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

[ChrisNUFC]

WORK IN PROGRESS

Sports Interactive’s Football Manager 2011 sees Newcastle United back in the Premiership after winning the Championship and gaining Promotion. The team, at the core, is more or less the same as the team that was relegated in the 2008/2009 season, with a few additions to the team from the 2009/2010 season. This time around the team is more settled and has a manager that seems to be doing things quietly and with a good squad harmony.

Club Information

Nation: England

Year Founded: 1892

Status: Professional

Reputation: National (130); Potential Reputation: 155

Chairman Status: Happy to Stay at Club

Legends: Joe Harvey; Jackie Milburn; Kevin Keegan; Sir Bobby Robson; Alan Shearer; Stan Seymour

Icons: Peter Beardsley; Hughie Gallacher; Bobby Moncur; Lee Clark; Steve Watson; Malcom MacDonald; John Beresford; Shay Given; Robert Lee; Gary Speed; Les Ferdinand; Paul Gascoigne

Favourite Staff: Jose Enrique; Nolberto Solano; Terry McDermott; Steven Taylor; Pavel Srnicek; John Carver; Shola Ameobi; Steve Howey; David Ginola; Liam O’Brien; Derek Wright; Temur Ketsbia; David Kelly; Habib Beye

Disliked Staff: Mike Ashley; Dennis Wise; Derek Llambias; Graeme Souness; Ruud Gullit; Sam Allardyce; Peter Reid; Charles N’Zogbia; Joe Kinnear; Phil Brown; Freddy Shepard; Steve Bruce; Roy Keane; Michael Owen; Craig Bellamy; Jermaine Jenas; Laurent Robert; Kevin Phillips; Albert Luque; Jean Alain Boumsong; Geremi; Didier Domi; Joey Barton;

Fierce Rivals: Sunderland

Other Rivals: Middlesbrough

Club Captain: Kevin Nolan

Vice-Captain: Alan Smith

Squad Personality: Ambitious

Media Prediction: 18th

Finances

Cash: 0

Transfer Budget: £5m

Transfer Budget Pre-Window: £6m

Remaining Wage Budget: £15k

Avg Match Ticket Price: £30

Avg Season Ticket Price: £570

Season Tickets Sold: 25,000

Previous Season Turnover: £47m

Estimated Value: £48m

Debt: £127m

Staff

Non-Playing Staff

Chairman: Mike Ashley

Managing Director: Derek Llambias

Manager: Chris Hughton

Assistant Manager: Colin Calderwood

Reserve Manager: Peter Beardsley

Coach: Steve Stone

GK Coach: Paul Barron

Fitness Coach: Simon Tweddle

Academy Director: Joe Joyce (Youth Coach in game)

Assistant Academy Director: Willie Donachie (Youth Coach in game)

Chief Scout: Graham Carr (Scout in game)

Scout: Norman Wooster

Head Physio: Davie Henderson

Physio: Derek Wright

Youth Physio: Carl Nelson

Departed Staff since FM10: Alan Thompson (Coach/Reserve Manager) – Celtic; Kenny Wharton (Youth Coach) – Unemployed; Richard Money (Youth Coach) – Luton; Jamie Murphy (Physio) – Man City; Kevin Bell (Physio) – Unemployed; Pablo Longoria (Scout) - ; Jeff Vetere (Scout) – Unemployed; Ola Nilsson (Scout) – Unemployed; Vic Halom (Scout) – Unemployed; Chris McMenemy (Scout) – Unemployed;

New Staff to FM11: Carl Nelson (Physio); Steve Stone (Coach)

Staff Overview

Number of Coaches: 9

Maximum Allowed: 11

Newcastle United have a very thin Backroom Staff, and you should look to use your 2 free coaching spots straight away to improve the training offered. The standard of training offered to begin with will generally be around 2 1/2 - 3 stars (average for a club of Newcastle's reputation), if you leave the AI to select the training for you.

However, if you select who trains what yourself you can improve it slightly (as the AI will often double up on categories), by spreading the coaches out. Thankfully, you can specialise between the Fitness and GK coaches and have one coach per category, however you won't be so lucky with the other categories.

Owners and Directors

Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias are still in charge of Newcastle United, despite their best attempts to sell it several times over the last 2 seasons. However, with the ship steadied again and the club back into the Premiership their desire to sell the club has waned, and they now seem set to be in charge for the near future.

Mike Ashley

Has a strange sense of loyalty, rewarding those that have served him well (Llambias, Mort, Wise, Hughton and Kinnear are all listed on his favourite staff), where as he seems to hold a grudge against those who have crossed him (Dave Whelan – Wigan Chairman; Keegan and Shearer are all on his disliked staff list).

Ashley has shown in the past that he has no real stomach for handling pressure, and when things start to hit the fan he’s the first to look for an exit, having put the club up for sale twice. However, with each failure – both the clubs and his own in trying to sell – he has came back to the table to try his hand at running a football club again. Gone are the controversial and cringe worthy scenes of him drinking and celebrating in the crowds, and so too the ambition with transfer funds cut to a few million a window (despite his billions).

Derek Llambias

The official Newcastle Chairman (though appears as a Director in Game) was brought in by Ashley to help run the club as a business, despite having no previous knowledge of running a Football Club (background in Casinos).

While he hasn’t been as soundbite happy as Freddy Shepard, he has been known to say some cringe worthy things, and, along with Ashley, has been exposed as being a liar throughout the whole ‘Keegan Affair’. If Ashley was to leave, Llambias would be sure to follow (there should be no instances of him taking over the club as seen in previous versions of Football Manager).

1st Team Staff

Chris Hughton – Manager

Wage: £4k a week

Termination Cost: N/A (Leaves club when you take over)

Training Category: Defending (15)

Backroom Advice:

If anything, Hughton’s time at Newcastle has shown him to be a quite, reserved and sensible coach who can handle not only the pressures of Premiership Football, but the media circus surrounding Newcastle’s demise. Leading the team back to the Premiership and winning the Championship en route, after being appointed the Manager (Having previously been Caretaker), Hughton won over the dressing room and re-established team morale.

His year as Manager of Newcastle has shown both his strengths and weaknesses. His main strength is that he is, first and foremost, a good coach, and as such can cover coaching duties – ideal considering the small backroom staff Newcastle United currently have. However, this is also a weakness, with him thinking first as a coach before thinking as a manager in game situations. He is slow to change his tactics and use his substitutions in games and often sets up his team depending on the opposition he faces – rarely taking the initiative to win.

Over the last 12 months he has shown himself to be shrewd in the transfer market, a quality that will only endear him to tight fisted owner Mike Ashley, buying several young and hungry players keen to play for Newcastle United. He also showed he was willing to give youth a chance, not only in cup games where he fielded a primarily young team, but also in the league.

He still has strong connections with Tottenham Hotspur, his former club where he won the League Cup and UEFA Cup as a player and worked his way through the coaching ranks. This is reinforced by his friendships with several former managers and players, noticeably Ossie Ardiles (who prodives information on Argentinean players); Glenn Hoddle; Harry Redknapp; Wayne Routledge (who he signed in Jan 2010); Martin Jol; Ledley King & Jermaine Defoe(who he coached at youth/reserves). Likewise he has also established a strong group of players and friendships within the Newcastle set up, such as Kevin Nolan and Colin Calderwood, which helps keep the dressing room spirit.

On taking over Newcastle, Hughton will becoming unemployed, and won’t resign for his former club. However, for those who have played the game a while if you see Hughton unemployed it might be worth noting that he does have various job roles, so may be interested in signing as one of the following depending on your team’s reputation and wages offered:

Coach (20)

Assistant Manager (18)

Manager (15)

Reserve Manager (8)

Scouting Knowledge:

England

Ireland

Argentina

Tactics

Preferred Formations: 442, 4411

Tactics: Slow-Medium Rigid Long Direct Football

Non Player Tendencies (NPT)

Will use targetman (18)

Will use young players in low priority cups (13)

Will fit players into preferred tactic (13)

Tendency to sign domestic based players (14)

Tendency to sign a lot of youth players (9)

Will make early tactical changes (5)

Will use counter attacking (6)

Will use zonal marking for set pieces (1)

Tendency to sign young players for the first team (10)

Tendency to have a large senior squad (7)

Colin Calderwood – Assistant Manager

Wage: £3,500

Expire Date: 30/06/2012

Termination Cost: £130k

Training Category: Defending

Backroom Advice: Training

Calderwood made the step up from 1st Team Coach to Assistant Manger when Hughton took over as manager, having previously returned to the club after leaving after the 08/09 season. Calderwood has been good friends with Hughton for many years, and works well with his former Spurs defensive partner.

However, he is very similar to Hughton in what he offers as a coach, with both offering a good understanding in coaching defenders and fitness. However, Calderwood does hold a slight advantage, one which helps Hughton as a manager, as he does have a decent tactical understanding from his years as a manager (however it’s still not the greatest).

Like Hughton, Calderwood is still attached to his days as a Tottenham defender, with several friendships with former Spur’s players and staff (Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle and Justin Edinburgh). He was also a part in James Perch joining Newcastle in the Summer from Nottingham Forest, one of Calderwood’s former clubs as Manager.

His overall advice is average to good, with his key area being Training.

Like Hughton, Calderwood can be used in several different roles depending on reputation and wages offered.

Manager (20)

Assistant Manager (19)

Coach (19)

Reserve Team Manager (10)

Scouting Knowledge:

United Kingdom

Spain

France

Tactics

Preferred Formation: 442, 433

Attack: 4231DAN

Defence: 532SCG

Tactics:

NPT

Tendency to sign domestic based players (11)

Tendency to have a large senior squad (3)

Will not have a substitute goalkeeper (1)

Paul Barron – Goalkeeper Coach

Wage: £2,500

Expires: 30/06/2012

Termination Cost:

Training Category: Goalkeeping (Shot Stopping)

Backroom Advice:

One of the best Goalkeeping Coaches in England though could improve on his work with Keeper’s kicking ability. Learned his trade as a goalkeeper coach with stints between the UK and Summer Camps in the North-West of America, where he was a tutor to a young Kasey Keller and Marcus Hahnemann, making him a rather decent GK Coach for younger players as well as Senior Keepers. Has a good friendship and understanding with Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood after having forged a tight coaching unit between themselves over the previous season.

Peter Beardsley

Wage: £500 pw (Part-Time)

Expires: 30/06/2011

Termination Cost: £14k

Best Training:

Back Room Advice:

Beardsley’s knowledge of players at the club is the best, having worked with the youths for almost 2 years before making the step up to Reserve Manager in the Summer (alongside Steve Stone).

His advice towards player recruitment should be listened to, as he is one of the best ‘talent spotters’ in the Newcastle backroom (credited with spotting Brad Inman amongst others).

Steve Stone

Wage: £500 pw

Expires: 30/06/2013

Termination Cost: £400k

Best Training: Ball Control

Back Room Advice:

Fitness Staff

Simon Tweddle – Fitness Coach

Former Youth Coach, Simon Tweddle stepped up to the mantle of Senior Fitness Coach last season during a time when Newcastle’s coaching staff was depleted to the core. His step up from the Youth Setup means that he has a great grounding in youth development, and works well with youth players. He is also a great motivator and man manager, benefiting from the re-established FA Coaching Courses cantered around player development.

If you feel like you have to recruit another fitness coach, it might be worthwhile keeping Simon Tweddle around, if he’ll agree to another role, as he should develop into a good coach as the years progress.

Davie Henderson - Head Physio

Derek Wright - 1st Team Physio

Michael Harding - Physio

Sean Beech - Youth Physio

Carl Nelson - Youth Physio

Youth Staff

Joe Joyce - U18s ManagerWage: £900

Expires: 30/06/2012

Termination Cost: £45k

Training Category:

Backroom Advice:

Highly rated within the English FA, Joe Joyce has been one of the few constant figures within Newcaslte’s Youth set up of the last 5 years. A great mind for the game in both regards to how to develop training strategies and tactical development. His advice on training and tactics should be listened to.

Willie Donachie - Youth Coach

Chris Terpcou - Academy GK Coach

Jack Ade - Academy Fitness Coach

Overview

You’ll be very lucky to set up a good training program with the coaches currently on the payroll at St. James’ Park, with the best you’ll get a mixture of 2 ½ stars, with the odd 3 ½ for Ball Control or Shooting at Senior Level.

You’ll have to bring numbers in, however depending on Mike Ashley’s mood it could prove difficult to do so.

Who to Bring In?

Building for the Future

Forget the first team; the youth academy is your future (with the correct balance of investment and luck). You could hire these coaches as a good stepping-stone for the youth academy into 1st team football:

Free and Easy

This will appeal to Mike Ashley’s wallet, and help the Governments unemployed figures come down, the following coaches are available for free:

Attacking Coaches

The Geordie Approach

Jobs for the Boys could see you hire:

Colin West (Assistant Manager) – Former Sunderland and Rangers player, though a Newcastle fan at heart, having been born in Wallsend. West would make a suitable Geordie recruitment, with some decent mental traits. His recruitment knowledge would be very useful, so much so, you might want to think about hiring him as a scout instead.

Brian Tinnion (Youth Coach) – Durham born Brian started his career at Newcastle, and would make a fine addition to the backroom staff as a Youth Coach.

Mick Gooding (Coach) – Another Geordie Born and Raised who never played, or coached, at Newcastle. You could change that and offer him a job with the club.

TickyTacky Spanish Football

To turn Newcastle United into some Spanish 5-a-side passing machine you could turn your attentions to the technical apt and mentally decisive coaching of:

[ChrisNUFC]

1st Team Place Holder

WORK IN PROGRESS

Players

Ins: James Pearch (Forest) £1m; Dan Gosling (Everton) Free; Sol Campbell (Free Agent) Free; Yven Moyo (Sochaux) Free; Hatem Ben Arfa (OM) Loan; Chieck Tiote (FC Twente) £3m;

Outs: Nicky Butt (Released); Wesley Ngo Baheng (Released); Max Johnson (Released); James Taylor (Released); Jonny Godsmark (Released); Darren Lough (Released); Callum Morris (Released); Frank Waife Danquah (Released); Dan Williams (Released); Fabrice Pancrate (Released)

Goalkeepers

While it may not be as strong as it used to be, the GK position is still one of the strongest positions in the squad. Steve Harper is a consistent decent Premier League Goalkeeper, Tim Krul can provide fantastic back up on his day and is showing signs of being ready to take over long term. Ole Soderberg is doing well to come back from a series of injuries that have hampered his development over the last few years, while Fraser Forster excelled on loan at Norwich last season and is currently out on loan again at Celtic.

Steve Harper

Tim Krul

Ole Soderberg

Fraser Forster

Right Back

Danny Simpson

Ryan Taylor

James Perch

Steven Taylor

Center Back

Left Back

Right Mid/Wing

Center Mid

Left Mid/Wing

Forwards

[ChrisNUFC]

Development Squad & Youth Team Place Holder

[tmason122]

Good effort I've got a newcastle game going and having reasonable success with a 4-2-3-1. I'll put up pics later

[col_nufc1]

A very good opening post Chris .

I coming towards the end of November on my first go at the demo and we are doing ok we are 8th in the Premier League but we are drawing to many games. We have played 15 with 5 wins 6 draws and 4 lost with 21 points.

Tactics wise i have been testing quite a few different formations but the best has been the 4-2-3-1 deep. But we struggle for goals no matter what formation we play but our defence is doing well conceeding a goal a game.

Transfers

All i could bring in was free transfers so in came Robert Pires, Bernard Mendy, Sylvinho, Michael Ball, Steve Finnan, Jay DeMerit.

I could of signed Hugo Rodallega in a part exchange and no cash for Shola Ameobi but greedy Shola wanted £13000 wages from me for 2 years of his contract and i wasn't go to pay him that .

Out went Xisco on loan to Stoke City for a £1.5m loan fee, Edmundsson went to Hartlepool on loan, Henderson and Ferguson went to Carlisle on loan.

[SeanH91]

So the sticky thread at the top where you had to stake your claim for the thread was pointless then? Just wasted 2 hours typing up my thread :/

[ChrisNUFC]

Oh right. Go for it, I didn't even look at that sticky thread, I can delete this one

[SeanH91]

Oh right. Go for it, I didn't even look at that sticky thread, I can delete this one

Nah it's fine. I'll do Gateshead instead

Reading it my comment did sound huffy, was supposed to be a bit tongue in cheek, I'll just use my template and make the Gateshead one

Good OP btw, very detailed.

[OutClassed]

Started with Newcastle on the demo, was playing a 451/433 but that didn't seem to bring me any luck whatsoever in my first 3 league games. I'll probably end up play a 4-2-3-1, unsure on whether deep or not.

My only transfers in have been Finnan (Free), Tom Cairney (£2.5m) and some 33y/o DM on a free, can't remember his name. When I start in the real game I'll have a few more targets in my mind as to who I'll buy, and probably swoop for Pires for free.

Has anyone had any luck in selling players? I ended up letting Smith and Xisco go out on loan for really tiny loan fees (less than £200k each).

Also, on the release day patch will we still be assistant manager-less?

[col_nufc1]

Has anyone had any luck in selling players? I ended up letting Smith and Xisco go out on loan for really tiny loan fees (less than £200k each).

Also, on the release day patch will we still be assistant manager-less?

Nope no luck at all in selling players it's the same at FM10 in that regard . The best i have been able to do is get teams interested and to try and do part exchanges but most of the time the player your getting rid of will want stupid amounts of his wages payed until his contract is up.

The data has been locked for the full game so Colin Calderwood will still be our assistant manager as far a i am aware.

[col_nufc1]

Just finished the demo and finished a reasonable 11th in the Premier League.

As you can see scoring goals was a big problem so on my next try on the demo i will try and sign Rodallega in exchange with Ameobi and try to sign Lukaku on a deal over 48 moths to add firepower to this toothless side.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4321/nufcdemoleaguetable1stt.png

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4938/nufcdemosquad1sttry11th.png

[dutch3723]

Main problem I found so far is right wing position and up front

I'm sure you've all figured out already, but given our limited cash situation, I found the useful as frees at start of game:

M. Ball for back up to Enrique

Pires to replace Routledge who seems pretty useless (Mendy could also be an option here)

Finnan as RB cover until all our injuries clear up (as soon as STaylor/Simpson were fit I agreed to seel him to Norwich for 500k in Jan)

I also had success in selling Xisco to Stoke for £2m right at the start of game, but no joy in getting rid of Smith, Perch or Shola

Other cheap buys I've found so far: Enyeama for 300k if you want to replace the aging Harper, Thygsen for 600kish, Macheda on loan is going to be my main loan signing I think, Porritt is 22k compensation - could be a good youngster, Lee Cox 400k

[Pearce2010]

Just finished the demo with Newcastle myself although I won't be continuing the game as I don't like small databases.

I played 4-4-1-1 with Carroll as a target man and Ben Arfa as an advanced playmaker as he is more creative than Nolan who didn't play as many games as he probably should have.

I finished up 10th with 10 wins 1 draw and 10 losses GF27 GA26

Topscorers - Carroll 6, Barton 6, Lovenkrands 4, R.Taylor 3

Top Assissts - Ben Arfa 7, R.Taylor6, Nolan 3

Defence was quite leaky but that may have been due too a lack of a stable back 4 due to injuries and poor form

Buys - Kakuta and De Laet on Loan

[tmason122]

Orignally posted by Outclassed

Has anyone had any luck in selling players? I ended up letting Smith and Xisco go out on loan for really tiny loan fees (less than £200k each).

I sold Ameobi to Wigan for £3m. I tried to also sell Lovenkrands, but to no avail. Even offered him out for £2m. In the end he went on loan to Blackpool until January with them playing 80% of his wages. Hopefully he'll play well enough that someone will want to buy him in Januray or either I'll go over the wage budget...

Anyway my actual game:

Pre season friendlies where my usual mix bag of results as I experimented with formations and trying to get everyone fit.

Transfers IN:

Pires - FREE (first choice AMC)

Sylvinho - FREE (back up LB whilst there are injuries)

John Sutton - 180k from Motherwell - this is a transfer and not a loan! (Backup LW and ST)

Kyle Naughton - 200k loan fee for 12 months from Spurs (Back up LB and RB)

Gael Kakuta - 200k loan fee for 12 months from Chelsea. (Back up for AML, AMC and AMR)

OUT:

Ameobi - £3m to Wigan

Lovenkrands - loan to Blackpool for 80% wages

And a few reserve players and youth.

Settled on formation is this:

--------------------Harper--------------------

R.Taylor---Williamson--Colocini---Enrique

------------------------------------------------

-------------Smith-------Barton--------------

Ben Arfa----------Pires----------------Jonas

-------------------Carroll----------------------

Williamson and Coloccini are set as normal defenders on defensive duties. R.Taylor and Enrique are attacking full backs. Smith is a box-to-box midfielder in support (with long shots as rarely!). Barton a defensive minded ball winning midfielder. Both Jonas and Ben Arfa are wingers in the support mode, though I've altered it so Ben Arfa can cut inside as he is two footed. Pires is an Attacking midfielder on Attack mode and Carroll is a Target man on attack mode.

Pires is team playmaker and Carroll is team target man (no surprises there).

I've played 5 games so far in the premier league and got the following results:

Blackburn away - won 1-0 (Kakuta freekick)

Birmingham home - won 2-1 (Carroll and Sutton)

Liverpool away - lost 4-2 (Carroll and Jonas again) Was 2-2 until 75th minute and then Torres ripped us apart.

Man City - home - 1-1 (Jonas)

Fulham - away lost 2-1 (Carroll)

So 2W, 2L and 1D. And also 2 wins in the league cup against Coventry and Hereford playing second team.

I'm currently sitting in 8th or 9th in the league (can't remember exactly).

Would reccomend Sutton to anyone who wants a cheap ST, AML or ML utility man. Can do everything and has even got 17 heading and 16 jumping ability. Very cheap and I've been very happy with him.

[ArsenalFan7]

Gudie, Interactice?

Are they spelling errors or am I missing something?

[martin23]

Ive just fiished my first half season with them and did quite well (9th), i was using a 4-1-2-2-1 tactic and i signed macheda on loan from united, he's been banging them in, 3rd top scorer in the league with 9.

Ive got to the semi-final of the league cup beating Manchester United on the way, but now ive got Chelsea and theyre flying atm.

Players in - Federico Macheda (loan)

Players out - Xisco - Hoffenheim (£2 million), Haris Vukic - Bayern Munich (£1.6 milllion), Nile Ranger - Chelsea (£2.7 million), Wayne Routledge - Everton (£1.1 million), Ryan Taylor - Ipswich (£1 million)

Ryan Taylor and Wayne Routldege went in January due to them spitting dummies halfway through november and I like to operate the Fergie approach.

Ive also got the board to review the youth recruitment and youth facilities and they have agreed to re-develope.

[Oscarzero]

Hi Chris

I am not too sure but Laurent Robert is on the disliked list? Is that from the "club's" perspective rather than from the "fans" perspective?

Also, players in --- add Tiote

[col_nufc1]

I am not too sure but Laurent Robert is on the disliked list? Is that from the "club's" perspective rather than from the "fans" perspective?

Also, players in --- add Tiote

I agree with Laurent Robert he should be in the clubs favoured staff. I had a shirt with his name on as did a lot of my mates and people around me in the Gallowgate end at SJP. The only problems anyone had with him was that he never helped out his fullback.

It's far to early to put Tiote in though he's only been here five minutes.

I am just starting my second go on the demo and have just seen the ask the board to do the transfer for you so i have asked them to buy Gael Kakuta for me and they agreed and to my shock had a offer of £11.75m accepted. Even though we only have a £1.5m transfer budget could be a way to sign some good players but also it could ruin the club finances.

[The Stallion]

Great OP Chris although I was wondering why Joe Kinnear, Laurent Robert and Geremi are on the disliked list?

[ivans]

what are the player roles for the team ?

[OutClassed]

Does anyone else think that if Jonas had better finishing (Around 12/13) he'd score a ton moe goals? The amount of times he goes past people and lets himself down at the finish for me is so frustrating!

[col_nufc1]

Does anyone else think that if Jonas had better finishing (Around 12/13) he'd score a ton moe goals? The amount of times he goes past people and lets himself down at the finish for me is so frustrating!

On my first try on the demo he was my top score with 5 goals from 21 games but like you said he missed a lot more than he scored. I think on the full game i will try to improve his finishing using the individual training focus.

[OutClassed]

On my first try on the demo he was my top score with 5 goals from 21 games but like you said he missed a lot more than he scored. I think on the full game i will try to improve his finishing using the individual training focus.

I was thinking of doing the same thing, if I could get him and Be Arfa chipping in with a few goals to help Carroll then I wouldn't be too worried. Scoring has been a big problem on my first go on the demo so far.

[darrensen]

I signed Kadlec for 1.5 mil and not really had too much of a problem scoring. Him and Carroll work well together

[darrensen]

you sold Ranger and Vuckic???!!!!

Vuckic is gonna be a class act!

Ive just fiished my first half season with them and did quite well (9th), i was using a 4-1-2-2-1 tactic and i signed macheda on loan from united, he's been banging them in, 3rd top scorer in the league with 9.

Ive got to the semi-final of the league cup beating Manchester United on the way, but now ive got Chelsea and theyre flying atm.

Players in - Federico Macheda (loan)

Players out - Xisco - Hoffenheim (£2 million), Haris Vukic - Bayern Munich (£1.6 milllion), Nile Ranger - Chelsea (£2.7 million), Wayne Routledge - Everton (£1.1 million), Ryan Taylor - Ipswich (£1 million)

Ryan Taylor and Wayne Routldege went in January due to them spitting dummies halfway through november and I like to operate the Fergie approach.

Ive also got the board to review the youth recruitment and youth facilities and they have agreed to re-develope.

[OutClassed]

But just for the demo you could do without him, I myself will be using a bigger DB when the game comes out. Although, Vuckic has 7 in 9 games for the League 1 side he's on loan to atm.

[Andyman19]

First of all, Joey Barton in disliked personnel?? I wouldn't say he's disliked by Newcastle fans.

Anyway, I've just started a game on the demo today and it seems to be going ok. For expectations I optimistically put title challenge so I could get a bit more money. The board gave me extra transfer and wage money when I asked as well, they do seem more reasonable this year but every time you ask them for help signing a decent player they're always an "unrealistic" target which is annoying! Just to make it a little bit more realistic I offered mutual termination to Calderwood. I decided to promote Beardsley to me assistant and brought in Andy Cole to bulk up the coaching staff after Pedro had been promoted.

So transfers........

Players In:

Pierre Webo from Mallorca on loan (fee 150k) - he is a machine so far, lightening pace.

Hugo Almeida from Werder Bremen for 1.4m - fire power.

Kyle Walker from Spurs on loan (fee 475k) - needed something new at right back until Steven Taylor heals up, he's got the pace to go at opponents down the right.

Julien Faubert from West Ham on loan (fee 140k)

Robert Pires on a free - Solid cover for Ben Arfa.

Vincent Enyeama from H.Tel-Aviv for 230k - he's as good as he was last year so it had to be done.

Bernard Mendy on a free - just for cover.

Shaleum Logan from Man City on a free.

Shaun Hutchison from Motherwell for 0 up front and 2.5mil after 50 appearances.

Players Out:

Alan Smith to Everton on loan (fee 130k) with an option to buy for 2.7mil - just because I knew he'd rarely get a game and his wages are fairly high.

Yven Moyo to Morcambe on loan

Stephen Folan to Rochdale on loan

Tim Krul to Real Madrid on loan - I brought in Enyeama so didn't want Krul stuck in the reserves so I'll have him and Forster raring to go next season once Harpers reaching his twilight years.

Tactics wise I've got a very attacking diamond on the go which I put together myself, with a target man (Almeida) and poacher (Webo) up front and a trequartista (Ben Arfa) sitting behind them.

My starting eleven is:

GK - Enyeama

DL - Jose Enrique

DC - Coloccini

DC - Campbell

DR - Walker

DM - Barton

ML - Gutierrez

MR - Faubert

AMC - Ben Arfa

ST - Webo

ST - Almeida

So far this has worked perfectly as the results show, Jonas and Ben Arfa have been pulling the strings with Faubert getting plenty of assists as well. Lovenkrands works brilliantly as an impact sub, though he's good enough to start, it's just Webo and Almeida are doing well as a pairing, poor Ameobi, Carroll and Xisco are barely getting a look in. Obviously I was mixing up the squads in pre-season so thats why there's younger players getting on the scoresheet.

My results so far:

NUFC 4 Genk 4 (Friendly) - Webo, Ameobi, R. Taylor, Lovenkrands

NUFC 3 Carlisle 0 (Friendly) - Nolan, Carroll, Ferguson

NUFC 4 Dundee United 2 (Friendly) - Ameobi, McBain O.G, Pires, Carroll

NUFC 5 Stockport 1 (Friendly) - Webo, Henderson (2), fon Williams O.G, Lovenkrands

NUFC 4 Watford 0 (Friendly) - Ben Arfa, Lovenkrands (3)

NUFC 2 Portsmouth 0 (Friendly) - Gutierrez (2)

NUFC 3 Blackburn 1 (PL) - Ben Arfa, Almeida (2)

NUFC 4 Birmingham 0 (PL) - Almeida (2), Ben Arfa, Pires

NUFC 1 Plymouth 0 (LC) - Ben Arfa

NUFC 3 Liverpool 0 (PL) - Gutierrez, Webo (2)

So after 3 leage games I'm sitting on top, with 9 points and a goal difference of +9, not a bad start hopefully I can keep it up.

[arsenal_2111]

Out of interest, are the spelling mistakes of Guide and Interactive accidental or on purpose?

[tmason122]

Originally posted by Andyman19

Join Date

5th August 2007

Posts

37

Default

First of all, Joey Barton in disliked personnel?? I wouldn't say he's disliked by Newcastle fans.

Anyway, I've just started a game on the demo today and it seems to be going ok. For expectations I optimistically put title challenge so I could get a bit more money. The board gave me extra transfer and wage money when I asked as well, they do seem more reasonable this year but every time you ask them for help signing a decent player they're always an "unrealistic" target which is annoying! Just to make it a little bit more realistic I offered mutual termination to Calderwood. I decided to promote Beardsley to me assistant and brought in Andy Cole to bulk up the coaching staff after Pedro had been promoted.

So transfers........

Players In:

Pierre Webo from Mallorca on loan (fee 150k) - he is a machine so far, lightening pace.

Hugo Almeida from Werder Bremen for 1.4m - fire power.

Kyle Walker from Spurs on loan (fee 475k) - needed something new at right back until Steven Taylor heals up, he's got the pace to go at opponents down the right.

Julien Faubert from West Ham on loan (fee 140k)

Robert Pires on a free - Solid cover for Ben Arfa.

Vincent Enyeama from H.Tel-Aviv for 230k - he's as good as he was last year so it had to be done.

Bernard Mendy on a free - just for cover.

Shaleum Logan from Man City on a free.

Shaun Hutchison from Motherwell for 0 up front and 2.5mil after 50 appearances.

Players Out:

Alan Smith to Everton on loan (fee 130k) with an option to buy for 2.7mil - just because I knew he'd rarely get a game and his wages are fairly high.

Yven Moyo to Morcambe on loan

Stephen Folan to Rochdale on loan

Tim Krul to Real Madrid on loan - I brought in Enyeama so didn't want Krul stuck in the reserves so I'll have him and Forster raring to go next season once Harpers reaching his twilight years.

Just out of interest how much extra money did you get from the board for saying title challenge and when you asked for extra wages and transfer funds?

When I asked for extra transfer funds and wages they rejected me. Perhaps I went about the conversation wrong? :S

[SeanH91]

Out of interest, are the spelling mistakes of Guide and Interactive accidental or on purpose?

Jammy!! <3

Think it's accidental tbh.

[weasel1976]

So, I managed to get in some game time yesterday (and my first impressions are good - did not get it last year, but might invest this time round - looks like the fun factor could be returning).

Ins & Outs:

Nolan out on loan

Smith out on loan

Could not get takers on Best nor Ameobi

Van Aanholt in on loan

DM from Fiorentina (name escapes me right now) in on loan

Lansbury in on loan

So, playing a 4-5-1.....Typical team being:

GK Krul (plays very well)

RB Taylor (wished he was this good in real life)

LB Enrique

CB Colocini

CB Williamson

DM Tiote

CM Barton

CM Inman (outstanding in this game)

RAM Ban Arfa

LAM Jonas

ST Caroll

Some players seem to be better than I expected:

Moyo is very good on the left wing

Inman has a wicked shot on him scoring a few wonder goals

Edmundsson is also very adept

So far played 9 games in the league and up to 8th, so performing beyond expectations.

Still in the league cup, playing mainly young lads

[OLLMEISTER1]

Krul is a beast, i prefer him to harper in goal.

Krul has averaged over 7.40 in my games so far.

Very good prospect who is allready a more than capable premiership goalkeeper.

[OLLMEISTER1]

Also have to add a must strengthning area of the squad is at right back.

Perch, Simpson and Taylor are below average at best. I signed Rafael on loan from Man utd and has been superb, shame i couldnt put a future fee offer in.

[ChrisNUFC]

I'll be up dating the rest of the OP during the week. The thread title is a spelling mistake - get over it (Arsenal Fans)!

Geremi is in the disliked section (low rating) as he will be booed if he's ever played against us, and people would complain if you were to resign him, due to the wage he was on and the lack of form/games he played.

Barton could perhaps come off, as that's a hang over from his days on the Lamb! Still some sections of SJP that don't like him though.

Joe Kinnear is on the disliked list as the fans would go off it if he retured. He's on Mike Ashley's favourite staff list however.

Robert is on the disliked ranks (low rating) due to the way he left the club - there were some misplaced words from what I remember.

[OutClassed]

Danny Simpson:

Pros: Quite pacey and has a good work rate and stamina which means he can run down all day. Not bad at tackling.

Cons: Anticipation and positioning let him down and could leave you open. I'd also prefer my RB to have higher marking than 11.

James Perch:

Pros: The needed stats are all around the same level.

Cons: That level is that of an average Championship fullback.

Ryan Taylor:

Pros: Good crosser of the ball and has the stamina to go up and down the flank.

Cons: Awful marking and would probably get beaten too often.

Simpson is probably the best of the bunch imo. When I start a full game I'll probably let Raylor be RB til Simpson comes back and stick with him til the end of the season. With the little cash that's available I'll go for a cheap midfield player to eventually replace Nolan/Barton and a backup winger. Fullbacks would definetly be a priority once I (expect) would get more cash in the second season.

Just lost 3-1 to Man Utd after going down to 9 men after 60 minutes. The last team that went down to 9 against Man utd were WBA, and they got hammered 13-0! I actually pulled the score to 2-1 after I was down to 9, but they nabbed another one.

[chargreaves]

This is probably a question for Chris, what will the situation be with a board takeover in the full game?

[nick-roma]

Player OUT:

Ranger 5M €

Vuckic 2M €

Ameobi 1.5M €

Routledge 1M €

Krul (Loan) 1.5M €

Smith (Loan) 1.5M €

Xisco (Loan)

Burton (Loan) 1M €

Ferguson (Loan) 500k

IN:

Milevskyi 10M € (48 months)

Inler 7.5M € (48 months)

Vukojevic 11.5M € (48 months)

Gonul 2.5M €

Enyeama 250K

Faubert 250K (LOAN)

Bassong 275K (LOAN)

[nick-roma]

4-2-3-1

Enyeama

Gonul/Taylor/Colloccini/Jose Enrique

Vukojevic/Inler

Faubert/Ben Arfa/Jonas

Milevskyi

and you can challenge for uefa cup

[nick-roma]

This is probably a question for Chris, what will the situation be with a board takeover in the full game?

very good question ! it will be great if someone could give us an answer cause i gonna play on network with my friends, its very important for me...

[OutClassed]

Just finished the demo and ended up in 11th place, which isn't too bad. Only really got my tactic working towards the last 1/2 of competitive games, so think my record could've been better:

Played: 21, 9-1-11, GF: 24, GA: 33.

Amazingly I only drew a single game, but if I'd got the tactic more solid and maybe had the players available from the start I'd have a better record.

Star players:

Jonas - Apps: 21, Goals: 9, Assists: 4 Av rat: 7.58

Guthrie - Apps: 8(3), Goals: 1, Assists: 5 Av rat: 6.97

Carroll - Apps: 17, Goals: 4, Assists: 2 Av rat: 6.88

Nolan - Apps: 20(2), Goals: 3, Assists: 2 Av rat: 6.84

My transfers were:

IN:

Steve Finnan (RB) - FREE - Nothing moe than a backup, making 3 appearances off the bench.

Alex Smithies (GK) - £725k - Future GK, was my backup for Krul. No appearances though.

Pablo Garcia (DM) - £500k - Decent backup, but 2 reds in 8 appearances mean I won't bring him in on the proper game. Alternative may be Teymourian on a free.

Tom Cairney (CM) - £2.5m - My only big buy, and suffered an injury 10 games in. A goal and 3 assist in his 9 appearances was a good foundation. Looks a bright youngster and could be someone to develop and build around.

OUT:

Xisco - Ln fee £130k

Smith - Ln fee £150k - I know I probably could've got more for these two.

Moyo, Zamberla, Tozer and Vuckic - Loans to League 1 sides

Perch - Loan to Ipswich

Ranger - Loan to Scunthorpe

Ameobi - £2.4m (January transfer)

I let a few of the staff go and brought in Steve Black, Robert Prosinecki and Peter Shilton to beef up the coaches. Simon Hunt and Ian Stoney-Moore were additional scouts to replace Wooster.

Look forward to starting a new game with Newcastle on the full game, will probably bring in Smithies, Cairney and Finnan again. Hope to sell a few players in the first window so I can snatch Conor Wickham nice and early.

Would love to know what everyones balance was at the end of the demo, mine was just over £6m in the red

[BlackEnd]

Just waiting for the demo to finish downloading so I can start my Newcastle game. Thanks Chris, much appreciated!

[weasel1976]

I cannot recall, but how much money does Newcastle start with, or is it random?

I look at my finances, made a profit throught the season of 26M€......but I only have about 2M€ balance, so I make the assumption that the beginning balance was around (24)M€ - not quite in line with the openning post.

[BlackEnd]

I had about 4.5m$$ when starting.

Also, about to go into my first match of the league and over 10 players are injured.... :|

[OutClassed]

Also, about to go into my first match of the league and over 10 players are injured.... :|

One of the most frustrating things when you start a Newcastle game is the amount of defenders injured as well as missing Guthrie from the middle :-(

[Hamzterz]

Played the demo a bit, although i wont play the half season through. Will wait till the release, and then start with large db.

My plan:

4-1-2-1-2

Sell (or loan out):

Nolan

Barton

Harper

Ameobi

Løvenkrands

Buy:

Kadlec

Pires

Fabio Coentrao

Promote:

Ranger

Vuckic

This will hopefully give me the following team:

Krul

Taylor - Campbell - Coloccini - Enrique

Tiote

Jonas ---- Coentrao

Ben Arfa

Carroll - Kadlec

[Man Ray]

Just finished the demo, finished third. No chance of repeating that, plenty of lucky results. So now I don't know if I should start over when the full version arrives.:confused:

I had less than £2m, so didn't buy anyone (tried Almeida, but not enough money). Loaned in Hoilett (Blackburn young RW, really good), Aanholt (cover for Jose), Zakari Labyad (CM/AMC) and some young dutch AM RLC. Sold Shola to Stoke, Routledge and Vuckic went on loan to somewhere. Gave the armband to Sol as I figured Nolan wouldn't play much. Nolan didn't take it too well, so gave him away in january (only some future fees, and I'm paying half his wages). Already arranged free transfer for Gilberto Silva (40k/week, looks class). Tried to sell Smith, Perch, Best but no luck.

Also renewed contracts for Carroll and S. Taylor (not quite sure if Saylor deserves 35k, but done already). Hired all sorts of unemployed coaches (and got rid of the useless ones, now it's mostly 4 stars. Couldn't find a new assman for 3.5k though).

I'm playing like this: (4-1-2-2-1 asymmetric I think it's called).

----------------------------------------Harper-------------------------------------

Raylor-------------Campbell-------------Coloccini------------Jose Enrique

----------------------------------------Tiote---------------------------------------

----------------------Barton-----------------------------------------------Jonas

Holliet----------------------------------------Ben Arfa-------------------------

----------------------------------Xisco/Carroll------------------------------------

Centre Halves defend, full backs automatic. Tiote defends, Barton Box to box. Jonas and Holliet wingers, Ben Arfa attacking midfielder or advanced playmaker (hasn't played too well, needs tweaking or a replacement). Target man obviously, though so far it's been difficult choice between Xisco and Carroll. Spaniard was much better early on, Carroll was useless in the early season but has been first choice in december after getting his first goal in late november.

Standard or counter approach, more often the latter. When in need of a goal, typically sub AMC and bring in second forward.

Goalscoring is obviously a problem, in preseason I wondered if I'll see us score before I'm sacked. And isn't getting any better, I've scored three in only one match. Started the season really badly, no wins and four draws out of first seven. Then I luckily won Stoke and never looked back. Since then only lost to Chelsea away, and otherwise it's been dull 1-0 victories with an odd 1-1 in between. And always promise sexy football in press conferences, I'm looking to deliver in 2014-15.

In january board gave me an option to review season expectations, but no more transfer money even if I'd get them silverware. I promised them top half finish, which should at least give me some leash re: wage budget.

On the plus side, squad moral is brilliant. Results help, but also always praising them in press seems to be good.

[BlackEnd]

Signing Almeida is horrible. Why does his agent demand 1.6mill? Thats insane!

[KyleGraham]

I think its safe to say Jonas is too good at scoring goals in the new game and that Carroll and Jose Enrique especially aren't as good as they should be

[ChrisNUFC]

very good question ! it will be great if someone could give us an answer cause i gonna play on network with my friends, its very important for me...

Anything from 2 seasons - never.

I think its safe to say Jonas is too good at scoring goals in the new game and that Carroll and Jose Enrique especially aren't as good as they should be

Jonas is a pain in the arse to evaluate. The only thing I can think of is lowering his acceleration (think I may have over-rated that), though he's not as prolific as he was in last year's ME.

[OutClassed]

Does anyone know if I set my CBs crossing to 'Often', but passing to 'short', will this stop them hoofing it up to Carroll?