FM2012: Newcastle United thread - Triumphing by brave defending.....well maybe!

Tiote says Cheik me out and welcome to the Newcastle United team thread for Football Manager 2012!

AKA: What we gonna Pardew now Mike?

Right welcome folks to the Newcastle United thread for this years FM. This is my first stab at creating one of these, so please be gentle! Any suggestions or constructive criticism more than welcome. (All info shamelessly cribbed from Wikipedia...I confess)

First a little background

Newcastle United Football Club was formed in 1892 with the merger of two local sides, Newcastle West End and Newcastle East End. At the outset they played in the red shirts and white shorts that were Newcastle East End's home strip but in 1894 they decided to adopt the black and white shirts they're now famous for. The Newcastle away colours have varied down the years and since 1993 the away kit has been changed every season.

The Magpies as they're nicknamed have made their home at St James' Park since they were founded and it is now the oldest and largest football stadium in North East England, and the 6th largest in the UK. Developments toward the end of last century saw the Magpie's nest transformed into a towering structure able to hold 52,339 supporters.

The club's most successful era was prior to WW1 between 1904 and 1910 when they won an FA Cup and three First Division Titles. They added a fourth title in the 1926/7 season as well as a further five FA Cups between 1910 and 1955 and an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969.

During the Sky era Newcastle have led a turbulent and inconsistent existence. Some seasons challenging for Europe and the title, in others flirting with lower reaches and in 2009 were relegated after 16 years in the Premier League. During that period the team did not live up to the city of Newcastle's motto fortiter defendit triumphans (Triumphing by brave defence) and certainly under Kevin Keegan were exponents of the 'best defence is a good offence'

Perhaps this season will be different though...

FM Information

You can push that transfer budget up to £10 million and the wage budget to £825,000 if you're confident, brave or foolhardy enough to promise a title challenge for the season....

EDIT: See posts 2 and 3 for some extra info with the 12.2.0 Update

The Goalkeepers

Steve Harper: 36 year old English keeper, been there, seen it, done it, got the tshirt and probably got Shay Given's tshirt too.

Tim Krul: 23 year old Dutchman, seems to the first choice so far this season in real life. Great in one-on-ones with opposition attackers and has good reflexes.

You also have Ole Soderberg in the squad as a third choice, but I'd probably play him in the reserves and bring the newly signed Rob Elliot in the first team instead.

Should I strengthen?: With Krul and Harper competing for the number 1 jersey and Rob Elliot as a third choice I'd say you're well enough covered. There are other areas of the squad that you should prioritise.

The Fullbacks

Danny Simpson - 24 year old English right back. He has good pace, stamina and work rate, but his concentration and decision making could be better.

Davide Santon - 20 year old Italian full back. Can play both right and left side and in fact the coaches rate him as the best option available at left back. Hopefully he still has the potential he showed when he first broke through at Inter.

Ryan Taylor - 26 year old right back, has good long shots, long throws and free kicks and looks to me like he's been rated slightly higher on FM than his real life form would suggest, however he starts the season injured for up to 7 weeks on the demo.

You also have Kadar, Steven Taylor and Dan Gosling who can cover at full back if necessary.

Should I strengthen? - Definitely, with Jose Enrique's departure to Liverpool and young Shane Ferguson being injured there's no out and out left back in the squad. Also some extra quality on the right wouldn't go amiss either. Carlos Diogo is available on a free transfer and Sime Vrsaljko can be bought for £800,000 to help at right back. At left back your coaches recommend Wayne Bridge as a loan option, but his wages make that impractical. Consider someone like Arthur Boka at Stuttgart or Neil Taylor from Swansea.

Central Defence

Steven Taylor - 25 year old English defender. Big, strong, good tackler, great in the air and with a surprising turn of pace. Just don't expect him to do any fancy passing or to concentrate for the full 90 minutes.

Fabricio Coloccini - 29 year old Argentinian defender and club captain. Probably the star of the Newcastle backline and even better on FM than in real life I think. He has a mjor drawback in that his wages are a whopping £80,000 a week, so it may be tempting to accept decent bids for him if you want to keep your wage budget down.

Mike Williamson - 27 year old English defender. Pretty similar to Taylor, strong, tough tackling and good in the air. Doesn't have the pace that Taylor does to help get out of trouble, but his concentration is better.

Tamas Kadar - 21 year old Hungarian defender. A back up player really, not as effective as the other three, but he can cover at left back which is a useful option till you find yourself a first choice in that position.

Should I strengthen? You could probably use the money elsewhere, though I'd be worried about covering any unlucky injuries. Mental Marco Materazzi and Arne Friedrich are out there as free agents if you want some emergency cover (though Friedrich is recovering from injury so you might have to sign him a little later in season). Liverpool's Danny Wilson is listed for loan.

Central Midfield

Cheick Tiote - 25 year old Ivorian Defensive midfielder. Hard working, aggressive player, his presence in midfield should help screen your defence and free up the more creative players to work their magic. Happily on a long contract as well

Yohann Cabaye - 25 year old French midfielder. A favourite of mine from FM11 signed for a song in real life it seems. Can play as a DM and isn't afraid to put his foot in, but probably best pulling the strings for you from heart of midfield. He's a great passer with a wicked shot, quality player.

Dan Gosling - 21 year old English midfielder. Something of a utility man as he can also play at right back, defensive midfielder, right sided midfielder. Probably a back up player for first season.

There's also Danny Guthrie as a further back up option after he returns from a 2 month injury lay off.

Should I strengthen? I'd say you should consider it, the Newcastle squad isn't the biggest and injury to Tiote or Cabaye could seriously disrupt your season if you don't have cover. Mahamadou Diarra the Malian international is available on a free transfer and would provide quality alternative to Tiote. Another FM11 favourite of mine, Milan Badelj, can be signed from Dinamo from between 3.5 to 4.7 million but you will need a bit of luck on the work permit. He looks to be just as good this time round.

Wingers and Attacking Midfielders

Hatem Ben Arfa - 24 year old French midfielder, tricky, pacy player with some real flair. Newcastle fans didn't see much of him for real last year, but what they did see they liked. Unfortunately he starts the season injured again and could be out for up to 4 months. Could be a real handful for opposition defences in the AMC position, or on either wing.

Sylvain Marveaux - 25 year old French winger. A sport's writers wet dream with that name, just wait for the 'Marveax-less!' headlines when he scores. Best position is at AML, but can also play at AMC, no absolute standout attributes but should be a solid Premier League winger.

Jonas Gutierrez - 28 year old Argentinian winger. Does whatever a spider can. His technical attributes actually seem slightly better on FM12 than last year and he can be highly effective cutting inside as an Inside Forward. Can play on either flank.

Gabriel Obertan - 22 year old French winger. Couldn't quite find his way into the Man Utd team which is no disgrace, he has pace to burn and plenty flair. However his crossing and passing aren't the best. Will most likely be a back up for Ben Arfa, Marveaux and Jonas.

Should I strengthen? You might want to draft in another winger and allow Marveaux to play at AMC, Lovenkrands and Ba are both capable of playing at the AML position if cover is needed there. Siphiwe Tshabalala can be nabbed from South African club Kaizer Chiefs for a bargain £325,000 and has some great attributes at AML.

Strikers

Demba Ba - 26 year old Senegalese striker. Physically he's a bit of a beast, strong, fast and he's brave so not afraid to stick his head where it hurts to get on crosses. Not the most composed of finishers but good player for a free signing. EDIT: As of the update on 7th March 2012, Ba is definitely improved, with far higher composure. Combine this with his very high work rate and he'll be well worth hanging on to now.

Papiss Demba Cisse - 26 year old Senegalese striker. New arrival at Newcastle in the January window in real life, newly added on the 12.2.0 update. Looks like an ideal poacher to play alongside Ba, quick, excellent finish and first touch.

Leon Best - 24 year old Irish striker. Solid striker, no truely outstanding attributes but should be a decent alternative to Ba or a partner to him depending on your tactic.

Shola Ameobi - 29 year old English striker. What can I say...the man, the legend. Strong as an Ox and about as graceful. Probably best played as a traditional target man, and you definitely want him on the pitch for any penalty shootouts. My third choice of the starting strikers.

Peter Lovenkrands - 31 year old Danish Striker and winger. Not quite as pacy as he used to be Lovenkrands can still be a useful impact player from the bench, can also cover on the left wing if you need him to.

Should I strengthen? I originally recommended strengthening here, but with the latest update and the improvement of BA and the addition of Cisse, I think you'll be fine for at least a couple seasons. Spend any money available on getting in better full backs and wingers.

The Backroom staff

I won't bore you with too much info on the staff you inherit, you can judge for yourself when you takeover. I'll just say that I only kept on the Assistant Manager John Carver, the scout Graham Carr and one of the physios. The rest I offered mutual termination of contract to and set about recruiting my own staff.

There's some very good unemployed staff out there if you get in early. Joe Corrigan is an excellent Goalkeeping coach, Adrian Lamb a good and very young Fitness coach and Tosh Farrell provides some very good attacking coaching. Also try and poach Blackburn's youth coach Phil Cannon as he can provide 4 star coaching for pretty much every area, including goalkeeping.

The Reserves and Youth Squad

The are some talented youngsters sitting in the reserve squad at the start of the game. Several of them I would consider moving up to the first team to provide cover and to gain some experience in cup ties. Especially Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vukic. Sammy Ameobi has plenty of pace and flair but will benefit from a lot of work on his finishing and Shane ferguson will be back in the first team squad as soon as he recovers from injury.

The coaching staff also highly recommended the under 18 player Adam Campbell, with John Carver reporting he has the potential to be a key player for the team. He has some impressive physical stats for a 16 year old and is definitely one to try and develop.

Money, Money, Money

If you accepted the default season expectations, you'll have £8million to spend but only about £60,000 a week left of your wage budget. As you can see the wage budget won't stretch too far if you're trying to sign an established big name player. There is some interest in a couple of Newcastle players at the start of the season though, so you may be able to improve your budget. I have several clubs sniffing round the unwanted, unloved yellow card menace James Perch though only for loan deals at present, QPR are chasing Mike Williamson, and several other clubs including Wolves seem to be interested in Nile Ranger.

On my demo game so far I've signed Diogo, Vrsaljko and Tshabalala for a combined £1.1 million and if I can offload Perch and Ranger I'll be hoping to push through the loan deal for Sturridge. Then I'll be scouting several left backs to try and find one that doesn't want crazy wages to sign for the Toon.

Tactical Musings

On taking up the post at Newcastle, my Assistant Manager recommended that we use a 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 formation. After looking at the squad and deciding that I wanted to use Tiote and Cabaye as the engine room of the team I've chosen to go for a 4-2-3-1 as my main formation, switching to an attacking 4-4-2 at times.

The back four are on pretty much default settings, with some tweaks on individual instructions and ahead of them I have Tiote as a Ball Winning midfielder with defensive focus, alongside Tiote is 'le Dreamboat' Cabaye (as I heard some Geordie podcaster referring to him) playing as a Deep Lying Playmaker/Support. Ideally ben Arfa will play the AMC position once he returns from injury, might try him out as a Trequartista, but in the meantime Abeid and Vukic are getting some games there in the friendlies. Upfront Best and Ba are being rotated, and both have looked surprisingly effective as lone strikers in pre-season...of course it's only pre-season.

EDIT:

With the new transfer update as of 7th March, you can see that your starting wage budget is significantly lower and you'll only get an extra million to spend if you rashly promise the board the sun, the moon, the stars and all that!

However to offset that, you do now have in your starting 1st Team squad a very improved Demba Ba and his Senegalese teammate Papiss Demba Rodney Cisse. You'll probably want to play them both as often as possible (injuries permitting of course) as they look excellent on this patch. Cisse is quick with an excellent first touch and finish, Carver reports that he'd play best as a Poacher upfront and he certainly has the attributes needed. Ba is significantly improved on this patch, now with decent composure to go with his high pace, strength, work rate, bravery and finishing. His best role according to Carver is as an Advanced Forward with an Attack duty.

With Tim Krul also looking improved on this update the 1st choice central spine of the squad looks excellent but you'll want to add some extra quality in the long run so there's more strtength in depth beyond the 1st eleven. Unfortunately Coloccini's new contract isn't in this update, so you'll still have to try and tie him down to a new deal if you want to keep him beyond 2013.

As the centre of the team looks very strong I'd look to add some options out wide. A good left back would be 1st priority and a winger who can cross worth a damn, another right back would probably be a good idea as well. With only 3 million to spend in the first season loan signings may be the way forward till the summer. I've noticed Jack Robinson at Liverpool is loan listed so he might be a good possibility, Chelsea are also willing to consider a loan deal for Ryan Bertrand.

Possible Targets: Some of the bargains from previous patch are still available the likes of Ivan Bandalovski, Andile Jali and Kara should still cost less than a million according to scout reports (Though they may have problems with work permits). There are also a couple of surprises on the transfer list when I checked it with the likes of Craig Dawson and Jay Spearing on there (both for less that £2 million). If you can raise some extra funds through player sales, I'd take a look at someone like Chris Brunt at West Brom with bags of Permier League experience, solid attributes and can cover a multitude of positions.

Good OP Dandy.

Started my demo this morning and haven't got very far yet, but sorting out my transfers and formation.

IN:

Nicky Maynard (£1m + P/Ex)

Jack Collison (£4.7m)

Tshabala (£325k)

Craig Dawson (£3.7m)

Maynard isn't the big name striker that you could probably go for with the budget, but he was a bargain at that price and has decent stats. Atm I'm negotiating with Wilfred (Vitesse striker) who has some impressive physicals which would mean Lovenkrands leaving. When the real game comes out I'd be happy if I assembled a strikers department of Ba, Maynard and Wilfred to rotate between. Collison was bought to cover for Tiote because there's a real lack of defensive midfield options. Tshabala is a bargain at that price and I'm retraining him to AMR so I can use Jonas and Tshabala to both cut in on to their strongest foot. Coloccini was being looked at by Man City so I bought Craig Dawson to have someone ready to replace him. He's got impressive stats for someone so young and if I can keep Coloccini I may be tempted to have them as my centre back partnership.

OUT:

Shola Ameobi (£3.5m)

Nile Ranger (£500k loan fee)

James Perch (P/Ex)

Don't think I'll miss any of these.

Starting formation as it stands:

GK: Krul

RB: Simpson

CB: Dawson

CB: Coloccini

LB: Santon

CM: Tiote

CM: Cabaye

AMR: Tshabala

AMC: Marvaeux (Until Ben Arfa returns)

AML: Jonas

ST: Ba

I still might look for another left back because Santon doesn't seem too great.

@Outclassed

I won't be carrying on with my Demo save once the full game comes out, but I will be carrying my tactic over if it works out well. Had some pretty good results so far in the friendlies, but I'll be getting competitive games underway tonight when I finish work....so we'll see if survives contact with the enemy.

Haven't gotten the left back I want yet, but I have over £6 million of the budget to play with so hopefully after a few scouting reports I'll have a few targets in mind. If there's anything left after that, then I'll bring in another centre back for cover.

I've been looking at Wilfried as well, might actually go for him in the full game.

I won't carry on the demo save, I'll just try and sign the same players. But I'm guessing with the full version and more nations/leagues loaded that there will be a few hidden gems that I could target.

I think this year it will be difficult to raise funds in the first couple of transfer markets, mainly because the squad isn't deep enough to sell a lot of players. The only position I think it's possible to ship out some deadwood is upfront and replace them on the cheap.

I think this year it will be difficult to raise funds in the first couple of transfer markets, mainly because the squad isn't deep enough to sell a lot of players. The only position I think it's possible to ship out some deadwood is upfront and replace them on the cheap.

Yeah the squad isn't the largest and the deadwood that's left isn't the easiest to ship out (Smith or Perch for instance). I can see the temptation in cashing in on Coloccini (and it would save 80k of your wage budget as well).

Man City seem to be interested in a couple of the youngsters, they've made a firm bid already for Vukic.

ins wilfred 2.5 mil , jelle vossen 1.7mil plays for genk shaqiri 7.5 mil 2 mil upfront rest over 48 months vraskqo 850k sturridge loan sammir 850k quality cover ,diogo free ,lookin for cb no hope so far.

Outs harper1mil simpson3.8mil best 4mil il do more later on phone at min

Stuck at work till 8pm tonight, and was itching to get on with first league matches. One annoying thing about having to get the Demo through Steam, I was able to sneakily install the FM10 and FM11 demos on my office machine

ins wilfred 2.5 mil , jelle vossen 1.7mil plays for genk shaqiri 7.5 mil 2 mil upfront rest over 48 months vraskqo 850k sturridge loan sammir 850k quality cover ,diogo free ,lookin for cb no hope so far.

Outs harper1mil simpson3.8mil best 4mil il do more later on phone at min

How's Jelle Vossen look this time round?

Very impressive striking stats and mentals: Finishing - 17, Composure - 17, Concentration - 16, Determination - 18, Off the Ball - 18, Teamwork & Workrate - 19. Just looks quite poor physically; aside from stamina and fitness, no physical goes above 11.

Very impressive striking stats and mentals: Finishing - 17, Composure - 17, Concentration - 16, Determination - 18, Off the Ball - 18, Teamwork & Workrate - 19. Just looks quite poor physically; aside from stamina and fitness, no physical goes above 11.

Cheers for the info Outclassed, might take a look at him as an extra option then if he's cheap. By the way, who offered £3.5 million for Shola?

Southampton, but only £1m was upfront. Still worth it to free up his wages.

Great use of puns in the OP haha

I'm a big fan of Newcastle in real life at the moment. I predicted (before the start of the season) that they'd finish in the top 8, mainly because of how good Tiote and Cabaye are. I'll be using them on FM eventually, probably after I get bored with Man City and Stade Rennais (so around Christmas time, probably). I'm looking forward to it, I have high hopes.

I'm a big fan of Newcastle in real life at the moment. I predicted (before the start of the season) that they'd finish in the top 8, mainly because of how good Tiote and Cabaye are.

I signed Cabaye on one of my Newcastle saves after the 11.3 patch and he was immense. If anything his attributes look slightly better on the Demo so far, I'm still amazed Lille let him go for such a low fee in real life. Fingers crossed I get lucky with injuries

Fantastic OP Dandy , theres loads of information in the OP considering your not a Newcastle fan as well and you've posted it a lot earlier than expected as well .

Fantastic OP Dandy , theres loads of information in the OP considering your not a Newcastle fan as well and you've posted it a lot earlier than expected as well .

Cheers Col, wasn't quite as gripped by the Scotland match last night after all...though I expect to be pants-wettingly terrified when we play Spain later in the week

I might tinker with the opening posts again after October 21st to provide some extra info, will see how it goes.

I'll get a hour in now on the demo before I go out.

These were our transfers in the demo. The Leandro Damiao deal was over 48 monthly installments. I shouldn't of signed Friedrich though as I didn't see that he has a Global ban unitl April 2012 .

This is my starting 11 at the minute, I am playing a attacking fluid 4-2-3-1 wide.

Young Vuckic is playing brilliant for me as a Trequartista and Ben Arfa will find it difficult to get his place in the team when fit. Leandro Damiao has been superb as well in the few games he has played, scoring a goal a game as a Poacher.

Cheers Col, wasn't quite as gripped by the Scotland match last night after all...though I expect to be pants-wettingly terrified when we play Spain later in the week

I might tinker with the opening posts again after October 21st to provide some extra info, will see how it goes.

I feel sorry for you, Spain are just on another planet with some of the football they play.

Your going to make the OP even better

Best tore his calf muscle and is out for 4 months, and Lovenkrands is also out for 2 months.. got Sturridge on loan, and now looking for someone else to buy/loan to cover for Lovenkrands.. got 4.5m to spend, and 27k a week left. Any ideas? Ranger has gone out on loan, leaving me with just Ba and Sturridge, with Ameobi as back up. Thanks!

Great thread, I'm an Arsenal fan but have a soft spot for Newcastle, don't ask Will definitley be doing a save when the full game comes out, I said I wasn't going to play any of the demo but going to do one with Newcastle, won't be carrying it on when the game comes out though, will let you know how it goes

Best tore his calf muscle and is out for 4 months, and Lovenkrands is also out for 2 months.. got Sturridge on loan, and now looking for someone else to buy/loan to cover for Lovenkrands.. got 4.5m to spend, and 27k a week left. Any ideas? Ranger has gone out on loan, leaving me with just Ba and Sturridge, with Ameobi as back up. Thanks!

I would sign Leandro Damiao on 48 monthly installments, he'e been epic for me.

@Col

How much is Damiao looking for in terms of wages and fees? I had a look at him and he looks amazing to be fair, though I was a bit put off by the fee my scouts reckon it'll take to bag him.

@Andrew!

You might want to check out Jelle Vossen as a possible cheap option. Or you might want to gamble on the 48month deal like Col and bag Damiao as he's been getting rave reviews on a few of the threads already

@Col

How much is Damiao looking for in terms of wages and fees? I had a look at him and he looks amazing to be fair, though I was a bit put off by the fee my scouts reckon it'll take to bag him.

He is only on £40k a week and his agent was very reasonable as well. He has also got £5,750 appearance fee, £6,250 goal bonus and £300,000 for team of the year bonus.

Great OP Dandy

Newcastle look a good team to have a save with this season.

Thanks for the suggestions, I signed Damiao in the end, about to play him for the first time

Great OP Dandy

Newcastle look a good team to have a save with this season.

I think they're a great side to pick if you want to manage in the top league. Good first 11 but not overwhelmingly good. Some decent back ups, but the squad still needs to be expanded and strengthened to avoid disaster if you have a lot of injuries.

There's some money there, but not enough that you can go totally crazy with it so you will need to show some tactical ability and some feckin wheeling and dealing in the transfer market. So the base is there, but there's enough for you to do to make it a challenge...And if you can bring some success to the club they're well placed to build on it with a good stadium, big fanbase and decent facilities.

Always one of my fave saves on FM

Excellent OP Dandy. I can't wait for the full game to get released!!! The youngsters again look great with Adam Campbell looking to have a great future. Shane Ferguson and Sammy Ameobi also look to have improved potential and with Vuckic, Abeid and Krul, the future looks pretty good!

Excellent OP Dandy. I can't wait for the full game to get released!!! The youngsters again look great with Adam Campbell looking to have a great future. Shane Ferguson and Sammy Ameobi also look to have improved potential and with Vuckic, Abeid and Krul, the future looks pretty good!

The coaching staff have rated Campbell really highly, can't wait to see how he develops on the full game, looks like he could be a real pacy poacher.

How's Jelle Vossen look this time round?

he is more effective than Sturridge for me and cheap on wage compared to Strolla

Approaching the end of the demo, sitting pretty in 6th and only 4 points off 2nd. Really enjoying it so far, can't wait for the full game.

Formation - 4-2-3-1

GK: Tim Krul - Sweeper Keeper/Defend. 7 clean sheets in 17 games so far this season. Good player who can only get better.

RB: Davide Santon - Wing Back/Support. Ave rating of 7.33, 3 assists so far this season. Solid.

LB: Eric Pieters - Wing Back/Support. Ave rating of 7.11, 2 assists so far. Unspectacular but improving.

RCB: Captain Colocinni - CB/Defend. 1 goal, 7.18 average rating. Consistent, minimal mistakes and rarely seems a booking.

LCB: Jan Vertonghen - Ball playing/CB, cover. 2 goals, 1 assist. 7.29 average rating.

MCR: Cheik Tiote - CM/Defend. Missed quite a bit through injury so hasn't really had a chance to show me what he can do. But while he was playing he did the job.

MCL: Yohan Cabaye - DLP/Support. 5 goals and 5 assists. Great penalty taker, great corner and freekick taker and a brilliant playmaker. Ave rating of 7.31.

AMR: Marc Albrighton - Winger/attack. 3 goals and 7 assists. Another one who's improving, only just turned 22 and looking better each game.

AMC: Hatem Ben Arfa - Trequarista. Best player by far. 9 appearances, 5 goals, 6 assists. 7.76 average rating. If he's able to stay fit he'll be the main man for years to come.

AML: Jonas - Inside forward/Attack. 8 goals (lolwhat?) and 4 assists. 7.51 rating so for this season. Outperforming his stats, and one of my favourite players.

ST: Demba Ba - Poacher. Had a hard time at the start with a few injuries disrupting his start, but now he's playing regularly he's managed 7 in 9(3) and a rating of 7.23. Not the most professional and when he's bad he's horrendous. Thankfully that's been very rare this season.

Transfers In:

As you can see, I've brought in a few quality players in my LB, CB and RW. All over 48 months, Pieters cost 7 mil, the other two were 8 million each.

Also brought in Iaquinta on loan (cheap) and Tsabalalalalalalala? for around 400K.

Out:

Leon Best - 3.7mil

Lovenkrands - 1.2 mil

Williamson - 3 mil.

and a few nameless youngsters as well.

Can not wait for the full game to develop some of the promising youth here. Not just the obvious talents such as Vuckic and Abeid (who I'm seeing as a left sided inside forward to replace Jonas now...) but also Adam Campbell who seems like he's Michael Owen reincarnated.

@james_wilko

How much did you have to offer for Pieters? I was trying to remember his name last night, but for life of me couldn't bring it to mind

Had a few lowish offers rejected (between 3-5mil) but eventually had one for 7.5 accepted. It's quite a bit, but I couldn't find a player of his ability, for any less that would come to Newcastle. Worth every penny so far.

I think i bought him for £7.5m ... something like £1m after 20 league games if that helps

edit: just played my first game, and Damiao was injured after 8 minutes! Luckily it was only a bruised head and will be back in 3 days... I brought Ba on to replace him, and he was also injured, out for 4 weeks with broken ribs :'(

At least Marveaux scored a hat trick on his debut

Tom, I'm assuming that took a pretty penny out of your budget to get him at SJP. Looks good as last year though

Finally got round to starting the season and we got off to a pretty much perfect start. Cabaye running the show as hoped with a hattrick of assists, goal for Ba on his debut and solid performances from other new boys like Diogo, Santon and Badelj. Couldn't have asked for more really

actually impossible to get a good left back in an English Quickstart. Ended up getting Liam Ridgewell as my left back even though not a fan of such a defensive full back.

Just got an offer of 8.5mil pounds for Cpt Colo from Man City! Should I accept it or not, it really is tempting!

Nah, you could get more. Looking at that result from Don I have to say this demo looks really easy.. Finished 4th 5 points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand on them. One of the games I lost 3-2 at home to a struggling Fulham side I doubt I'd have lost had I been playing properly, messed about with the team meeting, team talks, tactics and starting line up for that match just to see what would have happened. Assuming a draw - to be conservative - from that game I would have finished with played 18 won 13 drawn 2 lost 3 with Demba Ba only managing 5 of those games and Ben Arfa only 8. Hm. Mind I seem to recall all demos being canny easy actually. Just hadda wait and see for the full game.

demo always deceiving, full game is always harder.

Yeah, will hopefully be the case.

Just came to the end of the first transfer window (I know, slow player) but I've finally accomplished something I've never managed to do before- sell Alan Smith! Received just under £1m for him and I'm still paying £14k p/w in wages, but that's nothing compared to the £62k he was on. His departure also meant I could tinker with the budgets and bring in Wilfried. I didn't manage to secure transfers for Ryan Taylor or Leon Best, so I'm shifting them out on loan (£825k and £1m loan fees) but I'll be paying the wages for 3 months. But, some quick maths tells me that I should only be paying £500k in wages, so it's a good move.

Glad someone has finally made a thread for this season. If you have issues with the data though (looking at OP) raise them in the Data Issue thread. There's a few good youth players to look out for this season and beyond.

just finished demo finished 8th w8 d6 l4 still in league cup semi final against swansea.

gk Harper 10 games, 4 clean sheets, rating 7.04 / Krul 13 games, 4 clean sheets, rating 6.74

dr Simpson 22 games, 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 mom, rating 7.25 (full back attack)

dl Santon 21 games, 0 goals, 3 assists, 1 mom, rating 7.02 (full back attack)

dc Saylor 21 games, 2 goals, 1 assists, 4 mom, rating 7.30 (central defender defend)

dc Givet 23 games, 1 goal, 0 assists, 0 mom, rating 7.01 (central defender defend)

dmc Tiote 22 games, 1 goal, 3 assists, 1 mom, rating 7.03 (anchor man defend)

mc Gibson 22 games, 5 goals, 6 assists, 1 mom, rating 7.22 (ball winning support)

mc Cabaye 21 games, 4 goals, 6 assists, 0 mom, rating 7.09 (deep lying playmaker support)

amr Ben Arfa 10 games, 4 goals, 4 assists, 0 mom, rating 7.47 Obertan 12 games, 4 goals, 2 assists, 2 mom, rating 7.04 (inside forward attack)

aml Jonas 20 games, 4 goals, 4 assists, 2 mom, rating 7.13 (inside forward attack)

sc Ba 16 games, 15 goals, 6 assists, 5 mom, rating 7.81 (poacher attack)

signings in

Tomkins, west ham, 3.5 mil, Gibson, man utd, 2.3 mil, Matt Phillips, blackpool, 4.2 mil, Givet, blackburn, 4 mil and Sturridge, chelsea on loan

transfers out

Shola Ameobi, 1.5, mil, southampton, Lovenkrands, 1 mil, rangers, Ranger, 1 mil, peterborough, Coloccinni, 7 mil, man city, raylor, 1 mil, southampton.

Nah, you could get more. Looking at that result from Don I have to say this demo looks really easy.. Finished 4th 5 points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand on them. One of the games I lost 3-2 at home to a struggling Fulham side I doubt I'd have lost had I been playing properly, messed about with the team meeting, team talks, tactics and starting line up for that match just to see what would have happened. Assuming a draw - to be conservative - from that game I would have finished with played 18 won 13 drawn 2 lost 3 with Demba Ba only managing 5 of those games and Ben Arfa only 8. Hm. Mind I seem to recall all demos being canny easy actually. Just hadda wait and see for the full game.

I think you're on the money with the demo being easy compared to the full game, followed the 5-0 win with a 3-0 away win at Bolton and a 4-1 win over Scunthorpe in the League Cup using a lot of the youth/fringe players. I'd expect a lot more competition to sign some of the players I've got if I'd been running the game with a few more active leagues for a start. Hoping I have a bit more luck with Ba's injuries than you did by sound of it.

Finally reached the end of August and the summer transfer window. I had a lot of trouble trying to bring in a good left back, couldn't reach agreement with PSV for Erik Pieters or with Bordeaux for Benoit Tremoulinas. Finally managed to pick up the 30yo Razvan Rat from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Successfully offloaded Alan Smith to West Brom for £725,000 (though we're still paying him over £11,000 a week) and Shola Ameobi left for Southampton. I managed to blunder here and made a successful bid for Freiburg's Pappiss Cisse....unfortunately it won't go through until the 1st of January

ALL of my strikers are now injured, with the exception of Sturridge. 3 in the same game against Chelsea, and Cabaye still has 1 game out due to a red card.

":(" is appropriate, yes?

ALL of my strikers are now injured, with the exception of Sturridge. 3 in the same game against Chelsea, and Cabaye still has 1 game out due to a red card.

":(" is appropriate, yes?

"Ouch" would be pretty appropriate too

ganso is in the toon but injured in debut for 3 weeks cost me 28 mil 27mil over 48 months waho