Sheffield Wednesday and Soccer Town, USA: John Harkes, Ron Atkinson and the other American…

Just outside New York City, about 20 minutes from the Statue of Liberty, is a place fondly known as Soccer Town, USA… As the name suggests, it’s got a bit of football heritage.

Kearny – coincidentally formed the same year as the Owls in 1867 – has been football mad for years, ever since an influx of Scottish and Irish immigrants moved to the New Jersey town back in the late 1800s to work for Scottish companies, Clark Thread Company and Nairn Linoleum.

Tony Meola’s family was no different, and after he and Harkes had played together for the United States of America’s national team, the two Kearny boys were desperate to take their careers to the next level… Enter Ron Atkinson.

“We were about to play in a World Cup,” the former goalkeeper explained to the Star from his home in Florida. “And going to Europe was the thing. I was trying to get to Italy and work out my passport, but it wasn’t working at the time. Ron Atkinson called somebody from the Federation and before we knew it we were on a flight!

“The people of Sheffield didn’t necessarily respond to the fact that they were American, but when we told them that we were there on trial at Sheffield Wednesday, then we were Americans that were on trial at Sheffield Wednesday and that was a whole different conversation! We were probably a bit of novelty.”

It wasn’t much of a culture shock for him though, despite being just 20…

“Our town was as hard hat of a town as Sheffield was, so it wasn’t that far off. Where I grew up there were two Italian families, me and my best friend, and then everyone else was Scottish, Irish and English. A lot of our town was actually divided by Celtic and Rangers, that’s the one rivalry I remember the most. It was crazy.”

Now a host on SiriusXM FC, a 24/7 football radio station in the US, Meola knew Harkes from growing up in Kearny and then from the national team, and they leapt at the chance to impress Atkinson in South Yorkshire ahead of what would be a tough World Cup in Italy – though only one of them landed a deal.

Meola said, “My time in Sheffield was good, I enjoyed it and I wanted to stay there! I loved the atmosphere in the town. Nobody really knew John and I, so we were able to walk around and you could just see and hear the rivalry between Wednesday and United. It was really the first eye-opener for me in European football, unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to play there, but it was still an important time for me in terms of my development and cultural understanding of what the game was like around the world.

“Big Ron was really, really super accommodating… The guys in that group obviously thought very highly of him, and he was really respected. We were there at the start of the run where they kind of became the Sheffield Wednesday team that people remember from that era, and they had some really good players. They were entertaining and fun to watch, and Ron Atkinson was – as far as I remember – as big a part of the show as anybody.”

So what happened? Why no contract at Wednesday prior to loan spells with Brighton & Hove Albion and then Elton John’s Watford?

“It was the work permit,” he explained. “John had a bit of an easier pathway in terms of his passport, because at the time things were completely different... It had nothing to do with games played or anything, otherwise I would’ve qualified. I really struggled to obtain any paperwork until a couple of years later when I went out on loan, but even then it was really weird – I had to go back every week to the embassy to renew my one-week work permit. It was such a mess.”

While Harkes went on to land himself a deal with the Owls and become the first American to play in the Premier League, young Meola fought hard for his European dream before an episode at Heathrow airport involving a pair of handcuffs made him decide to leave his car at the airport and head home.

“I’d played a game for the national team against Portugal, then when I got back I was held in Heathrow airport until about 4am,” he recalls. “At one stage I had handcuffs on and they were asking who I played for and if I’d played that week. I told them I was at Watford over and over again, but they said, ‘How do we know you’re playing for Watford?’. Now you’d just jump on your smartphone, but not then… At that point I called my agent and I was just like, ‘I can’t do this anymore’.

The 51-year-old forged a good career for himself back home with the likes of Kansas City Wizards and the New York Red Bulls, making over 100 appearances for the USA – and winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup twice – before retiring in 2006 as one of the USMNT’s most decorated goalkeepers.

“For us, we were just happy that American players were getting over there. We were just trying to open doors.”