00:00There were more national teams trying to come here, isn't it?
00:05There were quite a few, yeah.
00:07The German, the Japanese, the English, the Dutch.
00:10Netherlands, yeah.
00:11Netherlands, yeah.
00:13How was that?
00:14I mean, Spain was the quickest and they won the race.
00:17I think a lot of it had to do with, you know, after December
00:21and when we knew where the teams were playing.
00:22I can't say exactly where all the other teams wound up,
00:26but it became clear that, you know, this was a really good fit with Spain
00:30and that Spain was going to be quite happy here, I think.
00:32And from that point, we were focused on Spain, yeah.
00:36Major, if you have no problem, let's talk about football.
00:40Sure.
00:41How much fun football are you?
00:45You are following the Liga, the Premier, which is your favourite?
00:49Yeah, again, I mean, I follow all the major leagues.
00:52I will say, you know, I was asked to speak at the Johan Cruyff Institute in Barcelona
00:57and I say many times that was the biggest honour of my life,
01:01more so than being mayor, right?
01:03I couldn't believe it.
01:04I got this message and I thought they must have made a mistake, right?
01:07But at the time, I think the founding of Chattanooga FC
01:11in a place where, you know, global football was thought to not really,
01:18and particularly in the American South, where American football is the big thing,
01:21it was a pretty remarkable story.
01:23So they asked me to come and speak and I really fell in love with Barcelona and the club.
01:27So, I mean, I made some people mad, I think, at the federation
01:30who were Real Madrid people.
01:32But listen, I like La Liga.
01:34I'm, you know, also going to have a soft spot for Valencia.
01:37So, you know, I watch La Liga.
01:40And I mean, again, the story of La Minha,
01:44of, you know, coming from the streets of Barcelona, to me, is as remarkable as anything.
01:47When we started Chattanooga FC, the club, and then we started the academy,
01:52and then we started a youth, you know, a foundation so that the kids, you know,
01:58here, unfortunately, in the academy, the parents have to play,
02:01have to pay money, you know, for their kids to play.
02:03Well, how are you going to get a kid like Amal, you know,
02:07if you have to, if your parents have to pay the money?
02:09It's not a good system.
02:11Again, it's one of the problems we have in this country.
02:12But that story, you know, is one that we would love to see replicated here.
02:17And one of the most gratifying things for me is, in fact, we have had now
02:21our first couple of kids who came up through our academy make it to our first team.
02:26And that alone, I mean, they're not yet La Minha at all.
02:29But just that principle of I'm a localist, you know,
02:33I believe in community and the power of community.
02:35And I know that I got that feeling when I was in Barcelona.
02:38I know the spirit of that community is so strong and the club represents the pride
02:43of that community as it should be.
02:45And so to see somebody, you know, come from the streets of that city
02:48all the way up, you know, to the top level within the city and within that club,
02:51it's just an amazing story.
02:53And it's something I think every club in the world, you know,
02:55aspires to see happen in their own community.
02:58Do you think to have him, La Minha, for example,
03:01can be like a boost for the youth, for the children?
03:06I had someone, a friend, who I gave tickets to the practice and to their credit.
03:13A lot of them brought children who could not, you know,
03:15who couldn't afford to be there otherwise.
03:18And he said he, it made me somewhat emotional because he sent me a note.
03:22He said, I think this child, you just changed this child's life.
03:25He was so inspired by Yamal's story and what Yamal's been able to accomplish,
03:30you know, so that to me is really what it's all about, you know.
03:32And it's the power of this game and, yeah, I mean,
03:37the power of a community to kind of, you know, grow its own, as it were.
03:42When you are here in Chattanooga and you watch on TV La Minha Mal in Barcelona,
03:48what do you think about this kind of player who has a different talent?
03:54Yeah.
03:55What changes your mind?
03:57Well,
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