[FM21] Newcastle United: The Magpies

[stevemc]

Welcome to the Newcastle United Football Club thread

Club Details

Status: Professional

Reputation: National

Nickname: The Magpies

Founded: 1892

Owner: Mike Ashley (will listen to offers ) 

Current Manager: Steve Bruce

League: Premier League (England)

Captain: Jamaal Lascelles

Squad Personality: Professional

Rivals: Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Manchester United, Aston Villa 

Legends, Icons & Favoured Personnel:

Stadium: St James Park

Capacity: 52, 404 all-seater

Training Facilities: Average

Corporate Facilities: Good

Youth Facilities: Average

Youth Level: 1

Junior Coaching: Adequate

Youth Recruitment: Average

Finances: Rich

Transfer Budget: £16.5m (plus 100% of sales)

Wage Budget: £1,397,085m p/w (using £1,337,085m)

Media Prediction: 12th

Trophy Cabinet:

badge legends stadium

[stevemc]

Club History

 

Formation and early history (1881–1903)

The first record of football being played on Tyneside dates from 3 March 1877 at Elswick Rugby Club. Later that year, Newcastle's first football club, Tyne Association, was formed. The origins of Newcastle United Football Club itself can be traced back to the formation of a football club by the Stanley Cricket Club of Byker in November 1881. This team was renamed Newcastle East End F.C. in October 1882, to avoid confusion with the cricket club in Stanley, County Durham. Rosewood F.C. of Byker merged with Newcastle East End a short time later. In 1886, Newcastle East End moved from Byker to Heaton. In August 1882, Newcastle West End F.C. formed from West End Cricket Club, and in May 1886, the club moved into St James' Park. The two clubs became rivals in the Northern League. In 1889, Newcastle East End became a professional team, before becoming a limited company the following March. However, on the other hand, Newcastle West End were in serious financial trouble and approached East End with a view to a take over. Newcastle West End were eventually dissolved, and a number of their players and backroom staff joined Newcastle East End, effectively merging the two clubs, with Newcastle East End taking over the lease on St James' Park in May 1892

With only one senior club in the city for fans to support, development of the club was much more rapid. Despite being refused entry to the Football League's First Division at the start of the 1892–93 season, they were invited to play in their new Second Division. However, with no big names playing in the Second Division, they turned down the offer and remained in the Northern League, stating "gates would not meet the heavy expenses incurred for travelling". In a bid to start drawing larger crowds, Newcastle East End decided to adopt a new name in recognition of the merger. Suggested names included Newcastle F.C., Newcastle Rangers, Newcastle City and City of Newcastle, but Newcastle United was decided upon on 9 December 1892, to signify the unification of the two teams. The name change was accepted by the Football Association on 22 December, but the club was not legally constituted as Newcastle United Football Club Co. Ltd. until 6 September 1895. At the start of the 1893–94 season, Newcastle United were once again refused entry to the First Division and so joined the Second Division, along with Liverpool and Woolwich Arsenal. They played their first competitive match in the division that September against Woolwich Arsenal, with a score of 2–2.

Turnstile numbers were still low, and the incensed club published a statement stating, "The Newcastle public do not deserve to be catered for as far as professional football is concerned". However, eventually figures picked up by 1895–96, when 14,000 fans watched the team play Bury. That season Frank Watt became secretary of the club, and he was instrumental in promotion to the First Division for the 1898–99 season. However, they lost their first game 4–2 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and finished their first season in thirteenth place.

 

First glory years and war years (1903–1937)

In 1903–04, the club built up a promising squad of players, and went on to dominate English football for almost a decade, the team known for their "artistic play, combining team-work and quick, short passing". Long after his retirement, Peter McWilliam, the team's defender at the time, said, "The Newcastle team of the 1900s would give any modern side a two goal start and beat them, and further more, beat them at a trot." Newcastle United went on to win the League on three occasions during the 1900s; 1904–05, 1906–07 and 1908–09. In 1904–05, they nearly did the double, losing to Aston Villa in the 1905 FA Cup Final. They were beaten again the following year by Everton in the 1906 FA Cup Final. They reached the final again in 1908 where they lost to Wolves. They finally won the FA Cup in 1910 when they beat Barnsley in the final. They lost again the following year in the final against Bradford City.

The team returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in the second final held at the then new Wembley Stadium. They defeated Aston Villa, winning the club's second FA Cup. Three years later, they won the First Division championship a fourth time in 1926–27, with Hughie Gallacher, one of the most prolific goal scorers in the club's history, captaining the team. Other key players in this period were Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth. In 1930, Newcastle United came close to relegation, and at the end of the season Gallacher left the club for Chelsea, and at the same time Andy Cunningham became the club's first team manager. In 1931–32, the club won the FA Cupa third time. However, a couple of years later, at the end of the 1933–34 season, the team were relegated to the Second Division after 35 seasons in the top. Cunningham left as manager and Tom Mather took over.

 

Post-war success (1937–1969)

The club found it difficult to adjust to the Second Division and were nearly further relegated in the 1937–38 season, when they were spared on goal averages. However, when World War II broke in 1939, Newcastle had a chance to regroup, and in the War period, they brought in Jackie Milburn, Tommy Walker and Bobby Cowell. They were finally promoted back to the First Division at the end of the 1947–48 season. During the 1950s, Newcastle won the FA Cup trophy on three occasions within a five-year period, beating Blackpool in 1951, Arsenal in 1952, and Manchester City in 1955. However, after this last FA Cup victory the club fell back into decline and were relegated to the Second Division once again at the end of the 1960–61 season under the management of Charlie Mitten. Mitten left after one season in the Second Division and was replaced by former player Joe Harvey. Newcastle returned to the First Division at the end of the 1964–65 season after winning the Second Division title. Under Harvey, the club qualified for European competition for the first time after a good run in the 1967–68 season and the following year won the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final, triumphing 6–2 over two legs against Hungary's Újpest in the final.

 

Bouncing between divisions (1969–1992)

Harvey bought striker Malcolm Macdonald in the summer of 1971, for a club record transfer fee of £180,000 (worth £2562961 in 2016). He was an impressive goal scorer, who led United's attack to Wembley in their 1974 FA Cup Final defeat at the hands of Liverpool. The club also had back to back triumphs in the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975. Harvey left the club in 1975, with Gordon Lee brought in to replace him. Lee took the team to the 1976 Football League Cup Final against Manchester City, but failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside. However, he sold Macdonald to Arsenal at the end of the season, a decision of which Macdonald later said "I loved Newcastle, until Gordon Lee took over". Lee left for Everton in 1977, and was replaced by Richard Dinnis.

United dropped once again to the Second Division at the end of the 1977–78 season. Dinnis was replaced by Bill McGarry, and then he was replaced by Arthur Cox. Cox steered Newcastle back to the First Division at the end of the 1983–84 season, with players such as Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and ex-England captain Kevin Keegan the fulcrum of the team. However, with a lack of funds, Cox left for Derby County and Keegan retired. With managers such as Jack Charlton and then Willie McFaul, Newcastle remained in the top-flight, until key players such as Waddle, Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne were sold, and the team was relegated once more in 1989. McFaul left the managerial post, and was replaced by Jim Smith. Smith left at the start of the 1991–92 season and the board appointed Osvaldo Ardiles his replacement.

 

Into the Premier League and near-title misses (1992–2006)

Sir John Hall became the club's chairman in 1992, and replaced Ardiles with Keegan, who managed to save the team from relegation to the Third Division. Keegan was given more money for players, and he brought in Rob Lee, Paul Bracewell and Barry Venison and the club won the then First Division Championship at the end of the 1992–93 season, earning promotion to the then new Premier League. At the end of the 1993–94 season, their first year back in the top flight they finished in third, their highest league finish since 1927. The attacking philosophy of Keegan led to the team being labelled "The Entertainers" by Sky Sports.

Keegan took Newcastle to two consecutive runners-up finishes in the league in 1995–96 and 1996–97, coming very close to winning the title in the former season which included a 4–3 game against Liverpool at Anfield – often considered the greatest game in Premier League history – which ended with a defining image of the Premier League with Keegan slumped over the advertising hoarding. The success of the team was in part due to the attacking talent of players like David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer, who was signed on 30 July 1996 for a then world record fee of £15 million.

Keegan left Newcastle in January 1997 and was replaced by Kenny Dalglish, however the club endured a largely unsuccessful season with a 13th-place finish in the 1997–98 FA Premier League, failure to progress beyond the group stages of the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League despite beating Barcelona and group winners Dynamo Kiev at St James' Park as well as coming from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 with Valery Lobanovsky's team in Ukraine and defeat in the 1998 FA Cup Final. Dalglish was replaced as manager early in the following season by Ruud Gullit.

The club once again finished thirteenth in the league and lost the 1999 FA Cup Final. Gullit fell into disagreements with the squad and chairman Freddy Shepherd, and quit the club four games into the 1999–2000 season with the team bottom of the table to be replaced by Bobby Robson. The club managed to reach an FA Cup Semi-final and to stay in the Premier League.

A title challenge emerged during the 2001–02 season, and Newcastle's fourth-place finish saw them qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The following season, Robson guided the team to another title challenge and finished third in the League, and the second group stage of the Champions League, after being the first team to have progressed past the first group stage after losing their first three games. Newcastle finished fifth in the league at the end of the 2003–04 season, and exited the Champions League in the qualifying rounds, but despite this Robson was sacked in August 2004 following a series of disagreements with the club.

Graeme Souness was brought in to manage by the start of the 2004–05 season. In his time at the helm, he broke the club's transfer record by signing Michael Owen. Souness also took the Geordies to the quarterfinals of the 2005 UEFA Cup with Alan Shearer winning the tournament's golden boot as well. However, he was sacked in February 2006 after a bad start to the club's 2005–06 season. Glenn Roeder took over, initially on a temporary basis, before being appointed full-time manager at the end of the season. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06 season as the club's all-time record goal scorer, with 206 goals.

 

Sale, relegation and decline (2006–2010)

Despite finishing the 2005–06 season in seventh, Roeder's fortunes changed in the 2006–07 season, with a terrible injury run to the senior squad, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007. After the 2006–07 season, and inside the Premier League era, Newcastle United were now the fifth most successful Premiership club in terms of points gained.

Sam Allardyce was appointed Roeder's replacement as manager on 15 May 2007. On 7 June, Freddy Shepherd's final shares in the club were sold to Mike Ashley and Shepherd was replaced as chairman by Chris Mort on 25 July. Ashley then announced he would be delisting the club from the London Stock Exchange upon completion of the takeover. The club officially ceased trading on the Stock Exchange as of 8am on the 18 July 2007 at 5p a share.

Allardyce departed the club on in January 2008 by mutual consent after a bad start to the 2007–08 season, and Kevin Keegan was reappointed as Newcastle manager. Mort stepped down as chairman in June and was replaced by Derek Llambias, a long-term associate of Ashley. Newcastle finished the 2007–08 season in twelfth place, but as the season drew to a close, Keegan publicly criticised the board, stating they were not providing the team enough financial support.

In September 2008 Keegan resigned as manager, stating: "It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want". Former Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear was appointed as his replacement, but in February 2009, due to his heart surgery, Alan Shearer was appointed interim manager in his absence. Under Shearer, the club were relegated to the Football League Championship at the end of the 2008–09 season, the first time the club had left the Premier League since joining it in 1993.

Following their relegation, the club was put up for sale in June 2009, with an asking price of £100 million. Chris Hughton was given the manager job on a caretaker basis before taking over full-time on 27 October 2009. On the same day, Ashley announced that the club was no longer for sale.

 

Promotion and brief revival (2010–2016)

Hughton led Newcastle to win the 2009–10 Football League Championship, securing automatic promotion on 5 April 2010 with five games remaining, and securing the title on 19 April; Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League after just one season away.

Under Hughton, Newcastle enjoyed a strong start to the 2010–11 season, but he was sacked on 6 December 2010. The club's board stated that they felt "an individual with more managerial experience [was] needed to take the club forward." Three days later, Alan Pardew was appointed as manager with a five-and-a-half-year contract. Despite some turbulence, Newcastle were able to finish 12th at the end of the season, with one particular highlight being a 4–4 home draw against Arsenal that saw Newcastle come back from four goals down to claim a point.

The start of the 2011–12 season was very successful as they went on to enjoy one of their strongest openings to a season, playing 11 consecutive games unbeaten. Newcastle eventually secured a place in the 2012–13 Europa League with a fifth-place finish, their highest league position since the Bobby Robson days. Further honours were to come as Pardew won both the Premier League Manager of the Season and the LMA Manager of the Year awards.

In the following season Newcastle made few acquisitions in the summer and suffered injuries over the season. As a result, the first half of the season was marred by a run of ten losses in 13 games, which saw the club sink near the relegation zone. The Europa League campaign was largely successful with the team making the quarter-finals before bowing out to eventual finalists Benfica. Domestically, Newcastle struggled, and stayed up after a 2–1 victory over already-relegated Queens Park Rangers on the penultimate game of the season.

The 2014–15 season saw Newcastle fail to win any of their first seven games, prompting fans to start a campaign to get Pardew sacked as manager before an upturn in form saw them climb to fifth in the table. Pardew left for Crystal Palace in December. On 26 January 2015, his assistant John Carver was put in charge for the remainder of the season but came close to relegation, staying up on the final day with a 2–0 home win against West Ham, with Jonás Gutiérrez, who beat testicular cancer earlier in the season, scoring the team's second goal.

On 9 June 2015, Carver was sacked and replaced by Steve McClaren the following day. On 11 March 2016, McClaren was sacked after nine months as manager, with Newcastle in 19th place in the Premier League and the club having won just six of 28 Premier League games during his time at the club. He was replaced by Spaniard Rafael Benítez on the same day, who signed a three-year deal, but was not able to prevent the club from being relegated for the second time under Ashley's ownership.

 

Return to the Premier League (2016–present)

Newcastle returned to the Premier League at the first attempt, winning the Championship title on 7 May 2017 with a 3–0 win against Barnsley. On 16 October 2017, Mike Ashley put Newcastle United up for sale for a second time. The team finished the season with a 3–0 win over the previous year's champions Chelsea, finishing 10th in the league, their highest finish in four years. The following season saw a 13th-place finish, despite being in the relegation zone in January. As such Ashley came under increased scrutiny for his lack of investment in the squad and apparent focus on other business ventures. Benitez left his position on 30 June 2019 after rejecting a new contract.

On 17 July 2019, Steve Bruce was appointed as manager on a three-year contract.

Edited December 8, 2020 by stevemc

[stevemc]

The Players

First Team Squad

 

Under 23's

 

Under 18's

 

The Staff

Coaching Team

 

Medical Team

 

Recruitment Team

Edited December 8, 2020 by stevemc

[stevemc]

Why manage Newcastle United...?

 

Newcastle United are a club with a solid foundation that just need a good owner and some love to put them back amongst the big teams. With a rumoured takeover on the horizon, there is a very good chance you'll end up with a better owner than Mike Ashley and could end up with someone very rich...

Newcastle United have suffered in recent years due to their own back decision making, but the current board offer you £16.5m to start and a pretty decent squad, but they also have a club culture in place to not sign players over 28, and develop players using the clubs own academy. These might change under new owners.

With a bit of shrewd business, you can put Newcastle United in the top half and move from there, they have a quality striker in Wilson and a very good winger Allan Saint-Maximin. But, you'll have to start well because if new owners buy the club, you could be replaced...

Can you return Newcastle United to the top 4 and Champions League football?

Edited December 8, 2020 by stevemc

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am tempted to do a Youth Only Newcastle save at some point as they have only have a few prospects so it would make it a lot harder then other clubs.

[stevemc]

28 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I am tempted to do a Youth Only Newcastle save at some point as they have only have a few prospects so it would make it a lot harder then other clubs.

Yeah, Newcastle's youth coaching, recruitment and facilities needs some improving too...

Edited December 8, 2020 by stevemc

[NLH]

Has anyone else had their youth category dropped? Mine went from cat 1 to cat 3 end of season 1/ start of season 2. I've got the board to improve the youth facilities which should be done in Oct, recruitment network and junior coaching has been improved as well and i've filled the U18 coaching and I still can't ask the board to improve the youth cat

[thebigfella]

2 hours ago, NLH said:

Has anyone else had their youth category dropped? Mine went from cat 1 to cat 3 end of season 1/ start of season 2. I've got the board to improve the youth facilities which should be done in Oct, recruitment network and junior coaching has been improved as well and i've filled the U18 coaching and I still can't ask the board to improve the youth cat

Happens to me it says in the notification you get it’s because I didn’t have a certain staff. Pretty sure I did though. You need to have a head of youth development, under 18 physio and under 18 keeper coach  

[stevemc]

Who would be your must-have signings in the first window for Newcastle United then?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 minutes ago, stevemc said:

Who would be your must-have signings in the first window for Newcastle United then?

Matias Arezo would be top of my list. 

 

[NLH]

31 minutes ago, stevemc said:

Who would be your must-have signings in the first window for Newcastle United then?

Gagliardini (Inter) on loan, Anel Ahmedhodzic (Malmo FF)

GK - Silvino Louro, Fitness - Anthony Colbert, Att - James Beattie, Kevin Sheedy  Possession- Dennis Bergkamp

U23 Manager is Warren Joyce, U23 Assistant is Glynn Snodin

Edited December 8, 2020 by NLH
Added staff signings

[Poddy]

If you offer Darlow out at start of game for 23million over 48 months real madrid will come back and pay it 12 upfront and rest in installments.

Can get some decent money for lots of the deadwood at the club

[ronaldlye]

In my 1st season i signed: 

Joao Pedro: £18.5mil

Thiago Almada: £7.5mil

Jeremie Frimpong: £7.5mil 

Andreas Christensen (Jan window): £900k loan fee, made permanent for £21.5mil end of season 

Sold:

Christian Atsu to Stuttgart: £4mil 

Henri Saivet to Al Ain: £1.6mil

DeAndre Yedlin to Brighton: £5mil

Jacob Murphy to Swansea (loan): £875k loan fee

Joelington to Krasnador (loan): £2.6mil loan fee

Achraf Lazaar to Salernitana: £250k 

Emil Kraft to Burnley: £6.5mil

Matt Ritchie to Burnley: £5.25mil 

[Geordieboy52]

How's Elliot Anderson? Getting some exposure to 1st team training and nearing a debut.  Also, very excited about Bobby Clark, hearing very impressive things about him but I am not sure he'll feature until next year.

[ronaldlye]

Unfortunately, Elliot Anderson isn't great. At least not in game. Released him when his contract expired. Elias Sorensen turns out ok though. Not good enough for my team, which was challenging for a top 4. But good enough for a Championship/low-end Prem team. Sold him for 4.8mil to Preston. 

Bobby Clark isn't in the game.

[stevemc]

I started a Newcastle United save last night, I think it'll be a journeyman save, I don't think I'll stay with them long term, but we'll see.

I've just set up a couple of tactics, starting with a compact 4-1-4-1 then a 4-4-2-diamond and a 4-3-3-attacking if I need to chase games. Overhauled my coaching staff, Newcastle's staff are terrible at the start of the game so I've changed everything at all levels, including a new Assistant Manager and Head of Youth Development. I asked the board for more coaching staff too, and after intensive chats, they accepted.

I've made progress on starting to ship out 5-6 older players and replacing them with some younger, more talented players, I'm looking at investing in midfield heavily, plus 1-2 centre-backs as a priority - more to follow...

I'll post some screens later.

Joelinton on £80K p/w until 2025 really offends me though

Edited December 10, 2020 by stevemc

[melogroovy]

A lot of deadwood.  I clean house and start rebuilding the whole squad. I've started with a 3-4-3 first season but will shift to a 4-2-3-1for second season

Wilson and St Maximin will score like crazy.  The midfield needs some athleticism.  So does the central defense.  Need a good RWB or FB.  I like to keep Woodman for 2nd season behind Dubravka.

 

[stevemc]

Is there anyway you can see the date of when a Work Permit hearing is?

I've got a player pending a WP but it's been 5 weeks now and I've heard nothing.

[cris182]

1 hour ago, stevemc said:

Is there anyway you can see the date of when a Work Permit hearing is?

I've got a player pending a WP but it's been 5 weeks now and I've heard nothing.

Usually when you open the players profile it is at the top of his page where his value etc are, It should say work permit decision due x

Edited December 11, 2020 by cris182

[stevemc]

6 hours ago, cris182 said:

Usually when you open the players profile it is at the top of his page where his value etc are, It should say work permit decision due x

Yeah there's no date, there, reckon it's bugged out!

[Ajax_Barcelona_Cruyff]

Also playing as NUFC since beta released. Finished first season in 4th. Bought Adam Armstrong from Blackburn for 10M and played a 4-4-2 with him and Wilson both goal machines. Armstrong scored 38 goals and won Premier League top scorer and European golden boot. Wilson only a couple of goals behind. Besides those two, Longstaff bros, St Maximin, Lewis and Fraser worth hanging on to. Rest I am slowly replacing. E.g Tsygankov, Vanheusden, Syzsmanski, Hlozek, Aaron Hickey, Ryan Cassidy have joined in the summer. Oh and Ashley sold up to some Latvian new owner, but no massive cash injection. Very enjoyable save so far. 

[stevemc]

Newcastle United 2020/21 (Season 1 - Start):

Managed to get stuck into this save, as I say, I'm not sure if I'll stay with Newcastle United as I fancy hopping around Europe, but either way I thought they were a good club to start with the get the ball rolling, and fingers crossed for an interesting buy out

There were plenty in the squad that are just not my type of players so I've had somewhat of an overhaul, a lot of players in their late 20's/early 30's and just some very average players, so I've kept a core and added some younger talent that matches the club culture. All I will say is that Calum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin are very good!

So I spent £100m, but recouped £46.5m, you can adjust the budget once you cut some of the wages, specially if you can sell Joelinton (which I did, £6.25m back and £80,000p/w off the wages). Biggest sales were DeAndre Yedlin (£4.8m), Ciaran Clark (£5m), Christian Atsu (£4.8m), Federico Fernández (£4m), Henri Saivet (£2.4m), Emil Krafth (£5m), Paul Dummett (£3.6m), Achraf Lazaar (£15,000p/w off the wage bill), Isaac Hayden (£10m), Joelinton (£6.25m) and a loan for Jacob Murphy with option to buy. All in, that gives you some room to manoeuvre.

I opted to sign younger, talented players, some I've had before in previous saves and a couple that my newly employed staff recommended when they joined. So in came Thiago Almada (£8m), Patrick Berg (£3.5m), Manuel Ugarte (£1.5m), Ivan Saranic (£2.2m), Nicolò Armini (£4.1m), Nicolò Rovella (£1.5m), Max Normann Williamsen (£1.7m), Fredrik André Bjørkan (£4m), Kristoffer Ajer (£15m), Filip Uremovic (£4.7m), Silvan Widmer (£10m) and Dominik Livakovic (£10m). Not all of these are for now, some have been loaned out immediately.

I am short up front but Matías Arezo joins us in January.

That leaves us here:

 

I've got a couple of formations set as a base, starting with a compact 4-1-4-1 with two more expressive 4-4-2-diamond and a 4-3-3-attacking formations. We've made a good start to the season, 4th on 9 points after four games, with our defeat coming at Elland Road against 4td placed Leeds United; we were 0-1 up when Jamaal Lascelles gave a penalty away with an accompanying red-card which Mateusz Klich converted and instantly added a second. Our wins came against West Ham United (H) 3-0, Burnley (A) 1-4 and Crystal Palace (H) 1-0.

 

We are out of the Carabao Cup, after beating Barnsley (A) and Crystal Palace (H) we lost away at Crewe on penalties after I probably made far too many changes and played too many youngsters. We have a tricky run coming up now though in October with games against Tottenham, Manchester City, Wolves, Leicester City and Liverpool. Wish me luck

 

Quote

 

Squad for the 2020/21 season:

GK: Dominik Livakovic, Karl Darlow (HG), Martin Dubravka

RB: Silvan Widmer, Javi Manquillo

LB: Jamal Lewis (HG), Fredrik André Bjørkan

CB: Jamaal Lascelles (HG), Kristoffer Ajer, Nicolò Armini, Filip Uremovic

DM: Manuel Ugarte, Matty Longstaff (HG), Nicolò Rovella

CM: Jonjo Shelvey (HG), Patrick Berg, Thiago Almada, Sean Longstaff (HG), Jeff Hendrick (HG)

LM: Miguel Almirón, Matt Ritchie (HG)

RM: Allan Saint-Maximin, Ryan Fraser

FW: Callum Wilson (HG), Andy Carroll (HG), Yannick Touré, Dwight Gayle (HG)

Still looking to sell; Martin Dubravka, Fabian Schär, Matt Ritchie, Jeff Hendrick, Dwight Gayle, Rolando Aarons.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2020 by stevemc

[stevemc]

EDIT, on a side note, my pictures are not displaying from Imgur.com anymore, they just sit like this below (I want them to just show the picture), has something changed?

https://imgur.com/wp4bmKV

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="wp4bmKV"><a href="https://imgur.com/wp4bmKV">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://imgur.com/wp4bmKV

[img]https://i.imgur.com/wp4bmKV.jpg[/img]

[Imgur](https://imgur.com/wp4bmKV)

[url=https://ibb.co/k9Z7spb][img]https://i.ibb.co/xfZkty9/black-k.png[/img][/url]

[url=https://ibb.co/k9Z7spb][img]https://i.ibb.co/k9Z7spb/black-k.png[/img][/url]

 

Edited December 13, 2020 by stevemc

[Ryan377]

Who have people replaced Wilson with going into season 3 and 4?

He’s got 30+ for me in the first 2 seasons, dreading trying to replace that in the next couple of years. 

[upthetoon]

What formation are people playing? Anyone who disabled the first transfer window and got success? 

[Geordieboy52]

On 08/12/2020 at 21:37, Poddy said:

If you offer Darlow out at start of game for 23million over 48 months real madrid will come back and pay it 12 upfront and rest in installments.

Can get some decent money for lots of the deadwood at the club

I thought you were taking the **** here. Just offered him out for value and Real have come in and paid £12m.

[Geordieboy52]

11 hours ago, upthetoon said:

What formation are people playing? Anyone who disabled the first transfer window and got success? 

I'm playing:

 

4/2/3/1

 

Dubravka

Manquillo

Schar

Lascelles

Lewis

Shelvey (DLP)

Hayden (BWM)

ASM (IW) on right

Miggy (AP) in middle

Fraser (IW) on left.

Wilson (AF)

 

I have managed to get rid of a hell of a lot of dead weight - anyone noticed a bug with transfer history not showing up?

 

[upthetoon]

5 minutes ago, Geordieboy52 said:

I thought you were taking the **** here. Just offered him out for value and Real have come in and paid £12m.

darlow??? Real Madrid?? taking the mickey here?

[Geordieboy52]

3 minutes ago, upthetoon said:

darlow??? Real Madrid?? taking the mickey here?

Edited December 13, 2020 by Geordieboy52

[Geordieboy52]

18 hours ago, Ryan377 said:

Who have people replaced Wilson with going into season 3 and 4?

He’s got 30+ for me in the first 2 seasons, dreading trying to replace that in the next couple of years. 

He's an animal 7 in 5 for me.  Just hit 4 v Arsenal at home.

[cris182]

41 minutes ago, Geordieboy52 said:

I thought you were taking the **** here. Just offered him out for value and Real have come in and paid £12m.

They offered me 12m, I put another 11 as additional and they paid that 

[Geordieboy52]

Just now, cris182 said:

They offered me 12m, I put another 11 as additional and they paid that 

I just offered out for value - I wish I'd have the confidence to go for £23m - that's nuts.

[Poddy]

Yeah as I said lads £23m for Darlow. Can get £20m for frazer (I dont like his wages for a backup). Some good prices if you offer initially over 3 years then negotiate

[stevemc]

I tried offering Darlow out but no one wanted him, not even Real Madrid

[Geordieboy52]

5 hours ago, Poddy said:

Yeah as I said lads £23m for Darlow. Can get £20m for frazer (I dont like his wages for a backup). Some good prices if you offer initially over 3 years then negotiate

Fraser has been excellent for me (if a little injury prone), accepted £40m from Wolves but he rejected - even with a wage hike

[Geordieboy52]

Geez, Wilson is an absolute machine.  Here's his start to 2nd season!! Granted I've not really played anyone but still...

[stevemc]

Newcastle United 2020/21 (Season 1 - Mid-season):

Turns out we are having a very good season  Certainly over achieving, but most of the new players have settled in nicely, we are 2nd although it's very tight up there but it's basically down to Callum Wilson banging in 26 goals so far!

 

You can see here how insane Wilson is performing...

 

We had a really tough January though, a takeover was going through so we were placed under embargo in mid-December, this dragged on until around 20th January when Mike Ashley pulled the plug, leaves us just a week to get some business done. The deal for Matías Arezo was cancelled, not sure if that was because of the transfer embargo, or the new work permit rules that came in on January 1st but it left us short up top.

I made a few sales/loans to raise £16m, just enough to tie up a deal for Brazilian wonderkid Brenner, only for the deal to collapse at the last minute when the board wouldn't allow me to adjust the budget by £500,000. On deadline day, I went in for Victor Fischer but we ran out of time to complete the deal. So a total nightmare January.

I did manage to bring back club legend Les Ferdinand though as Director of Football

 

Our terrible domestic cup form continued with Mark Hughes’s Bristol City dumping us out with a 94th minute winner, although they should have won more comfortably.

 

I'm still hoping for a buy out before the summer, so I can see the back of Mike Ashley, although to be fair to him, he's put some money up to upgrade the clubs youth and training facilities, but as it stands they love me...

 

Quote

 

Squad for the 2020/21 season:

GK: Dominik Livakovic, Karl Darlow (HG), Martin Dubravka

RB: Silvan Widmer, Javi Manquillo

LB: Jamal Lewis (HG), Fredrik André Bjørkan

CB: Jamaal Lascelles (HG), Kristoffer Ajer, Nicolò Armini, Filip Uremovic

DM: Manuel Ugarte, Matty Longstaff (HG), Nicolò Rovella

CM: Jonjo Shelvey (HG), Patrick Berg, Thiago Almada, Sean Longstaff (HG)

LM: Miguel Almirón, Matt Ritchie (HG)

RM: Allan Saint-Maximin, Ryan Fraser

FW: Callum Wilson (HG), Andy Carroll (HG), Yannick Touré

Still looking to sell; Martin Dubravka, Matt Ritchie.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by stevemc

[Geordieboy52]

My 'reward' for massively over-achieving

Edited December 16, 2020 by Geordieboy52

[stevemc]

Good luck 

[Geordieboy52]

Did ok tbh won one and drew a couple at home but finished bottom. Finished 3rd again but finding strengthening difficult, big teams are hoovering up talent. Made it to December 2023 and my game crashed so will have to start the season again. 

[Geordieboy52]

Something that totally reflects real life is that lack of interest England managers have in NUFC players.  Callum wilson has 164 goals in 192 games from me. In this time Tammy Abraham has scored 52, Harry Kane has 70, Marcus Rashford has 77 and Mason Greenwood has 73.  Callum Wilson has had 1 cap since the game began (I am in December 2024) he has been an unused sub for the last 20 England games!

Edited December 20, 2020 by Geordieboy52

[KevinBosei]

Poddy

On 08/12/2020 at 22:37, Poddy said:

If you offer Darlow out at start of game for 23million over 48 months real madrid will come back and pay it 12 upfront and rest in installments.

Can get some decent money for lots of the deadwood at the club

How do you offer players to other clubs over 48 months? Would love to get 23 million for Darlow.

[Poddy]

Sorry maybe its 36 this version - but the max possible and then they come back after!

[thebigfella]

also think this was fixed in the last patch doesn't work now

 

[Gungner]

On 12/12/2020 at 10:46, stevemc said:

Newcastle United 2020/21 (Season 1 - Start):

Managed to get stuck into this save, as I say, I'm not sure if I'll stay with Newcastle United as I fancy hopping around Europe, but either way I thought they were a good club to start with the get the ball rolling, and fingers crossed for an interesting buy out

There were plenty in the squad that are just not my type of players so I've had somewhat of an overhaul, a lot of players in their late 20's/early 30's and just some very average players, so I've kept a core and added some younger talent that matches the club culture. All I will say is that Calum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin are very good!

So I spent £100m, but recouped £46.5m, you can adjust the budget once you cut some of the wages, specially if you can sell Joelinton (which I did, £6.25m back and £80,000p/w off the wages). Biggest sales were DeAndre Yedlin (£4.8m), Ciaran Clark (£5m), Christian Atsu (£4.8m), Federico Fernández (£4m), Henri Saivet (£2.4m), Emil Krafth (£5m), Paul Dummett (£3.6m), Achraf Lazaar (£15,000p/w off the wage bill), Isaac Hayden (£10m), Joelinton (£6.25m) and a loan for Jacob Murphy with option to buy. All in, that gives you some room to manoeuvre.

I opted to sign younger, talented players, some I've had before in previous saves and a couple that my newly employed staff recommended when they joined. So in came Thiago Almada (£8m), Patrick Berg (£3.5m), Manuel Ugarte (£1.5m), Ivan Saranic (£2.2m), Nicolò Armini (£4.1m), Nicolò Rovella (£1.5m), Max Normann Williamsen (£1.7m), Fredrik André Bjørkan (£4m), Kristoffer Ajer (£15m), Filip Uremovic (£4.7m), Silvan Widmer (£10m) and Dominik Livakovic (£10m). Not all of these are for now, some have been loaned out immediately.

I am short up front but Matías Arezo joins us in January.

That leaves us here:

 

I've got a couple of formations set as a base, starting with a compact 4-1-4-1 with two more expressive 4-4-2-diamond and a 4-3-3-attacking formations. We've made a good start to the season, 4th on 9 points after four games, with our defeat coming at Elland Road against 4td placed Leeds United; we were 0-1 up when Jamaal Lascelles gave a penalty away with an accompanying red-card which Mateusz Klich converted and instantly added a second. Our wins came against West Ham United (H) 3-0, Burnley (A) 1-4 and Crystal Palace (H) 1-0.

 

We are out of the Carabao Cup, after beating Barnsley (A) and Crystal Palace (H) we lost away at Crewe on penalties after I probably made far too many changes and played too many youngsters. We have a tricky run coming up now though in October with games against Tottenham, Manchester City, Wolves, Leicester City and Liverpool. Wish me luck

 

 

I'm guessing you buy by using installments right? Otherwise I can't add it up 😁

Also, how can you pay wages to all those guys? Not accusing you of anything, I'm just curious 😊

Edited January 11, 2021 by Gungner

[stevemc]

14 hours ago, Gungner said:

I'm guessing you buy by using installments right? Otherwise I can't add it up 😁

Also, how can you pay wages to all those guys? Not accusing you of anything, I'm just curious 😊

Only one player on instalments - Ajer.

Newcastle United have a lot of average players on £40-50K p/w, plus Joelinton on a daft wage, you shift them, you get plenty of room to adjust the budget - the players I bought were on much lower wages 

[Nerobianchi]

EPL teams in general can afford big wage bills

 

[MrSundlofer]

On 13/12/2020 at 19:52, stevemc said:

I tried offering Darlow out but no one wanted him, not even Real Madrid

I offered Karl Darlow to Real Madrid for a very high fee. They came back with a £9M bid. I negotiated and asked for £14M + £8M in instalments (24 months) and they accepted it!

[kevside]

I managed to get Wilson the European Golden Shoe in my first season.

Southgate still didn't pick him for England lol.

[cris182]

On 30/01/2021 at 16:32, kevside said:

I managed to get Wilson the European Golden Shoe in my first season.

Southgate still didn't pick him for England lol.

Like real life Southgate doesn't travel too far north