can have it. But it's worked out really well, and I can't be happier, so it's just a nice outlet. So essentially if I could summarise it in one word, it would be selfishness. We have to have that cathartic offloading of pain, or also when we have those great days, it's great to share it with. I mean, this is an interesting dynamic because you didn't know each other too. You know, obviously you knew each other, but you haven't never met her a week ago, but so where are we, you know, where are you based, just for anyone who doesn't know you are? So I am in Virginia, and he is in Maine. Yeah, so I'm based in Maine, northeast, about two and a half hours north of Boston. Right, so bit of a distance, yes. And then what have you found by doing, has it made those wins even better than those defeats even worse by doing, having something to it? Yeah, I mean certain matches it has definitely been a struggle to record after the fact you're just so dejected. I mean, most recently of course the Newcastle match, that was a tough one really, to get on the mic. But then when it goes well, it is really nice to have someone to talk to, and also the amount of people that we've tried to start to build kind of a community of people in America, because I think a lot of people feel similarly to how Alex felt, where you're, if anyone around you knows even what the Premier League is, or knows anything about European football, they still probably aren't following Everton, they're following the top six, as I always say with inverted commas. But it has been really a great experience and to have people reach out to us and say, we really appreciate what you guys are doing, we recognise it, we enjoy the content, and we appreciate the community that you guys have started to build has been a really rewarding experience. It's fantastic and we do want to grow. I mean, are you the same as Alex? Was there any other Tony and Jean you, or were you just on your own as well? No, I was on my own, I mean I had friends who, one of my best best friends is a United supporter, so at least he knows about the league and he follows it closely, but to not have anyone to really empathise with the struggles that we go through on a week to week basis, the ups and downs, it was nice to connect with someone to be able to have weekly, bi-weekly conversations about the toffees. So how often do you record then? Yeah, twice a week usually right, we'll do some sort of pre-match or preview episode and then a post-match episode. Obviously sometimes it gets a little bit dodgy on the off season, right, or during winter break and that sort of thing, but generally speaking two times a week. Two times a week and you enjoy it? It's been great. I mean having, I've wanted to make the trip of course over here for years and years and years and it never really had the framework or the network to be able to make something like it happen and I attribute it entirely to the podcast and the amount of connections we've been able to make through Twitter, through the internet and then to come over and actually meet people face to face and shake their hand. It's been like being welcomed into a family and having talked to many people all over here, that's how they describe it. It's not just a club, it's truly a family and we've really felt that since we've been here. So guess the aim is to try and grow, not only your podcast, but to try and get some of its own in both where you live. You know that's, I don't know whether you're going to go out with leaflets or whatever and become a blue, you know, because obviously, I mean, John's just sat off camera and be off, we've had this discussion many times that I'm paired, there's a massive advocate of Everton going over to America and doing more. I mean it comes to you with 320 million people, there must be quite a lot of people who don't know they're Evertonians to quote John at times there, you know, like you two. I mean you, especially Alex, like six years ago you were in a blue and now you are and doing something like this and you've made that journey, you know, to come and what's the game. There must be a lot of people who are almost waiting to become Evertonians and I would suggest there's probably no better time to start getting people involved now because you've got a well-class manager, you've got some good, exciting young players, you know, Dominic Harvelywm, Richard Charleson, Mason Holgate, you know, just signed a new deal. We've got a brand new stadium on the horizon, you know, a lot of positivity and it's difficult because obviously the other club from the city is doing very well and has a large American presence due to obviously John Henry and FSG and all of that stuff and they go to America every year now and this is something that is definitely a bug bear with me and Peth is that we had Glandon Donovan, we had Tim Howard who we've met, Go on further back we've had Prechie who's been over, we've had Morris Johnston, McBride, he was great and that's a real frustration for me, McBride because he was brilliant for us and we didn't have half a million pounds of buying and he went to Fulham and he's great for Fulham for three or four years so it annoys me that we could have tied him down but our links with American players does go back over a long period of time and really, really annoying that we haven't seized upon that. I remember reading something when we got Llandon Donovan, there was 883, I remember the figure, stories every day across America about Llandon Donovan and Everton and how did the club not build upon that so I mean obviously listening to your two stories and you're saying nobody for me to talk to is an Evertonian giving out big, you know, boat's data I suppose is that how can Everton increase that presence and Oda's Everton have set up Everton in the USA and they've had a couple of these NBC days and Tim Howard's gone along to one of them and Liam Hansman's gone over, we've seen that before and Paul Ridehouse who's obviously the last player to score a winning goal that one of the trophy is based out in America and he's there as well so in your views, how do you... I think he comes down to the, well this is a huge gripe for us all the time but I think it comes down to, you know, the rumors were that the club were going to come to DC last summer, right? Rooney was there, it felt like it was literally just made to be all you have to do is book the tickets, we both agree we would actually meet for the first time there if that happened and it never came to be, right? And it's been quite a few years since Everton came to the United States for a pre-season tour before I started following up 2013 it was so I think that would be a great first step, right? Just bring the club to the States these premier league in the USA events he went to the one in which he was able to actually get a picture of Liam Hansman, right? But that was in Boston, right? They're having one coming up in Philadelphia in which Tim Howard will be going to but those are just the major cities and actually why don't you expand upon what your experience was even at that event in terms of the number of Everton fans compared to a bunch of other fans just in dress? That event was unbelievable to me just to see you would see all 20 premier league clubs representing kits from everywhere and someone made a comment when we were talking about that over here said you could never do something like that in England because there'd be fights left and right it's not the same level maybe of I guess you don't have that ingrained in you but I do think that those NBC has done a good job of sort of marketing the league and I will say that soccer is I think the biggest, fastest growing spectator sport in the US I think that within the next 15 or 20 years it could be the second most popular in the country especially for youth players as American football the long term negative health effects of that sport I think more parents are going to push their kids towards soccer and then you have of course the premier league I think is the best football product in the world and it's very marketable and then a club like Everton who as you said are well poised to sort of very bright next 5, 10 years as we move into the new stadium as these things start to happen it just amounts to the club having a presence in the US and making sure to try to build out that network and making efforts and I think they've started to do that like you said I think Tim Howard was a huge missed opportunity but to be fair to the club at the time maybe they didn't have the resources or the focus to necessarily be prioritizing foreign markets now that we're in a financially secure position a lot more with expanding on what's being done by the NBC and all of those places to grow the club and I think Everton have a very strong brand with the history with the American connections as you said it's about communicating that outwards and then I mean the best thing that they can do is win a trophy of course that's what will really bring but beyond that I do think that there's marketing efforts that can be made because I think the brand of Everton is an extremely strong one that's extremely appealing to Americans for a lot of ways I think sports fandom in the United States isn't as geographically tied as it might be over here you've got fans on the east coast that will root for the LA Dodgers for example because it's not nearly as common to go to the match week in week out because the price most fans have been priced out in the US because it's become so commercialized so a lot of fans consume sport through the television and so with the Premier League being now very accessible through television in the US I think that if fans can understand the history of Everton the way that we're going and if we can get some players who draw the eye like we have with the Charleston there will be people who are drawn in and then won't be able to get away It's a nail on that Well what was when you entered that MBC event was a lot of Evertsons there Yeah no there were for sure I mean certainly drowned out being in Boston where Fenway Sports Group obviously owns the other side of the park but there were a lot of Evertonians and it was very cool to see how many there were and to meet them and watching the match I believe we played West Ham that day and we won two nails so that was a very cool very cool to see and then having Leon there the Everton fans you know and just being over here you know as soon as you meet a blue you know they're probably pretty sound so it was very cool and yeah just unlike anything I'd ever experienced to see all the fans of the sport come together and I got there at probably 6.30am and waited in line for probably two and a half hours to get into the pub to watch the match because the demand like I said it's growing very fast and it's growing among the younger demographics especially and there'll be fans for life you know once it's touched you nothing will be the same so That's exactly it He wrote that down before coming out On his arm just there You're talking about going out there and having Everton can do and it's absolutely right and me and Ped have had this discussion and you can go and find these videos all over the place because I think every three or four months we do and why aren't we doing something in America video and one of the things we thought was that if the club goes out to choose us somewhere you know George or something whatever whatever go out there but take Everton and take the ladies team with them and take maybe the 23s with them and do like a week in a one of the states and play games for those three and do like a couple of coaching surgeries as they're called that's the way because I know Liverpool do stuff like that and that's the way to really draw people in people who might just like football, stroke, soccer as you call it and they're just interested in the kids you know matching them going and the charlatans there and people like that that's the way you hook those people in and it's a big country where you can there's so much potential for growth I mean is that something that you think it works something like that so the market share has not even been close to tapped in terms of how many people that I feel we've had this discussion many times how many people that can become fans of a Premier League team let alone Everton the thing is it comes down to Everton need a little bit more success I say that because we now have the access I understand Sky Sports is quite expensive here we pay $50 for an entire season to watch all Premier League matches on NBCSN the access for the entire season the access is unbelievable the access is unbelievable but I'd also like to think that not the majority of people that may not be either A soccer fans or B Premier League fans are not going to turn on a random match and decide to choose whatever the 10th place team to follow most people, most human beings are not going to do that so it comes down to success but getting the team in person all of it right the first team the women's team the U23s in person is important A it's a great marketing opportunity for the MLS clubs that are there the MLS clubs will be like yes please tell us the date we'll bend to your schedule I'm not kidding the quality of play that spectators in the states can see if Everton were to come even the U23s the women that would be another very important factor in being able to pick up fans it might not make sense like obviously they'll show up in person and then they might get some fans but really the underlying factor is you compare that to what you can watch in the states in person at least on a regular basis and it is nowhere near the level you now have a premium product sat here possibly playing against your favorite MLS team that is going to welcome you with open arms it's a no brainer 100% absolutely I mean I've gone a lot of the city play Philadelphia Union, play Atlanta United I enjoy it I love MLS I love football, I love MLS because it's bizarre goals and madness the interest grow Beckins team now into Miami look what city you've done with NYC there's a lot of that is growing without a shadow you write it if you're into soccer and you're watching an MLS club why not have a Premier League club that Premier League club I'd love Everton to go to Orlando and play I understand that places like Georgia anywhere choose somewhere and go we're going to have this state we're going to put our brand because if you're a fan of soccer and this Premier League club then there's this week of events going on where maybe the first team will play a friendly on a Tuesday against Atlanta United like safer argument and then the women's will play Atlanta team and the 123s will play either Atlanta or the state side or whatever seeing those players in person gives you that link immediately doesn't it you're tired towards that oh where are these I'll have a look out for them when they go back and we make it people like yourself Alex you go there my club and I'm watching the same and the other thing with the Premier League as a whole and not necessarily Everton specific is the time difference makes the games air on weekend morning so you can wake up at 7.30 if you're on the shout out to the west coast blues in the US because they wake up at 4.30 am sometimes but you wake up 7.30 8.30 9.30 you watch the match it's noon you still have the rest of your day whereas if it's a prime time sporting event in the US you're thinking 8 that's your whole evening gone it's a very appealing sporting event I love waking up on the weekend it's my favorite thing in the world to wake up and watch the match so I just think that the sky is the limit with the parameters that are currently in place for the Premier League in the US Everton, just listen to the lads are telling you telling you today so what have you got on them for the rest of your time over here you're here till tomorrow in England tomorrow we're going to go down to London we figured we can't just come for one match hence we're going to go to Chelsea away and so honestly we're going to go to London and figure it out all the tourist stuff right most of our trip in Liverpool has been Everton centric so it'll be nice to be just straight up essentially tourist at that point but nonetheless Chelsea away so we're going to Finch Farm right after this and then we'll be headed off to London tomorrow morning maybe try to catch a match on Saturday and then of course the match at Chelsea on Sunday hopefully we can break the losing streak away at Stamford Bridge 25 years it's actually 26 years this year if we don't win so hopefully you too at the lucky time I mean since the lads have been amazing side Liverpool have lost 3-0 and 2-0 so just saying the weather's been fantastic fantastic's not the right way but better than what it was compared to what it was last week so Q with Liverpool 0-1 on the weekend and then that's it I don't think anyone will be let you go home with that so stay here this isn't lovely to me here enjoy the Finch Farm enjoy the rest of your stay here keep fighting the good fight abroad back home and keep spreading Evan's word come on we can do it lads get Evan into the USA I'm sure we'll see the lads on this channel again most definitely with Skypes and all of that kind of thing so thanks very much check out the American Toffy podcast where can people find it boys pretty much everywhere iTunes, Spotify, YouTube even although we don't do a whole video right it's just a still but nonetheless pretty much every major platform and find us on Twitter at USA Toffy pod find us on Instagram under the same handle and join our discord too you can find the links to that we've started to build a little network chat room for Toffys to chat so if you're interested please join do it do all of that get behind the lads listen to the American Toffy podcast thanks very much for watching give the video a thumbs up subscribe if you haven't and if you want more videos join us over on page cheers boys