Did you know? Frank Clark - who won the Fairs Cup with Newcastle in 1969 - was released at the age of 32. He then joined Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and won the league, league cup and then on his final ever appearance the European Cup!
AUGUST
FA Community Shield
v
Newcastle United 5 (Zuparic 37, Soumare 63, D'Amico 71, Xadas 83, Tielemans 89) West Ham United 2 (Haksabanovic 21, Quina 25) Lineup - Arensoe, Yedlin (Mbemba), Jedvaj (Farrell), Lascelles, Tierney, Tielemans, Zuparic, D'Amico*, Lanzini (Xadas), Atsu (Murphy), Pellegri (Soumare)
An interesting way to kick-off the season. We were terrible for the first 25min as we fell 2 goals behind but when Zuparic scored from the edge of the area for a debut goal it all changed and we ended up with 5. D'Amico also got a debut goal and also got 3 assists!
--
UEFA European Super Cup Final v
Real Madrid 1 (Bale 55)
Newcastle United 2 (Atsu 49, 90)
2 games played and 2 trophies won!!! They were the better team here but we got the winner when Soumare played a ball in behind the Madrid defence and Atsu latched on to it and got his 2nd goal of the game.
What a match!!! How Burnley managed to score 3 goals is beyond me as we absolutely battered them with 27 shots to their 6. Thankfully our 27th effort arrived in stoppage time and found the net to give us the 3pts and Pellegri his hat-trick.
--
v
Manchester United 2 (Isco 19, Rashford 60)
Newcastle United 0
I cant complain as we were awful and if it wasn't for Donnarumma it could have been 15-0. They had 28 shots - 20 in the 1st half alone and 18 on target.
--
v
Newcastle United 3 (Dembele 26, 29, D'Amico 45) Arsenal 2 (Nainggolan 43, Belotti 44)
A great win considering our previous defeat. I was angered that we threw away a 2 goal lead but D'Amico scored in 1st half stoppage time to put us in front and we held on.
--
SUMMARY
Not a bad start to the season. We won the Community Shield after coming back from 2 down to win 5-2 against West Ham and followed that up by beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the European Super Cup. In the league we defeated Burnley in a 7 goal thriller but we then lost to Man Utd deservedly before getting a great win against Arsenal.
In the Carabao Cup we got a nightmare draw against Chelsea but finally in the Champions League we have got a favourable draw as we will play Marseille, Feyenoord and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Finally in the transfer market we didn't do any business but in an overview of other peeps business there were some huge deals............. View attachment 70919
PHILIPPE ALBERT Defender
1994-99
123 apps, 14 goals
Signed from Anderlecht for £2.6m
Sold to Charleroi for £600,000
Did you know? Philippe Albert now runs a fruit and veg factory in his native Belgium!
<span style="color:#008000;"><font size="4"><span style="font-family: book antiqua"><font size="5"><u><strong>[video=youtube;fHw8Zih5_xo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHw8Zih5_xo[/video]
SEPTEMBER
I presumed that Chelsea would field a weakened side and they did although they did have a few 1st teamers out there. It was my 3rd choice striker that was the star of the show though as Soumare struck twice and was involved in the winner too.
D'Amico again scores in the league. All his game time this season has been on the RW but for the final 15min here he was at AMC and he popped up with his 2nd goal of the game.
Feyenoord were actually the better team here but the pace and power of Soumare, D'Amico and Orsolini when he came on was too much for the Dutch side.
--
SUMMARY
We maintained our good start to the season this month as we won all our league games and also defeated Chelsea in the Carabao Cup (we have Burton in the next round) and picked up 2 wins in Europe. My new players are settling in well but none more so than D'Amico who has scored in 4 league games in a row and has been getting assists too.
Looking forward to next month as we end it with the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland!
We got lucky here. After falling behind they scored again and it wasn't until we scored that I realised that their 2nd was disallowed!!! Hazard then had a penalty saved with 5min to go and then Tolisso scored in the last minute to give me a debut win.
--
UEFA Nations League Group A Division 3 v
France 2 (Mbappe 42, 43) Wales 1 (Bowen 85)
Excellent signings there mate. I've started a Newcastle save after reading this. November first season just now and still waiting for a takeover to happen
Did you know? Bob Moncur scored 3 of his 8 career goals for Newcastle over the two legs in Newcastle's Fairs Cup victory in 1969 in which he was captain.
A fine victory and performance. Pellegri was immense and would have scored another if Tosca hadn't have put it in for him. Pellegri has scored in 2 league games this season and got a hat-trick in both!
--
v
Bournemouth 0
Newcastle United 3 (Pellegri 18, D'Amico 35, 42)
Derby day joy as we beat the Mackems. We were 3up and cruising but then D'Amico went off injured after I had made 3 subs and they pulled 2 goals back while we were a man short.
--
SUMMARY
Another solid month as we won every game apart from a frustrating home draw against Chelsea in the league. Felice D'Amico continued his amazing run of form and he is great to watch in the highlights as he dribbles past players with ease and then there is his crossing and finishing. Pellegri was also unstoppable and Moussa Dembele cant get past him at the moment.
In the Carabao Cup we have a home tie against Wolves while I was delighted to get Aberdeen as an affiliated club so hopefully I can help them out hugely.
JOHN BERESFORD Defender
1992-98
229 apps, 8 goals
Signed from Portsmouth for £650,000
Did You Know (personal memory here)? John Beresford has possibly the hairiest chest I have ever seen as a footballer even worse than Ryan Giggs!
(I just realised - I was going to do the best XI that was voted for the 125 year anniversary for the 1st XI but already I got one wrong. Never mind - Frank Clark would be included at somepoint anyway lol)
NOVEMBER
UEFA Champions League Group G v
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 (Taison 45, Bernard 87)
Newcastle United 1 (Ritchie 6)
Annoying, Not a good game but I suppose my backups were going to slip up at some point in the group. Oh and yes, Adam Armstrong is still with us - just for the trained at club factor lol.
--
v
Stoke City 1 (Dias 88)
Newcastle United 2 (Atsu 89, Wober og90)
Simply ridiculous. With 15min to go I had made my 3 subs when Jedvaj went off injured so I was down to 10 men and when they scored with 2min left it was game over. However Atsu quickly equalised and in the 6min of injury time their defender scored the most comical of own goals to give us an extremely unlikely win.
--
v
Newcastle United 2 (Atsu 29, 45) Manchester City 0
A fantastic victory that puts us through as group winners. Killed my unfit full backs though as my daughter phoned at the beginning of the 2nd half and I didn't have time to make a sub!
--
v
Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Alli 75, Luan 90) Newcastle United 2 (Orsolini 47, Pellegri 52)
How we went 2up was beyond me as from start to finish Spurs thumped us and had 25 shots to our 5. That being said to throw away a 2 goal lead in the last 15min is simply not on.
--
SUMMARY
This month had some very tough matches and on the whole we did pretty well. In the league we defeated Stoke and then got a great win against Man City before throwing away a 2 goal lead against Spurs but at least we got a point.
We have qualified as group winners in the Champions League with a game to go which is good as my backups will get another outing. We did lose to Shakhtar but defeated Marseille away which was a great result.
In other news I don't know whats been happening but there has constantly been managers getting sacked, not just one or two but 15 or 16!!! Crazy biscuits.
UEFA Nations League Group A Division 3 v
France 2 (O.Dembele 18, M.Dembele 66pen) Belgium 2 (R.Lukaku 38, Musonda 45) Lineup - Areola, Sidibe, Varane, Umtiti, Mendy (Kimpembe), Pogba (Kante), Tolisso, O.Dembele, Fekir, Lemar, Griezmann (M.Dembele)
Would you believ that I forgot to call up Mbappe for these 2 gamesbut Griezmann went off injured so he will be recalled! Never mind this draw gives us the point to qualify for the next stage - whatever that means lol.
--
Friendly v
Israel 0 France 2 (Martial 14, Laporte 64)
PETER BEARDSLEY Midfielder/Forward
1983-87 & 1993-97
320 apps, 119 goals
Signed from Vancouver Whitecaps for £150,000 & sold to Liverpool for £1.9m
Resigned from Everton for £1.5m & sold to Bolton Wanderers for £450,000
Did You Know? Beardsley actually had a loan spell at Man United just before Newcastle signed him first time out.
[video=youtube;cZ4_24vU1sw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ4_24vU1sw[/video]
DECEMBER
UEFA Champions League Group G
v
Newcastle United 3 (Mbemba 6, Xadas 9, Orsolini 81) Feyenoord 1 (Friday 42)
Lineup - Arensoe, Yedlin*, Farrell (Sandberg), Mbemba, Dummett, Zuparic, Dean, Ritchie, Xadas, Murphy (Orsolini), Soumare (Armstrong)
A fine way to end the group stage. I gave 18y/o Max Dean his debut and he impressed as did Orsolini who is performing really well when given an outing.
--
v
Newcastle United 2 (Lanzini 27, Pellegri 35) West Ham United 0
Lineup - Donnarumma, Yedlin, Farrell, Lascelles*, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino, D'Amico (Ritchie), Lanzini, Atsu (Murphy), Pellegri (Dembele)
Easy. We went 1up and then they had a man sent-off and it was 2-0 and game over. D'Amico made a welcome return from injury - hopefully his goals haven't dried up!
--
FIFA Club World Cup Semi-Final
v
LA Galaxy 1 (J.Dos Santos 15) Newcastle United 7 (Soumare 8, Orsolini 17, Murphy 28, 34, 51pen, 77, Xadas 57pen)
We were shocking in the 1st half but the 2nd half was much better. Lanzini has long overdue a performance while Jacob Murphy continued his great form.
--
SUMMARY
A hectic month. We won every game so it was a great month. We have fallen behind in the league due to our commitments in the FIFA Club World Cup and end the calendar year in 3rd place but have 3 games in hand (4 over some teams) although even if we win them we will still be a couple of points behind Man Utd.
In the Club World Cup we demolished LA Galaxy 7-1 in probably our best performance under my tutelage and then we left it late to claim the trophy by beating River Plate 3-1. In the Champions League we will play AC Milan who we beat home and away last season and in the Carabao Cup semis we will play Arsenal.
This awful run of form has to stop and stop now. 1 win in 5 and our performances are not there. Lanzini got injured and is out for 3 months which doesn't help matters although he has been **** tbh.
Having won the Carabao Cup the last 2 years it is disappointing to go out here. Even more annoying is that Arsenal have beaten us 3 times in a fortnight!
I took a bit of a risk and played a weakened side but they came out on top thankfully.
--
SUMMARY
Right - bear with me here as I have a lot to go through!
Firstly on the pitch it was an incredibly tough month not helped by some poor and lacklustre performances. In the league we were mainly fine apart from a defeat to Arsenal. I can accept a draw with Man Utd and we edged past WBA before thumping Crystal Palace.
In the FA Cup we pathetically struggled against Bristol City before defeating Burnley and we have Brighton up next in the 5th round. Our spell as holders of the Carabao Cup is over however after Arsenal beat us 3-2 home and away to end our 2 year reign.
Now to transfers and firstly players out as 2 players that have played a huge part left the club. Firstly Matt Ritchie (135apps/39goals) left to join Spartak Moscow for a deal worth £17m. He made initially rejected a move to Stoke before the Russians came in. At 31 he didn't have much of a future and despite his great season last term he had fallen out of the picture a bit.
More importantly DeAndre Yedlin (151/1) has gone. He was still unhappy with me and his contract was running out next year so when Galatasaray offered me £28m up front with £12m to come I accepted it.
Now for players in and 2 have been brought in to the 1st team. First of all I shelled out £20.5m to sign Belgian wonderkid Jose Henry from Anderlecht. I have been short of a CM this season although Dodds has done well when called upon but this guy is class. At 19y/o he will be a mainstay in the side you would think except that Tielemans, Merino and Zuparic are all young too! View attachment 69985
Secondly I debated about signing a RB. I did bring in a regen who made his debut this month but thought it was too early. Sandberg was called up and played ok while I do have Mbemba and Jedvaj but I chose to bring in a player who like Yedlin is super quick and can almost be a RW so in comes Kyle Walker. I am paying £750,000 a month for him and hopefully he will do well as a stop gap. View attachment 69984
Also coming in was 2 other regens. Juan Carlos Peris came in from Valencia for £1m and I think he could be a star and I also brought in a young South African called Sibusiso Phungwayo from Kaizer Chiefs for £350,000. He is 18y/o, already has 12 caps for South Africa and is valued at over £7m so that was a steal! View attachment 69983View attachment 69982
So there you have it. Walker will be my RB and with Lanzini's long term injury I have decided to play D'Amico as an AMC and will give Orsolini a make or break chance on the RW. He has impressed so far this season so its up to him really.
DAVID GINOLA Winger
1995-97
70 games, 7 goals
Signed from Paris Saint-Germain for £2.5m
Sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £2.5m
<span style="color:#000000;"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:book antiqua;">[video=youtube;6pNRCuxDaI4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pNRCuxDaI4[/video]
Issiaka Soumare scored both here to send us through. The 20y/o regen wonderkid has bee n great when called upon and I just realised that he is valued at £32m!
Pellegri came back into the league lineu-up here and produced a MoM performance as we easily won.
--
SUMMARY
On the whole this was a good month. We did well in the league as we won 5 and just lost the 1 game away to Liverpool that sees us sit in 2nd place and just a couple of points off Man Utd. In the FA Cup we went through but have a horrible quarter final tie away to Chelsea.
Our Champions League meeting against AC Milan wasn't ideal but we did get the away goal and I am hopeful of turning it around in the 2nd leg at St. James' Park.
Elsewhere Man Utd won the Carabao Cup - struggling in the final as they beat Arsenal 5-1 lol.
Jacob Murphy was only on the pitch for a few minutes as I made a triple substitution and he promptly scored and got injured. Milan also went down to 10 men late on when they had a man sent-off.
Southampton are 4th and looking good for a Champions League spot but we thumped them here despite Pellegri going off injured early doors. He is now out for 6-7 weeks unfortunately.
--
FA Cup Quarter-Final v
Chelsea 3 (Hazard 23, Redan 54, Asensio 88)
Newcastle United 0
Not good enough. Chelsea knock us out of the FA Cup for the 2nd year in a row here. Dembele went off injured here and is out for a few weeks.
--
SUMMARY
As ever every month has its highs and lows and this one was no different. The low for sure was the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea as we didn't even put up much of a fight. Also on the downside was the injuries to my 2 strikers Pellegri and Dembele at the end of the month but I suppose it will give Issiaka Soumare a chance.
Plenty of highs though! In the league we are on a good run of form. The draw away to Chelsea was annoying but Man Utd have hit a run of poor form and we have kicked on a bit and we sit top of the table by 4pts.
We also managed to beat AC Milan in the Champions League but in the quarter finals we will play Man Utd.....
The youth intake was pretty decent. We got a decent looking striker but the best player was a RB but he quickly broke his foot in training and is out for 3 months. View attachment 69702View attachment 69701
UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 9 v Armenia 0 France 4 (Kante 34, 43, Griezmann 40, Mbappe 90) Lineup - Areola, Zouma (Pavard), Varane, Umtiti, Mendy, Kante*, Pogba, Malcom, (Fekir) Griezmann (Aouar), Lemar, Mbappe
Easy win. Malcom just qualified for playing for France and as it happened I had a few wingers out so he is ours now. Aouar also made his debut.
--
UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 9 v
France 7 (Mbappe 3, 34, 35, 82, Malcom 25, 84, 89) Poland 2 (Milik 59, 66) Lineup - Areola, Zouma, Varane, Umtiti, Mendy, Kante (Balayoko), Pogba (Tolisso), Malcom, Griezmann, Lemar (Lacazette), Mbappe*
Poor Malcom. His 2nd cap and he gets a hat-trick yet all the headlines will be about Kylian Mbappe who was absolutely incredible. You would think, even after 2 games, that we have all but qualified for the World Cup.
We were a couple of minutes away from getting a fantastic away draw but yet again we concede late goals to dash our hopes. Man City are now just 2pts behind us.
--
v
Newcastle United 3 (Soumare 17, 89, Alli og81) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Luan 24) Lineup - Donnarumma, Walker, Jedvaj, Lascelles, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino (Zuparic), Orsolini (Murphy), Xadas (Henry), Atsu, Soumare*
It was vital to get back to winning ways and we did just that thanks to a Soumare double. Makes a nice change for us to score late winning goals.
--
v
West Ham United 2 (Fernandes 37, Willian Jose 70) Newcastle United 4 (Orsolini 31, Xadas 32pen, 89, Armstrong 90)
2 more late winning goals!!!! Xadas had one disallowed which denied him his hat-trick in the end. West Ham have signed Sergio Aguero apparently for £9.5m.
--
UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg v
Manchester United 3 (Mata 44, Kane 51, 68) Newcastle United 1 (Orsolini 12)
We have it all to do in the 2nd leg now. Looks like we aint retaining the Champions League!
--
v
Newcastle United 3 (Dembele 10, D'Amico 15, Orsolini 62) Liverpool 1 (Mane 79) Lineup - Donnarumma, Walker, Jedvaj, Lascelles, Tierney, Tielemans (Henry), Zuparic, Orsolini*, D'Amico (Lanzini), Murphy (Xadas), Dembele
This is a huge win. Firstly it was our hardest fixture in the league left for the season and also it secures qualification for next years Champions League so I find out that I have a transfer budget of £98m for next season.
--
UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg
v
Newcastle United 2 (Orsolini 36, Soumare 68) Manchester United 1 (Rashford 11) (Agg: 3-4) Lineup - Donnarumma, Sandberg, Jedvaj, Lascelles*, Tierney, Zuparic, Dodds, Orsolini, D'Amico (Lanzini), Murphy, Dembele (Soumare)
Our brief hold of the Champions League is over as Man Utd just edge past us. It leaves me thinking of what if I had Tielemans and Merino available for me.
With a 3pt lead going into this game I was thinking that this is the only dropped points that we can afford but Dembele struck deep into injury time to take us a step closer to the title.
We weren't at our best here and Tielemans missed a penalty but we did enough.
--
SUMMARY
April saw us get dumped out of the Champions League by Man Utd but move a huge step closer towards the league title. Domestically we lost agonisingly to Man City but then kicked on by winning our next 5 games which sees us end the month 6pts clear having played a game more and we have a kind fixture list.
In the Champions League we lost 3-1 to Man Utd and despite winning the 2nd leg we just couldn't do it. It was always going to be a tough ask what with a cup-tied Kyle Walker and injuries to key players.
With my new transfer budget of nearly £100m I looked at the transfer market and there are some big names interested so it could be an interesting summer!!!!
ALAN SHEARER Forward
1996-2006
395 apps, 206 goals
Signed from Blackburn Rovers for a then world record fee of £15m
Did You Know? Having supported Newcastle since 1990 or so the 1st game at St.James Park that I went to was the 2-0 win over Portsmouth where Shearer broke the club scoring record.
THANK GOD FOR HULL!!!! They beat Man Utd in the week so we can afford this draw here. We are 2pts ahead with a worse goal difference but we finish the season at home to the bottom side Cardiff.
--
v
Newcastle United 2 (D'Amico 22, 68) Cardiff City 0
In the end we could've got beat as Man Utd lost 2-0 to Bournemouth but we did what we had to do here and D'Amico scored a double to win the game.
--
SUMMARY
We did it but not the way that I had hoped or envisaged as in the end we limped over the line. We stumbled to 2 disappointing draws but were thankful that lowly Hull beat Man Utd and even on the final day Man Utd lost where as we got the win that was required.
PAVEL SRNICEK Goalkeeper
1991-98 and 2006-07
180 apps
Did You Know? Pavel was inducted to the clubs hall of fame posthumously after his death in 2015. He famously wore a "Pavel is a Geordie" tshirt which was also the name of his autobiography.
-- END OF SEASON REVIEW
In some ways after last seasons successes this season was a disappointment but really last season was a combination of a lot of luck regarding fixtures, cup draws and being able to rest my players. This season was maybe more of a true barometer of where we are and that's no bad thing as we won the title!!!
Our league campaign was strange as due to cup competitions we took a long time to top the table and it was only with 2 months to go that we looked like taking control of the title race. Our 4 defeats came against Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and Man Utd and we only had a few draws mostly against the top sides so it shows that we put away the weaker sides without a problem.
In the domestic cups we thumped West Ham in the Community Shield but we lost home and away to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semis and Chelsea once again threw us out of the FA Cup. Continentally we were decent - in the Champions League we eased through our group stage, just edged past AC Milan before the eventual winners Man Utd just edged us out but we won the Super Cup against Real Madrid and the World Club Cup was also picked up and that included a 7-1 win over LA Galaxy in the semis.
There it is interestingly it has been a good season for some of my feeder sides as Barnsley got promoted to the Premier League, Gateshead did well in League 1, Crewe got promoted in League 2 and Aberdeen won the SPL! I just hope that Nimes can get promoted.
I used a ton of players this season as I tried to introduce more youth prospects. Those screenshots are obviously without Yedlin and Ritchie who was used and sold.
My backups got a lot more starts this season. Sandberg, Arensoe, Farrell, Soumare and Zuparic all got a decent amount of starts to aid their development. The 2 standout performers were Felice D'Amico who won every end of season award going including player and young player of the year and Pietro Pellegri who until he got injured was on fire and averaged a goal every 82min in the league.
Disappointments? None really. Maybe my CMs could have scored more but I am generally happy.
I need a RB!!!!! With Kyle Walker returning to Man City I need to bring in a quality RB although I do have prospects in Sandberg, Peris and Bradford.
As ever part of my squad building will be centred around who of my players on loan at Nimes will get a work permit as they look to be developing nicely and if Vujosevic gets one I will be delighted. Regarding player values I have £45m worth of talent out in France!
I am not entirely sure how big an achievement it is to win the UEFA Nations League but any trophy is gladly accepted. I rejected Spain to become France manager so I feel my decision is vindicated here.
My first XI were ****** after 2 games in a week and then 2 friendlies come in the next week but I am pleased that even with my 2nd string that we didn't get beat by a team like Argentina.
--
Friendly v
Spain 1 (Diego Costa 45) France 4 (Mbappe 9, Griezmann 42, Martial 44, Coman 45)
WOW!! This was all about the 1st half and in essence 3 first half minutes plus injury time as 4 goals were scored. Coman got 1 goal and 3 assists which may put him as my first choice RW for the future.
Did You Know? McCracken perfected the offside law so well that they had to change the law to give the other teams a chance! He won the league 3 times and the FA Cup once.
PRE-SEASON
This summer was all about me trying to bring in quality rather than quantity and also to try and maybe sell some players to maybe spice things up a bit. I definitely brought in quality but selling players was tough. As a result I am currently penniless and £30m above the Premier League FFP rule but our expanded stadium will be open soon so hopefully that will help!
Nimes didn't get promoted and none of my players who required a work permit got one annoyingly!
So without further ado here are my transfer activities........
--
PLAYERS OUT
Lanzini, Dummett, Orsolini, Mbemba, Xadas, Atsu and even Dembele were all available although I only put out feelers to see if there were any takers for Dembele. Out of all of those players I have only managed to sell 3 of them which was very frustrating as it denied me the chance to bring in a few better players than I eventually did.
Christian Atsu is gone. He went to Red Bull Leipzig for a fee of £23.5m rising to £28m. He did very well for me in his 153 apps and scored 38 goals and he was a dressing room leader but I just thought I could get a significantly better player. Sure I have won everything with Atsu but he was battling it out with Murphy for the LW spot and I thought I should have someone that owned that position.
Chancel Mbemba left us to join West Ham for £18m. He was first choice for me in the first couple of seasons and played 123 times for me and scored 2 goals. He is still a decent age but I wanted to promote Phungwayo and he was blocking his progress.
Finally its a fond farewell to Paul Dummett who joined Hull City for £6.75m. To be honest he was only still with us due to him being home grown by the club but I thought I should upgrade him. He played 86 times for me and I wish him well.
My regen striker Ailton Tavares was sold to Crystal Palace for an initial £2m. He was valued at 3 times that but he was never going to get a game and I made sure I put a percentage of the next sale onto the deal.
The usual suspects went to Nimes on loan and I loaned a couple to Crewe and 4 to Gateshead while Armstrong and Woodman went to Charlton. I am struggling for first team quality players who are homegrown by the club and I am left with Pellegri and Sessegnon in the first team.
TOTAL INCOME - £50m
--
PLAYERS IN
I only brought in 3 players would you believe and I wont be bringing anymore in in the final week of the transfer window as I have about £100k to spend and am well over my transfer budget.
My main priority was to bring in a RB and I broke my transfer record to do so. I decided to meet the release clause fee for Borussia Dortmund's Felix Passlack as I spent £63m on him. I needed a quick RB and after refusing to pay £117m for Hector Bellerin although Man City didn't have such concerns. At 23y/o Passlack will be a mainstay for several more years and with Tierney on the left I think I may have 2 of the best full backs out there. View attachment 69036
Passlack was one of two German players that I brought in as I decided to pay the asking price of £31.5m for Leroy Sane of Man City. Sane is my new LW and at 25 is a player who can still improve and become a world beater. I had to pay a load of bonuses to get him as he was asking for £300k a week but in the end I got him down to £210k a week but if he scores 30 goals in a season I will be giving him over £6m and for every trophy we win he gets £1m basically. He could bankrupt us! lol View attachment 69037
Finally I decided to bring in a specialist LB to challenge Kieran Tierney so paid Leicester £30m for Ben Chilwell. Chilwell can also play in the centre of defence which is a boost and although Tierney is definitely first choice Chilwell definitely improves the overall quality of the squad. View attachment 69038
What might have been? I agreed to meet the release clause for Kai Havertz at £84m but after signing Passlack I just couldn't manage it without selling anyone (was only £5m short). I was also negotiating with Raheem Sterling who like Sane was transfer listed but with Orsolini, D'Amico, Murphy, Lanzini and Xadas I feel as though I have enough RWs. That and the fact that having a player on the bench earning over £200k a week wouldn't be right.
TOTAL SPENT - £125m
--
FIRST TEAM
Passlack comes into RB and Sane into LW. Things are getting tricky though. Issiaka Soumare, the regen I signed from Santander for £170k, is now valued at over £50m and is looking like a beast so I now have 3 top notch strikers with him, Pellegri and Dembele and I will have to give each player enough games.
In AMC although Lanzini is still available for transfer he will be first choice. If he goes off form though I will move D'Amico inside and play Orsolini or Murphy at RW. Not forgetting Jose Henry and Dario Zuparic who are really pushing my central midfield players.
Should be a fun season!
--
FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS OR REQUEST SCREENSHOTS OF PLAYERS OR ANYTHING.
NOLBERTO SOLANO Midfielder
1998-2004 & 2005-07
287 apps, 48 goals
Signed from Boca Juniors for £2.48m and sold to Aston Villa for £1.5m
Resigned for £1.5m and went to West Ham for free
Pellegri at the death!!! The last 5min was crazy but we got the winner when Pellegri pounced as we claim the 1st trophy of the season. I admit that it is a bit worrying that a slightly weakened Man Utd side pushed my team so close.
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v Newcastle United 5 (Soumare 5, Sane 9, D'Amico 17, Tielemans 36, Murphy 78) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Foyth 72, Sandro 85)
This was a near perfect way to start the league campaign. D'Amico was superb as he scored 1 and assisted 2 while Tielemans scored a beauty.
AWFUL NEWS!!!! Pellegri broke his leg in training during the week and is out for 4-5 months. This is devastating news and now Soumare and Dembele will be battling for the striker spot for half the season.
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Leicester City 0 Newcastle United 4 (Soumare 5, 14, Passlack 45, D'Amico 60)
In a way this is more impressive than the last match. We were superb in the 1st with Passlack scoring a total fluke when he crossed it in and then in the 2nd half Leicester had chances but we caught them on the break.
We kicked it off by defeating Man Utd in the Community Shield and then kicked off the league campaign by putting 5 past Spurs and 4 past Leicester before beating Everton. Everything is looking great - apart from the fact that my main striker broke his leg and is out for a few months!!!
In the cups we have been drawn at home against West Ham in the Carabao Cup while in the Champions League we will face Monaco, Benfica and Feyenoord.
As for the Premier League transfer window there were some HUGE deals......... View attachment 68850
MALCOLM MACDONALD Forward
1971-76
228 apps, 121 goals
Signed from Luton Town for £180,000
Sold to Arsenal for £333,333.34!!!!! (Didn't know that!)
Did You Know? In the TV programme Superstars in 1975 Super Mac ran the 100m in 10.9sec.
(Cant find a compilation of Super Mac moments but I urge you to look at some of his goals on youtube including his hat-trick against Liverpool on his home debut)
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SEPTEMBER
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West Ham United 1 (Benteke 89) Newcastle United 2 (Merino 25, 81)
This is my 5th season in chsrge and this is the first time that Mikel Merino has scored a double. We were 2up and cruising but I made my 3 subs and had Lascelles taken off injured just after Merino scored. West Ham then scored twice but fortunately the 1st was disallowed.
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UEFA Champions League Group D
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Newcastle United 5 (Farrell 8, Murphy 14, Dembele 28, 35, Henry 39) Feyenoord 0
I am delighted with this win. Not because of the 3pts but more of the fact that my backups can destroy a decent side and to a man perform so well. Everyone apart from my keeper got an average rating of 8.1 or above.
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Newcastle United 3 (Sane 10, Lanzini 48, 90) Arsenal 1 (Szoboszlai 50) Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Farrell, Phungwayo (Chilwell), Tierney, Tielemans, Merino, D'Amico*, Lanzini, Sane, Dembele (Soumare)
Arsenal have had a poor start to the season and we piled on the misery here as we made it 5 wins out of 5.
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Carabao Cup 3rd Round
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Newcastle United 2 (Farrell 43, R.Sessegnon 85) West Ham United 1 (Obiang 62) Lineup - Arensoe, Sandberg, Farrell, Phungwayo (Nakai), Chilwell, Zuparic, Henry (Dodds), Orsolini, (R.Sessegnon), Xadas, Murphy, Dembele
Not quite the 5-0 win over Feyenoord for my backups here but it was a win and that's the main thing.
We kept on keeping on here this month as we won all 3 league games to maintain our 100% record, beat West Ham in the Carabao Cup and thumped Feyenoord and drew with Benfica in the Champions League so everything is rosy.
Annoyingly however we are not top of either the Premier League or our Champions League group as Man Utd and Monaco have bettered us the buggers lol.
AS Monaco have several members of my French team plus Harry Kane and Mauro Icardi yet we destroyed them here with my own Frenchman Moussa Dembele scoring an amazing 4 times. That being said I am ****** off that we conceded 3 goals.
Another unbeaten month from the start of the season!! In the league we may have lost our 100% record but on the whole we did pretty well as we got 2 big wins in the month. We progressed in the Carabao Cup and have a home tie against Stoke in the quarter finals while in the Champions League we put 6 past Monaco to put them firmly in place.
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