FM11: Newcastle United Team Guide @ Sports Interactive @ SJP.com

[Fulax]

Finally completed my first season, finishing in a respectable 12th position. Slightly disappointing as I was keeping pace with the champion's league places until the mid way point, when things became a bit inconsistent.

Some stats:

P38 W14 D9 L15 F50 A65 P51

Top goalscorer: A Carroll - 12 (36 apps)

Top assists: Jonas - 8 (31 apps)

Quite pleased with Carroll's return, considering he was playing as a lone target man with support duty.

Transfers out:

Xisco - Palermo 2.5mln

Ameobi - Wigan 2.5mln

Lovenkrands - Almeria 750k

Routledge - Leicester 1mln

Transfers in:

van Aanholt - Chelsea loan fee 250k

Pires - Free

Ruben Suarez - Levante 475k

Rurik Gislasson - OB 825k

Marko Livaja - Free

Christian Romaric - Sevilla 800k

Coutinho - Inter loan fee 850k

----------------

First XI

----------------Krul---------------------

Raylor---Colo----Williamson---Enrique

-----------Barton--Romaric-----------

Ben Arfa---Vuckic/Pires-----Jonas

---------------Carroll--------------------

[SeanH91]

I'm absolutely hemorrhaging money and I can't understand why! The last few seasons we've been losing a few million here, gaining a few million there over the months and mostly breaking even over the season, then getting the boost from prize money. I started this season on £52m in the bank, now in March all that's left is £8m! Been losing between £5m and £9m every month and can't work out what from.

I'm £250k under my wage budget and haven't made any huge money signings over 48 months or anything like that so I'm pretty shellshocked

[OutClassed]

Check your finances and outgoings/expenditures and see which is the highest?

[SeanH91]

Check your finances and outgoings/expenditures and see which is the highest?

I've had a check and there's nothing that looks abnormal, compared to last season's figures. The "other" bit is about £12m higher than last season, but other than that there's nothing much different.

And income is £60m short of last year, but obviously come the end of the season I should have some prize money coming in

[OutClassed]

Hopefully it balances itself out

Coloccini and Zapata leave in january for fees of £4.6m and £5.25m respectively. Desperately looking for a CB now because of lack of quality cover: My CBs are Fazio, Saylor and Kadar.

Guthrie and Z.Toure are likely to move out on loan, and I've moved to the dark side by trying to sign Lee Cattermole because he's listed as their replacement.

[DandyDon]

Have to admit the financial situation is starting to worry me more than a little now. Just taking a look at our position in February and I'm not liking all those little red numbers at the bottom of the screen.

Think all those bonuses and agents fees are catching up with us.

Also had to contend with the fact that after beating Chelsea in the league we rather hastened Shearer's return to punditry.....

[col_nufc1]

Have to admit the financial situation is starting to worry me more than a little now. Just taking a look at our position in Februaty and I'm not liking all those little red numbers at the bottom of the screen.

Think all those bonuses and agents fees are catching up with us.

Also had to contend with the fact that after beating Chelsea in the league we rather hastened Shearer's return to punditry.....

I am glad we got took over by a tycoon who payed off the loan and always seems to put injections of cash in whenever the clubs balance gets to a certain level.

Oh dear £15m in the red, how much are you allowed before you go into administration ?

[Paul Di11on]

Oh dear I've gone a bit transfer crazy, I think it was the relief of actually selling some players after trying all season to ship some. As a result I've been busy trying to both snap up players from relegated sides on teh cheap as well as keeping my beady eye out for regens/ wonderkids for the future.

So I've bought the likes of Scott Dann, Steven N'Zonzi (at no little expense in his case!) and Steven Davis from Rangers (who looks really good, suprisingly).

Happy with my purchases, I sat back and admired my squad. Then I realised I'd have to replace Ben Arfa on the right wing, or preferably get a left winger and switch Jonas to the right (he's right footed so how can his natural position be left wing?). I wasn't about to pay what Wigan were asking for N'Zogbia so I waited to see what would develop.

Only I got sidetracked by my pursuit of talented youngsters to the extent that I outbidded every club who made an offer for a youngster who looked err... promising!

So now I'm almost in August and I've bought 4 strikers under 20, including the much lauded Yaya Sanogo I might add. I also bought another 3 or 4 attacking midfield youngsters, and I don't play an attacking midfielder. I'm afraid I rather got carried away with myself.

Luckily I managed to get both Macheda and Wilshere on loan (I guess Wilshere can play right wing at a push). I also managed to pick up Guillermo Burdiso for just over a million from Rosario Central, bargain methinks, PB reckons he's better than local lad Steven Taylor. We'll see. Chelsea offered me Mikel for £5M, but I didn't have the money! Not sure he would've been interested anyway.

So unless I can get someone else in cheap or preferably on loan from a foreign team, I'll not be playing 442 this season. I could play Rodallega on the left wing but that would be a waste of his poaching abilities. Although with Carroll, Macheda, Sonogo and one or two of the other youngsters I might be ok.

So my team for the coming season looks like it will be:

GK Krul/ Forster

RB Romain Danze (new signing)

LB Enrique

CB Dann

CB Budisso/ Taylor

MC Steven Davies/ Wilshere

MC N'Zonzi/ Gosling

MR Jonas/ Wilshere/ Routledge (grr!)

ML Jonas/ Rodallega?

SC Rodallega/ Macheda

SC Carroll/ Sanogo

Some of the youngsters are coming on well, Nile Ranger, Tamas Kadar, Haris Vuckic and maybe Fraser Forster look like they might all be first team candidates at some point if I'm lucky.

I've really got to test the water with this squad with so many new faces, I need to get more cover for the wings though I could always just play inside forwards. It's nice to have the option of wingers though don't you think? Anyone know any good cheap ones?

[DandyDon]

I am glad we got took over by a tycoon who payed off the loan and always seems to put injections of cash in whenever the clubs balance gets to a certain level.

Oh dear £15m in the red, how much are you allowed before you go into administration ?

I have no idea, I'm hoping that we get enough in prize money/tv rights at the end of the season to keep us safe. With the youngsters I've brought in this season I doubt I'll be making any serious transfer moves during the summer.

I doubt I'll raise much cash through sales all things considered.

[DandyDon]

Paul, perhaps some of those 3 or 4 attacking midfielders you bought could be trained to play M/AM L to cover for Jonas, save yourself some money. I've got a couple of mine being retrained to provide cover for the flanks next season.

[Paul Di11on]

Yeah that's a good idea DandyDon, I haven't had much success with it before but I'll take at look at their stats and see if some of them might make decent wingers.

[DandyDon]

I've had a little bit more joy with it on this FM than previous versions.

Also if you're looking for a possible cheap option for the left wing there's Adam Hlousek from Slavia Prague, my scouts have recommended him a couple times. He moved to Spartak Moscow for about 3.2 million in my game after a couple seasons, so he might be available for less if you're lucky.

[weasel1976]

OK, so completed my 2nd season, coming in 3rd, only 2 points seperating us from 6th, so it was pretty tight.

Jonas got my player of the year, with him and Ben Arfa really starting to come in to their own. Vuckic also came of age in my support role. However, what a disasterous pre-season I had.

During the season I could not get Enrique tied down due to caps on the salary. So he left and created a cloud over the squad. Next thing I know, STaylor, Ben Arfa, Guthrie, O´Hara, Jonas and Tavernier are all putting in transfer requests. I managed to seel Tiote (3M)and Smith and Carroll both left on a free. I still cannot sell Nolan nor Best. Both Col and Williamson left (1,5M and 1M respectively) and I left Ben Arfa go on loan (2M with a sign on for 10M) - players even said that this was best for the team.

I managed to bring in Kovacic (2M), Andersson (regen for 0,5M), Onohua (4M), Forren (8M) and Danilo (16M).

I changed my tactics mid season to 4-2-3-1, and so my team stands at:

GK: Krul / Forster

RB: Danilo / Onuhoa (to sell Taylor and Tavernier)

LB: Forren / Ferguson (prefer to bring another LB in)

CB: Galeano / Kadar

CB: Fazio / (Onuhoa + Forren can cover here)

CM: O´Hara / Campanharo

CM: Barton / Kovacic (also have Gosling and Inman to cover if needed)

RW: Shaaraway / Lua Lua

LW: Hazard / Moyo

AMC: Vuckic / Kakuta (still have Jonas to sell, along with Assulin to cover)

ST: Sanogo / Castaignos (also Livaja is covering)

Also, the following are out on loan:

Coeff

Moyo

Ranger

Spear (pending)

I have planned buys, if I have the money, for Pastore (if I can sell Jonas), Ramsey (if i lose O´Hara, etc...). Now to find another LB.....

[Fulax]

Whaaa...went to offer Barton a new contract and he wants £130,000 a week!

[Dan-Toon-Army]

Just signed Dzeko at the start of the third season, what's peoples experiences with him? and most of all, what role is best suited for him?

[SeanH91]

Just signed Dzeko at the start of the third season, what's peoples experiences with him? and most of all, what role is best suited for him?

I've had him 2 seasons now, first season I was using him as a Complete Forward (Support) and he got 23 goals in 23(15) games. Season just gone I switched to using a Target Man (Attack) and he got 32 goals in 33(12) games. That's in all competitions btw.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Not to say any of you lot are cheating but how comes so much of you are signing players Newcastle could never get IRL, eg Rooney, dzeko, balotelli. Just doesnt seem realistic to me.

[DandyDon]

Not to say any of you lot are cheating but how comes so much of you are signing players Newcastle could never get IRL, eg Rooney, dzeko, balotelli. Just doesnt seem realistic to me.

I think some of the transfers people are able to pull off this time round is due to the player/manager interaction being a little glitchy. Seems AI players are getting unsettled too quickly at their clubs and then being transfer listed for too low a price. Also the AI teams seem incredibly reluctant to sign some of the big names who do become listed, leaving the human player to gobble the deals up.

Although with some players it's not unrealistic that they would get unsettled quickly, how many people expect Balotelli to still be at Man City in the summer in real life? Whether it's unrealistic that Newcastle could persuade some of these players to sign for them, that's another matter, I would think a successful Newcastle team, who could afford to pay him more would be attractive to Dzeko for example, in comparison to Wolfsburg, but some of the other names mentioned I couldn't see signing for Newcastle no matter how many trophies they'd won irl.

[DandyDon]

Also most of these players are being signed after Newcastle have been made into a far more attractive proposition to sign for than they currently are in real life. Whether it's because they've won trophies with the club, or had a tycoon takeover who can offer huge money for wages.

You can't compare their Newcastles to the Newcastle who played Chelsea this afternoon on a frozen sunday Two very different prospects. We all know Newcastle could be potentially huge irl if they had the right backing....I won't annoy Chris by saying they're a big club right at this moment

[DandyDon]

Whaaa...went to offer Barton a new contract and he wants £130,000 a week!

130k is nothing compared to what some players will ask for mate.....still waaaaaaaaay too much though

[nufc1]

My save game crashed and it's sent me back a long way. Been meaning to start a new game and try not to buy anyone (except Ben Arfa of course) and see how well i do. Might aswell try it now. Should be fun!!!

[DandyDon]

My save game crashed and it's sent me back a long way. Been meaning to start a new game and try not to buy anyone (except Ben Arfa of course) and see how well i do. Might aswell try it now. Should be fun!!!

I hate it when a saved game gets corrupted.....but hell it's always an excuse to start all over again!

Good luck with it this time round. Planning to try and do the whole first season with the squad as it stands?

[nufc1]

I hate it when a saved game gets corrupted.....but hell it's always an excuse to start all over again!

Good luck with it this time round. Planning to try and do the whole first season with the squad as it stands?

Its not corrupted, just going to take ages to get to where i was lol. Yeah, im going to try and see how many seasons i can do without having to buy anyone, improving our youngsters and using all my money to improve training and youth facilities to get good youth through. I might never have to buy anyone haha although this probably won't work. Worth a try though!!!

[DandyDon]

Hopefully you can actually persuade the grippy sods to improve the facilities.....4 seasons in and he still won't spend money on the training ground for me!!!

Good luck uncovering those local gems then.

[nufc1]

Hopefully you can actually persuade the grippy sods to improve the facilities.....4 seasons in and he still won't spend money on the training ground for me!!!

Good luck uncovering those local gems then.

Cheers, I think they allowed me to improve after about 3 seasons IIRC so hopefully if i save the money it may happen earlier!

[nufc1]

DAMN! its just crashed again when i had all of my training and staff in place!!! May start this again tomorrow

[Man Ray]

Not to say any of you lot are cheating but how comes so much of you are signing players Newcastle could never get IRL, eg Rooney, dzeko, balotelli. Just doesnt seem realistic to me.

Who would want to play the game it was completely realistic anyway? In the case of NUFC that would mean being only able to sign average players for outrageous prices only to see them then turn into below average/absolute dross/crocks... Or then not, as you've probably noticed, almost any team is capable of significantly raising it's status with right manager, few key signings and some financial backing. From lower-mid-table to Europe in a season, happens all the time to somebody.

And good luck for everyone struggling through the first/second season. No money, no squad depth, unbelievable amount of deadwood on ridiculous wages you can't offload... Though it must be said it gets a lot easier when Barton, Smith etc leaving will suddenly give you rather loose wage budget.

I got my 3rd season on the way yesterday. Very kind fixtures, lost away to Arsenal but won Hull, Bolton and Stoke at SJP and Nottingham Forest away. Really nice, half of the starting eleven are new players and I've finally tweaked my tactics towards entertainment (after promising that in each and every press conference for two seasons), so easy start suited me better than well. Next one is Liverpool away, but I'll still stay in Champions league places. Arsenal has perfect record, everybody else in contention seems to be throwing points away at silly rate. Which suits me, but also makes the league a bit more interesting. In first two seasons relegated teams have been mathematically certain after 32 and 34 matches, and obvious before christmas. Automatic points from three teams is a bit silly (although in my second season I lost 1-4 to Burnley, but that's a different story...)

UEFA cup qualification agains APOEL (Cyprus) almost became humiliation of the century. Played my second string (practically almost first choice from last season) at home, absolutely murdered them but only won 2-0. Continued with the same lineup away, and was losing 0-2 at half time. After they got man sent off immediately after the break, I started to attack, only to concede from next attack. Didn't get even close to goal until fourth minute of three minute injury-time, when Giuliano (my 14m winger signing from Ajax) gave an acting lesson in the box and Shevchenko duly scored the penalty. And I thought only computer teams have that sort of comebacks... UEFA cup might be an uphill struggle (or story of great comebacks), as first match against PSG I went 2-0 down due to too attacking tactic, only to convincingly draw level at second half.

At least it solved my keeper dilemmas. Areola was stunningly clumsy and useless, I'd say at fault on all three APOEL goals. He gets the cups then, Pyatov the league. Everybody else seemed to know this already, as I couldn't loan out Areola in the summer. Instead sent Krul on loan to Barcelona, which will ruin his development, but had to cut wage bill.

Talking about "blinded by the huge transfer budget", it seems that Giuliano (14m) is absolute waste of space as well. It seems his preferred move is "walk across halfway line, then pass backwards to Flamini". Now discussion options need a revamp, I want "I bough you here to take on defenders and delive killer balls, could you possibly try that once or twice before I bin you?" installed asap. Though actually I really don't have an alternate option, so he'll get some time to gel.

Otherwise it seems my transfers have gone well. Montolivo (20m) and Flamini (free) have been superb instantly, Gabriel Milito (free) and Raphael Varane (3m) both so good I can't decide whom to play as first choice, Zabaleta (3m) is a rock (on a sidenote, Mancity signed a french RB for 23m and 180k, who looks worse than Zabaleta on every account) and Monti (computer generated RB/LB, 3m) is already trying to push Jose out of the side. I also signed some 17 year old CM for 3m and then finally, my long awaited brazilian wonderkid turned 18 in august and arrived ...crocked of course.

Nothing bad, and I've already played him in League Cup. Didn't make the headlines though. As Brighton is managed by certain Gus Poyet, I thought embarrasment is the only possible outcome. Surprisingly Lenny Nangis (who btw hasn't shown any of the quality promised by his stats) scored a beautiful one in the beginning, then nothing much happened before Legrottaglie scored a great diving header on 85th minute. First time in 4th round during my time!

Have to hope the brazilian cuts it though. Apart from him I have Nangis (decent sub) and Shevchenko who's getting on a bit (still great free signing. 25k a week, modest signing on fee, 1 year + other based on appearances. 15 league goals in first season, plenty assists, tutoring, now my captain). And then off course my main manTerence Makengo, who seems to have gone through an alchemic reaction. Great pre-season, and then 7 goals in 5 matches (only played him in the league). Was worth sticking with him, that quality showed from the beginning even though end product was lacking a bit.

[Zog on the Tyne]

End of 1st season (again) and managed to finish 8th. Had Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal in last 3 games which ended any hope of catching Spurs in 6th. Had a massive problem scoring goals, Ben Arfa was top scorer with 6 and also had huge problems with conceeding stupid goals. Krul and Coloccini especially. Both went out with Shawcross and Bassong replacing Coloccini and Smithies replacing Krul for half the price we sold Krul for.

Managed to bring in Darren Bent for £4.6m and Kenwyne Jones for £4.7m after Stoke's relegation. Big signing was Paolo Henrique for £19m. Big risk but he'll fit into my team perfectly. Also got Angel Lafita for £3.7m and Diogo for £1m. To rotate with Lafita I got Gio Dos Santos. Every player was transfer listed except for Henrique so had a bit of cash to bring him in on. Got rid of Routledge, Smith, Colo, Krul, R. Taylor and Mvuemba.

Pre season off to a slow start, yet to score, yet to conceed. Bent and K. Jones with low morale so might organize a friendly against the Under 18's before the seasons opener away to Sunderland to try and get them scoring.

[Jops14]

Well in order to strengthen and hopefully finally take a title after 2 years runner up, I brought in a real creative influence of Diego in CM for £5m, Right mid after Buonanotte wasnt great last year (spent all year moaning), i brought in Milner for £20m. Saw Tom Cairney as a good (and more importantly english) midfielder, so brought him in as backup as well for £6m, Gary Cahill came in for £6.75 after offloading Amorebieta for £4.5, and will be backup to Taylor and Sakho. The other big transfers were a 35 year old Forlan on a free (simply for tutoring and i have a soft spot for him), Agbonglahor on a free, good scoring record in the game, and Luis Suarez for £4.7m

Other than that i managed to pick up 2 really promosing young center backs, and a potential world class right back from inter milan and a phenomenal left back argentinian regen. On the way out were Fossati, after 2 years with little improvement (1.3m), Dan Gosling (£500k), Carroll (loan), Viktor Elm (£2m), Vuckic (£1.7m), Ekdal (£5m) and then some regen who kept moaning for £8m!

My squad now looks good enough, * means they are a regen:

GK: Akinfeev, Krul, Forster

Defenders: Jonothan, Taylor, Sakho, Baines, Cahill, Priso*, Strand*, Lane*, Gimenez*

Midfield: Diego, Rodwell, Young, Milner, Defour, Sandro, Cairney, Ronaldinho, Buonanotte, Biseswar, Verratti, Guarrotxena*, Poel*, Fofana*

Strikers: Llorente, Dentinho, Balotelli, Suarez, Forlan, Agbonlahor, Paloschi, Wickham, Pond*

[autonm]

im looking to clear out my staff. can anyone recommend any scouts/coaches etc?? Ive got Calderwood as my no.2 cant say ive had any problems with him.

These posts seem to talk about players, staff anyone please ?

[nufc1]

im looking to clear out my staff. can anyone recommend any scouts/coaches etc?? Ive got Calderwood as my no.2 cant say ive had any problems with him.

These posts seem to talk about players, staff anyone please ?

Paul Winsper is a top class fitness coach who used to be at Newcastle. Has no club at the start

[Smallen]

John Versleeuwen is very good at coaching tactics and should be attainable for Newcastle, John Owens is pretty good at attacking coaching and Massimo Bonini is good at defending coaching. That's all I know that are actually good for us. Then of course there's Paul Winsper

[DandyDon]

Sergio Porcu is a great goalkeeping coach if you can afford him, got him from Sampdoria. Francesco Chinnici from Palermo and Quintiliano Lemos Filho from Cruzeiro are damn good too, Filho has 5 stars for shooting and ball control, and David Lowe from Tranmere is a good tactics coach.

[Smallen]

can't even get Lemos Filho for Barcelona in the first season. Now way he's going to Newcastle early in the game!

When you get into the second season, Ricardo Moniz might be available though

[DandyDon]

I only got Filho in 2013 right enough, can't think that Barca would need him in the first season though...what the hell do they need better attacking coaches for???

I'd forgotten about Moniz, but he was even harder for me to hire in FM10 that Lemos Filho was.

[Smallen]

for developing all the important Barca youth of course (Thiago, basically )

[DandyDon]

for developing all the important Barca youth of course (Thiago, basically )

They've got the demigods Messi and Xavi to tutor everyone, they don't need any coaches

I'll gladly accept them all at SJP instead.

[Smallen]

I don't know. I prefer Danny Guthrie and Peter Lovenkrands myself

[DandyDon]

Part of the way through a fairly epic fourth season at SJP and we got to the Quarter final stages of the Champions' League, spanking Ajax 8-1 on aggregate in the First Knockout round. We haven't made it past this stage in the last 2 seasons and I had a feeling we were doomed again when we drew Arsenal. Something of a bogey team for us, we have out performed them in terms of overall league position lately, but their pretty, pretty possesion football always seems to cause us real hassle.

After the first leg my fears seemed pretty understandable after they tonked us 3-0, only allowings us 5 shots at goal, none on target....and that was a fairly strong team we put out. Injuries and ineligibility meant we missed a couple important players like Balotelli and Sakho, but otherwise they were all first choice.

So without much hope in my heart I sent almost the same team out in the return leg (Bentley was in for Ninis who had a slight injury, and Kyle Walker had to fill in at Centre back). Filled their heads with some rabble rousing prematch talk and sat back to await the inevitable glorious failure. (I really wish there was a teamtalk option for 'Win this match or I'll bring Graeme Souness in as Assistant manager')

Glorious failure never arrived though.

We got Spurs in the Semi Final draw.

[DandyDon]

I don't know. I prefer Danny Guthrie and Peter Lovenkrands myself

Well they're affordable at least.

Loverhands is one of the few players who actually generated any money for me so far...twice.

[Wolverine257]

Yep so far in my first season Lovenkrands is the only one of my transfers sold in the second transfer window, Saylor and Raylor are listed too (Saylor for the Saga, and Raylor because he felt Saylor was unfairly treated and we had a heated discussion).

Haven't played too much over the past few days, but we're in the final of the league cup after stomping Man Utd. in the semi's 6-2 agg, we crushed them 4-0 at SJP. Which is kind of hilarious since I'm 12th in the EPL and have very patchy form (we drew 1:1 at Colchester in the FA Cup, but it was a field of reserves) Man Utd. are about 6 points clear leaders. Ferguson hates me too, so I must be doing something right.

[Nerobianchi]

I'm in the middle of a board takeover from a consortium who want to name Rivaldo (my current first team coach) as their manager - if they do buy the club will they actually sack me? I've never had a consortium takeover before.

[Smallen]

they shouldn't sack you if you're doing well, or even ok. I wouldn't worry too much about it

[DandyDon]

Yeah I think they generally give you a period to convince them of your worth, so as long as your results are generally positive and you're meeting season's expectations you should be fine. I think you're more likely to get the boot if it's a tycoon who buys out your chairman because they want a big name in. (Even then if you're winning trophies, chances are you're safe)

[DandyDon]

Yep so far in my first season Lovenkrands is the only one of my transfers sold in the second transfer window, Saylor and Raylor are listed too (Saylor for the Saga, and Raylor because he felt Saylor was unfairly treated and we had a heated discussion).

Haven't played too much over the past few days, but we're in the final of the league cup after stomping Man Utd. in the semi's 6-2 agg, we crushed them 4-0 at SJP. Which is kind of hilarious since I'm 12th in the EPL and have very patchy form (we drew 1:1 at Colchester in the FA Cup, but it was a field of reserves) Man Utd. are about 6 points clear leaders. Ferguson hates me too, so I must be doing something right.

Lovenkrands was one of the few who generated any interest for me in January transfer window during our first season, and he went out on loan with a respectable upfront fee. They never took up their option to buy during his loan, but when he returned at the end of the seaon and I offered him out again there was no shortage of takers for him.

Saylor was actually playing well for me, and it was Carroll who ended up getting moved on during the saga...but Saylor did eventually demand a transfer halfway through our 4th season, despite being first choice alongside Fazio and club captain. He'd decided he wanted a new challenge, the only takers were Spurs and they had him on loan for half a season £900,000 up front, then closed the deal for £5.75 million.

[WoodsMonk]

What tactic/formation is everyone using. as im really struggling at the moment.

[autonm]

im using this :

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233148-Beautiful-Football-Complete-Set

Came 7th in S1, 3rd in S2 won FA cup in S1, UEFA cup semi final S2, currently top of league in S3 after 6 games.

IN:

PACHEO 1.1m

HLOUSEK 1.1m

CAMACHO Free

PETRUCCI Free

HENGBART 2.7m

CAMPAGIYARO 3.1m

AVDIC 1.2m

Balotelli 5.75m

Stanislas 7.25m

Cavalieri 850k

Ben Arfa loaned him S1 + S2, got on a free at start of S3

OUT:

Ryan Taylot 1.1m

Moyo 750k

Xisco 1.9m

(various others after contract ended)

[Man Ray]

Good coaches are out there. At first I didn't know much about coach ratings (not even DDM-thing) but still managed to get everything minimum 3½ stars from free, on average almost 4. And by the third season average is almost 4½ stars. Just have to check regularly who's available, I think filtering with determination, motivation and discipline 15 is the quickest way. Have difficulties remembering names I've never heard in real life, but at least Dowie becomes available at some point and looks like good assistant (don't know star rating as at that point I'd already brought in Martin Keown for big money). Tord Grip was good (and cheap-ish) assistant for second season, average coaching-wise but good at opposition instructions/other advice.

AndNerobianchi, shouldn't worry too much. I've written about consortium of local businessmen led by former player taking over at my save, it's somewhere on the 9nth (if not there, then 8th, not 100% sure) page. Turned out sweet:D

I'm playing december of the third season. Just going through my first injury crisis, think I'd been relatively lucky before, so had to happen at some point. During 6 week period it seemed every other match somebody got injured. Started with Gabriel Milito, 4 months out (calf I think, not knee anyway). Then in quick succession plenty of 3 or 4 week lay-offs, other bad one was Zezinho (my left winger) who broke his leg, 4 months out. Not a single one in training, few on international duty. At worst I had 7 key/first team players out. Had to ease with training quite a bit because it was practically same eleven playing twice a week. Luckily it spread rather evenly between positions. Still have four players out but at least now I have starting eleven & subs in 100% or close. Survived okay I think, drawn few matches I'd have expected to win easily with everyone fit and obviously taken a good hiding from Chelsea and Liverpool away. But I'm still fourth, Arsenal is almost ten points clear but then teams from 2nd to 6th are within three points. And nobody can expect easy points from anywhere anymore, which makes the league certainly more interesting.

Talking of getting beaten away by big four, I'd say fixture list was rather interesting this season. On first half of the season I've drawn Arsenal, Pool, Chelsea, ManU (or actually that match was moved to january because of Club world championship but anyway), Tottenham, Villa and Everton away. So practically every team on higher/similar level than me. Nicer second half at least. ManCity being the only exception, but they've turned into permanent underachievers and refuse to sack Mancini.

Talking about sacking the managers, my last match was away to Mackems. Still kept my 100% record against them, still kept them in bottom three, and Bruce was sacked straight after. The weird part about the derbies has been their discipline. 6 matches, 5 times they've had at least one red (yeah, I checked. 7 in total and mostly early in the game). Granted, mackems have all the time had one of the worst disciplinary records in the league while I have one of the cleanest teams (wish I knew why is that, tackling is set to hard but I can't recall my player ever been banned because of five yellows and only three reds the whole time:confused: Not that I'm complaining...). I realised this the first season and started to encourage battling spirit against mackems in pre-match conferences. Cattermole & co have taken the bait, one man extra helps a lot, thanks:thup:. Weirdest one was league cup 4th round this season (away): probably the worst moment of my injury crisis and they got an early lead. But before the break their last defender tries to steal a better looking shirt from Makengo --> straight red. Cattermole protests -->yellow. Only minutes to go, but enough for Cattermole to make a late tackle (luckily not an another injury) -->goodbye. Second half I stroll into easy victory, fans are happy, players are happy, I sent chocolate and wine to Bruce (though had to enjoy my own glass alone, as he doesn't seem to like me for some reason).

As a long term worry, has anyone upped their season ticket sales/attendances? I've had same 25 000 sold every season, which was what Ashley expected. New owners wanted 28 000, which I thought was reasonable to say the least considering I splashed £58m in the market. But no, and I still get below 40k attendances against Wolves and alike regularly. Despite the success, my new more attacking way to play and exciting players to watch (f. ex Makengo leads PL scoring charts):confused:

[DandyDon]

Not sure about earlier seasons Ray, but looking at my finances this season we've taken just over £25 million in season tickets compared to just over £20 million last season. Our average attendance has been pretty constant for 3 seasons as we've expanded SJP as far as it can go.

On another note, Pavlyuchenko has somehow made it onto the clubs icons list in only three seasons (and one of them was pretty bit part) and having won a treble for the club I'm still only on the favoured list.

Fickle so and sos

[ChrisNUFC]

Anyone else noticing Season Tickets & Attendances being pretty much static?