FM12 Newcastle United Story- Bring back the Glory Days!

July 2011

At St James' Park, Joe Smith signed a two year contract at Newcastle United and promptly set to work on reshaping the club into one ready to challenge at the top, in 2/3 seasons time, and maybe for the Euro Cup positions this season, but definetely in the cup competitions.

He immediately got rid of a large proportion of the club's backroom staff and brought in a lot of his own, who straight away improved the quality of the club's training schedules. Key staff like Gianni Vio, as First team coach, Paul Winsper and Adrian Lamb as two fitness coaches, Luciano D'Onofrio and Eduardo Macia as two new chief scouts and Liverpool's Frank McParland as one of two new youth coaches.

But that was not the end of Smith's revolution...

He then got rid of all of the U18 squad who the coaches said were not even going to potentially be 'useful', and then culled the reserve squad of the dross on free transfers and very small sums. In total, these sales added a total of 800k to my transfer budget, and this helped me bring in three players I bring in at every club I can. Three youngsters, in the form of PSG's goalkeeper Mike Maignan, Rennes' Wesley Said and Atletico Madrid's 16 year old midfielder Saul, were brought in on day 1 and put into the reserve squad, and Carlos Fierro agreed to join at the start of next season. A good start for Smith...

July 2011 continued

First Team Transfers

Out

Peter Lovenkrands to Fuham, £1.6m
Sylvain Marveuax to Lille, £600k loan
Mike Williamson to Southampton, £500k loan

In

Steven Naismith


£1.8m over 24 months.

Naismith is likely to be a key part of my team this season, at least for the first part due to Ben Arfa being injured. He can play either wing, behind the striker or as the main man up top, and for £1.8m I felt he was a bargain.

Cheik M'Bengue


£4.1m over 30 months

M'Bengue is definitely going to be my first choice left back this season as Santon can also play RB, leaving Simpson to the bench and back up this season. I have been impressed with M'Bengue in pre season, so I hope he will do a good job for me.

Adam Lallana


£2.2m over 24 months

Lallana was mainly bought as back up for the first team, but his performances in pre season were very impressive so I am definitely going to give him a chance in the first few matches of the season in a central midfield position as well as on one of the wings every now and then, where he impressed in pre season.

Felipe Anderson


£1.3m loan fee, £5m future fee

Anderson has been brought mainly as back up, but he is rumoured to be a wonderkid so I had to put in a future buy clause in case he impresses as I believe £5m is a bargain for a top quality central midfielder. He will be back up predominantly for Cabaye and another one of my signings who you are about to read about.

Joe Allen


£5.5m over 18 months

Allen is likely to feature in my first choice central midfield three with Cabaye and Tiote as I believe he is one of the most under rated players in real life, but it may be different on here. This season is when we will find out about the young player from Swansea...

First team transfers done, tactics will be posted later today, as will the first month or so of the 2011/12 season. Can this season be the beginning of a brighter future for Newcastle?? Stay tuned.

very good signing in joe allen / he has the potential to be a top quality centre midfielder. his passing , composure and concentraion are key to how good he actually is. great work. and a bargain aswell.

ill be watching this story as im a toon army supporter

Pre Season Results

Newcastle Reserves, 2-0 win: Fabricio Coloccini, Papiss Cisse
Gateshead Away, 0-0
Chesterfield Home, 3-1 win: Yoann Cabaye, Papiss Cisse X2
Birmingham City Away, 3-1 win: Papiss Cisse, Fabricio Coloccini, Leon Best
Juventus Away, 1-1: Demba Ba
Valencia Home, 1-0 win: Papiss Cisse
Carlise Away, 3-1 win: Papiss Cisse X2, OG
Villarreal Home, 4-1 win: Papiss Cisse X3, Steven Naismith
FK Austria Wien Home, 1-0 win: Fabricio Coloccini

Pretty reasonable pre season, best performance was the Villarreal match, a very good display of possession football and good finishing.

What a display from the mighty Papiss, I hope he will kick on a lot this season and take us to the Europa League!!!

August

Results
Game 1: Newcastle 1-0 Sunderland: Papiss Cisse
Game 2: Everton 0-1 Newcastle: Yoann Cabaye (pen)
Game 3: Newcastle 2-1 Leyton Orient: Wesley Said, Adam Lallana
Game 4: Newcastle 4-0 QPR: Adam Lallana, Papiss Cisse X3

A brilliant start to the season. After the first three games, I was starting to get worried about a lack of goals, but then the QPR game comes along and Papiss gets his fourth goal in two Premier League matches (he got injured against Sunderland and was out for 10 days. Lallana has had a good start, with a few assists, and Naismith has impressed as well with very good average ratings.

Transfers

Jan Vertonghen


£8.75m over 30 months

I bought in Ajax's captain Vertonghen because I only had two first team centre halves after I let Williamson go, in Taylor and Coloccini, and I felt I needed a third one of a good class. Vertonghen is definitely that, and is likely to get the second centre half shirt to partner Coloccini on a regular basis. That was the last signing I made in this window, and nobody else left.

Transfer Window round-up

In a busy transfer window, Arsenal and Manchester City both spent big as they aimed to improve their squads at the top of the Premier League. Arsenal brought in Everton's Marouane Fellaini and Sevilla's winger Diego Perroti for a combined fee of £25m, and City brought in Napoli's creative midfielder Marek Hamsik for a fee of £19.5m as well as Cruzeiro's Walter Montillo for in the region of £15m. Perhaps one of the more interesting signings was Everton's acquisition of Wigan's midfield enforcer Mohammed Diame for £3.5m, probably as a replacement for Fellaini. Diame joined Everton after refusing the contract offered to him by Newcastle United, who then signed Swansea's midfielder Joe Allen for just over £5m.

In Spain, Milan Badelj and Jaroslav Plasil joined ambitious Malaga from Dinamo Zagreb and Bordeaux respectively, and Liverpool's Maxi Rodriguez headed for Sevilla.

Portuguese side Benfica spent big on Udinese's Kwadwo Asamoah, bringing in the tough-tackling midfielder for £9.25m.

Italian sides didn't tend to spend big this transfer window, but both Milan clubs brought in a striker each, both of whom with huge potential, with PSG's Hervin Ongenda and Auxerre's Yaya Sanogo heading for AC Milan and Internaziole respectively.

Looking forward to reading the rest, keep it up!

September 2011

Results

Game 5: Wolves 1-0 Newcastle
Game 6: Newcastle 1-1 Fulham: Fabricio Coloccini
Game 7: Tottenham 0-2 Newcastle(League Cup): Adam Lallana X2
Game 8: Tottenham 1-0 Newcastle

Meh, a real mixed bag here. Poor month in the league as we only got one point of a possible 9, but we did beat Spurs in the League Cup to continue our quest for success in that tournament.

Injury News

Davide Santon injured against Fulham and is now out for 3/4 weeks

Manchester United and Liverpool are sitting top of the tree at the moment, both having a 100% record after 6 games of the season, with QPR rock bottom with no points and a shocking goal difference of -16 from six matches.

October 2011

Results

Game 8: Newcastle 1-0 Aston Villa: Cheick Tiote
Game 9: Newcastle 2-0 Blackburn: Papiss Cisse, Adam Lallana
Game 10: Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle
Game 11: Newcastle 2-0 Manchester City (LC): Demba Ba, Steven Naismith
Game 12: Wigan 0-1 Newcastle: Papiss Cisse

A very good month all round, only dropping points in the league against Manchester City due to a questionable penalty decision with 5 minutes left. A point would have been a fair reflection, but revenge was enforced as we progressed further in the League Cup after City had two men sent off in the first half. It wasn't a brilliant performance, but I am more after wins than good performances at the moment. Anybody who has any recommendations for tactics for good performances but wins, please comment on here or on chat- I would be very grateful.

Liverpool still have their 100% record at the top of the league, but are behind Manchester United who have finally lost a game, although they have scored an incredible 45 goals in 11 matches- ridiculous!! I only have 11 from 10! However, I am sitting 5th in the table, having lost three matches and drawn one from 10 matches. QPR are bottom with 4 points, just below Sunderland on 5.

I am currently negotiating with Barcelona over a signing of Kiko Femenia, who has been recommended to me by three scouts, and has been scouted for 7 matches so far and has impressed the scouts in these. If he is brought in, it could be the end at Newcastle for Obertan, who hasn't featured yet in the league this season as I believe he is not up to it.

Keep reading guys, I appreciate the comments.

League Cup QF

So I will post screenshots of the League Cup matches as I get to the business end of the competition, and I think I will post more screenshots of matches, maybe the best match of the month sort of thing. This game was at the back end of November, so the November report will follow soon

November

Game 13: Liverpool 0-0 Newcastle
Game 14: Newcastle 1-0 Stoke: Papiss Cisse
Game 15: Swansea 0-3 Newcastle: Gylfi Sigurdsson OG, Papiss Cisse, Jan Vertonghen
Game 16: Newcastle 2-0 Reading (LC): Papiss Cisse, Joe Allen

A good month for the Toon Army, with 3 wins in the league from 4 matches and not getting beaten this month. I am proud to say we have the best defence in the league, having only conceded 4 goals in the league in 14 matches. We aren't as prolific as I would have hoped, with the fewest goals in the top six by quite a long way, but I am of the view that if you don't concede, you will win more than you lose. Papiss Cisse has had a good month, scoring a few and getting good ratings and the MOTM award against the Swans in what, despite the result, was a dire performance where we recorded our lowest possession figures so far (39%). Two late goals added a bit of gloss to the scoreline.

In other Premier League news, Manchester United still head the league with 12 wins from 13 and 49 goals, leading from Liverpool who have 10 wins from 13 matches and the Scousers are the only unbeaten team remaining in the Top 4 English Leagues. Sir Alex Ferguson won the Manager of the Month award for November, Robin van Persie won Player of the Month, with 6 goals from 3 matches, with Wayne Rooney coming in second despite getting 8 goals from 3, including 7 in one match. The mighty Newcastle's Davide Santon won the November Young Player of the Month award, and has really made the right back slot his own in the meanest Premier League defence.

In the League Cup Semi Finals, Liverpool have been drawn against Newcastle and Aston Villa will take on this year's surprise package Derby County in the other tie.

Loving the story mate. I started a Newcastle career a bit ago and I got a CB on a free transfer from someone he was called Addo. He's 32, but he plays well for me, and is worth a punt. Also try to get Sanogo from somewhere in France, he's young, and turns out well. And Steven Caulker from Spurs at the end of the season, he's class.

Good luck in the League Cup as well mate.

Sanogo has gone to Inter already mate, and I'm thinking about Caulker too man.

Trouble is if Spurs think he's good enough, they'll want an arm and a leg for him, and the £3.5m Newcastle get isn't enough. So, your best bet is to win the league :D.