chile_paul

End of Season Competition Update World Cup - In a huge shock the USA had made it into the final, where they faced England (World UK). The US team refused to surrender against the higher ranked team and put up a strong performance but ultimately the England team were more clinical in their finishing and ran out 4-1 winners through goals from Timori, Ben White, Sterling and Rashford. World FA Cup - Borussia Dortmund and Mayern Munich were finalists in both the FA Cup and the Champions Cup. In the first encounter Bayern Munich took the lead through top scorer Robert Lewanodowski before Borussia Dortmund produced a stunning come back led by Erling Haaland who picked up 2 goals and an assist as they ran out 4-1 winners World Champions Cup - In the second encounter within a week, Haaland was again the hero as Borussia Dortmund did the double over their fierce rivals. Haaland scored in the 33nd second to score the fastest ever Champions Cup goal - and indeed could have scored even faster having seen an earlier shot hit the post and rebound out before he eventually scored. Haaland picked up a second goal through a penalty just before half time. Bayern Munich only really started to post a threat on the Dortmund goal after the 80th minute but when they got one goal back in the 87th minute there was a very real chance of taking the match to extra time, but the whistle came just too soon for them. World Super League - Bayern Munich ended up second in all three major competitions, with Liverpool taking the title by 6 clear points. Leicester went straight back down after their promotion last season along with Napoli and Eddie Howe's Lazio side; Howe was sacked after relegation was confirmed. Tottenham survived after winning the relegation / promotion play off against Monaco. Coca-Cola Premiership - Newcastle won the league with Arsenal and AS Roma promoted. Real Socidad, Leverkusen and Aston Villa are relegated. Sevilla hammered Wolves in the promotion / relegation play-off to retain their Premiership place for another season. Ladbrokes World Championship - Fiorentina were comfortable champions with an 11 point gap to West Ham and Hertha Berlin who secured 3rd place by just 2 points on the final day from Wolves. Crystal Palace were relegated in bottom place following their promotion last season along with Wolfsburg and Shakhtar and Villareal made it back to back relegations after losing out in the promotion / relegation play off. Fly Emirates Division 4 - Levante UD had led the way for most of the season and ended up as champions with a 5 point gap to Nice who are promoted along with Sassuolo and Brentford. Zenit, Torino and Almeria are relegated along with Olympiacos after losing the relegation play-off. Almeria and Olympiacos both suffer back to back relegations. Samsung Division 5 - Everton dominated the league from start to finish to make it consecutive league titles and back to back promotions and will be joined in Division 4 next season by SC Freiburg and the 2 most successful South American teams in River of Argentina and Gremio of Brazil - the same top 3 as last season's top 3 from Division 6. AEK, Monterrey and Watford were relegated. Etihad Airways Division 6 - Stuttgart, Strasbourg and Spezia were promoted with Bordeaux, Feyenoord, Alaves and Jeonbuk relegated.

Newcastle United - Season 2 - March, April and May update With nothing really left to play for, our home away from home really started to drop off and we finally lost our unbeaten run in a 1-0 defeat at 2nd placed Arsenal - really frustrating to throw away our invincible season after 27 games with only 3 games left. At home we continued to fly with Lorenzo Lucca starring in particular against 3rd placed AS Monaco. Very proud of our overall performance, I imagine our 73 point haul will be a record for a long time. Arsenal went on a great run in the second half of the season following the signing of Tammy Abraham and they clinched second place with a 6 point gap to Monaco who lost out in the promotion play-off. Aston Villa had a really disappointing season and have gone straight back down to the Championship, along with Leverkusen and despite plenty of goals from Aleksander Isak Real Sociedad took the 3rd relegation spot. In the Champions League, we played really well to knock out Super League team Atletico Madrid before progressing comfortably through a quarter final against Leeds. In the semi-final though we then faced a really tough draw against Bayern Munich who for a second year in a row knocked us out in a narrow contest. In the 1st leg Bayern flew out of the trap and took an 18th minute lead thanks to Serge Gnabry, but we slowly fought back and thought we'd equalised in the 78th minute thanks to Callum Wilson. We did finally get a deserving equaliser in the 89th minute as Wilson got his revenge. In the 2nd leg Bayern again took an early lead this time through Leroy Sane. Ryan Gravenberch got us back into the game and levelled the tie at 2-2 in the 29th minute and we then started to dominate the game with a number of clear cut chances just before half time which came at just the wrong time for us. Bayern used the interval to reset and 2 goals in 4 minutes from Lewandowski and Sane again ended our adventure in the competition

I'm hoping that this is a really decent youth intake for us and whilst they are all defenders, they could end up being an entire future back line! Darren Henderson has some really good mental attributes and looks like future captain material if his physical and technical capabilities can mature. Im most hopeful about Malaki Phipps though, he has some real potential.

Newcastle United - Season 2 - February update With promotion and the league title in the bag, I had half a season to start blooding some younger players within the squad - having said that I didn't want to weaken the team too far as I wanted to maintain confidence for the Champions Cup and was aiming for a full invincibles season. At home we saw no signs of slipping up with comfortable wins against Roma and Atalanta - which included goals for Jamaal Lewis who had been recalled from loan as well as youngster Raul Burcea who becomes our youngest ever goalscorer. It was a lot tighter in the away game and we came close to slipping up in Seville holding out for a 0-0 draw. In the Champions Cup we did suffer a shock defeat against Brentford - yes, I had some youngsters on the teamsheet but Brentford played really well and deserved the conving win. That did indeed secure their progression in the competition at the expense of Real Madrid. In the First Konckout round we had a tough draw against Super League team Tottenham. We won the home game, and the 4th minute goal from Callum Wilson to give us a 2 goal advantage meant the nerves were never jangling too much in the away leg at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

January Transfer Window Given our position in the league, I didn't feel that I needed to strengthen significantly in the January transfer window and instead turned my attention to looking for future youth prospects. Of course if there was an option too good to turn down I would be there! The big news in the transfer market though was the record breaking move of Matthias de Ligt from Juventus to Man City. de Ligt was reportedly unhappy at Juventus's relegation from the Super League last season and their failure to be challenging for promotion, but his departure will be a risk for Juventus boss Zinedine Zidane as he looks to avoid falling further down the league. With Weston McKennie also leaving Juve to league rivals Ajax, you have to wonder whether Zidane is under pressure to balance the books? Jules Kounde was another notable departure to Man Utd from a Sevilla side who are also fighting to avoid relegation down to the World Championship. It was a real surprise to see Sheffield United as the 3rd highest spending club in the world! The Etihad Airways division 6 side were clearly making a major investment to stabilise their position in the league following promotion last season with 4 big money arrivals. As expected, I ended up with no major incomings and I fought off advances from Bayern Munich and Barcelona for both Pascal Struijk and Vitinha. I did pick up 3 youngsters who I hope will have bright futures with us. Leon King - my scouts have been absolutely raving about Leon King's potential - so I stumped up the cash, with a large element of the fee dependant on performances from Rangers. He only played once for the Ranger's first team and his stats aren't amazing, so I'm putting a lot of faith in my scouts view here! Matheus Goncalves - Goncalves is another slight unknown, having not featured for the Flamengo first team but his ability is a little more clear cut here with pace in abundance. With a Tackling attribute of 1 though, I won't be relying on him to track back and perform any defensive duties! Chaka Traore - Traore was not rated highly by my scouts and therefore is a major gamble, but when Man City and Man Utd both put bids in for him, I thought it would be worth a gamble for a relatively small fee. What's the worst that can happen?

Newcastle United - Season 2 - January update We continue to have the occasional slip up on the road, but are yet to be beaten. At home we are utterly dominant and every opponent gets hammered. We were particularly dominant against AC Milan. Simon Kjaer was so bamboozled he was stationary, with no other player near him when a corner richocheted off his back and straight into the goal. Promotion confirmed and we're still only in January - with a 23 point gap to second place! In the Champions Cup we humiliated Real Madrid in the Bernabeu to extend our winning run against the champions of Madrid That results confirms that we will win the group and raises the possibility of Real Madrid failing to qualify if Athletic Bilbao beat them or should Brentford beat us in the final game. I will undoubtedly field a weakened side, but other than the FA Cup defeat to Lazio, we haven't yet lost a game all season, so this seems unlikely. Liverpool continue to dominate the World Super League and with an 8 point lead over Bayern Munich are surely going to be champions. It's a little tighter in the Championship. Fiorentina are leading the way, but both Wolves and West Ham are on their tails just 4 points behind. Crystal Palace look like they are down, with Brighton fighting hard to stay up, but honestly anybody in 8th or below could be down. Levante, Brentford and Nice look to be favourites to go up from the Fly Emirates Division 4 and are opening up a gap to the teams from 5th placed down. Almeria, Olympiacos and Torino at the bottom may have a chance to earn a play off chance to stay in the league, but the gap to the safe league places looks unsurmountable

Our dominance in the league has meant that I've started to be able to give some of my youngsters some game time - which in the final game of the month resulted in this record being broken.

I had desperately wanted to keep Moukouko this season - but he's been flying in the World Super League with Borussia Dortmund this season and that, combined with his performances for us last season mean this award is absolutely deserved.

Newcastle United - Season 2 - November & December update November was a short month with only 2 games before the league broke for the World Cup, but we powered past Arsenal and then Ajax, scoring 7 goals with none conceeeded. A number of players than headed off to Qatar, and on their return we had a slight slip up away to struggling Aston Villa as we threw away the 3 points when Giorgian De Arrascaeta conceeded a 91st minute own goal. That was only a minor hiccough though and we returned to winning ways with comfortable wins in the remaining fixtures in December. We're miles clear at the top of the league, but the battle for the remaining 2 automatic promotion places is hotting up Straight forward wins in the Champions Cup along with a shock defeat for Real Madrid away to Brentford guarantee my progression to the first knock out round after only 4 fixtures. Liverpool continue to lead the way in the World Super League, with last seasons champions Bayern Munich 5 points behind. Wolves are putting up a challenge to catch Fiorentina at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship, hoping to return to the Premiership at the first time of asking. Levante UD continue to extend their lead at the top of the Fly Emirates Division 4.

Newcastle United - Season 2 - October update We continued to fly along in the league with very few bumps in the road, plenty of goals scored and only 2 conceeded in 5 games. Monaco was the exception to the rule as they gave us a really hard time and could easily have won the game in the last few minutes save for a goal line clearance. We now have a comfortable 11 point margin to Arsenal in 2nd place who I play in the first game of November and can already start dreaming of the World Super League next season. RB Leipzig have been the first club in the league to dispence of their manager Domenico Todesco, but AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen are surely going to be looking to make a change shortly to try and recover their seasons. In the World FA Cup we had been drawn against a familiar face - Eddie Howe's Lazio! Howe had a point to prove after I had displaced him from his dream job at Newcastle and after a brief successful stint at Brentford which resulted in their promotion last season he had been poached by Lazio. Despite struggling towards the bottom of the World Super League this season, they managed to raise their levels in this game and knock us out in a high scoring contest thanks to a Ciro Immobile hat-trick In the Champions Cup we had been drawn against Real Madrid for the second season in a row, along with Brentford and Athletic Bilbao. We continued our good run of games against Real Madrid and in a tight game ran out to a comfortable 3-0 victory thanks to a poor performance from Thibaut Courtois. In the second fixture we slipped up though against a strong Athletic Bilbao side, only managing to pick up a point. We remain well positioned in the group with 2 ties against Brentford to follow. In the World Super League, Liverpool have pulled out a narrow 4 point gap at the top of the league ahead of last season's champions Bayern Munich. 3 points separate the top 4 in the Championship with West Ham just about holding on to the top spot. Recently promoted Crystal Palace and Southampton are finding life tougher in the higher league. Levante UD have eeked out a 4 point lead in the Fly Emirates Division 4. Olympiacos continue to plummet like a stone and will be looking for their 3rd new manager in 2 seasons having sacked Jardim.

Newcastle United - Season 2 - September update September was a stunning month in which we steam-rollered every team that was put out in front of us! In the league we started off away to Lyon, where Gabriel Jesus got us an early goal in the 2nd minute and Ryan Gravenberch got yet another tidy finish to secure the points early in the second half. Next up we faced Juventus who were on paper at least our main rivals in the league and an in form Dusan Vlahahovic who had scored in every game in the league so far - but our defence kept him under lock and key and we dismantled their game running off with a dominant 4-0 victory at St. James Park Finally, after the international break we had a tough tie away to AC Milan where Gabriel jesus was the deciding factor, sneaking a decisive goal just after half time. In the World FA Cup we had a favourable tie against 8th tier Saint-Etienne and we showed the gulf in class, scoring 6 goals in the first 30 minutes including a Giorgian De Arrasceata hat-trick. We took our foot off the pedal after the break but an 8-0 win is a competition and club record. We're top of the league with last season's rivals Leeds just behind us. The real surprise is Real Sociedad, bottom of the table with no wins despite arguably the strongest strike force in the league. Barcelona are maintaining the pace at the top of the World Super League, although have dropped 4 points in the last month. Liverpool are sniffing just behind them. In the Coca-Cola Championship, despite losing star player Federico Chiesa, Fiorentina have suddenly found some form and are leading the way closely followed by West Ham Levante UD are the last team in the Fly Emirates Division 4 and top the table with 19 points, followed by recently promoted Zenit.

Newcastle United - Season 2 - August update Life in the Coca-Cola Premiership got off to an almost perfect start with 3 wins out of 4 as the season kicked off. Ralf Leao had a perfect debut with 2 goals as we ran out 4-1 winners against Aston Villa and the goals flowed in our second game as well with a comprehensive win against RB Leipzig. Our first away game at Real Sociedad was a much tougher prospect though - even though they had lost their first 2 games of the season with both Aleksander Isak and Patrick Schick in their front line this was going to be a tough ask. Indeed it was Isak who struck to send them into the lead in the first half and we had to wait until the final few minutes to secure an equaliser. We finished the month with another home victory against Benfica. In the first round of the World FA Cup, we were drawn against another Coca-Cola Premiership side, but in the 4th home game of the month, Ryan Gravenberch hit back at his ex-employers with 2 brilliant goals to give us the win and send us through to the second round. We're very nicely placed at the top of the league, level with Juventus Elsewhere in the World Super League, Barcelona have won four in a row to sit at the top of the early season table. Newly promoted Leicester have found it tough with 2 draws in 4 games. In the Ladbrokes World Championship have made a fantastic start to life in a higher league and are sitting at the top of the table. Recently relegated Olympiacos have struggled in Fly Emirates Division 4 and are back at the bottom of the table

Summer Transfer Window We had been given a very hefty war chest to strengthen and get ready for the Coca-Cola Premiership campaign and I had a few priorities on my mind - the board had been unhappy with my failure to bring in a big marquee signing to kick off their ownership of the club last season and whilst I wasn't going to have my hand forced for a player that may end up becoming a prima-donna and unsettle my other players, I was open to the possibility for a player that would fit into our system. I also wanted to focus yet again on our defence - I stil felt that I was lacking a second strong centre back to partner Pascal Struijk. However my plans were somwhat thrown up in the air when Valencia came in for Allan Saint-Maximin, my initial reaction was to reject the offer out of hand - but Allan wanted to listen to their offer, so I negotiated and when they came back with an offer of £90m it was too good to turn down. World Super League champions Bayern Munich also made offers for both Vitinha and Pascal Struijk, but I managed to ward off the interest with big money contract renewals; I just couldn't afford to lose these 2 from the spine of my team. New arrivals: Gabriel Jesus - My main marquee striker, I opted for Gabriel partly to keep the board happy - but the fact that swung hit was his versatility, happy to play as a striker and able to operate as an inside forwward on both right and left hand side. Lorenzo Lucca - A young striker joining from Pisa. He looks a really exciting prospect and as a result of his arrival Goncalo Ramos who was a little unhappy with the amount of playing time he got last season will get the opportunity to go on loan. Adrian Corral - Very much a future prospect, but my scouts identified that he had a £2.9m release clause which I very quickly activated to snatch him from Atletico Madrid Joe Gomez - I looked at Joe a couple of times last season when he was unhappy about the amount of playing time he was getting at Liverpool, his versatility swung the deal for me though as he is equally happy at left and right back as he is through the centre. Ryan Gravenberch - I hadn't particularly been looking for anybody in central midfield as I was quite happy with the combination of Joelinton and Vitinha; but then Ajax offered me £15m plus Ryan in part exchange for Nahitan Nandez and I just couldn't turn the deal down. Nandez was a good member of my squad and a great deputy for Kieran Trippier but I hadn't forgotten his red card in a critical game last season and with Joe Gomez able to deputise for Trippier it was a sacrifice I was happy to make. Rafael Leao - Rafeal is the direct replacement for Allan Saint-Maximin and only half his price. Andre-Franck Zambo Anguissa - Brought in as back-up for Bruno Guimares from Fulham as Nahitan Nadez also deputised here - but no matter how much Bruno is loved by the Newcastle faithful, his place may be under pressure now. Karim Konate - My final arrival is Karim Konate, very much a striker for the future, he will be going straight out on loan

Pre-season Update - Season 2 We had the normal pre-season fare as the team regained fitness, re-established familiarity with our tactics and welcomed new team members into the fold as well as building some confidence prior to the start of the new season. Very few of the opponents gave us any sort of challenge, although Westerlo at least put up a bit of a fight. By the time we played Sturm Graz and Le Havre we were comfortably in our groove and completely outplayed our opponents. Despite only just being promoted, we're comfortable favourites for the Coca-Cola Championship title, even considered above some of the big hitters who have been relegated from the Super League including Juventus. Lyon fans won't be at all happy to see that they are widely expected to be relegated. I'll update on transfers shortly, but our marquee signing of the summer Gabriel Jesus is in the running to be the leagues top goalscorer and loanee Gavi is in the running for the young player of the year award.

Oh, am I about to have a falling out with the board here??

World League Hall of Fame Each season I'll be keeping track of a "Hall of Fame" for the best players and managers in the league structure based on competitions won. I had tried to work out how to clear the entire history of the Hall of Fame within the main game but couldn't work out how to clear the history - and given that we've moved to a new league structure I didn't want managers with a history of winning in the old, traditional league structure to get in the way. Clearly as time passes the Hall of Fame will hopefully start to add more interest, but in the first season 2 managers have earnt a place in the inaugaral managerial hall of fame. Whilst it is the Bayern Munich squad who sit at the top of the players Hall of Fame with their two title wins.

Newcastle United - Season 1 - End of Season Summary

Competition prize money in this league format is really high, so the fact that I did well in 3 competitions has massively swelled my coffers.

The upgrades keep flowing....

End of Season Competition Update World FA Cup - RB Salzburg were no match for Bayern Munich in the final, collapsing to a 3-0 defeat World Champions Cup - Man Utd overcame PSG in the final with a penalty shoot deciding the tie following a thrilling 2-2 draw World Super League - Bayern Munich's incredible winning run at the start of the season was more than enough to secure the league title, finishing with an 11 point margin to second placed Liverpool. Juventus, Sevilla and AC Milan were relegated. Coca-Cola Premiership - Borussia Dortmund were champions, with Leicester and Valencia promoted to the Super League. Villareal, Wolves and Porto were relegated. Ladbrokes World Championship - it was an English 1-2-3 with Leeds, Newcastle and Aston Villa getting promoted. Almeria, Marseille and Olympiacos were relegated Fly Emirates Division 4 - Another great result for the English teams with Brighton, Crystal Palace and Southampton being promoted. Besiktas, Flamengo and Sampdoria were relegated with Eintracht Frankfurt also going down after losing the relegation play-off Samsung Division 5 - OGC Nice were the dominant team almost 20 points ahead of 2nd placed Brentford who were automatically promoted along with Torino. Braga join them in promotion after winning the promotion play-off against Frankfurt. Etihad Airways Division 6 - Everton won the league, 17 points clear of SC Freiburg with River the third team to be promoted - one of the few South American teams to have had a successful first campaign in the new league structure.

Newcastle United - Season 1 - April & May update After what has been overall a really good season, April & May came around with a sting in the tail as we fell just short in all 3 competitions. Starting in the World FA Cup, we had an absolutely brilliant opportunity to make it through to the final with a really favourable draw against RB Salzburg, however their youngsters, many of whom I covet to bring into my team had a brilliant day. They took the lead in the 28th minute after Pascal Struijk brought down Benjamin Sesko in the box and Karim Adeyemi stepped up to convert from the penalty spot. I then made a school boy error in the second half by using all 3 sub's around the 60th minute in an attempt to turn the game around - only for Kieran Trippier to pick up an injury that left him unable to continue and then Joelinton picked up a knock, leaving us down to 9 and a half players. Joelinton fought on though and in the 95th minute set up an equaliser for Moukouko to tuck away to take the game into extra time. However by that point the players were on their knee's with exhaustion and couldn't match the energy of Salzburg who broke free in the 94th minute to score a golden goal winner. In the Champion's Cup we had done so, so well to beat Bayern Munich in the 1st leg and when Matvienko scored a free kick just as the second half kicked off to give us a 2-0 lead on aggregate I thought we were going to make it through. However Lewandowski who had barely had a touch in a game and a half suddenly came to life and was all over our defence scoring in the 59th and 74th minutes - and then was heavily involved in the build up to the sucker punch of a decisive goal eventually put away by Kingsley Coman to elminate us from the competition. I can't really be too upset as we've massively over-achieved in the competition, but it was a harsh way to be knocked out. In the league it was another case of so near and yet so far. The month started well as we won a tricky game away to Wolfsburg which secured our promotion. We scored an early goal but Wolfsburg then hit back twice to take the lead and there were clearly some nerves in the team. Joelinton managed to equalise in the 76th minute and Vitinha then scored a vital winner in the 95th minute to secure promotion and importantly keep us in the lead in the table. We then absolutely demolished Olympiacos - but at the same time Leeds were also winning away in a 5-0 demolition of promotion chasing Borussia Mochengladbach - it was clear they were not going to take their foot off the pedal in the chase for the title which we were only winning on goal difference and in the next game we slipped up..... It was a tight match at home to Celta Vigo, but one in which we were dominating until Nahitan Nandez was sent off in the 61st minute for a second bookable offence. Caught between a rock and a hard place, knowing that we needed a win we kept attacking and it paid off only a few minutes later as we took the lead thanks to Moukouko again! He's popped up with so many critical goals since joining on loan in January. It wasn't to last though as Celta Vigo equalised only 4 minutes and later and despite pushing we couldn't find another goal. Leeds went on to win their fixture and with both teams winning the final fixture, Leeds ended up crowned as champions.