danmcconnell1 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Newcastle United. One of football's biggest enigmas. Many have tried and failed to turn Newcastle into one of English football's true powerhouses. A club that is in the very centre of all that is holy in Newcastle, it's worshipped by it's fans. The huge St. James' Park is one of English football's truly fantastic stadiums which can be seen from all around Newcastle and is a truly wonderful sight when it's full every week. Anyone who's visited the stadium as an away fan though, myself included, will not relish the task of the stairs to the away section. What a hike that is! Definitely taking the lift next time! But there have been a mound of problems over the last 10 years or so, compounded by 2 relegations. Fan revolt toward the ownership and a merry-go-round of managerial failures have not served the club well, not to mention the turnaround of players in that time. We start this story at the beginning on the 17/18 season. Newcastle have been promoted as champions from the Championship and former manager Rafael Benitez has left due to the lack of funds available to him. This is where I come in. I've set myself up with realistic qualifications based on Newcastle, therefore I'm a Pro Licensed manager with continental playing experience. The club is marking it's 125 year anniversary this year, so a good league campaign is essential to the fans. Although owner Mike Ashley doesn't seem too fussed about it, I definitely want to consolidate in the Premier League as well as go on a cup run. The FA Cup would be the icing on the cake, but I'd take either domestic trophy of course, the club needs to break the trophy duck. Talking of trophies... Here you can see, the cabinet is nowhere near as big as it should be for a club of this size. The last major trophy was the FA Cup back in 1955, by the time the competition comes around again it'll be 63 years since the club lifted any silverware. This has to change and quickly. Moving on, here is the current playing squad. It's an average playing squad at best. There are of course some diamonds in the rough with the likes of Chancel Mbemba, Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie, but all in all it's not the best squad. I'll be looking to get rid of as much deadwood as I possibly can and see where that leaves us. I've loaded the French divisions as well and started at their early pre-season date which is the 12/6/17 which means we get the maximum amount of time to complete transfer business and hopefully sort out this squad. My priorities are to get at least one good player in each area of the pitch, that being in goal, defence, midfield and up top. I'll look who's available on a free initially and maybe try to get a few trials in for the friendlies but the main priority first is to shift some bodies. My next update will be before the season starts and we'll see what business we've undertaken ahead of the new campaign back in the Premier League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 My English team is Newcastle was planning on doing them at some point so I’ll be following closely. Best of luck hopefully you can bring that much desired silverware Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcconnell1 Posted January 18, 2018 Author Share Posted January 18, 2018 1 hour ago, SixPointer said: My English team is Newcastle was planning on doing them at some point so I’ll be following closely. Best of luck hopefully you can bring that much desired silverware Cheers mate, been a few outgoings so far as opposed to incomings but hopefully we’ll manage to sign some real talent and have a good season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcconnell1 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Not managed to make huge progress so far, it's the eve of the Premier League opener against Palace. Some signings have been made, not as many as I'd like but I'm very happy with the two so far, as well as a few more departures, hopefully I'll get to update at some point over the weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcconnell1 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 End of Pre Season So as promised, here is the pre season update. We had to generate funds by offloading some players first, but I'm happy with the business we have done so far and despite brining in just 2, I feel they're both top quality players who can definitely affect our season in a positive way. We let Jack Colback, Dwight Gayle and Henri Saivet all go for relative fees. They were sold for less than their value but I feel FM is a little generous with their valuations at times, therefore I believe they are pretty fair prices and realistic. These fees enabled us to free up some availability in our wage budget too, so after extensive scouting, we brought in Moussa Dembele from Celtic and Leander Dendoncker from Anderlecht respectively. We've matched board expectations by bringing in young talent and both have huge potential to become superstars. Moussa is a very exciting talent and I'm hoping a brilliant season up in Scotland will bode well for him and us in the Premier League. I'm confident he can step up and be our main man up top, although he will need broad shoulders taking over the much coveted number 9 shirt. I'm also very happy with this signing. Dendoncker is a youngster from Anderlecht who had many eyes on him before we swooped in and signed him for a moderate £14.5m. Very happy with the deal and hope he can become our new defensive midfield destroyer. All other business was outgoing in terms of loans for Aarons, Sterry, Heaney, Barlaser and Gillesphey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northernpilgrim Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 22 hours ago, danmcconnell1 said: Newcastle United. One of football's biggest enigmas. Many have tried and failed to turn Newcastle into one of English football's true powerhouses. A club that is in the very centre of all that is holy in Newcastle, it's worshipped by it's fans. The huge St. James' Park is one of English football's truly fantastic stadiums which can be seen from all around Newcastle and is a truly wonderful sight when it's full every week. Anyone who's visited the stadium as an away fan though, myself included, will not relish the task of the stairs to the away section. What a hike that is! Definitely taking the lift next time! But there have been a mound of problems over the last 10 years or so, compounded by 2 relegations. Fan revolt toward the ownership and a merry-go-round of managerial failures have not served the club well, not to mention the turnaround of players in that time. We start this story at the beginning on the 17/18 season. Newcastle have been promoted as champions from the Championship and former manager Rafael Benitez has left due to the lack of funds available to him. This is where I come in. I've set myself up with realistic qualifications based on Newcastle, therefore I'm a Pro Licensed manager with continental playing experience. The club is marking it's 125 year anniversary this year, so a good league campaign is essential to the fans. Although owner Mike Ashley doesn't seem too fussed about it, I definitely want to consolidate in the Premier League as well as go on a cup run. The FA Cup would be the icing on the cake, but I'd take either domestic trophy of course, the club needs to break the trophy duck. Talking of trophies... Here you can see, the cabinet is nowhere near as big as it should be for a club of this size. The last major trophy was the FA Cup back in 1955, by the time the competition comes around again it'll be 63 years since the club lifted any silverware. This has to change and quickly. Moving on, here is the current playing squad. It's an average playing squad at best. There are of course some diamonds in the rough with the likes of Chancel Mbemba, Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie, but all in all it's not the best squad. I'll be looking to get rid of as much deadwood as I possibly can and see where that leaves us. I've loaded the French divisions as well and started at their early pre-season date which is the 12/6/17 which means we get the maximum amount of time to complete transfer business and hopefully sort out this squad. My priorities are to get at least one good player in each area of the pitch, that being in goal, defence, midfield and up top. I'll look who's available on a free initially and maybe try to get a few trials in for the friendlies but the main priority first is to shift some bodies. My next update will be before the season starts and we'll see what business we've undertaken ahead of the new campaign back in the Premier League. Good luck with this one! I took my wife to SJP when she was 8 months pregnant. We only found out there was a lift when the steward asked us why we hadn't used it... at the bottom of the stairs after we'd come down. Geordies sure have a warped sense of humour! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcconnell1 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 24 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said: Good luck with this one! I took my wife to SJP when she was 8 months pregnant. We only found out there was a lift when the steward asked us why we hadn't used it... at the bottom of the stairs after we'd come down. Geordies sure have a warped sense of humour! How I feel for your wife haha! Bless 'em! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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