Dubai: The recently reformed New York Cosmos are hoping Emirates airline’s backing can help them become a globally renowned football team again, as they were in their 1970s heyday when Brazilian legend Pele played for them.

The Cosmos returned to competitive action for the first time in nearly 30 years last month, boosted by a high-profile sponsorship deal with the Dubai-based firm announced in June.

Chief operating officer of the Cosmos, Erik Stover, told Gulf News in a telephone interview that the Emirates tie-up illustrated the towering scale of the embryonic club’s ambitions.

The iconic outfit won a host of celebrity admirers such as Sir Elton John and Mick Jagger in the mid-to-late 1970s after they brought in ageing stars Pele, his former Brazil teammate who captained the 1970 World Cup winners, Carlos Alberto, and West Germany and Bayern Munich captain Franz Beckenbauer.

Stover stressed the Cosmos have “a lot of work to do” before they can contemplate striving to reach such dizzy heights again, but that their ultimate goal is to earn worldwide recognition.

He said: “We certainly want to focus on the here and now. We have a lot of work to do to grow this organisation and grow the league we’re playing in [the North American Soccer League]. We’re certainly very much aware of the history of the club; we live it, breathe it, feel it every day, but we know we have to start with a solid foundation. But of course we wouldn’t be in this if we weren’t thinking that we could have a global presence again and there’s no reason that soccer in the United States doesn’t have a club widely respected. It’s going to take time but we’re in it for the long haul.”

Of Emirates’ involvement, he added: “From a business side, I think it’s [the relaunch] gone very well. Certainly we have some outstanding partners, with Emirates and with Nike, and we have done some local deals here. And we’re off to a good start with ticket sales. We expect some ups and downs over the course of the season, but so far so good. Our philosophy was to have some big global partners help us take the club international again. And certainly Emirates is the best example of that; their support of clubs such as AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal speaks for itself, and for us to be included in that is tremendous. We’ve already seen how they work closely with us and how they can help us take the club international again. For us strategically, it’s a great first step, and also having Nike as another global partner, that tells the average fan what we’re all about.”

Stover was involved in signing the former France and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry when he worked at Cosmos’ New York rivals, the Red Bulls, but he stressed his club would not run before they could walk by trying to lure players of a similarly exalted stature.

“I think ultimately you want to have the best possible roster of players you can,” he said. “At some point for us, that will include stars. We already have Marcos Senna [the former Spain midfielder, who won the 2008 European Championship], who’s a world-renowned player, but we’re not thinking of trying to sign a recognisable player like David Beckham. I think what we’re trying to now is build the best possible club we can and grow it in a sustainable way.”

Former Cosmos goalkeeper Shep Messing, who is now a club ambassador, expressed similar sentiments.

He said: “I don’t think anyone in the world of soccer can replicate what we did again [in the 1970s]. It’s just not possible. If you think what it would take to try and sign a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, it’s just not possible. I think it’s a case of taking it one step at a time. In any sport, if you’re going to become great, it’s so much better if you take time. It didn’t happen for us overnight. I played for some years before Pele came, playing before small crowds with losing records.

“I don’t think they [the Cosmos] could have come out the gate signing five international players. In three years, who knows? They are starting off with young, exciting team. I don’t think they’re ready for big-time international players until they build a fanbase again.”

How would Stover sell the Cosmos, who recently submitted a privately-funded economic development proposal to the State of New York to build a world-class 25,000-seat professional stadium at Belmont Park, to football fans in the UAE, most of whom are devotees of the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga?

He replied: “I think it’s an exciting project. We’re doing things differently to the rest of the US. We hope to model ourselves on the big clubs and how they function and our plan is to build basically from scratch into a club which is recognisable around the world. It’s an ambitious project and I think there’s going to be some excitement and drama over the years to come. Whatever happens, it won’t be boring. And I think at some point we can be that club again that people recognise from the 1970s and 80s.”

The Cosmos official said the club were not attempting to copy any particular club in their style of play and how they operate off the field, but were particularly interested in how footballing superpowers develop their academy systems to produce their own players.

“Big clubs usually have a playing identity from the youngest age group all the way up to the first team. How does that translate commercially around the world? That for us is not completely defined. That doesn’t mean we’re trying to be a Bayern Munich or another big club. We’re going to ultimately do it the best way we can in the United States. But we feel have an opportunity of doing things differently over here, whether that’s by how we bring players in or how we play. We’re trying to play attractive soccer and are not playing a direct game with long balls, which is what happens with a lot of teams in the US, or certainly in the NASL [North American Soccer League], the league we’re in. We think the true, passionate soccer fan in the United States recognises the difference and over time we plan to play a different brand of football.”

Stover added that owner Seamus O’Brien had chosen to enter the club into the NASL as opposed to the top-tier MLS due to the greater “freedom” afforded in the league.

He explained: “There are restrictions you have in the single entity of the MLS that were a concern to Seamus. These affect global commercial deals, player acquisition, player transfers and the academy system. All those are restricted on some level and to do what we hope to accomplish over the next five to ten years, we feel we have greater freedom in the NASL.”

Messing added that he and his fellow alumni were thrilled that the Cosmos had returned, and said they were keen that the current crop of players did not feel “burdened” by the legacy of the past.

He said: “None of us could believe the team disappeared, so when we started hearing about them coming back in the last three or four years, we were all pretty excited about it. Now that it’s a reality, it’s very satisfying for all of us, for all the guys that wore the jersey. We have spoken to these new New York Cosmos. We’ve been at training and at the opening game and we have given them the same message. We want them to be very proud of the history, but we don’t want them to be burdened by the legacy. We want them to create their own new future. And that’s what we are excited about.”

For more information on the New York Cosmos, you can visit the club’s official website at www.newyorkcosmos.com, visit them on Facebook or follow the club on Twitter @TheNYCosmos.