[FM24] Newcastle United: Howey the lads

[stevemc]

Welcome to the Newcastle United Football Club thread

Club Details

Status: Professional

Reputation: Continental

Nickname: The Magpies

Founded: 1892

Owner(s): Public Investment Fun (80%), RB Sports & Media (10%), PCP Capital Partners (10%)

Current Manager: Eddie Howe

League: Premier League (England)

Captain: Jamaal Lascelles

Squad Personality: Determined

Rivals: Sunderland, Middlesbrough 

Legends, Icons & Favoured Personnel:

Stadium: St James Park

Capacity: 52,354 all-seater

Training Facilities: Good

Corporate Facilities: Good

Youth Facilities: Good

Youth Level: 1

Junior Coaching: Adequate

Youth Recruitment: Good

Finances: Rich

Transfer Budget: £5m (plus 80% of sales)

Wage Budget: £2,692,940m p/w (using £1,337,085m)

Media Prediction: 4th

Trophy Cabinet:

[stevemc]

Club History

 

Formation and early history (1881–1903)

The first record of football being played on Tyneside dates from 3 March 1877 at Elswick Rugby Club. Later that year, Newcastle's first football club, Tyne Association, was formed. The origins of Newcastle United Football Club itself can be traced back to the formation of a football club by the Stanley Cricket Club of Byker in November 1881. This team was renamed Newcastle East End F.C. in October 1882, to avoid confusion with the cricket club in Stanley, County Durham. Rosewood F.C. of Byker merged with Newcastle East End a short time later. In 1886, Newcastle East End moved from Byker to Heaton. In August 1882, Newcastle West End F.C. formed from West End Cricket Club, and in May 1886, the club moved into St James' Park. The two clubs became rivals in the Northern League. In 1889, Newcastle East End became a professional team, before becoming a limited company the following March. However, on the other hand, Newcastle West End were in serious financial trouble and approached East End with a view to a take over. Newcastle West End were eventually dissolved, and a number of their players and backroom staff joined Newcastle East End, effectively merging the two clubs, with Newcastle East End taking over the lease on St James' Park in May 1892

With only one senior club in the city for fans to support, development of the club was much more rapid. Despite being refused entry to the Football League's First Division at the start of the 1892–93 season, they were invited to play in their new Second Division. However, with no big names playing in the Second Division, they turned down the offer and remained in the Northern League, stating "gates would not meet the heavy expenses incurred for travelling". In a bid to start drawing larger crowds, Newcastle East End decided to adopt a new name in recognition of the merger. Suggested names included Newcastle F.C., Newcastle Rangers, Newcastle City and City of Newcastle, but Newcastle United was decided upon on 9 December 1892, to signify the unification of the two teams. The name change was accepted by the Football Association on 22 December, but the club was not legally constituted as Newcastle United Football Club Co. Ltd. until 6 September 1895. At the start of the 1893–94 season, Newcastle United were once again refused entry to the First Division and so joined the Second Division, along with Liverpool and Woolwich Arsenal. They played their first competitive match in the division that September against Woolwich Arsenal, with a score of 2–2.

Turnstile numbers were still low, and the incensed club published a statement stating, "The Newcastle public do not deserve to be catered for as far as professional football is concerned". However, eventually figures picked up by 1895–96, when 14,000 fans watched the team play Bury. That season Frank Watt became secretary of the club, and he was instrumental in promotion to the First Division for the 1898–99 season. However, they lost their first game 4–2 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and finished their first season in thirteenth place.

 

First glory years and war years (1903–1937)

In 1903–04, the club built up a promising squad of players, and went on to dominate English football for almost a decade, the team known for their "artistic play, combining team-work and quick, short passing". Long after his retirement, Peter McWilliam, the team's defender at the time, said, "The Newcastle team of the 1900s would give any modern side a two goal start and beat them, and further more, beat them at a trot." Newcastle United went on to win the League on three occasions during the 1900s; 1904–05, 1906–07 and 1908–09. In 1904–05, they nearly did the double, losing to Aston Villa in the 1905 FA Cup Final. They were beaten again the following year by Everton in the 1906 FA Cup Final. They reached the final again in 1908 where they lost to Wolves. They finally won the FA Cup in 1910 when they beat Barnsley in the final. They lost again the following year in the final against Bradford City.

The team returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in the second final held at the then new Wembley Stadium. They defeated Aston Villa, winning the club's second FA Cup. Three years later, they won the First Division championship a fourth time in 1926–27, with Hughie Gallacher, one of the most prolific goal scorers in the club's history, captaining the team. Other key players in this period were Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth. In 1930, Newcastle United came close to relegation, and at the end of the season Gallacher left the club for Chelsea, and at the same time Andy Cunningham became the club's first team manager. In 1931–32, the club won the FA Cupa third time. However, a couple of years later, at the end of the 1933–34 season, the team were relegated to the Second Division after 35 seasons in the top. Cunningham left as manager and Tom Mather took over.

 

Post-war success (1937–1969)

The club found it difficult to adjust to the Second Division and were nearly further relegated in the 1937–38 season, when they were spared on goal averages. However, when World War II broke in 1939, Newcastle had a chance to regroup, and in the War period, they brought in Jackie Milburn, Tommy Walker and Bobby Cowell. They were finally promoted back to the First Division at the end of the 1947–48 season. During the 1950s, Newcastle won the FA Cup trophy on three occasions within a five-year period, beating Blackpool in 1951, Arsenal in 1952, and Manchester City in 1955. However, after this last FA Cup victory the club fell back into decline and were relegated to the Second Division once again at the end of the 1960–61 season under the management of Charlie Mitten. Mitten left after one season in the Second Division and was replaced by former player Joe Harvey. Newcastle returned to the First Division at the end of the 1964–65 season after winning the Second Division title. Under Harvey, the club qualified for European competition for the first time after a good run in the 1967–68 season and the following year won the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final, triumphing 6–2 over two legs against Hungary's Újpest in the final.

 

Bouncing between divisions (1969–1992)

Harvey bought striker Malcolm Macdonald in the summer of 1971, for a club record transfer fee of £180,000 (worth £2562961 in 2016). He was an impressive goal scorer, who led United's attack to Wembley in their 1974 FA Cup Final defeat at the hands of Liverpool. The club also had back to back triumphs in the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975. Harvey left the club in 1975, with Gordon Lee brought in to replace him. Lee took the team to the 1976 Football League Cup Final against Manchester City, but failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside. However, he sold Macdonald to Arsenal at the end of the season, a decision of which Macdonald later said "I loved Newcastle, until Gordon Lee took over". Lee left for Everton in 1977, and was replaced by Richard Dinnis.

United dropped once again to the Second Division at the end of the 1977–78 season. Dinnis was replaced by Bill McGarry, and then he was replaced by Arthur Cox. Cox steered Newcastle back to the First Division at the end of the 1983–84 season, with players such as Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and ex-England captain Kevin Keegan the fulcrum of the team. However, with a lack of funds, Cox left for Derby County and Keegan retired. With managers such as Jack Charlton and then Willie McFaul, Newcastle remained in the top-flight, until key players such as Waddle, Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne were sold, and the team was relegated once more in 1989. McFaul left the managerial post, and was replaced by Jim Smith. Smith left at the start of the 1991–92 season and the board appointed Osvaldo Ardiles his replacement.

 

Into the Premier League and near-title misses (1992–2006)

Sir John Hall became the club's chairman in 1992, and replaced Ardiles with Keegan, who managed to save the team from relegation to the Third Division. Keegan was given more money for players, and he brought in Rob Lee, Paul Bracewell and Barry Venison and the club won the then First Division Championship at the end of the 1992–93 season, earning promotion to the then new Premier League. At the end of the 1993–94 season, their first year back in the top flight they finished in third, their highest league finish since 1927. The attacking philosophy of Keegan led to the team being labelled "The Entertainers" by Sky Sports.

Keegan took Newcastle to two consecutive runners-up finishes in the league in 1995–96 and 1996–97, coming very close to winning the title in the former season which included a 4–3 game against Liverpool at Anfield – often considered the greatest game in Premier League history – which ended with a defining image of the Premier League with Keegan slumped over the advertising hoarding. The success of the team was in part due to the attacking talent of players like David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer, who was signed on 30 July 1996 for a then world record fee of £15 million.

Keegan left Newcastle in January 1997 and was replaced by Kenny Dalglish, however the club endured a largely unsuccessful season with a 13th-place finish in the 1997–98 FA Premier League, failure to progress beyond the group stages of the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League despite beating Barcelona and group winners Dynamo Kiev at St James' Park as well as coming from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 with Valery Lobanovsky's team in Ukraine and defeat in the 1998 FA Cup Final. Dalglish was replaced as manager early in the following season by Ruud Gullit.

The club once again finished thirteenth in the league and lost the 1999 FA Cup Final. Gullit fell into disagreements with the squad and chairman Freddy Shepherd, and quit the club four games into the 1999–2000 season with the team bottom of the table to be replaced by Bobby Robson. The club managed to reach an FA Cup Semi-final and to stay in the Premier League.

A title challenge emerged during the 2001–02 season, and Newcastle's fourth-place finish saw them qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The following season, Robson guided the team to another title challenge and finished third in the League, and the second group stage of the Champions League, after being the first team to have progressed past the first group stage after losing their first three games. Newcastle finished fifth in the league at the end of the 2003–04 season, and exited the Champions League in the qualifying rounds, but despite this Robson was sacked in August 2004 following a series of disagreements with the club.

Graeme Souness was brought in to manage by the start of the 2004–05 season. In his time at the helm, he broke the club's transfer record by signing Michael Owen. Souness also took the Geordies to the quarterfinals of the 2005 UEFA Cup with Alan Shearer winning the tournament's golden boot as well. However, he was sacked in February 2006 after a bad start to the club's 2005–06 season. Glenn Roeder took over, initially on a temporary basis, before being appointed full-time manager at the end of the season. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06 season as the club's all-time record goal scorer, with 206 goals.

 

Sale, relegation and decline (2006–2010)

Despite finishing the 2005–06 season in seventh, Roeder's fortunes changed in the 2006–07 season, with a terrible injury run to the senior squad, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007. After the 2006–07 season, and inside the Premier League era, Newcastle United were now the fifth most successful Premiership club in terms of points gained.

Sam Allardyce was appointed Roeder's replacement as manager on 15 May 2007. On 7 June, Freddy Shepherd's final shares in the club were sold to Mike Ashley and Shepherd was replaced as chairman by Chris Mort on 25 July. Ashley then announced he would be delisting the club from the London Stock Exchange upon completion of the takeover. The club officially ceased trading on the Stock Exchange as of 8am on the 18 July 2007 at 5p a share.

Allardyce departed the club on in January 2008 by mutual consent after a bad start to the 2007–08 season, and Kevin Keegan was reappointed as Newcastle manager. Mort stepped down as chairman in June and was replaced by Derek Llambias, a long-term associate of Ashley. Newcastle finished the 2007–08 season in twelfth place, but as the season drew to a close, Keegan publicly criticised the board, stating they were not providing the team enough financial support.

In September 2008 Keegan resigned as manager, stating: "It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want". Former Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear was appointed as his replacement, but in February 2009, due to his heart surgery, Alan Shearer was appointed interim manager in his absence. Under Shearer, the club were relegated to the Football League Championship at the end of the 2008–09 season, the first time the club had left the Premier League since joining it in 1993.

Following their relegation, the club was put up for sale in June 2009, with an asking price of £100 million. Chris Hughton was given the manager job on a caretaker basis before taking over full-time on 27 October 2009. On the same day, Ashley announced that the club was no longer for sale.

 

Promotion and brief revival (2010–2016)

Hughton led Newcastle to win the 2009–10 Football League Championship, securing automatic promotion on 5 April 2010 with five games remaining, and securing the title on 19 April; Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League after just one season away.

Under Hughton, Newcastle enjoyed a strong start to the 2010–11 season, but he was sacked on 6 December 2010. The club's board stated that they felt "an individual with more managerial experience [was] needed to take the club forward." Three days later, Alan Pardew was appointed as manager with a five-and-a-half-year contract. Despite some turbulence, Newcastle were able to finish 12th at the end of the season, with one particular highlight being a 4–4 home draw against Arsenal that saw Newcastle come back from four goals down to claim a point.

The start of the 2011–12 season was very successful as they went on to enjoy one of their strongest openings to a season, playing 11 consecutive games unbeaten. Newcastle eventually secured a place in the 2012–13 Europa League with a fifth-place finish, their highest league position since the Bobby Robson days. Further honours were to come as Pardew won both the Premier League Manager of the Season and the LMA Manager of the Year awards.

In the following season Newcastle made few acquisitions in the summer and suffered injuries over the season. As a result, the first half of the season was marred by a run of ten losses in 13 games, which saw the club sink near the relegation zone. The Europa League campaign was largely successful with the team making the quarter-finals before bowing out to eventual finalists Benfica. Domestically, Newcastle struggled, and stayed up after a 2–1 victory over already-relegated Queens Park Rangers on the penultimate game of the season.

The 2014–15 season saw Newcastle fail to win any of their first seven games, prompting fans to start a campaign to get Pardew sacked as manager before an upturn in form saw them climb to fifth in the table. Pardew left for Crystal Palace in December. On 26 January 2015, his assistant John Carver was put in charge for the remainder of the season but came close to relegation, staying up on the final day with a 2–0 home win against West Ham, with Jonás Gutiérrez, who beat testicular cancer earlier in the season, scoring the team's second goal.

On 9 June 2015, Carver was sacked and replaced by Steve McClaren the following day. On 11 March 2016, McClaren was sacked after nine months as manager, with Newcastle in 19th place in the Premier League and the club having won just six of 28 Premier League games during his time at the club. He was replaced by Spaniard Rafael Benítez on the same day, who signed a three-year deal, but was not able to prevent the club from being relegated for the second time under Ashley's ownership.

 

Return to the Premier League (2016)

Newcastle returned to the Premier League at the first attempt, winning the Championship title on 7 May 2017 with a 3–0 win against Barnsley. On 16 October 2017, Mike Ashley put Newcastle United up for sale for a second time. The team finished the season with a 3–0 win over the previous year's champions Chelsea, finishing 10th in the league, their highest finish in four years. The following season saw a 13th-place finish, despite being in the relegation zone in January. As such Ashley came under increased scrutiny for his lack of investment in the squad and apparent focus on other business ventures. Benitez left his position on 30 June 2019 after rejecting a new contract. On 17 July 2019, Steve Bruce was appointed as manager on a three-year contract.


PIF Era (2021–present)

On 7 October 2021, after 14 years as owner, Ashley sold the club to a new consortium for a reported £305 million. The consortium was made up of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, RB Sports & Media and PCP Capital Partners. On 20 October, Bruce left his position by mutual consent, after receiving a reported £8 million payout. Eddie Howe was appointed as Bruce's replacement on 8 November. Howe guided the club to an 11th-place finish after a run of 12 wins in their final 18 games, and Newcastle became the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation after failing to win any of their first 14 games.

On 21 August 2022, Newcastle United Women moved into the club's ownership for the first time, after a formal restructuring. On 22 May 2023, the club sealed qualification for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, after a 0–0 home draw with Leicester City. The season was the subject of the Amazon Prime Video documentary We Are Newcastle United.

Edited January 10 by stevemc

[stevemc]

The Players

First Team Squad

 

Under 23's

 

Under 18's

 

The Staff

Coaching, Recruitment and Medical Team

 

 

Edited January 10 by stevemc

[stevemc]

Objectives and Vision

 

Why manage Newcastle United...?

Infinite amounts of money and newgen hoarding  

 

Edited January 10 by stevemc

[thebigfella]

Finally 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 loving my toon save. Gordon is so good this year! First business is always a partner for Botman and cover for Tonali and a left back bought Dedic in my current save great player.

[FifaBing]

Finally, a Newcastle thread! 

[oakesypvfc]

Just bought FM24 and started my welcome save with Newcastle. Nice to finally see a thread for the Toon! Currently in January, through to CL knockout phases but only 8th in the league so a good spend in January is much needed!

League table as shown above. Was going really well till a tough run of fixtures at the end of November.

Transfers in thus far, Sarr come in to cover but currently got a bid in for Todibo after Inacio chose Arsenal. Dybala been injury prone as heck so far.

Transfers out. Perri came in to replace aging Dubravka. Murphy, Longstaff and Targett the only other major outs. 

What tactic are people working on for Toon? I am playing a 4-2-3-1 DM but can't help but feel I'm not getting the best from the team. @thebigfella how are you playing Gordon? He's been injured a lot for me, had a lot of injuries so far.

[thebigfella]

7 hours ago, oakesypvfc said:

Just bought FM24 and started my welcome save with Newcastle. Nice to finally see a thread for the Toon! Currently in January, through to CL knockout phases but only 8th in the league so a good spend in January is much needed!

League table as shown above. Was going really well till a tough run of fixtures at the end of November.

Transfers in thus far, Sarr come in to cover but currently got a bid in for Todibo after Inacio chose Arsenal. Dybala been injury prone as heck so far.

Transfers out. Perri came in to replace aging Dubravka. Murphy, Longstaff and Targett the only other major outs. 

What tactic are people working on for Toon? I am playing a 4-2-3-1 DM but can't help but feel I'm not getting the best from the team. @thebigfella how are you playing Gordon? He's been injured a lot for me, had a lot of injuries so far.

Play him either winger support or inside forward support on the left but he can switch to the right as well scores loads from the right even with the cuts in from the left trait 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am just starting my 3rd season with Newcastle on Twitch.  In my 1st season I won the Premiership. In the summer of season 2 I bought in Osimhen, Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and I also signed Diomande, Coates and Inacio from Sporting Lisbon.

I finished 5th in season 2. We underperformed.

In season 3 we have signed Kayode, Trubin and Diogo Costa. Also hoping to sign Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Thiago Almada on a free.

I am hoping to win the Premiership next season.

I will be live streaming at 2pm today if anyone wants to see how I get on the start of season 3.

Search for Lucha FM on Twitch. I also have a Youtube channel in the same name if anyone wants to watch the live streams from the beginning.

 

[oakesypvfc]

Will have a look into that possibly @Ronaldo Beckham, we have been flat track bullies mainly. Whenever we have played anyone in the top 6 we have failed. Currently 7th in start of Feb so praying I can have a good end of season so I don't get sacked

[oakesypvfc]

 

10 games to go, where do we finish?

Not the easiest run in

[oakesypvfc]

It was a close call but we made it back into the top 4 in season 1. £215 million to spend in season 2 so I think a massive overhaul is on the way.

[oakesypvfc]

Second season was very similar to last year, the same points in face. Luckily though, this was enough to get us into 2nd place! We were never really in a title race but I am very happy with runners up. We were knocked out early in the Caribao Cup, last 16 of the Champions League and in the semi final of the FA Cup.

We spent the sum of £233 million to bring in Dedic, Tammy Abraham, Bardghi, Zaniolo, Pavlovic and we added Diogo Costa to this in January Guido Rodriguez came in on a free transfer. We sold the likes of Dan Burn, Dybala, Jamal Lewis, Ryan Fraser and then Lucas Perri in January.

Cracking seasons from both Isak and Abraham, who rotated in the lone striker position well, scoring 50 goals between them. Todibo was top of our appearance table, Isak our top scorer and Barco was our top assister at just 20 years of age, he will be a hell of a player. Tammy Abraham was top of the average rating chart.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Two massive signings to bolster the side for next season. Victor Osimhen joins us on a free transfer when his Napoli contract expires and Joao Neves, one of the best midfielders in the world already, at 20 years of age joins us for £35 million, rising to £60 million. Another £200 million given to us this year hopefully allows us to compete in Europe this year.

[soundboyy]

what do you think of my squad then guys?! im in 2027

 

Edited February 18 by soundboyy