So here I am - manager of my beloved Newcastle United. Rafa Benitez has gone after not getting what he wants and deserves and in steps me as Mike Ashley seems to want to wind the fans up even more lol.
This is my first save with Newcastle in FM19 so I am excited to see how it goes. How will Brexit effect things? Will we get taken over? Can we get back into Europe? Can we finally win a major trophy? All of these questions need to be answered in a positive way.
So please follow, like and comment and hopefully in time the Geordie nation will be top of the football world.
Btw - as a Scotsman I also want to manage them and for some reason Colombia too lol.
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THE CLUB
Founded - 1892
Nickname - The Magpies
Ground - St.James Park
Capacity - 52,354
Fierce Rivals - Sunderland
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HONOURS
First Division (Premier League) Champions - 1904-05, 1906-07, 1908-09, 1926-27
Second Division (Championship) Winners - 1964-65, 1992-93, 2009-10, 2016-17
FA Cup Winners - 1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955
FA Charity Shield Winners - 1909
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Winners - 1969
Intertoto Cup Winners - 2006
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Regarding the mighty victory of the Intertoto Cup which was awarded to us by being the side who qualified who lasted the longest - here is a picture of Scott Parker being thrilled when accepting the award for the club lol
I have now realised that it can be more difficult managing your favourite club as you take your real life views on players into the game. There are several positions where I could have strengthened (despite my minimal funds) but my love for some of the players swayed me to not replacing them.
However with the starting squad that I have I am confident that we can finish in the top half. European football will be unlikely unless we can fluke a cup win but we will certainly try. In my squad I had far too many keepers and CBs with not enough quality or cover on the wings. In defence and midfield we should be OK but the big question will be how Almiron will adapt to English football and whether Muto or Rondon will bang in the goals for us.
As for my backroom staff I changed a fair few including appointing a fellow Scot as my new assistant manager in the shape of Eric Black. His former Aberdeen teammate Jim Leighton is a GK coach for my U23s but the most important one was Phil Cannon who joined as our head of youth development and will therefor be key in developing new talent for the club.
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PLAYERS OUT
I sold 4 players and 3 of them are my least liked players in real life. The one who I do like but was sold due to his age was Mohamed Diame who joined Southampton for £8.75m. I have a few options in central midfield with Ki, Shelvey, Longstaff and Hayden so I decided to cash in on Diame.
Joselu is also away. He joined Nice for £4.9m - good riddance lol.
Rob Elliot joined FC Toronto for £1.5m as he was my 4th choice keeper and finally Javi Manquillo joined CSKA Moscow for an initial £1.9m.
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PLAYERS IN
My most expensive signing wont even be a regular starter immediately I don't think as Sandro Tonali was brought in from Brescia for £5.25m. I have never managed him before and I thought I needed younger CMs so I hope he will develop into a world class player. View attachment 13961
I signed Cristian Pavon for £3m from Boca Juniors. He impressed me in the 5 or 6 games I had him in my Hertha save so I wanted to see what he could do long term. My chief scout highly recommended him and he will hopefully be a big star for us. View attachment 13962
I brought back James Tavernier back to the club also from Rangers for £2.7m. He will be my backup RB and while I am loathe to ever giving Rangers money I was looking ahead as he is a home grown player trained by the club and we don't have many of them so if we get into Europe he could be very handy. View attachment 13960
I also brought in 2 English prospects. Jack Clarke (£2.1m from Leeds) and Albie Morgan (£2m from Charlton) have come in and will provide squad depth as well as significantly boost my U23 side in the Checkatrade Trophy. View attachment 13956View attachment 13955
On deadline day I brought in 2 Serbians in the shape of Dejan Joveljic from Red Star Belgrade for £1m and Armin Djerlek from Partizan Belgrade for £500,000. Both failed to get work permits but I have accepted loan offers for them both from Red Star Belgrade so I hope for them to go away, develop, play for Serbia and come back as much better players. View attachment 13958View attachment 13957
Finally I brought in Pelayo Morilla from Sporting Gijon for £825,000. I have managed the 16y/o before and if he can play as well as he did in my Athletic save he will be a top quality player. View attachment 13959
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TEAM
Dubravka is naturally in goal and Yedlin and Dummett will be my full backs although Barreca will provide stiff competition for Dummett. In CB I have plenty of options. Lascelles will start as will Schar but Lejeune is out injured for 4-5 months and he will be in contention whereas Fernandez and Clark will have to wait in the wings.
In CM I will probably play Shelvey although he is injured and I have decided to give Sean Longstaff a start from the beginning as he looks decent and I suspect has been boosted since the recent update. Pavon and Ritchie will battle it out on the RW, Kenedy will be my LW and Almiron will be my AMC.
Up front I think Muto will get the nod although Rondon will push him hard.
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AIMS FOR THE SEASON
Top half, a decent cup run and set the team up for next season!!!
Tonali became a £50-60 million player for me within 4 seasons on my Bournemouth save at the back end of last year....turns out to be one of the best passers in the game!
v
Newcastle United 4 (Pavon 17, Atsu 34, Rondon 88, Ayoze Perez 90) West Ham United 1 (Obiang 51) Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles (Fernandez), Schar, Dummett, Ki Sung-Yeung, Longstaff, Pavon*, Almiron (Ayoze Perez), Atsu, Muto (Rondon)
Now that's the way to kick start a career!!! We were excellent here and although 2 of my subs scored late on to give an added gloss to the score we fully deserved the victory. Pavon was inspiring on his debut as he got a goal and 2 assists. Arnautovic got sent-off in stoppage time too.
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v Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (Origi 55) Newcastle United 1 (Ki Sung-Yeung 63)
We were a tad fortunate to come away with a point here as our equaliser was a total fluke. I really wanted to win this game as in real life I am so ****** off at everyone saying that Wolves are the best ever team to be promoted to the top division - in 1993-94 Newcastle finished 3rd for example - Nottingham Forest finished 3rd one year and Ipswich qualified for Europe one year too I think.
Rant over lol.
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v Southampton 1 (Austin 15) Newcastle United 1 (Longstaff 7)
This is a disappointing result as I felt we were the better side here despite playing the last 25min with 10 men. Longstaff fired us in front from the edge of the area for his first goal for us.
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Carabao Cup 2nd Round v
Huddersfield Town 0 Newcastle United 0 (Newcastle United win 4-3 on penalties)
Lineup - Woodman, Yedlin, Fernandez, Schar, Barreca*, Tonali, Hayden, Ritchie, Ayoze Perez (Morilla), Atsu (Clarke), Rondon (Toure)
We got a tough draw in the shape of Huddersfield and I took a risk by playing my backups and it just paid off although Atsu and Rondon picked up injuries.
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SUMMARY
We have had not a bad start to the campaign as we are unbeaten although I maybe would have expected to get at least 6pts from our opening 3 fixtures but therein lies the dilemma - do you prefer being unbeaten and getting 5pts or losing one and getting 6pts?
Anywho our thumping victory over West Ham was naturally the highlight of the month before we laboured to draws against Wolves and Southampton away and also Huddersfield in the cup although in that match we squeaked through on penalties.
v
Newcastle United 3 (Pavon 36, Muto 52, Mee 58og) Burnley 0 Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett*, Ki Sung-Yeung (Hayden), Tonali, Pavon, Almiron (Ayoze Perez), Atsu, Muto
We remembered how to win a game here as we comfortably beat Burnley. Miguel Almiron has been awful so far as a shadow striker and I may change his role for the next games. Sandro Tonali made his league debut here.
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v
Newcastle United 0 Manchester City 1 (Sterling 40) Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Dummett, Ki Sung-Yeung (Longstaff), Tonali, Pavon, Almiron, Atsu (Kenedy), Muto (Ayoze Perez)
I cant fault my players here as they held their own against Man City. We should have taken the lead just before they scored but it was not to be unfortunately.
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v Crystal Palace 0 Newcastle United 0
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett*, Ki Sung-Yeung (Shelvey), Longstaff, Pavon (Ritchie), Almiron, Kenedy, Muto (Rondon)
A decent point I suppose with Paul Dummett excelling yet again and yet again Almiron was a heap of **** lol.
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Carabao Cup 3rd Round v Charlton Athletic 1 (Cullen 29) Newcastle United 1 (Clark 64) (Newcastle United win 6-5 on penalties)
Lineup - Woodman, Yedlin, Fernandez, Clark, Barreca, Hayden (Morgan), Shelvey, Ritchie, Ayoze Perez (Morilla), Atsu, Rondon (Toure)
We got away with one here as I would have expected my backup side to overpower a League 1 side but in the end much like the last round we had to rely on penalties to get through.
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v
Newcastle United 1 (Yedlin 1) Liverpool 2 (Milner 55, Matip 80) Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Dummett, Shelvey (Ki Sung-Yeung), Longstaff , Pavon, Ayoze Perez, Kenedy (Atsu), Muto (Rondon)
This result was very harsh as we were the better side. My side as an attacking force seems to struggle with my formation but I am a stubborn sod and they had better improve. We have only won 2 games out of 9 in all comps yet still find ourselves in the Carabao Cup and in the top half of the league lol.
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SUMMARY
This season has started off very strangely. As I have said above we have won only 2 games out of 9 yet strangely are doing not too badly. I think we are paying for our lack of quality going forward. Almiron has had a shocker, Muto is struggling, while I am unsure of who to play between Atsu and Kenedy and in CM I still have to decide on my main pairing!!!
In the Carabao Cup we have been drawn against Arsenal so that will be a tough fixture to overcome.
v Manchester United 2 (Mata 22, Sanchez 85) Newcastle United 1 (Muto 43)
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Dummett, Shelvey, Longstaff (Ki Sung-Yeung), Pavon, Almiron (Ayoze Perez), Kenedy (Ritchie), Muto
This was much like the Liverpool match except it was a bit more even this time. I so wanted us to hang on for the draw but it was not to be. We really need to start winning games soon as 2 wins from 8 is just not good enough.
A huge win. From conceding late losing goals it was great for us to score a late winner here when Kenedy volleyed in from the far post. Having said that they had a man sent-off after 6min so it is still a bit worrying how we struggled so much.
We matched Arsenal here for the 1st half but in the 2nd half we fell away and we didn't deserve to go through in truth.
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SUMMARY
This month was slightly better but in reality it was just the same again as we just managed to scrape by although we did exit the Carabao Cup.
Our lack of goals in the league is a big worry - 12 goals in 10 games but only 3 in our last 6 and that is the main reason why we are just being cast adrift of the top 6 or 7 although a string of victories would sort that out.
Watford were sitting just above us in the table before the match but the positions were reversed afterwards as we won easily here thanks to Kenedy's double.
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v
Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Son Heung-Min 30, Llorente 90) Newcastle United 1 (Schar 42pen)
Heartbreaking!!!! The late goals we are conceding are really hurting us as a team and me personally as Llorente struck in the 2nd minute of injury time.
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v
Newcastle United 2 (Longstaff 14, Morilla 26) Everton 0 Lineup - Dubravka, Tavernier, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett, Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon (Ritchie), Morilla, Kenedy*, Muto (Rondon)
We move up to 7th in the table with our victory here. They had Mina sent-off after only 8min which certainly helped. Morilla scored on his league debut which was nice to see.
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SUMMARY
We only had 3 games this month which is strange considering we have about 8 next month and we did quite well in truth. We defeated Watford, lost narrowly to Spurs but then bounced back with a great victory over Everton. We are still struggling to score goals but as has been the case so often this season our defence has been getting us the points.
When you look at the league table and see how many goals other teams have scored and then you see our paltry amount however apart from Man City who have only conceded 2 we have the best defence.
The club has been in talks regarding a takeover - not a tycoon unfortunately - but the talks have collapsed apparently.
We get back to back wins for the first time this season and its coming when we are missing a few players. Coming up to the next transfer window its important for some players to find form.
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v
Newcastle United 1 (Morilla 53) Cardiff City 0
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles (Lejeune), Schar*, Dummett, Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon, Morilla, Kenedy (Almiron), Muto (Rondon)
3 wins in a row!!! We dominated this game throughout and fully deserved the victory. Morilla has scored 2 goals in 3 league appearances - Almiron has 0 in 11. Lejeune finally returned from injury here.
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v Leicester City 1 (Vardy 2)
Newcastle United 2 (Kenedy 7, Pavon 18)
4 wins in a row now as we defeat Leicester who were the side above us in the table. We fell behind early on but quickly bounced back with Pavon scoring with a great finish and he also had a goal disallowed in stoppage time. Leicester had Mendy sent-off with 15min to go which helped.
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v
Newcastle United 1 (Muto 20) Huddersfield Town 0 Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar (Lejeune), Dummett*, Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon (Ritchie), Almiron, Kenedy (Atsu), Muto
Another victory!!!! We consolidate our position in 6th place as we move 5pts clear of Chelsea and Leicester although we are a few points behind Spurs in 5th place.
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v West Ham United 1 (Noble 28) Newcastle United 1 (Kenedy 3)
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Lejeune, Dummett, Shelvey, Longstaff (Tonali), Pavon (Ritchie), Almiron, Kenedy*, Rondon (Ayoze Perez)
Our winning streak is over as we draw with West Ham here. Lejeune got his 1st start of the season as Schar is out for a while and Pavon also picked up an injury here unfortunately.
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v
Newcastle United 2 (Ritchie 10, Rondon 48) Chelsea 2 (Higuaín 87, Zappacosta 90)
I am devastated. 2-0 up and about to go 6pts clear of Chelsea again with only 3min to go and we throw it away. We were excellent here and despite missing Kenedy, Muto, Pavon and Schar we looked as though we had got a crucial victory but once again late goals conceded kills us.
I cant complain too much here as we were severely under strength (missing Yedlin, Lejeune, Schar, Shelvey, Ritchie, Pavon and Muto) and had Lascelles sent-off after only 13min so to only lose by 1 goal is a decent effort from my players.
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SUMMARY
December was a great month for us. We won 4, drew 2 and lost the other game during the month which propelled us up to 6th in the league as we are in the battle for European places. The fixture list was fairly kind during the month and that allowed us to build up a bit of momentum although as ever goals are hard to come by. Our top scorer is Kenedy with 5 goals!!!
Off the field I was given an extra £30m added to my transfer budget which could be massive as I will definitely look to strengthen my side to allow us to push hard for a European spot. I did however fail to sign a new contract with the club as they weren't offering me a pay rise.
In the FA Cup we have been given a nightmare draw - Liverpool at home.
Back to winning ways as we thump a side I really don't like. Shelvey got his first goals of the season including a free-kick and Ciaran Clark also got a rare goal. Once again my AMC and ST don't perform though. Wolves sacked their manager after this game.
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FA Cup 3rd Round v
Newcastle United 1 (Rondon 36) Liverpool 0 Lineup - Dubravka, Tavernier, Lascelles, Lejeune, Dummett (Barreca), Shelvey (Hayden), Longstaff (Tonali), Ritchie, Almiron, Kenedy*, Rondon
Fantastic!!!! We were truly excellent here and our 1st half performance was outstanding in particular. We took the lead when Rondon poked in from a goalmouth scramble and after that we never really looked troubled.
Not only is this our 3rd win on the trot in the league but in 3 games we have scored 10 goals which is unheard of!!!! Kenedy was the star of the show as he bagged 2 goals.
Before todays game our biggest defeat was by 1 goal but Man City destroyed us here. That being said we had Isaac Hayden playing at RB and were without a few other players too.
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SUMMARY
On the field we were superb this month as we finally began to score more regularly and won all our games apart from the 3-0 defeat to Man City. The highlight of the month was our 1-0 FA Cup win over Liverpool and we have a home tie with Preston in the next round which is decent.
A top 7 finish in the league is still on the cards so I am really happy with how we are looking although whether we can overtake Spurs into 5th place I am not sure.
Now for transfers. Outgoing went Federico Fernandez who joined Watford for £9m. With me having Lascelles, Lejeune, Clark and Schar I felt I needed to cash in on a CB and Fernandez was unhappy so off he went and that was our only departure.
So with a whopping £50m to spend and with us needing a striker to score goals and possibly a left back who did I bring in?
NOBODY!!!!!!!
Well nearly nobody. I was so frustrated and then doubted myself about some deals. I didn't want to pay £37m for Kieran Tierney. I had agreed to sign Alfredo Morelos for £25m but being an Aberdeen fan I couldn't bear giving Rangers that kinda money. Josef Martinez had agreed to come from Atlanta United for £15m but in comparison wasn't much better than Muto so that got vetoed.
The 2 deals I did want got cancelled due to work permit issues as I agreed to sign Lincoln for £18m and Victor Kovalenko for £13m. Raging!!!!!
My only signing was that of a player who I know very well indeed - Oihan Sancet came in from Athletic Bilbao for £3.5m. If developed right he turns into a world class CM so hopefully we can do right by him although I felt a bit sad nicking one of Athletic's best prospects off them. View attachment 13336
Finally Miguel Almiron's season seems to be over as he damaged his achilles and is out for 4-5 months.
Gutted to hear about those transfer deals. I think Morelos would’ve been great but that’s understandable given your dislike of Rangers. I would never give Brighton that money myself as a Palace fan.
I am proud of my players here as we were missing 6 or 7 players but we still managed to win despite falling behind. Barreca equalised with a cross and Pavon bundled home the winner. Oihan Sancet made a surprise debut a day after signing and coped quite well.
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v Liverpool 4 (Salah 35, Roberto Firmino 46, Mane 69, 81)
Newcastle United 1 (Rondon 90)
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett (Barreca), Shelvey, Longstaff (Tonali), Pavon, Ayoze Perez, Atsu (Ritchie), Rondon
Well its safe to say Liverpool got their revenge on us dumping them out of the FA Cup!!!!
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FA Cup 5th Round v
Newcastle United 5 (Atsu 19, Rondon 36, 54, Morilla 67, Sancet 72) Preston North End 1 (Barkhuizen 87) Lineup - Woodman, Tavernier, Clark, Schar, Barreca, Tonali (Hayden), Sancet, Ritchie (Clarke), Ayoze Perez (Morilla), Atsu, Rondon*
Fantastic. I fielded my backups here and they destroyed Preston. Morilla and Sancet both scored from distance but the game was long over by then.
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v
Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 2 (Rashford 24, Lukaku 40)
Disappointing. We have how lost 3 of our last 4 league games but those defeats were all against the top 3 sides in the table so it is understandable. Muto and Ki Sung-Yeung finally were available to us again after they were away at the Asian Cup.
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v Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Newcastle United 1 (Ayoze Perez 11)
This was a hard fought win as Ayoze Perez's 2nd goal of the season won us the match and hopefully we can kick on again.
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SUMMARY
This month had its ups and downs. In the league we defeated Crystal Palace and Brighton but in between those victories were defeats to Liverpool and Man Utd. We are still just clinging on to 6th place but Chelsea are only 1pt behind us.
In the FA Cup we thrashed Preston although our run may end at the quarter-finals as we have been drawn away to Manchester City who somehow have only conceded 6 goals in the league this season!!!
Back to back wins was just what we needed. In truth Bournemouth probably deserved a point but we were ruthless with Longstaff scoring from distance and Ritchie firing in a free-kick.
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v
Watford 2 (Deeney 74, 90)
Newcastle United 3 (Shelvey 60, 67, Tonali 89)
Our 3rd win on the bounce. Shelvey was excellent and his 2nd goal was a first time volley from outside of the box. Tonali also scored from range as he got his 1st goal for us.
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FA Cup Quarter-Final https://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=52919/profile/index.htmlv
Manchester City 3 (Gabriel Jesus 8, 29, 34) Newcastle United 0
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett (Barreca), Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon (Ritchie), Ayoze Perez, Kenedy, Muto (Rondon)
We were never likely to go through here and we never gave ourselves a chance as our performance was terrible. We have a long, long, long way to go before we can match Man City.
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v
Everton 3 (Schar 26og, Bernard 30, Dummett 50og)
Newcastle United 0
I cant wait for this season to end so I can overhaul my squad. Sure we won 2 matches this month but our last 2 performances were a joke and we are toothless. My poor January window is catching up with me it seems.
Up front Muto and Rondon are ****. We have nobody else. Ayoze Perez has been pathetic at AMC, Pavon and Kenedy are off their games while Longstaff and Shelvey are patchy. We just somehow need to get to the end of the season and hopefully finish in a European spot be it 6th or 7th.
What will be key obviously is my summer transfer budget. Takeover talks are being mooted again so if they become successful I would hope to have a decent kitty to spend. If I have £40m just now I would like to think I could double that with player sales and surely I would get a bigger starting budget anyway?
I did however sign a new contract with the club this month and in the youth intake we got a very decent looking CB called Dale Furness. View attachment 13294
v
Newcastle United 3 (Pavon 26, Muto 56, Tonali 78) Tottenham Hotspur 0
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett, Shelvey, Longstaff (Tonali), Pavon*, Ayoze Perez, Kenedy, Muto
I wasn't expecting this result!!!! We were aided by them having Wanyama sent-off after 25min but we were on top before then anyway. Tonali's goal was beautiful as he bent a shot into the top corner from 25 yards.
That's 3 wins in a row and 6 wins from our last 7 games - European football is almost ours for next season!!!
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v
Newcastle United 0 Leicester City 0 Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett (Barreca), Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon, Ayoze Perez (Tonali), Kenedy, Muto (Rondon)
A boring no score draw. We were slightly the better side but it wasn't to be.
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v
Huddersfield Town 0 Newcastle United 1 (Sancet 67)
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Dummett*, Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon, Ayoze Perez (Sancet), Kenedy, Muto (Rondon)
This was a must win match and we just did it. Sancet came off the bench to score with his first touch while we have kept 5 clean sheets in a row now.
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SUMMARY
What a difference a month makes!!! When we lost 3-0 to Everton at the end of last month I was raging and just wanted the season to end and somehow that very same 11 players who started the Everton match have turned things around this month with 4 wins and a draw and 5 clean sheets.
Now I am still not happy with the strength or depth of my squad but at least they showed a bit of bottle and more importantly quality in the 5 games played.
We should have a top 6 finish and can finish 5th however our final 2 games are against Arsenal and Chelsea while if Chelsea win all 3 games and we lose our 2 we will finish 7th which would be a tragedy.
Finally the club has been taken over and Mike Ashley has left the club after years of despair. No tycoon in sight though and we have taken out a loan of £128m which is getting paid back at a rate of £1.1m a month.
v
Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 0
Lineup - Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Schar, Tierney, Shelvey, Longstaff, Pavon, Ayoze Perez (Ki Sung-Yeung), Kenedy (Atsu), Muto (Rondon)
We went into this game knowing 6th place and European football for next season was secure. To finish 5th we have to hope that Spurs lose their last 2 games and we have to beat Chelsea.
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v
Chelsea 3 (Hudson-Odoi 1, Giroud 3, Loftus-Cheek 15)
Newcastle United 2 (Longstaff 27, Atsu 45)
I thought I was going to play my backups here but Chelsea beat Spurs so 5th place was up for grabs so I had to go with my full strength side but our awful start killed the match off for us here. Morilla did have a late goal disallowed but Spurs won anyway so it was all in vain.
Annoyingly Fulham got relegated today so we wont receive £2.5m for them staying in the Premier League as part of the Mitrovic deal.
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SUMMARY
The season is over and its 6th place for us which is remarkable when you consider our top scorer in all competitions had 9 goals to his name!!! We drew with Arsenal to make it 6 clean sheets in a row but results didn't go our way on the last day of the season and that was that.
This is a hard season to review. If you just look at our finishing position in the league then we were excellent as we finished 6th and were in touching distance of 5th which of course meant we qualified for the Europa League next season. We also had 2 decent cup runs so it all looks good.
Except things aren't good. Our top scorer was a winger who is on loan and only got 9 goals, we went into most games hoping rather than expecting and individually players continued to disappoint.
So the squad needs an overhaul and plans are afoot. Before I got my budget for the summer I had agreed to spend £25m on a player and then when we got our initial budget for the summer which was a decent £98m and the moment the season ended I have put players up for sale so I hope to have about another £150m to spend in an attempt to completely overhaul my squad.
Goalkeepers - Dubravka was decent and while he wont be here for the long term he is fine for now. I would love for Woodman to play more and he was my cup keeper this season.
Defenders - Our strongest part of the side. Nobody excelled but everyone was solid. I feel a bit sorry for Barreca who really impressed when he played but I was loyal to Paul Dummett.
Midfielders - At CM Shelvey and Longstaff were my 1st choice pairing. Longstaff impressed the most with 6 goals and Shelvey did ok. On the RW Pavon had a decent first season while on the left Kenedy was our top scorer with a whopping 9 goals. In AMC Almiron was very disappointing as he had 1 goal before he missed the 2nd half of the season with injury and Ayoze Perez was awful as his replacement.
Maybe next season the likes of Morilla, Tonali and Sancet will play more depending on our transfer activity.
Forwards - Both were awful. Rondon got 6 goals, Muto got 5. That's all you need to know.
My Player of the Season - Kenedy (best of a bad bunch) My Young Player of the Season - Sean Longstaff Must Do Better - Miguel Almiron Donkey of the Year - Yoshinori Muto
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PRE-SEASON PLANS
I need a new left back, AMC and striker urgently. After that it depends on how much I get for the players that I have listed. I think I need at least 10 players for my 1st team squad to help us be competitive next season.
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OTHER NEWS
The new chairman announced that we are expanding the stadium by just over 7,000 to take the capacity of St.James' Park to just under 60,000. It will cost over £40m though.
I was a busy bunny in the window with me overhauling the first team squad. I spent a total of £170m and raked in just under £90m and still have £40m left to spend!!!
As you will see when I reveal my signings I have went for young talent to take us to the next level. The players will grow and the club will grow with them. With extra games this season due to us being in the Europa League their will be plenty of opportunities for people to impress.
Not much else to say really so I will go straight into the outgoings.
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PLAYERS OUT
I sold 9 of my first team squad from last season. Ayoze Perez joined Crystal Palace for £12.5m and weirdly immediately got transfer listed by them!!!! Matt Ritchie joined Cardiff City for £10.5m as the soon to be 30y/o was surplus to requirements.
Newly promoted Leeds United bought 3 of my players - Ki Sung Yeung went for £10.25m, Ciaran Clark for £6.6m and Isaac Hayden for £6.25m. All 3 were never really in my match squads last season so to take in over £20m for them is not bad going.
Their Yorkshire rivals, Sheffield United, also bought a couple of players from me when they signed Dwight Gayle for £8m and Florian Lejeune for £5.5m.
Yoshinori Muto has joined Hannover 96 for an initial £7m which could rise to £9m. His return of 5 goals when pretty much being 1st choice was just unacceptable. Although we will miss the shirt sales that he gives us in the Japanese market I need my strikers to score goals not sell shirts.
Some players who were loaned out last year have departed - Rolando Aarons has joined Nimes for an initial £6.25m which could rise to £7.5m, Henri Saivet has joined Lokomotiv Moscow for £4.4m (£4.9m) and Achraf Lazaar has joined Hull City for £3.9m.
Finally Christian Atsu has joined Fiorentina for £3.7m (£5m) and Karl Darlow has somehow managed to join Arsenal for £1.4m.
You have to also remember that Antonio Barreca, Kenedy and Salomon Rondon have left the club after their loan spells ended.
A couple of prospects have went out on loan too but nobody near the 1st team squad.
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PLAYERS IN
Firstly I had agreed a deal towards the end of last season to bring in my new left back and at the time it was for a club record fee of £25m and it was spent on Kieran Tierney. Tierney is a fantastic young talent and should be our left back for years to come and I have also appointed him as our vice captain to boot!!! View attachment 13196
Another young Scot came in when I signed Scott McKenna from Aberdeen for £10.5m. He will challenge Fabian Schar for a first team spot and although I weakened my favourite Scottish side I thought giving them £10m or so when I gave Celtic £25m could be helpful lol. View attachment 13195
The only other defender I brought in was my new backup RB in Ronael Pierre-Gabriel from Monaco for £4.4m. He was highly recommended by my scouts and I was looking for a RB for most of the summer so he hopefully will do well. View attachment 13194
Talking of signings from Monaco I better introduce my new striker who comes in at a whopping £53m and that is Pietro Pellegri. To spend that amount of money on an 18y/o could be risky but I have faith in him and he should be a world class striker in a year or two. I mean if he scores 12 goals this year he will have scored more than my 2 strikers last year!!!! View attachment 13193
Now I needed more than just 1 striker so I tried my luck with Lincoln again and this time he got a work permit so he comes in for £16m. He, alongside Pellegri, should be our strikers for the next decade at least. At the start they may be rotated. I know how Pellegri turns out but don't know so much about Lincoln. View attachment 13192
Then on deadline day I realised I only had 2 strikers in my 1st team squad so I scoured about for a new 3rd choice striker. I didn't want to spend a shed load on a player who is hardly going to feature so I was pleased to get in Raul Jimenez from Benfica for £4m. The Mexican didn't play much for Wolves last season so he should be eager to impress and with us being in Europe he should get some chances. View attachment 13191
Now you know I needed 2 left wingers and I spent just over £30m to bring in 2 superb young talents. Most expensively was Ryan Sessegnon who came in from relegated Fulham for £19.5m. I wanted to bring in some English talent during the summer but largely failed due to extortionate asking prices but Sessegnon had a release clause and the fact he is comfortable at LB is a boost too. View attachment 13190
Sessegnon however will be a backup as my first choice winger is going to be Alphonso Davies who I managed to sign from Bayern Munich for £11m - a bargain!!! The 18y/o Canadian is lightning quick and I am excited to see how he will perform. View attachment 13189
Now for the AMC position and I brought in 2 for this season. Much like Lincoln I went back in for Victor Kovalenko in the hope that he would get a wok permit and he did so he came in from Shakhtar Donetsk for £12m. How much game time he will get I don't know but he looks like a quality player. View attachment 13188
He will be fighting it out with our other new signing (as well as Almiron) Donny Van De Beek. He joined from Ajax for £11.75m and I hope to see him develop. If I am being honest I forgot I had Almiron so somehow have ended up with 3 good AMCs even if Almiron was **** last year. View attachment 13187
I brought in 2 teenagers to strengthen my U23s but they will never feature for the 1st team but one who I hope to see in the future is Thiago Almada who joined from Velez Sarsfield for £2.5m. The wonderkid however didn't get a work permit so I have had to loan him out. View attachment 13186
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FIRST TEAM SQUAD
So its all change. In addition to my signings I called up Dale Furness up from the youth team while Jacob Murphy is in the squad after being out on loan. In defence Tierney will be my LB while McKenna will battle it out with Schar at CB.
On the LW I will start with Alphonso Davies (who has a release clause of £23m - I will have to get that sorted) while in AMC it is a toss up between Almiron, Van De Beek and Kovalenko.
Also in CM I have choices to make. Longstaff will keep his place but alongside him could be Shelvey, Tonali, Van De Beek and even Almiron plus there is Oihan Sancet in the squad too...….
Finally up front Pellegri will get the nod at the start but Lincoln will always be pushing him.
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