Socal named as Operator for National 1 League

[Karlton Athletic]

I know at least 2 clubs doing this. What comes around goes around for Socal league - this is what they did to Coast a few years ago.

ECNL can't hoard all the "talent" as much as they are trying.

But isn't EA / MLSN just the same, gated community? You can't get promoted to EA2, to EA, to MLSN AD, to MLSN HD right? You have to be invited (as a club, not a team). The only difference is that SoCal now seems to have a more formal relationship with ECNL, and EA seems to have adopted a quantity over quality approach (not saying that's wrong, incidentally).

 

[chipmonk]

Doesn't matter if you play NPL, SoCal, DPL or PSSLU. If a kid is good and wants to move on they will move on. I would be more concerned with club directors at small clubs that DON'T want a player to progress in their development by moving on to a larger club and are intentionally holding back their development.

I'm sure that happens, but I don't see it very much. I see the club directors and coaches at the larger clubs over promising and/or bait and switching parents and players much more often. The clubs that are consistently top 4 in MLSn, ecnl, are the less likely to do this, but when a small club director/coach points out that the bottom third of those clubs aren't really a step up in development they can get vilified. If geography rules out those clubs and the small club is blocked from competing, you're stuck with shitty options for moving on.