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

[Klippybo]

END OF SEASON REVIEW

Or is it the end of the season? lol. God knows but I will rock with it just now and do a separate post for the Club World Cup.

Anywho we knocked it out of the park this season as we won the league by 20pts and were undefeated in doing so scoring 114 goals in the process. We were insane. We are currently on a 19 game win streak and tbh are in the best form since I took over.

The one disappointment to the season was the Carabao Cup as we lost in the quarter-finals to struggling Chelsea despite taking a 2 goal lead. Other than that we won the FA Cup against Arsenal in an ugly final with Palacios getting the only goal.

Once again we triumphed in the Champions League for the 3rd successive time. Some of our best performances were made here including 7-0 thrashings of Dortmund and Juventus as well as a 5-0 win over Real Madrid. The final however was a bore but we edged out Man United on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

--

FINAL LEAGUE TABLE

Chelsea go down!!!!!!!!!! Huddersfield beat Man City on the final day and Chelsea could only draw with Forest so they are amazingly relegated. Leicester and Everton have been relegated in my save already but this is a huge shock.

Liverpool sacked Pep Guardiola and Spurs sacked Antonio Conte at the end of the season.

--

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

Goalkeepers - Both were excellent. Donnarumma was my keeper for the league and my favoured choice but Michel Costa was my cup keeper and he still managed to get a healthy 24 apps. Never rotated my keepers before but with 2 high quality keepers in my squad I had too.

Defenders - No complaints here! Aarons and Briggs were excellent on the right while Chilwell and Renan Lodi were the same on the left. In the middle both Cesar Montes and Ibraimo Varela had magnificent seasons with Varela developing into a world beater. Ljubicic and Godfrey covered well while there was even an appearance or two for Mark Enver who came in this years youth intake.

Midfielders - What can you say about Sandro Tonali? He is a beast!!! Once again he was immense and with an overall rating of 7.85 he would normally be my player of the year. His partner Palacios also had a storming season - IF ONLY THEY COULD BLODDY SCORE MORE!!!! Sean Longstaff got plenty of games and did well as did Jude Bellingham although I would like to play him more. Iliax Moriba was ok but maybe a body extra.

Dani Olmo at AMC was rubbish. He didn't get into double figures for goals and barely did so with assists. In fact his backup - Hannibal Mejbri - produced more for us. Sancho and Fati as ever had a ding dong battle for the LW spot with Fati just edging it and that leaves me with the insane Kylian Mbappe who was ridiculous and once again netted 30 goals from the RW and got a rating of 8.01. Karamoko Dembele had a quiet year.

Forwards - For once two players shone here. Fabio Silva as usual was the main goal getter and he finished up with 34 goals in total but he was pushed all the way by Yves Parent who scored 22 goals in 21 starts (scored a few as sub though lol) and finally I have a backup striker who can stay a while! Lee Alcock scored once and didn't really do much although his value rocketed up!

I should point out that I don't know if the Club World Cup stats will be added on to this season or next lol.

My Player of the Year - Kylian Mbappe
My Young Player of the Year - Ibraimo Varela (just ahead of Yves Parent)
Must Do Better - Dani Olmo
Donkey of the Year - Iliax Moriba

--

PLANS FOR THE SUMMER

To change or not to change? To start the group or to not to start the group. Transfer wise I have a few regens coming in and have a couple of players I may move on but I don't know. As ever the U23s will be getting a cull of loan players for big profit.

--

UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 1

Lineup - Robby McCrorie, Paterson, McKenna, Souttar, Tierney, Turnbull (Gilmour), McGinn, Fraser*, McPake (Henderson), Morgan, Munro (McBurnie)

9 games in charge of Scotland and 9 wins and in those 9 games we have scored 5 goals 4 times and we have Andorra up next lol. Billy Gilmour and Ewan Henderson came off the bench to make their international debuts.

--

UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 1

Lineup - Robby McCrorie, Paterson, McKenna, Souttar, Tierney, Turnbull, Farrell, Burke, McPake, Johnston, Munro*

I expected a big win but I didn't expect double figures! Munro scored 4, Farrell assisted 4 and both David Turnbull and Josh McPake netted doubles.​

 

[anej]

View attachment 483467

NEW STORY IDEA
(In this save)

Thinking of spicing it up a bit and thought of having a "group" like Man City have and Red Bull have etc. My thoughts would be to take over as manager of a club in a different country, manage them during the transfer windows (buy and sell players) and then go on holiday. Could maybe add one new manager/club every 2 or 3 seasons once I get one established.

Two thoughts of picking clubs - you my dear readers suggest a club(s) with reasons why. Even come up with a list of clubs which you think would link up well with Newcastle (Newcastle Jets in Australia being an obvious one lol) or just some clubs that you would like sporadic updates on.

Alternatively I could make it game realistic and just add a manager in one of my affiliated clubs already. At the moment my linked clubs which are not in England are......….

APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Estudiantes LP (Argentina)
Cork City (Republic of Ireland)
Philadelphia Union (USA)
IFK Gothenburg (Sweden)
Racing Santander (Spain)
Sporting Cristal (Peru)

Let me know what or who you think and please let me have some ideas. I would have to add the leagues before the season ends so hopefully we will get some ideas in time today but if not I could add it next season.​

View attachment 483467

NEW STORY IDEA
(In this save)

Thinking of spicing it up a bit and thought of having a "group" like Man City have and Red Bull have etc. My thoughts would be to take over as manager of a club in a different country, manage them during the transfer windows (buy and sell players) and then go on holiday. Could maybe add one new manager/club every 2 or 3 seasons once I get one established.

Two thoughts of picking clubs - you my dear readers suggest a club(s) with reasons why. Even come up with a list of clubs which you think would link up well with Newcastle (Newcastle Jets in Australia being an obvious one lol) or just some clubs that you would like sporadic updates on.

Alternatively I could make it game realistic and just add a manager in one of my affiliated clubs already. At the moment my linked clubs which are not in England are......….

APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Estudiantes LP (Argentina)
Cork City (Republic of Ireland)
Philadelphia Union (USA)
IFK Gothenburg (Sweden)
Racing Santander (Spain)
Sporting Cristal (Peru)

Let me know what or who you think and please let me have some ideas. I would have to add the leagues before the season ends so hopefully we will get some ideas in time today but if not I could add it next season.​

Personally I would prefer that such ideas are used in a new save instead if this one

 

[Klippybo]

FIFA Club World Cup

Group G

Lineup - Michel Costa, Briggs, Ljubicic, Godfrey, Chilwell, Moriba, Bellingham, Dembele, Olmo*, Mbappe (Alcock), Parent

Not a bad way to kick off our tournament. The stats are added onto the current season it seems so Dani Olmo with his hat-trick has reached double figures for goals. Moriba got his first of the season also. Our group games are being held at Ibrox.

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes, Varela, Renan Lodi (Chilwell), Tonali, Palacios, Mbappe, Mejbri, Sancho (Bellingham), Silva (Parent)

For some reason half of the players who didn't play against Sundowns weren't fit enough to play here lol. I had to make do and despite falling behind in the 2nd minute we fought back and Jude Bellingham's late winner secures our place into the next stage.

--

Quarter-Final

Lineup - Michel Costa, Briggs, Ljubicic, Godfrey, Chilwell, Longstaff (Moriba), Bellingham, Dembele, Olmo, Parent*, Silva (Alcock)

This should have been far more comfortable but River scored with all 3 shots on goal that they had. The new season has started so the stats are split which is annoying.

--

Semi-Final

Lineup - Michel Costa, Aarons, Ljubicic, Varela, Renan Lodi, Longstaff, Palacios (Moriba), Mbappe*, Mejbri, Sancho, Silva (Alcock)

We thump Man City here to reach the final where we will play Man Utd. Mbappe scored with an individual effort, Longstaff blasted in from the edge of the area and Sancho nodded home the 3rd. Mbappe then rounded things off.

--

Final

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Godfrey (Ljubicic), Varela, Chilwell, Tonali, Palacios, Dembele, Olmo (Bellingham), Mbappe*, Silva (Parent)

Champions of the world!!!!

We have been excellent in this tournament and Man Utd had no answer to us here as we put 4 past them. Mbappe got a double, we got a fortunate own goal and Parent smacked in the 4th.



​

 

[Sam91]

Blimey Chelsea went down!! How comes things have gone so wrong for them? They never seem to do well in FM but relegation is mental

 

[Brane_Orsou]

I often have a second manager in my saves after i've been with one team for a number of seasons. I've found it helps to prevent the save getting stale. If you are doing the "Newcastle link" then the Jets are the obv one. However from your list of feeder clubs I'd go with IFK don't know why, just would.

Great work on the save as always, that 7-0 win over Juve was something!

 

[JamesScott2908]

Once again an absolutely class season! Buzzing you finally got in the club world cup and got the win too mate!

I would quite like to see the like with Newcastle Jets, Ive managed them once and it was a good save!

 

[Klippybo]

I often have a second manager in my saves after i've been with one team for a number of seasons. I've found it helps to prevent the save getting stale. If you are doing the "Newcastle link" then the Jets are the obv one. However from your list of feeder clubs I'd go with IFK don't know why, just would.

Great work on the save as always, that 7-0 win over Juve was something!

Cheers - my link with IFK got cancelled in the summer. I admit I went Aberdeen as they sacked their manager and were in dire straits and adding the Scotland league would give me more players for the national team but I have been them before and will resign once I have signed a couple of players. Might make a reader pick a club. Dunno.

Once again an absolutely class season! Buzzing you finally got in the club world cup and got the win too mate!

I would quite like to see the like with Newcastle Jets, Ive managed them once and it was a good save!

The Club World Cup was an experience although I wasnt helped when Montes got called up by Mexico!

 

[davke1904]

Everything is going very well but when we get beat we get thumped. My defence is a big worry. St. Max has been unbelievable!!!



Cheers. Not much happening in January tbh. Will amend the previous post in a minute to update everything.



4-2-3-1 attacking with tiki-taka and a couple of minor changes lol

Can you share a bit more of you're tactic. Also managing Newcastle but can't find a good one. Always get sacked by new year. Need one with wingers because I don't wanna sell maximin and I have also Olmo as Am. Need a good 4231 just like you use.

Thx in advance

 

[Klippybo]

PRE-SEASON POST

So what do you do with a squad that was unbeaten in the league, won the FA Cup, both minor cups plus win the Champions League and World Club Cup? Spend over £200m on it that's what! lol. Tbh the £200m was spent on 3 players in a case of 1 out 1 in and I recouped over £130m on their predecessors plus overall I recouped over £300m so all is good and if anything we are much stronger although I have loaned out a shed load of reserve players again so therefor went on a bit of a spending spree on deadline day to baulk up the minor squads.

As said before I went manager of Aberdeen but quickly regretted it (not going another manager - just the wrong club - too invested in Aberdeen lol) so I quickly resigned and have moved to cancel the Scottish leagues and want to go abroad in the future with manager no. 2. I did sign a player from Aberdeen (Connor Barron) and loaned him back to help them financially and obviously I will have more Scottish players available which will help but only for a season I fear when the league disappears again - heres hoping the 2 or 3 good regen players that have appeared move away from Scotland.

Anywho - in other news the board refused me a new stadium which was mind boggling but not devastating so it is on to the transfers......

--

PLAYERS OUT

Quite a clear out and I will be honest, going into the summer I thought I would recoup half that! The Club World Cup saved Dani Olmo as his 4 goals and overall performance persuaded me to keep him and I had my eye on an AMC so I thought I would let Hannibal Mejbri go which I may regret lol. Mejbri was excellent for me and with 106 apps and 17 goals (62 sub appearances) and over 30 assists he more than repaid the paltry £4.5m I spent to bring him here.

Ilaix Moriba moved on after a season and to recoup £47m for a player signed on a free a year ago is certainly something. He is a great player but once again I had my eye on somebody else lol.

I was a big fan of Renan Lodi but his contract was due to expire. A few months back he wasn't interested in negotiating due to interest from Chinese clubs and then when he was interested he wanted to be a key player so off he went.

I signed Arthur Zagre and Willem Geubbels on pre-contract deals and offloaded them immediately for nearly £50m which astonished me. I had agreed to sign them on pre-contracts and I expected them to be loaned out before being sold but they accepted the moves straight away which was a bonus.

Gwenael Brunard was signed for £150,000, loaned out a couple of times and sold for £37m. He is a great young player but my ethos is to cash in when the time is right and with his contract due to expire at the end of the season the time was now. Barry Morgan was signed for £400,000 and sold for £20m, Brian McGrath was signed for £3.5m and sold for up to £20m while Cambronero, Barry, Bartosch and Black were all sold for much more than I paid for them.

I couldn't find a place in my squad for Manolo Hernandez frustratingly so he is loaned out again for a £2.5m fee while Locatelli was loaned out to get regular football but will no doubt be sold in the summer. Everyone else was loaned out to get their values up although I have hopes for a couple of them.

Regarding cashing in when the times is right - I sometimes get it wrong. Sure enough I got £40m for an average youth recruit (was available for £5m in the summer lol) but one player I released, Andy Fenton, joined Huddersfield and has just been sold for over £20m!!!!! What gets me is he is still ****!!!!!!!!!

--

PLAYERS IN

Now I am not going to go through all these are most have been bought for development and have already been loaned out anyway!

My biggest signing was that of Ruben Torre from Atletico Madrid for £80m. With Renan Lodi going I needed a new left back and he stood out with his pace and passing abilities being world class. He has 1 cap for Spain and at 22y/o can still improve greatly so he will start the season ahead of Ben Chilwell.

I finally relented and signed Phil Foden from Man City for £61m. It was meant to be in place of Olmo but the Club World Cup changed that lol. I could of got Joao Felix for the same price but with Foden being English that swung it.

On deadline day I signed several youngsters but also my final signing for the first team in Rui Pereira from Benfica for £60m. I have had my eye on him for a while and decided the time was right to make a move. Longstaff isn't really up to the world class standards that my squad possess now so he will be taking a step back. If Pereira develops as quickly as his fellow Portuguese player Varela has I will have some player!

Finally I had arranged a signing on a pre-contract from Mexico to loan him out and sell him on for a decent fee. Hector Solorzano came in and looks a decent player but I was astounded that upon signing he was valued at £42.5m!!!!!!!

--

SQUAD REVIEW

A few changes. The keeper situation will remain the same with the only change in the defence being Torre will be my new left back. Longstaff is demoted to 5th choice CM and I will have to decide between Rui Pereira and Bellingham to see who is 3rd/4th choice.

With Fati and Sancho continually changing due to form or injury I am intending to rotate both my AMC (Olmo, Foden) and ST (Silva, Parent) on the same basis. No more guarantees there. Silva is probably just behind Parent in terms of ability but he has scored so much already I cant bear to sell him or not have him feature regularly lol.
​

 

[TheMaestro]

The squad just keeps getting better! Amazing story and can't wait to see what kind of records you can set this season. Best of luck!

 

[anej]

Why didn't you sell Longstaff? Personally I try to never keep a senior player around when lower then 4th choice (now speaking of '2-spot' scenarios, for example when you play with 2 DC's, 2 MC's, or you have players who play equally well in two separate positions, for example both wings).
In other words, personally I try to keep the senior squad (the players on rather high wages) pretty low, ideally as low as 16 outfield players plus 2 GK's. And my aim is that all further squad players/backups are young players on low wages. Some times my number of players on rather high wages are even lower than this, if I have some players on cheap youth contracts who are actually good enough to be first team regulars.

So I try to spend my wage budget on quality rather than quantity. Spending very selectively. Won't mind paying 400k a week or more on some elite player if I can afford it and he makes a difference.

Generally speaking, my aim is to have as few as 15 outfield players + 1 GK as elite players who are on crazy wages if necessary (for your level, depending on what you can afford etc.). Whereas the rest are players on mediocre to low wages; a few senior squad players on mediocre wages at most, plus youths on low wages.

I guess you don't have to think like this at this point in any case, since you must be having hundreds of millions lying around in the bank account

By the way, one last detail. In a 2 spot scenario, like this one where one uses 2 MC's, I try to have three elite MC's, 4th choice on mediocre wages, the rest being youth prospects.

Although I guess that an argument can be made for your tendency towards more players on high wages, because you play in a crazy amount of tournaments. This is not a normal situation. I imagine you must be playing 70 senior matches a season or something.

Great story by the way. I am a semi-Sunderland fan although living in Norway. Have been to the Stadium of Light a few times. I want Newcastle and to be successful as well though, I really like the North East in general. Great people there.

I guess it will never happen, but if possible please consider doing a Sunderland story at some point in the future. In any case, thanks for all your great stories so far.

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Great work again in the transfer market! Improving the squad and making £90 million in the process! ????

 

[Klippybo]

Why didn't you sell Longstaff? Personally I try to never keep a senior player around when lower then 4th choice (now speaking of '2-spot' scenarios, for example when you play with 2 DC's, 2 MC's, or you have players who play equally well in two separate positions, for example both wings).
In other words, personally I try to keep the senior squad (the players on rather high wages) pretty low, ideally as low as 16 outfield players plus 2 GK's. And my aim is that all further squad players/backups are young players on low wages. Some times my number of players on rather high wages are even lower than this, if I have some players on cheap youth contracts who are actually good enough to be first team regulars.

So I try to spend my wage budget on quality rather than quantity. Spending very selectively. Won't mind paying 400k a week or more on some elite player if I can afford it and he makes a difference.

Generally speaking, my aim is to have as few as 15 outfield players + 1 GK as elite players who are on crazy wages if necessary (for your level, depending on what you can afford etc.). Whereas the rest are players on mediocre to low wages; a few senior squad players on mediocre wages at most, plus youths on low wages.

I guess you don't have to think like this at this point in any case, since you must be having hundreds of millions lying around in the bank account

By the way, one last detail. In a 2 spot scenario, like this one where one uses 2 MC's, I try to have three elite MC's, 4th choice on mediocre wages, the rest being youth prospects.

Although I guess that an argument can be made for your tendency towards more players on high wages, because you play in a crazy amount of tournaments. This is not a normal situation. I imagine you must be playing 70 senior matches a season or something.

Great story by the way. I am a semi-Sunderland fan although living in Norway. Have been to the Stadium of Light a few times. I want Newcastle and to be successful as well though, I really like the North East in general. Great people there.

I guess it will never happen, but if possible please consider doing a Sunderland story at some point in the future. In any case, thanks for all your great stories so far.

Thanks for your post - always like to see other peoples opinions! The main reason for keeping Longstaff is because he is home grown by the club. I have 5 (Longstaff, Briggs, Ljubicic, Silva, Dembele) but also due to the fact I have loaned almost all of my U23 squad I need him as backup just in case. Also he is the only player who was at the club before me so that is another reason to keep him around. He actually did really well last season too tbh.

I get youre reasoning though however like you say I don't need to pay too much attention to the wage budget. That being said I have turned down the chance to sign a few youngsters because they want £50k plus in wages. I also never put on yearly increases and never any sell on percentages.

I do recoup a lot of money on loan deals and always insist that the loaning club pays 100% of the wages.

As for being manager of Sunderland - not going to happen lol.

I will probably do another story when the winter update appears. Had my eyes on Dinamo Zagreb but them selling Dani Olmo disappointed me a bit lol. We shall see. Still going to carry on here though!

 

[Klippybo]

Aaron Hughes
1996-2005
Defender
278 apps, 7 goals

Not many 18y/o players make their debuts away to Barcelona at the Nou Camp but Aaron Hughes did. A versatile defender, Hughes won 112 caps for Northern Ireland (scoring once) and was sold to Aston Villa for £1m. He ended up playing for Fulham in the Europa League final.

--

AUGUST

FA Community Shield

Lineup - Michel Costa, Aarons, Montes, Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios (Bellingham), Mbappe*, Olmo (Foden), Fati (Sancho), Silva

We kick-start our season (forgetting the Club World Cup) with a fine win. Mbappe got a double and Foden and Torre got their debuts with Torre claiming an assist for the first goal.

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes (Godfrey), Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios (Pereira), Mbappe, Olmo, Sancho (Fati), Silva*

Were back!!!! Story for you. Last season on the opening day we beat Huddersfield 6-1 and they had a new defender playing for them making his debut. Fast forward 1 season and we beat Bristol City 6-1 and they had a new defender playing for them making his debut. His name is Andy Fenton and he was the debutant in both games. We released him to Huddersfield and Bristol City signed him for over £20m!!!! (See previous post).

Anywho - we continued our end of season form and smashed in 6 goals - Mbappe got a double and Silva grabbed a hat-trick.

--

UEFA European Super Cup

Lineup - Michel Costa, Aarons (Briggs), Godfrey, Varela, Chilwell, Bellingham (Longstaff), Pereira, Mbappe (Dembele), Foden*, Fati, Parent (Alcock)

I took a bit of a risk here and fielded a weakened side and we got away with it. This was a weird match. We controlled the game for 90min despite not playing well. Foden got his first goal and all was set but they levelled in stoppage time. We got a fluke goal in extra-time but they immediately levelled and then in the last minute of extra-time Sean Longstaff scored a screamer from the aedge of the area to give us the trophy.

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes*, Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios, Mbappe, Olmo (Foden), Sancho (Fati), Silva (Parent)

Southampton are a decent side with some good players and we struggled against them here. We got the breakthrough when Montes headed in a Foden free-kick.

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes, Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios (Pereira), Mbappe, Olmo, Sancho (Dembele), Silva*

Another 2 goals for Silva while Jadon Sancho gets off the mark for the season. We really have just continued from our end of season form from last term.

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes, Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios, Mbappe (Dembele), Olmo (Bellingham), Fati (Parent), Silva*

Its fair to say that Fabio Silva has started the season on fire!

--

SUMMARY

We have made a great start to the season. Two trophies won and a 100% record in the league including a 6-1 win over Bristol City in the league on the opening day. I cant complain!

We have also been given a very favourable draw in the Champions League as we have been drawn alongside AC Milan, Young Boys and FC Kobenhavn - my backups will have a good few games there no doubt.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
FABIO SILVA

--

PREMIER LEAGUE

Manager Moves

Allegri is the new manager of Liverpool
Spurs appoint Marcelino as their new manager

Transfers

​

 

[MrTini23]

Absolute domination here!

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Awww poor Andy Fenton! haahaa

 

[Klippybo]

Can you share a bit more of you're tactic. Also managing Newcastle but can't find a good one. Always get sacked by new year. Need one with wingers because I don't wanna sell maximin and I have also Olmo as Am. Need a good 4231 just like you use.

Thx in advance

Here you go. I change my player roles to suit the starting player so if it was Longstaff playing he would be a box to box midfielder. Having said that I do prefer to have ball playing CBs and an attacking forward.

 

[Klippybo]

Stewart Barrowclough
1970-78
Midfielder
274 apps, 24 goals

Signed from Barnsley, Barrowclough was a winger who was part of the side that came runners-up to Man City in the League Cup in 1976. He left the club to play for Birmingham City.

--

SEPTEMBER

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons (Briggs), Montes, Varela, Torre*, Tonali, Pereira, Dembele, Olmo (Longstaff), Fati, Silva

Excellent. Despite missing a few players we went out and destroyed Brighton. I hope this double means that Ruben Torre is a goalscoring full back!!! Pereira came in and was excellent which made me realise that Portugal must have some team even if you just take my 3 players (Varela, Pereira, Silva).

--

UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Michel Costa, Briggs, Ljubicic, Godfrey, Chilwell, Bellingham, Pereira, Dembele, Foden (Longstaff), Sancho (Alcock), Parent*

Out came the backups and we won. I expected a larger winning margin but you cant have everything lol.

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes, Varela, Torre (Chilwell), Tonali, Palacios, Mbappe*, Olmo (Foden), Fati (Sancho), Silva

--

Carabao Cup 3rd Round

Lineup - Michel Costa, Aarons, Ljubicic, Godfrey, Chilwell, Bellingham (Longstaff), Pereira, Dembele, Foden, Sancho (Alcock), Parent

I actually think that my backups would be good enough to win the league and they showed how good they are here. Ben Chilwell never scores but he has 2 in 2 now!

--

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Godfrey, Varela, Torre*, Tonali, Palacios, Mbappe, Olmo (Foden), Sancho (Fati), SIlva (Parent)

My left backs cant seem to stop scoring!!!!! Crazy.

--

UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Michel Costa, Aarons, Godfrey, Varela, Chilwell, Tonali (Longstaff), Pereira, Mbappe*, Foden (Bellingham), Fati, Parent (Alcock)

Despite this being our hardest fixture of the group stage on paper I decided to freshen my team up a bit and played Foden, Parent, Pereira and Chilwell. In the end we won very comfortably athough they had a goal disallowed at 2-0.

--

SUMMARY

We continued our strong start to the season here and won every match to open up a 2pt lead at the top of the table. We have had a very kind fixture list in truth which would normally be a worry except for the fact that we went unbeaten in the league last year and fear nobody. In the Carabao Cup we beat Bournemouth despite playing my backups and we will play Crystal Palace in the next round.

The best performance of the month came against AC Milan as we went to the San Siro and thrashed them 4-0 to take charge of the group.

I have to mention Ruben Torre and Ben Chilwell. My 2 left-backs scored an incredible 5 goals this month between them which is just insane. Fair enough Ruben Torre as an unknown quantity but for Chilwell to grab 2 in a month is unheard of!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
RUBEN TORRE

--

PREMIER LEAGUE

--

UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 1

Lineup - Irvine, Paterson, Caldwell, Souttar, Tierney, Turnbull, McTominay, Kennedy, McPake, Morgan, Munro*

With me adding the Scottish leagues I have more Scottish players and Irvine, Caldwell (a great looking player) and Kennedy made their debuts here.

--

UEFA World Cup Qualififers Group 1

Lineup - Irvine, Paterson (Ralston), Caldwell, Souttar, Tierney (Robertson), J.McGinn, Farrell, Kennedy, McPake, G.McGinn, Munro (Aitken)

Meh. My first defeat as Scotland manager but we beat them 2-0 so we still hold the advantage. Graeme McGinn and Colin Aitken made their debuts.​

 

[JamesScott2908]

Torre with 12 finishing for a LB! I've got a save at the minute with Breidablik in Iceland (Iceland is fun league to manage if you ever get bored!) and my best striker only has 12 finishing, I'm pretty sure all the key attributes for my striker are worse than Torre the LB HA!

 

[Klippybo]

Jimmy Scoular
1953-61
Midfielder
273 apps, 6 goals

Scoular was signed from Portsmouth for £26,000 where he had already won his 9 caps for Scotland. Appointed captain upon his arrival he ended up captaining the side to victory in the 1955 FA Cup final.

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OCTOBER

Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons (Ljubicic), Godfrey, Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios, Mbappe* (Fati), Olmo, Sancho, Silva (Alcock)

Seventh heaven!!! We were tremendous in this match and Silva even had a goal disallowed. Mbappe scored 4 to get back-to-back hat-tricks and even went off injured after an hour with a fractured toe. He is out for 3 weeks but the international break is upcoming.

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Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes (Godfrey), Varela, Torre, Tonali, Palacios, Dembele, Olmo*, Sancho (Fati), Silva (Parent)

A Dani Olmo double got us the win here. Silva has now gone 3 league games without scoring - Parent will start the next league match.

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UEFA Champions league Group E

Lineup - Michel Costa, Briggs (Astudillo), Ljubicic, Godfrey, Chilwell, Bellingham (Longstaff), Pereira, Dembele, Foden*, Fati, Parent (Alcock)

Fabian Astudillo came off the bench to make his debut here. I kinda expected a bigger winning margin but hey ho.

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Lineup - Donnarumma, Aarons, Montes (Godfrey), Varela, Torre*, Tonali, Palacios, Dembele, Olmo (Pereira), Fati (Bellingham), Parent

This win means we have went 50 games unbeaten in the Premier League. Bellingham even had a late goal disallowed.

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Carabao Cup 4th Round

Lineup - Michel Costa, Briggs, Ljubicic, Godfrey, Chilwell, Bellingham, Pereira, Dembele, Foden*, Fati, Parent (Alcock)

Palace are in the Championship so they got to meet my backups and they were beaten accordingly lol.

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SUMMARY

5 games, 5 wins, 5 clean sheets. Mustnt grumble! From the 7-0 thumping of Brentford to my backups coming into the team and winning 3-0 we were dominant this month and have extended our lead to 4pts in the league where we are 50 games undefeated. We do have harder fixtures coming up but I am increasingly confident - cue a poor run of form lol.

By the way - remember I went Aberdeen, signed some players and then resigned? They are top lol.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
PHIL FODEN

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PREMIER LEAGUE

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UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 1

Lineup - Irvine, Paterson, Ross McCrorie, Souttar, Tierney (Robertson), McGinn, McTominay (Farrell), Burke, McPake, Morgan*, Munro (Aitken)

I just realised after this game that teams that finish on level points are decided on goal difference. We are now 2nd in the group for the 1st time after Holland's 12-0 win away to Andorra. There is a difference of 6 goals between us but we still have Andorra to play.

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UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 1

Lineup - Irvine, Ralston, McKenna, Souttar, Robertson*, Turnbull, McTominay (Farrell), Burke, Christie, Watson (Evans), Munro (Aitken)

Dont be fooled by the scoreline - we hammered Kosovo here as we had 43 shots to their 7. Harry Evans had a short but sweet debut as he came off the bench, scored the winner and then went off injured. Grant Watson also made his debut here while Holland only beat Iceland 1-0 so the deficit in goal difference is now down to 5.

Elsewhere............

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