From wartime England to the rise — and fall — of pro soccer’s first big American boom, Roger Faulkner has seen it all — and now, he’s telling that story in his new memoir, "You Can’t Get There from Here: My Soccer Journey from Derby to Detroit."
In this episode, we sit down with the Detroit Express co-founder to trace an unlikely journey: from growing up in Derby to helping bring top-flight international soccer to the Midwest at the height of the original North American Soccer League. Alongside high-profile partner/soccer impresario Jimmy Hill, Faulkner helped build a franchise that aimed to blend global star power with big-event American sports presentation — highlighted by marquee signings like Trevor Francis and matches staged inside the cavernous new Pontiac Silverdome.
Faulkner offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at what it actually took to launch and operate an NASL club — where ambition often outpaced economics, and where the line between visionary and unsustainable was razor-thin. He reflects on the league’s rapid ascent, its structural fragility, and the lessons learned as the Express hastily relocated amid the NASL’s broader unraveling.
Just as compelling, Faulkner shares how he stayed in the game — helping build the foundation for soccer’s next chapter in the U.S., including an instrumental role in bringing the 1994 World Cup to Detroit.
It’s a revealing conversation — and a fitting companion to his hoot of a memoir — with one of American soccer’s most underappreciated builders, who lived both the dream and the reality of the sport’s first modern era.
