deszeppelin
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Greetings everyone and welcome to my story "Atlanta United - A MLS Story"
This story will follow the journey of Atlanta United, A newly formed franchise in the MLS.
Atlanta United are a brand new club and it gives me the opportunity to build a club up from the foundations up. My aim is to build Atlanta firstly into a powerhouse within the league, then moving on to try and conquer the continent before aiming to build them a reputation as one the best clubs in the world.
Before we get started i feel a bit of background into the club/league is best to give you a better idea of the challenge ahead.
THE CLUB
Atlanta United were formed in 2014 and has been granted permission by the MLS (Major League Soccer) to join the league from the 2017 season.
The club is situated in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States its nearest club to it is Orlando City.
The move is seen as ideal by the league as its the largest city in the country to date without a franchise.
The club is owned by a man called Arthur Blank. He owns the the American Football team - Atlanta Falcons as well as the the home supplies company - The Home Depot ltd.
He has a personal wealth of over $3 Billion Dollars.
The history behind its colours as well as its badge was largely down to its supporters. The team's name, logo and colours were unveiled on July 7, 2015. The logo features a circle reminiscent of the city's seal and Olympic heritage with a bold "A" at the centre of the circle. Behind the "A" are five black and red stripes representing the five pillars of the club: unity, determination, community, excellence and innovation.The team's official colours are black (a symbol of strength and power), victory red (representing pride and passion), and gold (epitomising a commitment to excellence)
THE STADIUM
To start their inaugural season in the MLS. Atlanta United will play their home games at the Bobby Dodd Stadium.
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This will be until construction is complete on the Mercedes Benz Stadium which is due for completion halfway through the season.
The stadium holds a capacity of 72,000 for the N.F.L. Games (Atlanta Falcons) but will be scaled down to 32,000 for Atlanta United games.
THE SQUAD
As a newly formed team you can imagine that numbers are a bit thin on the ground. Upon registering the club for the league, the club signed 7 players. The only notable ones are Chris McCann and Kenwyne Jones. There are several things you need to know about possible incoming players before i continue.
MLS SQUAD RULES AND CAP
Within Major League Soccer there a number of complex rules and regulations regarding squad registration, salary cap and the amount of foreign players i am allowed to have in my squad.
The Cap
The first and foremost complexity is all based around the Salary Cap. The cap and the rules that follow it make the league what it is. There are no teams with exponential riches, and everyone is competitive. I will never have an "easy match", like I may find in European leagues against newly promoted organisations. It also means I must be clean and efficient with your trades and signings.
The cap is very simple - I have X amount of dollars per year (usually around 3.1 million) to be spent on payroll. Understand that all rules are complimentary to the cap; once this concept "clicks", it all becomes easy. The cap is love, the cap is life.
Breaking it down, I can have a maximum of 28 players registered. These do not include players on loan, players on season ending injuries, and a few other situations that aren't worth mentioning. In February of every year, I must register my 28 man squad. Any players not registered are immediately waived. This is a good thing, because I can offload anyone under performing after the pre-season without paying a fee. An incredible tool when used correctly.
Three Designated Players are allowed. These players make over $388,000 per year. One of them must be "young", meaning under 23 - these guys also cost less cap money. Any money over $388,000 is not counted towards the cap
Eight Internationals are allowed; meaning those who do not hold national citizenship.
Ten Off Budget Players are allowed. This is where things get a little trickier. Players who are Home-Grown can be considered off-budget, as well as players under Generation Adidas contracts (a training investment organisation, these are rare and come through the super draft). Additionally, players on Senior Minimum Salary ($49,000/y) contracts can be considered. Finally Reserve players ($36,500/y), whom I may have six of, are also candidates. Again, only ten are allowed total, and they do not contribute to the cap.
Speaking of reserve players, know this: I can still make as many players as you'd like available for reserve matches, and reserve players can participate unhindered in senior matches. The registration ONLY refers to the contract type.
COMPETITION FORMATS
There are several pieces of silverware to chase, and all of them are a little different. Let's start with the priority: the domestic league.
First, understand that the league is split into two conferences: Western and Eastern. The conference a team is located in will determine how many times it plays other teams in the same conference. Traditionally, the West is sturdier collection of clubs. (Atlanta United are in the Eastern
)The annual race for the league is known as the Supporter's Shield. This trophy is awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the season. Simple. It also provides allocation money, a spot in the NACL (North American Champions League), and really pleases the supporters.
The second league competition is the MLS Cup. Consider this more important but set out to win to the Shield. This is a playoff competition amongst the best teams by points in each conference. If I aim to win the Supporter's Shield, I will get a place - so no need to do anything special here. The one point I will make, is that the board is going to consider this very important. It also means that players that dread big matches are now worth slightly less to me.
The domestic cup is known as the US Open Cup. Similar to the FA Cup all teams in the United States can compete, including non-playable USL/NASL regional teams as well as U-23 and other academy squads. The rewards are merely allocation funds, and a spot in the Champions League should i win.
Internationally, strong MLS sides will qualify for the North American Champions League. There is one reason why i should care about this competition: it provides access to the Club World Cup.
YOUTH PLAYERS & DRAFTS
The academy is only one source of youth, however. The other comes in the form of the SuperDraft. Every year, the top collegiate players are scouted by all teams, who have an opportunity to sign them. This effectively means that not only do i get my yearly intake, I get a national intake that i may select from. This is another factor for why the MLS is truly a league about developing national talent, and i can't rely on prospects from overseas.
The draft itself is very simple - teams are assigned a number (#1-20) and then get to select one player when their number is reached. There are two rounds to the SuperDraft, meaning i get two selections. Higher picks are very valuable, of course, as all draft picks can be traded - meaning i can buy another teams first or second round selection as part of a trade. Players not selected are available for the Supplemental Draft, to which there are more rounds and picks are obviously much less valuable.
There are a few other drafts, one of which is the Waiver Draft which occurs in December and March. Waived players can be selected by MLS teams. The Re-Entry Draft allows players who have left the team allocation process to be selected by a new team. These are both less important, but occasionally a team will waive a players because they can't afford them in the current cap.. A quick note - players who are drafted on waivers carry their current contract. So, you can't renegotiate with them immediately if they were being overpaid, but neither can anyone else.
The final form of draft is the Expansion Draft. Simply put, both Atlanta United as well as the other newly formed team Minnesota United get to pick five players from other teams at the end of the 2016 season. Every team already in the MLS gets to protect eleven of their 28 man squad. whilst the other seventeen go in to a draft pool. Between the two clubs ten players will be drafted. The tricky part is only one player per club can be drafted so if Minnesota picked a player from Toronto Fc, all Toronto players will be removed from the draft.
So i hope that has given you a insight into the wonderful world i am about to join, i will now holiday until the 11th December 2016 when the new pre-season begins....
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