[FM22] Newcastle United F.C - Richest club in the world

[Ncfc_king]

Newcastle United Football Club

 

 

 Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club which is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End. The team plays its home matches at St James' Park in the centre of Newcastle.

The club has been a member of the Premier League for all but three years of the competition's history, spending 89 seasons in the top flight as of May 2021, and have never dropped below English football's second tier since joining the Football League in 1893. Newcastle have won four League titles, Six FA Cups and a FA Charity Shield, as well as the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, the ninth highest total of trophies won by an English club. The club's most successful period was between 1904 and 1910, when they won an FA Cup and three of their League titles. Their last major trophy was in 1955 and more recently the club have been League or FA cup runner-upson four occasions in the 1990s. Newcastle were relegated in 2009, and again in 2016. The club won promotion at the first time of asking each time, returning to the Premier League, as Championship winners, in 2010 and 2017

The club was owned by Mike Ashley from 2007 until 2021, who succeeded long-term chairman Sir John Hall. The club is the 17th-highest revenue producing club in the world in terms of annual revenue, generating €169.3 million in 2015. Newcastle's highest placing was in 1999, when they were the fifth-highest revenue producing football club in the world, and second in England only behind Manchester United. On 7 October 2021, the club was bought for £300 million by a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian government's sovereign wealth fund. The purchase made Newcastle the richest club in the Premier League

Amanda Staveley- "We are in the market to compete for world-class players but to get to the top of the Premier League you need strong foundations, not just great players.

They need to be rebust and we need to build them"

Stadium: St. James' Park

Capacity: 52,404

Training Facilities: Average

Youth Facilities: Average

Youth Recruitment: Adequate

Finances: Rich

Transfer Budget: £200m

Wage Budget: £2m

Available Wage Budget: £600k

 

This is more than buying 11 star players and winning everything in a couple of years, can you build a dynasty from the bottom to the top and make Newcastle United Football Club the biggest club in the world? You have the backing from the owners, the rest is up to you.....

Edited November 4, 2021 by Ncfc_king

[duff33]

Started an NUFC save; major rejig of the squad (naturally), just trying to smooth out my tactics now - finding goals hard to come by presently. But it's early, cohesion is still low etc. (Plus it's a new FM, so there's normally a few subtle changes that need to be gotten used to.)

[thebigfella]

Started as save but changed the start date to the Scottish start date so I had extra time to sort transfers and staff. Arranged more friendlies as well to get the team playing together quicker. Mbabu, Lodi, Marcus Edwards’s and fakir have been my best players so far. Spent all my cash then used some loads to get Martinez from Ajax and damsgaurd both have been brilliant. Currently 10 games in and in 3rd.

[Ncfc_king]

I'm trying to decide if i want to spend all the money on 7-10 top players but have a massive squad or buy 2 or 3 players and get a top half finish and build slowly. 

 

I have tried to upgrade training and youth facilities but that request has been rejected so far.

 

[jlawlor91]

First season I signed the following:

Zakaria - £8.5m

Lacroix - £26m

Lodi - £26m

Mbabu - £10m

Isak - £45m

Raphinha - £43m

Fekir - £42m

Merino - £38.5m

Sule - £16m

Almada - £9m

Finished 3rd & got to the semis of the FA Cup before losing to Man United on pens.

Looking at signing Gravenberch, Gvardiol, Reyna, Vlahovic & Damsgaard in the summer.

I’m in desperate need for a new GK, any ideas? I’m not going for the Belgian wonderkid purposely.

[shoonaldo]

2 hours ago, jlawlor91 said:

First season I signed the following:

Zakaria - £8.5m

Lacroix - £26m

Lodi - £26m

Mbabu - £10m

Isak - £45m

Raphinha - £43m

Fekir - £42m

Merino - £38.5m

Sule - £16m

Almada - £9m

Finished 3rd & got to the semis of the FA Cup before losing to Man United on pens.

Looking at signing Gravenberch, Gvardiol, Reyna, Vlahovic & Damsgaard in the summer.

I’m in desperate need for a new GK, any ideas? I’m not going for the Belgian wonderkid purposely.

What about the Bilbao keeper? Simon?

[Tullekunstner]

Quite pleased with my first season. Switching to a 5-2-1-2 for next season and has also used it sporadically this season. Bought Nianzou and Aude in january, the rest was bought during the summer window. Currently looking to sell some wingers and get a dedicated AMC. Has a couple of other wants as well, but that would be my number 1 priority.

 

 

Current first XI for next season:

[Tullekunstner]

Going to start my second season at home against Man Utd and follow it up with an away game against City.. Gonna be a tough start, but really happy with the squad I've put together.

After failing to move on a lot of players in the first transfer window, it's been a bit better this time around:

Murphy (£4.5m), S.Longstaff (10m), Almiron (30m), Lewis (22.5m), Darlow (loan), Fraser (15.25m), Schär (free), Joelinton (4.7m), Shelvey (2.8m) and Hendrick (7.5k lol) all moving on. Good to be rid of most of my wingers as I'm no longer playing with any. Hopefully someone comes in for the other Longstaff. I'd like to move on ASM as well as he doesn't fit my tactics, but I'll use him as a backup AM/ST if not.

New incomings:

Kondogbia (1.1m), Javi Galan (43m), Gianluca Mancini (30m), Esposito (11m), Musiala (75m) and Dest (27.5m).

Didn't really need a Kondogbia type player, but it was too good of a deal to turn down. Will probably flip for a profit next season as I want a DLP there, preferably one who can take set-pieces (open for suggestions here).

Current first and second XI:

[City1904]

Just starting my first save with Newcastle. 

No real aims or ambitions for the first season, focusing on building the squad out first and see how things end up as it's going to be a busy transfer window. First of all looking at bring 4 new coaches in, 5 new scouts and a Director of Football. 

The long term aim of the save is to build that attacking brand of football that Keegan played. Completely Gung Ho. However, I won't do this from Day 1 the aim is to be practical and aim to have that in place for season 3. 

The system is still up for debate but I definately want to play with wingers. Mainly as Newcastle had some brilliant attacking wingers down the years and I want to keep that tradition. 

I am also keen to keep both Longstaffs long term to help with the Homegrown quotes and to maintain some local lads.

First two signings are looking like they might be Declan Rice and Yves Bissouma, both long term buys, know the league. Provide lots of energy, work rate and allow the attacking players not to have worry too much about defensive duties. 

[Mr_Demus]

Just started a save to have some fun.

So far I have bought Kieran Trippier, Niklas Süle, Dan Axel Zagadou, Kalvin Phillips, Marcus Edwards and Geoffrey Kondogbia. Looking to sign another CM and a ST at least.

[BlackEnd]

12 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

Just started a save to have some fun.

So far I have bought Kieran Trippier, Niklas Süle, Dan Axel Zagadou, Kalvin Phillips, Marcus Edwards and Geoffrey Kondogbia. Looking to sign another CM and a ST at least.

For ST, I kept Callum Wilson and brought in Gabriel Barbosa from FLA. He's pretty solid and has scored well. Sekou Mara is also a potential signing but probably not direct to league matches in the first season. For CM I brought in Matias Vecino who was transfer listed and I got him for a bargain price of 3.5m. Vecino has been an absolute beast. Backup to Vecino is Dani Ceballos who was also transfer listed and bought for a steal price of 325k. Ceballos is now valued at 25m after 10 appearances for me in the premium league.

Barbosa cost me 33m and Sekou cost me 6.5m.

Edited November 8, 2021 by BlackEnd

[Mr_Demus]

1 hour ago, BlackEnd said:

For ST, I kept Callum Wilson and brought in Gabriel Barbosa from FLA. He's pretty solid and has scored well. Sekou Mara is also a potential signing but probably not direct to league matches in the first season. For CM I brought in Matias Vecino who was transfer listed and I got him for a bargain price of 3.5m. Vecino has been an absolute beast. Backup to Vecino is Dani Ceballos who was also transfer listed and bought for a steal price of 325k. Ceballos is now valued at 25m after 10 appearances for me in the premium league.

Barbosa cost me 33m and Sekou cost me 6.5m.

I have actually made a bid for Vecino. Ceballos wanted too much in wages for my taste, so I withdrew. 

I also want to keep Wilson, but I need another capable striker.

[BlackEnd]

27 minutes ago, Mr_Demus said:

I have actually made a bid for Vecino. Ceballos wanted too much in wages for my taste, so I withdrew. 

I also want to keep Wilson, but I need another capable striker.

Just started my second season and I got Belotti for 720k hahahah, he did want a lot of wages but thats fine, I have the money to throw around.

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

Now that the full game is out, starting a save with Newcastle for about 3 years to get used to everything. I’m enjoying building the team in my image. Currently in the process of adding Dest and Reguilon as full-backs. However, I’m struggling to find two solid center-backs that are interested in coming during the first window. Any recommendations? Any price range is fine 

[Lewis007]

I think there are a few CBs who are willing to join Newcastle in the first window; Sule, Kounde, Mancini and Milenkovic to name but a few who are top class.

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

42 minutes ago, Lewis007 said:

I think there are a few CBs who are willing to join Newcastle in the first window; Sule, Kounde, Mancini and Milenkovic to name but a few who are top class.

Thanks! Kounde is not interested at the moment, but maybe I’ll try later in the window. Looking at Sule too. Pairing him with Milenkovic would be nice. 

[Fubz]

4 hours ago, Come_On_You_Spurs said:

Now that the full game is out, starting a save with Newcastle for about 3 years to get used to everything. I’m enjoying building the team in my image. Currently in the process of adding Dest and Reguilon as full-backs. However, I’m struggling to find two solid center-backs that are interested in coming during the first window. Any recommendations? Any price range is fine 

Moussa Niakhate from Mainz, tall, strong left footed CB that costs around 8-10m, ideal signing in 1st window. Also, you can pick up Chris Mepham for around the same price from Bournemouth and is willing to join as a squad player (and is HG!). 

[kenmfssrox]

On 07/11/2021 at 22:51, Tullekunstner said:

Going to start my second season at home against Man Utd and follow it up with an away game against City.. Gonna be a tough start, but really happy with the squad I've put together.

After failing to move on a lot of players in the first transfer window, it's been a bit better this time around:

Murphy (£4.5m), S.Longstaff (10m), Almiron (30m), Lewis (22.5m), Darlow (loan), Fraser (15.25m), Schär (free), Joelinton (4.7m), Shelvey (2.8m) and Hendrick (7.5k lol) all moving on. Good to be rid of most of my wingers as I'm no longer playing with any. Hopefully someone comes in for the other Longstaff. I'd like to move on ASM as well as he doesn't fit my tactics, but I'll use him as a backup AM/ST if not.

New incomings:

Kondogbia (1.1m), Javi Galan (43m), Gianluca Mancini (30m), Esposito (11m), Musiala (75m) and Dest (27.5m).

Didn't really need a Kondogbia type player, but it was too good of a deal to turn down. Will probably flip for a profit next season as I want a DLP there, preferably one who can take set-pieces (open for suggestions here).

 

That's a little low for me. I played S.Longstaff in the first team regularly in my first season and managed to offload him for 35m at the end of the season. Fraser for 31m as well. Norwich stayed up and threw 15m at Shelvey too who I sent out on loan during the first season.

At the end of the first, buy Yusuf Demir before Barcelona can activate his clause, you can get him at 7.5m-8.5m which is a steal. You will be able to launch a bid a few weeks into EPL transfer window and Barcelona wouldnt have the money to activate his clause yet (:

Also during the first season, if you can wait 'till Jan to buy Sule, you can get him at 10-12m only but still a great first window signing. I spent most of my budget (79m) in the first season on Ruben Neves and best buy for me during first season definitely had to be Isak (45m), finished top goal scorer in the league. Adarabioyo from Fulham is also worth looking at, got him less than 20m first season and sold him  to Inter for 30m end of season.

[BlackEnd]

14 hours ago, Come_On_You_Spurs said:

Now that the full game is out, starting a save with Newcastle for about 3 years to get used to everything. I’m enjoying building the team in my image. Currently in the process of adding Dest and Reguilon as full-backs. However, I’m struggling to find two solid center-backs that are interested in coming during the first window. Any recommendations? Any price range is fine 

I went with Sule and Lacroix and its been working out good.

 

In other news, Gabriel Barbarosa in second season wants to move to a team that can win the Premier Division....sigh. Arsenal might buy him from me for 80m maybe.

[jlawlor91]

On 06/11/2021 at 13:25, shoonaldo said:

What about the Bilbao keeper? Simon?

I signed Sam Johnstone on a free and I’m sticking with Dubravka in the second season.

[mikenevo]

On 06/11/2021 at 13:25, shoonaldo said:

What about the Bilbao keeper? Simon?

He's far from worth the price it costs, even if we are Newcastle  

[BlackEnd]

1 hour ago, mikenevo said:

He's far from worth the price it costs, even if we are Newcastle  

Yeah, his asking price is 125m on my save. I'd rather let Woodman keep

[kenmfssrox]

On 06/11/2021 at 21:25, shoonaldo said:

What about the Bilbao keeper? Simon?

Get Onana, suspended 'till Nov so you can get him dirt cheap, top top class keeper.

[ernemann]

1 hour ago, kenmfssrox said:

Get Onana, suspended 'till Nov so you can get him dirt cheap, top top class keeper.

Get Wuilker Farinez at french side RC Lens. He is always a strong choice I tihink and pretty cheap otherwise the Genk keeper I think is great again this year

[Ajax_Barcelona_Cruyff]

At GK, I signed Dominik Livaković for £10M from Dinamo Zagreb after he was rated A+ by my scouts

Edited November 10, 2021 by Ajax_Barcelona_Cruyff

[Stevenleharve]

I started a save with Newcastle once the full game released so I can have some fun while learning what's new etc. It's going much better than I expected so far.

Transfers:

Tactics:

League Table:

 

[123_efc]

I've had a bash with Newcastle.

Transfers in season 1:

Raphina - £33.5m, Oscar (Sevilla) - £19.5m, Calvert-Lewin - £69m, Amiri - £12m, Renan Lodi - £18.5m, Senesi - £10.75, Laimer - £12.5m, Matheus Nunes - £34m, Kessie - £26.5m, Fati - £38m, Bjorkan - Free (Jan)

Sold pretty much anyone I could and got and got £75m. Started the season badly and only ended up 9th.

 

Transfers in season 2:

Angelino - £38m, Rasmus Kristensen - £8m, Inacio - £38.5m, Kulusevski - £59m, Belotti - free, Akanji - £17.75m, Gavi - £11.5m, Onana £27m, Gilmour - £3.7m.

Out: 

Renan Lodi (he was terrible for me) - £26m, Raphina (min fee release clause met) - £45.5m

Belotti got unhappy very quickly and I managed to get £57m out of Arsenal for him and then replaced him with Adeyemi for £15m.

 

Currently sat 4th at the start of Feb second season

[CKMK32]

Decided to start with Newcastle as my first save on the full release. I haven’t went crazy in the first window. I don’t want to rip the team apart straight away and sign 8/9 starting players so I identified what I wanted and brought in the quality required for my goal of finishing in the top half and reaching at least the semi finals of either the Carabao Cup or FA Cup.

I’ve sold two players so far - Matt Ritchie and Javi Manquillo. I’m also trying to move on the two back up goalkeepers Darlow and Gillespie.

I brought in Kieran Trippier, Bukayo Saka, John McGinn, Patrick Berg and Dominick Livakovic for a combined total of £150m. 

We won the first league game away to Norwich 4-2. Callum Wilson scored twice, backing up my decision to have him remain my key forward. I may regret this as the depth in this area isn’t great but I’m confident he can score enough goals to help us achieve our objectives.

Tactically I am going for a cautious approach using a 4-3-3 based on a low block, with a high tempo, direct counter attack to utilise the pace of Saint-Maximin and Saka. Two goals from set pieces against Norwich indicate that corners will be a vital part of how we play this season.  

 

 

 

[Ncfc_king]

I have restarted a save since the full game started and went a completely different way from my beta save. In my beta save I went all out and tried to change everything in the first window and it took ages to get going but I decided to keep majority of the team this time round and add a few players for the future and a little toughness in midfield. 

 

Yari Verschaeren (£4 million) went back on loan to Anderlecht for the season

Cole Palmer (£10 million)

Nemanja Matic (£4 million) wanted a winner who would bring some experience to the team

Charlie McNeill (£2.5 million) in the under 23s team

Hannibal (£24 million)

Abdou Diallo (£4 million)

Brennan Johnson (£4 million) in the under 23s team and looking to loan out

 

Sitting 9th in the league after playing most of the big boys and into the 4th round of the Carabao cup and I'm happy with some of the kids getting alot of minutes. I also seem to be getting some good performances from Joelinton upfront when Wilson was out injured  

[Dustman2015]

14 hours ago, Ncfc_king said:

I have restarted a save since the full game started and went a completely different way from my beta save. In my beta save I went all out and tried to change everything in the first window and it took ages to get going but I decided to keep majority of the team this time round and add a few players for the future and a little toughness in midfield. 

 

Yari Verschaeren (£4 million) went back on loan to Anderlecht for the season

Cole Palmer (£10 million)

Nemanja Matic (£4 million) wanted a winner who would bring some experience to the team

Charlie McNeill (£2.5 million) in the under 23s team

Hannibal (£24 million)

Abdou Diallo (£4 million)

Brennan Johnson (£4 million) in the under 23s team and looking to loan out

 

Sitting 9th in the league after playing most of the big boys and into the 4th round of the Carabao cup and I'm happy with some of the kids getting alot of minutes. I also seem to be getting some good performances from Joelinton upfront when Wilson was out injured  

The Joelinton piece surprises me. 
 

which kids are you playing vs playing the players still at the club?

[Ncfc_king]

6 hours ago, Dustman2015 said:

The Joelinton piece surprises me. 
 

which kids are you playing vs playing the players still at the club?

It surprised me as well, these are his figures for the first season, and he only started 11 games. 

Joelinton- Apps (26) Goals (8) Assists (4) POM (2) AV R (7.01) 

 

The 2 youngsters mainly used with Hannibal and Cole Palmer and both playing regular and getting decent numbers. 

Palmer- Apps (36) Goals (9) Assists (5) POM (2) AV R (6.91)

Hannibal- Apps (26) Goals (4) Assists (5) POM (0) AV R (6.90) 

 

[Ncfc_king]

I have just started my second season, and in my first year i managed to finish 6th in the league. 

 

I decided to throw a little money around in January because a few players started to moan and they got moved on. 

January 2022

Sam Johnstone (£3.8 million) 2nd choice keeper

James Tarkowski( £2.2 million) I needed cover after Schar and Clark moved on

Maxence Lacroix (£17 million) 

Clinton Mola (£2.5 million) sent back to Stuttgart on loan for the rest of the season

Denis Zakaria (£5.5 million)

Kieran Trippier (£10 million)

Grady Diangana (£12 million)

Konrad Laimer (£17.25 million)

 

Lacroix and Diallo combination at CB will cover me in that position for a few years and they were a massive reason why we were able to grab 6th position.  

 

Summer 2022 transfers

Manu Trigueros (£5.25 million)

Renan Lodl (£20 million)

Dusan Vlahovic (£45 million)

Charles De Ketelaere (£30 million) sent back on loan for a season because my tactics don't suit him yet

Dani Olmo (£69 million) 

 

[Billy0810]

Just finished January in my first season, currently 12th in the League- Im not really too bothered where we finish this season. Going to try some different tactics for rest of season and try and find one that works. 
 

Made some signings in January, hoping alves and zlatan will be good leaders with their experience. Tried not to make loads of common signings just to make it interesting( Couldn’t resist Mbabu with HG status)

Looking ahead to season 2, I’ve got Onana (gk) and belotti joining for free. Still looking for a left back, 2 Centre Mids, winger and a young striker to develop. If anyone’s got any suggestions they’ll be much appreciated

[Rysen]

2 hours ago, Billy0810 said:

Just finished January in my first season, currently 12th in the League- Im not really too bothered where we finish this season. Going to try some different tactics for rest of season and try and find one that works. 
 

Made some signings in January, hoping alves and zlatan will be good leaders with their experience. Tried not to make loads of common signings just to make it interesting( Couldn’t resist Mbabu with HG status)

Looking ahead to season 2, I’ve got Onana (gk) and belotti joining for free. Still looking for a left back, 2 Centre Mids, winger and a young striker to develop. If anyone’s got any suggestions they’ll be much appreciated

I've just started my 2nd season and picked up Tyrell Malacia as a LWB and he's done decent for me so far. Benjamin Sesko also joined as an option up front and looks amazing for an 18 year old. Other ins for me:

Season 1:

Vlahovic, Kondogbia, Bennacer, Ginter (January), Dest, Lisandro Martinez, Callum Chambers

Season 2:

Oumar Solet, Stephen Eustaquio (free), Bright Arrey-Mbi (free), Onana (as well as Malacia and Sesko)

So basically raid RB Salzburg 

[Tullekunstner]

So my season 2 started terribly, with only 2 victories in the first 10 premier league games. My hopes of repeating my first seasons feat of finishing third was pretty much squashed right there.

 

Started tinkering with my tactics, but was determined to keep it a back 3/5 without wingers and managed to perform a little bit better until finally everything clicked. Currently on a 23 match unbeaten run in all competitons, won the Carabao Cup, are through the first knockout round in CL and are coming up against City in the FA Cup fifth round (will rotate my whole squad for that, so I'll probably lose). My hopes of finishing third again are still pretty much dead, but I'm actually just starting to believe I can achieve a CL-spot again.

 

All of my summer transfers are posted further up, for january I had Moukoko (£45m) coming in which means my forward line are absolutely stacked and someone (Wilson) needs to leave.

Other than that,  I had three players coming in on deadline day:

Livakovic (12.5m), Gavi (56m) and Gonzalo Arce (18yo regen, CB, £5m)

Outgoing:

M. Longstaff (1.3m), Dummett (loan), Dubravka (5.5m)

 

Current tactics and squad, sometimes using a AP(s) for Musiala or Gavi in the MCL-slot:

[Ivan787]

Just a stupid question: if I disable the first transfer window, I will have the full budget in January?

[123_efc]

Just finished my second season, finished 2nd in the league (a good 14 points behind City) and won the FA Cup. Already got a deal wrapped up for Bellingham. Looking at a rb (Livramento my first choice) and cb to have a pop at the title next season.

[DominicForza]

On 08/11/2021 at 00:48, BlackEnd said:

For ST, I kept Callum Wilson and brought in Gabriel Barbosa from FLA. He's pretty solid and has scored well. Sekou Mara is also a potential signing but probably not direct to league matches in the first season. For CM I brought in Matias Vecino who was transfer listed and I got him for a bargain price of 3.5m. Vecino has been an absolute beast. Backup to Vecino is Dani Ceballos who was also transfer listed and bought for a steal price of 325k. Ceballos is now valued at 25m after 10 appearances for me in the premium league.

Barbosa cost me 33m and Sekou cost me 6.5m.

Ooooh, Sule and Lacroix!  Nice.  I'm drooling over that combo, esepcially cuz I think both are fantastic IRL.  Way to build from the back.   

 

I like how you have a good mix of some big money, talent (Neres, Gabigol, etc) and some real quality value (Vecino, Ceballos).

 

But for me, Sule and Lacroix alone are just top work.   How have they worked out for you?

 

What about Dest and Pedraza?   

[thebigfella]

Everyone seems to be going for sule and kanoute I went with ginter and luiz Filipe working well so far. Dele as mezalla 👌🏻 

[City1904]

Well my first season has been a real mixed bag after the expected busy summer transfer window.

 

I brought in:

 

Jules Kounde £68M

Declan Rice £43m

Yves Bissouma £28m

Karim Adeyemi £15m

Dan Axel Zagadou £5m

Kieran Trippier £15m

Yari Verscharen £5.25m

Matias Arezo £1.5m

Thiago Almada £5.25m

Jamal Musiala £47m

No-one major our, although a significant amount will move on in January now I have reached that point.

As expected, it took a long time for the players to get used to the system, and the tempo. A lot of the players are tiring very quickly, more rotation is needed. Definately need some more depth to the squad next summer. One or two free transfers will no doubt help. The big signings haven't settled other than Kounde who has being incredibly. Musiala has settled quicker than the rest and done well in patches. 

We started awfully and where 15th after 10 games but now in January we are 10th, only 3 points off 6th. No real ambitions for this first season other than settle the young players out, get a core of a team together and settle on my tactics. If we can get Europe that would be ideal, and assist with boosting next year's budget. 

I imagine another very busy summer as a number of players who used to be firt choice are disappointed not to be so no need to be moved on. 

[CKMK32]

A little update on my save. Good start with back to back league wins followed by a win in the Carabao Cup. We then lost three on the bounce, all convincingly. This prompted a switch in tactics from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, albeit sticking with the cautious counter attacking approach. Since then things have started clicking into place, with a tactical switch or two depending on the opposition.
 

Callum Wilson has 8 goals in 11 games. Allan Saint-Maximin has 2 goals and 6 assists. Those two are combining very well. I am looking for more from Bukayo Saka but he’s just scored his first goal for the club in a brilliant win at home against Chelsea. He currently has 3 assists. 
 

Dominik Livakovic has been superb between the sticks. I didn’t sign any defenders apart from the injury prone Kieran Trippier but Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles, Paul Dummett, Jacob Murphy and Jamal Lewis have performed well despite having limited ability.

John McGinn (BBM) and Patrick Berg (BWM-Su) are starting to show signs of a very hard working, combative pairing in the middle of the park. 

[Spike]

The lure of £200m to spend was too good to resist. Rather than bringing in 5-6 world class players I went for quantity (along with quality obviously) and a complete overhaul of the squad.

There was therefore a considerable number of transfers, so here goes......

 

IN (£227.2m)

Alexander Isak (Real San Sebastian) @ £38m

Renan Lodi (Atletico) @ £24m

David Neres (Ajax) @ £22m

Andrea Belotti (Torino) @ £20m

Kingsley Coman (Bayern) @ £19m

Gianluca Mancini (Roma) @ £18m

Andre Onana (Ajax) @ £18m (£20.5m)

Joe Gelhardt (Leeds Utd) @ £16.5m (£19.5m)

Tanguy Nianzou (Bayern) @ £12.5m

Kevin Mbabu (Wolfsburg) @ £8.5m

Denis Zakaria (Monchengladbach) @ £8m

Moussa Niakhite (Mainz) @ £7.5m (£8.5m)

Dani Ceballos (Madrid) @ £7m

Julian Alvarez (River) @ £4.7m

Elye Wahi (Montpellier) @ £3.5m (£5.25m)

 

OUT (£46m)

Ryan Fraser (Villa) @ £10m

Miguel Almiron (West Ham) @ £9m

Isaac Hayden (Leeds Utd) @ £7m

Matt Ritchie (Burnley) @ £4.6m

Joelinton (Dinamo Moscow) @ £4.4m

Jonjo Shelvey (Spezia) @ £4.3m

Emil Krafth (Villa) @ £3.8m

Dwight Gayle (Notts Forest) @ £1.9m

Mark Gillespie (NCYFC) @ £1m

LOAN - Ciaran Clark (Swansea), Paul Dummett (Shakhtar), Fabian Schar (Swansea), Federico Fernandez (Blackburn) & Jeff Hendrick (Blackburn)

STILL LISTED - Martin Dubravka, Karl Darlow & Jacob Murphy

 

Just played the first two PL games, wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised;

 

Villa (H) 6-1 (Isak 4, Gelhardt, Belotti)

Wolves (H) 6-0 (Neres 2 (& 3 assists), Belotti, Mancini, Willock, Zakaria)

 

Could be a good season.

Edited November 13, 2021 by Spike

[Dustman2015]

5 hours ago, Spike said:

The lure of £200m to spend was too good to resist. Rather than bringing in 5-6 world class players I went for quantity (along with quality obviously) and a complete overhaul of the squad.

There was therefore a considerable number of transfers, so here goes......

 

IN (£227.2m)

Alexander Isak (Real San Sebastian) @ £38m

Renan Lodi (Atletico) @ £24m

David Neres (Ajax) @ £22m

Andrea Belotti (Torino) @ £20m

Kingsley Coman (Bayern) @ £19m

Gianluca Mancini (Roma) @ £18m

Andre Onana (Ajax) @ £18m (£20.5m)

Joe Gelhardt (Leeds Utd) @ £16.5m (£19.5m)

Tanguy Nianzou (Bayern) @ £12.5m

Kevin Mbabu (Wolfsburg) @ £8.5m

Denis Zakaria (Monchengladbach) @ £8m

Moussa Niakhite (Mainz) @ £7.5m (£8.5m)

Dani Ceballos (Madrid) @ £7m

Julian Alvarez (River) @ £4.7m

Elye Wahi (Montpellier) @ £3.5m (£5.25m)

 

OUT (£46m)

Ryan Fraser (Villa) @ £10m

Miguel Almiron (West Ham) @ £9m

Isaac Hayden (Leeds Utd) @ £7m

Matt Ritchie (Burnley) @ £4.6m

Joelinton (Dinamo Moscow) @ £4.4m

Jonjo Shelvey (Spezia) @ £4.3m

Emil Krafth (Villa) @ £3.8m

Dwight Gayle (Notts Forest) @ £1.9m

Mark Gillespie (NCYFC) @ £1m

LOAN - Ciaran Clark (Swansea), Paul Dummett (Shakhtar), Fabian Schar (Swansea), Federico Fernandez (Blackburn) & Jeff Hendrick (Blackburn)

STILL LISTED - Martin Dubravka, Karl Darlow & Jacob Murphy

 

Just played the first two PL games, wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised;

 

Villa (H) 6-1 (Isak 4, Gelhardt, Belotti)

Wolves (H) 6-0 (Neres 2 (& 3 assists), Belotti, Mancini, Willock, Zakaria)

 

Could be a good season.

6 goals back to back games!!!!!!! How are you lining up??

[BlackEnd]

On 13/11/2021 at 09:22, DominicForza said:

Ooooh, Sule and Lacroix!  Nice.  I'm drooling over that combo, esepcially cuz I think both are fantastic IRL.  Way to build from the back.   

 

I like how you have a good mix of some big money, talent (Neres, Gabigol, etc) and some real quality value (Vecino, Ceballos).

 

But for me, Sule and Lacroix alone are just top work.   How have they worked out for you?

 

What about Dest and Pedraza?   

Sule, Lacroix, Dest, Pedraza have pretty much all become permanent fixtures in my team. Sule and Lacroix though are really rock solid and were worth buying 100%. Third season I had to up all their salaries but they are worth it and are also great in the dressing room as influential people. My defensive backups right now are Calegari and Victor Kristiansen who have turned out to be brilliant young talents. They will take over when my first choices retire or leave the club honestly. I dont even count Lascelles or Lewis anymore. They are staying around so I can meet registration requirements :P

Arsenal approached for Gabriel Barbosa at the end of the second season and I let him go for about 75m which is decent in my books. Maximin, Wilson, Belotti and Neres now pretty much manage my front with Esposito and Mara stepping in when needed. I have plans to phase out Wilson in season 4 and maybe sell him while he is still worth something so that Mara can take up his place permanently.

Bringing in goalkeepers was the biggest challenge. At age 34, Dubravka wanted a renegotiated contract with him as Important player making 130k per week so I sold him to Paris SG for 10m and brought in Onana for 50m and Pena for 8m(i think). My next challenge is keeping enough Homegrown at club players for Champions Cup :/

Edited November 14, 2021 by BlackEnd

[DominicForza]

8 hours ago, BlackEnd said:

Sule, Lacroix, Dest, Pedraza have pretty much all become permanent fixtures in my team. Sule and Lacroix though are really rock solid and were worth buying 100%. Third season I had to up all their salaries but they are worth it and are also great in the dressing room as influential people. My defensive backups right now are Calegari and Victor Kristiansen who have turned out to be brilliant young talents. They will take over when my first choices retire or leave the club honestly. I dont even count Lascelles or Lewis anymore. They are staying around so I can meet registration requirements :P

 

Dest was great for me....was it in FM21, or 20?  I dont remember.  Feared his PA may have been reduced as he hasn't set the world on fire at Barcelona (of course CA/PA changes seem so subjective - if a player moves to a much bigger profile club but doesn't play that well their db CA/PA could be lowered for to performance, or raised because of reputation of club).  

 

But c'mon, Sule and Lacroix?  Well played.  

[Spike]

12 hours ago, Dustman2015 said:

6 goals back to back games!!!!!!! How are you lining up??

@Dustman2015 playing a 4-2-2-2 Tiki Taka style

GK - SK (D)

DR - WB (S)

DCR - BPD (D)

DCL - BPD (D)

DL - WB (S)

DMR - VOL (A)

DML - VOL (A)

MR - W (A)

ML - W (A)

STCR - AF (A)

STCL - AF (A)

 

[Stevenleharve]

End of Season 1

A remarkable campaign. One of my best ever on any of these games to be fair. I was aiming for a top half finish with an outside shot at Europa League place perhaps, but we blitzed the competition. 98 points! 5 clear of Man Utd in 2nd but boy was it ropey at times. We had a dodgy 6 weeks in Jan/Feb and actually blew a 10 point lead to be 2 points behind Utd at a stage but we rallied with a really, really strong set of results at the end of the season. We scraped through the FA Cup Final with a 1-0 win against Man Utd to claim our first trophy of the new era. That gave us the confidence needed going into the final day 2 points ahead of Utd with them to play. A few bricks were **** but we did it! FA Cup and Premier League double! 

My transfers mostly turned out to be spot on which was nice. No real misses although Schar did keep Diego Carlos out of my team since January. McGinn wasn't as good as I thought he'd be but I bought him with the idea that he'd be transitioned into being a HG rotation option in the coming seasons anyway. Guerreiro, Calvert-Lewin and Hateboer were phenomenal. What can I say? Hateboer is a steal at 8.5m! Average rating of 7.53 for the season. Calvert-Lewin was a monster up top and only outscored by Ronaldo. Guerreiro was the star though, player of the season, no questions asked, provided 20 assists with average rating of 7.98. It's funny too because I wanted Robin Gosens but he was twerking for Man City all window and then didn't even end up joining them. So when I signed Guerreiro I fully intended on starting him for a season and then go back in for Gosens, but not now. 

Of the players that were already at the club Almiron was hugely disappointing and will be moved on. Dubravka was excellent, keeping 22 clean sheets, Lascelles performed above expectations. Willock chipped in with an impressive 14 goals and 10 assists. Saint Maximin was a terror on the wing delivering 18 goals and 16 assists though Real Madrid, Man Utd and Arsenal are all sniffing around him unfortunately. Fingers crossed he doesn't agitate for a move. The biggest dilemma I'm having is deciding whether or not I should replace Dubravka. I really want Andre Onana whose contract is coming to an end but Dubravka's been so good...

Anyway, time to crack on with the Summer transfer window. The board have given me £192m to spend, and I have a Premier League crown to defend and a Champions League campaign to prepare for 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Stevenleharve

[BlackEnd]

8 hours ago, Stevenleharve said:

End of Season 1

A remarkable campaign. One of my best ever on any of these games to be fair. I was aiming for a top half finish with an outside shot at Europa League place perhaps, but we blitzed the competition. 98 points! 5 clear of Man Utd in 2nd but boy was it ropey at times. We had a dodgy 6 weeks in Jan/Feb and actually blew a 10 point lead to be 2 points behind Utd at a stage but we rallied with a really, really strong set of results at the end of the season. We scraped through the FA Cup Final with a 1-0 win against Man Utd to claim our first trophy of the new era. That gave us the confidence needed going into the final day 2 points ahead of Utd with them to play. A few bricks were **** but we did it! FA Cup and Premier League double! 

My transfers mostly turned out to be spot on which was nice. No real misses although Schar did keep Diego Carlos out of my team since January. McGinn wasn't as good as I thought he'd be but I bought him with the idea that he'd be transitioned into being a HG rotation option in the coming seasons anyway. Guerreiro, Calvert-Lewin and Hateboer were phenomenal. What can I say? Hateboer is a steal at 8.5m! Average rating of 7.53 for the season. Calvert-Lewin was a monster up top and only outscored by Ronaldo. Guerreiro was the star though, player of the season, no questions asked, provided 20 assists with average rating of 7.98. It's funny too because I wanted Robin Gosens but he was twerking for Man City all window and then didn't even end up joining them. So when I signed Guerreiro I fully intended on starting him for a season and then go back in for Gosens, but not now. 

Of the players that were already at the club Almiron was hugely disappointing and will be moved on. Dubravka was excellent, keeping 22 clean sheets, Lascelles performed above expectations. Willock chipped in with an impressive 14 goals and 10 assists. Saint Maximin was a terror on the wing delivering 18 goals and 16 assists though Real Madrid, Man Utd and Arsenal are all sniffing around him unfortunately. Fingers crossed he doesn't agitate for a move. The biggest dilemma I'm having is deciding whether or not I should replace Dubravka. I really want Andre Onana whose contract is coming to an end but Dubravka's been so good...

Anyway, time to crack on with the Summer transfer window. The board have given me £192m to spend, and I have a Premier League crown to defend and a Champions League campaign to prepare for 

 

Why does my game not have faces for most people

[Welshace]

1 hour ago, BlackEnd said:

Why does my game not have faces for most people

Did you add any facepacks?

[City1904]

Just finished my first season with Newcastle, and the second half of the season everything seemed to start falling into place. 

 

As you can see we managedd to finish in the Champions League places which is huge for us. We only had 6 points after 9 games so our form massively picked up. The team settled down and the younger players improved massively. We strengthend in January by signing Andrea Belotti and James Tarkowski. Belotti was excellent 10 goals in 16 games with 3 assist. Tarkowski was a rotation option when a number of our back up players wanted to leave.

 

As you can see the goals where spread around our attacking players. ASM was dxcellent, he suffered a few injuries but whenever he come back he was excellent. Musiala improved as the season went on. Fraser also scored double figues too with Wilson and Adeyemi get 9 goals too. Jamal Lewis was also good, really improving throughout the year, but the defence as a whole performed really well. 

The two players that didn't seem to settle was Rice and Bissouma, they didn't seem to work well together with Willock performing better when he was in the team. However, we know Rice and Bissouma are two top players who we need to keep in the side as I know they will settle. The system needs them two holding or sitting deep really.

Now we are in the Champions League we need to add some depth, I've already signed Adnan Januzaj, Matthias Ginter and Florian Grillitsch on free transfers to add some depth to the squad. We have a few teams circling Fraser and ASM, so Januzaj as a homegrown player as well helps. We have just over £170m to spend we can spend that on a 3 or 4 players to really improve the strength of the squad as we have already got some depth from our free transfers.