Now the season has come to an end, with Newcastle United finishing in 11th place, the changes have been rolled out at St James’ Park. United’s new manager, James Gallagher has ringed the changes which have seen 8 members of the club’s backroom staff being released from their contract in exchange for a small compensation package. It is unclear as to whether it was Gallagher that delivered the news to the staff members, however one of the departed staff, Steve Nickson (formed Chief Scout), has launched a scathing attack on the new manager, accusing him of, ”ruining a perfectly good setup that with only a couple of additions could have seen Newcastle United achieve European football in coming seasons. This club was going places under Tony (Pullis) and it just seems to have been bizarre decision after bizarre decision in recent weeks. I do wish the new manager good luck but I just can’t see him succeeding having not kept many of existing staff on but instead bringing in a lot of newcomers. I guess that is just the footballing world that we now live in.” None of the other departing members chose to comment and share their opinions on these turn of events.


James Gallagher has not wasted any time in bringing in replacements and additional members and has today introduced them to the gathered media in the press conference room at St James’ Park. He started with an opening statement which thanked the club, specifically the owner, for the warm welcome he had received since joining the club and he had been overwhelmed by the support he has been shown in the past few days where he has already started to make changes at the club. A journalist then asked him to divulge who the new additions to his backroom team were. James Gallagher introduced them all by name and gave a brief outline of their role and responsibilities at the club and what he felt they could bring to the club. What was clear from the information that he shared was that he wanted to bring experience to the club, with at least four of the staff being over the age of 50. He explained that he didn’t feel that this would be a hindrance as their careers would ultimately be winding down but instead their experience at some of Europe’s top clubs would only benefit the players. He explained that they had already had numerous meetings to discuss their upcoming pre-season and the challenges they would face to be prepared to get off to a good start next season. Unfortunately none of the new staff were present to comment on their joining of Newcastle United but instead, James Gallagher assured the gathered media that they were busy elsewhere putting plans into action, especially the scouting team. When asked for him to expand on this last comment James Gallagher declined go into specifics but did suggest that a number of players had been to identified to both leave the club and be brought in the not too distant future.

Interesting staff there.. including Stankovic :P.. Good luck with your future deals!

Just caught up reading on this, I am so impressed with what you have achieved

2014-04-25 10:56#171791 Justice : Just caught up reading on this, I am so impressed with what you have achieved

Why thank you. I hope to do well with Newcastle which will then hopefully lead onto bigger things.

Since James Gallagher joined Newcastle United he has already caused a stir by releasing 8 of the club’s backroom staff from their contract for a reported minimal compensation package. He has since apologised to the fans about the way he introduced himself at the club, however, I feel that the new manager may have just won round some of the fans with three new additions to the squad. With a number of players allegedly being put on the transfer list it seems that James Gallagher wants to make numerous additions to the playing side of the club. Today the club arranged a press conference and three new players were introduced to the Newcastle United faithful.


The first player that was introduced was a player that was well-known to the new Newcastle manager having played for him during his time at Notts County. Jack Grealish, 24, has joined the Toon Army for the reasonable fee of £11 million. This fee is quite an increase from the £5.5 million that Gallagher paid Aston Villa for to obtain the services of Grealish when at Notts County but he has expressed his delight at his first deal at Newcastle. He spoke to the gathered journalists and said that, ”Jack is a fantastic player who has a very bright future ahead of him. He has all the potential to become one of the best wingers, I feel, that the Premier League has ever seen. He has age on his side and is not prone to injuries. With the support of our outstanding coaching team, I feel that he we will see great things from him.” James Gallagher wished Jack luck for the upcoming World Cup where he would be representing Republic of Ireland.


Jerome Sinclair, 23, is a player familiar to the Newcastle United fans as he has already spent a season on loan at the Tyneside club but has now been allowed to make the deal permanent by signing a four year deal. This transfer appears to be more of a strange one as Sinclair only made seven appearances last season for Newcastle and only scored one solitary goal. Some pundits have put down the lack of appearances to the form of Ricky Van Wolfswinkel and Alexandr Kokorin who were the preferred partnership under Tony Pullis. James Gallagher has made it clear that Van Wolfswinkel is not in his plans so was determined to sign Sinclair on a permanent deal and is looking forward to giving Sinclair the game time to develop his ability even further.


If rumours are true, Thomas Carroll, the midfield maestro of Newcastle United, wants to leave the club as he feels there is too much competition for places in his position. We can only imagine his frustration when he saw his new manager sat at the front of the room with the third new addition, John Lundstram. Lundstram has been brought in from Crystal Palace for £5 million and it was rumoured that he would be replacing the departing Carroll. However, in the press conference, James Gallagher quashed this assertively by stating that, ”Carroll is a player that I want to introduce back into the squad and I feel that he could form a great partnership with John (Lundstram) that could create a lot of chances for the likes of Jack (Grealish) and Jerome (Sinclair). With the departure of Moussa Sissoko, who I thank for his years of services, it is important to look to the future and I hope that Carroll will be a part of it.” The press conference was brought to a positive end with smiles from the new additions as they headed out to training.

Some good signings there all of them for reasonable fees, especially Grealish who always played super well for you at Notts County! Any chance we could see screenshots of the other two players?

Can we see a SS from all these signings and potential departures?

This is awesome. Fully inspired me to do the same on my vita. Gonna start it tonight.

Congrats on your nomination for Story of the Month man, you deserve it!

Neal:Grealish is an excellent player; I was determined to sign him and lucky I found a picture of him in a Notts County shirt where he is currently on loan. Screenshots will be in the next update.

Pauker:Screenshots will be in the next update for your viewing pleasure.

magpie1511:I am glad it has inspired you to start your own journey

Josh_MU:That is my first one in a while. Thank you

I cannot have any complaints whatsoever about my first pre-season (hopefully first of many) with Newcastle United. We won the games we should have and lost the games we were expecting to lose. In the past I have tended to get the assistant manager to take control of the games if I am at a club for many seasons as I find the matches tedious and to be honest, a waste of time. However, with the new focus in FM14 on getting the squad to become familiar with tactics I have felt that I need to take responsibility for the club during the early stages of the season. I feel that as the games went on the players started to show signs of being use to the formations, especially my preferred one of 4-5-1 with two wingers and an attacking midfielder. This allowed us to utilise our new signing Jack Grealish on the wing and Suso, who is another new addition on a free transfer from Liverpool, in the attacking midfield position. Both these players impressed me in some of the games with Grealish getting off to a great start to his Newcastle United career.



What I do think I will find difficult as the season progresses is to determine a back four that I can stick with. I have to admit that there are some quality defenders at the club who all have great potential but it is difficult to give them all game time as I can only choose four of them. I think I am just going to have to go with gut instinct of which four to choose and give it a go and if it messes up then learn from the mistake and make the necessary changes. Goalkeeper wise, I will be putting faith in 23 year old Lewis Ward who is a player in demand; in order to keep him at the club he will need to be playing the majority of the time. However, Tim Krul, who is 32 now, will deputise when it comes to the domestic cup games.



In addition to Suso joining the club, I have also made a fifth addition which I am excited about. Mauro Bollino has joined from Palermo for a small fee of £1.8 million. The benefits of the minimal transfer fee means that he will be able to play without a big focus on him from the fans. It is going to be difficult for him to break into the side with Grealish and Zeli Ismail taking up their place on the wings. However, he has great attributes which will be a great backup if players become injured; he is a versatile player who can play anywhere across the front so will be definitely of some use.

I will let you know how my story gets on. I'm not great at big stories so will just give little updates on here.

If that's ok?

2014-04-27 11:07#172120 magpie1511 : I will let you know how my story gets on. I'm not great at big stories so will just give little updates on here.

2014-04-27 11:09#172121 magpie1511 : If that's ok?

Course

Decent pre-season, unlucky losses against Real and P$G!