A Memorable First Season For NYCFC

IMAGE, TWITTER.COM/NYCFC

On May 21st, 2013 New York City FC was officially announced as the 20th Major League Soccer franchise. David Villa was the first player to ever sign with the team, and with Frank Lampard becoming the second player signed, there was a lot of hope and promise for this new franchise. Their first game of the year, a cold March evening against the New England Revolution, packed out Yankee Stadium to see the first ever goal by David Villa and the first ever win in club history. With an average attendance of 29,016, they became the third most popular club in the MLS.

As the season progressed, they began to look more and more like an expansion franchise. Not even Andrea Pirlo could help get them into the playoffs in their historic first season. Although they didn’t make it, the fans still came out and gave their continued support to the boys in powder blue. NYCFC recently reached 20,000 founding members, and the team couldn’t be more thrilled: “This milestone is an indication that New Yorkers are excited to be part of the Club’s historic inaugural season finale as well as dedicated to joining the Club on the journey into seasons ahead. Ticket sales have been strong all season as the Club has been averaging 29,000 fans at home games” said Tom Glick, President of New York City FC. After the last game of the season, captain David Villa, Frank Lampard, and the rest of the squad thanked the fans for their continued support and promised to come back strong next season.

Next season is definitely going to be interesting for NYCFC in their second season. Their star veterans in Villa, Lampard, and Pirlo will have had more time to mesh together and become a stronger unit.Rising young stars Khiry Shelton and Kwadwo Poku will be fun to watch next season as well. The club will dearly miss Shay Facey and Angeliño, who will be returning back to Manchester City since their loans are up. With rumors going around that former international star Patrick Vieira will come over from coaching the Manchester City reserves to the US to become the next manager, along with Man City star Yaya Touré being interesting in coming to New York after his contract runs out, it will be interesting to see how the club handles these rumors and what it does during the offseason.