Scott Michaels ends his Matchmaker routine, or so we thought

We thought it was all over, but nope. He's back again

While I’ve been busy with the World Cup and the latest FIFA Corruption issues, this was on my radar for the last month or so. As many of us saw and as I reported here on Beyond the 90, Englishman Scott “Matchmaker” Michaels was trying to enter American soccer and wanted to find a way to take over the game by creating a league with no U.S. Soccer backing or any FIFA backing, as he felt the game was broken and he wanted to make changes here in the States instead of his birth nation.

Well, about a month ago, Michaels posted on his LinkedIn page that he’s done with it. He’s given up and was walking away from this impossible project. He posted,

“For five years, football was my life.

Today, I’m closing that chapter.

This is the hardest article I’ve ever written, but also the most honest.

It’s about purpose, failure, identity, family, and why sometimes the bravest thing you can do is put the weight down.

Goodbye, Matchmaker. Hello, Scott Michaels.”

For all the articles I have written and given my own personal opinions of this man, let me come into this with a clear mind and a calmness in how I would like to discuss this. While it was nice that he wanted to challenge the people who run the game in this country, he went about it the wrong way. Hiring an actor to play a spokesman or a so-called commissioner of this NSL league was not how he should’ve entered the game in the USA.

He was full of bluster; he created fake news articles from different news agencies, which he claimed were to get eyes on his product. Purchasing the rights of former NASL clubs that claimed they were coming back to their cities, but never showed up. He insulted the Soccer Media in the USA and started fights with podcasters who only wanted real information from Michaels on what he wanted to do and why in the USA.

The final straw for me personally was his claim to have taken the rights to the New York Cosmos and to legitimately bring them back from the dead a second time. He created a fake news story from Fort Wayne, Indiana, about the Cosmos being back and never contacted the proper news channels or newspapers that cover New York City and New York City Sports.

This man never contacted any of the Atlanta News Media about the official return of the Chiefs, the Washington, D.C. News Media on the return of the Diplomats, the Philadelphia news media about the Fury, and so on. Just say they are coming back, and never contact players to be a part of these teams, and never have a true game plan to get his precious National Soccer League off the ground, and let’s not forget, there’s already an NSL League in the Amateur Divisions of U.S. Soccer.

We understand that the corruption of the game has been going on from Joao Havelange to the Sepp Blatter era to the Gianni Infantino era, and he’s currently in hot water with his FIFA Forward Enterprise Proposal that he pulled and how he blustered in a FIFA meeting by saying no one will disrespect this organization. No one is happy about this, and neither was I, but Mr. Michaels has no authority to challenge FIFA. He can complain about it like the rest of us, and as we saw, the top brass of the Asian AFC, CONCACAF & UEFA have joined forces to fight this issue.

When someone has an idea, and he wants to drive a wedge into how the game is managed by the powers of governance from the U.S. Soccer Federation and CONCACAF at the Regional and international level, what he needs to do is truly put down some real skin in the game in the USA and own a real factual club. Stop being a Pinocchio and become a real boy. Don’t hang out on the sidelines and shout towards the pitch to claim you can do it better than regular people can. Actually go out there and do it.

He insulted the fans, he insulted the media, he insulted everyone because we dared to challenge him on his ideas of what he was trying to do. No, Mr. Michaels. We, the American Soccer Community, wanted real answers, not made-up dreams that would never become reality. There has been too much that was born and died a financial death across the board from the East to the West, from the North to the South. It might not be perfect like Jolly Old England, but it’s hours.

People wanted real answers, and Matchmaker never gave any. That’s what is so frustrating about this man. Just point his finger of blame and called legitimate reporters of the game frauds and bullshit artists, when all he had to do was turn his thumbs and point them in his direction. We’ve had good people come into the professional and amateur leagues by creating clubs and hoped to survive for a very long time. While some have, others died from not enough money or saw the writing on the wall after a season or two when a bigger league came into town and ended it right there.

It hurt to see the San Diego Loyal close up shop because they knew San Diego FC was going to take away soccer fans from them. The Rio Grande Valley Toros shutting down and seeing their beautiful stadium for the game now becoming a college football stadium. Mayor Hogsett of Indianapolis ended his backing for Indy Eleven’s downtown soccer stadium because he was wooed by a supposed MLS Team coming in and taking over the city. Does Mr. Michaels understand his so-called big fish ideas are actually a little fish in a big pond?

His league would have never gotten off the ground because of the possible lawsuits that U.S. Soccer would have brought, with the backing of CONCACAF and FIFA. It just wouldn’t work. What he should do is be a part of an ownership group and help create a USL club in either the Championship, League 1, or League 2. Maybe an MLS Next Pro Club that’s independent. Or an NPSL Club or a League For Clubs member. Instead, he had to swing for the fences, and it barely made it past the pitcher’s mound.

Just when we all thought this was completely over, now Michaels has decided to make a return. Now he’s creating A.I. merch ideas to follow a possible rebirth of the LA Aztecs. With two gentlemen joining him, and for some reason I don’t know if they are actually real co-owners of an ownership group, or once again, using A.I. to make them look real. He also made a post on his LinkedIn page about building a possible soccer stadium in the Los Angeles area.

This also means reviving his idea of the NSL Soccer League. This man thinks crowdfunding is the way to go, but once again, who will listen to him? Who will part with their hard-earned money to assist in his dreams? Does he have a financial partner to help him crunch the numbers? While it’s nice to have the Sounders, the Earthquakes, the Timbers, the Whitecaps and the Cosmos back from their NASL days to MLS and USL in these recent times, I can’t see the Aztecs making a legit return. Because LAFC & the LA Galaxy have the grip on the city and Southern California before reaching the San Diego area.

I thought he learned his lesson. I thought he finally got some common sense. But no. He will never understand that what he is doing is ruining the game for himself and us. Just stay on your side of the pond and close your so-called magic trunk of football ideas, sir. You are doing no one any good, and you are making a fool of yourself. It’s not funny anymore; it’s become sad. Just give up and move on. Do yourself and your family a favor and ride off into the sunset. We don’t need you over here. We can fix our own problems.