#ToonArmy !

AaronHJFT96:It was a month that I was not looking forward to although we have come out of the other end unscathed and with some great results.

Stuart_says:I have to admit I hadn’t thought about the kit choices but I may have to think about that with my next move. We are still going to be ranked outsiders as there is still so much of the season left to play.

Pauker:Krul is great and hopefully will mentor some of the younger keepers!

NVDTahir:Toon Army for sure!

Storming the league so far, I reckon it could be a two-horse chase for the title

2014-05-09 15:52#174038 Justice : Storming the league so far, I reckon it could be a two-horse chase for the title

It is way too early to be thinking about the title and ruling other teams out of the run in. I do hope we continue this great form for the long term though as a league challenge would a real achievement in my first season with the club.

Like it or not - you're in the title race buddy! Great updates

2014-05-09 20:40#174082 fmhunter : Like it or not - you're in the title race buddy! Great updates

I am just glad that the expectations of me is not to win the league, it is only to get a top half finish. Therefore anything better is a bonus that goes in my favour.

Despite my complaints in the last couple of updates about the lack of depth in the squad at present, I am still finding it difficult to give everyone a game. Currently I have a handful of players, who are of decent quality, sitting game after game on the bench. There are rumblings between them and myself about the lack of game time and who can blame them. However, I simply cannot give them game time when I have some players who are playing out of their skin and deserve to be first on the team sheet. I just cannot see the likes of Miralem Pjanic and Nicolas Gaitain getting ahead of Zeli Ismail and Jack Grealish who have been outstanding. I have already shared Carroll’s discontent at his current situation at the club and I can’t help but think that there are many more complaints coming my way.

One player, despite having only appeared a couple of times this season, has not complained once and even when put on the transfer list has not expressed any issues. Ricky Van Wolfswinkel is not the best striker we have at the club; I feel that title goes to Alexandr Kokorin or Jerome Sinclair. However, the impact he made against Reading was phenomenal. I would say it was one of the best performances of a player so far this season. Three shots resulting in three goals in the space of seven minutes. It was a great stint which makes me think that the players who aren’t getting game time maybe should be getting more of a look in if they are going to perform at this standard. I put faith in Ricky in the next game by giving him his first start of the season and repaid me with a goal. Sinclair’s and Kokorin’s goals have dried up so maybe Ricky is the way forward for the time being. We will have to wait and see what he can produce next month.

Despite having a great month, the loss and draw this month has seen us fall behind Manchester City and it is going to be extremely difficult to catch them up with the quality and depth that they have. Why we drew to Leicester City I have no idea but it was unacceptable and the players were made fully aware of this, which results in three great performances to end the month. I am sure that at the beginning of January I will be asked to have a rethink about the expectations for the season. I will be sticking with my initial instinct from the beginning of the season and be aiming for a top half finish. I am very confident we can manage this so anything better will be a bonus and go in my favour...I hope!

Player of the Month – Ricky Van Wolfswinkel

Interesting seeing RvW actually scoring A nice update and good month to go with it, hopefully you'll catch City.

2014-05-10 03:42#174118 Walter : Interesting seeing RvW actually scoring A nice update and good month to go with it, hopefully you'll catch City.

I am very surprised he managed to put away the chances he had. I can't see his form continuing and he will be a summer departure I feel.

van Wolfswinkel scored?

2014-05-10 13:57#174181 Arvind : van Wolfswinkel scored?

http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/fm513b411c.png

That has been my exact reaction. I am not going to complain however if he continues to do so, although I lack faith in him.

When the Newcastle United manager, James Gallagher, joined the club at the beginning of this season he started to ring the changes almost immediately. He let a number of staff go in order to bring in familiar faces and a large number of players were allowed to leave club with some going on loan. The transfer list had the largest number of players on it when compared to any other club in the Premier League. One of the faces that was put on the list was Ricky Van Wolfswinkel who Gallagher suggested “had achieved all he can at the club.” Gallagher recommend that Ricky moved onto a new club in order to see out the latter stages of his career as he could not be assured game time on a regular basis.

Ricky has been a regular starter in previous seasons under other manager’s. His best season came last season under Tony Pullis at the beginning and James Gallagher towards the end following Pullis’ dismissal. He appeared thirty-five times with a return of fourteen goals, six assists and five appearances. Despite this decent contribution from the Netherlands international, Gallagher did not feel that he had the quality to take the club to the next level. This result in Ricky being placed on the transfer list soon as Gallagher walked through the door. However, it took one game, against Reading in November for all that to change.

Ricky was given a rare start after the United fans had started to criticise the continued use of Jerome Sinclair and Alexandr Kokorin who had entered a goal scoring drought that they didn’t look likely to come out of anytime soon. Ricky repaid the faith shown in him and scored a hat trick in the space of seven frantic minutes which made the result against Reading look more comfortable than it actually was. Since this game a lot has changed for Van Wolfswinkel. He has been removed from the transfer list, despite interest from other clubs, with Gallagher stating that he had ”made a terrible mistake” and that he had ”judged the lad before giving him a chance.”

Ricky is known for rarely speaking to the press but instead keeps himself to himself outside of the game. However, after his recent turn in fortunes, which has seen him score six goals in nine appearances and becoming Newcastle’s first choice striker, he has spoken of his delight. He spoke to the gathered media before the Capital One Cup Semi Final against Huddersfield Town and said he was ”happy”he had been given a ”second chance.” He assured fans that he would ”repay the faith that the boss had shown” and continue his good run of form to help the club to carry on making progress this season. Ricky immediately stuck by his word by scoring a brace in the match against Huddersfield Town which resulted in the Toon Army chanting his names. This appears to have been a stroke of genius by the Newcastle United manager which can only result in a cup final place with Ricky surely leading the line.

It is the time of year where the board of directors evaluate your performance thus far and decide to offer you the chance to evaluate your own performance and have the opportunity to amend your expectations. If someone had told me at the beginning of the season that we would sit in second place with seventeen wins under our belt, I would have snapped your hand off. I think we have done excellently so far this season, especially with the number of changes that have been made to the club. I brought in a few new staff members and showed the door to many of the staff that was at the club when I joined. Those staff have now settled in and had a positive on a lot of aspects of the club, ranging from better training being provided and the scouting system bringing me a few potential signings of good quality. In addition to the backroom staff, a number of players were brought in, including our player of the month Jack Grealish. As the season has progressed you have seen the players start to gel and put in a number of great performances. November saw our best month so far but this month has got to be up there due to the sheer number of games we were expected to play.

Worryingly I am starting to notice a lot of players are becoming jaded already and are in need of a rest. Most worryingly, Jack Grealish is in desperate need of a rest and the games he was rested resulted in the two draws and loss against Fulham. However, I was not too worried about exiting the FA Cup as we have made it to the Capital One Cup final against Manchester City. If I could bring a cup to the club for the first time in years it would be my most rewarding achievement so far on my journey to the top of the manager’s hall of fame. Also, the Capital One Cup is the one that brings European football next season, although my expectations on reflection so far are that Newcastle United will be playing in the Champions League next season. However, the board of directors have been told to only expect a top half finish.

The slip up against Wigan has seen us fall behind Manchester City and I think it is going to be very difficult to get back on level terms with them. If I can afford to rest my better players in some league games then so be it. We need to be on top form against the bigger teams, which we are yet to face for a second time this season. I have confidence in youngsters coming into the squad and putting in a good performance which means Grealish, Ismail and Sinclair can all be rested and left out of the squad and be fresh for more difficult challenges.

The only transfer news is that I have signed a seventeen year old regen called Diego Diot for £925k from FC Nantes. He is a left back and has made a great start to his career at Newcastle United. Fortunately for him my first choice left back, Faouzi Ghoulam has suffered a string of injuries and I can’t see him making a full recovery for a long time to come. This can only be good news for Diot and myself, as his attributes will increase rapidly which means he will fulfil his potential much quicker than if he was sat on the bench.

Player of the Month – Jack Grealish

great story keep us posted since you started this i have been with 3 clubs starting with england then being offered the chance to manage my beloved toon army which i nearly won the league with in the first season there and properly would have if i didnt decide to move to monaco for the money but unfortunatly i failed badly at monaco and no find myself back in the premiership with a fairly decent aston villa side

Just caught up with your story, and I have yet to realise why you beat the mighty Sheffield United in the League Cup.

This aside, I am really enjoying this story.