Kee98_:I am hoping for a taste of European success but it is going to be a difficult final!

pokarioboy:It is quite close but we do have the upper hand with the games in hand. I am confident we can pull it off.

That's a huge bonus having 2 games in hand on the sum Good luck next round of the Europa League too! I think you can go all the way

2014-07-20 16:35#185370 AaronHJFT96 : That's a huge bonus having 2 games in hand on the sum Good luck next round of the Europa League too! I think you can go all the way

It definitely makes us favourites but we both know games in hands aren't always a good thing. I hope we can win the Europa League but only time will tell.

To say I started my journey with Grimsby Town before moving onto Stockport County, I feel that I have achieved a lot in my 9 seasons in football management having now guided Newcastle United to the Europa League final. The semi final pitted us against Stoke City, who are a very strong team in my save and were always going to be difficult to break down. Despite only winning the first leg by two goals to one, it was a game that we dominated in with us setting up to control possession and hit the opposition on the counter. This approach paid off but it did restrict us in creating chances to get more goals that would have made the second leg a more comfortable affair. Instead, the second leg was the tensest game I have been a part of thus far with it going all the way to penalties. They dominated the game like we had the first leg and we were very fortunate to reach penalties and only managed it by setting up defensively in extra time. The players were shattered by the end, Diego Diot was sent off (meaning he would miss the final), Tiziano Tulissi and Marcelo were injured and had to be taken off. The team was falling apart but managed to pull it together when it reached penalties.

My most consistent player this season has been Christos Mantalos with him regularly keeping Jerome Sinclair out of the team and scoring in the majority of games he starts. You can imagine my shock when he walked up to the take the decisive fifth penalty and missed meaning the shootout went to sudden death. Just like he did in the real world, Tim Krul stepped up and broke Stoke City hearts by saving from Rhys McCabe, which gave out of favour Danny Saunders the chance to get us into the final. Saunders has rarely played this season with him becoming frustrated at not being given his chance to show his potential. However, he coolly slotted his penalty away not giving the goalkeeper a chance. The players went bonkers and so did I! I cannot wait to play in my first European final of this long and tiring journey. I hope you will join me for the final...

Player of the Month – Alexandr Kokorin

You are just one win away from the Premier League title, and you are just one more win away from the Europa League final!! C'mon Newcastle!!

Good luck in the finals !

Neal:I cannot believe how close we are to winning both the Premier League and Europa League. If someone had offered me this at the beginning of the season, I would have done a Suarez and bitten their hand off.

bebero: Thank you. Lets hope it goes according to plan.

What a way to finish the season and what an accomplishment...if I do say so myself! At the beginning of the journey I never thought I would have guided a Premier League club, especially one in turmoil like Newcastle United, into Premier League champions not only once but now twice in a row. We had our first chance at reclaiming the trophy against Notts County but we totally messed up and underestimated my former employers. They took the game to us and it took a late goal from Faouzi Ghoulam for us to come away with an undeserved draw. This meant that a win against my beloved Liverpool FC would mean that we would retain the Premier League trophy. We knew this and set up for the win, which was richly deserved as we played them off the park. I am gutted to see them so far down the league but I was delighted that we got the win we needed to get our name on the trophy for a second consecutive season. The board of directors are delighted, fans ecstatic and I am proud of our achievements over the last two seasons and hope there is more to come. The less said about the loss to Spurs the better. I played a lot of youngsters in order to rest players for the Europa League final and it came back to bite me on the arse!

The Europa League win is definitely my biggest achievement so far on my journey to football managing greatness. Before this win, Newcastle United had not experienced European glory since 1969 when they won the same competition. I am very proud to have given the fans and club the chance to experience it once more. I had been disappointed by the lads showing in the Champions League but they have definitely made it up to everyone by bringing the trophy home from the Allianz-Arena by beating a strong Napoli side.

Like ourselves, Napoli had won their respective league but it had been a much tougher season with them only winning on goal difference. Both sides headed into the game with the desire to control the ball and create those golden chances and that bit of luck needed to come away with the win. As you can see from the statistics, it was Napoli who controlled the game and created more shots on goal. However, if you review the player ratings, you can see that my Newcastle lads put in the better performances, with the difference being my two goal scorers who have been sensational since they joined the club. Tiziano Tulissi’s quick reply was essential in helping us back into a game that looked to be slipping away from us. The last few minutes of the half were seen out with a change of formation, which had us sat back allowing Napoli to get shots on goal. When we came back out for the second half we went back to our preferred 4-2-3-1 and attacked them, resulting in an early second half goal for Jack Grealish. Grealish is unlucky to not receive my player of the season award and I am sure if he hadn’t spent some of the season injured, he would have walked away with the award for the second season in a row.

Jack’s goal allowed me to change the team back to our counter attacking formation, which did unfortunately invite Napoli to rain shots on our goal. Tim Krul is a legend of the club and managed to save everything that was thrown at him and stood up to the pressure despite is ever increasing age. He showed that he is still capable of performing at the highest level and we are lucky to have him at the club at the expense of the youngster Lewis Ward. When the final whistle came, I didn’t quite cheer but I did feel a sense of achievement and joy when my news feed was inundated with messages of congratulations on winning the Europa League. It is an achievement that will go down in the history of the club and the fans will expect more of the same. It’s a shame I have since resigned...

Player of the Season – Christos Mantalos

Congrats man!

Fantastic season, my friend. Retaining the Premier League title in and of itself is quite an achievement, and to add the Europa League to that is wonderful!! Jack Grealish is just one helluva player, isn't he

Now the real question arises, though...where to next? Any hint on a league, perhaps?

Kee98_:Thank you.

Neal:I am not going to give you any hints as my next update shares with you more about the decision I face. Thanks for reading!

Wow! That was mental! Congratulations on retaining the title and winning the Europa! I'll be looking forward to see if you stay or go!

2014-07-22 21:07#185814 AaronHJFT96 : Wow! That was mental! Congratulations on retaining the title and winning the Europa! I'll be looking forward to see if you stay or go!

Unfortunately I have already resigned so will be moving onto a new venture, which I will share more about in my next update.

As I explained in my last update, albeit leaving it to the very end of the post, I have resigned from my position as Newcastle United manager. My contract was due to expire in a few weeks time but instead of letting it run its course I decided to bring my time as the leader of the Toon Army to an end. I felt a duty to resign early into the summer as it would give the club a chance to replace me, which they have with Roberto Martinez. The new manager would then have the whole summer to make his mark on the club, bring in his own players and prepare fully for next season. Also by resigning so soon after the season drew to an end, it would give me plenty of time to think about my own next step. The aim of this story is not only to beat my view record and stick with it until retirement age but also to become one of the leading managers. I feel that this can only be achieved by not sticking with the same club but moving onto a more reputable one if the opportunity presented itself.

During this summer break it was the World Cup (in-game and in real life) with Mexico and Argentina facing each other in the final, with the Mexican side coming out surprising winners. England had gone out at the quarter final stage but had taken the decision to stick with their manager, Andres Villas Boas. However, France, Netherlands and Spain all took the decision to release their managers from their contracts and seek a fresh start in preparation for the upcoming European Championship Qualifiers. I received offers from all three nations and I was very tempted to take on the Spain job. Spain had lost in the second round on penalties to Serbia and it was a culmination of a steep decline in quality of their older players and outdated football. I felt that I would have been the right man to take on the role of their national manager but there was only one thing stopping me. I despise managing national sides on Football Manager; quite a barrier to me taking the job don’t you think? I get bored very easily with only being able to sit there and attend games and not being personally involved in many during the season. Maybe it is a job for later in the save but for now I have to decline.

Instead, two very interesting vacancies became available and I took my chances and only applied for one...but which one?

Oh man, what a decision!! Obviously Bayern will be easier but Dortmund would be an entertaining challenge