Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Alan Ronald Merrick | ||
Date of birth | 20 June 1950 | ||
Place of birth | Selly Oak, Birmingham, England | ||
Position(s) | Defender | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1968–1975 | West Bromwich Albion | 131 | (5) |
1975 | → Peterborough (loan) | 5 | (0) |
1976–1979 | Minnesota Kicks | 103 | (4) |
1979–1980 | Pittsburgh Spirit (indoor) | 1 | (0) |
1980 | Los Angeles Aztecs | 22 | (2) |
1981 | San Jose Earthquakes | 12 | (0) |
1981 | Minnesota Kicks | 12 | (2) |
1982 | Toronto Blizzard | 30 | (5) |
1983 | Team America | 18 | (0) |
International career | |||
1968 | England U18 | 3 | (0) |
1983 | United States | 1 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
1984–1988 | Minnesota Strikers | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Alan Ronald Merrick (born 20 June 1950) is a retired professional association footballer who played as a defender in England, the North American Soccer League and the Major Indoor Soccer League. Born in England, he earned one cap with the United States national team in 1983, having previously represented the England U18.
Merrick was born in Selly Oak, Birmingham, but grew up in North Warwickshire, where he attended Water Orton Junior School and Coleshill Grammar School. [1] He joined West Bromwich Albion in July 1966, turning professional in August 1967. [1] He made his senior debut in September 1968 in a League Cup tie against Peterborough United and in the same year won three England youth caps. [1] In 1975 the team loaned Merrick to second division club Peterborough. At the end of the season, Merrick moved to the USA where he signed with the Minnesota Kicks of the North American Soccer League. Merrick remained with the Kicks through the 1979 season when he moved to the Los Angeles Aztecs. Merrick moved again at the end of the season, to the San Jose Earthquakes for the 1981 season. However, after twelve games, the Earthquakes traded Merrick to the Minnesota Kicks. At the end of the 1981 season, the Kicks traded Merrick to the Toronto Blizzard for the 1982 season. In 1983, the U.S. Soccer Federation, in coordination with the NASL, entered the U.S. national team, known as Team America, into the NASL as a league franchise. The team drew on U.S. citizens playing in the NASL, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Soccer League. Merrick left the Blizzard and signed with Team America. When Team America finished the 1983 season with a 10–20 record, the worst in the NASL, USSF withdrew the team from the league.
In 1968, Merrick played three times for the England national under-18 football team at the Junior World Cup Tournament in the South of France against Bulgaria, Russia and the Netherlands.
On 8 April 1983, Merrick earned one cap with the U.S. national team in a 2–0 victory over Haiti. He started the game, but subbed out for Erhardt Kapp in the second half. [2]
In 1983, Merrick retired from playing and joined the coaching ranks with the Minnesota Strikers. At the time, the Strikers played in the NASL, but after the collapse of the league in 1984, the Strikers moved to Major Indoor Soccer League. Merrick continued to coach them through the 1987–1988 season. He is currently the head coach of the University of Minnesota men's club team. Additionally, he continues to train coaches and young players through his Minneapolis-based academy. In April 2012, Merrick was named head coach of the Eagan High School boys soccer team. [3]
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the United States. The league final was called the Soccer Bowl from 1975 to 1983 and the Soccer Bowl Series in its final year, 1984. The league was headed by Commissioner Phil Woosnam from 1969 to 1983. The NASL laid the foundations for soccer in the United States that helped lead to the country hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the set-up of Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996.
The Fort Lauderdale Strikers was a professional soccer team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1977 to 1983. They played their home matches at Lockhart Stadium.
The Minnesota Strikers were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1984 season and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 through 1988. The team was based in Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area and played their outdoor home games at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the Met Center for indoor games. Founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts and playing in Miami as the Gatos and the Toros before playing seven season as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers the team left Florida following the 1983 North American Soccer League season. After the 1987–88 season and playing four seasons in the MISL the team ceased operations.
The Minnesota Kicks was a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). Initially known as the Denver Dynamos, the team relocated and became the Minnesota Kicks in 1976. The Kicks quickly became one of the league's more popular teams, with an average attendance of 23,120 fans per game in 1976. The Kicks won their division four years in a row from 1976 to 1979. The Kicks drew over 23,000 fans in each season from 1976 to 1979, with attendance peaking at 32,775 in 1977.
The 1984 North American Soccer League season was the 72nd season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 17th with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada. It would be the 17th and final season of the NASL.
Branimir "Branko" Šegota is a Canadian former professional soccer forward, starring in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the North American Soccer League (NASL), the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL), the National Professional Soccer League, and the Canadian Soccer League.
Jan Goossens is a former Dutch soccer player and coach. He played for clubs from the Netherlands and Canada, but spend most of his career in the United States of America. Jan Goossens played 612 official matches and scored a total of 474 goals during his career.
David Byrne is an English-born South African soccer coach and former professional player. He was in 1982 and 1984 a top ten scorer in the North American Soccer League.
Dan Canter was a U.S. soccer defender. He played three seasons in the North American Soccer League and three in Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned nine caps with the U.S. national team, scoring two goals, between 1983 and 1985.
William Bruce Savage is an American former soccer player who played as a defender. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League, nine in Major Indoor Soccer League and earned sixteen caps with the U.S. national team between 1983 and 1992. On March 12, 2014, it was announced that he would be a 2014 inductee into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame. He currently coaches youth soccer in Florida.
Andrew Parkinson is a retired American soccer forward/midfielder born in Johannesburg, South Africa who spent time playing in both South Africa and England before immigrating to the U.S. where he played five seasons in the North American Soccer League, two in Major Indoor Soccer League and one in the American Soccer League. Parkinson earned two caps with the U.S. national team in 1984.
Alan Green is a former professional footballer. Born in England, he began his career with Coventry City before moving to the United States in 1979. He played a total of seven seasons in the North American Soccer League and earned one cap with the U.S. national team.
Gregg Thompson is an American former soccer player. He played as a defender who was the 1983 North American Soccer League Rookie of the Year. He was also voted team MVP and the most Popular Player during his rookie year while playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. He spent two seasons in the NASL and four in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1984 to 1986 and participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Thompson earned twelve caps with the United States national team.
Gary Etherington is a retired soccer player who began his professional career in the North American Soccer League before moving to the Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned seven caps with the U.S. national team. Since retiring, Etherington has coached youth soccer and is a soccer equipment salesman.
Timothy Twellman is an American former soccer player who spent seven years in the North American Soccer League and four in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1982. After retiring from playing professionally, he has coached high school and youth soccer for over twenty years. He is the father of former New England Revolution striker Taylor Twellman.
Neil Megson is a soccer coach and former player who coaches youth soccer. A midfielder, he played two seasons in the North American Soccer League, nine in Major Indoor Soccer League, one in the Continental Indoor Soccer League and six in the USL First Division and its predecessors. He served as head coach to the Seattle Sounders for five seasons, winning the 1995 A-League championship and being named the 2000 USL Coach of the Year. Born in England, he earned two caps with the U.S. national team in 1988. He is the brother of former West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday manager Gary Megson.
Ricardo Alonso was a soccer player who began as a forward before moving to defender later in his career. Alonso spent six seasons in the North American Soccer League, four in Major Indoor Soccer League, at least three in the American Indoor Soccer Association, one in the American Soccer League and two in the American Professional Soccer League.
Billy Crook is a former U.S. soccer defender who spent two seasons in the North American Soccer League, eight in Major Indoor Soccer League, two in the Western Soccer Alliance, at least two in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, and four in the American Professional Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the U.S. national team. He currently coaches youth soccer in Sumner, Washington.
Godfrey Patrick Ingram is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Active in England, Wales and the United States, Ingram made over 440 career league appearances, and scored over 270 league goals.
Stephen Eric Litt is an English retired football defender who played professionally in the Football League, North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League and coached in the Western Soccer Alliance.