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“I think we’re on the right path. It could potentially change over time, but I think it works very well.”

While he may not have full support of such a formula, nobody can run down what Clanachan & Co. have accomplished in the CPL’s inaugural campaign.

Word is the future looks bright thanks to a solid start.

The original seven teams appear to be in good health, as does the league.

Expansion is at hand — think Fraser Valley, Mississauga and Ottawa — so growth is inevitable.

There’s talk of fielding a national women’s league in the future.

And the mandate of improving Canadian soccer is in full swing.

“We’re most proud of the players,” Clanachan said. “We had over 110 players for the first time earning a paycheque playing football.

“We’ve got clubs that have over 80% Canadian players starting games. We said we wanted a 51% (Canadian player-ratio) rule in place, and we far exceeded that. We’ve got under-21-year-old Canadian players playing and they’re playing meaningful minutes in the league. Those are all things we told Canada that had to be part of this league.”

To boot, the commish pointed to the success of Cavalry in the Canadian Championship, falling just shy of the final after a riveting effort against the eventual-victor Montreal Impact. He recalled, as well, how York9 nearly ousted the Impact in the third round.

“And I look at Forge going two rounds in the CONCACAF Nations League and nearly winning the second round,” Clanachan continued. “We’ve had two players (including Cavalry goalkeeper Marco Carducci) getting called up to the (Canadian) men’s national team. We’ve had four or five other players that were called up to their national squads.”

Clanchan did say he’s working with four different schedules for next season in an effort to improve that aspect of the league.

“If you asked me what’s your greatest criticism of what you’ve done in the league office this year, I would say that we put our clubs, our coaches and — more importantly — our players through a very, very tough start to the season. We packed a ton into that first part of the season until the first of July. And it didn’t get much easier after that.

“But otherwise, I think we’ve done a great job of marketing the league,” Clanachan added. “I think we have people falling in love with the game that weren’t necessarily dyed-in-the-wool football fans before. I think we’re being admired by other leagues around the world.”

tsaelhof@postmedia.com