Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


I have decided to start my career in the big apple. I really like the prospect of taking over New York City as it gives me a whole year to bring in a MLS ready squad and also allows me a bit of time to bring in my own staff that will help prepare the team.

I currently have no players at the team. We have 5 players who are all out on loan, the most notable players are Frank Lampard (on loan at Man City) and David Villa (on loan at Melbourne City). So armed with £900k in allocation funds and 3 years’ worth of draft picks (both Superdraft and Supplemental Draft) I am ready to go and get a squad.

http://i59.tinypic.com/3164yug.jpg http://i58.tinypic.com/x22t00.jpg


For those that don’t know we play our games at Yankee Stadium. While the stadium attendance is 49,642 for normal matches the maximum capacity will only be 27,000. For the privilege of playing at this iconic stadium we will only be paying a minimal amount of rent, and while I would like one day to have our own stadium I am in no rush to be thinking about moving.

Our training facilities are impressive and our youth facilities are also good, but our immediate downfall is that our youth coaching and recruitment is just average and it is very important that we improve this as soon as possible, especially as we have an extra year to potentially get that next big thing coming through our academy

http://i62.tinypic.com/16ifvhg.jpg


Again if you're not very aware about this club then you may not know that we are associated with Man City. They own 80% of the club while the New York Yankees (why the use of Yankee Stadium) own the other 20%. With that in mind it is no surprise that we have Man City as a Parent Club. They are able to send players on loan to use so I am am hoping that they will send a few good youngsters our way.

With Man City also now owning a majority share in the redeveloped Australian A-League team Melbourne City we ourselves have got a place to send our youngsters when we have some! We will hopefully be going on a pre season trip to Australia next season.

Our final affiliate club to speak of is our Academy team. I am hopeful that they will produce some good players but at the very least should we find ourselfs in a pickle due to injuries and suspensions, we are hopefully able to find somebody in our academy and bring them straight in without the need to spend money.

http://i60.tinypic.com/2a9p1ev.jpg http://i61.tinypic.com/mjpyk9.jpg


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van6969
16 years ago
1 year ago
647
Premium
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
Good luck TIM!

Tempted to manage in MLS on FM15.
Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


So a few months have gone since I took charge of New York and we are starting to put together a decent team although there is still a long way to go before the team is MLS ready.

With the squad only a few months old there are obviously some positions that need filling but amongst that I strongly believe that we have got a young decent spine that could and hopefully will be with this team for a long time.

Starting in goal we signed young American Zac MacMath for our 1st round pick in the 2017 Superdraft. At the moment I know that I can afford to trade away most if not all of my 2017 draft picks because by that time I am confident that I will have got the same if not more that my original 2 picks.

http://i61.tinypic.com/352gh0h.jpg


In midfield we are a bit short of players but I have signed an experienced international in Canada’s Julian De Guzman. While signing a 32 year old isn’t really what I planned to do I am sure that he will be a fantastic player for us in our first few seasons. On the other hand I am quite prepared if necessary to offer him around and trade him away if I can get good value for him. Either way I can’t see us losing with this deal.

http://i58.tinypic.com/suv887.jpg


Up front is where we have done our best bit of business. We have managed to bring in 2 quality players that I’m sure will work fantastically well together and with superstar David Villa. The first of the 2 is currently getting used to playing with David Villa as I have sent him on loan to Melbourne City. Ex Arsenal and South Korea striker Park Chu-Young has joined on a two year deal and while he is predominantly a striker he also offers us options on the left wing. I am really looking forward to seeing what he offers us alongside our other attacking options, while in the back of my mind I also see an opportunity to make some money on him because I am sure that there will be other teams after him.

http://i61.tinypic.com/mhvus0.jpg


Our final attacking piece of the puzzle is American wonderkid Juan Agudelo. After agreeing a deal with the New England Revolution to sign is player rights we offered him a 3 year deal and I have absolutely no doubt that he is going to become this team’s star player alongside Villa and Lampard. After his time in England didn’t go according to plan I am hoping that he has something to prove and with 17 caps to his name he has obvious talent and can only see him going from strength to strength.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2r6ktnb.jpg


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KEZ_7
17 years ago
20 hours ago
1,875
Good to see and MLS career start up so early and interesting to see you take on a brand new side with no players! Looking forward to seeing how this pans out
Bukinapreto
16 years ago
8 years ago
145
Wow NYC the new MLS club, this should be very very interesting!
Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


So since the last update there hasn’t been a great deal of work on the players front but a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes. The first part of my plan when taking over was during this first season I wanted to improve the youth facilities and thankfully after a few months of asking the board finally agreed and will spend a million pounds improving them. They will be ready in June so hopefully the following season our Academy will produce a couple of gems.

http://i60.tinypic.com/20mnhg.jpg


Our next bit of good news off the pitch was that Yankee Stadium is going to get under soil heating put in. It is good news for us but for a price of £2 million it does seem a bit excessive, especially as I haven’t really seen any games postponed due to the weather. The work will take 2 months and will ensure that the pitch is in pristine condition ready for our upcoming pre-season and league campaign.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2cn8eth.jpg


The final bit of news is that we have finally got our backroom staff sorted. Upon arriving at the club we only had an Assistant Manager and a Chief Scout. The Assistant has left the club as he was completely awful but the Chief Scout has stayed and has already started to prove that it was a good decision by finding some potential targets.

We have got a total of 8 new coaches which is a good amount and I am constantly in talks with the board about adding another coach. We have got 2 fitness coaches which I think is vital especially as we may not have the best quality squad in the MLS I am hoping that we may have one of the fittest.

We only have the 1 goalkeeping coach but what a coach he is. Alan Mayer was bought him in on a free transfer and his stats would put him up there with some of the best in the world. (20 goalkeeping, DDM = 42) Hopefully if the board will allow me to bring in another coach then I will add another goalkeeping coach to take some of the pressure of Mayer.

We have 5 normal coaches who’s effectiveness varies but they not only offer decent training to the players but with their varying nationalities they also offer us good knowledge of different country’s which help us to find new players.

Our new scouting department has been hard at work ever since they got here. They are currently looking for players in a variety of places although mainly based in and around North America. Our two latest additions Koudou and N’Diaye are trying to find us some players from North and Western Africa and while I am not expecting much I am hopeful that they may find somebody.


http://i59.tinypic.com/30msjnl.jpg


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EOF Gizmo
13 years ago
3 months ago
103
Premium
Love the look of this and will be following it! I have actually gone a little similar in my own Beta save, im Melbourne City FC in the A League! David Villa is very persuasive it seems....
Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
Thanks for all the comments so far guys. Glad to see that people are interested in the journey with New York City. If anybody want's to see any screenies then feel free to ask.

Thanks
Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


Where to begin! A lot has happened since the last update. We are on the eve of our first ever MLS game and people have left, people are unhappy, people are homesick and of course people are injured!

The two designated players, the team’s best players, the players that are going to set the league a light and propel us to a good first season finish? I wouldn’t count on it. Since coming back from his loan from Melbourne City, David Villa has suffered a bad hip injury and has been out for 4-5 months. On top of this he is homesick and wants to return to Spain. I offered give him a leave of absence but apparently that would only make the problem worse. So what can I do? I can’t offer him out to teams because he is still injured but can I really afford to keep an unhappy player on a massive wage at the club? Only time will tell.

Our other star player Frank Lampard has also returned from his loan at Man City. The loan it’s self didn’t seem all that prosperous for him as he was only involved in 11 games and 8 of those were from the substitutes bench. Well just like Villa, Lampard had only been back at the club for a week or two and has come to me and declared that he too is unhappy and homesick. I asked Juan Agudelo to speak to him as well as myself and after a talk with him I have also allowed him a leave of absence so I am hopeful that he will come back refreshed and happy to be here. Had him lined up as captain but now I am not too sure.


http://i60.tinypic.com/286sfu9.jpg
(Lampard stats from his loan spell at Man City)


Since the end of the MLS season all of the teams have been in a battle to add to their squads and we are no different. We have signed quite a few MLS ready players but have also let a couple of newer players go. (Our new signings will be announced in the next update when the team is finalized)

The first of our main players to leave was the experienced Julian De Guzman. We allowed him to move to Colorado for an International slot for 2 years. At 32, De Guzman wasn’t going to get any better and letting him leave made sense. We have got rid of a decent wage off our books which is important with us now having to worry about Lampard & Villa. I was hoping to get a draft pick for him but in the end I felt that this was better than nothing.


http://i62.tinypic.com/a4a93n.jpg


The second big sale was another of my big 4 signing from my earlier post. After spending most of the first season on loan in Australia, Park Chu-Young has left the club for a fantastic price. He let me know that Portuguese team Guimaraes were interested in signing him. I informed him that if we got a fair price then I would consider letting him leave. I made the effort to try and sell him and offered him out for £2 million which is £500k more than he was worth. A day later we had agreed to sell him not to Guimaraes but to Qatar side Al-Saad for £2.2 million. Admittedly we will only get £400k of that added to our transfer budget (The MLS get £700k of it) but he wasn’t going to fit into our tactic so I was happy to sell him.

http://i59.tinypic.com/1zcjqs1.jpg


The next update will contain our registered MLS squad as well as a full round up of our Pre Season.

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Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
So before I add in the Pre Season review and also give everybody a look at the squad I thought that I would post a few recent messages that have come through that could have an impact on my managerial career.

http://i59.tinypic.com/250jeyf.jpg


This is fantastic news. So after returning from his trip back home it seems that he is happy to stay at the club. I am hoping that he can lead this team to glory and with our other designated player currently in England trying to get over his homesickness, it is vital to us that we have Villa back in the squad.

http://i59.tinypic.com/o0dqmu.jpg


This however is really not good news. Out of nowhere apparently my job is very insecure? How can this be. We haven't played any games yet. This has got me very worried and with our first MLS game only days away I really need to hit the ground running. I think that I may have to have a trip to see the chairman and try to sweet talk my way into giving me some more time.

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http://i62.tinypic.com/16jggux.jpg


This obviously has nothing to do with me or with New York but it is the first Tycoon takeover that I've had in my game and with the recent reports that I might be about to lose my job this could potentially be a future place to manage.

Also who knew that Luxembourg had a big money tycoon waiting to by a football club!!

Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


Pre-Season Review

So we had a bit of a disaster in pre-season. Granted that out of our 8 games we have played teams who are better than us on 5 occasions and during this time we did have our only win against Czech team Sparta Praha.

The most disappointing games during the pre-season were against Wilmington, Atlanta and Sacramento because they are all worse than we are and to get out played like we did was just down right disgusting. Especially add to the fact that we didn’t even score a goal against 2 of them.

Trying to find the positives from the pre-season is hard. I suppose one of the main points is to get the team match fit and apart from the injured players, everybody else does look fit and raring to go. The team seems to be struggling to get to grips with the tactics that we are looking to play so that is probably down to me waiting for so long to decide what formation we are going to play.


http://i62.tinypic.com/2u7lw9j.jpg


Introducing the Team

http://i58.tinypic.com/ic8p6x.jpg


In goal we have got in my opinion one of the hottest prospects in Zac MacMath. We traded away our 1st round Superdraft pick to Philadelphia to bring him in, and I firmly believe that will end up being a steal. Unfortunately during the off season he damaged his cruciate ligament and is out for the whole season. I am just hoping that he will be able to come back and resume where he was.

To replace him we have Josh Saunders who was already at the club when I took over. Although he is getting on in age his ability is still very good and would be the natural replacement to Zac. Unfortunately he is also injured for a long time with a hip injury so will worry about his place when he is fit. So taking over at the start of the season is Ray Meara who was picked up on a free transfer.


http://i61.tinypic.com/11mgk7l.jpg


Our defence is where we have our strongest section. We have got some definite quality at right back with Sheanon Williams and Sean Franklin. After singing Williams I noticed that he is on the Season Ending Injury List although he isn’t injured. I am really hoping that this will change otherwise he will be leaving the team as there is no point in having him. Sean Franklin will be able to play soon, as he was only on the 4 match injury list from last season.

In the middle we have got quality prospects. Gale Agbossoumonde (now known as Gale!!) is a top quality prospect that I can envision representing the national team alongside his centre back partner Amobi Okugo. Both were picked up on a free transfer and will be competing with the 1st overall pick in the Superdraft Jose Juan Uribina. At the minute it’s too soon for Jose to be starting but I would have no doubt about throwing him into the starting eleven should he be needed.


http://i60.tinypic.com/2n03k95.jpg


At left back we have only got the experienced Josh Gardner but he will be the backup to the very versatile Jeb Brovsky. This is a position that I will be looking to upgrade in the future and if Sheanon Williams’ injury list situation doesn’t change then I will bring in a left back on the same wage as him.

http://i61.tinypic.com/n18cvt.jpg


Into midfield now and this could potentially be our weakest are of the team. In Alexander, Carroll and Lampard that is a good quality MLS midfield 3 that can provide both offensively and defensively. Unfortunately we are having problems with all 3. Carroll pulled his hamstring during the pre-season and is out for 4 weeks. Alexander is on the 6 week injury list so will be back soon, just not sure when. You all know about the Lampard situation and am hoping that he will be back and raring to go soon.

The rest of the midfield is very young which I feel could go one of two ways. Either they will get over awed by the situation that they are in and will completely fail and we will get over run and the team will suffer because of it. The second option and the most preferable and useful for us is that they will have the exuberance of youth and will form great performances, get the ball to our forwards and will take the league by storm. Hope is such a great thing!!


http://i58.tinypic.com/30c0f8l.jpg


Up front I have great expectations that these guys can power us to victories. Obviously the star name is David Villa but we have talked about him enough recently. Juan Agudelo was described in one of the earlier posts. Since then though he has been given the vice captaincy which is a potential risk giving it to somebody who is only 22 but I am sure that it will drive him on to perform better for the team.

The other two players are complete unknowns. First is Godsway Donyoh who was sent to us by Manchester City. With a name like Godsway I hope for his sake he is good! The potential is there for everybody to see. He has very good pace and in a league that is known to have some slow, elderly defenders playing this is going to be a massive bonus for us. It is unlikely that he will be starting games straight away for us but with that pace he could be invaluable in the last 20-30 mins of games when the defence is starting to get tired.


http://i57.tinypic.com/1239qif.jpg


The second unkown is Panama’s striker Eduardo McTaggart. The twice capped forward came in last season after impressing the staff and myself during his trial. He has good positives that can be worked on. Working with a player like David Villa is going to improve any player and if Villa can teach him only a few things then Eduardo is going to become a very good MLS striker.

http://i57.tinypic.com/4vi7tv.jpg


So that concludes a tour of the squad that can hopefully take us to a solid mid table position with the hope of sneaking into the end of season playoffs. Obviously there is a very good chance that this team will change during the season so will update the squad half way through the season.

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Dan
12 years ago
4 months ago
16,964
This will be good, as I think I say on every MLS story that goes, I'm not one for managing in America but I like to follow them! Tough pre season though, hopefully you can turn it around!
Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


March Update

http://i59.tinypic.com/jgl0qw.jpg


http://i57.tinypic.com/2rerv5z.jpg


Well where to start. I am at a complete loss of how I still have a job. If you remember from a few posts higher up that my job was very insecure, and we needed to get off to a good start. Well, this did not happen! I can’t begin to explain how bad this month has been.

We took the lead in our first game against Dallas but then went and conceded two late goals to lose our very first game. During the game we also lost David Villa to injury after 20 minutes and will be out for 2-3 weeks. Things didn’t get any better in the next few games. San Jose was almost a carbon copy of the Dallas game. Score first, concede 2 goals and lose the game.

The LA game was looking a lot better. Leading at half time and playing really well. Then the referee decided to completely screw us over. Things were already hard enough due to being down to 10 men, but when the referee awards a shocking penalty which is converted the game is as good as over. We go chasing the equalizer but are caught on the break and lose the game 3-1.

Somehow I still had a job despite numerous emergency board meetings, but I was 99% sure that I wouldn’t be seeing out the end of the month, especially after another loss to Portland. Standard typical game when you need a win, concede a last minute goal and I had my bags packed and was awaiting the dreaded news. Somehow it didn’t come.

The final game against was a must win. Honestly if we didn’t show something then I was going to resign as the team were playing terrible and didn’t look like they wanted to be out there. Thankfully Frank Lampard decided to show up and scored a free kick within a minute and followed that up by assisting fellow midfielder Christianson who put 2-0 up all before 5 minutes. Of course the inevitable looked like happening again after conceding but thankfully the squad found their balls and even managed to score another to make the game safe.

So we end the month with a record of 1-4 which is terrible but it isn’t the worst in the MLS. If we can carry our form from the last game over into April then maybe there could be a light at the end of the tunnel.


http://i60.tinypic.com/24m9gdh.jpg

http://i60.tinypic.com/2q1xuyr.jpg



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Ice Man
17 years ago
1 month ago
428
New York City

http://i58.tinypic.com/4h74ue.jpg


April Update

http://i59.tinypic.com/jgl0qw.jpg


http://i58.tinypic.com/281tvlk.jpg


Well what a difference a win can make. The players were looking more confident together and I was finally aware of what my best team is. This month we were also helped by having a couple of key player returning from injury. Sean Franklin returned at right back and has been key during the month. Perhaps the most important return has been Brian Carroll. His experience has been vital and just all around ability with the ball has been key.

While we are talking about players we had a few moves during the month. Due to Sheanon Williams being on the season injury list, there wasn’t any way to get him out on the pitch so he was waived and is subsequently a free agent. We had a same sort of problem with Eric Alexander, we couldn’t get him out on the pitch and as he had a big chunk of a wage he was also waived.

To replace these players we made a couple of ambitious loan offers to Manchester City. We asked to loan French midfielder Seko Fofana & Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho. Amazingly we managed to get Seko Fofana to come over for the rest of the season. He will add some vital quality to the center of the park but will also be another body as we are currently struggling with a couple of injuries.


http://i59.tinypic.com/2zg51z7.jpg


With talk in the press about Eduardo McTaggart wanting a move to Real Salt Lake and the constant niggles to David Villa I wanted to bring in another striker. After having a long look around on the free agency I realised that with the salary cap quite tight, so I decided to go back to the loan market where I found a decent Brazilian striker from Santos. Cesar was also on the transfer list for a mere £22k which has been added as a future fee to his loan move. I’m hoping he will be a clinical finisher and score over 10 goals this season.

http://i57.tinypic.com/10z4h85.jpg


Our final bit of player news is that I am looking to move David Villa on from the team. At the minute he either is injured every 3rd game or at least seems to be. When he is fit and playing his finishing hasn’t been good enough and with the money that he is on, he needs to leave this team. I am going to be waiting until the European transfer window opens and then will try offering him out to clubs. At the very least I may even consider sending him to a different MLS team as long as I can get a good deal for him.

Right then onto the results! We started the month off with a very poor game against DC United and having only just won our first game this couldn’t have come at a worse time as we try and get on a winning run.

Thankfully after the team got the hairdryer treatment they responded in the best possible way by winning the next 3 games including an astonishing 5-3 win at home to Seattle, where Juan Agudelo scored a fantastic hat-trick. The other 2 wins were the opposite of how we were losing games 2-1 last month. We concede early against Vancouver before rallying to get the comeback win. Houston we did it the harder way by going 2-0 up before conceding with 20 minutes to go. Thankfully the team showed some real fight and saw out the rest of the game.

The last game against Columbus was a real cracker. The first half was very poor from both teams but on the hour mark the game changed. We conceded 2 goals in 3 minutes and were staring at another defeat. This time though the team showed commitment to the team and highlighted the difference in the team from a month ago. Fofana scored his first goal for the team on his debut to get us back into the game and after throwing the kitchen sink at Columbus it finally paid off as Juan Agudelo scored in the 92nd minute to earn us a draw.

Overall this has been a brilliant month for us despite losing our opening game, and the even better news for me is that my job is now stable. This is a big weight off my mind and I can now focus on improving the club both on and off the field.


http://i60.tinypic.com/24m9gdh.jpg

http://i57.tinypic.com/k3vg61.jpg


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Dan
12 years ago
4 months ago
16,964
Much better month that mate! Cesar's finishing is rather good! Hopefully filling in where Villa is short it seems
Bukinapreto
16 years ago
8 years ago
145
Much better in April but that team of NYC still has a long path to go...

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