Professional
Alex Forbes, the manager of the professional team brought Mike into the first team squad. His full professional debut was made in 1972 at the age of 16 against Durban City. In 1973 Mike was invited to go on trial with Arsenal in England. He spent 6 months on trial but was not signed. He returned to Rangers. In 1974 Eddie Firmani, the new coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in Tampa USA, was scouting for players in South Africa. Rangers was playing Arcadia Shepherds who featured Steve Wegerle. After Mike was substituted his father confronted Alex Forbes on the field. An act Eddie Firmani realised gave him opportunity to get Mike. In 1975 at the age of 18 Mike arrived in Tampa, Florida USA. He played every season for the Rowdies until the NASL collapsed in 1984. His years with the team included one championship, in 1975, and two runner-ups, in 1978 and 1979. In NASL indoor he won one championship in 1979-80 and one runner-up in 1981-82. He was a 1979 and 1980 First Team All Star and a 1982 Honorable Mention All Star.
Read more about this topic: Mike Connell (soccer)
Famous quotes containing the word professional:
“... all professional ideologies are high-minded. Hunters, for instance, would not dream of calling themselves the butchers of the woods.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“I sometimes wonder whether, in the still, sleepless hours of the night, the consciences of ... professional gossips do not stalk them. I myself believe in a final reckoning, when we shall be held accountable for our misdeeds. Do they? If so, they have cause to worry over many scoops that brought them a day’s dubious laurels and perhaps destroyed someone’s peace forever.”
—Mary Pickford (1893–1979)
“I trust it will not be giving away professional secrets to say that many readers would be surprised, perhaps shocked, at the questions which some newspaper editors will put to a defenseless woman under the guise of flattery.”
—Kate Chopin (1851–1904)