In March 1975, scribbled on a notepad stolen from a Belgian airport, Pelé committed his future to the city of New York. Cosmos representative and Englishman, Clive Toye, had spent years badgering Pelé at every available opportunity, travelling to Santos exhibition games - some as far as Jamaica - in an attempt to strike even a verbal agreement with the icon, when finally, his hard work was rewarded. It was a transfer that, as mentioned, had been a long time coming. This clearly was a wake-up call for their wealthy ownership, who, after attempting to do so every year since the club’s inception, finally managed to convince a 34 year-old Pelé to come out of semi-retirement and don the iconic white and green jersey of the New York Cosmos. He was offered the chance to manage the USMNT, a role he held for just six games after losing every match (and picking himself to play in one of them, despite not having anything close to US citizenship).ġ974 saw the club relocate once again, this time moving to Randall Island and the now-demolished Downing Stadium, where they endured a measly campaign, finishing the season bottom of their division. The club would reach the play-offs once again in 1973, only to be knocked out in the semi-finals, earning Bradley international recognition. Despite finishing runners-up, it quickly became clear that the club couldn’t afford to play at such a monstrous venue, so they downgraded, moving 30 miles east to the Hofstra Stadium, where they would win their first league title. The Cosmos’ first season in association football, lead by English player-manager Gordon Bradley, saw them finish second in the recently-founded North American Soccer League, all whilst playing out of the iconic Yankee Stadium. The club’s early years saw contrasting successes, which rather foreshadowed what was to come. The club’s founding fathers, who had lofty intentions for the side, sought to demonstrate their ambition within the team’s name, and so, as had been done with the New York Mets (short for metropolitans) and Knicks (knickerbockers), the New York Cosmopolitans - shortened, famously, to Cosmos - were born. The club was founded in 1970, by executives from Warner Communications (the parent company of Warner Bros) and two famed Turkish music producers, Ahmed and Nesuhi Ertegun.
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