Richmond "Richie" Laryea

[Kadenge]

23 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

And not to mention, the Richie from two years ago- and he hasn’t taken a leap since- was deemed not good enough for the championship both by the manager and by the fans. Wouldn’t be the first player to get unfairly slagged by the fans, but I don’t see a world in which he’s a premier league quality player. He’s got a place in the championship, but he can either be one of the best players at his position in MLS and play near his home, or he can go be just another guy in a league where he’d have to live in some provincial English town that is probably not quite on the level of Toronto (or whichever MLS club he lands at) in terms of living quality. 

Guessing you haven't lived in Toronto recently 🙂

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, Kadenge said:

Guessing you haven't lived in Toronto recently 🙂

Never have, but I was there last month. Would hate to live under those prices, but if you’re making MLS money, doesn’t seem like the worst city to live in. 

[Kadenge]

1 minute ago, InglewoodJack said:

Never have, but I was there last month. Would hate to live under those prices, but if you’re making MLS money, doesn’t seem like the worst city to live in. 

There's a LOT more issues than cost of living in TO. Let's just say that a smaller city/town in England looks pretty enticing, at least for me, to raise a family, but I guess it depends on the individual.

[Watchmen]

35 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

And not to mention, the Richie from two years ago- and he hasn’t taken a leap since- was deemed not good enough for the championship both by the manager and by the fans. Wouldn’t be the first player to get unfairly slagged by the fans, but I don’t see a world in which he’s a premier league quality player. He’s got a place in the championship, but he can either be one of the best players at his position in MLS and play near his home, or he can go be just another guy in a league where he’d have to live in some provincial English town that is probably not quite on the level of Toronto (or whichever MLS club he lands at) in terms of living quality. 

I'm taking the English provincial town and Campionship football in this scenario.

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

There's a LOT more issues than cost of living in TO. Let's just say that a smaller city/town in England looks pretty enticing, at least for me, to raise a family, but I guess it depends on the individual.

I mean, sure, there are some areas in Toronto you probably don't want to raise your kids in, but Toronto is not short on safe areas with good schools, access to jobs, a community, etc. (assuming this is along the lines of what you are getting at). I say this as a born and raised Montrealer raised with no love for our sister city down the 401, but Toronto is pretty high up there in terms of big cities to start a life in. Depends also on what your preferences are about living in a major city vs. smaller city, rural areas, etc. obviously.

 

3 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I'm taking the English provincial town and Campionship football in this scenario.

You taking your chances in Leeds, Leicester, Birmingham, etc.? We're not talking about Downton Abbey provincial. Will defer to any of our UK based posters for a better take on life in England, but you can do a hell of a lot worse than Toronto in provincial English towns by just about every measure. You take Leicester- probably the best sporting situation in the entire championship, like half of that city's neighbourhoods earn less than 20k GBP per year. You'd have to go to the absolute bowels of Toronto to find such poverty. Obviously our economies are different, income isn't the only factor here and Toronto is one of the world's most expensive cities, but I'd watch what I wish for re: living in England.

[Shway]

42 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

And not to mention, the Richie from two years ago- and he hasn’t taken a leap since- was deemed not good enough for the championship both by the manager and by the fans. Wouldn’t be the first player to get unfairly slagged by the fans, but I don’t see a world in which he’s a premier league quality player. He’s got a place in the championship, but he can either be one of the best players at his position in MLS and play near his home, or he can go be just another guy in a league where he’d have to live in some provincial English town that is probably not quite on the level of Toronto (or whichever MLS club he lands at) in terms of living quality. 

At 29, I'm taking the MLS money and playing in either Vancouver or Toronto.

Small old English town isn't for everyone. Assimilating is a real thing. 

[Watchmen]

3 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

You taking your chances in Leeds, Leicester, Birmingham, etc.? We're not talking about Downton Abbey provincial. Will defer to any of our UK based posters for a better take on life in England, but you can do a hell of a lot worse than Toronto in provincial English towns by just about every measure. You take Leicester- probably the best sporting situation in the entire championship, like half of that city's neighbourhoods earn less than 20k GBP per year. You'd have to go to the absolute bowels of Toronto to find such poverty. Obviously our economies are different, income isn't the only factor here and Toronto is one of the world's most expensive cities, but I'd watch what I wish for re: living in England.

Significantly higher income would be the only reason I'd take the MLS job over a Championship one. I'd rather have the experience. But that's not for everyone.

7 minutes ago, Shway said:

At 29, I'm taking the MLS money and playing in either Vancouver or Toronto.

Small old English town isn't for everyone. Assimilating is a real thing. 

At 29 and having played most of my career in MLS, I'm taking the experience of playing abroad, in a higher caliber league, in a country where the sport is number one. That's not for everyone.

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, Shway said:

At 29, I'm taking the MLS money and playing in either Vancouver or Toronto.

Small old English town isn't for everyone. Assimilating is a real thing. 

I mean, hey, you wanna raise your kids in a safe, affordable town? Come on down to CF Montreal.

Richie posts a lot about his wife and kid on IG- that should be a big consideration for him too. Unless you're making way more money abroad and you have a shot to go to a bigger team and make even way more money- I think the former is probably not the case and the latter definitely isn't the case- there's just no point. His kid is probably going to start school in the next couple years; it's probably not a good idea to uproot their entire life when what you have at home is realistically just as good as what you can get abroad.

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, Watchmen said:

Significantly higher income would be the only reason I'd take the MLS job over a Championship one. I'd rather have the experience. But that's not for everyone.

At 29 and having played most of my career in MLS, I'm taking the experience of playing abroad, in a higher caliber league, in a country where the sport is number one. That's not for everyone.

I hear you on the experience angle. I think when you're settling down with a family there's a whole bunch of things to take into consideration. If I was a single 29 year old with nothing really holding me down in Canada and I got an offer abroad to experience life playing in the world's biggest soccer market, I would 1000% go. I don't know what Osorio's personal situation is, but from what I understand, what you are describing is basically why he tried signing in the Championship last year. There's a good argument for it, I just think players at his age and life stage have to consider the impact of uprooting your life, especially after it didn't work the first time, and what that means to your close ones. I would 100% support him trying his luck in England again, just don't think it makes too much sense.

[MauditYvon]

Birmingham a small city… lol

[kacbru]

Here in NZ, I've got friends from Huddersfield - their uncle still runs a pub there.  Let's just say they don't speak fondly of it... Still completely mad Huddersfield FC supporters - they know more about David Edgar's career than most!

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, MauditYvon said:

Birmingham a small city… lol

Like the size of Ottawa, no? Not a village, but definitely different than major cities like Toronto.

[MauditYvon]

20 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Like the size of Ottawa, no? Not a village, but definitely different than major cities like Toronto.

Birmingham has a bigger metro population than Montréal. 4.6 millions. Greater Manchester is at >2.5 millions.

[RS]

1 hour ago, InglewoodJack said:

I say this as a born and raised Montrealer raised with no love for our sister city down the 401, but Toronto is pretty high up there in terms of big cities to start a life in.

I'm curious. Aside from sports, why would a Montrealer have "no love" for Toronto (and vice versa)?

Both cities are great.

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, El Diego said:

You do realize that Forest had not been in the Premier League since 1999, that when Cooper was appointed seven matches into the season Forest were literally in last place, that he got them promoted that same season, and then kept them in the Premier League the next season?

Their real mistake was giving that guy the reins?

He's also the first guy to get them close to relegation from EPL in this century, if you want to put it that way.

He's a dolt for many reasons, but in terms of this board, not even giving Richie a chance was poor on his part. Then he accepted this ridiculous process of cleaning out so many key players who got them promoted (you forget them, it seems), and replacing them with expensive signings who have failed. 

Another way to look at it: Cooper promotes with players he did not sign and is flirting with relegation with guys he did.

[El Diego]

8 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

He's also the first guy to get them close to relegation from EPL in this century, if you want to put it that way.

He's a dolt for many reasons, but in terms of this board, not even giving Richie a chance was poor on his part. Then he accepted this ridiculous process of cleaning out so many key players who got them promoted (you forget them, it seems), and replacing them with expensive signings who have failed. 

Another way to look at it: Cooper promotes with players he did not sign and is flirting with relegation with guys he did.

"He's also the first guy to get them close to relegation from EPL in this century, if you want to put it that way."

Am I meant to take this seriously as an argument?

"He's a dolt for many reasons, but in terms of this board, not even giving Richie a chance was poor on his part."

Richie joined when Forest were on their insane run. No manager would have inserted Richie in that context.

"Then he accepted this ridiculous process of cleaning out so many key players who got them promoted (you forget them, it seems), and replacing them with expensive signings who have failed." 

If you think that Cooper was the driving force behind the transfer policy and not their psycho owner, then you haven't been paying attention. Probably their two best players in their promotion season were loanees (Spence and Garner) and a third (Zinckernagel) was pretty important also. Brice Samba was probably the only important player to leave via transfer.

"Another way to look at it: Cooper promotes with players he did not sign and is flirting with relegation with guys he did."

Yes, the Premier League is a better league than the Championship. What's your point?

I'm not even saying that Cooper necessarily deserved to stay on, but to say that Forest made a "real mistake" by entrusting the club to him is beyond belief.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 minute ago, El Diego said:

"He's also the first guy to get them close to relegation from EPL in this century, if you want to put it that way."

Am I meant to take this seriously as an argument?

"He's a dolt for many reasons, but in terms of this board, not even giving Richie a chance was poor on his part."

Richie joined when Forest were on their insane run. No manager would have inserted Richie in that context.

"Then he accepted this ridiculous process of cleaning out so many key players who got them promoted (you forget them, it seems), and replacing them with expensive signings who have failed." 

If you think that Cooper was the driving force behind the transfer policy and not their psycho owner, then you haven't been paying attention. Probably their two best players in their promotion season were loanees (Spence and Garner) and a third (Zinckernagel) was pretty important also. Brice Samba was probably the only important player to leave via transfer.

"Another way to look at it: Cooper promotes with players he did not sign and is flirting with relegation with guys he did."

Yes, the Premier League is a better league than the Championship. What's your point?

I'm not even saying that Cooper necessarily deserved to stay on, but to say that Forest made a "real mistake" by entrusting the club to him is beyond belief.

I was mostly trash-talking because I'm a Canada fan butt-hurt for Richie, all good.

But you seem to actually like the guy and want to give him hero status, I always found him disagreeable.

[Mihairokov]

4 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

You taking your chances in Leeds, Leicester, Birmingham, etc.? We're not talking about Downton Abbey provincial. Will defer to any of our UK based posters for a better take on life in England, but you can do a hell of a lot worse than Toronto in provincial English towns by just about every measure.

I mean you can list these places but my mind immediately went to Ipswich, Stoke, Rotherham...perhaps many here haven't been to much of the UK but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone picking some of those places over Toronto based solely on city and its amenities.

Again, perhaps people haven't been to Toronto, but that city is nowhere near as bad or unsafe as media will make these things out to be sometimes. The occasional story does not make much of a dent in a city of literally millions, to the extent that I think many outside of the area underestimate just how large Toronto is and how relatively nice it is compared to some of its comparisons. More than willing to compare violent crime stats in Toronto versus Chicago.

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I was mostly trash-talking because I'm a Canada fan butt-hurt for Richie, all good.

I think it goes without saying that Laryea ended up at the right club at the wrong time. Not sure why we feel the need to throw the manager under the bus when it was simply a good transfer at the wrong time. Similar to, say, Borges to Leuven. Made a lot of sense but fell through when the level of the club changed.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Mihairokov

[An Observer]

3 hours ago, MauditYvon said:

Birmingham has a bigger metro population than Montréal. 4.6 millions. Greater Manchester is at >2.5 millions.

Birmingham may be larger than Montreal but frankly its a shit hole in comparison.

[SthMelbRed]

5 minutes ago, An Observer said:

Birmingham may be larger than Montreal but frankly its a shit hole in comparison.

Don't believe some of the rubbish being posted further back.

You'd absolutely choose living in any major Canadian city over just about anywhere in the UK based on lifestyle factors. London was a great place to live for a few years as an experience. We were a childless couple approaching middle age, and we were able to do a lot of travelling that simply isn't practical while living in Australia, but we never once considered living in the UK over Melbourne long term. If we had kids, we'd probably never lasted as long as we did. We're friends with a former colleague of my missus. She made the move at the same time as us. She has two daughters. They're still there, barely making ends meet even on a professionals salary. She's not making short-hop visits to cool, European towns on weekends, or jumping on the train to Liverpool for an overnight 'cause she managed to get a ticket to Anfield.

Liverpool, or Manchester, or Edinburgh are great places to visit, but you wouldn't necessarily want to live your whole life there if your other options are Vancouver or Melbourne (or Toronto, even though I've lived my 48 years waiting for the earth to swallow up that whole city 😄 ).

[spitfire]

I would choose the UK over Toronto any day.. I’ve lived here for 11 years now (40 years in Canada almost always in and around Toronto) for me CANADA is a beautiful country with wide open spaces and opportunities but it’s not what it’s made out to be.
 

The UK has a different way of thinking about life and living. At least in my experience. Family is important, holidays are important. In the UK you work to LIVE. They still have Sunday shopping hours (only 5 hrs on a Sunday) you get 25 days holiday a year plus 8 bank holidays at an everyday job like Tesco… you have to plan Your life better make time to do things not like Canada where everything is a 24hr convenience culture with no patience or understanding. (I used to got to Loblaws at 10pm to do my grocery shopping in Mississauga) or 2 weeks holidays at most jobs… 

I’m sure I have rose coloured glasses but long after Liam retires I won’t be coming back…. 

[Snowcrash]

12 hours ago, An Observer said:

Birmingham may be larger than Montreal but frankly its a shit hole in comparison.

I would put it slightly differently but I can't disagree with you.

[InglewoodJack]

15 hours ago, RS said:

I'm curious. Aside from sports, why would a Montrealer have "no love" for Toronto (and vice versa)?

Both cities are great.

There's a mentality in Montreal, more so ~20 years ago than now that Toronto is everything we're not- it's expensive, stuffy, everyone is corporate, no authentic culture, American in every way but name, etc. That's clearly not the case anymore (except the expensive part). My family also hails from Northern Ontario, so from their perspective, the entire province runs around the GTA and the rest doesn't matter, especially the french part, so when my family started moving to the big cities, they found Montreal to be a lot more welcoming than Toronto. As an adult, I've been there countless times, and each time I have a better time. My only complaints are that it's too big, too modern, everyone lives on top of each other, but that's just a product of being a massive city that's rapidly growing.

16 hours ago, MauditYvon said:

Birmingham has a bigger metro population than Montréal. 4.6 millions. Greater Manchester is at >2.5 millions.

Wouldn't have guessed it. Birmingham's metro area has a couple other cities in it too. Which I guess Montreal's does as well. I don't know that Birmingham is a world class city on par with Montreal though.

12 hours ago, Mihairokov said:

I mean you can list these places but my mind immediately went to Ipswich, Stoke, Rotherham...perhaps many here haven't been to much of the UK but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone picking some of those places over Toronto based solely on city and its amenities.

Again, perhaps people haven't been to Toronto, but that city is nowhere near as bad or unsafe as media will make these things out to be sometimes. The occasional story does not make much of a dent in a city of literally millions, to the extent that I think many outside of the area underestimate just how large Toronto is and how relatively nice it is compared to some of its comparisons. More than willing to compare violent crime stats in Toronto versus Chicago.

I think it goes without saying that Laryea ended up at the right club at the wrong time. Not sure why we feel the need to throw the manager under the bus when it was simply a good transfer at the wrong time. Similar to, say, Borges to Leuven. Made a lot of sense but fell through when the level of the club changed.

Yeah, there are really nice towns that have clubs in the Championship- from an athlete's perspective, they don't really have the choice whether you're going to Ipswitch or Leicester or Huddersfield, so you can't exactly shop for the best living town, you go where you are wanted. To your point though, I think a lot of Canadians have a romantic view of England as the old country that is just like the story books, but there's a lot of difficult areas that are comparatively very rough to what we'd expect in Canada. On the other hand, if Canada had a fully fleshed out soccer pyramid (or even hockey), playing in some of these towns we're talking about is no different than signing a contract to go play in beautiful, wealthy Canada, and you find out that your team is based in like, Sudbury Ontario.

As for what you're saying about Toronto, totally agree. I think the media is incentivized to make major cities sound like active war zones, and being that Toronto is our biggest city by far, you're obviously going to hear about every single crime that happens to the point where people think you need to walk around armed to go to the store. Some dodgy parts, but it's not like one of the highest paid TFC players is exactly going to go and live in some area with a large gang presence.

In any case, my original comment was less about slagging the UK and more about how a guy at Laryea's point in his career might prioritize living at home in the major city he comes from with his young family rather than uproot them for a small town in another country where he'd likely only spend a few years living in in the best of cases. The experience of living in a new place is super awesome, but when you have other responsibilities, you need to factor those in too. I think the UK in general has a lot to offer, but at Laryea's career stage, don't know if it's enough for where he's at in life.

[Kadenge]

The City of Toronto has and is growing way too fast for the existing infrastructure. Without getting into politics and corruption, the City's planning dept has been derailed by Provincial override. Intensification is out of control with unaffordable condos, 70% micro 1 bedroom units replacing affordable rental units, most bought by investors who rent them out short term on Airbnb without adequate enforcement. There's a lack of schools, parkland and required services. There's gridlock everywhere, including the DVP & 401. Very difficult to get around if you drive and very few drivers obey traffic rules as there is no police enforcement. Subways and streetcars break down frequently and the homeless use TTC as temp accommodation. People with mental health issues find themselves on the street without adequate medical treatment. God help you if you need a family doctor or go to a hospital emerg dept. The Eglington LRT still has no completion date, more than 12 yrs after construction started. Sewer systems are overflooding and there is a lack of water pressure for fire hydrants in some areas. I wont get into the growing crime issue. The City of TO is broke. Apparently TO is the 4th largest city in NA, 5th if you include Mexico. There are more construction cranes in TO than any other NA city.  Perhaps all of these issues don't mean much if you are young and want the big city life aka NYC2, unless you need to rent a place of your own. Apologies for the rant.

 

[dyslexic nam]

God I hope Richie is taking this all in.