Memphis Rogues

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Memphis Rogues

The Memphis Rogues were a professional soccer team in the former North American Soccer League. They operated in the 1978, 1979, and 1980 seasons and played their home games in Memphis' Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

They were originally owned by Harry Mangurian and Beau Rogers for the first two seasons. Mangurian owned a horse racing track in Florida, and Rogers was part-owner and general manager of the Tampa Bay Rowdies and was largely credited with the Rowdies' success. The owners looked at several different sites in the American south before settling on Memphis. It was decided to name the team the "Rogues" in part as an allusion to Rowdies, and so that the team would have an elephant mascot (a "Rogue" elephant).

The team made its first mistake by hiring as its first coach Malcolm Allison. Allison had just finished coaching Turkish side Galatasaray but his time in Memphis would be very short. Allison had achieved much controversy during his time in England, and when he had failed to sign a sufficient number of players for the inaugural season, he was dismissed without having coached a match and replaced by ex-Chelsea star Eddie McCreadie. Sadly the club finished third of four teams in its division and did not make the playoffs. Attendance was a disappointment: only 8,708 a match, 17th in the 24-team league.

The second season, 1979, was disrupted by a players' strike which forced McCreadie out of retirement for a time. The team did worse on the pitch, finishing last, and worse at the box office, with 7,137 a match, with only three teams doing worse at the gate.

The poor gates resulted in a sale in 1980 to Avron Fogelman, who owned a minor league baseball team in Memphis and later bought out part of the Kansas City Royals. Though attendance went up to its best ever at 9,864 a match, this was still only 17th in the league and the team were again last in their division, though McCreadie's old Chelsea mate Charlie Cooke had taken over as coach.

Ultimately they were purchased by Nelson Skalbania, a Canadian businessman who moved the team to Calgary, Alberta after the 1980 season, where they competed for one season as the Calgary Boomers prior to folding.

Year League W L T Pts Regular Season Playoffs
1978 NASL 10 20 101 3rd, American Conference, Central Division Did not qualify
1979 NASL 6 24 73 4th, American Conference, Central Division Did not qualify
1979/80 NASL Indoor 9 3 1st, Western Division Won Semifinal (Minnesota)
Lost Championship (Tampa Bay)
1980 NASL 14 18 126 4th, American Conference, Central Division Did not qualify


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