nickbirdspain Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Cheers Don. I've got Simmo and he is ok. I want someone a bit more sold. I've got a deal lined up for Seamus Coleman but not sure. Any suggestions? I'm also going to look at the lower for a CB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Also has anyone had any luck with Chris Smalling? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Cheers Don. I've got Simmo and he is ok. I want someone a bit more sold. I've got a deal lined up for Seamus Coleman but not sure. Any suggestions? I'm also going to look at the lower for a CB There's two young french players Serge Aurier and Dennis Appiah, if they weren't snapped up in the first season they might be reasonably cheap. Aurier doesn't have the greatest technical attributes but usually is a bit of a beast physically. He does sometimes end up at Man Utd early on, but on one of my saves they bought him, never played him then sold him 3 seasons on for a loss. Sebastien Corchia is another one I'd recommend, starts out at Le Mans FC in France if I remember right, very pacy...but again he might have moved on to a bigger club. He's French/Italian so often ends up in Serie A. Coleman usually turns out pretty decent so if it's not a massively expensive deal to get him I would go for it. As for centre backs take a look at Ivan Marcano, Ezequiel Munoz and Victor Ruiz, I'm managing Spain in 2015 and those 3 seem to have turned out pretty well. There's a good few decent central defenders out there, lot more than full backs anyway. I'm sure your scouts should pick out a few you can afford. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Nick, take a look at Roland Juhasz for a DC as well. He's Hungarian, starts at Anderlecht. He's not the quickest, but he is big, strong, good in the air, great marker and he'd probably cost a couple of million. He'd be a good experienced option to go straight into the first team while you look for a more long term option. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Sounds good Don- I remember on FM10 Wilko was quality and now he's crap. I think older experienced is the way forward for now. Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Sounds good Don- I remember on FM10 Wilko was quality and now he's crap. I think older experienced is the way forward for now. Thanks No prob, hope you find the players you need, and no more horrible legbreaks for Super Kev Gameiro Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Decided to take you up on your advice Don and have gone for Roland Juhasz - he was at Juventus and i picked him up for £3.2m - i'm also on the hunt for an RB and have a deals in place for a young brazilian regen CB and a young Argentinean GK - i've always managed to pick Jack Whiltshere on a season loan as well. Out of interest have you ever invested in Micah Richards - he is available for £5m is he any good? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Decided to take you up on your advice Don and have gone for Roland Juhasz - he was at Juventus and i picked him up for £3.2m - i'm also on the hunt for an RB and have a deals in place for a young brazilian regen CB and a young Argentinean GK - i've always managed to pick Jack Whiltshere on a season loan as well. Out of interest have you ever invested in Micah Richards - he is available for £5m is he any good? I've never actually used him myself, have seen him on the transfer list pretty regularly. Maybe they'd be willing to loan him for a season so you could try him out? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
memph Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Micah Richards is a solid defender i picked him up on a free in my 4th season and he is back up in both centre and right back positions, only because i have managed to develop serge aurier into a world class right back Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Micah Richards is a solid defender i picked him up on a free in my 4th season and he is back up in both centre and right back positions, only because i have managed to develop serge aurier into a world class right back How did Aurier's technical attributes turn out for you Memph? I've seen him on a couple of saves and he always looks an absolute monster physically but never seems to have developed much elsewhere. Never managed to sign him as he usually ends up at Man Utd or Chelsea on my games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 It's been a bit quiet on her lately fella's any exciting updates? My Toon save is coming along nicely - into February of my third season and we are currently second, one point behind Chelsea. Still in the FA Cup and Champions League although we are about to start the second round with a trip to Real Madrid. Again, super Kev is becoming a hero - after giving him the number 9 shirt he has repaid my faith with 32 goals in 25 games. Including 28 in 22 league appearances. It would of been more but i lost him to injury for a month. Fortunately i counted for this and his strike partner Nolan Roux has chipped in his fair share 22 goals in 29 games is a great return. I lost my two most influential midfielders, Jonas and HBA for 4 and 5 months respectively. Fortunately LuaLua and Jack Wiltshere have been more than adequate replacements. I still have defense issues and will be looking for for a new DMC and CB at the end of the year. Ryan Taylor has been my surprise of the season at RB - the lad has been fantastic and has an average rating of 7.28. Fingers crossed for the rest of the year! Lets hope it doesn't go the way of 95/96 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I have started a season with Newcastle for the first time on the 11.3 patch I'm dedicated to sticking with it as long as possible! It was on one of those starts to the season where nothing seems to go right, and it wasn't until i hit December i'd realised i'd picked up decent form and now at the end of April (4 games left) i'm challenging for the Europa League. 5th - Everton 55pts 6th - Man City 52pts 7th - Newcastle 50pts 8th - Liverpool 47pts Everton is the next game, at home, infront of the TV cameras, so looking for a win. I've signed many a player at the beginning of the season and a few January, although they are looking more to the future and are players that will generally only improve and once they start hitting their peak replace the current lot. Tom Cairney Xherdan Shaqiri Dida Christian Benitez Jack Butland Sime Vrsaljko Sebastien Battaglia Tim Matavz Alex Chamberlain Federico Fazio Erick Torres Phil Jones Will update in 4 games time! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I thought a game by game update would be more entertaining for those online, so here we go. Everton @ St. James. 1-0 down at HT and I feared the worst, my asst. man suggest a sympathetic approach at the team talk, i decided to bollock them all (apart from Phil Jones playing 7.7) and we came out 3-1 winners! Looking forward optimistically at my next fixture.... Manchester United at home. (League winners by a mile, played 34 - 86 points. Chelsea closest on 35 played -69 points.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I've never mastered beating Manchester Utd, and the game has started in the that vein. 45secs - Wayne Rooney as already rattled the crossbar. 15mins - veteran Scholes had scored from the edge of the box. Looking at the team they have put out, it looks suprisingly under strength for a team so far in front in the league. VD Sar, O'Shea, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Ji-Sung, Scholes, Fletcher, Cedric, Berbatov, Rooney... Looking at their fixtures they do have a CL Final coming up against Barcelona (and people say this game ISN'T realistic!!) 30mins - Hatem Ben Arfa equaliser! By far my player of the season playing as an AMR on advanced playmaker, he is in the running for Prem Player of the Year. (Pld 34 (1) - Scored 7 - - Assists 12 - MOM 6 - Avg Rating 7.41 before today) 52mins - Ben Arfa again! O'Shea off the pitch with an injury and Jose Enrique roams down the left, genuinely contemplating a europe a year after being promoted back to the Prem. 85mins - Staylor sent off for a professional foul... It's a good job, Rooney was in to equalise. Nothing came of the resulting free kick. 88mins - Fazio on for Phil Jones and Battaglia for Stephen Ireland to sure up the defence... Man Utd corner and we hit them on the counter, Jonas with a mazy run down the left, cut back to Enrique who puts in, what can only be described as a s**t cross, VDS fumbles and Ben Arfa taps in his 3rd! It finishes 3-1 and by far my best result of the season. A quick look at the table; 5th - Man City - 58pts 6th - Newcastle - 56pts 7th - Everton - 55pts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I thought a game by game update would be more entertaining for those online, so here we go.Everton @ St. James. 1-0 down at HT and I feared the worst, my asst. man suggest a sympathetic approach at the team talk, i decided to bollock them all (apart from Phil Jones playing 7.7) and we came out 3-1 winners! Looking forward optimistically at my next fixture.... Manchester United at home. (League winners by a mile, played 34 - 86 points. Chelsea closest on 35 played -69 points.) Good luck on the hunt for Europe Dishy, cracking comeback against Everton. Some decent transfer activity there as well, especially Vrsaljko...he either always turns me down or fails to get a work permit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Good luck on the hunt for Europe Dishy, cracking comeback against Everton. Some decent transfer activity there as well, especially Vrsaljko...he either always turns me down or fails to get a work permit. He did fail a work permit! Fortunately I managed to get a Belgian link set-up with 5 days to the end of the January window as the transfer fell through the first time. All set to go against Wolves - I will type out a response in a new reply. Remaining games are Wolves (16th) and Stoke (15th) - Man City have Blackburn (10th) and Birmingham (13th) - Everton have only Fulham (18th and relegated) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Wolves v Newcastle Utd. 18mins - Mouyokolo OG puts us 1-0 from a corner. 35mins - Milijas equalises with absolute screamer from 30 yards out - to be fair it is no more than they deserve, they are dominating in all the stats. 60mins - Battaglia is sent over for a reckless two-footed challenge from behind. He was bought in January for 2 million as a cheaper Alan Smith (who I can hopefully offload in the summer) and was only in the side due to Phil Jones' international commitments, was a coin toss between him and Tiote... in hindsight... 75mins - I hadn't made any particular tactical changes, a quick look at the latest scores and Man City are 1-0 down away at Birmingham. Do I settle for the draw or go out and get the extra two points that will put us ahead of them by a point on equal games? Of course we do! Shaqiri (winger attack) Ben Arfa (advanced playmaker attack) Cairney (deep lying play maker defend) Lua Lua (winger attack) 85mins - Yaya Toure equalises for City FT. Newcastle 1 1 Wolves - Birmingham 1 1 Man City Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I couldn't bare to update during the game - too much excitement for me to handle. Great news though, Blackburn turned over Man City with a 3-0 win - and despatched Stoke 4-1 (Barton, Ireland, Benitez and Shaqiri on target) EURO CUP for Newcastle next season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Congrats on the finish there bet you were you worried you'd blown it with the draw against Wolves....I always think the worst when you get a result like that near the end. Think you'll be making any major changes during the summer, or you reckon all those young players you bought should be improved enough for you to go one better next season? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Haha anyone else find it ridiculous how many goals Jonas scores? Even with his 4 for Finishing he's tucked away 8 goals in 14 games for me so far from the left wing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I think he just runs into the right position sometimes and the ball hits him....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I think he just runs into the right position sometimes and the ball hits him....... Lol maybe I could understand if this was the case, but the majority of his goals are him cutting in from the left, skinning defenders and slotting it expertly in the far corner! Ooooft his Finishing's just gone up to 5, watch out Ronaldo with your 50+ goal season, Guti's closing in Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Congrats on the finish there bet you were you worried you'd blown it with the draw against Wolves....I always think the worst when you get a result like that near the end.Think you'll be making any major changes during the summer, or you reckon all those young players you bought should be improved enough for you to go one better next season? Unfortunately I find it very hard to keep a quiet transfer window, but I think i've not done too bad. IN Pajtim Kasami (agreed earlier in the year) 3.8mil Alexey Rudenok (agreed earlier in the year) 65k Etienne Capoute 7mil OUT Gosling LOAN Leon Best 1mil Lovenkrands 300k Routledge 1.7mil Tiote 5mil One strange thing has happened however, Man Utd have been bidding for Ben Arfa since the end of the season. Started at 5.5mil and got up to 12.75, Ashley accept as he felt it was too good to turn down. When he had accepted the contract however, I had the option to accept, delay or cancel? :S Of course it was cancelled and he remains a Newcastle player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Slightly weird that you were able to cancel the deal after Ashley accepted it, but lets not look a gift horse in the mouth On the transfer front, has anyone had a look at Cabaye who signed in real life? Any good on FM? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH91 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Slightly weird that you were able to cancel the deal after Ashley accepted it, but lets not look a gift horse in the mouth On the transfer front, has anyone had a look at Cabaye who signed in real life? Any good on FM? I've bought Cabaye, he's excellent as a box-to-box midfielder, scored 5 and set up 6 in 23 appearances, average rating of 7.34 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilo_G Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I've bought Cabaye, he's excellent as a box-to-box midfielder, scored 5 and set up 6 in 23 appearances, average rating of 7.34 First-teamer for Man City (grr) on mine, so no chance of getting him for anywhere near reasonable wages now They also snapped up Arturo Vidal and Gervinho. Oh how I hate them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 First-teamer for Man City (grr) on mine, so no chance of getting him for anywhere near reasonable wages now They also snapped up Arturo Vidal and Gervinho. Oh how I hate them. They waste a crazy amount of players on FM, they've just sold Eljero Elia to Barca on my Arsenal save. They played him a massive 26 times in 5 seasons after signing him for 13.75 million, sold him for 2.4 million, despite his lack of games he still wanted 100 grand a week when I made him an offer. And that was almost reasonable compared to some wage demands I've had when trying to sign City rejects Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black_Waltz Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I got lucky in my latest 2011 game. Newcastle got taken over by a free spender, so in my first season of takeover I got something like a £60 million transfer budget. Raided Porto and bought three players, Fernando, Rodriguez and Hulk. Been playing as a 4-1-2-3, with AM wingers and Hulk as a lone striker up top. He's been by far my best striker I have ever had, in the last two seasons getting above 40 goals in all competitions, over 35 goals in the league. Think I have got the best out of him and he is now in the twilight of his career, but still, 127 goals in 177 appearances isn't too shabby. Not to mention we won the champions league in 2016. Of course this save WAS supposed to be where I relied on youth... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I got lucky in my latest 2011 game. Newcastle got taken over by a free spender, so in my first season of takeover I got something like a £60 million transfer budget. Raided Porto and bought three players, Fernando, Rodriguez and Hulk. Been playing as a 4-1-2-3, with AM wingers and Hulk as a lone striker up top. He's been by far my best striker I have ever had, in the last two seasons getting above 40 goals in all competitions, over 35 goals in the league. Think I have got the best out of him and he is now in the twilight of his career, but still, 127 goals in 177 appearances isn't too shabby. Not to mention we won the champions league in 2016. Of course this save WAS supposed to be where I relied on youth... I'm sure we can all forgive you giving in to temptation..... Especially buying Hulk, he's just a goal machine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black_Waltz Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Problem is now, how on earth do I replace him? I'm trying to understand what makes him so good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Problem is now, how on earth do I replace him? I'm trying to understand what makes him so good. Better hope your scouts dig up some wonderkid regen soon then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Is there anyway to see the players you are still paying wages to? I've offloaded Smith and a few others where i've agreed to pay an amount of their wages til their contracts end - Smith 8k, Harper 2k, etc... Just would like to know the total amount i'm spending on players I no longer have! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Is there anyway to see the players you are still paying wages to? I've offloaded Smith and a few others where i've agreed to pay an amount of their wages til their contracts end - Smith 8k, Harper 2k, etc... Just would like to know the total amount i'm spending on players I no longer have! I'm at work so I can't check FM directly, but I think you can check that in the transfer centre window and click on clauses, should see who you're still paying money too and for how long.....assuming I'm remebering that right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dishy91 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I'm at work so I can't check FM directly, but I think you can check that in the transfer centre window and click on clauses, should see who you're still paying money too and for how long.....assuming I'm remebering that right. You were correct, cheers! Currently paying out the following: Ameobi - £5,250 til 2012 (one season) Nolan - £9,500 til 2013 Harper - £5,000 til 2012 Smith - £8,000 So a total outlay of £22,750 on players not at the club - not exactly brilliant but a lot better than I expected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Welcome back folks ... How's everyones updates going? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Alright folks, It’s been a while so in order to get back into the swing of things a quick update is in order. Ok it has been two seasons since my last post and I’m now a couple of months into my 5th season at SJP, and what a ride its been. The past two seasons have seen what so many have tried but failed to deliver at Newcastle – a trophy, and not just one! Going into the third season we were in the champions league and significant reinforcements had been made. Nolan Roux was signed from Birmingham, Jack Whilshere was brought in on loan and on Don’s recommendation we took a punt on Roland Juhasz. I also brought in a new wonderkid keeper, a regen called Cristino Reynso from Argentina. Kevin Gameiro has again the hero scoring an incredible 42 goals – 37 in the league setting a new prem record. Nolan Roux formed a deadly partnership hitting 24 himself. With Jonas out injured for most of the season I decided to put my faith in youth and drafted in Lualua – the lad didn’t disappoint and scored 7 and 12 assists. The short of it is we finished champions five points ahead of a nearest rivals. The cups weren’t anything to shout about crashing early in both. Over a hugely successful campaign and we were eagerly looking forward to defending out title! The summer of the 4th season saw a lot of activity. We were finally taken over by a local businessman who pumped £45m into transfers. With this I brought in Phil Jones of £17.5m from Blackburn, Jack Rodwell from Everton for £13.5m and Jack Wilshere from Arsenal for £12m. From the get go we looked incredibly strong in the league losing only two games in the first 22. Our main rivals were Arsenal who pushed us all the way and it come down to the penultimate weekend with us only two points ahead. A win at home to Birmingham and an Arsenal loss away to Liverpool would see us crowned. We won our game comfortably 4-1 setting a new prem scoring record in a season of 113 goals. Liverpool played their part and beat the Gunners 1-0 to see us retain the title. As for the cups, we were knocked out first round of the Carling Cup. The champions league proved a step too far and we eventually went out to City in the quarters however, what made this an even more memorable season for the Geordies involved us beating Liverpool in a FA Cup classic during the Semi 5-3. We then met Stoke in the final when after a hard fort game we came out 2-1 extra time winners, at the same time securing the double. The star performers were Super Kev, who scored 47 goals in the season – he is now on 145 goals in 156 games for the club, Nolan Roux kept up his consistency with an impressive 22 but the surprise package was Roland Juhasz, who scored 18 goals – I’ve never had a CB get anywhere close to that scoring record before! Going into our 5th season more investment has seen Kyle Walker join from Spurs, as well as a couple of regens, a young Dutch winger and a young French kid who looks incredible. Seasons started well – we beat Arsenal in the community shield making it 2 league titles, 2 community shields and an FA Cup in the cabinet. Currently sitting top but only on goal difference however things look good as we’ve just beaten Chelsea at the bridge! Determined to push on this season and go for at least the domestic triple. Also offered jobs of Man Utd and England but I only have eyes for one team – Howay the Lads!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 YAAAAAAYYYYY!! Welcome back Forums. Good to see them again finally. Looking good there Nick, how's Wilshere doing for you? Imagine he'd make quite a midfield partnership with Rodwell Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 He's not bad - currently injured at the moment but he is getting slowly better and better First season he scored 7 with three assists. Last year he got 3 and 9 assists. Rodwell has been doing very well. Five in his first season including a winner against the Mackems :- ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 He's not bad - currently injured at the moment but he is getting slowly better and better First season he scored 7 with three assists. Last year he got 3 and 9 assists. Rodwell has been doing very well. Five in his first season including a winner against the Mackems :- ) Yeah Rodwell turns into quite a player, handy to have as he can cover in defence too if there's an injury crisis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickbirdspain Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 How's your saves been coming on? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Well while the forums were down I took a little break from FM to plough through a couple of other games. However after suffering some withdrawal symptoms and being inspired by some of the transfer activity (ok by Yohann Cabaye's signing pretty much ) I decided to start a whole new save with Newcastle on the 11.3 patch. I decided I was going to go at this save with a definite plan right from first season since I'd actually have some pretty decent funds available. I was taking some inspiration from Ian Holloway and Blackpool, wanting to secure Newcastle's place in the top flight by playing good attacking football rather than trying to go for dour defensive performances, clinging on for draws and scraping the odd counter attack win. I know it didn't quite work out for them, but they came damn close and I would have better squad players at my disposal. The other obvious inspiration for our style of play was of course Keegan's team from the 90s, the Entertainers, I wanted to go for some seriously attacking style utilising some quick, skillful wingers. Obviously the team was going to require work to fit the formation and style I wanted to play so I went through the squad and prioritised the areas I wanted to strengthen. The backroom staff were also going to get a major shake up. At least with the money from Carroll available I felt I should be able to make some pretty comprehensive changes, and I might be able to raise some money with a couple sales with a little luck. I told the board I'd aim for a top half finish and went to work. Transfer Priorities 1. Strikers I felt this was the most important target area at first. The current crop at SJP just weren't going to be quite up to it and I wanted one really decent striker, preferably two if I could get them in before the window closed. 2. Fullbacks Enrique was a certain starter but had no real back up if he got injured. Simpson was crocked and I wasn't too convinced by other options at right back (Raylor seems happier in midfield and never performs too well at the back for me). So I would be looking for a decent young DL for backup and a DR who might be good enough for the first team. 3. Wingers I figured this wasn't quite such an issue as we had Ben Arfa and Jonas available if I wasn't able to sign anyone outstanding. I was a little worried about the back up options. 4. Central Midfield I did want to add at least one slightly more creative midfielder to the mix, but otherwise I felt we were reasonably well covered in this area. (Though that changed once I got to wheeling and dealing as I'll explain later) 5. Central Defence I thought we were adequately covered here for the first season at least with Colo, Steven Taylor, Williamson, Campbell and Kadar so didn't plan on bringing anyone in. That decision got changed in August when a spate of injuries left me with Mike Williamson as my only fit central defender, for the last week or so of the window this went up to #1 priority. 6. Goalkeeper Again I felt we had enough cover here for the first season to achieve the target I set, Harper and Krul would be good enough for a top half finish and if I wanted to strengthen I'd do it the following summer. 7. Backroom Staff Once I had the playing staff covered then I would look at bringing in a good Ass Man and some quality coaches first off, then expanding the scouting network. So that was the plan and like the best laid plans of mice and men it didn't quite survive contact with the outside world I'll update how it panned out later but time to slope off and grab some muncihies first Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Right tummy filled, beer opened, movie watched, now for an update. 2010/11 Preseason As I mentioned in the post above I was planning to go for an attacking style of play for the season with the aim of finishing the campaign in the top half of the league. As I was intending to use some wingers I settled on a 4-4-2 formation with advanced wide men that I've used on a couple other saves and seems pretty popular on the forums here. The team and player instructions were tweaked a lot compared to earlier versions and I tweaked them pretty regularly throughout the season depending on who was fit and in the first eleven. I set out with pretty good intentions to be sensible with the transfer budget and to also stick with my plan for improving the squad, however as you'll see I didn't quite manage to live up to those intentions in the end. I did pretty well at first signing for the areas I'd targeted as priorities, but injuries changed things around on me slightly, and then me deciding 'what the hell, let's splash some cash!' toward the end of the window meant I spent more than I'd meant to. Damn those payments over 48 months...they do lead to temptation Transfer Action 1. Strikers This was my top priority and straight off I put a bid in for that FM11 legend Kevin Gameiro, I'd inherited him on my earlier Toon save when I took over in the 4th season and he was amazing, so I decided I definitely wanted him there from Season 1. Fortunately he was willing to discuss terms and he chose us over a couple of other interested parties. With him in the bag I made bids for several other strikers missing out on a lot of them, some were unwilling to consider a move to Newcastle, and some were either outbid on or the player chose another club, Christian Benitez choosing to sign for Toulouse rather than us. I finally settled on Tomas Necid who arrived from CSKA Moscow to partner Gameiro. I kept Ameobi, Lovenkrands, Kuqi, Ranger and Best in the squad as backups, but barring injury didn't see them getting many games. (I did try offering a couple of them out, but got no takers) 2. Fullbacks I had a lot of trouble getting the players I wanted here, so many deals agreed but the player not being interested, or deals collapsing when the player was refused a work permit. There were a couple of possibilties I could have signed but the clubs were asking way more than I was willing to part with for young fullbacks. After missing out on Serge Aurier and Atila Turan (signed by Man City and Inter), I eventually managed to sign Gabriel Silva from Palmeiras as a back up for Jose Enrique. Then a couple days later I persuaded Karlsruhe to sell Matthias Zimmerman an 18yo right back who could also play as a DM or MC. 3. Wingers Originally was just looking for one signing to provide competition/back up to Jonas and Ben Arfa and I settled on Pavel Niakhaichyk from BATE. He was a bargain for £1.2million with the added bonus that he can play either flank equally comfortably. That would have been my only signing for the wing, but in the last week of the window I through caution to the wind and go for what the media tend to describe as a 'Marquee' signing...offering Lille £1million upfront and £16million over 48 months for Eden Hazard. I wasn't too surprised when they accepted the offer, but was rather amazed when Hazard was willing to discuss terms, even more amazed when none of the other clubs muscled in on the deal. Hazard arrived on the 24th August and went straight into the first team. 4. Central Midfield When I was looking at Pavel for the wing I decided to take a quick look at his team mate Bressan who can play as an MC or AMC, he had some pretty solid stats overall especially his Set Pieces, Passing and Creativity so I decided I'd put in a bid for him. He was available for a paltry £170,000 and he proved to be worth it as an impulse buy. My main target here was Yohann Cabaye and managed to secure him for £5million in the end, if he's as good in real life as he is here then Newcastle have got themselves a hell of a player. With 2 players coming in here I thought I could safely offload one or two and try and raise some extra cash, I couldn't really see a place for Kevin Nolan in my formation, so offered him to clubs for £7.5 million. No-one came back with an offer that matched, but Birmingham did offer 6 million which I accepted and Nolan eventually agreed to move, as long as we kept paying him over 25,000 till the end of his contract. Annoying but I agreed. Next thing I know Joey Barton is demanding talks and complaining about the sale, I chose the option that we should both just concentrate on doing our jobs and he kept bitching, the next day he stuck in a transfer request. With only 2 days of the window left I tried to sell him but we only attracted loan deals. Of these only Napoli were willing pay anywhere near his full wages and so he headed off to Serie A for the season, we did manage to include a fee of 7.25million if they decided to make the deal permanent. I had wanted to use Barton, saw him as a pretty key player for the season, but once he put in a transfer request I saw no point. 5. Central Defence After originally not intending any changes here I ended up making two key signings almost at the close of the window. Things went well during the preseason friendlies, except for an injury to Kadar. Then in the first week of league action I lost Colo in our opening match against Everton with Campbell getting crocked in training the next day. Their injuries were serious, and with Steven Taylor already on the sick list that left only Mike Williamson. Deadline day looming I got in something of a panic and starting bidding left, right and centre for defenders. Bolton accepted a £6 million bid for Cahill which I was very relieved to see, but I thought I would still need one more since Colo was potentially out until after Christmas. I decided to go for broke and put in a hefty bid to Stoke for Ryan Shawcross, probably a little more than I would have considered otherwise. Shawcross arrived on 30th August, the same day as Barton headed off to Napoli. I think the deal was something of a death knell for Stoke, they didn't manage to replace Shawcross and were relegated at the end of the season. 6. Goalkeeper We made it through the summer with no injuries to Harper or Krul, and so according to plan didn't make any signings here. 7. Backroom Staff Made massive changes here once the player transfer window was shut. Terminted the contracts of most of the coaching staff, John Carver, Andy Woodman, Willie Donachie, Simon Tweddle, Jack Ade, Chris Terpcou and Steve Stone all leaving. Brought in Paul Winsper and Albert Roca as Fitness coaches, Ze Mario and Orland Trivizol as GK coaches and Narciso, Julio Tous, Nelson Gallego, Mirsad Dolic and Anselmo Sbraglia as general coaches. Roberto Rojas arrived as my new Assistant Manager (he actually starts as a Goalkeeping coach I think, but he has great all round stats, very good Man Management and Motivating). Brought in John Park, Alexandre Coelin and Faustino Asprilla as my main scouts and added a few more throughout the season. Season Underway As you can see, despite the high number of new faces the squad gelled pretty quickly and we got off to very good start, winning 6 out of our 8 fixtures in August and September. The 2 defeats were to Arsenal and Man Utd and both were away so they were not unexpected, and they didn't impact too severly on team morale. The highlight was the 6-0 thrashing of Wigan, and in the absence of Colo, Taylor and Campbell, Mike Williamson really stepped up for us, proving himself a major nuisance in the opposition box grabbing himself 5 goals. Cabaye and Gameiro also hit the ground running, with Cabaye running the show in midfield and proving clinical from the penalty spot. Overall it was a great first two months that saw us well up the table and on target for that top half finish I promised the board, playing attractive football and scoring freely. Hopefully we could keep it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 2010/11 Season October to December By and large we managed to keep up the good form as the season progressed with very good wins over Liverpool and Man City, both teams who were tipped to beat us easily. However we did lose rather surprisingly to West Ham at SJP, one of those matches where we just never seemed to get into gear. Even worse was the match against Bolton where we were on the end of an absolute hammering. As you can see our attacking philosophy was working, but with the not unexpected drawback of our defence being leakier than your average wet paper bag. Despite another setback against Chelsea who too full advantage of the paper bag at the back, we were still way ahead of expectations going in to the New Year sitting comfortably in the top four and through to the later stages of the League Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
memph Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Aurier Digne Situ Vuckic These are four of my players which have astonished me with how fast they became good, all had first team exposure, Digne a little less than the others as i have enrique but decided that i would give digne a shot over the last two seasons and he performs well. I don't like how pardew is looking for a french revoultion irl, but it worked for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 AurierDigne Situ Vuckic These are four of my players which have astonished me with how fast they became good, all had first team exposure, Digne a little less than the others as i have enrique but decided that i would give digne a shot over the last two seasons and he performs well. I don't like how pardew is looking for a french revoultion irl, but it worked for me. What the hell are your backroom staff feeding those lads!! They're all monsters physcial stats wise. Some good work there, Vuckic has come on a treat for you, far better than he has for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
memph Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 i have to say i've been rather lucky on this file, mike ashley sold the club to a tycoon who transformed the club, best training youth facilities and coaches (i kept asking and he always said yes) transfer kitty of about 150m which i hardly spend as i like to bring through youth. I have often wondered what they were putting in the players drinks myself, vuckic is a wierd one though he barely gets in the team as i have pastore and i like to play the defensive minded khedira, yet he stills improves all the time. Lets hope he can become this good irl!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Are you using your own custom training schedules? They certainly seem to be doing the job if you are. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
memph Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 no i actually got some from here, i think it ravers training. it seems to be the same with all my players got a regen striker who was ok physically when i signed him, now he is like the rest a beast and his stats remind me of drogba. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 no i actually got some from here, i think it ravers training. it seems to be the same with all my players got a regen striker who was ok physically when i signed him, now he is like the rest a beast and his stats remind me of drogba. I might have to give them a try, I set up my own schedules and seen some improvements, but nothing quite as successful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandyDon Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 2010/11 Season January and February There was disappointment early in January when Spurs turfed us out of the FA cup at the first hurdle. They really should have had a much more convincing win and our disappointing performance was made even worse by the fact that we lost Enrique, Necid and Zimmerman to injury during the match. We managed to bounce back though with one of our best performances in the league when we beat Arsenal 2-0 despite a horribly long injury list, Hazard also out alongside those crocked by Spurs, Tiote and Colo only fit enough for the bench. We also had more than a little slice of luck in making it to the final of the League Cup being drawn against lower league opposition in every round until we faced Chelsea, and we somehow nicked a draw from the game with Wolves, despite playing like braindead zombies and them dominating possession and chances. Our luck was still in during the final of the League Cup when Chelsea failed to score with any of their 25 shots on goal and Gameiro smacked one of our 5 shots home just before halftime. February ending on a high with a first piece of silverware and guaranteed European football next season. Though by now we were in with a real chance of a Top 4 finish so I was really hoping for Champion's League footie after the summer. (We'd probably need it with the money spent) During January I finally managed to offload Alan Smith to Wigan for only £250,000 and McDonald Mariga was offered to us by Inter for £2.7million so I decided to accept and give Tiote a little competition for the ball winning role in central midfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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