Thetownend.com

well seeing as big paragraphs don't seem to be many peoples cup of tea i will keep this as short as possible  ;) i have the opportunity to move to New York in about 5-6 years, i have always wanted to move out there and i know it sounds stupid but the football over there is obviously low quality compared to over here.... English football and Swindon town fc is a big part of my life and to have it all gone would be a big difference, so i know a lot of you on here don't live in England anymore, so how do you get around this? cue some comment or something, don't worry i'm prepared ;)

Don't do it.

Opportunity to move to new york in 5 or 6 years? First of all, aren't you like 15?

And more importantly of all, NEVER let football dictate a decision like that.

5-6 years is a long time and alot can go wrong in that time, i have alot of time to think about the choice, but the opportunity has been offered to me by someone and it isnt like one of those things you plan with mates when you have nothing to do in a math lesson and is something of genuine consideration.

New York red bulls?

it just doesnt compare on the levels, but just saying now, i am not letting football dictate the choice i am just wondering how others who no longer live in the UK deal with it haha its a possibility to come back for a few games a season i guess

If you've been given that opportunity you have to go. No decision to make. And it sounds like you already speak the lingo.

hahaha didnt see that, i blame the keyboard and it is definitely something that doesn't come around often, thats for sure

The opportunity to move to New York should be a no brainer. Following town solely via the interweb would be a small price to pay

True, and if we are at a high level division wise then a few games should be on SKY

Yeah, it's not like the bad old pre-interweb days when you would have had to rely on some kindly relative or friend to send you bundles of Adver clippings every month or two to find out what the hell was going on. And you'd probably get into baseball or football (NFL) and start following the Giants - or the Jets if you were really unlucky (eh, Donkey? ;))

TEF & Player become a ritual. The occasional appearance on Sky doubles up with with at worst PPV or at best Fox Sports coverage.

NY wouldn't be my favourite place to go, but travel broadens the mind.

not going to lie though there are some big things England have over America e.g free healthcare

Dave's spot on, football is the last thing you ought to consider.

I went to see New England Revolution a while back. It was a fair old commute from Boston. Underground-Train-Taxi job as train don't run to Foxboro on a non-Patriots day.

Watched Swindon 2-1 Bristol City on TV while out there.

Plenty of decent enough football in the USA.

If the Cosmos NASL franchise goes to plan then NYC residents will have a closer option than the Red Bulls.

5 years? Is it relatives or a sponsor - or you have shitloads of money or planning a student visa?

No doubt. That's no reason not to go though.

I lived in Florida and signed up to STFC World.  Watched the Wigan and Huddersfield games live on TV over there.  You see more English games live on TV over there than you do here.

I'll go in your place if you like, I can throw in a wife and two kids if you like?  (just kidding boss)

They have more football on the TV than we have on Sky here, so from a pure watching games basis you'll get plenty and Swindon will be on several times a year, plus the odd game streaming.

Yankees & Mets are both easy to get to on the subway regardless of where you'll be living.

Flights are relatively reasonable due to the volume of them between London and competing for the business dollars between airlines.  Makes coming back for a busy period like Easter or Christmas a possibility so you can even squeeze some live games in.

Math lesson? Are you american initially with language like that?

A little off topic but there's a lot of talk of another New York team being set up to rival the red bulls. Maybe even bringing back the Cosmos

My youngest daughter is emigrating in three months to the USA....taking her young one with her :( :(

It has taken her well over a year and visits to the US Embassy to get the amber light.

We will miss them both terribly but i really hope it works out for them.

You can't be planning 5-6 years ahead at your young age. It's a pipe dream.

The Cosmos are back. Glorfied clothing-line turned football club.

*scoff*

blame the key board, but i understand what people are saying about me being of a young age to plan this but this a possibility given to me for when i finish college and possibly Uni if i go that far, its a mixture of family and a shed load of money being left

I'm off on my year abroad next year, luckily they have two 24 hour football channels in Bosnia, both Serbian... Perhaps they're not so bad after all...

I'm a town fan living in NYC for the past three years and in the U.S for 7.

Trust me. If you have the opportunity to do so; get yourself here.

I love stfc as much as the next guy on here but you can't turn an opportunity to leave swindon (no offense) or England for that matter to come here.

In terms f staying in contact with the football, it's brilliant here, we are 5 hours behind here so on a Saturday you wake up and watch a 745am game, watch a 1000 am game whilst listening to town, watch a 1230 pm game and then can carry on to Spanish league Mls etc.

My old man always bemoans how I watch far more football on tv than he gets to because pretty much every game is on tv here. There's a bar called 'legends' that will show any game as long as you request it so whenever town are on tv I usually get myself there.

In reverse....

I would consider NOT going abroad because of the Swindon.

Fair play to Bangkok, China Red (when he was there) and NZ Robin.....I feel their pain sometimes.

Thanks for replying, looks like it will be ok then, only have to look forward to the visa getting process and the green light from them,sure that will be fun  :no:

this, how can you plan 5-6 years ahead? i dont even know what im having for dinner this evening.
whats so significant about 5-6 years? what not next year?

I'd like to live abroad for the experience (had the chance to do a year at a US college which I didn't do). Perfectly happy in England though.

The USA sounds like a lot of expensive faff. I'd love to live in Germany as an adult, learn a language while living there etc.

I've met lots of Americans

I would not like to live in America

I think regionally makes a difference in the states.

My mum and stepdad live in Florida and have lived in the states for about 9 years. Unfortunately they appear to have turned a bit redneck and dare I say almost verging on Right Wing :(

We don't speak much any more.

I much preferred visiting NY to Florida, seemed to be worlds apart.

New York isn't America though, it's New York. Just spent 5 days there and I would move there in a heartbeat now. For someone in there early to mid twenties it has everything you could ever want and more. Now how the bloody hell do I get a green card?!

A lot of the Americans I have met were from New York.

I don't want to go there either.

Glad to help. The visa process is pretty daunting, bloody expensive and extremely drawn out but for me worth every minute / penny. No doubt I will have become somewhat Americanized having lived virtually my whole adult life here but for me the majority of Americans I have ever met are, on the whole, the most pleasant and helpful people I have known.

I'm pretty Anglophiled as my boss is a cockney and all my mates here are English. It's really only my missus and her family where I mix most with the yanks but even after four years in Ohio most of my experiences were pretty pleasant. I agree the country and its views are very much regionalized and you always get your stereotypical gun loving yanks. Don't see much of that in NYC though.

I would encourage travel wherever that may be.

Just me who hates being a foreigner then?

I like it. Always a good conversation starter.

Americans love the English accent which is an advantage.

I'd love to move abroad - to almost anywhere - but I don't have the balls to just up sticks and do it on my own.  So jealous of all the ex-pats on here.  If any of you are recruiting in your respective countries I trust you will advertise the jobs solely on here for the benefit of your fellow town fans?

 :D

It would be boring following a team that won all the time...

Sorry to kind of hijack, but I'm going to states in june. booking stuff on my debit card. reading t&c's saying i need to show credit card as proof.

Am I fairly safe in assuming this is all just semantics, and my debit card will be fine for purpose. They're taking my money from it so it better be!

Generally they'll want to see the card you booked the flight on.

Oh good

I'd concur with that.  The only time i've been specifically asked for a credit card is if i'm paying a deposit on something (e.g. hiring a car)

You'll need a credit card to check into most hotels.

It's worth remembering that the USA is a pretty big country!  Even within states you'll get massive variations in people, opinions, way of life etc.  Florida is the size of the Uk for starters.

What? Even though I've paid the deposit for most of them with my debit card already?

Debit Cards should be ok.

With chain hotels you just need to produce the card you made the booking with

Go on, where in Ohio?

I lived in the US for 3 years, had to come home as it was a fixed duration gov't exchange tour. Loved every minute of it and would go back in a heartbeat. NYC isn't my scene per se, but each to their own.

All been said before, you will find ways to keep in touch with STFC.

I lived in Cleveland for four years during the uni semesters and then lived and played 'soccer' inthe summers in Pennsylvania.

Cleveland eats a bad rap but I loved it.