Paint The City Purple

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SeanKeaney

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I'm back for a brand new story and I've decided to be newly formed Orlando City SC. These are one of the two new franchises in the MLS for 2015 and as they have no history I feel up to the challenge of creating some, just need to get my head around the draft system first.

Club Information

Orlando City SC are based in Orlando, Florida and will compete in it's first ever MLS season in 2015. The team's expansion rights were purchased by Brazilian businessman Flavio Augusto da Silva and Phil Rawlins. They are the first MLS franchise located in the state of Florida since Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny, who folded following the 2001 MLS season. Their nickname are 'the Lions' and they were actually founded in November 2013 and have had 2 years to sort out their stadium and player contracts. Their most notable player is of course former world player of the year Kaka. They play their home matches at the Citrus Bowl which has a capacity of 61,348. A couple of other notable players are Brek Shea and Sean St Ledger, both of whom have played in the higher English leagues as well as internationally.

Star Man

This is obvious, it is of course World Cup winner Kaka. He was born on 22nd April 1982 in Gama, Brazil. He is most famous for his first stint at AC Milan, he would then move to Real Madrid where it didn't quite work out for him despite his massive €65 million fee (second only to Zinedine Zidane at the time). Some of you may not know that Kaka is also known for his humanitarian work and in 2004 he became the youngest ambassador of the UN World Food Programme. Orlando City fans will be hoping he can propel them to success on the pitch.

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*A big mention to PaperClipFMer for his Steven Gerrard - into the world of management story as thats what inspired me to start this.

 
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Been watching a bit of the MLS since Sky picked it up so getting a bit more familiar with the league. After watching Orlando's first game I thought their Colombian striker Rivas was going to bang a few goals in this season as his pace on the counter looked deadly.

He hasn't scored in 12 appearances so far this season, shows how much I know! Hopefully he can do a bit better for you. Will be following.
 
Safc-mad-scotty said:
Been watching a bit of the MLS since Sky picked it up so getting a bit more familiar with the league. After watching Orlando's first game I thought their Colombian striker Rivas was going to bang a few goals in this season as his pace on the counter looked deadly.

He hasn't scored in 12 appearances so far this season, shows how much I know! Hopefully he can do a bit better for you. Will be following.
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I see they're doing okay in real life? I'll keep an eye on him, don't want to pin all of my hopes on Kaka! haha
 
Wow! My very own shoutout :) thanks mate!
Good luck with this too. Orlando didn't do that well in their first season on my save but I'm sure you'll do much better.
 
PaperClipFMer said:
Wow! My very own shoutout :) thanks mate!
Good luck with this too. Orlando didn't do that well in their first season on my save but I'm sure you'll do much better.
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Thats okay ?????? cheers for the support, I'm hoping I can do as well as you have with LA Galaxy
 
Introductions

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Before we get into the ins and outs of the club I want to introduce you all to a few of my key players - you may be familiar with them already but these are the players I have earmarked as being key in the clubs debut season in the MLS.

Kaka

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I've already said what needs to be said about Kaka. He's the last player to beat both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the Ballon D'Or and has won the world cup with Brazil. He's played at the highest level so I'll be looking to him to lead and hopefully some of the players can learn a thing or two from him. Kaka is arguably the stand out name in the MLS and we're very lucky to have him in our debut season, we really hope he can leave a legacy at this club and I'm sure he will.

Brek Shea

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Most of you will remember Brek Shea from his time in the Premier League with Stoke City. At the age of 24 we're hoping he has his best years ahead of him. Brek is an established American international with 26 international caps and a current member of their senior side. He is a tricky winger with a lot of pace and can even fill in at full back if needs be.

Sean St Ledger

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Sean St Ledger is an experienced Irish international and he's still the right side of 30 so we can get a good few years out of him. He is by far our best defender and we're looking for him to be a leader at the back for us. He has been out of the international fold for a little while, since Euro 2012 but we're hoping he can produce some decent form for us to get him back in the picture.

Now here's an overview of our complete first team squad;

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New Signings

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Now it's time to look over our first few signings. We made 4 in total, two were bought in immediately and the other 2 will come in February before the MLS season starts. We have a slight benefit in some ways to most other MLS teams as we have a few months extra to get our squad together.

Bobby Convey

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I made Bobby Convey my first signing as manager on a 2 year contract. He has valuable experience both in the MLS and abroad when playing for Reading the the Premier League. He's yet another experience American international who has played at a World Cup for his country. He's been bought in more as cover to Brek Shea on the left wing and he can also be played at left back if needed.

Draymond Washington

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Draymond Washington is a bit more of an unkown signing and therefore holds a slightly higher risk. We didn't really have a natural left back in the squad and I searched the free agent market to find one and I came across Draymond. At only 24 years of age he has his best years ahead of him and I'm hoping he can cement his place as our first choice left back. His technical stats aren't the best but he's very good physically and for only £575 a week he's as good an option as we'd get for that cheap.

Rory Donnelly

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Rory Donnelly has been recently released by Swansea City and I saw him as the perfect person to lead our line for the upcoming season. He's only young at 22 years old and I feel he can grow into a top striker in the MLS for a few years to come. We looked at a couple of other options up front, more experienced in the likes of Javier Chevanton and Ronaldo (yes, THE fat Ronaldo!!) but in the end it made more sense to sign someone who can lead the line long term.

Teemu Tainio

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We have gone experienced again in signing Teemu Tainio. He's another of our players to have played in the Premier League as well as representing teams like Ajax. He's played at the top level and we need his type in the middle of our team. Central midfield was a weak position that needed strengthening and Teemu is the ideal person to fill it, he again will join in February.

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September Friendlies Round-Up

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Due to the fact that we do not have a competitive match until next year I need to arrange sporadic friendlies to keep my players at a half decent level of fitness and to give me a clearer idea of my players, formations and best positions etc. Unfortunately we were only able to arrange friendlies against lesser-known American sides so not too much of a challenge but still good for fitness.

Here are the friendlies we arranged;

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Orlando City v Charleston Battery

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My first game in charge is a convincing 5-0 win. Like I said Charleston Battery are hardly great competition for us but it's still pleasing to see us dominate them. Martin Paterson got us off and running with an early goal, Kaka didn't take long to get his first goal for Orlando with a penalty. Carlos Rivas looked very lively and was the best player on the pitch with a double, one of which was a very good finish. Tony Cascio completed the scoring with a close range finish, we could have scored a few more in truth.

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Orlando City

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This is a slightly dissapointing draw. Danny Mangwa gave us an early lead with a goal, thats now a goal apiece from him and Paterson, our two strikers. We fell asleep late on and allowed Tampa Bay to equalise. We were poor on the day against a far inferior side, much work needed.

Future Stars v Orlando City

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We comfortably beat Future Stars, who are actually from the Bahamas. Kaka scored a great goal early on and Brek Shea doubled the lead before half time. Promising young midfielder Harrison Heath scored just after half time and then there was another goal from our top scorer so far Carlos Rivas who at 20 years of age looks like a very promising prospect.

Orlando City v Atlanta Silverbacks

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This ended up being a much tighter game than it should have been. Kaka came up with the goods yet again, it's already proving how important he will be for this team. We remained undefeated throughout this batch of friendlies but there's still quite a few questions surrounding our performances but I can't be too critical as this is literally the first time these players have played together.

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For a minute I thought KAKA was dancing in that photo haha!

Going well though mate. Teemu Tainio, there's a name from the past!
 
Rory Donnelly once of Swansea? Or am I at a loss? Looking good story and squad wise anyway! Kaka can go a few years for sure!
 
Draft picks

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We had a couple of drafts at the beginning of January and if I'm honest I had no idea what I was doing really! I relied on my assistant manager who has far more experience than me in the American draft system. The first was just between us and New York City as the two new teams and the second was across the whole league.

Here are the 5 players we picked up from the first draft;

Michael Thornton

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He's only a kid but at 14 years of age I feel we have picked up a potential superstar. He isn't a million miles away from being good enough for the first team squad already but we're going to protect him and not throw him into the deep end too soon. He was our first pick because if we hadn't picked him I'm sure New York City would have.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste

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Jean-Baptiste is a Haiti international central defender who will add depth to our squad. I'm not expecting him to start straight away but we're building a very strong and deep squad for our inaugural season and Jean-Baptiste will play his part. He's only 22 so we've got him whilst he's young and he's only on £700 a week so not affecting our wage bill too much either.

Kyle Bekker

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Kyle Bekker was our 3rd draft pick and joins us as a utility player - he can play across the midfield and will again provide depth to the midfield area which is arguably our weakest in terms of numbers. He's got 18 Canadian caps under his belt at the age of 24 he is another one of our squad who has his best years in front of him.

Sebastian Lletget

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Lletget is a former West Ham academy player and has only recently left them. He was nominated on the game for Rookie of the Year in the 2014 MLS season whilst playing for LA Galaxy so signing him up was a no-brainer. He has the potential to become a very key part of our team and under the guidance of Kaka I'm hoping he can go on to become an Orlando great.

Abdoulie Mansally

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Our final draft pick was Aboulie Mansally, a Gambian international winger who will challenge for a starting place. He looks up to standard with the rest of our first team wingers and is on a fairly low wage so there's not too much risk with this one.

In the second draft we only chose one player and this was for University graduates I believe? Either way we picked up this youngster who will probably start in our Under 23s squad for the time being but I'll be monitoring him.

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New Signings

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After our draft picks we then made 2 regular signings from the European leagues including one which will fill our designated player position for the coming season.

Christian Pander

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The first of our signings is German left back Christian Pander. We lost our main left back Luke Boden after we accepted an offer from New England Revolution so this was the main position we needed to strengthen as we had no natural left backs in the squad. Pander brings oodles of experience and is a German international, he has spent all of his career in the Bundesliga but has decided to come over to America at the end of his career.

Abou Diaby

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Our second signing is slightly risky but we have signed the walking injury Abou Diaby! If he stays fit he will be a massive player for us and is one of the best players in the league. I'm fully aware of his injury concerns but we are hoping he stays fit and with him in the middle of the park we are a much stronger outfit. He is a designated player, along with Kaka, meaning that we can pay him outside of the wage cap. We'll see if the risk pays off...

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