You should give HUT a solid chance. I loved it last year to a point. But they have really improved it with the ability to play friends and giving you shots at other HUT teams.
While it is not a realistic GM mode, obviously, it can be insanely fun to strategically build and tweak your roster. You really get to know and love players you would have never spent any time playing with.
With the ability to play friends, it will be more fun to share your creation. Last year you could only play offline and randoms, and it just didn't do anything for me. But if a group of friends all build from scratch and spend no cash, or even keep it at a gentlemen' agreement of a set amount, it will be way more interesting to compare squads.
HUT is so much deeper than the demo even comes close to revealing. I'm sure that Fifa's is pretty good, too. Madden's doesn't work because of the severe limit of players. With real players from all of the European and Minor leagues, there is a huge range of talent that you have to build from.
I'll be playing a Blues franchise, too. But I'm really hoping HUT is something that catches on more this year.