Ana, FM 2012 : Season 1 New York Red Bulls 2019 -2020

Hello everyone!

So as a special surprise I decided to cram another full season in before Christmas so I will be finally caught up with the date’s in my game.

Again a little sooner than expected but I would rather bring this post now I have some free time rather than after when I will probably be very busy again!

So you may have seen the title of my team and seeing as we have many USA football fans (or soccer if you like!) they may even recognise the badge as I am in the crazy world of the MLS as the new manager of the New York Red Bulls.

I wont lie I really have no idea what I am doing! So many new things like different contracts, drafts, conference’s, allocated transfer funds its all very bizarre and completely different to any thing I have done before.

So lots of learning to do but I do remember stories by Kevin (living in Canada) and Stromson (from the USA) managing in the MLS so am sure they can help me out when I get stuck! :)

So lets get on to the season.

 Managerial C.V

— Black Aces (June 2011 – June 2018)

African Premier League : 2016

Super 8′s Winner : 2015, 2016

First Division : 2012

South African Knockout Cup : 2016

The African Champions League : 2017

— New York Red Bulls (January 2019 — Present)

Nothing yet.

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The World Cup — USA

So onto Russia we went in good spirits that we could upset a few teams along the way!

Our first match was against Croatia a match we led for almost 80 minutes until well you guessed it we conceded with three minutes of normal time remaining!

We were then well beaten by the Ivory Coast and I mean well beaten!! They had something like 30 shots to our 2 I have no idea what happened but the scoreline should have been so much more in their favour, which says everything about our performance!

Then we shocked the football world! Well a bit at least after we managed to beat Italy taking a surprising two zero lead with Charlie Davies the definition of a ‘one man team’!

But what is it enough to qualify?

Unfortunately not! That late goal against Croatia looks like it cost us any chance of progressing and our hopes were gone in the group stage.

Not too sure if I was happy or not but we had a pretty hard group so I was fairly content I guess. I decided to stay on as the USA manager and they were more than happy to allow me, so roll on the next world cup!

But lets see who won it :

So it was Argentina who claimed the glory beating France in extra time. Looked like a very exciting final with Argentina holding on to secure another world cup.

The Gold Cup — USA

So as expected we made it to the final against our major rivals Mexico.

Two opening wins gave us lots of confidence as we scored 11 times but against Curacao we were twice behind! Before grabbing the winner thanks to Cervantes.

Honduras were beaten in extra time after we couldnt defend set pieces properly but Devin Franks our center back and Michael Bent our wide forward sealed a passage into the semi finals.

El Salvador were easily beaten with goals from Neil Palma and our captain Jozy Altidore so Mexico waited in the finals.

Gold Cup Final vs Mexico

:(

So a defeat as Darren’s super striker Carlos Fierro had too much for my side in extra time. We pushed them all the way but we just couldnt score with a mixture of bad finishing and an inspired keeper.

They had chances as well, it was end to end but in the end we just didnt have enough so it was defeat in the final but the board were happy-ish so I decided to stay on again as the manager of the USA.

Now Onto My New Job! The New York Red Bulls

So the club is pretty new after being formed in 2006 but as you would expect from the USA they have great finances and excellent facilities.

You may have noticed that they claimed the NACL (North American Champions League) in 2014 and were also runners up so they are in a good position with a good history.

My goal will to be claim the NACL title and learn about the MLS as I go!

Best Player — Jimmy Watson

So I capped him for the USA so he already loves me! But he is a very decent player and is attracting interest from abroad with clubs as big as Valencia interested in him so my first task is to keep hold of him!

New York Finances and Club Information

So as you may expect the USA is pretty rich as we own are own stadium have some big sponsorship deals the days of struggling for money in South Africa seem to be long gone!

So as you can see we have quite a big following of over 8,000 season ticket holders and are clubs value is £71 million to put that into context when I joined the Black Aces theirs were £575k!!

Our icons may be familiar to some as they have all played in England at some point and Jozy Altidore is actually my captain for the national side.

Transfers In and Out — First Window

 So I made a few new signings but some confusing things were thrown at me including a thing called the draft. I had no idea what to do! But I ended up getting a player which I didnt really need for free I think although we have to pay his wages.

I used my knowledge and scouting system from South Africa to sign some players then more confusion! When I had to select my squad for the season it wouldnt let me pick anyone! I had to holiday past that date in order for my players to register which was annoying but it worked I guess so at least I could play my season!

Chiake Diakite

Edison West

So I still dont understand the rules in the MLS so bare with me, and anyone who is a fan I would be grateful if you could explain them to me!

But I managed to sign these guys who I really wanted when at the Black Aces but due to a work permit I was denied West and Diakite wanted far too much money.

There is a thing called a salary cap and they also don’t get any bonus’s or anything its really weird! :)

Results Halfway Into the MLS

Confused?

Same as me! Its hard to explain but their are two conference divisions East and West but it seems you play every side in the MLS twice.

I believe the top three all qualify for my favourite thing, the playoffs!

Then we play against the top three teams from the Western conference to see who wins the MLS, I think. :)

Second Transfer Window

So I dont get the windows either!!

They seem to open at weird times but I managed to sign another player from my national side so here he is :

Gale Agbossoumonde

Final Games In the MLS

Ok, so this is the combined MLS table of both the East and West Conference’s.

As you can see we were top! This allowed us to qualify for the NACL again but also I got a trophy for having the best record known as the Supporters Shield!

However we didnt win the MLS (confusing I know) as we have to play some playoff games (cant wait….) but for some reason there are things called ‘wildcards’ where certain teams are picked to compete in the playoffs as well.

We met a wildcard team which was Seattle in the playoff semi finals.

Playoff Semi-Final vs Seattle Saunders

So we comfortably dispatched Seattle and I believe were are playing for our conference title and as we play in the Eastern one we compete for that.

We have our final against DC United (our fierce rivals) for the winner of the Eastern conference then the winner plays the winner of the Western conference playoff final to decide the MLS title.

I believe thats how it works anyways. :)

Eastern Conference Playoff Final vs DC United

And so my playoff misery begins!

I hate playoffs and I have a horrible feeling that they will once again annoy me on this game as well as last years!

Three zero was very harsh despite the scoreline we did play very well, just lacked that clinical edge and with Flores having three shots he managed three goals out of the four they managed to have.

We created 22 chances with SEVEN clear cut ones! Not our day I guess so we wont win the MLS this year.

Final Player Ratings of the Season

So as expected Diakite led the way this season but oddly he wasnt the out and out goalscorer I was hoping for, infact he was much better at creating chances for others. West was very solid at the heart of our defense alongside Gale Agbo and Jimmy Watson also had a great season as I manged to keep hold of him at least for now.

I still dont understand what SEL, AA, Dev, or GA are next to some of my players this league is way more confusing than I ever expected!

Star Man — Michael Jaramillo

So I chose Jaramillo as my star player mostly as he was my first signing as New York manger but also he was free and he may have just played himself into my national side too! :)

End of Season Finances

Finances have been steady infact we didnt really lose anything and we didnt really make anything!

We did sell a few players but the MLS takes 33% of any transfer fee it seems which is again quite annoying!

No save game status as I forget to take a picture. :)

Cup Competitons

North American Champions League

Would have been funny if we won it first time! :)

This was the quarter final stage but it came far too soon as I hadnt got to know any players or anything and I was still still trying to work out why I coulndt pick any players to register for the MLS!

Two pretty boring games and although we did play ok, but we didnt do enough and were out of the competition

US Cup

The Final

Yay!

So we finally won a cup final! But again I must say that this was weird also!

All the teams we played were non-league sides we were heavily injury ravaged for the final but I though it was sort of a nothing competition but we actually managed to qualify for the NACL by winning it.

America is indeed very complex! :)

End of Season Round-Up

So there it is! the MLS in all its super confusing glory. I must admit I really have no idea what I am doing!

My goal is the win the NACL but the rest of it I dont get, drafts, rules, contracts everythings different and I just cant understand at the moment. I dont know the rules on foreign players, I cant seem to select any players to register them and I have to holiday past as it wont let me progress further. I have no idea what I am doing wrong as the rules are hard to get your head around.

But in a weird way I am enjoying it! I guess a big part of football is learning how other nations do things so I guess thats what I will do, but if any MLS fans can help explain things a bit that would be fantastic.

We managed to win the US cup (the domestic trophy) and we did win the combined league so we did qualify for the NACL, which I will post in full next time.

Playoffs are back though and already they have cursed me! As we lost 3-0 to DC United but we have a lot to look forward too as we do have a pretty decent team.

So thats it for now! I am now back to where I should be so posts will take a little longer as now I have to play them!

So again thanks for reading and any help you can give would be very welcomed.

Once again I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year, I may be away for new years so I hope you all have a brilliant time where ever you may be in the world! :)