Be the Franchise: Be the GM Series
by Fuzion on Aug 12, 2011 5:02 PM CDT
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A quick rundown of the moves over the last two weeks is pretty simple. Carlo Costly and Luiz Carmago signed. Yea, that's about it. Sad, I know. We all were hoping for something a bit more, but alas we have a FO that is reminiscent of early Houston Texans era -- lots of huff and puff, but nothing to actually blow the house down. Nevertheless, it is time to inject some more thought into the world of football.
Last week you donned the throne of United States Soccer, and proved you have the mettle to not only run the ship better than it's ever been run, but also the clairvoyance to think beyond the here and now. This brings us to our next installment of the series, and the one I personally consider to be the hardest. It will require a full week for most to sort through the intricacies of what will be challenged unto you. Are you up for the challenge? If so, follow the jump, and feast upon the world.
Perhaps you are wondering how I could possibly throw out something that could raise the bar of what you've already accomplished? Well, I aims to please, and I can only hope this week is as much a success as previous weeks. After all, I am a fan of intellectual, strategic development and discussion. Heck, through this series so far we have entered into an almost game-like affair, with me the writer offering up a challenge you must attempt to meet. And so it begins anew again. (yes, I love anticipatory build-up)
This week you are charged with a new position, one not yet even created. You have been given the keys to a new franchise, a new MLS club. This club is yours to do entirely with what you will. You have been tasked with creating a competitive club, and a realistic one. Now for the tough part.
In the course of the building of this new franchise, you must acquire no less than 4 Internationals, and they must all come from different continents (South America, Africa, Europe, Asia or Australia -- yes this is limiting). You must draft 2 to 3 new American talents, 1 of which must start. You are also being given a chance to instruct 3 professional soccer scouts, one must be focused upon a single European second division league. You may choose up to 3 current MLS players from the current MLS clubs, 1 from each conference and 1 extra of your choice. You must also select 2 current MLS Academy players from any MLS Academy, while also selecting a new Academy coach and Assistant coach (who will also coach your Reserves squad).
And now for the truly scintillating part, you have been offered by the owner of your new club the opportunity to sign a Designated Player to no more than $1.5 million US. How you go about all of this is up to you, but the last and final piece is you must select your coach and you must select the formational style your coach will adopt (I will assume nobody will demand a strict 4-4-2 or anything of the sort, so in a brief summary of what you'd do).
If you opt to work through all of this, and come up with a solid plan, I am offering a prize of Houston Dynamo merchandise of my choosing (it will be at the least a cap or t-shirt) and furthermore, there will be a blog-wide vote next week Friday to determine the winning team. Feel free to name it, too.
Now, get to work. Hahaha!
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FYI
It’s not showing up on the main page…had to access by twit
Oh and thanks, this is easily the toughest (and therefore most tantalizing) challenge yet. I shall submit mine in due time :)
Yea, it's on the main page now
Some kind of weird glitch in the system.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Ok, here we go
Team: Texian FC
HEAD COACH
Ruud Gullit
4-4-2 Formation (Diamond Midfield):
Hall
Sarkodie—Dias—Cameron—Ota
Ndame Ndame
Renatinho—Shea
Sanchez
Mattocks— McGrath
AFRICA
Andre Ndame Ndame (Cameroonian International)
23 y/o, 6’0"
Defensive Midfielder
Current Club: Cotonsport de Garoua (Cameroonian First Division)
Cost: $70K
SOUTH AMERICA
Renato Ribeiro Calixto, aka Renatinho (Brazilian International)
22 y/o, 5’5"
Winger/Midfielder
Current Club: Ponte Preta (Brazilian Serie B)
Cost: ~$150K
EUROPE
Alex Lopez Sanchez (Spanish International) – DP
23 y/o, 5’9"
Attacking Midfielder
Current Club: Celta de Vigo (Spanish Second Division)
Cost: $900K
ASIA
Kosuke Ota (Japanese International)
24 y/o, 5’10"
LB
Current Club: Shimizu S-Pulse (Japanese J-League)
Cost: $600K
AUSTRALIA
Brent McGrath (Australian International)
20 y/o, 6’1"
Striker
Current Club: Brondby (Danish Premier League)
Cost: $180K
MLS
Geoff Cameron
26 y/o, 6’3"
CB
Current Club: Houston Dynamo
Kofi Sarkodie
20 y/o, 5’9"
RB
Current Club: Houston Dynamo
Brek Shea (Winger/MF)
23 y/o, 6’3"
Winger/MF
Current Club: FC Dallas
SUPPLEMENTAL PLAYERS
Cristiano Dias
25 y/o, 6’3"
Defender
Current Club: NSC Minnesota Stars (NASL)
Cost: $180K
Tally Hall
26 y/o, 6’4"
Goalkeeper
Current Club: Houston Dynamo
ACADEMY
Sean Okoli – Seattle Sounders Academy
18 y/o, 5’11"
Forward
Current Club (College): Wake Forest University
Nicolo Muniz – Real Salt Lake Academy
17 y/o
Midfielder
Current Club (College): Undetermined (Deciding between RSL Development Academy or Professional Club, played in Spanish second division)
Johnny Torres – Houston Dynamo Academy
19 y/o, 5’8"
Midfielder/Forward
Current Club (College): Wake Forest University
SUPERDRAFT
Kelyn Rowe
21 y/o, 5’8"
Attacking Midfielder
Current College: UCLA
Darren Mattocks (STARTER)
20 y/o, 6’0"
Forward
Current College: University of Akron
SCOUTING DIRECTOR
Ruben Uria
Primary League Scouting – Spanish 2nd Division
Jair Ventura Filho, aka Jairzinho
South American Scouting Consultant
Paul Le Guen
African Scouting Consultant
ACADEMY COACH
Robert Corfou
ASSISTANT COACH/RESERVES COACH
Arie Haan
I realize it seems a stretch on a few things but hear me out: Ruud Gullit crashed on his first stint in MLS with LA. He’s had time off, had a chance to re-evaluate and is able to talk to peeps he knows (as they travel in privileged circles), which is how we get the scouting staff we do. Uria is assistant coach at Sevilla FC and has his chance to make a difference as head of talent scouting, and has Jairzinho and Le Guen merely as consultants to give basically part-to-full time advice on prospects in South America and Africa, respectively. Courfou is a former NT manager for Cameroon who’s also looking to redeem himself by building the team’s academy and Haan is a former Dutch striker who goes in with Gullit.
The formation seems odd at a 4-4-2 diamond but baby steps here folks. As the team incorporates the talent they perhaps move more to a 4-5-1 but only after initial success in the first season. At that point the two scouting consultants are replaced with full-time scouts (to be named later) and we have a pretty good base going. The team’s a bit high on the payroll side but is willing to make the initial investment to pave the way for highly competitive teams for the first 3-4 years, which at that point loan agreements will have been established with teams in Africa, Europe and South America as well as a growing Academy.
And so the gauntlet has been laid
Who will step up and challenge Michael’s team?
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
I'm out
Way too much hard work for me to accomplish in between dead periods at work. But keep ‘em coming. I’ll just mooch off of everyone else’s knowledge.
:)
It does take time & some homework but I will say I was able to bang this out after declining my wife & daughter’s invitation to spend Saturday night on the couch watching From Prada To Nada
Price is Right?
Total expenditure: $2.358 million for the starting XI.
(It wasn’t originally listed but Sarkodie is rookie salary (~$30K, perhaps less), Cameron is $34K and Shea is $108K)
Also, its insane what a steal Cameron is at $34K. I’m going to assume that’s going to change because that’s just, wow. I almost considered giving him the salary bump here but what can I say? I have an effective FO ;-)
Perhaps
I should have taken Cameron instead of Loyd @ CB.
considering
his performance v price, its a stunning value. And I honestly didn’t realize that when I included him, I just knew he was a beast at CB and figured price be damned.
A few questions...
Almost finished.
A few questions:
• Does Central/North America count as its own continent?
• Are DP’s independent of the 1 per continent rule?
• Is Luis Gil an Academy player?
I don't know
that Gil is, I thought he was actually part of the RSL squad now…thought he ended his Academy days in ’09 but I might be wrong
hopefully Fuze can clear up the others for you, but for me I killed two birds with one stone in signing Alex Sanchez as my DP and also being my continental European player
Also
Didn’t know if the continental restrictions where on nationality of the player or where player’s club is based…
Nationality all the way
Koke would be a Spaniard not a Greek. Duh. Lol.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Sorry for the long delay in replying
I’m now working the graveyard shift (11p – 7a CST) and I typically crash immediately following my shift.
As for the answers:
1) Central America, Mexico and Canada will count as a separate continent. The US cannot be included in that portion, however
2) No. I left that up for interpretation for a reason.
3) He can be. They don’t have to be current Academy players, but you have to feel somewhat confident they would be willing to move into the new Academy.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Guh
I remember those type of hours…back in the day had to coordinate software updates with our Canadian hosting service with our main offices in London and Singapore. I’m pouring out some Red Bull for you
My body has adjusted fine at this point...
I just sleep during the day so my schedule is kinda whack, lol.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Please tell me
you’re still relatively young because I can’t imagine doing those hours now. And sadly, I was doing “those hours” about 6 years ago….my how age catches us (well me, specifically :))
My turn
Team:
Texas Tejanos
HEAD COACH-
Paul Mariner
ACADEMY COACH
Sonny Silooy
ASSISTANT COACH- Ronnie Ekland
Formation: 3-1-2-2-2 with all sorts of easy variations
Style: Mixed, but predominantly ball control/passing and attacking oriented
Defense: Press, Man to Man
Galvan, Kruse
Akram, Borges
Shea, Marquinos/Fagundez/Gil
Jebrain
Wenger, Loyd, Bates/Berry
Hall
Note: the number of rookie defenders. This is misleading, other professional defenders will be sough. However, given the selection limitations (I think I stretched this to 15 players), I focused on Dfers.
MLS-
Zach Loyd DF (MLS West)
24 y/o, 5’9"
CD
Current Club: FC Dallas
Nationality: USA
Brek Shea (Choice)
23 y/o, 6’3"
WG/MF/DL
Current Club: FC Dallas
Nationality: USA
Tally Hall (MLS East)
26 y/o, 6’4"
GK
Current Club: Houston Dynamo
Nationality: USA
MLS Academy Players-
Diego Fagundez
16 y/o, 5’8"
MF/WG
Current Club: New England Revolution
Nationality: Uruguaya, USA?
Luis Gil
17 y/o, 5’8"
WG/MF
Current Club: Real Salt Lake
Nationality: USA
NOTE: If Gil is not an Academy player, then Dynamo Gk Pina
Draft-
Andrew Wenger D- Duke
20 y/o, 6’0"
CD/DM
Current Club: Duke University
Nationality: USA
Austin Berry
22 y/o, 6’2"
DF
Current Club: University of Louisville
Nationality: USA
Mykell Bates
Age ?, 5’9"
DF
Current Club: Santa Clara University
Nationality: USA
Transfer Valuations
Listed in Euros, converted as $1 = 1.44 Euros
Valuation = http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk
Designated Player
Celso Borges
23 y/o, 6’1"
CAM/STR
Current Club: Fredrikstad FK- Norwegian Premier
Cost: $1,296,000
Nationality: Costa Rica
North/Central America
Martín Galván
18 y/o, 5’7"
STR/AM
Current Club: Cruz Azul- Mexican 1st Div
Cost:$288,000
Nationality: Mexico
South America
Marcos Gabriel do Nascimento (Marquinhos)
21 y/o, 5’8 1/2"
CAM/WGR
Current Club: Athletico Independiente- Argentine 1st Div
Cost: $720,000
Nationality:Brazil
Africa
Torric Jebrin- Cost: $300,000
20 y/o. 6’1"
CAM/DM
Current Club: Buscapor- Turkish 1st Div
Nationality: Ghana
Asia
Nashat Akram- transfer fee unknown-
26 y/o, 6’1"
CAM/MF
Current Club: Lekhwiya- Quatar 1st Div
Nationality: Iraq
Australia
Robbie Kruse-
22 y/o, 5’10"
STR
Current Club: Fortuna Düsseldorf- Bundesliga 2
Cost: $1,080,000-
Nationality: Australia
SCOUTING DIRECTOR, Regional consultants:
Unknown at this time- will begin by looking to best online scouting agents, then employ grass roots local scouts as needed.
Once enough interested players are idenified within a region, one of the forementioned big three (Mariner, Eklund, Silooy) will scout the player personally
Primary League Scouting – Argentinean and Brazilian second divisions
Impressive
Like the formation and like some of the international findings you signed…it’d be a very interesting and potent team
Pretty damn potent indeed
Very impressive.
Two and a half days left before we close the submissions and open up the voting!
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Nahhhhh
Yuo get my vote for having a set scouting system :)
by playtherapy on Aug 18, 2011 10:49 AM CDT up reply actions
Correction
Forgot to convert Jebren’s Euro evaluation to $’s.
Make that $432,000
These transfer costs are so Un-Dynamo!
About 3.8 mil total expenditure. Can’t find anything on Akram’s valuation or how much Lekhwiya (the best funded Quatari team) would want for him. When Erikson managed Man City, Akram was a transfer target.
by playtherapy on Aug 18, 2011 12:47 PM CDT up reply actions
Good point
I forgot to do that in mine, give the total expenditure for that starting XI. Will amend shortly
And yeah, on some of these it is somewhat of a best guess since you’re not sure of the actual value, though transfermarkt.co.uk was a good friend :)
The did not make it list
Here’s my maybe list.
I particularly wanted 25 y/o, 5’10" CAM Sergey Krivets, captain of Belarus Nats, contracted to Polish Lech Poznan, as my DP but at 1900000 euro, he cost too much.
Sander Puri 400.000 €- Lombard-Pápa TFC 9on loan from Larissa)- Estonian WG/CAM
João Guilherme Estevão da Silva (Choco)100.000 €- Olimpi Rustavi- Brazilian STR
Nicolas Mazzola 75.000 €- Independiente- Argentinean STR
Nicolás Millán Carrasco 100.000 €- Colo Col- Chilean STR
Antoine N’Gossan 50,000- ASEC Mimosas- Ivory Coast MF/FB
Raul Nava Lopez- 750,000- Toluca- Mexican STR
Răzvan Ochiroşii- 700,000- Otelul II Gulati- Romanian WG
Patricio Julián Rodríguez- 1,200,000- Independiente- Argentine WG/STR
Mario Ticinovic, Hajduk Split, Attacking mid 500.000 €
Daniel Villalva, 1000,000- River- Argentine second striker
Eastern Europe/Russia
are absolute goldmines for some cast-offs or “baby pool” players, though occasionally some club with petro-money (ahem) will throw crazy contracts and distort the market. But yeah, I like your thinkin’ there sir.
And as you saw as well, the Argentine second division is no pub-league…some real steals down there too. If we were given, say, a $6-8 million payroll you could make a pretty destructive team. As it is, I fear yours…
1 Day to Go
Any further submissions? If anyone is considering it, please reply.
Otherwise I will need to take Michael and papa’s submissions and put them into a post for some dissection and then some voting.
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
Sorry play...
Have no clue why I thought papa was the one who posted, I know better. He lets other people do all his work :P
-- "...I was sick, napping, and then woke up and came to the computer to read a note from the Gingered Angel of Doom..." Martek - Dynamo Theory Blog
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