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Northumbria FC - Premier League and Beyond!


Michael F

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Hi everyone, this is my first story so I hope it is ok, please feel free to pass on suggestions or comments regarding this story as it continues. Ive read through the FMS Information File and I have also had a look through some story's in the HOF, hopefully I can get there some day. I apologise in advance for poor grammar/spelling but its 1am and ive been doing university dissertation all day icon_smile.gif

Introduction

Northumbria FC (Northumbria being the university I go too), are a newly formed club based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. They play at the 5,000 all seated Coach Lane in Newcastle and are owned by Lord Stevens, who also acts as the clubs chairman (he is the university chancellor irl) However Lord Stevens is not a particularly rich man, therefore he can’t provide the financial backing that the club desires therefore he is relying on the club to generate money through attendances, merchandise, sponsorship and TV revenue to keep the club afloat, this is a massive gamble for Stevens, it could be the best thing he ever did and Northumbria could rise to one day become Premiership Champions, however it could go totally wrong and the club could go bust within a few years.

Northumbria’s home kit, like their Newcastle rivals is black and white shirts, their away kit is white with a and their 3rd kit is gold with black, however they have opted for the same Boca Juniors style hoop across the front of all three kits. The club as stated earlier is not in a good financial state and only has 100k to their name, which sounds like a lot, however the wages, maintenance for the stadium and their top training and youth facilities along with other bills means the club needs to generate money fast to enable them to survive. Northumbria believe all local clubs to be their rivals however Newcastle United, Sunderland & Gateshead FC have been deemed their fierce main rivals with Middlesbrough, Whitley Bay, Carlisle, Darlington, York & Blyth their other rivals.

Northumbria’s First Manager

On 7th July 2007 Lord Stevens announced local lad and friend, Michael Foster as the clubs first manager after signing a 2 year contract till June 2009 worth £550 per week. Michael is a 30 year old who has just completed his UEFA Pro Licence and after some persuasion managed to convince that he is the man to take Northumbria to the top stating that his man management, motivation and his disciplinarian approach to management would prevent the club from going down. Foster also stated that he had a keen eye for young talent and he believed that even he had inherited a young squad he would be able to drill them into model professionals who could play to their talents and win games. As part of the agreement , Lord Stevens said Foster could hire whichever coaching staff he wants, he also stated that there was no limit and could have however many coaches he felt was necessary.

The Backroom Staff

The first thing Foster did was call up his friends from school who like Foster had just completed their coaching badges. The first phone call he made was to Simon Barber, a close friend for many years. Foster felt that Barber, like Foster took pride in his man management, motivation and disciplinarian approach who also specialises in his judgement of player ability and potential, he felt he felt that his skills would be excellent to bounce ideas off each other, so Foster offered him the job of Assistant Manager. The next phone call he made was to another close friend Andrew Hewitson who specialised in being a master tactician and someone who could make the most confusing tactics sound easy so Foster gave him the job of First Team Coach. Foster then made further phone calls to other friends Dan Brown, who was known for being a technical ball skills expert, David Nolan, a set piece expert, Tom Casey, a defensive coaching specialist, Russell Nixon, an shooting coaching specialist, Ray Goodman, an attacking coach specialist, Adam Sutton, the goalkeeping coach, and two specialist Fitness coaches in Chris Brown & Nick Greenwell. He also made phone calls to Mark Thornton, a youth team coach who was well known for his nurturing of youth talent to run the clubs academy, along with two physio’s Gary Robinson & Chris McKewan, and two scouts Sean McKewan & Darren Boyer With his new team behind him he couldn’t fail, or could he?

The squad to follow soon....

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Hi everyone, this is my first story so I hope it is ok, please feel free to pass on suggestions or comments regarding this story as it continues. Ive read through the FMS Information File and I have also had a look through some story's in the HOF, hopefully I can get there some day. I apologise in advance for poor grammar/spelling but its 1am and ive been doing university dissertation all day icon_smile.gif

Introduction

Northumbria FC (Northumbria being the university I go too), are a newly formed club based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. They play at the 5,000 all seated Coach Lane in Newcastle and are owned by Lord Stevens, who also acts as the clubs chairman (he is the university chancellor irl) However Lord Stevens is not a particularly rich man, therefore he can’t provide the financial backing that the club desires therefore he is relying on the club to generate money through attendances, merchandise, sponsorship and TV revenue to keep the club afloat, this is a massive gamble for Stevens, it could be the best thing he ever did and Northumbria could rise to one day become Premiership Champions, however it could go totally wrong and the club could go bust within a few years.

Northumbria’s home kit, like their Newcastle rivals is black and white shirts, their away kit is white with a and their 3rd kit is gold with black, however they have opted for the same Boca Juniors style hoop across the front of all three kits. The club as stated earlier is not in a good financial state and only has 100k to their name, which sounds like a lot, however the wages, maintenance for the stadium and their top training and youth facilities along with other bills means the club needs to generate money fast to enable them to survive. Northumbria believe all local clubs to be their rivals however Newcastle United, Sunderland & Gateshead FC have been deemed their fierce main rivals with Middlesbrough, Whitley Bay, Carlisle, Darlington, York & Blyth their other rivals.

Northumbria’s First Manager

On 7th July 2007 Lord Stevens announced local lad and friend, Michael Foster as the clubs first manager after signing a 2 year contract till June 2009 worth £550 per week. Michael is a 30 year old who has just completed his UEFA Pro Licence and after some persuasion managed to convince that he is the man to take Northumbria to the top stating that his man management, motivation and his disciplinarian approach to management would prevent the club from going down. Foster also stated that he had a keen eye for young talent and he believed that even he had inherited a young squad he would be able to drill them into model professionals who could play to their talents and win games. As part of the agreement , Lord Stevens said Foster could hire whichever coaching staff he wants, he also stated that there was no limit and could have however many coaches he felt was necessary.

The Backroom Staff

The first thing Foster did was call up his friends from school who like Foster had just completed their coaching badges. The first phone call he made was to Simon Barber, a close friend for many years. Foster felt that Barber, like Foster took pride in his man management, motivation and disciplinarian approach who also specialises in his judgement of player ability and potential, he felt he felt that his skills would be excellent to bounce ideas off each other, so Foster offered him the job of Assistant Manager. The next phone call he made was to another close friend Andrew Hewitson who specialised in being a master tactician and someone who could make the most confusing tactics sound easy so Foster gave him the job of First Team Coach. Foster then made further phone calls to other friends Dan Brown, who was known for being a technical ball skills expert, David Nolan, a set piece expert, Tom Casey, a defensive coaching specialist, Russell Nixon, an shooting coaching specialist, Ray Goodman, an attacking coach specialist, Adam Sutton, the goalkeeping coach, and two specialist Fitness coaches in Chris Brown & Nick Greenwell. He also made phone calls to Mark Thornton, a youth team coach who was well known for his nurturing of youth talent to run the clubs academy, along with two physio’s Gary Robinson & Chris McKewan, and two scouts Sean McKewan & Darren Boyer With his new team behind him he couldn’t fail, or could he?

The squad to follow soon....

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The Players

Foster’s next major problem was the fact that he had inherited eighteen, 17 year olds into his squad, and due to the lack of funds he knew he was going to keep them and hope they are up to the standard. His playing squad was as follows...

Dougie McDowall – Position: Goalkeeper.

Dougie originates from Scotland as he was born in Turriff, however due to having English parents he decided to take English nationality. Despite being one of two goalkeepers at the club following Simon Barber’s report he believes that he should only be backup goalkeeper. His main strength is his reflexes.

Callum Phillips – Position: Goalkeeper

Callum is one of a number of local lads in the squad, being born in Gateshead. Callum is seen as the number one goalkeeper at the club, whose strengths are his aerial ability and his reflexes.

Chad Hill –Position: Right Back

Chad is another one of the local boys being born in Newcastle. He is a right back and his strength is his tackling and his acceleration.

Peter Brook – Position: Left Back

Peter is another Gateshead born and bred player who is the first choice left back. His strength is his marking and his tackling.

Howard Bentham – Position: Centre Back

This bald eagle is one half of the centre defence partnership, Howard is another Gateshead born player who is brave, good with his head, good marker and a good tackler. He is also the club’s vice captain.

Matt Haines – Position: Centre Back

Haines is the other half of the centre defence partnership, he is Durham born and his strengths are his heading and his strength in the air.

Phil Bonar – Position: Centre Back/Right Back

Phil is one of the backup defenders at Northumbria, and usually finds himself involved in the 16 man squad most of the time. Phil is Gateshead born and his strength is his heading and his pace.

Wayne Wallington – Position: Centre Back/Left Back

Wayne is the other backup defender at the club, Gateshead born whose strengths lie in his tackling.

Mike Rose – Position: Defensive Midfielder

Mike is the clubs holding midfielder who likes to sweep up after midfielders and protect his back four. Mike was born in Chester-le-Street, and his strength is his tackling and his ability to break up play.

James Howell – Position: Centre Midfield

James is the backup midfielder at the club, he was born in Gateshead and his strength is his passing

Adam Edwards – Position: Right Midfield

Adam is the first choice right midfielder, he was also born in Chester-le-Street and his main strength is his crossing and passing.

Joey Sanders – Position: Right Midfield/Centre Midfield

Joey is the reserve midfielder and finds himself mostly on the bench, he was born in Newcastle and his main strength is his crossing ability.

Paul Durie – Position: Left Midfielder

Paul is the clubs first choice left midfielder and is the second player who has Scottish 2nd nationality as he was born in Haddington. His main strength is his crossing and his pace.

Matt Serrant – Position: Left Midfield/Centre Midfield

Matt is the other backup midfielder who normally finds himself on the bench during matches, he was born in Whitley Bay and his main strengths are his crossing and dribbling.

Gareth Prout – Position: Attacking Midfield

Gareth is one of the integral players at Northumbria as he plays behind the front two and regularly gets forward to support them. Gareth was born in Newcastle and his strengths are dribbling, first touch, technique, and passing.

Danny Boyce – Position: Striker

Danny is the Peter Crouch of Northumbria (except less ugly looking). He is also the tallest member of the team at 6â€6†and is the brawn of the front two. Danny was born in Newcastle and his main strength is finishing, influence & heading, he can be regularly used as a target man. He is also the club captain.

Wayne Vilakasi – Position: Striker

Wayne is the legs of the front two, he is not very strong but he is very quick. Wayne is the 3rd player to have a 2nd nationality, however he is the only one who is from abroad, being born in Nelspruit in South Africa but being English nationality. Wayne’s strength is his finishing, his acceleration and his pace.

Ross Wyness – Position: Striker

Ross is the backup striker at the club, he usually sits on the bench during matches. Ross is the 3rd player to have Scottish dual nationality as he was born in Perth but again has English nationality. Ross main strength is his finishing.

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As id already started this before i remembered i was going to start a story im kind of telling something thats already happened as im in October, so obviously i cant give a league table until the end of October.

N.B Something i forgot to mention last time was 11 of the squad were given a PA of -10 and the rest -8. This should make it interesting trying to keep a hold of players once bigger clubs find out about them.

Season 07/08

After deciding to scrap all pre season games and concentrate on harder training sessions, Foster had to wait for his first game as manager. Lord Stevens target for the season was to avoid relegation, however Foster believes he can stay clear of relegation and gain a safe bottom half finish in the table. The first three fixtures were as follows..

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Vauxhall (H)

<LI>Stalybridge (A)

<LI>Nuneaton (H)

Saturday 11th August 2007

Vauxhall - Home Blue Square North

An attendance of 4,794 turned up for Northumbria's maidon game at Coach Lane, however things didnt start well for Foster's side after Paul Taylor scored a 5th min penalty after a foul by Howard Bentham, which gave Vauxhall the lead. However Foster's side kept on fighting and managed to equalise on 74 mins after Danny Boyce put it past Alex Brynt. After the game, Foster stated he was delighted at the spirit shown by his players in their first game despite being behind for 70 mins. Man of Match: Mike Rose (Northumbria)

Final Score: Northumbria 1 Vauxhall 1

Tuesday 14th August 2007

Stalybridge - Away Blue Square North

In a suprising one sided result, Northumbria recored their first ever away win at the hands of stunned Stalybridge. A hattrick from skipper Danny Boyce and another from Wayne Vilakazi silenced the 2,895 home crowd who were left wondering how they managed to lose against such a unknown side. One problem for Foster was the injury to right midfielder Adam Edwards with a potential foot injury, this left him unsure whether he would be fit for the next match. Man of the match: Danny Boyce (Northumbria)

Final Score: Stalybridge 0 Northumbria 4

Saturday 18th August 2007

Nuneaton - Home Blue Square North

In yet another shocking encounter Northumbria kept up their 100% record with a win against Nuneaton in front of 4,761 people at Coach Lane. Two goals fro

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