[FM14] It's The Climb...

[R1zzo23]

Quote: Originally Posted by smpipkin

Good job and good luck next season! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Thanks! This is my first time getting through an entire season so I'm interested to see how the off season goes.

[pickingupcrumbs]

Really excited about this series, because I am a BIG FM fan. I haven't played FM seriously since FM 12 though, but I did play FM14 demo. Good luck on your series!

[R1zzo23]

Quote: Originally Posted by pickingupcrumbs

Really excited about this series, because I am a BIG FM fan. I haven't played FM seriously since FM 12 though, but I did play FM14 demo. Good luck on your series!

Thanks for following. This is my first serious play through on FM and figured if I documented if I would be more inclined to keep playing and it seems to be working.

[R1zzo23]

How about that as a way to start your season? We went from having a top keep in the Home Depot East division to now losing him to the Carolina Dynamo of the Chevron Championship division. It may sound like sour grapes but it is more than well deserved. He played for free on an amateur contract last season for JUFC, got back to playing competitive football and now has cashed in. The Dynamo will be paying Barton $1.9k p/w over the next two years. As much as it hurts to lose a keep like Barton, he deserves the opportunity to play at a higher level for a price point worthy of his skills.



Here's who is left over for keepers. Both super young prospects at 14-years old, it looks like Zimmerman has the upper hand over Long right now but both should pan out to be good prospects going forward. With Rizzo overspending on prospects last week, the board isn't very happy and we are looking to cut salary immediately that maybe only one of them sticks around.

[R1zzo23]

I've gotten the itch to play some FM lately. While toying with the idea of buying one of the newer versions of the game, I figured I would fire up FM14 and see if I could continue my save with Jacksonville United. We started the season off real well (almost two real life years ago!) and when I loaded up the save, I noticed that I had simulated through the entire first season. I had no idea the results so after a little searching I came up with the table from the Home Depot Eastern Division. Here's how it looked:



Yup, that's right! Jacksonville United finished on top of the table! I would say it was a huge accomplishment, but I didn't really remember much about the end of the season. Regardless, we are on to bigger and better things. With one season and a promotion under our belt, we find ourselves bumped up to the next level of American futbol in the Chevron League 2. Assuming the bump in talent, I wasn't very skeptical about our chances to compete and figured that if we could play a season or two of mid-table soccer and avoid relegation, I would be happy. Until I saw the predictions for this season...



Yes, you've read that correctly. Jacksonville United is one of five teams that are picked as the favorites to top the table and win the league. Avoiding relegation was no longer our main goal, I wanted to win the whole damn thing! We had some of our stronger players from last season back again this year and our familiarity as a team should be able to help us get off to a good start early in the season. At least that's what I was thinking...



We hadn't even started playing games yet and we were already suffering losses. Defensive midfielder Mark Nerkowski, one of my two original signings, decided that he no longer wanted to be a part of JUFC and moved on to the Carolina Dynamo. While we are upset about losing our team captain from last year, at 30-years old he deserves to play at the highest level of soccer he possibly can for the rest of his career. While we moved up to the Chevron League 2, he is now playing in the Chevron Championship - a full two tiers above where we are playing now. We wish Nerkowski nothing but the best, but now there is a void to fill.

It feels good to be back and now it is time to get to work to fill some holes and prep for the new season!

[R1zzo23]

American soccer has one cup competition for all of the clubs to partake in: the Burger King League Cup! Sounds prestigious, doesn't it? With most of the Microsoft Premiership (MLS) teams getting a bye in the first round, there was a chance that JUFC was going to be tasked with playing against a Chevron League 1 team in the opening round, a matchup that would almost guarantee a quick exit for Coach Rizzo's squad. The drawing was announced and JUFC's opponent was...



...the Virginia Beach Piranhas, a Chevron League 2 squad! This was quite the draw for Rizzo and his bang of overachievers. Not only a quality draw, but a home game as well! How do these teams stack up?*



While Virginia Beach has been around much longer and has a more expensive operating cost, JUFC has a better reputation across North America and is actually picked to finish higher in the table this season. While I typically wouldn't like to play against teams from our own league in cup play, we can't complain about this one.*

[R1zzo23]

JUFC announced the final sales figures for season tickets and the ticket office has confirmed the sale of 121 season tickets for the upcoming season. While that may seem pathetic (and it certainly is), this is a nearly 33% increase over season ticket sales from last year which was at just 95. It’s like money is growing on trees in Jacksonville!

Our first big-time youth signing, 15-year old central defender Max Sweet, has returned to full training after 8 months of rehab following damaged cruciate ligaments. His addition to the squad should pay huge dividends this season as he brings

The Sam Adams US Open Cup draw was today and it features every club team from the United States. Jacksonville United will be on the road in the first game but will play against the Fort Worth Intertunnel, a semi-pro team in the Southern Premier Soccer League. Details on the team are scarce and finding their “stadium” may prove to be difficult, but a win should be in the books for JUFC.

Our scouts have been out in full force looking for any talent we can possibly add to the squad and they found us a good one. David Wolfe, a 15 year-old center back from Seacoast United of the NPSL Atlantic Division will be joining Jacksonville United immediately. It will cost us $250 on the transfer, but having him on his $40/week salary is going to be great for us going forward.



Wolfe will not be available for the Burger King League Cup game against Virginia Beach, but the prognosticators don’t seem to be too concerned about that.



JUFC have been installed as the 5-4 favorites to win as they open up cup play. Being the home team certainly helps, but travel for Virginia Beach isn’t too extensive. And, as the 121 season tickets suggest, the home crowd isn’t exactly raucous. The next update will be game time!

[R1zzo23]

Jacksonville United opened the season with their opening round game in the Burger King League Cup against the Virginia Beach Piranhas in style! Despite being a team that is seemingly on an equal playing field with JUFC, the Piranhas were unable to stop the offensive onslaught Rizzo's squad had unleashed on them.

"We got lucky, really." Rizzo continued "If it weren't for a red card in the opening handful of minutes then this match could have looked much different. Even with a man advantage, we were struggling to get much of anything going."

The game was scoreless until injury time in the first half. A questionable penalty was called on Virginia Beach as JUFC floated a cross into the box and it resulted in Cristian Sanders blasting one past the keep to take the 1-0 lead.

Having some momentum going into halftime would prove dangerous as JUFC came out and played an aggressive, attacking style of play in the second half, tightly marking their man while looking to retain possession as much as possible. The result: three more goals in the final 45 minutes of play and a 4-0 win to start the season.

JUFC has met the board's goal of reaching the second round of the Burger King League Cup. While not only keeping the board happy, they were awarded $5,000 for their efforts. Chump change to most clubs but for an up-and-coming club like Jacksonville United, they will take any penny they can get.

The second round draw came out for the cup and JUFC will take on the Dayton Dutch Lions of the Chevron Championship League. A club two levels above Jacksonville United will prove to be quite the test for Rizzo and his scrappy young players, but they are up for the challenge. Dayton had a bye in the opening round of cup play but are coming off two losses on the friendly circuit. Their first was a 1-0 result to Indy Eleven, a Chevron League 1 club. Their latest was a 3-1 loss to FC Twente, a member of Holland's premier league and a game that Dayton had no business winning. Can JUFC take advantage of their bad form lately and pull an upset?