Rebuilding Newcastle

So I've played on a fair bit and into the next season, so will be posting a brief catchup, unfortunately I had a lot written out and frustratingly lost it due to a simple click of a different bookmark and all my write-up was gone, which put me off re-writing it all again, so this will be brief and i'll try to get back into writing it in more detail going forward.




The biggest results of our final few months were beating Milan twice to advance to the Champions League Quarter Finals. There we met Liverpool, but unfortunately went down 5-3 to them on aggregate. We actually played against them 3 times in 10 days, winning once, drawing once and losing once, and overall a 5-5 result over the 3 games.
A disappointing a random loss to Norwich was really the only bad result of the last few months, and we would've finished 2nd if it wasn't for this result.



Man Utd added to their Carabao Cup success by edging City rivals, Man City, who were beaten handsomely by Liverpool on the final day. This was their first title in 9 years.
Richarlison topped the goalscoring and player of the match charts for an Everton side who only survived relegation in the previous season on goal difference.
Spurs finished 10th for the second season running, while Arsenal dropped from 7th to 9th from the previous season.
Che Adams hit an impressive 24 goals for Southampton, who pulled off a shock the first season by finishing 5th, but dropped to a respectable 8th this season.
The biggest shocker of the season was probably former winner, Leicester City, getting relegated. They'll hope to bounce back under Gennaro Gattuso, but he'll have to do it without a lot of his players, as a near £300million purge of their squad followed after this relegation.
Leeds did well finishing 5th and getting Europa League football, while Chelsea will surely expect to win the Euro Conference league next season.



Man Utd made it a treble, by winning the Champions League, with a 1-0 win over Lazio. Marcus Rashford topped the goalscorer, assist and player of the match tables, scoring the winning goal in the final, aswell as 5 goals over the two legs in the semi-finals against Liverpool.



The Europa League was all about Dortmund, who hammered Braga 5-0 to win the competition in the final. They had players topping every stat, from top scorer to clean sheets. Talles Magno and Erling Haaland both notched braces in the final to finish top scorer and second top scorer in the competition. They recovered from a 2-1 loss to Man City in the first leg of the semi-final to beat them 3-0 in the second leg.
Man City beat Real Madrid, then Southampton before their elimination to the eventual champions.
Both Celtic and Rangers suffered elimination in the group stages, disappointingly.



Arsenal became the first ever winners of the Europa Conference League, beating Gent 2-0 in the final. They actually finished second in the group stage, behind Portuguese side, Moreirense, who won all 6 league games. Arsenal progressed with 10 points from the 6 games and just a +3 for goal difference. They did however get revenge, beating Moreirense 2-0 on aggregate in the second knockout round. They progressed from the semi-finals via an away goal against big spending, Hertha Berlin.


Championship
Promoted - Brighton (Champions), Burnley (Runners up), Preston (Playoff winners)
Relegated - Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Wigan

League One
Promoted - QPR (Champions), Shrewsbury (Runners up), Rotherham (Playoff winners)
Relegated - Gillingham, Morecambe, Walsall, Oldham

League Two
Promoted - Cambridge (Champions), Mansfield (Runners up), Newport (Third place), Exeter (Playoff winners)
Relegated - Sutton, Port Vale

La Liga
Champions - Atletico Madrid
Second - Barcelona
Third - Real Madrid
Fourth - Sevilla
Fifth - Valencia
Sixth - Real Sociedad
Relegated - Mallorca, Elche, Real Zaragoza

Bundesliga
Champions - Bayern
Second - Dortmund
Third - Hertha Berlin
Fourth - Gladbach
Fifth - RB Leipzig
Sixth - Bayer Leverkusen
Relegated - Union Berlin, Arminia Bielefeld

Serie A
Champions - Juventus
Second - Lazio
Third - Inter
Fourth - AC Milan
Fifth - Roma
Sixth - Atalanta
Relegated - Spezia, Benevento, Lecce

Ligue One
Champions - PSG
Second - Lille
Third - Lyon
Fourth - Nantes
Fifth - Monaco
Sixth - Nice
Relegated - Bordeaux, Angers

Liga NOS
Champions - Porto
Second - Benfica
Third - Sporting
Fourth - Braga
Fifth - Maritimo
Sixth - Vitoria de Guimaraes
Relegated - Estoril, Belenenses

Eredivisie
Champions - Ajax
Second - PSV
Third - FC Twente
Fourth - Feyenoord
Fifth - Utrecht
Sixth - Vitesse
Relegated - NAC, NEC



Here are the squads final stats from the season^

Dominik Livakovic was an ever-present, playing in 53 games.
Luis Suarez had an excellent debut season, netting 32 goals in 42 starts, aswell as 6 assists and had our best average rating with a 7.26.
Sebastiano Esposito is on that list but spent the season on loan at Celtic, where he 22 goals in his 46 appearances, and getting a 7.36 average rating.
Allan Saint-Maximin got one more assist than Thiago Almada, to top our club assist chart with 15.


The clearout from the Mike Ashley/Steve Bruce era will continue as the Transfer Window opens…..

Newcastle Transfers Summer 2022


I'll start with my outgoings, I'm continuing with my overhaul idea to clear out any remnants of the Mike Ashley/Steve Bruce reign, which weirdly has coincided with one of them gone in real life and the other highly likely to follow. This window was hugely active, both at the club and around the world, I did my best Harry Redknapp wheeler dealer for alot of these transfers.


Miguel Almiron - Valencia for £16.5million - I really like Almiron, but unfortunately he's a Bruce era player and Thiago Almada has been playing well there, aswell as a few others having the ability to play that no.10 role, so the Paraguayan was the first out the door this window.

Juanlu - Rangers for £1.4million - Signed on a free, loaned out for a season, sold for profit, simple as that really, never gonna be good enough for my team.

Mohammed Sangare - Plymouth for £150k - 23 years old, never played a professional game and couldn't ever find him a loan move, so he's gone.

Daniel Langley - Barnsley for £60k - never gonna make the grade.

Tom Allan - Millwall for £300k - had a good couple of seasons out on loan in League Two, won't ever make the step up to the first team.

Nadir Zortea - Genk for £10.25million - another free transfer the season before, surprised I had offers over £10mil for him so let him go. Already have Dumfries, Dalot and Gabriel Menino ahead of him at Right Back.

Rodrigo Vilca - Cardiff for £1.4million - some more clearing out of excess players, he was bought for £210k and sold for a bit of profit as he's another who won't ever touch the first team imo.

Sergio Arribas - Monaco for £4million - Another freebie sold a season later as too much competition for his position.

Diego Bernal - Blackburn for £125k - Regen, not much potential, but 50% of profit from his next move will go to me.

Kelland Watts - Middlesborough for £2million - Homegrown player but won't progress much so sold for a couple of mil.

Sebastian Ferreira - CSKA Moscow for £4million - signed for £750k, sold for profit, my scouts opinion of his potential pre-signing him was different to how I rate him.

Cameron Ferguson - Watford for £34.5k - shipping deadwood.

Jamaal Lascelles - Shabab Al-Ahli for £5.75million - has the disadvantage of playing under Bruce so was always on the chopping block, I like him but took the money as we had better options.

James Tarkowski - Al-Ain for £6.75million - returned from loan and wasn't gonna get a game so off to the Arabian Gulf League he goes for £2.75mil profit.

Jack Roles - Blackburn for £5.5million - Never gonna break into my team, so sold for profit.

Ibrahima - Brentford for £1.4mil - Freebie sold for more profit.

Chumi - Al-Sadd for £9million - Another player where the offer baffled me so couldn't say no.

Jamal Lewis - Monaco for £28.5million - wasn't overly happy about selling but found a replacement for half the price, plus selling him fitted into my starting anti-Ashley/Bruce assignment.

John Maguire - Reading for £41.5k - another regen with not much upside but again, I threw in another 50% of profit from next sale, just incase my scouts are wrong.

Joe Willock - Wolves for £18million - A lot like Jamal Lewis, I wouldn't normally sell him as I really like him and he's become a great player for me, but is also another Ashley/Bruce player so was gonna be sold eventually. I definitely replaced him with a much superior player, altho for a lot more money.

Thilo Kehrer - Man Utd for £26.5million, £36.5million after instalments - Very frustrated with this one, Utd tapped him up and he demanded the move. Was forming a great defensive partnership with fellow Frenchman, Badiashile, but I did manage to get a very able replacement, also French, from a certain relegated side for a cut-price…..


Now onto the purchases, a massive window for the club, with some real quality signings and for really good fees in my opinion…..

Wesley Fofana from Leicester for £21million - a classic case of taking advantage of a clubs unfortunate relegation, Fofana steps in as Thilo Kehrer's replacement, and for cheaper, to partner his French compatriot, Benoit Badiashile.



Jens Petter Hauge from Milan for £6million - Altho he didn't get many chances the season before, Hauge was transfer listed and is only 22, so for just £6million, I thought I'd take him back permanently and see how he develops. Worth case scenario is, if he doesn't break through, I'll sell him for profit.



Brendan Williams from Man Utd for £12million - A versatile young player who can cover either wing back position, he's my replacement for Jamal Lewis, and for less than half the fee Monaco payed for Lewis. He spent the previous season on loan at West Ham and found himself transfer listed, with Utd having Wijndal, Telles and Shaw ahead of him at Left Back, altho Shaw is also transfer listed and Wan-Bissaka, Bustos and Lindelof ahead of him for the Right Back birth.



Jorginho from Chelsea for £6million - Jorginho came in to add experience in my very young squad. That experience for just £6million was a no-brainer for me, despite a relatively unimpressive loan at Arsenal last season.



Axel Tuanzebe from Man Utd for £12million, rising to £13.5milliion - Another surplus to requirement at the champions, Axel Tuanzebe ticks the english box, aswell as adding solid competition to my starting centre backs. He started the new season injured but should be really pushing them when fit. Another bargain imo.



Ryan Gravenberch from Ajax for £45million - We all know about Gravenberch on FM21, and for £45million, I couldn't say no. I put in a low bid of £35million just out of interest and was shocked when I could barter them down to less than £50million! My centre midfield is now overflowing with talent, and Gravenberch will also be an option as a no.10.



Jack Grealish from Man City for £55million - Grealish is arguably my marquee signing, and is a victim of Man City's obsession with buying masses of players. In the 3 years at the club, he made just 47 appearances, including sub appearances. Grealish only made 4 appearances in all competitions last season, all of which were off the bench. I feel this may have been my biggest overspend, but even then, its almost half what his fee was when he joined City.



Nnamdi Collins from Dortmund for £2.7million - A big prospect for centre back, loaned straight out for a season in the Bundesliga.




Another player who wanted out of the club was our undoubted no.1, Dominik Livakovic. I managed to get a fairly decent replacement in Kepa Arrizabalaga plus £37million for him, so his boots are filled, but just not to the same quality unfortunately.

Gonna start with the purge of relegated former champions, Leicester City:



Patson Daka to RB Leipzig for £39.5million



Kasper Schmeichel to Cagliari for £3.2million



Wilfred Ndidi to Barcelona for £43million



Nahitan Nandez to Atalanta for £28.5million



Ricardo Pereira to Atletico Madrid for £26.5million



Youri Tielemans to Hertha Berlin for £38million



Harvey Barnes to West Ham for £32.5million



James Justin to West Ham for £39.5million



Timothy Castagne to Brighton for £33.5million



James Maddison to Man City for £34million


Total sales for the window - over £300million!

World Transfers Summer 2022 (Pretty wild window!)



Coutinho to PSG for £58million



Kylian Mbappe to Barcelona for £200million



Frenkie De Jong to PSG for £93million



Jonathan David to Inter Milan for £70million



Fabio Vieira to Hertha Berlin for £43million



Andre Silva to Inter Milan for 45.5million



Anthony Martial to PSG for £58million



Dayot Upamecano to Liverpool for £39.5million



Fabian to Man Utd for £41.5million



Rodri to Real Madrid for £40million



Maxence Caqueret to Man City for £51million



Robin Gosens to PSG for £59million



Nuno Mendes to Man City for £42.5million



David Brooks to Liverpool for £43.5million



Declan Rice to Man City for £66million



Lautaro Martinez to Man City for £77million



Joao Felix to Man Utd for £94million


More:

Juan Miranda to Liverpool for £30million
Wilfried Singo to Chelsea for £42.5million
Otavio to PSG for £41.5million
Giovanni Di Lorenzo to Inter Milan for £41million
Vitor Ferreira to Man City for £40.5million
Juan Bernat to Inter Milan for £40.5million
Josh Dasilva to West Ham for £36million
Samuel Chukwueze to Liverpool for £34.5million
Nemanja Maksimovic to Liverpool for £34.5million
Emerson to PSG for £33million
Hakim Ziyech to Porto for £32million
Bryan Gil to Bayern for £32million
Edson Alvarez to Arsenal for £31.5million
Pablo Fornals to Hertha Berlin for £28.5million
Marc Cucurella to Dortmund for £28million
Richarlison to Juventus for £26.5million
Ibrahima Konate to Lyon for £26million
Aleksander Mitrovic to Sassuolo for £25.5million
Malcom to RB Leipzig for £25million
Tomas Soucek to Monaco for £24.5million
Nathan Redmond to Spurs for £23million
Luke Shaw to Ajax for £20.5million
Pablo Sarabia to Lazio for £19.5million
Kyle Walker to Napoli for £13.25million
Fred to Zenit for £12.25million
Kingsley Coman to Valencia for £9.75million

Forgot to add who won what domestically for the 2021-2022 season, so they're as follows:



Championship

Promoted - Brighton (Champions), Burnley (Runners up), Preston (Playoff winners)

Relegated - Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Wigan



League One

Promoted - QPR (Champions), Shrewsbury (Runners up), Rotherham (Playoff winners)

Relegated - Gillingham, Morecambe, Walsall, Oldham



League Two

Promoted - Cambridge (Champions), Mansfield (Runners up), Newport (Third place), Exeter (Playoff winners)

Relegated - Sutton, Port Vale



La Liga

Champions - Atletico Madrid

Second - Barcelona

Third - Real Madrid

Fourth - Sevilla

Fifth - Valencia

Sixth - Real Sociedad

Relegated - Mallorca, Elche, Real Zaragoza



Bundesliga

Champions - Bayern

Second - Dortmund

Third - Hertha Berlin

Fourth - Gladbach

Fifth - RB Leipzig

Sixth - Bayer Leverkusen

Relegated - Union Berlin, Arminia Bielefeld



Serie A

Champions - Juventus

Second - Lazio

Third - Inter

Fourth - AC Milan

Fifth - Roma

Sixth - Atalanta

Relegated - Spezia, Benevento, Lecce



Ligue One

Champions - PSG

Second - Lille

Third - Lyon

Fourth - Nantes

Fifth - Monaco

Sixth - Nice

Relegated - Bordeaux, Angers



Liga NOS

Champions - Porto

Second - Benfica

Third - Sporting

Fourth - Braga

Fifth - Maritimo

Sixth - Vitoria de Guimaraes

Relegated - Estoril, Belenenses



Eredivisie

Champions - Ajax

Second - PSV

Third - FC Twente

Fourth - Feyenoord

Fifth - Utrecht

Sixth - Vitesse

Relegated - NAC, NEC

Start of Season up to the end of October



July
The first game of our friendly season started with 6-0 and 3-0 wins on our mini Chinese tour. Slightly surprising was new free transfer signing, defensive utility player, Patric, with 2 goals in the 6-0 win. An 11-0 win was next against Chester-Le-Street (which was my Grandad's hometown) in a little match to get morale up.
We started the season impressively, as we always seem to do, with a 4-0 win over Bournemouth. A double each for Callum Wilson and Luis Suarez confirmed the win.

August
We next headed into August, where we had a real mixture of results, with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. The Watford game saw an Antony goal disallowed in the 5th minute before another double from Luis Suarez and a Thiago Almada goal put us 3-0 up before Jorginho netted his first goal in a Newcastle shirt, unfortunately in his own goal, right before Callum Wilson sealed the win.
A disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Norwich followed before a 2-1 loss away at Aston Villa, with only Jack Grealish's first goal for the club, against his boyhood club, being the only consolation from a poor match for the travelling fans.
We bounced back with a visit to Brighton, where another Grealish goal was sandwiched between goals from Luis Suarez.

September
September began with the visit of Spurs in the Carabao Cup. A game which we went 2-0 up before falling apart and conceding 2 goals late on. A 11-10 penalty shootout victory followed, with Reguillon missing for Spurs and Saint-Maximin missing for us in the regular 5 penalties, before an epic sudden death shootout which lasted all the way until beyond the goalkeepers, who both scored, before Luis Suarez missed the deciding penalty, after already dispatching one successfully minutes earlier.
We then beat an overmatched Wolves side 4-1 with a second string side, with first goals of the season for Esposito, Hauge and Sandry.
Lyon followed this, in our first Champions League game of the season. We took the lead in the 13th minute thru Luis Suarez and led throughout the game before a 90th minute Jesus Vallejo penalty pegged us back to earn just a point in France.
We were outmatched in our next game, at home to Chelsea, who took the lead in the 9th minute thru Kai Havertz. We did peg them back in the 19th minute through another Suarez goal, but Romelu Lukaku sealed the 3 points for the visitors.
After the unlucky ending to our first Champions League game of the season against Lyon, it was our turn to get a late penalty, as Thiago Almada slotted home a 93rd minute to take our tally to 4 points so far in the competition.
Spurs yet again had our number in the next game, beating us 3-1 in a game where they led 3-0 until a late Suarez consolation.
A 2-2 away draw at group favourites, Dortmund was a result I was happy with, and like the 2 previous Champions League games, a late decision changed the result. with a Youssouf Moukoko goal being disallowed in the 89th minute. They were 2-0 up at one point but we managed to get the draw, with goals from Antony and Brendan Williams, his first for the club.

October
A Axel Tuanzebe own goal and Luis Suarez missed penalty summed up a miserable afternoon away at Everton, where we were lucky to take a point.
That disappointment didn't last long tho, as our next 4 games ended with a 15-0 aggregate score.
Newly promoted, Preston were first up, and we took a comfortable 3-0 win with a relatively second string side, saving the big guns for the Dortmund game just 3 days later. Hauge scored one and saw another goal disallowed in the game.
Up next was Dortmund, and easily one of our best performances of the season, if not the whole save. An amazing 6-0 win which had everything in the game, including two disallowed goals for us, an own goal for us plus a penalty, as Thiago Almada scored 4 goals and Antony got a hat-trick of assists.
We then welcomed West Ham to St. James Park, who were down to 10 men on the half hour mark as a cynical foul by Kurt Zouma not only gave away a penalty, but also earned himself a red card. We were 4-0 up at half time and seemed to take our foot off the gas in the second half.
A comfortable win over Lyon next sealed our progression to the knockout round of the Champions League, in a mad night of football in the competition (as seen below)
October ended with another lacklustre draw, where again we were lucky to get a point, with Leeds having a 92nd minute goal disallowed. FM21 certainly has far too many VAR disallowed goals!!!