Amid all the confusion and tattered hopes of transfer deadline day you may have missed that the Rochester Rhinos starting goalkeeper secured a switch to Northampton Town FC.  Northampton Town play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football, probably a fair step up from the quality found in the American third division in which the Rhinos currently play.

But this transfer raises more questions in my mind than just comparing leagues across the pond.  Broadly, how are the structure of clubs and leagues different on either side of the Atlantic?  But more concretely, what does this transfer, and others like it, tell us about the mentality of operating a soccer club in the lower divisions of the United States. Continue reading →