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

[DandyDon]

So after a long night of playing FM made it through to the end of the 2014/15 season, hence these bleary eyed updates to follow. Apologise for the multiple posts guys, but figured I'd finish off the details of the season before I stagger off and get some sunshine.

March 2015 Fixtures

Premier League

Newcastle - 4 (Eduardo '13, Ljajic '25, Bussman og '43, Keogh og '80)

Coventry - 0

Premier League

Sunderland - 0 (Makriev sent off '84)

Newcastle - 2 (Cabaye og '57, Griezmann '68)

Europa Cup 2nd Knockout Round 1st Leg

Espanyol - 1 (Gavranovic '64)

Newcastle - 2 (Jeffries '61, Ben Arfa '90+2)

FA Cup 6th Round

Newcastle - 2 (Gameiro '14, Mogale '70)

Blackburn - 1 (Dost '40)

Europa Cup 2nd Knockout Round 2nd Leg

Newcastle - 3 (Eduardo '23, Ben Arfa '44, Lodeiro og '90, Ben Arfa injured '83)

Espanyol - 3 (Osvaldo '10, Lodeiro '62, '87)

Premier League

Newcastle - 3 (Jeffries '10, Easton og '26, Gameiro '49)

Birmingham - 0

Rather lurched through the cup competitions in March, struggled against Blackburn yet again and was very grateful when they had a second goal chalked off. The Espanyol games were very topsy turvy, we dominated the away game and grabbed a very useful 2-1 win. In the second leg however we were terrible at times and Espanyol had the edge in terms of chances created, and for a few minutes we were going out of the competition until Lodeiro scored his 3rd of the match..at the wrong end thankfully.

Things were a lot easier in the league for us and we were a point ahead of Man City going in to April.

[DandyDon]

April 2015 Fixtures

Premier League

Fulham - 3 (McDonald '10, '60, James O'Shea '45)

Newcastle - 5 (Gameiro '24, '37, '48, Ljajic '45+2, Jeffries '79)

Europa Cup Quarter Final 1st Leg

Newcastle - 5 (Gameiro '4, '17, '65, Enrique '14, Jeffries '59)

Galatasaray - 3 (Stancu '3, Haruna '34, Pino '81)

Premier League

Newcastle - 3 (Gameiro '11, '53, George '33)

Bolton - 0

Europa Cup Quarter Final 2nd Leg

Galatasarary - 1 (Sarioglu '4)

Newcastle - 2 (George '16, Sarioglu og '65)

FA Cup Semi Final

Newcastle - 1 (Gameiro '58)

Birmingham - 0

Premier League

Tottenham - 1 (Boselli '90+2)

Newcastle - 4 (Gameiro '2, '20, Jeffries '49, Barton '82)

Premier League

Newcastle - 3 (Gameiro '33, Ramsey '48, Rodwell '58)

Man City - 1 (Silva '14, Vidal sent off '17)

Europa Cup Semi Final 1st Leg

Newcastle - 2 (George '25, Bentley '29)

FC Bayern - 1 (Robben pen '6)

Excellent month for us in all competitions, a narrow win over Birmingham meant we made a 2nd successive FA Cup final, where we'd face Man City. We started poorly against City in the league game, but Vidal was sent with a straight red for a two footed assault on Pavlyuchenko and from that point on we had control of the game. The result meant we opened up a four point gap over City with four games left to go.

[DandyDon]

Going in to May we were looking at a pretty congested fixture list, 4 crucial games in the league to come, an FA Cup Final, the 2nd leg of our Europa cup clash with Bayern and a possible Europa Final to come as well. Fortunately we had a pretty clear injury list by this point, and some players in great form.

May 2015 Fixtures

Premier League

Wolves - 2 (Doyle '9, Jones '44)

Newcastle - 4 (Ljajic '15, George '20, '39, '78)

Europa Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg

FC Bayern - 2 (Robben '28, Corchia '62, Muller sent off '99)

Newcastle - 2 (Gameiro '3, George '104)

Premier League

Newcastle - 5 (Jagielka pen '28, Eduardo '37, '58, '88, Barton '40)

Liverpool - 0

Premier League

Blackpool - 2 (Michel '11, Da Silva pen '43)

Newcastle - 0

Europa Cup Final

Fiorentina - 1 (Montolivo '65)

Newcastle - 0

Premier League

Newcastle - 4 (Griezmann '9, '20, Gameiro '17, '73)

Leeds - 1 (Hadji '77)

FA Cup Final

Man City - 0

Newcastle - 2 (Ganeiro '30, Shawcross og '59)

A fantastic month in the end, but one that came very close to being a disaster. We made it to a European final after holding massive Bayern pressure, I thought we had it in the bag when we got off to a flyer with Gameiro's goal but they absolutely battered us from that point. Inevitably the scoreline at 90 minutes was 2-1 and we had to endure extra time (I was almost willing them to score a third before the 90 was up so I didn't have too many exhausted players, or pick up some late injuries )

However with Muller's sneding off we were able to exert some pressure ourselves and snatch an equaliser on the night and we got lucky with the injuries. The draining effect of the tie meant I made a lot of changes for the Liverpool game and I was worried about an upset, but Eduardo had a real star turn in Gameiro's absence and the Scouser's were duly dispatched, leaving us 4 points clear still with only 2 games left.

Then we stumbled, badly, a truely terrible away performance to 19th placed Blackpool let City close the gap to just one point and we carried that form into the Europa Cup Final against Fiorentina. We only mustered 2 shots on target throughout the game and generally never looked like scoring. By this point I was beginning to panic slightly have to admit, there was a real chance we'd let all three competitions slip from our grasp right at the death. Our final league game was to be against Leeds, who were still not save from relegation and given our form over the last 2 matches I wasn't convinced we'd get a win, there was some sunshine in the fact that City had to go to the Emirates and play thrird placed Arsenal on the last day. Of course that hope was tempered by the fact that 2 games previously City put 7 past Chelsea at the Bridge

Fortunately my players didn't let me down again as we had total control of the game against Leeds, 3 goals in a 20 minute spell at the start ensuring that the result at the Emirates wouldn't matter. As it turned out Arsenal did us a favour anyway, beating City 2-1, despite Andy Carroll's best efforts. Those results on the last day of the league season really deflated the City players and they put up a feeble performance in the FA Cup Final, their own skipper on the day Shawcross scoring our winner.

The undoubted star of the season was that man Gameiro, who finished with an amazing 57 goals in all competitions from 64 games (55 starts), including 16 in Europe. He also made 12 assists and won MoM 15 times. Not surprisingly he finished as the League's top scorer again, 12 goals ahead of anyone else, and also the Footballer of the Year. Griezmann picked up the Players Young Player of the year award as well. We were denied a clean sweep of the awards when Carlos Tevez picked up the Players Player of the Year.

Despite the achievments of the season there will be some changes over the summer. Barton, Pavlyuchenko and Hamdi Salihi are coming to the end of their contracts and probably will not be offered new deals. Salihi isn't getting any matches and wants to leave, Barton and Pav have both started to decline, and their wages are pretty high, so figure I'm better off releasing them and saving some on the wage budget while I look for some youngsters. A few other players weren't happy with the amount of matches they played and are agitating for a move so there may be some outbound deals if we can get clubs interested.

As for buying players I'm hoping to sign mostly cheaper, younger players over the summer as the core squad is good enough as is. The only area I may look to make a major signing is in goal.

Final League Table

Super Kev's stats

[ObaMartins09]

As if two FA Cup Final defeats weren't bad enough, I've just lost the Champions League Final to Barcelona 2-1.

Incredible achievement to reach it though. We beat Bayern Munich 6-0 (YES, SIX-NIL) over two legs before despatching of Spurs in the semi's.

I am in the 3rd season btw (12/13) and finished 4th in the league after a 2nd place finish last season.

[DandyDon]

Unlucky to pitch up against Barca in the final Oba. Looks like it was a close run thing.

[DandyDon]

Just had an offer from Real Madrid for this lad, they're offering £31.5 million overall and I'm tempted to accept to offset some of the spending last season, but he has been very decent playing at right back for us.

[GeordieInExile]

Just had an offer from Real Madrid for this lad, they're offering £31.5 million overall and I'm tempted to accept to offset some of the spending last season, but he has been very decent playing at right back for us.

I'd take it. That's an awful lot of cash to not accept. Do you have time left in the window to sign a replacement?

[DandyDon]

I'd take it. That's an awful lot of cash to not accept. Do you have time left in the window to sign a replacement?

I ended up rejecting it, though I was very tempted not to. I made bids for a couple of decent replacements, but they were asking too much for my liking. Probably just as well I did as the other squad right back Diakite got crocked not long after.

Fortunately for me he hasn't kicked up a fuss since the bid was turned down, no agent demanding a new contract so looks like he's pretty happy where he is. (and who knows, if he has another good season, we might get an even bigger offer next summer )

[si4uk]

Speaking on money I find it a pain to make profit with Newcastle.

I had to sell Ganso to Man Utd for 32m as I was given a 1.2m transfer fund lol. I have over £1m coming in through monthly payments but we end up with losses .

It still left me with me Hazard, Luakaka and Alexsis Sanchez but Chelsea are knocking at the door heh. I find it generally difficult to retain wonderkids if the big offers come in, which is a reason I would't buy Ganso early game. Maybe I need a tycoon takeover but I brought in over £70m in TV revenue and prize money etc.

My squad is small enough but I managed to get Vela, Joe Cole and Jack Wilshire who is on load(just need 27m to buy him) so I'm tempted to sell Benetiz I did manage luckily to get Sully Muntari and Sergio Ajenjo on frees though.

[J.T]

I have really struggled to get into a good FM save lately and remembering my NUFC save on FM10 which I didn't post about, I figured a Newcastle save may be enjoyable. So here I am.

I will post a pre season report in the morning as it's quite late now and i'm not quite through pre-season.

Would also be good if some of the NUFC veterans could tell me what team instructions they used in the first season?

Cheers

[ObaMartins09]

Speaking on money I find it a pain to make profit with Newcastle.

It isn't difficult if you don't spend big and don't splash loads on wages/agent fees.

I'm at the start of my fourth season now and we are looking healthy financially. I was given a £54m budget in the summer but have spent about £4m of it as I don't need so many players. No doubt signing the likes of Hazard and Sanchez would benefit the squad but the wages would be ridiculous, as would the transfer fee.

To be fair though, a lot of our money has come from our magnificent Champions League run last year.

[si4uk]

It isn't difficult if you don't spend big and don't splash loads on wages/agent fees.

I'm at the start of my fourth season now and we are looking healthy financially. I was given a £54m budget in the summer but have spent about £4m of it as I don't need so many players. No doubt signing the likes of Hazard and Sanchez would benefit the squad but the wages would be ridiculous, as would the transfer fee.

To be fair though, a lot of our money has come from our magnificent Champions League run last year.

I actually got the board to buy Hazard for £16m in the first season so it wasn't to bad .

Currently I am 350k under the wage budget and only two players earn 100k(those being Sanchez and Hazard). In my third season as manager and we're doing well in Champion's League so far so hopefully we'll be much better financially at the end of this season.

I still have 18m left to spend but will probably keep it until the summer tranfer window.

[jetpack23]

have got messi in my newcastle team playing amr any ideas to get the best out of him as dont like playing with a amc

[col_nufc1]

I have started another new Newcastle game, I have only loaded the English leagues down to BSS/BSN and I have selected every other league as view only to hopefully get through seasons quickly.

The transfer window has just closed and these were our transfers in the first seasson, strangely Eden Hazard wasn't interested in signing for Newcastle even though he has been on every other save with Newcastle on patch 11.3 :confused:.

We are top of the Premier League after 25 games and we are 8 points clear of second placed Spurs.

In the Carling cup we got knocked out at Reading in the 3rd round after playing a weak team which was embarrassing. After a easy run in the FA cup we are into the 5th round and will play Stoke City at SJP.

[col_nufc1]

have got messi in my newcastle team playing amr any ideas to get the best out of him as dont like playing with a amc

Bloody hell Messi , if your not playing with a AMC I would play him as a inside forward attack in the AMR slot or as a striker with the Trequartista role.

[jetpack23]

first game as a amr inside forward got 2 goals cheers

[col_nufc1]

first game as a amr inside forward got 2 goals cheers

Good stuff I am glad it worked for you.

[jetpack23]

what team are you currently with

[col_nufc1]

what team are you currently with

I have started another new game with Newcastle, we are in March in the first season.

[jetpack23]

how you getting on

[col_nufc1]

how you getting on

We are top of the Premier League after 31 games but we are only 3 points clear of second placed Arsenal. We are also in the FA cup semi final and will play Man City.

How are you getting on ?

[jetpack23]

yeah not too bad third season in, joint top with man city, knocked out early in legue cup my own fault for playing youngsters, in semi final of fa cup and quarter final of euro cup

[GeordieInExile]

What has everyone done with the goalkeeper situation going into the second season?

Steve Harper is doing well for me this year (first season), but I think he's going to struggle next season. Forster told me that he wants a better contract, but I told him to prove it to me by playing well at Celtic. So it's a choice between either Krul or Forster, or bringing in someone new and letting one of them go.

[ObaMartins09]

Play Krul, he turns out quite good. Forster is inconsistent.

[GeordieInExile]

Only a few games left in the season and Birmingham just got relegated. Hopefully that means I can get Ben Foster in for a relatively good price.

[jetpack23]

did you get foster

[nufc1]

What has everyone done with the goalkeeper situation going into the second season?

Steve Harper is doing well for me this year (first season), but I think he's going to struggle next season. Forster told me that he wants a better contract, but I told him to prove it to me by playing well at Celtic. So it's a choice between either Krul or Forster, or bringing in someone new and letting one of them go.

Forster is still my keeper. Won the league last season (season 5) with him in goal. Him, Krul and Alnwick are all good enough IMO

[col_nufc1]

NEWCASTLE SEASON ONE REVIEW.

A fantastic season for Newcastle as we do the double of the Premier League and the FA cup in our first season.

We were 8 points clear at the top of the Premier League at one point during the season but we started drawing a lot of games that we were winning earlier in the season and in the end we won the league on goal difference.

In the Carling cup I fielded a weak team in both games and we got hammered off Championship side Reading in the third round which was rather embarrasing.

In the FA cup we had a easy run upto the semi final were we played Man City and the final were we played Everton and we won both games 4-1.

PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE.

IN THE CUPS.

Carling cup 3rd round. Reading 3-0 Newcastle.

FA cup final. Everton 1-4 Newcastle.

FA CUP FIXTURES.

THE SQUAD.

NEXT SEASON.

We have already agreed to sell Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan, Leon Best before the transfer window officially opens to get there wages off the books. I will also try to sell the likes of Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas (even though he had a excellent season), Xisco, Mike Williamson and a few others so we can have a bit of money to spend in the transfer market. I will try to sign Gervinho, Ganso, Eden Hazard, Douglas Costa on 48 month installments.

[GeordieInExile]

Season One Review:

After being there or thereabouts earlier on in the season, we went into the final game with fourth spot and Champions League qualification secure. We could have gone second if we managed to beat Spurs away and Chelsea lost to West Brom. We lost 3-0 at White-Hart Lane but West Brom survived the drop by defeating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

I'm not too disappointed with not securing second because finishing in the top four was the aim, but it's still a kick in the teeth after being so close.

The reserves lost out on winning their group by 1 point (Man Utd were winners), and the U18's finished second in their group too.

End of Season Awards:

I received Manager of the Year Award, Benitez finished with 30 Premier League goals and Top Goalscorer award, as well as picking up the Footballer of the Year award.

Transfer Plans for the Summer:

Transfer / Release on Free:

Alan Smith

Shola Ameobi

Ryan Taylor

Leon Best

James Perch

Shefki Kuqi

Fabio Zamblera

Sol Campbell

Loan:

Yven Moyo

Phil Airey

Ryan Donaldson

Samuel Adjei

Michael Richardson

Incoming Transfers:

Birmingham got relegated so I'm mulling over signing Ben Foster and sending out Forster or Krul on Loan and transferring Harper.

I'm looking for a top quality MC (maybe Rodwell), and a replacement for Benitez incase he gets injured. I also need to solve my right winger problems. Ben Arfa was great in some matches, but not in others and was way too inconsistent for my liking. I do have Alex Chamberlain, but I'm being careful with how I bring him in to the first team.

I also wouldn't mind a top quality centre-half. I'm thinking Shawcross, but haven't made up my mind yet.

End of Season One Premier League Table

[si4uk]

Signing over 48 months isn't a good idea in my experience as you end up paying more money out per month then the club can afford . It can also mean very little future transfer budget as the payments are taken from the money available.

Ganso is nice to have but the chances are the board will sell him over the managers head for any offers over 30m and offers over that amount will come from Chelsea, Barca as soon as his 2nd season at the club.

On the subject of right wingers it'll depend on how much you want to pay heh, Arron Lennon develops well but take a while to get into stride, Alexis Sanchex is expensive but also easily retrained to MR, David Bently is good option for some under 5 and can cross the ball with good accuracy

[GeordieInExile]

I should mention that I have £16.8 million to spend, but could adjust the budget and get up to £22mil.

[DandyDon]

I should mention that I have £16.8 million to spend, but could adjust the budget and get up to £22mil.

Geordie, I'd second Si's recommendation of David Bentley for the right wing. He's still doing a very good job for my side in 2015/16, grabs a few goals. His delivery from set pieces is always useful if you've got some real monster headers in the opposition box. He's usually available pretty cheap in the second season, always seems to end up on the transfer list at Spurs. Ljajic is a great younger option too, but he might be pretty expensive.

Rodwell is great in central midfield, but Everton will probably want massive money for him. On the previous patch they wanted 50 odd million for him in the second season. I got him cheaper on this patch, but still cost well over 20 million. And grab Shawcross before City do.

[ObaMartins09]

I got Rodwell for £10.5m in second season winter window. Worth every penny, brilliant player and England regular.

[Delilah_katona]

I signed Hazard with 17m pound, next season the fking charmain sell him at 35m to Chelsea, I was disappointed now.

[GeordieInExile]

Unfortunately Bentley isn't interested in joining my Toon revolution! He was offered to me though during the summer break, and I turned them down. Talk about shooting myself in the foot! I did sign N'Zonzi from Blackburn though - definitely one for the future who will learn from Barton and Nolan.

[nickbirdspain]

Hi all, after weeks of promise i've finally ditched the Southampton save (for now) and started up my Geordie journey.

Just finished a successful pre-season and we're about to start the season at Chelsea. Only one signing so far Kevin Gameiro joined for FC Lorient for £8m. No plans for anyone else at this stage. I tend to stick with my original squad in the first season and then buy in the summer but as the current strikers couldnt hit a donkey's arse from two yards, investment was needed!

Any advice on my journey is always welcome - i'll keep you posted peeps!

[SRL88]

Yes Nick. I have some advice. Keep posting comments such as 'but as the current strikers couldnt hit a donkey's arse from two yards, investment was needed!' to give me a bit of a 2 second giggle and I will be happy haha.

[nickbirdspain]

Promise to keep those gems coming SRL - sadly i wish it wasn't the case. To be far my pre-season went very well with all my strikers on form. Strolla scored a perfect 10 for his performance against Exeter and Kuqi managed to bag 4 in 2 games. Granted i play a lot of considerably lesser opposition in friendlies - i normally like playing a couple of non league teams and spanking them 9-0 - so it will be interesting to see how they do against real opposition.

Out of interest how is Tiote on 11.3 - on all the others he's quite sh1te. I'm looking forward also to giving Best a run in the team but he's out until February so might be some time yet!

[DandyDon]

Nick, Tiote seems pretty decent on 11.3, there are better players out there, but he'll do a job till you're ready to spend big. He's still a squad player in my current save in 2015, though Rodwell is usually first choice in that position. Gameiro should be a very sound investment, brilliant poacher.

Squad doesn't need massive tinkering with in first season really, but I would try and find some decent cover for Jose at left back.

[DandyDon]

Unfortunately Bentley isn't interested in joining my Toon revolution! He was offered to me though during the summer break, and I turned them down. Talk about shooting myself in the foot! I did sign N'Zonzi from Blackburn though - definitely one for the future who will learn from Barton and Nolan.

Unlucky with Bentley there, did you find anyone else for the right wing position?

[nickbirdspain]

Cheers Don - i've got young Shane Ferguson and he did amazing in my friendly smashing in two goals and MoM with a 9.6 rating. Out of the youngsters at the start do any of them make it through. In the real world a lot has been mentioned about Michael Richardson, Phil Airey and Shane Ferguson - i know Ranger and Vuckic have huge potential - i was just wondering if there was anyone else you can keep an eye on?

[nickbirdspain]

Hi all quick update on my first two games (promise i'll keep the updates down to seasonal instead of per game!)

Against Chelsea away we came up against tough opposition and despite leading 1-0 at half time we went down 2-1 to two quick fire goals from Fernando Torres. Not the best start to a season opener but onward and upward. Our next opposition were Wolves at home and it turned out to be something of Deja Vu. By have time we were leading 3-0 with a debut goal from Kevin Gamerio and one from Jonas and an OG. The second half have started off with injuries to Enrique and HBA and then Ireland got himself sent off. I wasn't worried we'd lose but thought we'd hold on - my fears were all put to bed with a further two from Gamerio and one from Nolan. 6-0 the final score.

[GeordieInExile]

Well, still no luck on finding a right winger, the search goes on.

However, I may have came across a bug in the game. I submitted several bids for Shawcroft, and they came back with £18 million. So I did the 'interact with board' transfer dealy and thought that was that. However, three weeks later in the game and nothing has happened, and I have a transfer budget of zero so I can't make bids for anyone else. When I go to his profile, Newcastle are down as 'Major Interest', but thats it'.

Bloody Mike Ashley running away with my transfer budget!

Fortunately I have a save from the very start of the summer, so I'll probably use that.

[Welshace]

Started a new save with newcastle... with the intent to go for players i dont usually go for... i have a few shortlisted already to try and get:

santiago silva.. 29 year old uruguayan striker from Velez .. perfect looking complete striker, should cost me around 6-7 million based on scouting.

danny .. the portuguese playmaker from Zenit should make a fantastic playmaker / winger and should come for around 8 million maybe.

benzema.. dont know if he'll come but im hopeful as he's transfer listed from the beginning... perfect poacher.

taras mykhalyk .. loved the look of this powerful CB since seeing him play for the Ukraine.. not sure how much though :/

van der wiel ... for the money , he is easily the best option for rb that you can get in the first window.

jefferson... GK from botafogo, looks the biz tbh.. top class.. not sure how much though

simao ... portuguese RW ... only just joined besiktas so im not hopeful of getting him but we'll see, failing that, arda turan or farfan maybe..

will attempt to get them all over 48 months , i feel its worth it to bring success to the club, plus im hoping a rich new owner comes in, oh and on that point , i should point out that the database im using has had one thing edited, and thats making the confidence in ashley much less, which increases the chances of him leaving the club as i cant stand working at a club with him at the helm

[Lemoncurd]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197974816590/screenshot/596936567746920732

That's how i found danny to be first season, second season he's played less of a role with the signature of Douglas Costa and willian.

[DandyDon]

Well, still no luck on finding a right winger, the search goes on.

However, I may have came across a bug in the game. I submitted several bids for Shawcroft, and they came back with £18 million. So I did the 'interact with board' transfer dealy and thought that was that. However, three weeks later in the game and nothing has happened, and I have a transfer budget of zero so I can't make bids for anyone else. When I go to his profile, Newcastle are down as 'Major Interest', but thats it'.

Bloody Mike Ashley running away with my transfer budget!

Fortunately I have a save from the very start of the summer, so I'll probably use that.

Hi Geordie, did you get anywhere with that bug or did you just start over with the earlier save?

[nufc1]

Thinking of giving the 'not buying anyone' save another go on the new patch. Emphasis will be on getting Ranger, Ferguson, Lualua and Kadar etc to a high-ish standard. Any advice on who else to try to bring through?

Also, which formation? thinking of a 4-2-3-1 maybe with Tiote (anchor man) and Barton (DLP) as DM's. Only 1 striker because of the lack of quality there really

[DandyDon]

Not sure there is anyone else really Nufc, unless you get lucky with random potential ona couple of the youngsters. When I took over at SJP on this save Kadar, Ranger and Vukic were the only starting prospects left. Of those 3 only Kadar had progressed enough to get in the squad.

I was lucky in that there were a couple of decent regens in the youth team who have progressed very nicely, Jeffries and George....now I'm on the lookout for a Zippy and Bungle too.

[Welshace]

Thinking of giving the 'not buying anyone' save another go on the new patch. Emphasis will be on getting Ranger, Ferguson, Lualua and Kadar etc to a high-ish standard. Any advice on who else to try to bring through?

Also, which formation? thinking of a 4-2-3-1 maybe with Tiote (anchor man) and Barton (DLP) as DM's. Only 1 striker because of the lack of quality there really

vuckic and spear are also decent.. probably the best prospects we have

[GeordieInExile]

Hi Geordie, did you get anywhere with that bug or did you just start over with the earlier save?

Hey Don, I played on for a while hoping the Shawcroft deal would go through, but it never did. I've reverted to the earlier save.