chile_paul

This is disastrous news as we head into the season finale still in all 3 competitions.....arguably our 2 best players are now out injured for most of the rest of the season ....and it just keeps getting worse. We're now going to need to rely on Chris Wood to step up to the plate.

Yossoufa Moukoko made it into 17th place, but I'm really surprised that Gavi didn't register in the Top 50?

Newcastle United - Season 1 - March update Just the one league game this month as international fictures and the latter stages of the cup took precedent. It ended up being an eventful fixture though - we ran out to a very comfortable 5-0 win against West Hame, but the 3 points fired us above Leeds to the top of the table for the first time. With 4 games left to play, can we keep top spot as our own? In the Champions Cup we had a stunning run of 4 games. We put out a weakened side for our second leg at Espanyol which we still managed to win comfortably. We were then drawn against World Super League team Inter in the second round. We picked up a vital away goal in the dying minutes of a tight game in the first leg thanks to Joe Willock and then raced into a 3 goal aggregate lead in the first 15 minutes of the second leg. Inter fought back with 2 goals of their own - but before they could snatch the game from us, Callum Wilson scored our third goal to make the tie safe. In the quarter-final we've been handed the toughest possible draw against Bayern Munich but we've put in a brilliant performance at home thanks to an early goal from Moukouko followed by a brilliant back to the wall display.

Youth Intake Our Youth Intake has been announced and we have one exciting possibility in the ranks. Raul Burcea has a terrific leap on him and get head a ball well - he needs to work on his finishing and composure. Interesting to see a Romanian coming through the ranks, I don't think the club has any Romanian staff or links, so not too sure how that has come about, but if they come through as good as this lad I won't be complaining. Jack Burke and Benjamin Paintsil are the other notable youth team arrivals

Another massive blow as one of our top players is ruled out for a key part of our run-in.

Newcastle United - Season 1 - February update February got under way with a brilliant home win against Fiorentina - they had given us a pretty torrid time earlier in the season, but this was the complete opposite and thanks to goals from across the team we ran out to a comfortable win. We followed up with a rarity - an away win, before we threw away all of our good work with our first defeat in 12 games against strugglers Shakhtar. Luckily the defeat didn't impact our confidence and we rebounded to a win against Marseille. The defeat against Shakhtar has cost us the opportunity to take the lead in the league - but we remain only 2 points behind Leeds - with 5 games left in the season it's going to go down to the wire! In the Champions Cup, we managed a credible away draw against Real Madrid - we would have won the game had Miltao not pick up 2 headed goals from corners! That was unlikely to be enough as a win for Arsenal at Sampdoria would see them overtake us - but they couldn't manage it. They failed to breakdown a resolute Sampdoria defence over 90 minutes and as a result we were through! A favourable draw pitted us against Espanyol and the 1st leg was really comfortable - after a 4-0 win, we'll be able to rest some increasingly tired legs in the follow up. We played Real Madrid for the 3rd time in the quarter-finals of the World FA Cup at home and stunned the Super League team! After Trippier scored from a free kick, they hit back with Militao scoring his 3rd against us in 2 games - just before half time Saint-Maximin broke through their defence to score, before he picked up his hamstring tear in the second half. Real Madrid threw everything against us, but in the closing minutes Militao turned from hero to villain as he hacked down Joelinton in the area and Callum Wilson stepped up to send us through to the semi-finals. We couldn't have asked for a better draw in the semi's after 7th tier RB Leipzig knocked out Man City in the quarter's - we will play them at Wembley before the victors go on to play either Bayern Munich or PSG. In the World Super League, Bayern Munich remain in front with a 7 point cushion - with only 5 games left to play, that should be enough to secure the title. Leceister have taken the lead from Borussia Dortmund in the Coca-Cola Premiership and Brighton have re-taken the lead of the Fly Emirates Division 4 - but it is so tight with 6 teams separated by 2 points.

It's good news that Mouokouko is in such good form, as otherwise this news would have been even more of a blow....

Newcastle United - Season 1 - January update January was a busy month with 5 league games, interspersed with cup competitions. In the league we were in devestating form at home, with 14 goals scored and only one conceeded - Joelinton picked up his second hat-trick at home to Betis and new boy Youssoufa Moukoko picked up his own hat-trick at home to Almeria. Away from home was a different matter though and we had to accept 2 points from a possible 6. Away to Borussia Mochengladbach I could have no complaints in a tough, even match against one of our title rivals a point was a fair result. We'd fallen behind and we were reliant on Moukouko picking up a goal on the break in the 82nd minute to ensure we got something from the game. It was Moukouko again away to Hertha Berlin, but we really should have picked up all 3 points in this game against a team much lower down in the league. Leeds remain at the top of the table, but we are catching them and closing the gap! The top is still tight though and we're certainly not comfortable in the top 3 automatic promotion spots, all it will take is a poor run of form for us to drop back down. In the FA World Cup, as expected, we comfortably progressed passed the Brazilian's of Atletico Mineiro and have a home tie against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.... ....and in the Champions Cup we will again face a decisive game against Real Madrid to see if we qualify for the second round after a wonderful result in the penultimate group game against Arsenal. We've moved into second place in the table, but Arsenal have much the easier fixture in the final round of group matches away to Sampdoria, whilst we will be away in Madrid. Elsewhere in the leagues, Bayern Munich have finally hit a poor run of form in the World Super League - they surely can't throw away a 14 point lead can they. Liverpool have cut that lead to 7 points now and will be looking to keep up the pressure over the next few months to challenge them. AC Milan are now propping up the table and may be cut adrift, whilst 10th to 15th place are separated by only 3 points. In the Coca-Cola Premiership Borussia Dortmund are still in the lead and the top 3, along with Leicester and Real Sociedad are pulling away from the rest. At the bottom Wolves and Porto appear to be as good as down. In the Fly Emirates Division 4, the top four teams are separated by just one point, with everything still to play for with 9 games left to play. Back at home we did a clean sweep of all of the monthly awards, with the big man Joelinton picking up Player of the Month for the second month in a row.

January Transfer Window The January transfer window was as hectic as the summer window had been with a significant number of major transfers. Surprisingly Southampton in the Fly Emirates Division 4 were the biggest spenders after also seeing some significant outgoings. After Che Adams left for Sevilla in a £45m deal, he was followed out the door by 2 defenders also leaving for Super League teams - Mohammed Salisu joined Real Madrid whilst Jan Bednarek joined Atletico. They then spent all of that money on 3 big name strikers - Gabriel Barbosa from Flamengo, Patrick Bamford stepped down a division from high flying Leeds and Sebastian Haller joined from Ajax. Ralph Hassenhuttl is going to have a job on his hands to keep them all happy. Elsewhere in the World Super League, Liverpool made the biggest capture picking up long term target Declan Rice from West Ham for £54m, whilst Tottenham splashed out on Darwin Nunez in a deal which could be worth £62m. In the Coca-Cola Premiership title chasers Real Sociedad added to their front line, supplementing Alexander Isak with Patrick Schick joining from struggling Bayer Leverkusen, whilst title rivals Leicester picked up midfield maestro Nuno Santos from Sporting CP. Bukayo Saka tried to force through a move from Arsenal to Real Madrid but new manager Ernesto Valverde held firm and Saka will have to at the very least play out the season at the Emirates. In the Ladbrokes World Championship the story was mainly about outgoings with several big names leaving clubs - Tomas Soucek, Matheus Nunes and Dodo all moved to clubs in the Super League, but Joe Rodon was the big arrival moving from Tottenham to Celta Vigo for £38m Having spent heavily in pre-season I had limited funds available, so couldn't splash the cash as much as some teams and had to plan my moves more carefully. Defence was my main priority though as we had been leaking goals in recent weeks. Right wing was also a priority. Ilian Meslier - Ilian was the big ticket purchase, but for only £21m I think he could turn out to be a bargain. Not only has he strengthened us in goal now, he will grow much stronger, as well as instantly weakening a direct rival at the same time. Mykola Matvienko - Mykola joined from strugglers Shakhtar for a fee that could increase to £11.75m. With Matt Targett only with us on loan for the season, this signing is thinking ahead to next season as much as this. Able to play in centre defence as well as left wing back he also offers good versatility and is a Model Professional to top it all off. Axel Disasi - Axel joined from Monaco for £8.5m and whilst he's never going to be world class, he is a step up from Fabian Schar or Jamaal Lascelles and play a large part in our run in Youssoufa Moukoko - Youssoufa is only a loan signing from Borussia Dortmund and at 17 years old is still very raw, but his pace is electric. I would love to make him a permanent signing in the future if I could afford him We had no signficant outgoings, but a lot of the old guard have left on loan looking to get some game time before they inevitably look for a new club next season.

Newcastle United - Season 1 - December update 4 league games in December, which began with a good away win against Olympiacos followed by 3 successive draws. At home to 3rd placed Athletic Bilbao and away to 1st place Leeds who outplayed us in large parts were credible results. The 3-3 at Celta Vigo was really disappointing though where a Joelinton hat-trick was spoilt by a really poor goalkeeping display from Martin Dubravka. That convinced me that I need to strengthen in goal and when the Transfer Window re-opened on Christmas Eve I made the decision to pounce and steal Illian Meslier from our direct rivals the day before we played them - and it was Meslier's stand out performance that earnt us a point with multiple stunning saves. There is little change at the top - albeit Leeds have widened the gap to 6 points Two comfortable wins in the FA World Cup have ensured that we will meet the board's minimum expectations. With Athletic Mineiro in the next round we should exceed those expectations in what is becoming an incredibly open draw. There are only a handful of World Super League teams left in the final 16........ In the Champions Cup, we ensured that we stay in the fight with a win against Sampdoria.... ....but with Arsenal and Real Madrid drawing I'm 2 points off the qualification places and will need to find a win against one of the top two from somewhere. In the World Super League, Bayern Munich finally slipped up and lost to Lazio - and, just like buses as soon as they'd lost once along came another straight defeat. With an 11 point cushion however, it's unthinkable that anyone else can catch them in the second half of the season surely? There is little change in the Coca-Cola Premiership with Borussia Dortmund continuing to lead the way. Leicester are looking like a good bet to go up as well with only 6 points separating 3rd to 13th for the 3rd promotion place. There is little change in the Fly Emirates 4th division. Flamengo, as the highest ranked South American team in the league structure have widely disappointed, failing to win any of their games in the first half of the season. Big Joe is flying in the last few games!

Newcastle United - Season 1 - November update International fixtures ensured that we didn't have many league games in November - and when we did eventually get to play we got off to a bad start away to West Ham as summer signing Moussa Dembele terrorised our defence picking up 2 goals. Joelinton scored our only consolation goal. We rebounded in a real goal fest against Wolfsburg as we really dominated, running out to a 6-3 win with Isco in particularly stunning form with 2 goals from freekicks. The only concern was how easily they managed to pick up their 3 goals from only a handful of chances. We remain in touching distance of Leeds, but it's very tight at the top Chairmen of clubs are beginning to lose patience at the bottom of the table - Shakhtar, Almeria, Wolfsburg and Olympiacos have all dispensed of the services of their managers. In the Champions Cup we fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Arsenal, with a 4 point gap to both Arsenal and Real Madrid. It's now going to be hard to get out of the group, I absolutely have to beat Sampdoria next time out to keep my chances alive. A comfortable win against Lecce in the World FA Cup see's us into the Fourth Round - at home again versus Burnley In the World Super League, Bayern Munich continue to run away with it - they have now won 12 straight with Manuel Neuer the stand out performer. Paris SG have dispensed of the services of Mauricio Pochettino, with Diego Simeone also leaving Atletico Madrid and Sevilla looking for a new manager as well. Arsenal fired Mikel Arteta as they remain in the relegation zone of the Coca-Cola Premiership with Wolves, Porto and Villareal also looking for new managers, whilst Borussia Dortmund lead the way at the top of the table. Brighton have moved into the lead of the Fly Emirates Division 4.

Newcastle United - Season 1 - October update Having scored 5 goals in his last 2 games, Callum Wilson continued his red hot form into October and broke records at the same time, becoming the first player to score 4 goals in a game in the new World Super League structure. We needed his contribution though as otherwise we were disappointing away to a weak UD Almeria side, conceeding 2 goals. The game may well have had a different result if Callum hadn't been on form. That's exactly what happened in the next game away to Marseille - again this was a game we should have won against a weak side but we created little and couldn't convert any of the chances we did have. They then hit on the break to steal all of the points. After 4 away games travelling across France, Spain and Italy on the bounce we were then pleased to return home to St. James Park for the visits of Shakhtar and Sporting, running out 3-1 winners each time. We're well positioned in the table - just where we need to be on the coat-tails of Leeds. A small gap is starting to open up between the top 4 and the rest. In the World Super League, Bayern Munich are flying at the top of the league with 10 straight wins - it looks like they may have wrapped up the title already. Mikel Arteta's future as Arsenal boss is hanging in the balance in the Coca-Cola Championship as they sit in the relegation zone with only 2 wins in their first 10 games. In the Fly Emirates 4th division PSV have moved into the lead, Brighton are holding on in the automatic promotion spaces. In the Champions Cup, we started up winning at home to Sampdoria in a really comfortable game - this was the fixture we absolutely had to win with them struggling in the 4th tier. In the second game against Real Madrid we pushed them all away and were unfortunate that goal line technology ruled that Ryan Fraser's rasping drive hadn't crossed the line before being clawed away by their keeper. Ultimately though they were too good and picked up the 3 points. Arsenal and Real Madrid shared the points in their tie and Arsenal beat Sampdoria, so we lie in 3rd place after 2 games with 3 points. Both Arsenal and Real Madrid have 4 points.

Not a surprise given how much cash we have in the offer, but it's always nice to see the chairman on board with improving the infrastructure of the club. Along with a focus on finding and developing the very best young players - something that Newcastle were appalling at under the ownership of Mike Ashley. We also announced a new affiliate partner in the US

Newcastle United - Season 1 - September update September got off to a damp squib as we failed to break down a Hertha Berlin side that we utterly dominated, yet got caught on the counter attack on one of their only forays up the field to lose 1-0. We picked ourselves up though with a dominant win against Celta Vigo in the cup, before Callum Wilson single-handledly fired us into a 3-0 lead against Betis before they hit back with 2 goals in the 92nd and 94th minute to cause a last minute panic. Callum then was the star performer again, picking up a 92nd minute winner in a really tough game away to Fiorentina. The defeat to Hertha Berlin has hurt us as we drop down to 3rd place. Leeds who we destroyed in the first game of the season have won every game since. In the World Super League, Bayern Munich have been in sparkling form with 6 wins in a row leaving them 6 points clear at the top of the table. Napoli and Atletico Madrid are propping up the table with 4 points each, Man Utd are hovering just above the relegation zone. Leicester are leading the way in the FIFA Coca-Cola Premiership, closely followed by Borussia Dortmund and AS Roma. Arsenal are the surprise strugglers, having been one of the favourites for the title with 4 losses in the first 6 games. Below us in the Fly Emirates Division, the fourth tier of the new league, Brighton and Burnley are in touch of the promotion spots behind early leaders Getafe, PSV and Sassuolo with Lille, Sampdoria and Flamengo propping up the table.

Newcastle United - Season 1 - August update A start of a brand new era, a completely new footballing structure with games against teams from around the world, so much excitement....... and the fixture computer draws us at home to Leeds in the first game, typical! Once the fans got over the disappointment of not facing one of the more exotic teams in the league, the excitement of a home derby kicked in and we flew off to the best start possible as new boy Pascal Struijk scored against his old team within the first 4 minutes. What a way to mark your debut! The excitement for the home fans didn't end their as we played Leeds off the park cantering through to a 4-0 victory. Next up we had another English team and this time I was pleased to escape from a hard fought game with a 0-0 draw and a clean sheet. Finally in the last game in the month we played our first European competitors and helped by a long range effort for his first goal for the club from Bruno Guimares, swiftly followed by Callum Wilson's first of the season we secured our second win and a third clean sheet. 7 points out of 9 - not a bad start but there is a very long way to go In a very busy end to the transfer window I dipped back in to pick up 2 youth prospects: Max Bird - this young English midfielder joins for a fairly hefty price tag of £10m and will stay on loan at Derby for 6 months to continue his development Theo - my scouts alerted me to the fact that Real Madrid youngster Theo had a £5.5m release clause in his contract which I quickly activated. He will swiftly be sent out on loan to continue his development Isco - a last minute loan signing to give me some depth in my attacking options Elsewhere there were some really interesting transfer moves. Raul Jimenez had already been to most expensive move of the window as he moved from Wolves to Man Utd for £54m, closely followed by Dominic Calvert-Lewin's transfer to Man City. The real eyebrow raisers were two English midfielders moving to Spanish clubs in big money moves as Curtis Jones moved to Atletico Madrid and Oliver Skipp to Real Madrid - it will be interesting to see if they get any game time in those squads. There was certainly a lot of money moving around in the market - most of it Saudi!

Transfer Summary - Season 1 The Saudi oil money is certainly flowing well and despite being limited to a £50m transfer budget, by offloading some players and then re-investing money over installments I was able to make some significant changes to the squad. Pascal Struijk - my main objective at the start of the transfer window was to strengthen central defence and whilst there were cheaper options available with Chancel Mbemba and Daniel Rugani serious considerations at <£10m, I couldn't turn down the chance to sign a really decent young player with plenty of potential still to grow, whilst also weakening one of my rivals at the same time. Gavi - on loan from Barcelona at circa £3k per week, what's not to like at this deal even if he will start on the bench in most games Giorgian De Arrascaeta - I struggled to get my first choice attacker Karim Adeyemi at <£70m, which in my opinion was too much to pay even for a talented youngster so I started to look around for alternatives. Ismaila Sarr was available at a much more affordable price, but in the event I opted to pick up this Urugayuan who plays on the left or in the centre which will lead to Saint-Maximin moving to the right hand side Goncalo Ramos - a great prospect up front and my main back up for when Callum Wilson inevitably get's injured. With a model citizen personality I'm excited to see how he develops Nahitan Nendez - I hadn't been planning to strengthen at right back, but when Kieran Trippier picked up his injury and having already sold Emil Krafth I wasn't happy with the prospect of Javi Manquillo being my only right back so I bought my second Uruguayan. The fact that Nandez is truly versatile and can play further up the park and in midfield is also a massive help Vitinha - maybe one signing too many in midfield? Vitinha looks a real talent though and if he develops as well as I hope could be a snip even at this price?

Pre-season Update - Season 1 We had a busy pre-season as we worked to get everybody to a decent level of fitness and allowed the new players (let's face it we had at least half a brand new team who had never met each other before) got to know each other. The start wasn't brilliant as Kieran Trippier picked up a thigh strain in the second game that would rule him out for the rest of pre-season and the first 6 weeks of the new campaign. The next game, we had a little wobble away to Union Berlin where despite dominating they managed to catch us on the break, other than that though we were convincing throughout and will go into the new season full of confidence. If you believe the bookies we're going to walk the league this season. I very much doubt it's going to be that easy, especially when I'm not expected to have either the top goalscorer or the top player in the league. Some of our opponents have some class players and I think they are going to give us a tough run for our money.

I'm not going to go through the full league structure, but thought it would help to share the structure of the top 3 tiers. In each league the teams play each other twice home and away with 3 automatic promotion and relegation places and a relegation play-off between the 4th top and 4th bottom teams. Other rules are fairly standard, I've made one amendment to the database to change the substitution rules to allow 5 subs from 9 (max of 3 stoppages) in line with the recent change to the Premier League rules. There is a lot of prize money on offer across the structure and it's heavily weighted to the winners of leagues - as a result across the long term practice holiday saves that I've run you often get a boost effect with clubs shooting up through the league structures. However parachute payments prevent clubs from falling like a stone - all in all it makes an interesting dynamic over time. FIFA World Super League FIFA Coca-Cola Premiership FIFA Ladbrokes World Championship

Like all clubs at this level we start with a £50m transfer budget to strengthen the team - as I'm playing with the 22.4.0 Winter transfer update I'll also benefit from the fact that the squad has already been strengthened with the likes of Bruno Guimares and Kieran Trippier. The media are preciting a 10th placed finish, but the board have much higher expectations....... I'm expected to get automatic promotion into the 2nd tier (the Coca-Cola Premiership) by winning the league at the first attempt - and then within 2 years get promoted to the Super League - this won't be easy. The board also want me to sign high reputation players which will be a challenge (nobody deemed to be high enough reputation wants to join!) and make really strong progress in both cup competitions. The World Champions Cup follows a similar format to the old Champions League, taking all of the teams in the Top 4 tiers of the structure into a group stage with each Group having a team from each of the 4 tiers. I've been drawn in a really tough group with Real Madrid (Tier 1), Arsenal (Tier 2) and Sampdoria (Tier 4) - so meeting the boards expectations of progressing beyond the group stage and then through the first knock out stage to the 2nd round will be a real ask. The World FA Cup is a straight knock out competition with no seeding; progression to the 6th round might be possible if the draw is kind to me, but there will be a lot of luck involved. The team is strong, but in order to make it to the top it will need strengthening - defence needs a lot more work still despite the additions of Trippier, Burn and Targett. Callum Wilson should be strong enough up front if he stays fit and Saint-Maximin is quality, but a back up striker and some more attacking midfielders will also be a priority.

In a shock move, new Newcastle United Director Amanda Staveley has rejected many of the most well renowned names in football management to appoint ex-player and Newcastle United icon Jonas Gutierrez into his first managerial post at St. James' Park. In the inaugaral season of the new global footballing structure this has been seen as a massive risk, but whilst fans are shocked and surprised at the news they appear to be pleased to welcome back a well loved player and willing to give Gutierrez a chance to prove what qualities he can bring to the job.

The announcement of the European Super League in April 2021 received widespread opposition from fans, players, managers, politicians. It also received opposition from UEFA, FIFA, and some national governments due to concerns about elitism and the lack of competitiveness as it would have consisted of only high-ranking teams from a few European countries. Whilst the clubs behind the European Super League rapidly started to announce their intention to withdraw in the face of the criticism, a new consensus was starting to form driven by FIFA that in order to prevent further attempts to launch splinter competitions they needed to create a new competitive structure to enhance competition between clubs from all nations and increase the number of games between elite clubs. Within weeks, whispers started to emerge of a new global footballing structure, backed by the financial power of some of the world's largest brands, that would knock aside the traditional concept of national leagues. By the start of July at a global conference held in London, more than 500 clubs worldwide signed up to the launch of the new World Super League........ I've always wanted to attempt a long term save based on a custom database for a World Super League but have always found that the leagues hit problems over the longer term. However, by using Fenech's World Super League with a few additional customisations outlined below I think I've been able to build a parallel footballing universe that is stable over a long time. As my save progresses I'll give more details of the league structure, but in short, over 500 teams from across the globe have been organised into a pyramid of 19 leagues below which are a group of 7 'gateway' leagues who compete to progress into the World Super League structure proper. I've made the following additional tweaks to the database to increase playability and stability of the save in the long term: - Increased reputation for all of the levels in the World Super League structure and decreased the reputation for the 'traditional' leagues that will not be playable - Levelled out the youth rating for all nations - to increase the chances of all clubs getting good quality regen players - Levelled out all clubs in each league structure to have the same starting player budget I will be starting the save with my own team, Newcastle United, in the 3rd tier of the pyramid, the FIFA Ladbrokes World Championship. I'll have the financial support of our tycoon backer to help in the transfer market, but the significantly heightened expectations in an incredibly challenging structure may mean that I don't reach my aim of getting to the top of the pyramid - in which case fate will lead me across the globe in search of my fortune.