The Awkwardly Earnest Guide, Part 3: Team America, Fuck Yeah!

Fulham: aka MLS in the UK, aka the Shadow USMNT. Three Americans, striker Brian McBride, defender Carlos Bocanegra, and now midfielder Clint Dempsey. The flow of Americans to this club actually started two coaches ago at the start of this decade with Eddie Lewis and Marcus Hahneman. Unfortunately, they came and went very quickly, as i hear they didn't make much impression with the coach Tigana. Once manager Chris Coleman came on, he signed McBride and Bocanegra in the same year, and McBride has won over both manager and fans with his hard-nosed play and bags o' goals. Bocanegra is appreciated for his workrate, but still makes poor mistakes that give up goals, so he needs to get better at this if he's going to ever solidify himself as a first-teamer. Dempsey only found limited minutes in the second half of the season, but scored an important game-winning goal against a depleted Liverpool side that saved Fulham from relegation. Coleman was shown the door well before that, however, and new manager Lawrie Sanchez has completely revamped the team, bringing in almost an entirely new squad with many players that played for him in his tenure as the Northern Ireland national team manager. Despite this, all three Yanks have remained in the squad and Brian McBride was named team captain at the start of this season.

Reading: definitely a favorite for both fans of Yanks and fans of underdogs. Reading currently employ the aforementioned goalkeeper Marcus Hahneman (a former Seattle Sounder, believe it or not), and former DC United midfielder Bobby Convey. Earning promotion to the top flight last year for the first time in their 136 year history(!), Reading instantly left far "better" teams in their wake. They shocked many people by finishing not only in top half of the table, but narrowly missing out on qualifying for the UEFA Cup tournament slot given to seventh place. Convey originally came, as said, from DC United, but couldn't break into the lineup at all. He spent a year on the bench, which forced him to re-evaluate his attitude and work rate, and spent the following one vastly improving his game, and solidly earning a starting role. He played during most of the first month or two in the 2005/06 Premiership campaign, until the injury he had been playing on became too much to continue, and has been out ever since, even flying back to the States for surgery. Latest reports, though, have him regaining his fitness, and playing a reserve team match last week, scoring on a free kick. His replacement, Steven Hunt, has really bloomed and come into his own, but many agree he doesn't have the innate talent that Convey does (he makes up for it with incredible hustle and good positioning). It remains to be seen how Steve Coppell, the Reading coach, will work Bobby back in, given Hunt's performances.

Manchester United: Psych! (Ha ha, remember the 90’s? I’m going to work in a “…NOT!” here sometime, just you wait) The only American here is their new owner, Malcolm Glazer, owner of the NFL's Buccaneers. Defender John Spector came here directly some time ago, but had trouble breaking into the lineup, and subsequently managed a transfer to Charlton. Goalkeeper Tim Howard came over from the Metrostars, at the time, the largest signing for an American player (I believe Clint Dempsey's transfer to Fulham has topped it now), much less one from MLS. Timmeh had a great first season, and was named GK of the year. However, Man U is a capricious beast, especially at goalkeeper. Tim made several high profile errors in a string of games, and was benched in favor of Roy Carroll, who, in turn, made a number of blunders himself. At the end of the season, since neither keeper had done enough to earn the spot permanently, Sir Alex bought Edwin Van Der Sar from Fulham and sold Roy Carroll to West Ham. Tim rode the bench for the rest of the year, which brings us to...

Everton: Tim Howard! Knowing he would not be seeing the first team as long as Van Der Sar was around, Tim managed to get Sir Alex to loan him to Everton at the start of this year's season, and he has acquitted himself admirably. David Moyes, Everton's coach, bought out Tim's contract out from Man U midway through the season, and Howard is now permanently a Toffee.

West Ham United: The other American to get playing time for Man U was John Spector. Spector, as I said, left Man U for London club Charlton Athletic, where he was coached by Alan Curbishley. After a season, both Curbishley and Spector had left Charlton, and John found himself getting decent time in at West Ham United. But then West Ham found themselves in complete disarray and headed for relegation fast. Curbishley was brought in as the manager to hopefully avoid a relegation scrap, but it was really their illegal player Carlos Tevez that finally saved them. Spector has only been used sparingly, though.

Blackburn Rovers: Big, Bad, Brad Friedel. With McBride, the last of the old guard, I believe, from the '98 and '02 World Cup cycles still in the Premiership. Brad has been a consistent, solid performer for Blackburn for three or four years now, and is, or was, regarded as one of the most reliable keepers in the Premiership.

Derby County: The week before the season started, Derby signed up-and-coming youngster Benny Feilhaber. Benny has yet to make his debut, though.

That’s all the Yanks that are playing in this year’s Prem season, but last year, there were a few others worth mentioning.

Watford: Green Bay's Jay DeMerit. Called by Watford coach Aidy Boothroyd "the Rocky Balboa of the Premiership," Jay's story is inspiring if you haven't heard it. Jay was passed over by most teams in the states, only really getting in a few games here and there for reserve squads, and decided to go with an English friend back to the UK (Jay has some sort of ancestry that allows him to claim a UK passport) and try for a trial with a club. With barely anything to his name, living off of "beans and toast", he slummed around looking for tryouts. Eventually, he landed a spot with lowly Northwood, who happened to have a friendly coming up with Watford. Once Boothroyd saw him, he immediately signed him and Jay started putting in great performances, and solidified his position among Watford's best players. Jay scored the first goal in the 2005 Coca-Cola Championship playoff game between Watford and Leeds United (where the aforementioned Eddie Lewis plays), which Watford went on to win, earning their place in the Premiership. Watford found themselves entirely outgunned in the Premiership, winning only 5 games. Despite a decently strong defense, Watford couldn’t score many goals, and finished in last place.

Manchester City: This club had two Americans, Claudio Reyna and DaMarcus Beasley. Claudio was a decent player for City, at one point regularly wearing the captain's armband, but dogged by injuries. In mid-season Claudio decided to return to the States, where he has signed with Red Bull New York to play for his former nats coach, Bruce Arena. DaMarcus Beasley loaned to City from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, and while he showed flashes of brilliance (and not so brilliant), City were a team in disarray, and manager Stuart Pearce was let go at the end of the season. Beasley has since signed with Glascow club Rangers in the Scottish Premier League, scoring in a Champions League qualifier against FK Zeta.

Charlton Athletic: the last Yank I know of from last year’s Premiership is Cory Gibbs at Charlton, but Cory hasn't played in forever due to injury, and it was reported recently that a second injury he picked up will need surgery. Most fans are assuming the worst, that we won't see Cory in the Premiership again, especially since Charlton were relegated at the end of the last season.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed Part 3 of The Awkwardly Earnest Guide, and maybe even have some idea of which club you'd like to follow. Up next in our fourth and final installment, we'll give you the lowdown on all 20 Premiership clubs. See you then!