[FM18] I never realised that to become a jockey you needed to be a horse first!

[smp20]

World Cup 'Campaign'

I was really hoping that we could have a positive World Cup and that we could be the underdogs of the tournament but it just wasn't to be.We did okay against France, struggled against Germany and we were lucky to beat Wales. The 2-0 loss against Australia was a major confidence knock and we went on to have a dreadful World Cup. We managed just one shot against England, who also hit the woodwork 3 times, so we should have lost by more. This was followed by a thrashing by Colombia to knock us out the World Cup. To wrap it up, we lost our final game against Belgium and we finished the group without even scoring a goal.

With my job status precarious, I opted to jump before being pushed and hopped on a flight back to Abu Dhabi...

[smp20]

Interfering idiots!!!! Managed to protest it, but it doesn't bode well.

[Rikulec]

You should know who to take from them as a revenge though (if he's still there, that is)!

[smp20]

17 hours ago, Rikulec said:

You should know who to take from them as a revenge though (if he's still there, that is)!

I've managed to achieve damage limitation with the transfers in the end. Not ideal, but better than losing our 3 best players! Wherever I end up next, I will be going in for TWL

[smp20]

Summer 2022 Transfer Shenanigans

More bids taken in the hands of the chairman, I managed to protest the bid for Wilshere successfully, whereas I was unsuccessful in stopping the Kante deal .

I was delighted that Ro-Shaun Williams decided to sign a new deal, which repelled other teams from bidding for him.

Wilshere was stomping his feet for a move and I think I managed to achieve the best situation possible. He will be with us until January, happily, before moving on for £10m. We could have got more for a straight sale now, but I would like to have him around for our ACL games.

James McCarthy came in as the replacement for Kante. Not exactly like for like in terms of ability, but he will be a strong ball winner in the middle. I also added a few Emirati players, however Al-Kaabi and Ashoor will not be able to play in the ACL. Nor will our new foreign signing, Kong Dong-Won, who made his South Korea debut under me. I'm not entirely sure which of my 5 foreign players will be registered for the league, but it will be Williams, Wilshere, McCarthy & TWL for the ACL.

The Sacchi's Back!

It's been my favourite style of play over several iterations of FM and something I'd really like to use/coach IRL, so here it is. 

 

[smp20]

This is getting beyond a joke now. Okay he's only a backup player, but we need depth and £400k is not a good deal idiot chairman! 

[deltablue]

Sometimes the bar can seem a little low. Drove me up the wall on FM11 in particular. 

[smp20]

7 minutes ago, deltablue said:

Sometimes the bar can seem a little low. Drove me up the wall on FM11 in particular. 

I think our chairman's interference rating must be through the roof...He's throwing cash at us which is great, but selling players willy-nilly. 

[MikeyJ]

8 hours ago, smp20 said:

I think our chairman's interference rating must be through the roof...He's throwing cash at us which is great, but selling players willy-nilly. 

Seems so much that this must be a bug? 

[smp20]

2 hours ago, MikeyJ said:

Seems so much that this must be a bug? 

Hmm I don't think so, just an over-interfering chairman. Might be the average player transfer sales for perceived squad status in UAE as well. Anyway, it was an irritating challenge to deal with but we all need a challenge....

[smp20]

January 2023 Update

Asian Champions League

An incredible run in the Champions League and we ended up as the champions of Asia! We were outstanding at home - 5-0, 6-1 and 5-1 across the QF, SF and Final. Ahmed Khalil's goalscoring was impeccable; 4 in the semi-final home leg and 5(!!!) in the final home leg!! Omar Abdulrahman was rated as MVP so it was great to see us win the ACL with two Emirati's spurring the team on. Delighted

Club World Championship

We only went and bloody did it! On top of the world!!!! Tay Wei Liang was the star of the semi-final against Corinthians, grabbing a brace including an 89th minute winner. His strike partner Ahmed Khalil was the hero of the final, scoring an 87th minute goal to put us in the lead and Al-Kaabi scored a cracking half volley from outside the area in stoppage time to see off the game.

Domestic Football

We've won every domestic game this year, very dominant. 

Player Stats

The strike partnership of TWL-Khalil has been highly prolific - a full year together and over 100 goals between them. Great to see Khalil and Abdulrahman as 1st and 3rd in the Asian Player of the Year. Our Brits - Wilshere (Southampton bound), Williams and McCarthy did very well. Ive noticed that I've missed off the average ratings, but it was very good overall as you'd expect with our results.

Manager News

I'm up to 3* reputation and my attributes are improving nicely. I can also speak good Arabic and basic Malay, Burmese and Korean . I've been applying for a few jobs recently...

Got to the interview stage with Napoli and I was rejected because they didn't like my youth policy. That's non-negotiable wherever I go.

Very highly linked with the Brighton job, a place I once lived, worked and studied. They are rock bottom of the Premier League with just 7 points and would have been a mighty challenge. However a better offer came along:

I guess being able to converse with the Kuwaiti chairman in Arabic in the interview must have helped me! Another relegation threatened side but a sleeping giant. Guess I will be swapping Abu Dhabi for Newcastle, quite a change in weather and culture 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

TWL in the Premier League, always knew it would happen 

[smp20]

12 hours ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

TWL in the Premier League, always knew it would happen 

I will be putting a bid in so it'll be up to him if he comes. Will be made first choice, let's just hope he doesn't flop!

[smp20]

So here I am in Newcastle after a long haul flight. No time for jet lag though, I'm excited to get stuck into my first opportunity in England. Here's a look at my journey here:

Cambodia > Guam > Singapore > Myanmar > Malaysia > United Arab Emirates > England

Newcastle History 

Newcastle are a well supported club with great potential, but for decades they haven't lived up to it. It's now been nearly 30 years since Keegan's entertainers and there's been very little entertainment since. The 'in game' seasons haven't been great. There was no Rafalution as he left for Dortmund in December 2017 and he was replaced by Pellegrino who couldn't keep them up. Pellegrino brought them back up and finished 14th, 10th and 13th - hardly much for the Geordies to get excited about - and he was sacked with the club sitting 19th sat the time.

League Table

I take on the side while we're sat in 18th place with a game in hand and I'm expected to keep us up. Let's hope I can do it. Deschamps believes in me:

Upcoming Fixtures

These are our upcoming games in January. I've got just 3 days to prepare for the Wolves game and I'm hoping for a positive result. Chelsea will be extremely tough, as will Spurs, but we should beat whipping boys Brighton even if it is at the Amex. We finish off the month with a trip to Norwich in the FA Cup.

Next update will include January results and a squad review. I'm expected to make a few signings, but not too many.

[ManUtd1]

The good news is that Newcastle fans are ready to welcome you with ... err ... open arms.

[smp20]

44 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

The good news is that Newcastle fans are ready to welcome you with ... err ... open arms.

I think after 2 years in Abu Dhabi I will be wearing more clothes to the matches but each to their own  

[smp20]

Welcome to the Toon, Tay Wei Liang

He signed on the morning of our first game and impressed on the training field straight away. Was he going to start at 7.45pm against Wolves? Of course.

7.49pm and he's whacked in a screamer from the edge of the box, sending the Toon in to ecstasy. But that wasn't the end of his debut...

2 goals and 2 assists in a 4-1 crushing of Wolves, a decent PL side. He was unfortunate not to get MOTM with an average rating of 9.4. What a way to mark your debut. Not bad for the manager too 

Here he is in all his glory. The best Singaporean of all time I'm sure. Let's hope he can keep this up and become a Newcastle legend!

[MikeyJ]

34 minutes ago, smp20 said:

Welcome to the Toon, Tay Wei Liang

He signed on the morning of our first game and impressed on the training field straight away. Was he going to start at 7.45pm against Wolves? Of course.

7.49pm and he's whacked in a screamer from the edge of the box, sending the Toon in to ecstasy. But that wasn't the end of his debut...

2 goals and 2 assists in a 4-1 crushing of Wolves, a decent PL side. He was unfortunate not to get MOTM with an average rating of 9.4. What a way to mark your debut. Not bad for the manager too 

Here he is in all his glory. The best Singaporean of all time I'm sure. Let's hope he can keep this up and become a Newcastle legend!

His stats seem a little low in comparison to his ability on a football pitch!

[smp20]

2 hours ago, MikeyJ said:

His stats seem a little low in comparison to his ability on a football pitch!

He certainly does perform above his attributes - his report says ''Very well suited to Championship"

[smp20]

January-February 2023 Update

Staff Changes

We had several places to fill in our coaching setup. Mark Howard was brought in hours after I was appointed manager as a high quality fitness coach. Wayne Burnett is in as my right-hand man. He's a believer in passing football and a pressing game and in his spell as interim manager at Spurs last season he did pretty well. Paul Robinson is a top class defensive coach while McDonald and Thompson are both Geordies returning home. Ariel Garce was a good assistant manager for me at Johor and he's great working with young players so he's in to as assistant for our youth team.

Transfers In

In tough times it's good to have some local lads passionate about the club, hence the re-signing of Paul Dummett. I signed 4 players from my previous club; Tay Wei Liang we all know about and since I've added Ro-Shaun WIlliams, Hamad Ahmed and Abdulla Al-Hamadi. Our highest profile signing was transfer-listed Alex Grimaldo from Bayern and we also added another transfer-listed player in 23-year-old Egyptian Ahmed Behery.

Transfer Out 

Rodriguez was the first player out the door for a very healthy £24m, money I didn't want to turn down because in all honesty he looked like an average striker. Pereira was already transfer listed and in the reserves when I arrived and I was happy to keep in that way and accept a sale. I didn't want to lose Mbemba but it was out of my hands due to a release clause and my Centre-Back targets didn't want to join us so I'm going with what I've got plus Ro-Shaun. Ayoze already had an outgoing transfer agreed and Shelvey and Nissen were pestering to leave so I let them. Overall, apart from losing Mbemba, it's been a good window for transfers out as we've made some decent money on, for want of a better word, deadwood.

Squad

We've now got a well-balanced squad for my favoured 4-2-2-2 formation. Todd Brass is a local lad to keep an eye out for; I brought him back from his loan as he is good enough to be given an opportunity to shine.

Results

Not great, but not terrible either. We were unlucky not to get a result against Chelsea after a fantastic first game as manager and the following two defeats brought us crashing down to earth and back in the relegation zone. Wins against Bournemouth and Middlesbrough, with Geordie Todd Brass the hero, gave us a bit of momentum and I was delighted to get a stoppage time equaliser against City. We were no match for Man Utd however as Mourinho got his own back on me for the CWC. A 3-1-4 record so far in the Premier League under my leadership, biggest disappointment being the loss against Brighton. There's lots of positives to take from the FA Cup where we have comfortably beaten two decent Championship sides.

League Table

10 games left and we're 3 points adrift from safety. We need a run of form and quick! It's an interesting table and it looks like an exciting title race at the top and it's very tight in the middle.

Fixtures

Bar Arsenal at home we don't have any other games against the 'Big 6' so we really ought to find some form. Those last two games against Swansea and West Brom could be very important relegation-battling matches.

Hmm the Kuwaiti Chairman didn't tell me he was leaving anytime soon 

 

 

[smp20]

Youth Intake 2023

Oh yes, that sentence you love to see. Here he is:

15 year old keeper and he's this good already. Wow 

Nick Laycock looks like a decent prospect as well . Just a shame he's from Middlesbrough and Haslam is from Harrogate rather than Tyneside, but we'll pretend they moved here aged 5 and have broad Geordie accents .

[smp20]

Spoiler alert  - Year 11 goalkeeper Haslam becomes youngest in PL history and gets a 7.4 rating conceding just once after facing 17 shots.

[BoxToBox]

Really like the signing of Dummett, solid player in FM, can cover most any DL/WBL role well.

[smp20]

21 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Really like the signing of Dummett, solid player in FM, can cover most any DL/WBL role well.

Yeah he's a decent, well rounded left-back. He's an excellent squad player and might be first choice again soon unless Grimaldo starts performing.

[smp20]

Not much to say other than that this relegation scrap is keeping me wide awake!

[kidthekid]

Wow, you went and won the world club cup and now you are in Newcastle. Great work. 

The career trajectory is actually something I can imagine happening in real life, 

[andychar]

You certainly have gone the long way around to Newcastle.

Love how the Relegation Scrap consists of more than half the league. Including a team who depending on cup winners is only 1 place off a European place.

[smp20]

5 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Wow, you went and won the world club cup and now you are in Newcastle. Great work. 

The career trajectory is actually something I can imagine happening in real life, 

Cheers @kidthekid. I wish it could be a real life trajectory

3 hours ago, andychar said:

You certainly have gone the long way around to Newcastle.

Love how the Relegation Scrap consists of more than half the league. Including a team who depending on cup winners is only 1 place off a European place.

Yeah I just didn't fancy that Virgin East Coast train . Yeah it's very unusual to have so many teams that can still possibly go down, though it must be highly unlikely for the clubs that have already achieved the 'magic' 40 points.

[noikeee]

Wow, stuff happening all over this thread.

- Magnificent Asian CL + CWC win, winning the CWC with anyone outside of Europe/S.America is tough as hell
- Bringing back the Sacchi-style. Love it 
- Great move to Newcastle, good timing for it, great club to manage as well as a minor fallen giant
- TWL is an absolute legend, can't believe he's doing the business in the Premiership
- The youth keeper is well on his way to become a legend as well

The only negative was that World Cup with S. Korea, I warned you that relying on the big man wasn't a good idea. 

[smp20]

Premier League Survival

The 4-0 loss to Watford left us a bit shakey, but we secured survival with a win against Swansea and ended the season in style.

FA Cup

An incredible run in the FA Cup culminating in lifting the trophy in an emphatic 6-1 win against Everton. That moment when your 16-year-old keeper, left as penalty taker from the final PL game, tucks it home to become the youngest goalscorer in club and FA Cup history. After his goal we went from strength-to-strength and annihilated Everton. What an occasion for the club! Not many fans will remember the last FA Cup win for the Toon back in 1955.

(Side note: my first ever football match was the 1998 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Newcastle. My uncle took me in a bid to turn me in to an Arsenal fan, which worked for about 3 years before I switched allegiances to Cambridge United.)

Player Stats

Top class Todd Brass and TWL formed a decent partnership up top, while wingers (excellently named) Phoenix Pepper and Noe Delgado were fantastic under my management. We weren't great defensively, but we achieved survival and picked up a cup which I'm extremely happy about.

Club News

Good! From what I've heard, Paul Scally is a right....you know what. Stay away from our club. If we're gonna lose our Middle-eastern ownership I'd much rather have someone in that cares about the club.

Plenty of upgrades for the club once I was able to negotiate with Fawaz again

[smp20]

Tribute to a Legend

"KEEGAN: No, that's... when you do that with footballers, like he said about Leeds, and when you do things like that about a man like Stuart Pearce, I've kept really quiet, but I'll tell you something, he went down in my estimation when he said that. We have not resorted to that, but I'll tell you, you can tell him now if you're watching it, we're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something, and... and... I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it."

The FA Cup after-party in the clubhouse was dying down, most of the players had disappeared off to 'real' parties and those left in the clubhouse were dozing away. In the corner, a drunken Page and Keegan were watching youtube clips of a bygone era. Keegan, reminiscing the days that Newcastle were renowned as the best footballing side in the league. Keegan's entertainers, oh how close they came. I vowed to Kevin that I would honour him and play the Keegan way. If we were to compete in the Premier League, we would do it all guns blazing playing with no fear. Teams would fear us and we would crush those that parked the bus or tried to outdo us. Kevin put his arm round me and said ''You can do it. Finish what I couldn't. It's my biggest regret".

In the height of ecstasy following the FA Cup win it seemed like a good idea, but with a groggy head the next day it felt like an impossible task. I'd made a promise though and I intended to keep it. After watching clip after clip of Keegan's entertainers in the club archives, I got my notebook out and started to piece together how I saw us playing next season.

I've got a few aims of my own that mesh with this and what Newcastle needs.

• Prioritize the development and game-time of young English players, particularly local lads. Lets instill some pride.
• Use Newcastle as a hub to develop Asian players and showcase the talent Asia has to offer. I loved my time in Asia and I've met lots of talented players - I want to show the World what they're made of.
• We are Page's Entertainers. Teams come with game plans to stop us, not the other way round. I will sign players that will get the loyal Toon up on their feet every time they touch the ball.

Roll on next season. Now where's that aspirin...

[Rikulec]

Not a bad start at all, both for you and TWL.

[smp20]

2 hours ago, noikeee said:

Wow, stuff happening all over this thread.

- Magnificent Asian CL + CWC win, winning the CWC with anyone outside of Europe/S.America is tough as hell
- Bringing back the Sacchi-style. Love it 
- Great move to Newcastle, good timing for it, great club to manage as well as a minor fallen giant
- TWL is an absolute legend, can't believe he's doing the business in the Premiership
- The youth keeper is well on his way to become a legend as well

The only negative was that World Cup with S. Korea, I warned you that relying on the big man wasn't a good idea. 

Cheers @noikeee . Really excited about building up Newcastle. TWL's league goalscoring dried up a fair bit, but he was still instrumental in the cup. Haslam is definitely down as a potential club legend. Yeah that World Cup with South Korea was woeful. Lesson learnt, stick to your own playing philosophy.

1 hour ago, Rikulec said:

Not a bad start at all, both for you and TWL.

Indeed cheers @Rikulec

[BoxToBox]

To really do it the Keegan way, you'll have to retrain strikers to play in every position.

[kidthekid]

This should be fun. 

[the_gaffa]

Wow! That's a super attacking setup... I like it.  I'll be interested to see how it fares over the course of a season. 

[smp20]

On 12/18/2017 at 19:02, BoxToBox said:

To really do it the Keegan way, you'll have to retrain strikers to play in every position.

Haha, i won't be doing that, but there will be plenty of player re-training 

18 hours ago, kidthekid said:

This should be fun. 

I hope so 

2 hours ago, the_gaffa said:

Wow! That's a super attacking setup... I like it.  I'll be interested to see how it fares over the course of a season. 

Cheers @the_gaffa, likewise lets hope it provides lots of excitement and some results along the way.

[qwertygod]

What a legendary thread , very enjoyable read. You have come a Liang way from your humble beginnings in Cambodia!

[smp20]

19 minutes ago, qwertygod said:

What a legendary thread , very enjoyable read. You have come a Liang way from your humble beginnings in Cambodia!

Cheers @qwertygod . It's taken a while for a club to Tay me down, but I feel like Newcastle could become my home...

[BoxToBox]

2 hours ago, smp20 said:

Haha, i won't be doing that, but there will be plenty of player re-training 

Wise choice. Never go full Keegan.

[smp20]

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

Wise choice. Never go full Keegan.

I am retraining an attacking winger to right back and an advanced playmaker to centre back (actually 2 including Merino). That seems pretty 0.99 full Keegan 

[Kubson]

15 minutes ago, smp20 said:

I am retraining an attacking winger to right back and an advanced playmaker to centre back (actually 2 including Merino). That seems pretty 0.99 full Keegan 

While you're at it I think DWL could make a fine DM/CB

[smp20]

1 hour ago, Kubson said:

While you're at it I think DWL could make a fine DM/CB

2 Marking, 2 Tackling, 7 Concentration, 3 Positioning and 3 Jumping 

[Deisler26]

1 hour ago, smp20 said:

I am retraining an attacking winger to right back and an advanced playmaker to centre back (actually 2 including Merino). That seems pretty 0.99 full Keegan 

The Diet Coke of Keegan. Only 1 calorie. Not Keegan enough.

[smp20]

4 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

The Diet Coke of Keegan. Only 1 calorie. Not Keegan enough.

The results might be a bit Keegan though...

[smp20]

1st October 2023 Update

Transfers

It was a busy summer for us while I looked to build my Keegan-inspired side. There were lots of outgoings, many of whom were foreign players that didn't fit the DNA. My aim was to bring in some good young, technical English players and I've managed to achieve that and added some experienced players too including Kante and Abdulrahman who I managed at Al-Wahda. I didn't want to lose Grimaldo but he wanted to leave for PSG so it was a no-brainer to bring in the transfer listed Luke Shaw. Reiss Nelson and Alfie Davidson has been brought in mind of a change of position - Nelson from wing to right back and Davidson centre-mid to centre-back - to bolster the technical/creative ability of our defensive line.

Results

Some very topsy-turvy results with lots of goals scored and conceded. Very Keegan. Sometimes teams just find a way to punish us at the back on the counter despite our dominance of shots/chances as was the case with Arsenal and Stoke. Some of the attacking football on display is fantastic. We've been handed a EL group that we should progress from and we've started well with a 5-0 win over the 4th seeds.

Squad

 

We've got a well balanced squad, if you consider Nelson as a right back and Davidson as a centre back. Full squad screenshots to follow.

 

[smp20]

Goalkeepers - SK(S)

Right Backs - FB(A)

Left Backs - FB(A)

Centre Backs - CD(Co)

Centre Backs - BPD(D)

Centre Mids - BWM(D)

Centre Mids - RPM(S)

Right Wing - AP(S)

Left Wing - W(A)

Strikers - CF(A)

Strikers - AF(A)

[noikeee]

I was gonna say "solid start" but I think "solid" is as far removed from an adjective as you could get for your defence. 

You must be like top 4 on the table right now, surely?

[smp20]

21 hours ago, noikeee said:

I was gonna say "solid start" but I think "solid" is as far removed from an adjective as you could get for your defence. 

You must be like top 4 on the table right now, surely?

Yeah I agree, solid is far from the truth! We hadn't broken the top 4 at that stage - update to follow!

[smp20]

October 2023 - January 2024 Update

Results

Sorry for lumping all the competitions together but this shows our overall run of form. We finished the EL group stage with a 100% record and we will face Stade Brest in the knockouts. A very disappointing 3-0 loss to Middlesbrough in the League Cup meant that our chances of a trophy were narrowed down. We've had a good draw i nthe FA Cup so far, beating L2 Coventry and we will face L1 Bristol Rovers in our next game. In the league our results have been all over the place. Highlights include a 5-1 win over Man City, 6-3 vs Spurs, 4-1 vs Arsenal and a 5-3 win in the Tyne & Wear derby. Lowlights, losing vs Watford and Burnley and two 0-0s in a row at home.

Takeover

So we had the takeover and it was indeed Paul Scally which I'm not best pleased about. He's not well liked at Gillingham and he's a Millwall fan....The consortium took over just before the Burnley game on 29th October and I really thought I was going to be got rid off after those first two results. I believe the win against Sunderland saved me; had we lost I'm sure I'd have been gone.

Table

We've broke into the top 4 and there are some surprise teams up there. Notably Bournemouth and Wolves - Bournemouth were even top on Christmas Day! Liverpool are having a good season, however the likes of City and Utd have not lived up to their high expecations and the London clubs have been woeful.

Transfers In

We've found our creative AMR and I'm delighted that we've got him as he was linked with bigger clubs. Mutaro single-handedly took Guinea-Bissau to their first World Cup in 2022 and he's been tearing up the Portuguese Leafue. He's made a decent start here and I expect even more.

Transfers Out

Soteldo joined Roma permanently after a loan spell and moaning Mor left us for Chelsea. West Ham have recently had a tycoon takeover and they were ready to splash the cash on Dwamena and Ndombele - the kind of money you just can't turn down. They're also on £250k+ wages each now, so they've taken full advantage too. I had money burning a whole in my pocket but my targets either didn't want to join or I opted against signing. No point signing for the sake of it, I'm happy with our squad as it is.

Player Stats

Reiss Nelson has been accomplished at DR in just 6 months and he's been doing well there; Alfie Davidson is still 'unconvincing' at centre back. Abraham and Brass have formed a formidable partnership up top with TWL our super-sub. 5'1" Phoenix Pepper has made the left wing position his own and the Boston United grown starlet is on the fringe of the England squad.