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

[col_nufc1]

December 2013 fixtures.

Premier League.

Newcastle - 2 (Gervinho 67, Ganso 76)

Bolton - 0

Champions League group C.

Viktoria Pizen - 0

Newcastle - 5 (Pjanic 5, Chamberlain 12, 18, Burdisso 58, Wickham 83)

Premier League.

Sunderland - 0

Newcastle - 2 (Aguero 45+2, Aurier sent off 87, Paloschi 90+2

World Club cup semi final.

Waitakere Utd - 0

Newcastle - 14 (Aguero 4, 21, 27, 32, 49, 70, 81, Hazard 11, 87, Shawcross 26, Wickham 58, Hamsik 63, Paloschi 82, 84)

New club record win

World Club cup final.

Morelia - 0

Newcastle - 4 (Aguero 12, Hazard 28, Rodwell 45, Shawcross 90+1)

Premier League.

Liverpool - 1 (Piatti 69)

Newcastle - 3 (Hamsik 8, Shawcross 57, 76)

Premier League.

Newcastle - 10 (Aguero 3, 11, 27, 33, 58, Shawcross 16, 66, Chamberlain 26, 68, Rodwell 40)

WBA - 0

New Premier League record win

A fantastic month for Newcastle who break two records during December.

Sergio Aguero now has a pheonomenal 34 goals in 24 games so far for Newcastle and he is fast becoming a Newcastle legend in the making . Ganso has 11 goals and 20 assists in 20 games and this partnership continues to become better and better.

Our defence has also been very pleasing this season so far and in 18 games in the Premier League we have only conceeded 8 goals so it's not just been our awesome attack that has kept us unbeaten this season so far the defence are also playing there part in what could be another trophy laiden season for Newcastle.

[DandyDon]

Looks good for an unbeaten season Col if you can keep it up. Who's in the backline now, apart from Shawcross that is?

[col_nufc1]

Looks good for an unbeaten season Col if you can keep it up. Who's in the backline now, apart from Shawcross that is?

I hope so as I haven't had a unbeaten season yet on FM11, I did have a few of them on the last few versions though.

Gk: Rene Adler

RB: Serge Aurier

LB: Jose Enrique

CB: Ryan Shawcross

CB: Phil Jones

The backups are

GK: Alex Smithies

RB: Kyle Walker

LB: Kieran Gibbs

CB: Guillermo Burdisso

CB: Breno/Taylor

[DandyDon]

I'm having real problems spending my transfer budget this season, I've been knocked back by a couple of my targets who were completely unwilling to discuss terms with us. So far the only successful deal has been for the transfer listed Kolarov to provide some competition for Jose at left back. I've also brought in Hargreaves for free with the aim of having him coach a couple of the decent youngsters in the under 18s squad, and deputising for Tiote.

I noticed Phil Jones is still at Blackburn, so might end up making a move for him if I can't find another good DC who's ready for the first team.

[DandyDon]

I hope so as I haven't had a unbeaten season yet on FM11, I did have a few of them on the last few versions though.

Gk: Rene Adler

RB: Serge Aurier

LB: Jose Enrique

CB: Ryan Shawcross

CB: Phil Jones

The backups are

GK: Alex Smithies

RB: Kyle Walker

LB: Kieran Gibbs

CB: Guillermo Burdisso

CB: Breno/Taylor

Some strength in depth there, I had a chance at getting Breno as Bayern offered him to a few clubs, but he turned us down to move to another German club, Frankfurt I think. Looks like I really need to up the clubs rep to bag some of my transfer targets.

I also have several clubs sniffing round Gameiro, but I'm hoping the money I've brought in so far from transfers should mean that the board won't be too willing to consider any bids for him too good to turn down. I've so far managed to bring in an extra £22 million in revenue from selling 3 players, and have a couple more I could offload yet.

[DandyDon]

Hmmm, getting annoying now the amount of players turning us down.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Evening Lads.

Just wanted to pop into to ask whether The Toon are a Fun & Good save?

I've got saves with Arsenal & Villarreal going, Arsenal being my more Important one, & I ant a go with a team like Bolton or Newcastle.

What the transfer Budget like? I was thinking that It would be decently large with the exit of Andy Carroll but, Mike Ashlay may have kept it to himself...

[AddicksFan73]

It's an interesting save....a few good signings in the 1st season and you can generally finish top 6 no problems.....you get around £20M-£24M to spend.......

I finished 3rd in the Leeague and runner up in the FA Cup and only got £12M transfer budget 2nd season...(i even had £3M left from the initial 1st season budget)

Major challenge is the wages......you have far to many mediocre players on upwards of £40K per week...and trying to sell anybody is tough...especially Smith

[Llew_Arshavin23]

It's an interesting save....a few good signings in the 1st season and you can generally finish top 6 no problems.....you get around £20M-£24M to spend.......

I finished 3rd in the Leeague and runner up in the FA Cup and only got £12M transfer budget 2nd season...(i even had £3M left from the initial 1st season budget)

Major challenge is the wages......you have far to many mediocre players on upwards of £40K per week...and trying to sell anybody is tough...especially Smith

Just started a save.

Johan Elmander - £5.8 million Bid Accepted - Should be a First Teamer.

Yes, the Wages are a Problem. Can't believe that players like Ryan Taylor are on £35,000k a Week!? Might look to off-load him & possibly bring in Sebastien Corchia or Martin Kelly.

[DandyDon]

Llew, Elmander should be a decent option upfront especially if you can add a little more creativity to the squad. Some of the starting wages for the Newcastle squad are truely crazy, the money the likes of Smith and Colo are on for a newly promoted team is quite scary.

Finally getting some success in adding to the squad, have signed Sergio Romero as competition for Tim Krul and found 3 very good young regen players to bring in. We had to cancel the deal for Kolarov as he failed his work permit, we could have sent him out on loan to our Romanian feeder club, but that would have defeated the object of signing him. (Would have put the deal through if he'd been some 19 year old left back for the future.

The biggest deal of the summer so far though was persuading Aaron Ramsey to leave the Emirates and I'm hoping to make him the heart of our midfield. For some reason the Arsenal fans were happy to see him leave, and he'd been playing some games at right back.

I'm still looking to add at least a left back and a real quality central defender and if we still have some money left I may look to buy another striker, but we do have at least one youth striker, Jordan Jeffries who might be ready to step up into the first team squad.

[DandyDon]

Just a question for some of you lads

Would you buy Andy Carroll back if he became available?

I was offered him this save for 8.5 million during the summer but decided not to take it, and he ended up going to Man City. We just played them in the Community Shield, losing 2-1, and you can guess who scored both of theirs.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Just a question for some of you lads

Would you buy Andy Carroll back if he became available?

I was offered him this save for 8.5 million during the summer but decided not to take it, and he ended up going to Man City. We just played them in the Community Shield, losing 2-1, and you can guess who scored both of theirs.

In my opinion, you should've took him! Could've really added something to the team

[DandyDon]

In my opinion, you should've took him! Could've really added something to the team

Have to admit I did regret it a bit...specially when that second City goal went in, I'll just have to hope Super Kev Gameiro keeps banging them in for me.

[col_nufc1]

The January transfer window has now closed and these were our transfers in the 4th season.

[DandyDon]

Can't believe you got Pjanic on a free...what on earth were Lyon thinking not renewing his contract.

[SeanH91]

Just had the closest finish to the Premiership ever! Us, Chelsea AND Arsenal all ended up with 87 points, with us finishing in 3rd due to goal difference, Arsenal 2nd and Chelsea 1st . I'm really stumped as to how it's happened though because I'm 98% sure Arsenal were above Chelsea going into the last game, and Chelsea lost to us 2-1 whereas Arsenal drew 3-3 with Man City. So how on earth it's ended up with Chelsea on top when they lost is really got me struggling to understand :confused:

[DandyDon]

2014/15 Season Update

As I mentioned earlier the summer transfer window started off pretty frustratingly for us. Several deals I made fell through as the players I went for were unwilling to talk to us. Miralem Pjanic and Mats Hummels two major examples. A deal for Kolarov fell through when he failed to gain a work permit, this also scuppered a deal I made for 22 year old Turkish targetman toward the end of the window. Despite having an affiliate club in place to help get work permits, I didn't see the point in signing those two players and waiting three years for them to be available.

Once I successfully managed to sign Aaron Ramsey our transfer dealings really started to fly though, I managed to strengthen the squad in most areas though I didn't quite manage to cover every area I'd wanted to. I wasn't able to get the real first team ready commanding central defender I wanted, and I wasn't able to find a potential star right back to replace Diakite with (though that was more down to me leaving it too late in the window to look for one).

Players In

Eduardo arrived from Shakhtar on a free, signed to add an alternative to Pavlyuchenko upfront at a bargain price. A real clinical finisher should still be quality for a season or two where he can hopefully tutor my potential young star Jeffries.

Owen Hargreaves signed after he was released by Wolfsburg (where i'd previously signed him). Brought in for his European experience and potential as a tutor, still has some great stats.

Sergio Romero signed from PAOK for £1 million upfront abd another £4.5 million in monthly payments and other clauses. Will provide Tim with some competition for the number 1 spot.

Aaron Ramsey was the first big deal, it could end up costing us £26 million in the end 5 of that dependent on goals and appearances. Signed for the obvious qualities of his passing and creativity, should provide some great service for the forwards.

Adam Ljajic signed from Fiorentina as the competition and long term replacement for David Bentley in the AMR position. He's got good pace, great crossing, dribbling and first touch. Will cost us £22 million over 4 years.

Fabio Coentrao we snapped up from my former club Wolfsburg for a relatively cheap £7million, though it could rise to 9. Some competition for Enrique at left back, and can also cover for Griezmann at the AML position if need be.

Jack Rodwell was the last big deal, completed on the last day of the transfer window. I decided to go for him to add another English player to the squad and he offers some cover for the defence as well as some more steel to our midfield. Matias Silvestre moved to Everton in the opposite direction

I also signed three teenage regens the scouts recommended, two who went straight out on loan to Rapid Bucharest in order to get their work permits. Anton Lebedev is a very promising AML we signed from Dynamo Kyiv for £2.5 million, quick, great corner delivery and I've given him some matches already, coming off the bench in our European qualifiers. Gokhan Erdol we signed from Galatasaray, an 18 year old MC, potential playmaker. He'll spend the next three seasons at Bucharest alongside our final summer signing Mohammed Osman, an Egyptian left back we signed for £350,000 from Arab Contractors. Hopefully both of them will gain plenty first team experience while they're out there.

Players Out

Coloccini was allowed to leave on a free as he was looking for too much in the way of wages to renew his contract. He was joined by James Perch (the unsellable James Perch), Yven Moyo, Smolarek and Turgay Bahadir, none of whom did enough to convince me to offer them new deals.

That was just the start of the exodus as I started to offer out various squad players to see how much extra cash we could raise. Thankfully the team I inherited had included some decent players who I felt sure would attract some interest.

Dan Gosling signed fopr the newly promoted Blackpool for £3.6 million after I offered him to clubs for around £5 million.

Niko Krancjar attracted a host of bids when I out him on the market, surprising me when he eventually chose to sign for Wolves. He'd had the chance to go to Bayern Munich.

James McCarthy had hardly played any games for me, but he had clubs interested even before I listed him and I wasn't too shocked when Lille signed him for £8.5 million. They obviously had cash to spend as they'd just sold Eden Hazard to Chelsea (rather depressingly for me that is)

Man City came in with an offer for one of your youth stars, Dean Francis, which I decided to accept as his frontline partner Jeffries looked the better player to me and he was the one I've decided to introduce to the squad this season.

Martin Patterson went to Birmingham on loan, bringing in a £825,000 fee, with a furrther £3million to come if they decide to keep him.

Chris Brunt went to Bolton for £3.3 million, only after I signed Coentrao and decided that alongside Lebedev I had enough left wing cover.

Matthew Connolly signed for another promoted club in Leeds who offered £6.25 million after some back and forth.

Dejan Skolnik who'd been in our reserves also attracted some offers and eventually left for West Brom for £5million.

The final player to leave was Matias Silvestre our Argentinian DC who moved to Everton on the last day of the window as Rodwell came the other way. All the outgoings meant we ended up bringing in over £45 million in transfer fees, so I still have a transfer budget of £40 million to spend if I feel like it.

After all that, I'm fairly happy with the squad strength, ideally I would have liked another couple, but after the frustrations of so many failed deals in July, things went pretty well. I did try to bring in a good target man style forward to give us another option upfront, and had a £12 million deal agreed for 22 year old Turkish lad, but when he didn't get his work permit I cancelled the deal. I will be keeping an eye out for another DC and also another DR and hopefully get the chance to sign them in January.

Right I'm done waffling on for a bit, time to go see if these new players can cut it for us

[col_nufc1]

Newcastle season 4 review.

For the second season in a row Newcastle have had a fantasic season winning all the trophies that we entered.

In the Premier League we set a lot of records including biggest win with our 10-0 victory over Birmingham, most team points with 102, most team goals with 123, top goalscorer Sergio Aguero with 40, most assists Ganso with 29, highest average rating Ryan Shawcross with 8.10.

After losing three games in quick sucession (in all competitions) this season I changed our tactics slighty I changed Ganso from a Trequartista to a Complete Forward with Attack duty and I also changed our starting philosophy to Attack from Control and the other changes were switching from Zonal marking to Man marking and our two Central Defenders from the Cover/Stopper combo to Central Defender with Defend duty. These changes seemed to revitalize the team and we have won every game since.

Premier League Table.

In The Cups.

Community Shield. Liverpool 0-2 Newcastle.

Carling Cup final. Manchester United 0-2 Newcastle.

FA Cup final. Birmingham 0-4 Newcastle.

European Super cup. Juventus 2-4 Newcastle.

World Club Cup final. Morelia 0-4 Newcastle.

Champions League final. Lyon 1-3 Newcastle.

Champions League Fixtures.

The Squad.

[Stu232]

Right guys needs some tips on what formation to play with a new Newcastle save? also tips on players to sign?

[DandyDon]

Right guys needs some tips on what formation to play with a new Newcastle save? also tips on players to sign?

Kevin Gameiro or Christian Benitez are probably your best bets to add a decent goalpoacher in the first season, either of them should be reasonably affordable. I generally play 4-4-2 with Newcastle (with the wingers in the AMR/AML positions), but if you want to utilise Ben Arfa in his best position then a 4-2-3-1 with him in the AMC position and Tiote/Barton as the MCs.

Harper and Krul are good enough for the start, I probably wouldn't bother spending big on a new keeper, possibly Enyeama as he doesn't cost much in the first season. Then get some back up or competition for Enrique at left back, if he gets injured you're struggling to cover that. Other than that try and grab Milan Badelj to give you a little more creativity in midfield, or someone similar if you can find them.

Good luck

EDIT: and if you use Jonas as your AML, then make him an inside forward, he seems to excel in that role.

[Stu232]

I manged to get some great players

Ganso 15mil dunno why the sold him so cheap

Gary Cahill 6mill

Tom Cairney 2mill

Benitez 2.2mill

Smithies 800k

I sold Lualua for 2.2mill and Smith for 2.3mill

So quite a good transfer window played 3 won 3 as well so things are looking good my starting line up goes as follows

GK- Krul

RB Simpson (when fit) Taylor atm

LB Enrique

CB Cahill

CB Colo

CM Tiote (Ball winning midfielder)

CM Barton (CM Support

RW Ben Arfa (Inside Forward)

LW Jonas (Inside Forward)

AM Ganso (Terwhatever its called)

ST Benitez (Poacher)

[col_nufc1]

Right guys needs some tips on what formation to play with a new Newcastle save? also tips on players to sign?

Darwin Quintero, Pavel Niakhaichyk, Bressan are great cheap players in the first season but Eden Hazard is a must buy he will cost about £15m - £16m though if you can't afford him try using the 48 month installments method and you won' regret it.

As well as the guys that Dandy sugested especially Christian Benitez, Milan Badelj, Vincent Enyeama and Kevin Gameiro.

I played a 4-2-3-1 deep for the first couple of seasons then changed to a 4-4-2 with advanced wingers in the AML and AMR slots.

[ObaMartins09]

Finished my second season in 2nd place. Brilliant achievement given that we have spent relatively little and were predicted to finish mid-table (13th) after our 14th place last season.

Also in the FA Cup Final for the second year running. This time we face Liverpool after losing last season to Chelsea.

[DandyDon]

Finished my second season in 2nd place. Brilliant achievement given that we have spent relatively little and were predicted to finish mid-table (13th) after our 14th place last season.

Also in the FA Cup Final for the second year running. This time we face Liverpool after losing last season to Chelsea.

Excellent performance to perform so far above expectation, how much have you spent btw? Good luck in the final Oba

[ObaMartins09]

I lost. In the 119th minute! So disappointing.

I've spent £7.5m in the first season on Fofana, Benitez and Nery. In the second season I spent £8.25m on Wickham, El Arabi and Zander. Then in Jan I made my first big (ish) signing when I brought Rodwell in for £10.5m.

So no big name signings really.

[DandyDon]

August 2014 Fixtures

Community Shield

Man City - 2 (Carroll '5, '15)

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '49)

Premier League

Aston Villa - 1 (Cuellar '5)

Newcastle - 3 (George pen '45+2, Gameiro '78, '82)

Europa League 4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg

FC Midtjylland - 0

Newcastle - 4 (Eduardo '39, '83, Bentley '45+1, '59)

Premier League

Newcastle - 2 (Gameiro '30, George pen '69)

Chelsea - 0

Europa League 4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Newcastle - 4 (Jagielka '43, Gameiro '53, Bentley '62, Eduardo '82)

FC Midtjylland - 1 (Rosenberg '47)

Premier League

Wigan - 0

Newcastle - 2 (Naughton og '3, Gameiro '6)

A very satisfying opening to the 2014/15 season, especially beating Chelsea 2-0. Gameiro kicked off in the same for he finished the previous season, and our newly promoted centre back Callum George found his feet in the first team very quickly. After qualifying the group stage we got landed in a group with Porto, Villareal and Swiss club Luzern.

September Fixtures

Premier League

Newcastle - 1 (Koscielny og '17)

Arsenal - 1 (Chamakh '10) And Jose Enrique had his ankle broken in this fixture

Europa Group Stage Group G

Newcastle - 7 (Mogale '2, Gameiro '17, '31, '48, '77, '79, Jeffries '90+3)

Luzern - 0

Premier League

Man Utd - 2 (Rooney '35, '46)

Newcastle - 1 (Ljajic '80)

League Cup 3rd Round

Newcastle - 2 (Ben Arfa 105+1, Olsson '113)

Doncaster - 0

Premier League

Newcastle - 3 (Lumb og '38, Griezmann '43, Eduardo '82)

West Brom - 1 (Watson '12)

Slightly up and down September for us, we dominated the game against the Gunners but just couldn't find our scoring touch. We were battered by United and probably should have lost by more than one goal. Man City are currently top of the league, just ahead of Everton who have started very well. Looks like the money they got from us for Rodwell has been used well.

[DandyDon]

Unlucky with the Cup Final Oba....third time lucky maybe!

[DandyDon]

October 2014 Fixtures

Premier League

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '52)

Blackburn - 1 (Hoilett '3)

Premier League

Coventry - 1 (Keogh '69)

Newcastle - 4 (Gameiro '6, '23, '28, '61)

Europa Group Stage Group G

Porto - 1 (Shechter '21)

Newcastle - 3 (Gameiro '2, '8, Addy og '84)

Premier League

Everton - 1 (Mogale og '61)

Newcastle - 2 (Gameiro '27, '32)

League Cup 4th Round

Man Utd - 1 (Berbatov '82)

Newcastle - 2 (Mogale pen '32, Eduardo '120)

October started off with a very frustrating draw with Blackburn, despite finishing the game with 68% of possession we didn't create anywhere near enough in the way of chances.

The rest of the month was very satisying though, topped off with a very good win at Old Trafford. We had a 100% record in Europe, topping our group and we're just 2 points behind Man City in the Premier League at the moment.

3 months into the campaign and the star man by a long way is Kevin Gameiro, he has a fantastic record of 23 goals in 16 games for us this season. Another promoted youngster Jeffries seems to be striking up a very good partnership with Gameiro, he only has 1 goal in 7 games, but he has created 8 goals for Gameiro in those games. Tim Krul and Sergio Romero have both shown very good form when played. Aaron Ramsey has played his way into form and is starting to dictate things from midfield and defensively we're looking reasonably solid.

[Rob39874]

I know this forum is fo 2011 but cannot find a place really for 2010 for newcastle and want to know some decent players I can buy or some that can be sold for a decent price So any tips to make my team a good one is muc appreciated. I have the latest patch and the squad is as follows

Steve Harper

GK Tim Krul

DR Danny Simpson

DC Stephen Taylor

DC Fabio Collocini

DL Jose Enrique

MR Fabrice Pancrate

MC Gael Kakuta (On Loan from Chelsea)

MC Joey Barton

ML Peter Lovenkrands

ST Andy Carrol

ST Maicon (On Loan From Man Utd)

(Unused or Subs)

Wayne Routledge

Kazenga Lua Lua

Jonas

Fitz Hall (Loan from QPR)

Mike Williamson

Tamas Kadar

Ryan Taylor

Nicky Butt

Danny guthrie

Alan Smith

Kevin Nolan

Joan Simun Eddmonson (On loan of B68)

Shola Ameobi

Leon Best

Any Help on who to sell get on Loan and but will be a great help I am in the Championship and have a transfer budget off £1,496.429

[DandyDon]

Hi Rob, speaking from my dim and distant memories of FM10, you'll probably find it hard to offload any of the big earners while you're in the Championship. If you have any loan slots left I'd probably try and grab Fabio from Man Utd as cover for Enrique.

The old FM10 Newcastle thread is still online at the following link:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/153903-FM10-Official-Newcastle-United-Thread-Not-sponsored-by-Mike-Ashley

Should be plenty suggestions there...and if you can offload some deadwood to raise cash I recommend trying to bag Diego Tardelli as a striker, he was absolutely immense on FM10 for me, and pretty cheap too.

[si4uk]

I've manged to Ganso but it'll cost me 425k a month for 48 months heh.

I currently have Hazard and Ganso as AMC's but wondering what the best PPM's are for them. As a duo they are best two players at creating goals there if I play my lone striker formation. I do have another formation with 1 AMC so the plan is retrain Hazard to left midfield so I can play both.

In my first season I signed Benetiz and he broke the Premier Division record .

Season 1 signed were also Harry Kewell(who is surprising good), Omer Toprak, Romelu Lukaku and Guilliermo Ochoa.

Henriqe with his influence of 15 means after a few seasons as vice captain he can lead them .

Season is upon and I'm hoping for good European results

[The Taxman]

Here's a bit of proof that Lovenkrands is worth keeping around in the first season. Based on his Anticipation, Off the ball and speed I've been playing him in a Poaching role and he's been great! 70% of shots on target and if I showed the next tab you'd see that he has a shots / goals ratio of over 30%, a great conversion rate by any standards. I've had Ameobi feeding him in a Deep-lying forward role, and he's in the top 3 in the league for assists.

[DandyDon]

Pretty impressive stats from Loverhands there Taxman

How's your season going so far?

[The Taxman]

Pretty impressive stats from Loverhands there Taxman

How's your season going so far?

Thanks for the interest, pretty happy with it so far, as you can see below we have conceded a lot but also scored a lot, this is mainly due to me experimenting with a "Very Fluid" Philosophy.

[DandyDon]

Brave choice going for the very-fluid philosophy, and nice to see you're above the mighty Man City

[Andrew!]

in my first season on fm10 i only took Maicon on loan for the season, and ramsey on loan for 3 months, and 2 regens who i later sold, the last one just a few weeks ago before the 2016/17 season, rob

i've been reading through the last few pages and i want to get fm11 so much now! but i'm still having too much fun on fm10... argh

[Stu232]

Just in January first season somehow im am 5th because Benitiez has had his scoring boots on all season.

Just bought in Wickham he rejected Chelski for the toon.

Is Forester any good his stats look pretty steady? Might use him or Smithies when he comes back from Celtic?

[DandyDon]

After a few days away from my Newcastle save I finally got round to playing through another month of fixtures. pretty topsy turvy month it turned out to be as well.

November 2014 Fixtures

Premier League

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '1)

Sunderland - 0

Europa Group Stage Group G

Newcastle - 1 (Helton og '90)

Porto - 3 (Souza '16, Bedoya '24, Minhelic '32)

Premier League

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '37)

Fulham - 1 (Ribas '88, Richards sent off '81)

Premier League

Bolton - 1 (Campbell '26)

Newcastle - 1 (Cahill og '3)

Premier League

Newcastle - 4 (George '12, '65, Ljajic '39, Rodwell '90+4)

Tottenham - 1 (Jagielka og '29)

Premier League

Birmingham - 0

Newcastle - 3 (Eduardo '13, '51, George '45+2)

Premier League

Man City - 3 (Alexis Sanchez '4, Pato '37, Silva '48)

Newcastle - 5 (Ljajic '12, '80, Eduardo '24, Tevez og '61, George '64)

We started off November with a win over those lovely chaps down the road which should have been far more convincing than 1-0, that lack of cutting edge in front of goal was a feature of our next few games. We played horribly aginst Porto, only mustering 4 shots on target, and having to rely on an own goal for a consolation.

We started off quickly in the next 2 league games, taking the lead in both, but unable to add to our lead while in control, and unable to hold on to our slender leads. Especially annoying against Fulham when they managed to equalise whilst down to 10 men. Super Kev's form dropped alarmingly and he looked pretty jaded so I decided to rest him for a couple games and tweak a few other areas of the team.

Things picked up immediately against Spurs with Ljajic really starting to perform, constantly beating his full back and putting in fantastic crosses. (Which we didn't take enough advantage of admittedly). We still needed one of our defenders young Callum George to show the strikers how it should be done when he bagged 2 from set pieces. Against Birmingham the possession was shared pretty evenly, but we created the more clear cut chances, and Eduardo took advantage of two excellent through balls from Pavlyuchenko.

The game against City turned into something of an epic, which I didn't expect given the start we had, they fielded a front line of Andy Carroll just ahead of Tevez, Pato and Alexis Sanchez and were all over us in the first half. Yet we somehow managed to go in at the break at 2-2, Carroll was injured just before halftime which seemed to upset their balance (though they were able to bring on David Silva) and we actually had more of the chances from that point. This was Ljajic's best performance by far, finishing with 2 goals and an assist.

Despite the loss to Porto and serious injuries picked up by Aaron Ramsey and Tiote early in the month, November ended on a real high and left us second in the league just ahead of Chelsea and both Manchester clubs. Arsenal top the table, 4 points clear of us at the moment.

[DandyDon]

December 2014 Fixtures

Europa Group Stage Group G

Luzern - 2 (Kurdov '57, Ergic '66)

Newcastle - 5 (Wisgerhof og '7, Pavlyuchenko '33, '68, Mogale '37, Gameiro '80)

Premier League

Liverpool - 1 (Kalinic '2)

Newcastle - 3 (Gameiro '40, '55, George '70)

League Cup Quarter Final

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '98, Sergio injured '102)

Blackburn - 1 (Steven Taylor '120) Newcastle win on penalties

Premier League

Newcastle - 1 (Mogale pen '24)

Wolves - 1 (Kranjcar '66)

Europa Group Stage Group G

Newcastle - 2 (George '56, Jeffries '88)

Villareal - 1 (Altidore '33)

Premier League

Leeds - 0

Newcastle - 4 (Barton '6, Gameiro '19, '43, Eduardo '80)

Premier League

Newcastle - 2 (Clark og '20, Eduardo pen '90+1)

Aston Villa - 1 (Gomis '86)

Premier League

Newcastle - 4 (Griezmann '24, '72, Gameiro '30, Olsson '66)

A gruelling month, especially the results against Blackburn and Wolves. The League cup match against Blackburn developed exactly the way I didn't want it to, them holding us to a draw over the 90 minutes and things were made worse when having used all 3 subs our right back got stretchered off. 120 minutes of effort saw the players struggling to recover for the next league match and not surprisingly with a patched up squad we huffed and puffed to little effect against Wolves.

We were helped in the next few games by the return of several players from injury, Enrique, Coentrao and Ramsey all available for selection after lay offs, and the little rest I gave Gameiro seemed to have the desired effect, with Super kev helping himself to 7 goals during the month.

The impressive results against Leed, Villa and Blackpool also saw us grab top spot for the first time this season, going in to the New Year we're 1st with 47 points, Man City and Arsenal hot on our heels with 46 points all having played 20 matches. After topping our Europa Cup group, we've drawn Roma in the first knockout stage, we drew Arsenal in the League Cup Semi Final and kick off our FA cup journey with a home game against the Hammers.

Gameiro is still some way ahead as our star performer so far, but a couple of our youngsters may push him close by the seasons end, injury permitting.

[DandyDon]

January 2015 Fixtures

FA Cup 3rd Round

Newcastle - 3 (Pavlyuchenko '6, Gameiro '77, Olsson '90+1)

West Ham - 0

Premier League

Chelsea - 1 (Krasic '33)

Newcastle - 0

Premier League

Newcastle - 1 (Jeffries '35)

Wigan - 0

League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg

Newcastle - 1 (Olsson '85)

Arsenal - 0

Premier League

Arsenal - 1 (Jagielka og '51)

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '4, Sergio injured '10)

Premier League

West Brom - 0

Newcastle - 2 (Taylor og '20, Gameiro '38)

League Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg

Arsenal - 3 (Bakambu '11, Morris '57, M'Vila '80)

Newcastle - 1 (Ljajic '32, Griezmann injured '56)

FA Cup 4th Round

Norwich - 0

Newcastle - 2 (Gameiro '8 Rodwell '90)

Our time at the top was rather short lived after going top at the end of Decmber, losing our next league game to Chelsea let Man City back in front. Having to play Arsenal 3 times in a couple of weeks was a bit of a drag and injuries caught up to us in the 2nd leg as we had to play Enrique at right back. The injuries made my mind up and we went back in to the transfer market to grab another defender, we snapped up Calvin Langa from RC Lens, a 23 year old South African player who can play DC or DR. He's made a solid start to his career with us, averaging 7.43 in 4 league starts.

Annoyingly enough we've landed Arsenal in the next round of the FA cup as well, fortunately we can't draw them in the Euro cup as they're still in the Champions League.

[DandyDon]

February 2015 Fixtures

Premier League

Newcastle - 5 (Jeffries '6, '33, '71, Gameiro '23, '39, Mogale sent off '55)

Man Utd - 0

Premier League

Newcastle - 3 (Gameiro '42, Jeffries '72, '90+1, Olsson injured '57)

Everton - 1 (Affellay '17)

Premier League

Blackburn - 1 (Ben Khalifa '9)

Newcastle - 1 (Bentley '37)

Europa Cup 1st Knockout Round 1st leg

Roma - 1 (Vieirinha '90+2)

Newcastle - 1 (Eduardo '26)

FA Cup 5th Round

Newcastle - 4 (Hargreaves pen '14, Rodwell '18, '21, '90)

Arsenal - 0

Europa Cup 1st Knockout Round 2nd Leg

Newcastle - 0

Roma - 0

February got off to an amazing start with our best result in the season and a half since I took over. The scoreline would suggest the two strikers were the standout performers, and they were fantastic, but the real star performer was Adam Ljajic who destroyed Utd's new left back Gareth Bale. He finished the game with three assists, all of them after skinning Bale and sending in inch perfect low crosses. He was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet being denied twice by the woodwork.

After 2 excellent results the Blackburn game was a let down, and they are quickly turning into something of a bogey side for us. Regardless of respective league position we seem to struggle in every game against them. Other than the FA cup final last season, all our other games have ended in draws, and we were lucky to escape with one from this game.

Our away performance in Rome did enough to see us through, fortunate as in the home game our strikers were horribly wasteful, and in fact since the Blackburn game they all seem to be struggling with their finishing. We relied on the midfield against Arsenal in the cup, Rodwell's aerial prescence causing them massive problems. He also showed the benefit of his decent composure when put through on their keeper late on to grab his hattrick.

All that leaves us in second place in the league, just 2 points behind Man City. We have Espanyol in the next round in Europe, and Blackburn (sooooooooooooooo not who I wanted to draw ) in the FA cup.

Best Result So Far

League Table going in to March

[GeordieInExile]

Hi lads, not had much chance to play FM 2011 since starting a new job, but I've been able to get a few games in here and there.

I'm actually having decent success in my first season. Sitting third in the league, brought in some decent youngsters, and plans to upgrade the training and youth facilities are underway!

League Table:

Transfers:

First Team:

Tactic:

It is my aim to finish at least fourth and qualify for the Champions League. After being in such a good spot, would be a shame to finish with anything less really.

[DandyDon]

looks like a cracking first season Geordie, good luck hanging on to a Champions League spot

[Parmie]

I finally got around to starting a new game with the latest update and I've just started the 3rd season:

2010/2011

Premier League - 7th place finish. 18W 9D 11L

FA Cup 5th Round - Newcastle United 0 - 1 Aston Villa

League Cup Winners - Newcastle United 2 - 1 Aston Villa

Transfers Out:

Nile Ranger £2.9m - Chelsea

Steve Harper £0.5m loan fee - Aston Villa

Kazenga Lualua £2.1m - Al-Gharrafa

Jonas £6m - Liverpool

Transfers In:

Christian Benitez £2.5m - Santos Laguna

Thorgan Hazard £3.4m - RC Lens

Eden Hazard £13.25m - LOSC Lille Metropole

Tactics:

4-2-3-1 Fluid, Expressive, Control, Pressing (home)

4-2-3-1 Balanced, Expressive, Standard, Pressing (away)

Notes:

Christian Benitez - Premier League top scorer, 35 goals in 35 games.

Youth and Training facilities upgraded

Feeder Club gained - Falkirk

2011/2012

Premier League - 5th place finish. 23W 6D 9L

FA Cup Winners - West Ham 1 - 3 Newcastle United

League Cup 4th Round - Newcastle United 0 - 2 Sunderland

Transfers Out:

Danny Guthrie £2.3m - Wolves

Leon Best £1m - Sheffield United

Wayne Routledge £0.9m - Crystal Palace

Danny Simpson £2.2m - Sheffield United

Shola Ameobi - £1.2m - Reading

Xisco £3m - Sampdoria

Steve Harper £850k - Birmingham

Transfers In:

Stephen Ireland £5.25m - Aston Villa

Paulo (regen) £1.2m - Atletico Minero

Moussa Sissoko £15m - Toulouse

Mahamdou Diarra £0m - Free

Yannis Tafer/Carlos Vela - Loans

Notes:

Takeover in close season by a local businessman, no investment made

Youth Recruitment Network upgraded

Feeder Club gained - MSNK Zilina

[Welshace]

hey lads... just starting a (hopefully) long term save ...

who have you got in first season for assistant manager? ... and is jonas actually any good considering i can get 6-8 million for him?

and what about the likes of nolan?

[ObaMartins09]

I promoted Peter Beardsley to be my assistant.

And keep Jonas, he's better than his stats suggest. Can get incredibly frustrating at times but at others he is unplayable. Basically try and keep the squad together for the first season before deciding who features in your plans and who doesn't.

[Parmie]

I don't need MR or ML with my formation and the money I could get was a big contribution to getting Hazard and part of the redressing of a few of the high wage players. I've kept Nolan as he covers between MC and AMC for me so his versatility is useful, he also makes a good captain/vice captain.

I replaced the entire coaching staff pretty much straight away. Jose Segura from Liverpool was my choice for Assistant Manager.

[DandyDon]

hey lads... just starting a (hopefully) long term save ...

who have you got in first season for assistant manager? ... and is jonas actually any good considering i can get 6-8 million for him?

and what about the likes of nolan?

If you're going to play with wingers, either MR/ML or AMR/AML depending on your tactic, I would definitely hang on to Jonas for at least a season. He can very effective with his direct running, and he pops up at the back post to grab a few goals as well.

If you're playing a more narrow tactic, relying on your fullbacks to provide width perhaps, then cash in on him and use the money to buy yourself a decent creative central midfielder.

[GeordieInExile]

looks like a cracking first season Geordie, good luck hanging on to a Champions League spot

Cheers Don. It seems that I've finally found a decent tactic and the players are playing well, especially the players you wouldn't expect, like Mike Williamson. I haven't been able to find a spot for Nolan and I sent Ireland back. Will look to offload Nolan, Guthrie, free up some of the salary, and bring in a couple of quality centre mids.

[Hamzterz]

Have a bit of an issue with my Newcastle-squad. Im in 2026, and have won PL for the last +10 years, and CL almost every year.

Newcastle is the number 1 team in coefficients, but still my best players want to move club because they think they've archieved all they can at the club.

Looks like Barcelona and Real Madrid always more interesting - even though im way better - anywhere but "Richest Club".

Is there anything I can do?