One City, One Club, One Love - A Newcastle United Story

[Klippybo]

WELCOME

So here it goes - I just got FM18 and want to recreate my great stories from a few years back (tbh I just thought I would let my good friend Stonecold hog the limelight for a few years lol - I actually got the game on his birthday a few days back but I digress lol).

Normally I start with the team that I am famed for managing - Athletic Bilbao - but this time I am going to be my beloved Newcastle to see how this game goes. I haven't looked at websites for top players and hints and tips (just kitpacks, player faces and logos) - I am going in blind which will be either brave or foolish or more than likely both.

My aim for the club is total domination naturally and to end this major trophy drought that we are in and to create a good few regens to rival my favourite ever one (not going to mention his name for a change!!)

Anywho - please follow my story and please comment as comments are the fuel that keeps the story writers going lol.

--

SEASON RESULTS

SEASON	LEAGUE	FA CUP	CARABAO CUP	COM SHIELD	CHAMPIONS LEAGUE	SUPER CUP	WORLD CLUB CUP	NATIONS LEAGUE	WORLD CUP
2017-18	3rd	4thR	3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018-19	2nd	5thR	WINNERS	-	1stR	-	-	-	-
2019-20	WINNERS	4thR	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS	-	-	-	-
2020-21	WINNERS	QF	SF	WINNERS	QF	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS (FRANCE)	-
2021-22	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS	-	-	-	WINNERS (FRANCE)
2022-23	WINNERS	WINNERS	QF	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS	WINNERS	-	-
2023-24				WINNERS
2024-25
2025-26
2026-27

-




​

 

[Klippybo]

PRE-SEASON

So I have my dream job and it aint going to be easy. I have players barely able to take us into mid table security, I have a chairman who wants out of the club as soon as possible (thank god) and furthermore he wants me to sign young players when the thing I need most is experience!!! Plus I have a smallish budget of £10.75m.

Those hurdles have to be navigated and it will take time. There was an offer for the club but that fell through so we are waiting for further developments on a new takeover.

My predecessor - the wonderful Rafa Benitez - left behind some decent staff but I still brought in quite a few of my own men notably my new assistant Wolfgang Rolff, head of youth development Phil Cannon as well as some scouts and coaches (notably former Magpie Steve Harper as an U18 keeper coach).

Then it was on to the playing squad........

--

PLAYERS OUT

Immediately I transfer listed 5 players - Jack Colback, Rob Elliot, Henri Saivet, Jesus Gamez and Massadio Haidara - none of which I could see contributing to the cause. Haidara left for Leeds (£3.5m), Gamez to Krasnodar (£1.1m) and Saivet to Swansea City (£7.75m). Nobody however seems to be interested in the other two.

I also listed a few weeks later Mohamed Diame and he was sold to Southampton for a decent fee of £9m - I would take £900,000 in real life lol.

A couple of youngsters got loaned out and that was that!

--

PLAYERS IN

My biggest signing was a 19y/o Portuguese lad called Xadas who I have never heard of before. I brought him in from Braga for £5m. He looks to be a star in the making and will compete with Ayoze Perez for the AMC slot in my 4-2-3-1 formation.
View attachment 74443

My 2nd of 3 signings was a player I brought in simply because of my knowledge of Scottish football and I thought he could be cheap - John McGinn. I paid £2.8m for him and I hope he can develop into a decent player.
View attachment 74444

Finally I paid £2.4m for Nicolas Tagliafico from Independiente. He was linked to the club in real life in the summer and he looked decent enough here to challenge my only other natural left back Paul Dummett. I thought he was a bargain and I hope he will perform.
View attachment 74442

--

FIRST XI

I have in mind to play 4-2-3-1 and I am content with my first team squad but only because I don't have the amount of money required to seriously overhaul it and also because I don't have a Scooby doo about how big the transfer fees and the stars to go for are!!!

In goal I will go with Karl Darlow. Rob Elliot I will try and cash in on and while Freddie Woodman looks good it is too soon for him. At left back it is between Dummett and Tagliafico and on the right it will be DeAndre Yedlin as I aint much of a fan of Javier Manquillo.

I have 4 decent centre halves. I will start with a Jamaal Lascelles - Chancel Mbemba partnership but if they don't perform Florian Lejuene and Ciaran Clark will jump in.

My two CMs will be Mikel Merino and Jonjo Shelvey with Isaac Hayden and John McGinn providing backup. I may need to strengthen here. In AMC I will start with Ayoze Perez but my new signing Xadas will be stiff competition for him.

On the RW it will be Matt Ritchie and on the left it is Christian Atsu with Jacob Murphy and Rolando Aarons waiting on the wings so to speak lol.

Finally up front I will go with Dwight Gayle despite my fondness for Aleksandar Mitrovic and there is also Joselu but I cant see a place for him tbh.

--

So there we are! Feel free to recommend some signings!!!!!


​

 

[Klippybo]

AUGUST

--

v
Newcastle United 2 (Gayle 65, Xadas 70)
Everton 0

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin (Tagliafico), Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie (Murphy), Ayoze Perez (Xadas*), Atsu, Gayle

Introducing Xadas!!!! There was nothing happening in this game at all until I brought on my new signing Xadas on the hour mark and boy did he impress! He played a great through ball for Dwight Gayle to finish at an angle for the opener and 5min later he played a one two with Merino in the box to finish past Pickford to give us a great start to the season.

--

v
Huddersfield Town 1 (Quaner 10)
Newcastle United 2 (Gayle 33, 37)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey (Hayden), Merino, Ritchie (Murphy), Xadas, Atsu, Gayle*

2 wins out of 2!!! We fell behind here early on when Ritchie misplaced a back-pass which allowed Quaner to slot home but Gayle struck twice in 4 minutes to win us the games. He headed home from an Atsu cross before Xadas set him up for his 2nd and he could have scored 2 or 3 more!

--

Carabao Cup 2nd Round
v
Chesterfield 1 (O'Grady 38)
Newcastle United 3 (Da Silva-Lopes 20, Lejeune 32, Mitrovic 35)

Lineup - Woodman, Manquillo (Yedlin), Lejeune, Clark, Tagliafico, McGinn*, Hayden (Colback), Da Silva-Lopes, Ayoze Perez, Murphy, Mitrovic (Joselu)

My backups did the job here. My new signing from Peterborough - Da Silva-Lopes - struck the opener and once again we got a quick 2 goal double salvo, this time from Lejeune and Mitrovic.

--

v
Newcastle United 4 (Ritchie 8, Atsu 34, Gayle 51, 59)
Leicester City 2 (Slimani 42, King 90)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett (Tagliafico), Shelvey, Merino (Hayden), Ritchie, Xadas (Ayoze Perez), Atsu, Gayle*

WOW!!! I am extremely impressed with this performance. DeAndre Yedlin got 3 assists as the Leicester defence couldn't handle his speed. The 4th goal was truly a thing of beauty as we strung together loads of first time passes before setting up Gayle for a tap in.

--

SUMMARY

A magnificent first month to the season this as we won every game and if truth be told we were barely troubled. Dwight Gayle has been scoring for fun while the likes of Yedlin, Atsu and Xadas have been mightily impressive too.

Naturally we will have tougher games and times ahead but this has been a magnificent start. Hopefully we can kick on and cement a top half finish maybe!!!

Regarding transfers I loaned out Jack Colback to Aston Villa and then 75% of my U23 side to various sides including my new feeder side Nimes. I also signed a new player in the shape and form of Leonardo Da Silva-Lopes whom I brought in from Peterborough United for £2m rising to nearly £4m possibly.
View attachment 74414

In other news we have been given a nightmare draw in the Carabao Cup as we will face Manchester City away.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DWIGHT GAYLE
View attachment 74417

--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 74418



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[Mikeyp77]

Looks good. I'm mid save with Newcastle. Signed Sturaro and he was nothing short of brilliant. Only cost 6.5 as transfer listed

 

[NathanITFC]

That Xadas looks a right player, an absolute steal for £5mil especially at the age of 19.

 

[Klippybo]

SEPTEMBER

v
Stoke City 2 (Berahino 22, Shaqiri 32)
Newcastle United 1 (Merino 79)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin (Lejeune), Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie (Murphy), Xadas (Ayoze Perez), Atsu, Gayle

We weren't at the races here and our unbeaten run is over. Yedlin couldn't cope with Erik Pieters as he assisted both their goals and although we pulled one back thanks to a great volley from Merino we couldn't salvage a point.

--

v
Swansea City 2 (Abraham 7, Mawson 82)
Newcastle United 3 (Gayle 11, 83, 90)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino (Hayden), Ritchie, Xadas (Ayoze Perez), Atsu, Gayle*

Back to winning ways and in some style too as Dwight Gayle scored a magnificent hat-trick and to get the win when we went behind with less than 10min to go is magnificent. His 3rd goal was a beauty as he collected an Ayoze Perez pass, turned and then fired into the top corner from 20 yards.

--

Carabao Cup 3rd Round
v
Manchester City 6 (Sterling 5, 45, Stones 7, Grimaldo 40, Sterling 49, 66)
Newcastle United 3 (Murphy 5, 56, 59)

Lineup - Darlow, Manquillo, Lejeune, Clark, Tagliafico, Shelvey (McGinn), Hayden, Murphy*, Ayoze Perez, Atsu (Da Silva Lopes), Mitrovic (Joselu)

Hmm. I don't know what to make of this. I think I should be content as a weakened side scored 3 away to City with Jacob Murphy being imperious but our makeshift defence was porous as we conceded 6 and Darlow even saved a penalty for us.

--

v
Newcastle United 3 (Shelvey 5, Gayle 29, 63)
Watford 1 (De Paul 8)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Murphy (Ritchie), Xadas, Atsu, Gayle*

That's 10 goals in 6 league games for Dwight Gayle as he scored a double here. We were always in control despite them equalising early on and generally we played really well.

--

v
Newcastle United 3 (Gayle 55, Shelvey 59pen, Atsu 80)
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Brunt 88)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin*, Lejeune (Clark), Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino (Hayden), Murphy (Ritchie), Xadas, Atsu, Gayle

6 wins out of 7 in the league!! Yedlin was the star of the show as he got 2 assists and we were really comfortable in this game throughout although I am pretty annoyed that we didn't get a clean sheet. What a start to the season!

--

SUMMARY

A decent month. Although we started off with a disappointing defeat to the other surprise package of the season Stoke we managed to defeat Swansea, Watford and WBA to finish the month 2nd in the league. Our cup defeat against Man City was always likely to happen so that was easily written off.

Individually Dwight Gayle has been unbelievable. He won player of the month for August and he scored another 6 goals here which has put him on Man City's radar. Jacob Murphy impressed with his hat-trick against Man City too however Lejeune, Clark and Mitrovic have been complaining about the lack of first team football.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DWIGHT GAYLE
View attachment 74333

--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 74332
​

 

[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

v
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Llorente 33, Son Heung-Min 36, Alli 89)
Newcastle United 0

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba (Lejeune), Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie, Ayoze Perez, Atsu (Murphy), Gayle (Joselu)

While we were never likely to cause an upset here we weren't helped by the fact that both Atsu and Mbemba were taken off injured. Hey ho - even with that defeat we are still 1pt above Spurs.

--

v
Newcastle United 1 (Gayle 24)
Bournemouth 0

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Lejeune, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey (McGinn), Merino, Ritchie, Ayoze Perez, Murphy (Xadas), Gayle (Joselu)

Not a great game. Not a great performance but a great 3pts and a rare clean sheet.

--

v
Liverpool 4 (Firmino 6, Markovic 78, 88, Henderson 90)
Newcastle United 2 (Ritchie 48, 90)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Lejeune, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey (McGinn), Merino (Hayden), Ritchie, Xadas, Murphy, Gayle (Joselu)

Not sure how to judge this. On one half we were always in the game and a threat and scored another 2 goals but in another they had more than double the shots and scored 4 goals. Hmmm.

--

SUMMARY

Only 3 games this month and I would have taken 3pts out of 9 going into it so I am not too unhappy as we had 2 really tough away games. Next month wont be much easier as we play the two Manchester clubs!

The league table looks weird as both ourselves and Stoke are pulling up trees while Man Utd and especially Chelsea are really struggling however I expect to finish behind them when the season comes to a close.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MATT RITCHIE
View attachment 74288
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--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 74289
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[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

v
Newcastle United 4 (Merino 6, Murphy 9, Gayle 38, Ritchie 88)
Southampton 0

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Lejeune, Lascelles, Dummett (Tagliafico), Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie, Xadas (Ayoze Perez), Murphy*, Gayle

The final scoreline flattered us a bit here as Southampton had many great chances however we were ruthless in front of goal and blew them away in the first half before a crisp Ritchie free kick rounded the scoring off near the end.

--

v
Manchester City 4 (Aguero 40, 42, 58, Sterling 83)
Newcastle United 1 (Ritchie 60)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin (Mbemba), Lejeune, Lascelles, Tagliafico, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie, Xadas, Murphy (Atsu), Gayle (Mitrovic)

Outplayed and out-classed and that was us going defensive!!

--

v
Manchester United 3 (Martial 11, 69, Mata 34)
Newcastle United 1 (Gayle 2)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba (Lejeune), Lascelles, Tagliafico, Shelvey, Merino (Hayden), Ritchie (Atsu), Xadas, Murphy, Gayle

For 10 minutes everything was great, After that it all went downhill lol. Ritchie picked up an injury and is out for 6-7 weeks.

--

v
Newcastle United 3 (Atsu 6, Murphy 48, Mitrovic 85)
Crystal Palace 2 (McArthur 28, Milivojevic 63)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Tagliafico, Shelvey, Merino, Murphy*, Xadas (Ayoze Perez), Atsu, Gayle (Mitrovic)

None of our games seem to be boring. We were the better team throughout and Roy Hodgson admitted so afterwards and I was delighted that Mitrovic got the winner.

--

SUMMARY

Another tough month where we won 2 and lost 2 which means we are still waiting to draw a game unbelievably. We thrashed Southampton before the 2 Manchester clubs beat us easily and then we edged out Crystal Palace at the end of the month.

There is another possible takeover muted but beforehand I managed to get Mike Ashley to invest in youth training and facilities etc which bodes well.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
JACOB MURPHY
View attachment 74225
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--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 74224
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[LemonyFresh]

great job so far keep it up.

 

[Disclaimer89]

Great start! Gayle is performing like an absolute monster! Good luck

 

[Brane_Orsou]

KIU, doing well so far.

Can I also add that Leonardo Da Silva-Lopes has a hint of Chris Rock about him!

 

[gthame1992]

Great to see a legend of fm base story making have returned, been an avid follower of your stories, I would have given you a handy hint on a player but not sure if you need him with Gayle in brilliant form. Player in question Walter Gonzalez a good cheap signing a striker at an overall price of £900,000

 

[jaydon111]

Good to see you back hopefully this story goes on for a long time.

 

[Klippybo]

DECEMBER


v
Newcastle United 4 (Shelvey 29pen, 49pen, 66pen, Mitrovic 87)
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Gross 35)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Tagliafico, Shelvey*, Merino (McGinn), Murphy, Xadas, Atsu (Ayoze Perez), Gayle (Mitrovic)

In all my 25 years or so of playing FM I cant remember having a player scoring a hat-trick of penalties in a game but it happened here with Shelvey. Mitrovic came off the bench to score for the 2nd game in a row.

--

v
West Ham United 1 (Obiang 84)
Newcastle United 2 (Mitrovic 87, 90)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Tagliafico (Dummett), Shelvey, Merino (McGinn), Murphy (Da Silva-Lopes), Ayoze Perez, Xadas, Mitrovic*

WOW!! First of all I thought we were going to be getting our first draw of the season - then it looked like a defeat before being a certain draw only for Mitro to score in stoppage time to give us the win. I was without my 1st choice wingers here and decided to give Mitro a start and he repayed me in full.

--

v
Burnley 0
Newcastle United 1 (Mitrovic 86)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Tagliafico, Shelvey* (McGinn), Merino (Hayden), Murphy (Da Silva-Lopes), Ayoze Perez, Xadas, Mitrovic

Mitro strikes late again!!! This game was so open and we didn't really deserve to win but we got the goal when Mitro latched onto a long pass from Shelvey, rounded the keeper and tapped in.

--

v
Newcastle United 1 (Shelvey 76)
Arsenal 2 (Mertesaker 63, Lacazette 79)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Tagliafico (Dummett), Shelvey, Merino, Murphy, Ayoze Perez (Da Silva-Lopes), Xadas, Mitrovic

Meh. I cant have too many complaints here as they were the better side.

--

v
Chelsea 1 (Alonso 35)
Newcastle United 1 (Da Silva-Lopes 78)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Murphy, McGinn (Hayden), Xadas (Da Silva-Lopes), Mitrovic (Gayle)

FINALLY WE DRAW A GAME!!!! I am delighted as this is a great point. The last thing we needed was another attacking midfielder or winger to happen but it did when Xadas got a knock but his replacement, Da Silva-Lopes struck to give us a point.

--

v
Everton 4 (Baines 11pen, Keane 21, Rooney 44, Sandro 81)
Newcastle United 2 (Merino 32, Mitrovic 76)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett (Clark), Shelvey, Merino, Da Silva-Lopes, Ayoze Perez, Murphy, Gayle (Mitrovic)

Everton are struggling and we made them look like a great team here as we just didn't show up.

--

v
Leicester City 0
Newcastle United 1 (Murphy 90)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin*, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Murphy, Ayoze Perez (McGinn), Atsu (Da Silva-Lopes), Gayle (Mitrovic)

Back to winning ways and what a way to get it as we strike late yet again. Atsu returned from injury but soon picked up a knock and Ayoze Perez was taken off injured too and is out for over a month. Grrr.

--

SUMMARY

Where to start? This month was full of both on and off pitch stories. Regarding on the pitch we started off the month great with 3 straight wins including a Shelvey inspired thumping of Brighton. Mitrovic was in the side and rewarded us with 5 goals and everything was looking good but then we came unstuck against both Arsenal and Everton while we battled to a draw against Chelsea.

Injuries have been a nightmare with Atsu, Ritchie, Ayoze Perez and Tagliafico suffering. I didn't realise that Rolando Aarons wasn't registered so that gave more opportunities to Da Silva-Lopes who has impressed but it was annoying anyway.

At the end of the month Jonjo Shelvey won the player of the month award and Mikel Merino got the young player award and we are sitting pretty in 4th place.

Now for a possible major spanner in the works. There has been talk of a new takeover and the chairman has been in talks for weeks but nothing has been confirmed and he has even come out and said that it needs to be sorted so I can be active in the January transfer window as as it stands I am living with a transfer embargo.

Finally Liverpool sacked Klopp and appointed Mancini.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
JONJO SHELVEY
View attachment 74056

--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 74057
​

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Thought Mitro would have got POM with all those goals but sure Jonjo was deserving winner.

4th after 21 games is very very decent. Plot for the top 4 now? or still just taking it "one game at a time"?

 

[Ashleigh1984]

Klippy is back BOOOM!

Not seen you in a while, probably FM 14 the last time i can remember when i had my Cadiz story on the go and the legendary Bilbao (your story) were breaking all the club records.

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

What a fantastic season you're having, brilliant mate! Love the presentation of the results as well. Will be reading from now on.

 

[Klippybo]

JANUARY

v
Newcastle United 2 (McGinn 18, Gayle 47)
Huddersfield Town 0

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles (Lejeune), Dummett, Shelvey (Aarons), Merino (Hayden), Murphy, McGinn, Atsu*, Gayle

Very impressive. We had 18 shots to their 1, scored twice, had 1 disallowed and were very convincing. McGinn assisted the winner in the last match and scored the opener here.

--

FA Cup 3rd Round
v
Swansea City 0
Newcastle United 2 (Shelvey 31pen, Atsu 37)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin*, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Murphy (Da Silva-Lopes), McGinn, Atsu (Aarons), Gayle (Mitrovic)

Another comfortable win as we go through to the 4th round. Jonjo Shelvey was the pantomime villain as he scored from the spot against his old club.

--

v
Newcastle United 1 (Shelvey 38)
Stoke City 0

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey* (Hayden), Merino, Murphy, McGinn, Atsu (Aarons), Gayle (Mitrovic)

4 wins and more impressively 4 clean sheets in a row.

--

v
Watford 1 (Richarlison 10)
Newcastle United 1 (Gayle 76)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino (McGinn), Ritchie
(Murphy), Xadas (Mitrovic), Atsu, Gayle

This is a disappointing result as we were playing against 10 men for the entire 2nd half. That being said the return of Ritchie and Xadas was a boost.

--

v
West Bromwich Albion 3 (Barry 49, Lezcano 65, 86)
Newcastle United 2 (Gayle 61, 84)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin (Lejeune), Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie, Xadas, Atsu, Gayle

AAGGHH!!!! So frustrating! Despite falling behind we were playing decent stuff and when Gayle equalised I thought we would be alright but some bloke called Dario Lezcano came off the bench to score a double on his debut. Lascelles got sent-off after the late winner too to compound things.

--

FA Cup 4th Round
v
Newcastle United 0
Liverpool 1 (Coutinho 60)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lejeune, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie, Xadas (Ayoze Perez), Atsu (Murphy), Gayle (Mitrovic)

Very disappointing as this was a very even game and to lose hurt as I would have liked a decent cup run. Gayle got injured and is out for 2-3 weeks which doesn't help matters.

--

v
Newcastle United 3 (Shelvey 3, Lanzini 12, 84)
Swansea City 1 (Carroll 87)

Lineup - Darlow, Yedlin, Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett, Shelvey, Merino, Ritchie (Xadas), Lanzini*, Atsu (R.Sessegnon), Mitrovic (Ayoze Perez)

Notice the 2 debutants? Notice a clue of a 3rd signing of the day - deadline day? Well you cant have missed the main signing Manuel Lanzini!!! He was superb as he scored two goals and to put it into context already he has scored 1 more than Xadas and 2 more than Ayoze Perez!!!

--

SUMMARY

Another hectic month and once again both on and off the pitch matters were too the fore. On the green stuff it was a hard month as we picked up some wins in the league and got to the 4th round of the cup where we were defeated by Liverpool and that just added to the misery of a defeat by WBA and a draw against Watford.

We finally got taken over by a former Millwall player called Andy Ambler and he has been most agreeable by giving me everything I want from feeder sides (Crewe), coaches, investment in facilities etc. He has also cancelled all of the previous philosophies.

He didn't give me any extra cash though and before I made any signings I sold Joselu to Bournemouth for £7.5m (I also sold Stuart Findlay to Dundee for a small fee) which gave me just under £30m to spend.........

First of all I signed the 2 Sessegnon brothers from Fulham. Ryan was always a long term target and I got him for £9m and he will develop nicely. I didn't know he had a younger brother called Steven and he looked decent too so I paid £1m for him.
View attachment 73860View attachment 73862

Finally I noticed Manuel Lanzini was transfer listed and I took him off West Ham (who like Watford are managerless) for £13m and he immediately scored 2 on his debut. I think he will be a star and I didn't realise he was only 24!
View attachment 73863

Here are the other top transfers....
View attachment 73864

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DWIGHT GAYLE
View attachment 73866

--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 73865
​​

​

 

[Klippybo]

Thought Mitro would have got POM with all those goals but sure Jonjo was deserving winner.

4th after 21 games is very very decent. Plot for the top 4 now? or still just taking it "one game at a time"?

Top 4 is the aim but I will happily take a Europa spot as we aint great against the big teams

 

[Average Joe]

All the years I've played FM I've never seen the media label of 'unpredictable attacking midfielder' that Lanzini has.

Looking good mate keep it up!