July 12, 2012
THUMB'S UP
Ex-Cosmos prez Toye likes club's route

Perhaps no one was happier about the New York Cosmos returning to professional soccer than former team president Clive Toye.

Toye, who signed Pele and helped build the team into a North American Soccer League powerhouse, gave a thumb's up to Cosmos, who joined the North American Soccer League after a 28-year absence on Thursday.

He liked the idea the Cosmos will start in the NASL -- the second tier of American pro soccer -- instead of waiting for Major League Soccer.

"When the last Cosmos resurrection took place, I called it an abortion, not a re-birth," Toye said in a statement. "Unfortunately, I was right.

"This time, the first moves made are those that I would have made myself had I managed to persuade Peppe Pinton to sell to me over the years. So I start out with positive thoughts in my head for the Cosmos and for the NASL and long may they remain so."

Over the past two years, the Cosmos were around to sell shirts, not necessarily play soccer.