In a state and city full of sporting superstars, from an American perspective Jack Price would be the least known of Denver’s main attractions.
After all, March was a month which saw the city’s NFL franchise trade for All-Pro quarterback Russell Wilson, joining a mix which already included NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
Colorado’s NHL team are also battling to be the toast of the ice hockey world, with the Avalanches currently atop the Western Conference with a quarter of the regular season remaining.
It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that the Colorado Rapids are fighting for relevance both in their city and nationwide as they look to upset the odds again in Major League Soccer. And along with Wilson, Jokic and Gabriel Landeskog, it's Shrewsbury-born Jack Price who appears on Denver's 2022 sporting version of Mount Rushmore.
For so long seen as a retirement home for players ready to hang up their boots, the Wolverhampton Wanderers academy graduate ripped up the rule book somewhat - turning his back on English football aged 25, with the goal of making it big Stateside.
“I felt at the time at Wolves, it was right for me to move on,” Price told Mirror Football. “The likes of Ruben Neves had come in and I wasn’t getting much game time. There were a couple of teams in League One that were interested, but I felt like I needed a fresh start.
“I didn’t know the league too well when I came over here if I’m honest, I’d seen a couple of games and I wasn’t too sure what I was coming into. You saw players going out there to retire like Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham and Pirlo, but as I look over the four years I can’t argue with the decision I made. Players aren’t coming here anymore just to retire.”
Price was a popular figure during his time at Molineux - a cult hero on the terraces thanks to his all-action performances - as Wolves dragged themselves up from League One and back into the Championship. The 29-year-old remained a regular under Kenny Jackett, before ultimately sliding down the pecking order after the 2016 takeover of the club and the Portuguese revolution which followed.
But it was never a case of Price being out of his depth in England’s second tier - on the contrary in fact. Meaning his decision to switch the Championship for MLS is a perfect case study to assess just where America’s top league ranks aside the English pyramid.
“Maybe the first couple of years, the Championship was probably a better league, but I’m in my fifth year now and it’s ridiculous how much the quality has gone up. The money that’s being spent now as well - teams are buying players for £15m to £20m now - you rarely see that in the Championship.
“A few years ago, I was a bit reluctant to say that MLS was better, but I would say that now, for sure. You see so many young players coming over from South America and Europe to play and that shows where the league has got to.”
Now captain of the Rapids and an integral part of their success, Price is regarded as one of the shrewdest overseas acquisitions in recent seasons. Now completely at home in the Mile-High City, he can see the positives of the different sporting cultures.
However, he does admit the transition from playing in front of fervent, sold-out crowds in England to what he initially found in America was a difficult one. Price continued: “I found it tough when I first came, at Wolves the fans are amazing. Everywhere you go, you get recognised and you come to enjoy it.
“When I came, they weren’t that big on football and even now Colorado don’t have the biggest fanbase. But I enjoy that now, I can go out for a meal and not get recognised and enjoy time with the family.
“But the side I do miss is the fans on a matchday, driving up to Molineux for a game, people waiting for autographs and pictures. That’s one side I miss about English football. Even the stick you get when you play badly, I miss that!”
Still one of the smaller franchises in MLS, the Rapids continue to punch above their weight and a season on from topping their conference and reaching the playoffs, they have two wins from three games this time around. Their most recent victory, a 2-0 win over Sporting KC saw Price take centre stage again with his perfect delivery creating the chance which led to the decisive second goal.
Having signed a new contract at the start of 2022, Price is aiming to go one step further this time around and secure an elusive postseason win, which he believes will better reflect the exploits of manager Robin Fraser.
With American coaches in the headlines in England following the arrivals of Chris Armas to Manchester United ’s backroom staff and Jesse Marsch to Leeds, Price has a unique view of sometimes how they can be perceived. Marsch’s arrival into the English game was greeted, on social media at least with the usual tropes, forcing the Leeds head coach to openly suggest that he hopes to be judged on results rather than accent.
And Price accepts he once may have held similar reservations, before his experience working with Fraser - a coach he puts right alongside any he had at Wolves - opened his eyes wide. “Our gaffer is exceptional, he really is. The amount of detail he goes into, the way he wants us to play with and without the ball, he’s probably the most detailed manager I’ve ever had.”
On some of the reaction to Marsch’s appointment: “It’s crazy really, it’s a load of nonsense, but I would have probably been exactly the same if I was playing in England. Obviously being out here, your opinion changes, it’s hard for English people and people in Europe to think it’s big over here, but in terms of our gaffer, he can go right to the top.
“You look at someone like Jesse Marsch’s progression who went from MLS, to Austria, Germany and the Premier League - there’s no reason our gaffer couldn’t do the same, he’s a fantastic coach and a fantastic guy in the locker room.”
Price has two more years guaranteed with Colorado Rapids and hopes to achieve success in America, before taking another crack at the Championship and hoping to win promotion to the Premier League. But that doesn’t mean he would change the decision he made back in 2018 and urged players in a similar situation to do exactly as he did - predicting that MLS could become one of the game’s global forces in the next decade.
“100 per cent,” he swiftly responded when asked about recommending others to make the move. “This is my fifth year now and that’s exactly what I’d do, I’d encourage people to come out here, the standard of living, as well as the game growing, is another side.
“You come home from football and it’s 30 degrees of sun, it’s just fantastic, especially for people with a family. It’s getting more coverage back home too and a few more people are starting to make the jump and hopefully that continues. In the next 10 years, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the top five or top three leagues in the world.”
Sometimes it can be a case of out of sight and out of mind for football fans, and to some Wolves fans, Price’s career may have gone off the radar. But he has become one of the great recent success stories of talented English players plying their trade abroad - and he has zero regrets over the seismic decision he made to leave his boyhood club.
“I have no regrets in terms of football - my career has probably gone up - there were offers but I wanted a completely fresh start away from English football.”
