We had our 1st choice CM pairing back here which was nice. Passlack got injured which wasn't nice but it will give a chance to young Bradford to get a run at RB.
--
UEFA Champions League Group A
v
Newcastle United 3 (Meunier og2, Pellegri 35, 59) Napoli 1 (Novo 48) Lineup - Donnarumma, Bradford (Chilwell), Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino (Henry), D'Amico*, Lovera, Sane (Soumare), Pellegri
A very solid performance. Bradford really impressed at RB but because he played an hour for the reserves a few days before he was ****** lol.
--
v
Newcastle United 3 (Tielemans 44, Sane 45, Dembele 90) Watford 0
Watford had a man sent-off after 10min here so it was always going to be a case of how much we were going to score. In the end it was 3 and the 3rd was a beautiful team goal. Disastrously though D'Amico got injured and is out for 2 months!
We left it late here but we got the required result. Tielemans has now scored in all 3 league games in which he has played this season. Vujosevic collected his 1st goal for the club.
My backups came in here and totally destroyed the Belgian side as we put 7 past them. Murphy scored a hat-trick while Wharton and Phungwayo scored their 1st goals for us.
--
SUMMARY
Another strong month here. We won all our matches and scored a load of goals despite players picking up injuries. Passlack got a knock, Lanzini too but D'Amico being out for 2 months is a massive blow.
After beating Brighton in the league cup we will face Leicester once again in the next round.
My first game as Italy manager and its my Newcastle players who win the game for me! My old player Riccardo Orsolini came off the bench to score on his international debut.
--
UEFA Nations League Division A Group 4 v Portugal 2 (Andre Silva 26, Guedes 72) Italy 2 (Belotti 10, Chiesa 15)
D'Amico and Pellegri were slightly unfit and I wasn't going to risk them for Newcastle!!!! A decent result but throwing away a 2 goal lead is not acceptable.
JOHN ANDERSON Defender
1982-92
332 apps, 15 goals
--
NOVEMBER
v
Newcastle United 3 (Vujosevic 2, Pellegri 38, Lovera 90) Liverpool 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Bradford, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans (Zuparic), Merino, Vujosevic*, Henry (Lovera), Sane (Soumare), Pellegri
The 1st half performance was a joy to behold as we had 16 efforts to their zero. Vujosevic was unplayable as he got a goal and an assist while Lovera netted for the 1st time for us.
--
v
West Ham United 0 Newcastle United 2 (Pellegri 65, Murphy 76)
This win pretty much hints at qualification and I will give my backups a go for the remaining 3 games. They had a man sent off at 1-1 and then Murphy came on to win us the match.
--
v
Newcastle United 2 (Sessegnon 77, Soumare 83) Chelsea 1 (Musonda 19) Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino, Vujosevic, Henry (Lanzini*), Murphy (Sessegnon), Pellegri (Soumare)
A fabulous result in which my 3 subs came on to win us the match. Sessegnon and Soumare scored while Lanzini got 2 assists. Pellegri got injured and is out for a month.
--
Carabao Cup 4th Round
v
Newcastle United 3 (Sessegnon 31, Murphy 76, Mrmic 90) Leicester City 1 (Vieira 29)
My backups did a great job here and funnily enough the worst part of the game had a hand in us winning it as we were given a pen after 75min and they had a man sent-off. Dembele missed the pen, I made 2 subs and we won the game! Renato Mrmic is the clubs new youngest ever scorer.
--
v
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Newcastle United 1 (Lanzini 49)
Lanzini's free-kick was the difference here. They had a goal disallowed late in the 1st half fortunately.
--
SUMMARY
We went from strength to strength this month as we won every match and opened up a lead at the top of the table by 4pts which is absolutely crucial as we will fall behind in games played due to our commitments with the World Club Cup.
Our highlights were the victories over Liverpool and Chelsea and in the Carabao Cup we defeated Leicester and will face Man Utd in the next round.
I also made a signing!!! Tbh I signed him to help the U23s and to make a profit out of him and I like him in real life so it wasn't a hardship to sign James Maddison on a free transfer after he was released by Crystal Palace. He made his debut in the Carabao Cup match against Leicester. View attachment 67142
Andrea Belotti's 1st goal here gave him 35 for his country and be the highest scorer for it too. Something for Pellegri to aim for (he has 4 in 17 caps - 2 in my 1st game lol). Plizzari won his 1st cap while Spinazzola won his 50th.
--
UEFA Nations League Division A Group 4 v
Italy 0 Portugal 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Calabria, Rugani, Romagnoli, Spinazzola, Verratti, Jorginho, Chiesa, Cutrone, Orsolini (Insigne), Belotti (Pellegri)
This result means that unless we lose by a few goals to Switzerland, we will win the group. Jorginho had a goal disallowed for us.
Just a quick announcement - when the new patch and transfer update gets released in a month or so I will be starting a new story methinks. Until then I will keep going with this and to come back at at a later date probably
As a side note - I actually played this game before and won 3-2 with Vujosevic scoring a hat-trick but I didn't save it and my computer went off. At least he still scored one!
--
v
Manchester City 3 (Kean 30, 48, Bernardo Silva 51)
Newcastle United 0
2 defeats in a row!!!!! What the **** is this? I suppose it is understandable as I played my backups against a strong Napoli side but this is worrying.
That's better. We welcomed D'Amico back from injury here too which is nice.
--
SUMMARY
We had to suffer the rare feeling of defeat this month, not just once but twice and in consecutive games no less!!! I suppose to lose away to Man City and then to Napoli with a weakened side out is understandable but still incredibly frustrating.
So next up is December where we will play a ton of games but still fall behind in the league because of the World Club Cup.
ITALY UEFA Nations League Division A Group 4 v Switzerland 0 Italy 4 (Cutrone 7, Belotti 22, Jorginho 42, Kean 89) Lineup - Donnarumma, Calabria, Rugani, Romagnoli, Spinazzola (De Sciglio), Verratti, Jorginho, Bernardeschi (Orsolini), Cutrone, Kean*, Belotti (Retteghieri)
This win secures qualification - unless Portugal beat Switzerland 7-0 that is. Retteghieri is a great looking regen who plays for Leverkusen. Got 7 goals in 12 caps but isn't in my 1st choice squad.
--
GERMANY APPOINT KRIS STUART AS MANAGER
No offence to Italy as I had just qualified in the Nations League but I have never, ever, ever managed Germany in all my 25 years of playing this game. I have picked up basic Italian according to my profile so I have a lasting attribute from my 6 games in charge.
Germany, amazingly, finished bottom of their Nations League group so will be in division 2. I still long for the Scotland job though!! Tbh I was amazed that I got offered the job as I didn't go in for it.
MICKY QUINN Forward
1989-92
133 apps, 63 goals
Signed from Portsmouth for £680,000
Sold to Coventry City for £250,000
Did You Know? Quinn scored 4 goals on his debut against Leeds United.
--
DECEMBER
v
Newcastle United 4 (Vujosevic 12, Henry 26, Tielemans 58pen, Wharton 80) Stoke City 1 (Ings 85) Lineup - Arensoe, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino (Lovera), Vujosevic*, Henry, Sane (D'Amico), Pellegri (Wharton)
Anders Arensoe made his 1st league appearance for us here as Donnarumma got injured in training. Vujosevic keeps scoring and performing with Felice D'Amico looking on from the bench.
--
UEFA Champions League Group A
v
Newcastle United 3 (Murphy 13, Lovera 29, 33) KAA Gent 1 (Kubo 90) Lineup - Arensoe, Bradford, Phungwayo (Sessegnon), Lascelles, Chilwell, Zuparic, Henry (Hunt), Vujosevic (Lanzini), Lovera*, Murphy, Wharton
A solid victory by my backups to finish off the group phase. Murphy has scored 8 goals in 5 apps in the Champions League this season!!
--
FIFA Club World Cup Semi-Final
v
ES Tunis 0
Newcastle United 5 (Lovera 2, Bradford 22, Henry 42, Murphy 57, Zuparic 69pen)
We win the trophy but we did it the hard way. We went 2-0 down and were struggling when Henry struck and then quickly after they had a man sent-off and it was all us from then on although we needed extra-time to win it.
--
Carabao Cup Quarter-Final v
Manchester United 1 (Andre Silva 115) Newcastle United 0 AET
We are dumped out of the Carabao Cup here as Man Utd called my bluff and fielded a full strength side whereas I thought they would go weaker and we would thump them. Sunderland would have been our opponents in the semis.
--
v
Arsenal 0
Newcastle United 2 (Pellegri 39, Farrell 90)
This was a convincing win helped by being given 2 penalties.
--
SUMMARY
I am hesitant to say it but the league title race is over. The 2 Manchester clubs have failed to take advantage of our inactivity in the league and we resumed our domestic campaign 5pts behind City with 4 games in hand and 1pt AHEAD of United with 3 games in hand.
United though were responsible for our one negative in the month as we were dumped out of the Carabao Cup. In our other cup competitions we will play Liverpool in the FA Cup and Sevilla in the Champions League.
The World Club Cup was won for the 2nd time. ES Tunis were easily despatched but Cruzeiro of Brazil was a much tougher nut to crack and we were pretty lucky tbh.
Finally I have got a lot to work to do as I have arranged some deals and I just noticed that 8 players are arriving in January and 2 at Nimes have received work permits so I will have 10 new players to sort out!!!
I decided to rest several players here because after the amount of games we have played a lot of my lads are shattered and I thought I could afford to do so against Leeds and I was right. We were excellent here.
Spurs are really struggling this season and we piled on the misery here as we scored 4 away from home.
--
v
Newcastle United 1 (Pellegri 90) Manchester United 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans (Zuparic), Merino, D'Amico, Henry (Lovera), Sane*, Soumare (Pellegri)
What a sweet moment it was when Pellegri struck in stoppage time for us. The game was petering out to a boring scoreless draw but Sane beat a few men, swung in a cross and Pellegri met it at the near post to power a header in.
--
FA Cup 3rd Round Replay
v
Newcastle United 4 (Tielemans 9pen, Henry 38, 48, Vujosevic 77) Liverpool 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino (Zuparic), D'Amico (Vujosevic), Henry*, Sane, Dembele (Soumare)
We put in another fine show here as we thump Liverpool. The only downside was Merino getting injured and he is out for around a month.
What a cup tie this was!!! It was a dull 1st half but in the 2nd it was crazy and we had to fight back from being a goal behind twice. A replay wasn't exactly what I wanted but its what we ended up with.
--
SUMMARY
I will briefly gloss over the results for this month as I had so much transfer dealings! We won every league game and are on a long winning streak in fact which leaves us 6pts clear with 2 games in hand. The highlight was the last minute victory against Man Utd. In the FA Cup we were taken to a reply by Liverpool before thumping them and we have a replay against their neighbours in the next round.
So to my transfer dealings. I bought several youngsters, 3 look amazing, 1 I forgot that I arranged to sign and as usual I bought a few Colombians and Portuguese! lol
The 3 top ones were Nick Scarber from Derby for £3.1m, Paulo Roman from Universidad Catolica for £2.5m and Martin Toya from my feeder side, Defensor Sporting on a free. The 2 foreigners value shot up to over £20m and need a work permit so off to Nimes they go. View attachment 66652View attachment 66651View attachment 66650
Finally I had to buy a Colombian so I bought another young keeper in Frankie Leon for £470,000 from Atletico Nacional. View attachment 66656
Now I also got work permits for Elji Yoshizaki and Fabian Meza so they came back but I loaned them out to WBA and Huddersfield for a fee and to get used to English football. Jacob Dodds is also back. He was a regular for Barnsley and developed well but broke his leg and will miss the rest of the season.
Now to players out. Other than the ones mentioned above I loaned out several youngsters to make it a toal of 30 players that are away on loan with a transfer value of around £185m!!!!
I did manage to sell Freddie Woodman to Rotherham for £1.3m while Jan Suhr went to Preston in a £1m deal and Phil Anderson went to Everton for £100,000.
We struggled here to tell the truth but Soumare struck just after coming off the bench.
--
FA Cup 4th Round Replay
v
Newcastle United 1 (Soumare 118) Everton 0 AET Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Zuparic, D'Amico (Vujosevic), Henry (Lovera), Sane*, Pellegri (Soumare)
I thought that this would be much easier but Everton dug in and we only managed to nick it right at the end in extra-time when Soumare scored.
--
v
Newcastle United 3 (D'Amico 19, Pellegri 21, Tielemans 90pen) West Ham United 1 (Mbemba 85) Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Lascelles (Phungwayo), Chilwell, Tielemans, Mulac, D'Amico* (Vujosevic), Lovera (Soumare), Murphy, Pellegri
I am always happy to play a few backups against lesser opponents and a few played here but it was 3 of my first choices that scored. I actually didn't notice them scoring and then when I saw the scorer I chuckled to see who it was.
--
FA Cup 5th Round
v
Newcastle United 5 (Soumare 23, 86, Sane 36, Henry 73, Tielemans 84pen) Southampton 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Zuparic, D'Amico (Murphy), Henry*, Sane, Soumare
We were on top form today. Soumare was clinical while Jose Henry was really impressive as we cruise into the next round.
We fell behind straight from kick off and then scored an own goal to really set us back but we fought back and battled and we really should have won. They had a man sent-off just before we equalised.
--
v
Chelsea 1 (Essien 39)
Newcastle United 2 (Henry 15, 45)
That's 14 wins in a row in the league and it was a huge result and gritty performance to go with it. Jose Henry struck twice and his 2nd was a volley from the edge of the area.
--
SUMMARY
February is a short month but we somehow crammed 7 games into it and we won them all bar one - which we drew. Our 14 game winning streak in the league means that I am actually thinking of resting players for the European games as the title race is effectively over as we are 10pts clear with 2 games in hand!!
In Europe I expect us to deal with Sevilla while in the FA Cup quarter-finals we will play Leicester once again. We played them in the league cup this season, both domestic cups last season and if you can remember it was them who we beat to win my 1st trophy in my 2nd season.
Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino, D'Amico (Vujosevic), Henry (Lovera), Sane, Pellegri (Soumare)
Me and my big mouth!!!! Our winning streak is over after a lucklustre performance here and we got what we deserved in truth. D'Amico and Henry getting injured didn't help things mind.
With the upcoming Champions League happening in a couple of days time I decided to rest my first choice players and it paid off as we got the win to secure our spot in the Champions League next season. Not that it was in doubt lol.
--
UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg
v
Newcastle United 2 (Pellegri 9, Tielemans 55pen) Sevilla 0 (Agg: 4-2) Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell*, Tierney, Tielemans (Zuparic), Merino, Vujosevic (Murphy), Henry (Lovera), Sane, Pellegri
A professional performance and decent result for us here as we go through to the quarter-finals.
--
FA Cup Quarter-Final
v
Newcastle United 2 (Pellegri 49, Lovera 90) Leicester City 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans, Merino, Vujosevic*, Henry (Lovera), Sane (Murphy), Pellegri
Despite the scoreline this was a pretty poor performance as they had more shots than us despite the fact that they had a man sent-off in the 1st half. Lovera's injury time goal added an extra gloss to the scoreline.
--
SUMMARY
This month featured a rare occasion - a defeat!!!! Tbh we were long overdue one and it isn't really going to effect things in the title race such is our lead - the league games are just a procession really and I will be playing my youngsters more often methinks.
In Europe we knocked out Sevilla and will face Inter Milan in the next round while West Ham await us in the FA Cup semis.
Now to the youth intake and I couldn't believe it as I got 2 PLAYERS WHO LOOK TO BE ASGOOD AS AITOR!!!!!! Unfortunately Aitor didn't play GK or RB but I definitely got 2 world class players in my intake its just a pity that they play in the positions where I definitely didn't need anyone!
The first and highest rated is the goalie called Kevin Tomlinson. The 15y/o is valued at a staggering £14m and if it wasn't for a certain Gianluigi Donnarumma I would have no hesitation in putting him in as first choice. Even for backups I have 3 or 4 good ones out on loan while my backup Arensoe is quality and I have a young Portuguese lad. View attachment 66311
Next up is a RB called Jordan Betts and the 16y/o when he signed was valued at £16m!!!!! He made his debut in the game against Wolves and surprisingly was only given a 3 star potential rating compared to Tomlinson's 4 star rating but I actually think Betts is better. Unfortunately I have Passlack and another prospect in Jonathan Bradford who is developing amazingly in the ranks for him to compete with. View attachment 66310
I actually got a couple of other decent players worth a million or two but those 2 took my breath away tbh.
Germany 2 (Sane 20, Werner 54) Argentina 2 (Dybala 35, Santillan 59) Lineup - ter Stegen (Horn), Passlack, Tah, Sule (Ginter), Henrichs (Ochs), Akkaynak, Dahoud (Nakowitsch), Brandt (Volland) (Akkus), Havertz, Sane, Werner
My 1st game in charge of Germany and it was a decent game. I gave my former keeper, Timo Horn, his first cap. I actually just realised that Germany is hosting the next Euros so I have no qualifiers to compete in annoyingly.
With 4 games in less than a fortnight and the Inter game just coming up I thought I would rest my starting XI. 15y/o Kevin Tomlinson made his debut in goal and Betts made his 1st start with Tomlinson becoming our youngest ever player.
For over an hour here we were pathetic but then I made a triple substitution and we were all of a sudden all over them and we managed to sneak the win.
If we won the title was ours but we let a 2 goal lead slip and another lead was clawed back after that too. If Man City slip up the title is ours anyway. Once again I rested my starting XI for the upcoming European tie.
--
UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg
v
Newcastle United 3 (Farrell 24, D'Amico 45, Sane 67) Inter Milan 2 (Cervi 44, 80) (Agg: 5-3)
Into the semis we go. Inter were tough opposition and looked quite dangerous but we always had the edge. We played the last 20min with 10 men as I had made my 3 subs and Sane went off injured. He will now miss the rest of the season so for him to sign off with a goal and the MoM award was quite fitting.
--
FA Cup Semi-Final v
West Ham United 0
Newcastle United 3 (D'Amico 25, Murphy 83, Pellegri 90)
We knew that a draw would be good enough to win us the title and for an hour it looked like that would happen but then we conceded a penalty which Ander Herrera tucked away. I immediately put on Zuparic and he changed the game and he scored a great equaliser with a 1st time shot from 20 yards and then we got the winner.
--
v
Leeds United 2 (Sakamoto 18, Temenuzhkov 59)
Newcastle United 3 (Mulac 3, Soumare 46, 60)
My youngsters and backups will be seeing out the season in the league now (saying that Zuparic is my highest valued player and Soumare is 2nd or 3rd!!!). Mulac has scored 3 goals in 6 starts in the league and actually scored earlier in the season against Leeds on his league debut.
--
SUMMARY
This month saw us confirmed as league champions again and I was pleased to be unbeaten throughout the month as I played with my teenagers quite a bit including my 15y/o keeper and 16y/o right back!
In the FA Cup we will face Man Utd in the final while in the Champions League our reward for knocking out Inter Milan is a tie against their rivals AC Milan!
Do you change your tactics around as you seem to comfortably beat most teams? I'm about the same time into a Newcastle save and just won the prem twice in a row and the champions league but really struggled against teams this year. Last season was besting them by 5 goals and now only just scraping a victory
Did You Know? Robson started his career at Newcastle but also played had 2 spells at West Ham, 3 spells at Sunderland (plus a spell as caretaker manager) and 3 spells at Carlisle plus a spell as manager there too!
--
MAY
UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg
v
Newcastle United 4 (Henry 30, D'Amico 66, Zuparic 81, Dembele 89) AC Milan 3 (Alaniz 19, Orsolini 82, Scarpa 90) Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Zuparic* (Lanzini), Merino, D'Amico, Henry, Murphy (Soumare), Pellegri (Dembele)
We come out on top in this 7 goal thriller but I am obviously annoyed at conceding 3 goals considering we were 3-1 up and 4-2 up. My former player Orsolini netted against us the ****.
We were 2 up and cruising and then we had a crazy 10min where we threw it away but Scarber struck with the last kick of the match in the 95th minute to get his 1st goal for us and the winner.
At 2-0 down and with them having 3 away goals we were doomed but somehow we battled back to actually win the match 4-3 again! Orsolini scored against us again the ***** lol.
If we had have won we would have set a new points record but it wasn't to be.
--
FA Cup Final
v
Newcastle United 3 (D'Amico 12, Soumare 37, 89) Manchester United 2 (Alli 74, Rashford 90) Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack (Chilwell), Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Tielemans (Zuparic), Merino, D'Amico, Henry, Soumare*, Pellegri (Dembele)
What an entertaining final this was. We took command of the tie in the 1st half as D'Amico and Soumare scored and we were on easy street until Dele Alli pulled one back. Soumare killed the game off but we conceded yet again in stoppage time so we had a nervy finish.
--
UEFA Champions League Final
v
Newcastle United 1 (Pellegri 38) Manchester United 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Passlack, Jedvaj, Farrell*, Tierney, Tielemans (Zuparic), Merino, D'Amico (Vujosevic), Henry (Lovera), Soumare, Pellegri
WE RETAIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!
The 1st 8 minutes was pivotal as we lost Jose Henry after 4min and on 8min Youri Tielemans had a penalty saved but Pellegri struck for us before half time and we managed to hold on.
--
SUMMARY
This month was all about the cups. In the league we were already crowned champions so my yooungsters came in and largely impressed but it was the FA Cup and Champions League that were vital.
In the Champions League we got a 2nd 4-3 victory over AC Milan to progress to the final where we would play Man Utd. Before that however we faced them in the FA Cup final and we came out on top in a 5 goal thriller. A week later we were in the Champions League final and Pietro Pellegri's goal was good enough for us to win the trophy.
Do you change your tactics around as you seem to comfortably beat most teams? I'm about the same time into a Newcastle save and just won the prem twice in a row and the champions league but really struggled against teams this year. Last season was besting them by 5 goals and now only just scraping a victory
I change the individual roles and duties if a new player comes in to their best but otherwise I always stick with what I have. Occasionally I must admit that I have went to a control and structured tactic against Man Utd, Real Madrid and PSG. Mainly in one off knockout games. In the league I feel that in a 2 game head to head I will come out on top against anyone.
AARON HUGHES Defender
1997-2005
278 apps, 6 goals
Sold to Aston Villa for £1m
Did You Know? Hughes made his debut for Newcastle in an away Champions League game against Barcelona!!!!
--
END OF SEASON POST
This season was almost perfect. Whereas last season we won every trophy available and only lost once this season we couldn't quite match that as we won everything but the Carabao Cup and even lost a few games. Having said that we introduced a load of new youngsters that will bode well for the future.
In the league it should have been tighter but the 2 Manchester clubs ****** up when we were away at the World Club Cup and we strolled to the league title with a few games to spare. We scored 100 goals and only lost 3 times so our dominance was there for all to see.
In the domestic cups we were defeated by Man Utd in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals but defeated them in the Community Shield and the FA Cup.
Continentally we won the Super Cup against Chelsea, the World Club Cup against Cruzeiro - despite being 2-0 down - and in the Champions League we strolled into the final where once again we faced Man Utd and we just edged it 1-0.
Special mention has to go to Jacob Murphy. Although only a backup player he managed to score 15 goals from 16 starts and 13 sub appearances and he won the Champions League Golden Boot award with 9 goals. Issiaka Soumare scored 25 goals which I didn't know until I was checking every player at the end of the season which was a surprise tbh.
I have to say I am thinking of several changes in the 1st team squad. With my quality youngsters knocking on the door (16y/o Betts has already been capped by England!) I may push them into the 1st team reckoning early and as ever I need to see who gets a work permit - I know Martin Toya has one already. Regarding players in there are a couple I want to sign but as crazy as it may sound as I have money to spend - I need to sell before I can buy!!!
I also need to get Pietro Pellegri to sign a new contract as his ends next summer while Donnarumma's ends the year after.
--
GERMANY
Friendly
v
France 1 (Coman 65)
Germany 0
Lineup - ter Stegen, Passlack (Kimmich), Tah, Sule, Henrichs, Akkaynak (Nakowitsch), Emre Can (Dahoud), Volland (Gotze), Havertz, Brandt (Akkus), Werner (Altenhoff)
I could be wrong but this I think is my 1st defeat in international management.
Back in the mid 90's Alan Hansen infamously said that you couldn't win anything with kids and Man Utd duly did so to prove him wrong. Well fast forward 30 years and the same may be said of my Newcastle side as I have made several changes to my squad.
I will go into detail later but I smashed my transfer record, sold enough players to smash it again, I got Partizan Belgrade as a feeder side, managed to get Pellegri to sign a new contract, loaned out about 7,000 players and apart from my record signing I signed another load of youngsters but interestingly not a single Colombian!
However it could have been so much better lol.
--
PLAYERS OUT
Firstly I decided to have a clear out and the most annoying thing is people rejecting moves. Dembele rejected a £50m to Leicester the *****, Passlack rejected Barcelona and Lovera rejected Spurs while still in my side with no bids for him is Manuel Lanzini! That being said his contract is up at the end of the season.
On the other side of that I received 4 bids for Dusko Zuparic from PSG with the last one being a jaw dropping £185m!!!!
So to players sold and I will go through them in order starting with the highest fee received and then the next one and so on. Youri Tielemans is gone. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to sell him but I couldn't justify him being ahead of Zuparic and Henry anymore plus I needed money to try and bring in my dream transfer target. I received £48.5m from Bayern Munich for him which gave us a small profit and after 194 apps, 32 goals and a load of trophies I wish him well.
Felix Passlack was sold to Tottenham for £37m which is a £27m loss. He rejected a £48m move to Barcelona but I was really trying to ship him out so I accepted the big loss. He was great for me tbh although dipped last season and he made 95 apps and scored 1 goal. If it wasn't for Betts, Bradford and Peris I would never have thought of selling him.
Maximiliano Lovera rejected a few moves before finally agreeing to sign for Leicester for an initial £25.5m which is a slight profit. He didn't really impress me last season which of course was his debut season for us so he is off to pastures new.
Finally one of my youngsters who I have signed and loaned to Nimes or to whoever has been sold for a huge profit. Ivan Perdomo, the Colombian goalkeeper, has been sold to Leipzig for an initial £17.75m which could rise to £25m. I only signed him for £325,000!!!
Anders Arensoe has also left to join West Ham for a cheap £13m. He is a top quality keeper and made 34 apps for me but with young Kevin Tomlinson waiting in the wings he had to go. I doubled my money on him.
I took in nearly £10m by selling reserve players. The main one being £4.2m for Karsten Sandberg who made 41 apps for me but with my other RBs was never going to get a look in. James Whelan (3 apps) went to Blackburn for £2.5m, Jamie Davison went to Barnsley for £1.1m, while MK Dons gave me £1.6m for 4 of my reserve players who weren't going to get a look in.
Out on loan went a dozen players to Nimes who managed to get promoted to Ligue 2. I have given my feeder sides Crewe and Gateshead a few players who should be able to really push them on after they both struggled in League 1 last season. My other English feeder side Aston Villa took my young Portuguese full back Resende on loan.
Peris is loaned out to Reading, Dodds to Crystal Palace, Flavio Rodrigues to Fulham and there has been a few others. So many!!!!
TOTAL INCOME - £153m
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PLAYERS IN
One player for the 1st team. That's it. For the whole summer I was trying to get Kylian Mbappe but I couldn't even get near to a fee being agreed with PSG so when the 1st of August ticked around I decided to change tack and ended up breaking my transfer record by a whopping £36m!
I ended up paying £100m for Kai Havertz from Borussia Dortmund. I actually agreed to sign him a few years ago for £84m but I didn't have enough to complete the deal but I decided to get him this summer. At 24y/o he is still very young and he is very similar to Jose Henry stats wise but he is a natural AMC which is what we didn't have last season really. View attachment 65864
Regarding my starting XI there is 3 changes. Jordan Betts and Jonathan Bradford will fight it out for the RB spot, Zuparic will be a 1st choice for the 1st time to replace Tielemans but if he doesn't perform Henry will take over while Havertz obviously will be my new AMC.
Martin Toya got a work permit and is in the 1st team squad but with Sane, Murphy and Sessegnon he has to impress when he gets a start. Krunoslav Mulac is called up to the 1st team as he really impressed last season.
There could be more changes of course. Dembele and Lanzini are still up for sale. I have £100m to spend but I have already been priced out for Vinicius Junior and De Ligt so I may just sit on it as I cant see any reason to sign another 1st team player - maybe a CB?
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Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 0 (Newcastle United win 5-3 on penalties)
Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj*, Lascelles, Tierney, Zuparic, Merino, D'Amico, Havertz (Henry), Sane (Murphy), Pellegri (Soumare)
Another trophy. We missed the chance to win it in 90mins as D'Amico had an 88th minute penalty saved but he was on of the 5 that scored in the shoot-out so all is good. Kai Havertz was ****.
A fantastic way to kick off the season as we thrash Southampton. D'Amico scored a fine hat-trick but he got injured near the end and will miss 5-6 weeks.
To score 9 goals in the 1st 2 league games is pretty impressive - and I was pondering whether or not to change my tactics to being more attacking!!
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SUMMARY
We kicked off the season in fine fettle as we picked up 2 trophies and got 2 convincing wins in the league despite having a few injuries as Farrell, D'Amico, Sane and Soumare have all picked up knocks during the month.
There was more movement in the transfer window. I brought in 2 more regens. Firstly I paid a bargain £85,000 to bring in Leandrinho from Cruzeiro. The CB looks a prospect and has been loaned to Nimes as he doesn't have a work permit. I then paid Rosenborg £1m for their 18y/o striker Markus Halvorsen.# View attachment 65769View attachment 65768
Going out, finally, was Moussa Dembele who was sold to Crystal Palace for a cut price £26m. He rejected a move to Leicester worth double that earlier in the summer annoyingly but I wanted him gone. I signed him for £17.75m and he made 193 apps for me and he scored 122 goals so he was a great player for us.
I had loaned out Nick Scarber to Aston Villa and he scored twice on his debut but with Dembele being sold I immediately called him back and he scored on his first sub appearance of the season the day after!
In the cups we have been drawn away to Bradford in the Carabao Cup while in the Champions League Youri Tielemans will be renewing acquaintances quickly as we have been put in the same group as Bayern Munich, Olympiakos and CSKA Moscow.
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Newcastle United 2 (Pellegri 45, 76) Bayern Munich 1 (Emre Can 49) Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney (Chilwell), Zuparic (Mulac), Henry,(Murphy), Vujosevic, Havertz, Sane, Pellegri
This is a fantastic victory. We took the lead before half time but Bayern equalised straight away in the 2nd half. It was a pretty even game and then my sub, Ben Chilwell, got sent-off but we quickly took the lead when Pellegri latched on to a loose back pass and we held on.
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Newcastle United 3 (Pellegri 28, Sane 60, Mulac 85) Manchester City 3 (Bernardo Silva 33, 53, 90) Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj, Farrell (Sessegnon), Tierney, Henry, Merino, Murphy (Toya), Havertz (Mulac), Sane, Pellegri
Both of the teams went into this match with a 100% record and we put on a treat of a match here. Unfortunately we conceded a last minute equaliser to deny us the 3pts.
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Carabao Cup 3rd Round v
Bradford City 0
Newcastle United 3 (Lakota 49, 58, 90)
My U23s played the day before so my youngsters were shattered but they played well here. 4 players made their debuts for me here but none impressed me more than my young Bosnian striker Lakota who arrived in the summer on a free transfer and scored a hat-trick!
I would have loved to have played Toya and Scarber but they were injured and cup tied respectively. Murphy was out too as was Soumare and that's just my injuries for backup players!
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Newcastle United 5 (D'Amico 12, Pellegri 16, 75, Vujosevic 85, Henry 90) Leeds United 1 (Temenuzhkov 68)
Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Zuparic (Henry), Merino, D'Amico (Vujosevic), Havertz, Sane (Murphy), Pellegri*
A great win this. We were 2 up and cruising and then they pulled a goal back but then they had a man sent-off and we scored another 3. Vujosevic and Henry came off the bench and were very influential.
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SUMMARY
We built on our good August with a fine September. In the league we won every game apart from an entertaining 3-3 draw at home against Man City. We are actually just 1 goal short from averaging a 4 goal a game ratio!
In Europe we defeated Bayern Munich albeit slightly fortunately while in the Carabao Cup we beat Bradford and have Middlesbrough up next.
I made another signing. I was scrolling through the free agents and noticed a decent looking Polish player however I didn't think I needed him but I sent a scout to assess him anyway and he came back with a report rating him at 89 so I signed him up. Marcin Paprocki is his name and he is valued at £39m!!!! He used to be at Hamburg and he made his debut in the league cup. He cant play in the league until January but I still think he may just be sold for a huge profit. View attachment 65533
LEE CLARK Midfielder
1990-97 & 2005-06
261 apps, 27 goals
Did You Know? Clark - a Newcastle fanatic - left Newcastle to actually sign for bitter rivals Sunderland where he was infamously spotted wearing a t-shirt saying "Sad Mackem Bastards" and he never played for Sunderland again. Legend lol
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OCTOBER
UEFA Champions League Group E v
CSKA Moscow 0 Newcastle United 2 (Scarber 27, Lakota 82)
Due to my injuries I had to play some 1st teamers but they came through unscathed. Lakota now has 4 goals in 1 and a half games!
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Newcastle United 5 (Pellegri 24, 42, 57, Havertz 41, Vujosevic 81) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Baeza 3) Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney, Henry (Zuparic), Merino, D'Amico (Vujosevic), Havertz, Sane, Pellegri*
Another 5 goal haul here. Pellegri was immense and got a hat-trick, his 1st was his 100th goal for us. Sane got 4 assists too!!
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Newcastle United 3 (Sane 16, Vujosevic 82, Lakota 90) Stoke City 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney*, Zuparic (Yoshizaki), Merino, D'Amico (Vujosevic), Havertz, Sane, Pellegri (Lakota)
That's 3 games in a row now that Vujosevic has come off the bench to score while Lakota has now made 1 start and 2 sub apps and scored 5! Zuparic missed a penalty for us.
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UEFA Champions League Group E v
Olympiakos 0
Newcastle United 2 (Lanzini 42, Vujosevic 44)
A fantastic victory this as we keep on banging in the goals. Zuparic was creator supreme. I am actually tempted to pair him with Henry and drop Merino for a while.
A Tyne-Tees derby here and we just edged it. Toya got his 1st goal for us while Lascelles got his 3rd goal of the season.
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SUMMARY
This month saw us continue our amazing run of form as we continued to blitz past teams. The highlight was the 4-1 win away to Liverpool although the 5-1 win against Spurs was pretty special too.
Our individual performances were amazing too. Vujosevic seemed to score every time he came on, Pellegri gets goals and scores every game almost while D'Amico, Sane and Zuparic star also.
In the Carabao Cup we will play Man City in the quarter-final.
Another amazing performance as we absolutely humiliate Palace. Moussa Dembele didn't have a good experience playing against his old side! The football we are playing just now is quite extra-ordinary.
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UEFA Champions League Group E
v Newcastle United 2 (Henry 13, Murphy 70) Olympiakos 0
WHERE THE **** ARE THE GOALS??? lol. We were averaging over 4 goals a game before this match but I suppose I should be content with a point considering we were without a couple of players.
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UEFA Champions League Group E v
Bayern Munich 1 (Werner 86) Newcastle United 1 (Soumare 39)
While I am disappointed to have conceded a late goal the fact that my weakened side managed to draw with Bayern Munich is extremely pleasing.
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SUMMARY
A good solid month this. In the league we kicked off by banging 6 past Crystal Palace and 4 past West Ham but Man Utd holded us in a 0-0 draw. This ends up with us being 4pts clear and with us about to miss a few games due to the World Club Cup there is a rare chance for us to come back still at the top of the table!
Not much else to say really. We have won our Champions League group and we just keep on plugging away.
This was a great away performance punctuated by a great result. We took the lead and hung on for a bit but then I made my subs and two of them, Sessegnon and Vujosevic, combined to seal the game for us.
Into the final we go as our annual slaughter of our opponents in the semi-final continues.
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Newcastle United 4 (Sane 31, 40, Krychowiak og36, Pellegri 42) Watford 0 Lineup - Donnarumma, Betts, Jedvaj, Farrell, Tierney (Chilwell), Henry (Vujosevic), Merino, D'Amico, Havertz, Sane*, Pellegri
Watford came into this 2nd bottom and I suppose us beating them 4-0 is a standard result. That is no shame on Watford as we have scored more against far better teams.
This win was almost a defeat. They took the lead and had a goal disallowed before we got our act together. Lakota continues to impress everytime he plays.
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SUMMARY
What a mess this month was!!! The Club World Cup was a mess. We had the usual break to play the games but no games were played so my players had an extra holiday. I was actually worried that the tournament wasn't going to happen. Then when we finally had a fixture none of our players were registered but we could still pick them for some reason!!
We won the semis and then flew back to beat Watford and then had to play the final just after Christmas but this time some players were registered and some weren't despite myself not registering anyone and this time the non registered players couldn't play!!!
Anywho we end the month 3pts behind the leaders with 3 games in hand and in the Carabao Cup we have a favourable draw against Championship side Huddersfield. Norwich are our opponents in the FA Cup and Dortmund will play us in the Champions League.
GLENN ROEDER Defender
1983-89
215 apps, 10 goals
Manager of Newcastle from 2006-07
Did You Know? Glenn Roeder was a bit of a father figure to a certain Paul Gascoigne and even went out to live with him for a while when he signed for Lazio before he gave up!
Derby day joy as we thump Sunderland by putting 5 past them. Pietro Pellegri scored his 2nd hat-trick of the season while Leroy Sane keeps up his amazing form.
2 consecutive 5-1 wins!!! In the league we have scored 5 goals 5 times, 4 goals 5 times and 6 goals once!!!! Truly incredible considering we have only played 16 times!!!!!
This was a near perfect away match on the counter attack as Man City were dominant and missed a load of chances but we struck twice through D'Amico and we hung on somehow lol.
Wolves gave us a tough time in the 1st half and went into the break level at 2-2 but we quickly scored in the 2nd half and then took control. Zuparic scored a great team goal.
My backups came in and easily won to confirm our place in the final. Lanzini came out of the doldrums of U23 football to score a fine goal.
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SUMMARY
January is always a tough month but on the whole we did very well. Sure we suffered our 1st defeat of the season but to offset that we reached another cup final and got some big wins.
We end the month 5pts off the leaders Chelsea - who beat us 3-2 - but crucially we have 4 games in hand so I am not too bothered. We scored 5 past WBA, Wolves and Sunderland and also beat Man City 2-0 away so that defeat didn't effect us much.
In the FA Cup we defeated Norwich and will play Derby next while we reached the Carabao Cup final and we will face Wolves there.
In the transfer window I did sign a couple of regens. A Colombian (shock) full back who is then sent on loan to Nimes and an Austrian forward who my DoF spotted for a total of £2.3m. I actually have £111m left to spend of my budget!!! View attachment 65055View attachment 65054
Leaving the club is James Maddison who left for Huddersfield in a £3.5m deal which is all profit and a couple of players went out on loan. Yoshizaki might be joining Galatasaray on loan too. Here are the Premier League's leading January transfers..... View attachment 65053
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