It's Football, Not Soccer! An American Adventure

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TheLuckDuck

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This save is being played on the US Pro Rel database made by papam which can be found on the Steam Workshop

Despite being a member of this forum for a while, this will be my first Football Manager 2016 story, in light of this I decided a great place to start would be a nation of never managed before, America! Not only that, but the American lower leagues!
I have absolutely no idea how football in America works, so please join me on this adventure of highs but mainly catastrophic lows

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's Football, Not Soccer! An American Adventure

​
America has always fascinated me, everything from it's ludicrously commercialised sporting events (more on that later) to it's fascinating history. The thing that interested me most about America, however, was it's seemingly unjustifiable refusal to embrace the game the world loved, with some even suggesting that football was responsible for "moral decay in America" (seriously).

I guess this is the reason I, a job-less 23-year-old, whose qualifications numbered 3 A-Levels and a National B Licence, decided to jump on a plane to America and follow my dream of becoming a football manager.


View attachment 186122
If Beckham can do it, why can't I?
​

The destination of the flight was Baltimore, home to 620,000 people, but most importantly my old school-friend Elis, who had somehow scored me a gig at local amateur side, Baltimore Bohemians, who play in the Northeast Division of the Premier Development League. I would be living with Elis in his flat until my inevitable sacking.

This could be the start of something beautiful, or not, but I'm sure it will be something

Wish me luck!


 
BALTIMORE BOHEMIANS
View attachment 186114

Baltimore Bohemians are a football club based in Baltimore which is in the state of Maryland. They compete in the USL Premier Development League, which is the fourth tier of American football.

"The Bohemians" were founded by Louis Angelos in 2011, they play at the 5,000 capacity stadium Cedar Lane which they rent for 10% of the gate receipts. Baltimore Bohemians Under 18s also play at Cedar Lane.

Baltimore have below average training facilities and basic youth facilities, they also boast minimal junior coaching and limited youth recruitment.

The home kit is black and gold whilst the away kit is read and white, these colours were chosen in honour of the Flag of Maryland
​

The Squad
As you would expect, there aren't any world beaters in the squad, but my assistant manager Mark Pulisic has identified a few key players

Matthew Murphy - 22 years old - Attacking Midfielder
View attachment 186111
Mark has identified 22 year old attacking midfielder Matthew Murphy as the club's best player and I can see why, if this guy's fit, he's playing, simple as that, Murphy is Baltimore's Mesut Ozil

Eric Saunders - 25 years old - Centre Back
View attachment 186110
25 year old Eric Saunders is the only defender worth talking about at this club - the rest aren't good enough to tie his shoes and I hope to keep hold of him despite interest from elsewhere. Eric's q proper defender with a bit of pace about him, which always helps

Mark Molina 16 years old - Winger
View attachment 186109
Mark is a promising youngster which is important as squads in this league are not allowed to contain more than 7 players over the age of 23, which strikes me as a bit odd, Mark has decent pace and a lot of flair which will come in handy this season

The League
Having met with the chairman and my only member of staff - I set about trying to learn about the league and how it worked because they weren't too sure either but here goes

There are 33 games in the league with each team playing each other not once, not twice but three times over the course of a season lasting from March to September. In terms of squad you can have a maximum of 7 players over the age of 23, a maximum of 8 foreign players and a maximum of 99 registered players, which strikes me as slightly excessive but oh well. In terms of promotion/ relegation, the team who win the league win promotion to the USL East where they play the likes of Rochester and Charleston and the team who finish bottom are relegated to the NPSL (They do love their acronyms in America). Second and third qualify for the Promotion Playoff where they will face off against second and third from the PDL Southeast, West and Midwest

The Transfer System
F*ck knows

Wish me luck


 
Interesting concept. I'll be following. Best of luck!
 
The Seventh of March 2015
Having lived in Baltimore for almost two months now, I have come to appreciate both how wonderful the city is and how much better British comedy is. The change in lifestyle hasn't been dramatic, but it has been noteworthy, the American northeast is very different to Cardiff, where is was raised, and the lack of the word "ARAF" after "SLOW" in street signs confused me at first but I'm beginning to get my head around it. Baltimore is twice the size of Cardiff (population wise) and Metro Baltimore contains almost as many people as the whole of Wales.

The people have also been extremely welcoming, with many driving directly towards me on the motorway- sorry "highway", whilst offering me limes and faggots, it really is a wonderful city.

Back to the football, I've been a busy boy since joining this club 2 months ago, I've set up a tactic or two, taken the players through a rigorous (by amateur standards) pre-season and made 9 transfers with exactly $0, apparently that works out at £0 at the bureau du change.

TRANSFERS IN
Mark Rodriguez - 22 years old - Goalkeeper - Free - Ocean City
View attachment 186089
We really needed a keeper, even my ever optimistic assistant Mark Pulisic couldn't find any decent players from the pile of ***** that was between the sticks when we arrived, hence the signing of Mr Rodriguez, this kid has it all, two arms, two legs, a head and a degree in Maths from Hull University, the one thing he doesn't have is footballing ability, but that's not that important

Colin Valenzuela - 24 years old - Striker - Free - Lehigh Valley
View attachment 186087
Another great acquisition, this lad can play anywhere from fly-half to second-row but this isn't a rugby team so that doesn't matter, he can't really jump, isn't that fast and his positioning is awful, expect Villa to come in with a £6 million bid in the summer *cough* Gestede *cough*

Marco Antonio Munoz - 24 years old - Left Back - Free - Ocean City
View attachment 186085
He's a left-back and has a squiggle above the "n" in Munoz, all the hallmarks of a future world-beater, he also speaks basic Spanish and qualifies for Mexico, doubt he'll get a call-up, but it's always a possibility

Matt Ploeger - 23 years old - Right Back - Free - Reading United
View attachment 186083
Another day another full-back, Ploeger will play on the right hand side of a fairly wobbly defense, unfortunately he has no squiggles in his name and can't speak Spanish so expect him to leave around season 2

Andre Wimmer - 28 years old - Central Midfielder - Free - Buxmont Torch
View attachment 186081
We really needed a central midfielder, like REALLY needed one

TRANSFERS OUT
We don't care about the traitors

PRE-SEASON
View attachment 186080
All that matters is getting fitness

Georges Latourte was a trialist who didn't join us

View attachment 186078
These are the first 11 games of the season - ROLL ON JERSEY!!

Wish me luck


 
March the 12th 2015
We are now two games into the season here at Baltimore and things are going decentish

Baltimore's chronic lack of any kind of midfielders has made it hard to implement my 4-2-3-1 wide formation which has lead to my selection of wingers Anthony Thomas and Darren Blevins in those central areas - with our best midfielder filling in for the injured Matthew Murphy up front. Mark Molina was also absent for both games which lead to the inclusion of striker Edgar Galindo on the right flank, this is how we got on..

Baltimore Bohemians 1-1 Jersey Express
View attachment 185874
A decent if forgettable beginning to my managerial career, a 1-1 home draw in front of a bumper crowd of 146 is a solid foundation to build on, especially without our two best players (Murphy and Molina). Striker-***-winger Edgar Galindo gave us the lead with an excellent finish 29 minutes in but Mark "The Mathematician" Rodriguez (tell me if you would like the nickname to stick) got his angles wrong and allowed Aaron Miller to score a 85th minute equaliser for The Express.

Virginia Legacy 0-0 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185865
We played out a boring 0-0 in front of a HUGE crowd 412 at Alert-Daly Field in Williamsburg, the architecture of the stadium really is second to none and I really enjoyed the pre-match sandwich they gave me, it was more interesting than the game anyways

TRANSFERS IN
Yes, on the back of two draws I decided we needed actual midfielders, rather than wingers, in midfield, so introduce yourselves boys...

Javier de la Torre - 22 years old - Centre-Back - Free - Buxmont Torch
View attachment 185863
With our crisis in central midfield I decided to solve it, with a centre-back, Javier is a great guy who can actually play football to a decent standard (think under-12s), he should be a good addition to the squad

Mark Suarez - 22 years old - Defender - Free - Buxmont Torch
View attachment 185862
Mark will be a good partner to Eric Saunders in central defence and can fill in all along the back line, a decent signing for this level

Carlos Garcia - 16 years old - Midfielder - Free - Buxmont Torch
View attachment 185859
At last! A midfielder! Carlos isn't great, but he's young, has potential and, most importantly, cost nothing, it's quite a struggle to sign players as we are an amateur club but this kid's ok, seriously, no joke

That's it for this time, join me next time as we crash to even more embarrassing defeats and a likely sacking

 
The first month of my managerial career hasn't gone exactly as planned, who knew the American fourth tier would be so tough?



As previously stated, the season started with two draws, at home against Jersey Express and away to Virginia Legacy, here's how the other fixtures went

Results
Baltimore Bohemians 0-1 Long Island Rough Raiders
View attachment 185795
A poor performance as I was forced to ditch my favoured 4-2-3-1 for a 4-4-2 due to injury issues, this loss highlighted the need for new players. We did ok but our inability to bring anyone on off the bench cost us Long Island scored a late winner

Ocean City NorthEasters 0-0 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185794
A very good point away at one of the division's top sides. A good performance as e managed to hold on without our main players

Fredericksburg 4-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185793
A very poor performance in which we were dominated from start to finish by the division's bottom side, Fredericksburg's only fan was loving it, the only positive is Mark Molina's goal following a return from injury

Baltimore Bohemians 1-1 New York Athletic Club
View attachment 185792
A decent performance following our embarrassment at Fredericksburg, Mark Molina continued his promising return from fitness with a lovely goal 27 minutes in, our lead was not to last however as Keith Hanley equalised 4 minutes later


League Table
View attachment 185791
10th isn't where I plan to be at the end of the season but it is where we were placed in the season preview, so I'm living up to expectations

​
TRANSFERS IN
It's that time of year, more free transfers! I noted some key areas where we needed to improve; everywhere, unfortunately it wasn't feasible to sign 11 players, so I got two instead

Bob Hollandsworth - 22 years old - Striker - Free - Ocean City
View attachment 185788
Bob is a decent striker who will be replacing Colin "Venezuela" Valenzuela up front, Bob isn't actually from Holland which disappointed both my scout and my assistant manager, Mark Pulisic, he was in tears

Lewis Harrison - 28 years old - Winger - Free - Ocean City
View attachment 185787
Lewis Harrison sounds like Lewis Hamilton, that was the main attraction here, alongside our need of a left winger to compliment our excellent right-winger Mark Molina, I expect to see Lewis driving his way up the left wing

Not the best start to the month, but it's a start and that's all that matters, join us next time for a win, I hope


 
The first month of my managerial career didn't go as well as I'd hoped, so let's hope April provides some much needed points and my first win


A much better showing from the lads this month, 7 points from a possible 15 isn't bad for a team tipped do do poorly this season, but these wins only paper over the cracks, the home loss to Derby City Rovers in the Open Cup was particularly embarrassing

Results
Baltimore Bohemians 1-0 Western Mass Pioneers
View attachment 185513
At last! A win, the guys played well and deserved two or three more than the solitary goal we put past Western Mass but a win's a win at the end of the day, hopefully we can kick on from here

Baltimore Bohemians 0-1 Westchester Flames
View attachment 185512
A spirited performance at home against league leaders Westchester, we took them all the way until a late winner sealed the three points for them and misery for us, we had 16 shots including 6 on target in this match, Westchester had 3 shots and guess how many on target, 1.

Seacoast United Phantoms 0-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185511
Carlos Garcia's excellent solo effort won us the game away at struggling Seacoast, we almost drew at the end however when Javier de la Torre committed the cardinal sin of playing the ball across the back four, leaving their striker a mostly open goal, he missed.

Portland Phoenix 2-0 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185509
A horrific performance, we just didn't turn up and it cost us today as Portland ran riot, shameful

Baltimore Bohemians 2-3 Derby City Rovers US OPEN CUP SECOND ROUND
View attachment 185508
2-0 up at half-time against a team in the division below and we blew it, horrendous

Baltimore Bohemians 3-3 Reading United
View attachment 185507
We did well to come back against a strong United side and I thought we'd won it ith Colin Valenzuela's 80th minute strike, it wasn't to be however as William Martinez crushed my dreams by equalising in the 87th minute


League Table
View attachment 185506
We currently sit in 9th with a third of the season gone, we are 11 points off the play-offs so I doubt we'll make it this season
​
 
MAY
View attachment 185154
Following an ok month in April, I hope we can kick on this month, the board are happy with ninth, but I'm not, so let's start climbing that table! Let's see how we got on this month

View attachment 185153
Christ on a bike! What a month! 4 wins from 5 including a 3-0 win against Virginia Legacy really is something, left-winger Lewis Harrison has been on fire this month, unfortunately he received a sprained ankle in the draw with Long Island, he'll be out until July
​
Results
Jersey Express 1-2 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185152
A great performance away from home against league-leaders Jersey, Colin Valenzuela was back in the starting eleven after his brace against Reading and scored again here. League top goalscorer Aaron Miller levelled for The Express shortly after half-time. It took Moses to part the red (well, green) sea of Jersey defenders and pop one in for us to take all three points

Baltimore Bohemians 3-0 Virginia Legacy
View attachment 185149
Attacking midfielder Matthew Murphy bagged his first goal for Baltimore 12 minutes in and it was all plain sailing from there, star left-winger Lewis Harrison scored a tap-in 6 minutes before half-time that killed the game. Andre Wimmer put the icing on the cake with an excellent solo effort on the hour mark

Long Island Rough Riders 1-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185148
Our only blemish of an otherwise brilliant May, Colin Valenzuela continued his decent may with a goal away at Long Island, David Shiels spoiled the fun with a 65th minute equaliser, what a *******, Lewis Harrison sparined his ankle and is out until July

Baltimore Bohemians 1-0 Ocean City Northeasters
View attachment 185142
A good win that draws us closer to the playoffs, a late, well worked Wimmer goal sunk City to the bottom of the ocean (see what I did there?). We dealt with a late Ocean City onslaught incredibly well

New York Athletic Football Club 0-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 185141
We absolutely battered New York and deserved far more than the 1 scored by a resurgent Colin Valenzuela, New York's keeper was on some kind of drug and I don't like it, also Munoz missed a penalty, I guess you need more than a squiggly n to be good at football after all


League Table
View attachment 185140
A surprisingly good May has left us in a healthy 7th position in the PDL Northeast Division, we currently sit 6 points off the promotion playoffs though so I think they are unlikely​
 
Enjoying it so far a really good story to read and a good last month
 
JUNE
View attachment 184783
I doubt we'll be able to improve on what was an incredible May, but let's hope we can, we face some very stiff opposition this month though

View attachment 184782
Another great month! We didn't start off too well with a loss against Western Mass but we then went on to win our remaining three games quite comfortably, getting 9 points from a possible 12 this month, winger Lewis Harrison returned for the games against Portland and Seacoast
​

Results
Western Mass Pioneers 3-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 184781
NOT a good start to the month! We didn't turn up in the first half and their early goal coupled with a third in first-half stoppage time killed the game as a contest, Mark Molina scored a consolation for us

Baltimore Bohemians 2-0 Fredericksburg
View attachment 184775
Mark Suarez and Bob Hollandsworth gave us a comfortable win at home to a struggling Fredericksburg, Hollandsworth proved his worth by turning a man of the match performance, scoring 1 and assisting the other

Baltimore Bohemians 3-1 Seacoast United Phantoms
View attachment 184774
Another day another comfortable win! Lewis Harrison mad an obvious difference for us here with all 3 of our goals coming before he was substituted. Mark Suarez scored his second in two games and Mark Molina scored his fifth of the season, Wimmer popped up with another

Baltimore Bohemians 2-1 Portland Phoenix
View attachment 184773
Our biggest test of the month as a home game against (then) second placed Portland Phoenix and it was a tight affair settled by substitute Colin Valenzuela's sixth goal of the season. We edged them in the end with us having 60% possession and twice the amount of shots


League Table
View attachment 184772
The table is looking good from our perspective as we sit three points off Long Island Rough Riders we occupy the last playoff berth, we still won't make it though

​
Transfers In
The transfer window re-opened on the 1st of June (yay!) which meant we could sign players again (double yay!), we only brought in the one player due to the league's Under-23 rules

John Sanusi - 16 years old - Right-Back - Free - Harrisburg City
View attachment 184770
John is both younger and better than current right-back Matt Ploeger but isn't playing for those very reason (don't want to get promoted now, do we?), he has an n in his name but no squiggle which disappointed my assistant, Mark Pulisic, and I


 
JULY
View attachment 184097
Back home in Wales, I would have my feet up, waiting for football to come back at this time of year, but not here in the States, it's business as usual as we push for that mid-table place, hopefully we can get there

View attachment 184096

A mixed bag of results really as we played some of the division's top teams 1st (Jersey), 3rd (Long Island), 5th (Westchester) and 7th (Reading), so a haul of 5 points from a possible 12 is ok in my humble opinion

​
Results
Westchester Flames 0-3 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 184095
Three goals in the first half an hour killed the game as a contest, Mark Molina continued his decent form by scoring a well-worked goal 2 minutes in, Mark Pulisic and I were still buying our drinks and chatting to the lady behind the stall (Pat, here name was, lovely lad, heart of gold), back to the football. Lewis Harrison scored a header in the 19th minute to give us some breathing space before left-back Marco Antonio Munoz with a squiggle on the n scored a penalty to tie up the game

Reading United 0-0 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 184087
A very frustrating game as we found it hard to break Reading United down, their keeper had a whale of a time in goal, Colin Valenzuela got injured and their lad behind the stall wasn't as nice as Pat so all in all, not a good day

Baltimore Bohemians 1-2 Jersey Express
View attachment 184071
Mark Molina put us ahead again with a great goal 23 minutes in to the match, Jersey were just too strong, however, as they scored just before half-time and then just before the end to break many a Bohemian's heart

Baltimore Bohemians 1-1 Long Island Rough Riders
View attachment 184070
Another tight game, Bob Hollandsworth equalised just after the half-hour mark after David Shiels put Long Island ahead early on, quite a poor scrappy match in all honesty


League Table
View attachment 184069
A decent-ish month as we sit in 4th position with 9 games to go, hopefully we can close the gap on the playoffs but I'm doubtful
​

Transfers In
Peter Hughes - 22 years old - Striker - Hershey FC - Free
View attachment 184064
Peter is an interesting guy, he studies sociology at Manchester before coming back to America and becoming a footballer in 2015, he has also been to Mongolia twice and holds the current world record for most books balanced on a person's head for 10 minutes, shame he can't play football

Amadou Sesay - 16 years old - Centre-Back - Harrisburg City - Free
View attachment 184063
Amadou, unlike Peter, has quite a balanced and normal personality, he knows what he likes and likes what he knows, i.e he likes a pit but will never venture into the world of bitter, which makes him an ideal centre-back, lovely stuff


 
AUGUST
View attachment 183931
As Europe's major leagues kick off, our season begins to come to it's end, August is the penultimate month of the season for those who don't reach the cherished playoffs so let's see how we got on

View attachment 183928
We appear to have hit a sticky patch in July and August, which is probably the worst time to hit one, the 9 points from 12 isn't good enough if we want to climb the league table

​
Results
Virginia Legacy 0-3 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 183913
A very confident performance away to Virginia, Mark Molina got us off the mark with a well executed finish in the 51st minute after a poor first half from both teams, Bob Hollandsworth then doubled our advantage with an impressive volley from inside the penalty area in the 71st minute, before completing the rout with a well-timed header 10 minutes from time

Ocean City Nor'easters 2-0 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 183898
A very poor showing that destroyed any hopes of the playoffs, two early second half goals sunk the Baltimore ship before it even realised it was sailing, never mind in battle, poor

Baltimore Bohemians 2-0 New York Athletic Club
View attachment 183897
A confident victory over a side seemingly rooted to the foot of the table, Lewis Harrison scored his 4th goal of the season to give us the lead 37 minutes into the match before Andre Wimmer proved why he was a fan's favourite with a goal just after half-time

Baltimore Bohemians 1-2 Western Mass Pioneers
View attachment 183896
Another poor showing, Bob Hollandsworth gave us the lead against the run of play but they soon pegged us back before capitalising on a defensive error to score the winner early in the second half

Fredericksburg 1-2 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 183893
Two excellent Matthew Murphy strikes sandwiched a lucky goal from Chris Coleman (no, not that one), Murphy really is a scorer of great goals but, unfortunately for us, isn't a great scorer of goals


League Table
View attachment 183892
Another decent month leaves us 4th in the league which is where I expect to end the season

View attachment 183891​
 
SEPTEMBER
View attachment 183873
The last month of the season bore no consequence for us as all hope of the playoffs was all but gone, September was about one thing: pride

View attachment 183871
Quite a poor month to end the season to be honest, picking up just 5 point from a possible 12, not good enough
​

Results
Seacoast United Phantoms 1-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 183870
Lewis Harrison got us off to the perfect start 3 minutes in with a well-executed volley that ended up in the Seacoast net, Matt Ploeger's red card ruined things for us however and John Murray equalised for them just a minute later, we ended up going strikerless and holding on - just.

Baltimore Bohemians 0-0 Westchester Flames
View attachment 183868
A very poor performance from both sides saw our penultimate home game of the season fizzle out into a disappointing draw, both sides had nothing to play for and it showed, poor

Baltimore Bohemians 0-1 Reading United
View attachment 183867
Another poor performance from both sides that was won with a scruffy goal from Reading United, poor, poor, poor

Portland Phoenix 0-1 Baltimore Bohemians
View attachment 183865
At last! A win! This was a very good showing from us against Portland, a side who finished the season in the playoffs, Lewis Harrison bagged his 6th goal of the season to take all 3 points back to Baltimore


League Table
View attachment 183862
A decent first season in management, we were predicted to finish 9th and finished 4th, that's decent in my book, hopefully we can push for the playoffs next season


​
Wanted Man!
View attachment 183861
Apparently I'm favourite for the vacant position at Carolina Dynamo, Carolina finished 5th in the PDL Southeast Division, so I doubt I'll go

This raises a big question, should I leave Baltimore if a better job becomes available?

 
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