The Sheriff of Nottingham was a nasty dude. He was always trying to stop Robin Hood from robbing the rich to feed the poor. He was not well liked by his people.
The Sheriff of San Jose, Darren Huckerby, is not a nasty dude. However, he is a bloke from Nottingham who has been besting the richer MLS squads in order to keep his poor squad’s playoff chances alive. He is very, very well liked by Earthquakes’ supporters.
And he should be.
In a mere seven games with SJE, Huckerby has 4 goals and 4 assists. During that stretch, the Quakes have won four games, tied twice and lost only once. SJE had only won 3 games out of sixteen prior to Huckerby’s arrival.
Everybody expected a thirty-something year old from England to light up MLS this year, but no one thought it would be Huck instead of Becks. Now, SJE is closer to moving on to the post-season than the Galaxy and no one is probably happier about that than Frank Yallop, SJE’s coach who was cast out of L.A. after last season.
Yallop knew Huckerby could be a difference-maker for his club. Some experts believed Huckerby was done after toiling for over five years for the Norwich City Canaries and being unceremoniously dumped by that squad, but Yallop saw potential and so Huck and his family made the move across the pond to MLS.
Now, Huckerby is poised to push SJE into the playoffs in their inaugural season. Yallop must be pleased. So must (Little) John Doyle, SJE’s General Manager.
But most pleased of all are the fine Quakes’ fans. They had their team taken away from then just as it was about to go on a historic run of titles and trophies. They’ve had to start from scratch and they’ve propelled their squad back to the brink of post-season glory.
Good luck to Huckerby, the Sheriff of San Jose, and his merry men. Good luck to Quakes’ fans everywhere as well. MLS may have let your team’s titles end up in Houston, but you may not miss them for long. Mr. Huckerby, I believe, intends to get one of your own.
