An old face in a familiar place

I couldn't have picked a more fitting day for this news to break, for on Memorial Day the incoming Newport County did something truly memorial. Ian Peake had recently completed his buyout of the team and the transfer embargo had been lifted. There had been rampant rumors, however, that the biggest change in the new ownership would be one that just didn't seem to make any sense. That rumor was that I would lose my job as manager of the Exiles and Peake would instead turn to my longstanding assistant maanger to take my place.





Looks like Peake came to his senses and decided to retain my services after all! I put a snapshot of my coaching stats so far to help illustrate the simple difficult decision that the chairman had to make in retaining me. I honestly didn't know what I would have done if I had been fired. The first thought was revenge, as mentioned, and I don't think I would have had a shortage of Premier League teams looking to interview me. After a while, however, I started to think that maybe this was a sign and good time for me to break away from the Premier League entirely and head across the pond to the MLS. Thankfully I wasn't forced into making such a decision and I don't have to worry about making that decision for hopefully a long time.

With rumors swirling about my future we dropped the away leg of the League Cup semis to Liverpool 0-1. With my future once again on solid ground we snatched away a ticket to the finals from the jaws of defeat. We took a 2-1 aggregate lead into halftime but then had our backs pushed against the wall with a 61st minute strike that put Liverpool ahead on away goals. Caca would have none of it, however, as he took only two minutes to respond with what would eventually be the game-winning goal.

We head into the finals against a Leeds squad that we are very familiar with. We have played them a total of 35 times and own a 20-6-9 record against them. We will have a chance to capture our sixth consecutive League Cup and our seventh overall.

Here are the draws for the European Football Championship. Here are the countries in order of world ranking:

England - 7
Sweden - 28 (led by former keeper Oscar Jansson!)
Iceland - 55
Georgia - 68
Estonia - 148

Naturally, we are heavy favorites to win the group outright and should have little trouble getting into the top 2 and qualifying out of the group stage.

Well i began reading this a few days ago bit by bit and finally caught up to the latest post!

Firstly well done on taking on such a difficult challenge and seeing it through so far! Your story inspired me to try to do my own 'newport' job. I chose Altrincham, also part time minnows with meagre facilities and support at the start of the game. Maybe i'll post some story info on that game in the future.

I have to say i think your game needs one of the AI managers or teams to step up to the plate and try to end your domination by strengthening up their squads or investing heavily (simply to offer you some new challenge).

I'd be interested to know who are the other top teams and managers that rival you traditionally and are they doing enough in your eyes to bridge the gap? Or is it just that you are able to keep the gap open despite their best efforts?

Excellent story though, really enjoyed it so far. Incredible journey from nothing to greatness!

# NoX81 : Well i began reading this a few days ago bit by bit and finally caught up to the latest post!

Firstly well done on taking on such a difficult challenge and seeing it through so far! Your story inspired me to try to do my own 'newport' job. I chose Altrincham, also part time minnows with meagre facilities and support at the start of the game. Maybe i'll post some story info on that game in the future.

I have to say i think your game needs one of the AI managers or teams to step up to the plate and try to end your domination by strengthening up their squads or investing heavily (simply to offer you some new challenge).

I'd be interested to know who are the other top teams and managers that rival you traditionally and are they doing enough in your eyes to bridge the gap? Or is it just that you are able to keep the gap open despite their best efforts?

Excellent story though, really enjoyed it so far. Incredible journey from nothing to greatness!

Thank you for reading my story and I'm glad it's helped inspire you to do your own! I agree that a strong domestic challenege would liven things up for me. And while our string of six consecutive Premier League titles may suggest otherwise, there have been some hotly contested titles along the way. Here's a quick breakdown of the top 4 since our streak began:

2019 - Caca arrives
Newport - 90
Chelsea - 88
Arsenal - 84
Liverpool - 80

2020 - Harry Wertz and Jack Rodwell arrive
Newport - 87
Arsenal - 81
Liverpool - 79
Chelsea - 70

2021 - James Jones arrives
Newport - 103
Arsenal - 81
Liverpool - 78
Man U - 75

2022 - Francois Bamba arrives
Newport - 100
Chelsea - 83
Liverpool - 80
Man U - 78

2023
Newport - 95
Liverpool - 86
Man City - 82
Arsenal - 77

2024
Newport - 98
Arsenal - 88
Man City - 80
Liverpool - 77

---

Liverpool is the only other team in that stretch to have featured in the top 4. Arsenal did it 5 seasons out of 6 and Chelsea did it 3 times out of 6. Those three teams have been the biggest thorns in my side, obviously, and they have had some very nice squads. Our dynamic striking duo has run wild on the Premier League, however, and you can see the culmination of their success in 2022 when we had one of our strongest sides ever that finished 17 points clear of 2nd place.

Caca is likely on the downturn of his career, however, as he is on pace to only score as many league goals as games played for the second time in his career this season (last season he scored 30 in 30). If we don't find an instant scoring machine to take his place, I can see us slipping dramatically back to the pack. For all that Hasselbaink does as a trequart, he has never been given the burden of being the poacher and I don't know that he would be best used in that role any way.

Our defense has already begun the overhauling process. Hopefully it will continue to develop and become an area of strength in time to help soften any growing pains the offense may have when it starts to transition away from the Caca/Hasselbaink era.

Yes some of those seasons were very close.

You know i'm starting to realise just what an achievement your save game is. being a semi-pro club in the BSP is a lot more work, so many restrictions and difficulties, not to mention the gruelling schedule.

I failed in my first attempt at promotion but my second attempt is on course. Full credit to you, your straight promotions were phenomenal!

Have you got an exciting striker prospect coming through the ranks (bought or recruited) or are you scouring the market for a striker?

# 6294 : Have you got an exciting striker prospect coming through the ranks (bought or recruited) or are you scouring the market for a striker?

My best prospect at striker, Mark Phillips, left us via Bosman ruling in 2024. I'm reminded of how much talent he has when I man the sideline for England. For now, here is my best in-house prospect at striker:



I've mentioned him before and my concern remains the same - I don't know that Bressan will have the top end pace/acceleration/finishing that I'm accustomed to with Caca. Bressan can certainly play the role of a support target man, but I'm not keen on switching the offense that I've developed over so many years.

I talked to Phillips via the media and he is still fond of me and Newport, so it's not impossible to bring him back. He'll probably carry a pricetag of 25m+, so I'm not exactly closing off all other options. I figure I have about 2 more seasons of production from Caca before he needs to be reduced to a sub role, so we have time yet.

I just did an unfiltered search for strikers and here is the player I would go after if I were to really splash the cash:



Arsenal are rivals of ours, however, and Patrick Viera doesn't like me very much at all. If it would all come down to money, though, maybe I could convince our new chairman to make a bold statement. He already has in the form of an 80m cash injection to the club. A side note to that is I didn't get the standard message announcing the cash influx.

Silverware count - 2



What should have been a relative romp on paper turned into anything but that on the pitch. Credit Leeds for making it to the League Cup final; a path that saw them overtake Arsenal (3rd round) and Chelsea (semifinal). Nobody in their right mind would have bet on them to put up much of a fight, let alone be in position to scalp us late in the game.

Sean Fraser headed home an early (and the only) goal in the 33rd minute and then things got decidedly more tense for us. We had tons of opportunities (22) but could not get hardly any on target (7). Leeds had a workman-like effort, on the other hand; only having 8 opportunities but having 4 of them on target. Of those 4, I thought three could have gone in.

Ugly or not, we have brought home the League Cup yet again and hopefully this is the start of a successful back end to our season.

Are you specifically training Bressan or are you just seeing how he develops?

# 6294 : Are you specifically training Bressan or are you just seeing how he develops?

The moment a player is introduced into the team, from u18 to first team, they are on a training program. Details are in my LoL Guide - http://www.fmscout.com/i-1124-My-FM-Manifesto.html

I don't break down positions to their absolutes - I only have an FC schedule as opposed to target man/poacher/trequart/etc - but it has worked well for me so far.

LOL 9 passing how is he in Barcelona?

I'm mean Individual Training Focus.

# 6294 : I'm mean Individual Training Focus.

Oh! He's been focusing on quickness.