A mixed bag of results there mate!! Nice to see we are still standing well in the league though!! Funny old signings in Taylor and Babel! Hopefully they produce!
 
January - Part Three

Everton was the epitome of a bore draw and there is not much else to tell, both teams are fighting at the top end of the table and neither really wanted to lose, the only positive I could pull from this was the very sturdy defensive display against a Romelu Lukaku in from. Sadly our fairy-tale cup run came to an end against a good Liverpool side, thankfully we gave a good account of ourselves in both legs and I am very proud of the club for making its first Semi Final appearance in a domestic cup since the FA Cup during the 2003/04 campaign.



League Table

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Things are extremely tight in the league and we are still in touching distance of fourth place. We have now reached the 31st January and I do not feel the signings Steve has made have been adequate, I will now be retreating back to my office with a **** off big take away and will be making calls and enquiries for the next 24 hours.




 
Typical that the wally with the brolly can't understand that you need a striker despite you giving him **** about it. Not sure Babel will be an inspired signing. Good luck I am following :)
 
A mixed bag of results there mate!! Nice to see we are still standing well in the league though!! Funny old signings in Taylor and Babel! Hopefully they produce!

Yeah, same old Newcastle though I suppose. I would still be happy with a top 8 finish, something to build on for next season. I Know, I think Taylor will be a solid signing but Babel?? very odd!

Typical that the wally with the brolly can't understand that you need a striker despite you giving him **** about it. Not sure Babel will be an inspired signing. Good luck I am following :)

I know, the man is stubborn! I don't trust that Babel will do the job, we've worked through the night and I am just about to confirm my deadline day signing. Thanks for the follow :)
 
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Raul Jiminez To Have Medical With Newcastle

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Atletico Madrid forward Raul Jimenez has passed a medical with Newcastle United and is thought to be signing for the North-East club for a fee in the region of £4.2 Million.

Jiminez had only signed for Atletico six months ago but after a lack of starts he had become increasingly disillusioned at the Spanish club and requested a move away.

Newcastle manager Steve McClaren will be hoping that Jimenez can hit the ground running with his club struggling for any goal scoring form this season.




 
February

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I really wanted us to kick on In February after another in consistent month in January, I was also keen to see how our new signing Raul Jimenez would get on, especially as this was a player brought to the club on my fruition, I spoke with Steve and made it absolutely clear that I wanted Raul to play a big part in our team, to which he actually responded pretty well.


Results


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What a début from our new man Jimenez, he scored just 13 minutes into his début as well as going on to win Man of the Match. It was an even game but one we deserved to win thanks to our far superior finishing on the day, something we can’t say too often. Our next game against the Gunners was a hard fought contest and one I was happy with, especially as Raul got his second goal in as many games, rescuing the point for us. I visited the game against Villa and the atmosphere was rocking, there was definitely a sense of excitement at St James’ Park, especially when Jimenez got his third in three games, he has swiftly becoming a fans favourite with the Geordie faithful. Both results against Burnley and Stoke put a dampener on what could have been a great month for us. Speaking with Steve at the end of the month, he seemed confident that our new signings had all settled very well and the team was looking strong, despite the two defeats.


League Table

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March



A win, loss and a draw, not exactly setting the world alight but this has pretty much been the case since day one. The results were satisfactory and in general acceptable. I do feel like some big changes need to be made for next season, I am not really happy with the way we have played overall this year and I am growing increasingly frustrated with our lack of consistency.. Is Macca still the man to take the club forward?


League Table


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A diabolical month, some seriously poor performances, one of which was a shock loss in the Tyne-Wear to a Sunderland side who were 2nd from bottom and even relegated after the match, despite the three points. Even our win against relegated and bottom of the table QPR was unconvincing. This was the worst month since I took over the club and I am seeing signs of deterioration in our performances, I will not be bringing Steve in just yet, I set him targets at the beginning of the season and if these are not met then a meeting will be held come season end.


League Table


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Jimenez looks like he could pay dividends! Seems an inspired signing! Looks like Perez has been in some good form too which is promising! Europa league could still possibly be on the cards pending a few good results!! Did you have much luck in the youth intake?
 
April

April was yet another poor month with more mixed results. I will not be looking to dwell too much on our final month, In truth I am glad the season is over so I can look at the improvements I need to make and we can begin the rebuilding process over the summer. I will be looking to have complete overhaul of the squad, with Steve’s input I want to create a new look Newcastle United, one that excites and more importantly wins.


 
Jimenez looks like he could pay dividends! Seems an inspired signing! Looks like Perez has been in some good form too which is promising! Europa league could still possibly be on the cards pending a few good results!! Did you have much luck in the youth intake?

Yeah he hasn't made a bad start and I think for that price he could end up being a great signing. Ayoze had a really decent run near the end of the season, I think the introduction of Jimenez up front helped him develop his game. We did miss out on European football in the end but it will be the minimum aim next season. Unfortunately it was terrible, hence why there was no mention of it, I will be looking to hire new youth coaches and make improvements to the facilities soon.
 
Season Review


Minimum Expectations

League – 8th
Capital One Cup – Quarter-Final
FA Cup – Quarter Final

Finished
League – 8th
Capital One Cup – Semi-Final
FA Cup – 3rd Round



Assessment

I will accept that Steve has met the minimum expectations set by myself and the board at the beginning of the season, despite the poor performance in the FA Cup. I will however be expecting more from him next year and will certainly be expecting to see more consistency overall.



Player Season Stats

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Stand Out Players
Janmaat
Ayoze
Caulker

Under Performers
Vangioni
De Jong



Player of the Season

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A great first season on Tyne-Side for the Dutch wingback, he was ever consistent and not only performed his defensive duties well but he also made a great contribution to our counter attacking play. Unfortunately his performances have attracted the likes of PSG and I am hearing from the some staff members that he is very interested in a possible move. I am not in the game of letting our best players leave but keeping players isn’t always possible when you don’t have European football to offer.



 
Gents,

I have posted this question on the tech section but I wondered if anyone following might be of help.

As some may be aware I have unfortunately lost several saves that I have been writing up thanks to my ****** laptop, I have had enough and decided I will be buying a new one this weekend.
I used to consider myself very tech savvy but in the last few years I have lost touch, between Intel and AMD, different generations of processes and graphic card options, I know longer have a clue.

My main criteria is a Laptop that will not be old technology in 6 months, I want to be able to load 10 countries with a large DB without fuss. I preferably want DirectX12 and minimum Intel i5 or AMD 8 processor.

I don't really know what to do for the best and any help/advice would be appreciated.

Cheers chaps!
 
Facilities Upgrade



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After much deliberation, myself and the board decided it was vital that we invest into our youth and training facilities. The last thing I would want is for our club to take a backwards step compared to our competitors and these are the vital foundations to the improvement and development of our squad and future youth prospects.


 
Summer Transfer Window - Sales

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It is now the middle of July and between myself, Steve and our scouting team, we have been extremely busy. As I previously mentioned I wanted a complete overhaul of the squad and as a result there have been a lot of players come and go. Between myself and the manager we have made the decision to allow 12 'first team' players leave this window and a majority of them have been sales. Some of these decisions were the managers but I have highlighted the ones that I instigated myself.


Manager Agreed Sales


Daryl Janmaat – PSG - £17.5m
Emmanuel Riviere – AS Saint-Ettiene – £6.5m
Steven Taylor – Blackburn - £800k
Shane Ferguson – Aston Villa - £550k
Kevin Mbabu – Zunich - £230k
Ryan Taylor - Released
Mark Williamson - Released
Jonas Guiterrez - Released


My Agreed Sales

Vurnon Anita - PSV - £12m
Papis Cisse - Montpellier - £5m
Siem De Jong – Celtic - £4m
Sylvain Marveaux – FC Metz – £3.5m


Total Value - £50.08m


 
Massive squad over haul there mate!! Look forward to seeing who comes in! Mr McLaren sent any of the youngsters such as Aarons and Armstrong out on loan?
 
Summer Transfer Window - Players In

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Pirmin Schwegler – Hoffenheim - £5.25m
Daniel Amartey –
FC Kobenhavn - £5.25m
Eder Balanta –
River - £4.2m
Kasper Kusk –
FC Twente - £3m
Oriol Romeu –
Chelsea - £2.9m
Bruno Zucilini –
Man City - £2.2m
Andre Wisdom –
Liverpool – £2.1m
Joe Gomez –
Charlton - £1.2m
Eduardo Vargas –
Napoli - £1.2m
Vasilis Torosidis –
Roma - £950k
Tiago Ilori –
Liverpool – Loan

Zach Clough –
Bolton - £4m (MB)


Total Spent - £22.75m


All of the players brought in were Steve’s choices, I wanted to stand by him and back his decisions 100%. The only player I negotiated the purchase of myself was Zack Clough, he is a young English forward with a big future so I was keen to bring him in. On first glace I am very happy with the business we have done this window, bringing in the likes of Balanta and Oriel for such small fees represent a good deal financially and it’s great to see young English players like Wisdom and Gomez join the club. I am slightly worried about the signing of Torosidis as I am not sure he is good enough and I am even more concerned about the fact we now have 6 defensive midfielders, 4 of which have come in during this window. I guess only time will tell if this has been a successful window.


 
Massive squad over haul there mate!! Look forward to seeing who comes in! Mr McLaren sent any of the youngsters such as Aarons and Armstrong out on loan?

I know, the squad needed it to be honest, so much overpaid deadwood in the team. Yeah we have sent a few out to our new feeder club :) will update shortly.
 
Loans & New Feeder Club

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I am also pleased to announce that Newcastle United are now working with Bradford City as an affiliated feeder club. I felt it was a good club for some of our youth prospects to get some important first team experience, despite their financial problems they are still a big club for the lower leagues. We instantly agreed to send 4 players out to them for the season along with Lascelles and Woodman going out to Villa and Barnet respectively.


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Pre-Season Friendlies

Friendlies

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Considering there was a lot of players coming in and out of the squad during our pre-season I was delighted to see that we maintained a 100% winning record throughout the six friendlies organised. Several players seem to have settled very well and after speaking with Steve, I am feeling very optimistic about the season ahead, he feels he has the right tools at his disposal to now go on and push for a top six finish.


 
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