MLS Real Salt Lake

Eric Kennedy, is an American ex-soccer player. He spent eight months at Real Salt Lake football club, being signed at the age of 17-year to an amateur contract, before breaking his leg. One year later, on realizing his playing career was all but over, Kennedy finished his studies at Utah State University and went to his birth country, England, to start his journey of earning badges for management. While his time in the learning academy, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Gareth Southgate and Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer. There is a popular rumour about Kennedy being somehow involved in David Beckham's decision to come to the MLS. Eric also served as Youth Coach and Scout for a FC Dallas, helping them acquire many a young players, most notably goalkeeper Richard Sanchez, who is on a development contract at the Dallas club. A lot of Major League Soccer clubs were exploring the possibility of getting Eric Kennedy on as manager because of his connection with the fans and friends in the media. He is tipped to be the saviour of the MLS, bringing in big time players and fans to the sport.


In an official statement released by the club Real Salt Lake, the Chairman, Dave Checketts and General Manager, Garth Lagerway, mentioned the possibility of filling the position of Head Coach and Manager, after the departure of Jason Kreis, with Eric Kennedy.

"With Jason Kreis moving away from the club, we, here at Real are in the market for a manager to propel this club to the next level. In the six years of our existence, we have played it safe and performed admirably, but it is time for a radical change with the appointment of an enigmatic manager. We have contacted Eric Kennedy with an offer, and hope to come up with a decision by Christmas time."

It all began with that one simple phone-call, and within the next twenty-four hours, they were in a large conference room, surrounded by Directors, assistants and lawyers. Dave Checketts said outright, "We want you to lead this side. I know you have been part of the Dallas set-up and they will come calling, so we are hoping we can come to an agreement very soon". Kennedy responded calmly, "They have already contacted me, but I am keen on coming back for my old club, so I rejected their approach."
The statement made all the directors breathe a little easier. This man's signature would make the perfect media story. Kid's dreams come to a screeching halt, only to return in a managerial outfit to lead others to their dream. It couldn't have been written any better than that.

"We will give you eighteen months to prove your worth as a manager.", said one of the directors. This is when the deadlock was broken. There was no talk of any clause or any mention of the contract. All they knew was Kennedy had said he wants to join the club, but in the end, money talks. If Real couldn't offer him the right amount of money, there would be some team that would. Maybe a better team, a bigger team located at a better place. The man had talent for all to see; they needed to capitalize and it needed to happen now.

"That sounds fair.", replied Eric, which was immediately followed by another director who said, "..with a salary of $34,000 per month."

Kennedy nods his head in agreement, and shakes Checketts' hand to finalize it. The lawyer sitting to his left pulls out his briefcase, takes his papers out, adds a couple of numbers and passes it over to Dave to sign it. He smiles after signing it and holds it in front of Eric, signaling where he needs to sign.

Eric Kennedy is the new Real Salt Lake manager.



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P.S.: I'm trying something new here. Some opinion and suggestions will be appreciated. I am going to continue my Swansea story (for those who noticed it), because this is a game I am going to go very slow with.

Good luck with the MLS - I'll admit I haven't tried the US Leagues with this iteration of the game so I'll be watching with interest.

Photographers, journalists and fans awaited the arrival of new manager, Eric Kennedy, as he made his way to Rio Tinto Stadium for the very first time. This was an opportunity to see the man replacing Utah legend, Jason Kreis. A modest Toyota Prius drives in - not the sort of vehicle you would expect from an MLS contracted manager. Of course, he was still new at this. A couple of years spent with egotistical rich-boys should change that. Not wasting any time with the media, prior to his televised press conference, Kennedy shields his face from the flashes of the cameras and walks into the backroom entrance of the stadium. He glances at his wristwatch and breaths a sigh of relief, knowing he is right on time. To his surprise, when he reaches the coaching area of the pitch, all the players are ready in their training kits and warming up on the pitch.
C.J. Brown, Eric's old team-mate and USA national, is the first to greet and welcome him to the dugout. The scouts were already waiting for him with a pile of papers, with names scribbled and scratched off. These were prospective signings for the club, to take them forward, and after careful deliberation and conversation, Kennedy had a list of his own. They needed a younger midfield, a sured up defense and an striker with quality.

1. A.J. DeLaGarza - Utility Defender - LA Galaxy
2. Eddie Gaven - Central Midfielder - Columbus Crew
3. Danny O'Rourke - Defensive Midfielder - Columbus Crew
4. Ike Opara - Central Defender - San Jose Earthquakes
5. Mark Burch - Left Defender - Seattle Sounders
6. Conor Casey - Striker - Colorado Rapids

Realistically, Kennedy was aware most of these signings were out of his reach. With the allotment of merely $244k as funds and an available wage cap of $12.5k remaining, draft pick and player swaps were his only option. And why would a team want to sell one of their better players for a player another team doesn't rate highly? He had to try.

He called up the LA Chairman Tim Leiweke's office, about the availability of young defender DeLaGarza. He was told DeLaGarza personally had no interest in joining the Utah club, and Galaxy weren't going to be swayed by any offer. The club were met with a crushing rejection when their enquired about the availability of Conor Casey.
Scout Andy Williams was asked to pack his bags and go watch potential signing Danny O'Rourke train with the Columbus Crew and monitor his progress and work rate. As Williams was just leaving the room, he gets a phone call from someone that he obviously wasn't expecting, sensing by the surprise on his face, who expressed his desire to speak to the Real Salt Lake manager.

"Hello, this is Eric Kennedy speaking.", said the manager curiously, which was met by an eager reply - "We here at Columbus Crew would like to formally start negotiations, with regards to your player Ned Grabavoy, with a view to make him a part of our set-up". Eric quickly asked to see the notepad on which he had jotted down the names of potential transfer targets. There he was - Eddie Gaven, the player their team coaches and scouts wanted.
"We could be entertaining the possibility of Grabavoy swapping teams, but why not make it a little more official? Our scout Andy Williams was on his way to your facility tomorrow anyway. A couple of other officials will accompany him and discuss the details of this potential deal, if that suits you well."

The conversation ended with a couple of well-rehearsed sentences and Eric Kennedy's very first transfer deal as Real Salt Lake manager was set in motion.