Rochester New York FC’s first year since Jame Vardy became a co-owner of the team would make a compelling Hollywood script to rival his own life story.
A club reborn after a four-year hiatus.
Their squad built from scratch by an Englishman.
A Portuguese head coach who couldn’t join his squad until a week before the season due to visa issues.
A goalkeeping coach who had to transport players close to 800 miles across the United States in a fleet of cars after flights and the team’s bus were cancelled ahead of their first game.
Fans, many of whom were resistant to the club’s rebranding from their previous Rochester Rhinos name, packing into the stadium by the end of the season.
And there was almost a Hollywood ending when, despite being the only independent club in the MLS Next Pro League — which is in the third tier of the US game — up against 20 MLS teams’ reserve sides, they reached the title play-offs against the odds.
It has been quite the ride for Vardy, his fellow owners David and Wendy Dworkin, head coach Bruno Baltazar and sporting director Lee Tucker.
“It’s been a remarkable year,” Tucker tells The Athletic. “People just see the end product on the pitch and think it all looks quite easy, but the amount of challenges behind the scenes that we’ve endured this year and still we managed to achieve the play-offs. It’s so rewarding, in terms of all the hard work and sweat, blood and tears.”
Tucker is the aforementioned Englishman who rebuilt Rochester from scratch.
Jamie Vardy’s US club Rochester New York FC have had a wild first season
