Hi guys, welcome back to the North East and my Newcastle story. The 2013/14 season brought great success to Newcastle and a trophy haul I will be lucky to repeat. This pre-season is all about building for the future. I have been following a few regens for two seasons now and seen them develop very quickly. Not only do I need to secure their signatures ahead of the vultures, but also bring in some class players to maintain the high expectations that are formulating around Saint James Park.
The board are expecting a title challenge this season and that is the least I am hoping for. These expectations bring with them my biggest transfer budget to date. This money will be used to sign some potential for the future as well as replace some of the lesser talented players in my squad. The media seem to be in agreement with my board, while we can win the title there should be some stiff competition. Man City and Chelsea have both spent big this summer bringing players like Dzeko (Chelsea,) and Eden Hazard (Man City.)
I had to let a lot of players leave for nothing this year. Nolan, Tiote, Jonas, Coloccini and Williamson are all on big wages considering their value to me. I also raised some funds through selling players that will not feature anymore. The likes of Kadar and Vuckic will not get a game so I tried to get the best price for them. One or two talented regens went out on loan and I want to get rid of Carroll but a loan deal is the only offer that came in. Eitherway we have raised a lot of money for the wage budget and little more for transfers.
After scouring the market for regens and young players, I came across some real gems. One is not listed below as I have to wait for the deal to be complete next season, his name is Santos and I will share his attributes later. The regen who is joining straight away cost me £14 million and should be worth every penny. All the other players are to strengthen and replace departures. £38 million was spent to improve my squad and I feel like we are now ready for the new season.
The first profile I want to show you is Marcelo Santos. The 17 year old has incredible attributes and only cost me £2.2 million as that is his minimum fee release clause. Waiting for the deal to be complete until next season will actually help me a little. Santos wouldn’t walk straight into the team yet, so at least he can keep playing and developing at Argentinos for now.
Sami Khedira has been brought in to cover the departures of Tiote, Gosling and Nolan. He was previously at Real Madrid, but has been on the transfer list for a while. Sami will be rotated with Rodwell in central midfield.
Kieran Gibbs was also on the transfer list for a small fee of £2.4 million. I want to use more English players and decided he would be better than Kadar as backup for Enrique at left back.
Jack Rodwell is a player I have had my eye on for a while. He is a complete player but needs to up his stats a little more before becoming world class. I believe the 22 year old can do this and that is why I payed £17 million. I had the option of him or a few young foreign players, but again my domestic player bias came into play.
Gael Kakuta was not on the transfer list but definitely out of favour at Chelsea. When I saw Celtic making a bid I decided to try and snap the Frenchman up. Kakuta can still do a lot of improving and should prove a good backup on both wings. The small price tag of £2.1 million was probably the most attractive part of the deal for me.
Luiz Hernandez is my new young star, the £14 million price tag is because Rayo considered him indispensable. I knew that if I didn’t buy the Spaniard now, I would regret it in a few years. He has bags of potential and is very versatile. This season will see Hernandez feature in the easier games.
Charity Shield — Newcastle vs Manchester United
As always my 4-5-1 was to be used in this fixture, like mentioned in my Premier League tactics guide a standard strategy tends to work best against United in any cup final. I also used my slightly high defensive line, a very sow tempo and very narrow width. Paloschi started upfront and I used a lot of subs in this match. Lets see how we got on.
Musacchio proved his quality from corners yet again and I was extremely happy with Kakuta’s contribution. Manchester Utd used a few fringe players but really performed below par.
Lets take a quick look at my squad for the 2013/14 season. Here is an interesting fact for you. I have by far the youngest squad in the Premier League. The average age for a squad in the Premier League is 26, where as my squads average age is 23. What can I say, I just love to build for the future.
Here are my fixtures for the next post, as always I will be looking towards a good start and hoping to build an early lead. This should be possible looking at the fixture list, but November will definitely be a tough month.
Well that is it for today’s post, I hope you enjoyed the read and will back again soon. Please feel free to ask any questions and I look forward to your comments. Below are some of the sites features, its worth reading so you can see if your missing anything. Thanks for reading guys.
Sears
30 декабря, 2010 at 14:09
Hey Darren,
great signings. All have good quality but Ioving your two regens. Santos is like my Marcelo, both players seem to have similar qualities. Real Madrid are interested in Marcelo now so I raised his asking price to £100 million :-D Luis Fernandez had loads of potential too… I’m always searching for a player like him. Your a year ahead of me so I may have better look next year. I’m like addicted to searching for regen’s!! You’ve great quality in your team now so you should easily dominate the league and domestic cup’s. Hoping for another successful season in Europe as well. Good luck!
Darren Smith
30 декабря, 2010 at 14:48
Thanks Sears, as soon as I saw Santos my mouth dropped. His attributes are amazing for a 17 year old. Hopefully we can continue last years form and win some more silverware. Luck of the draw may be required as always though.
Ana Garcia
30 декабря, 2010 at 14:27
Yay! A Spaniard!
He looks very good and is only 17 and is quite a prospect, good idea bringing in some English players you dont want to lose the identity of your club.
You use a similar corner kick routine as me with a good jumping defender attacking the far post, works very well I find.
Good luck on your season and in trying to defend all your trophies! Always alot harder than winning them!
Darren Smith
30 декабря, 2010 at 14:52
Hi Ana, I too find it twice as hard defending trophies rather than winning them for the first time. FM seems to favour the underdog sometimes and my side are starting to step out of that role. I thought you’d like my new Spaniard…I have high hopes for him and should become the vocal point of midfield.
Aiming corners to the far post and having my best centre back attack it works very well…thats why Musacchio scores so many goals. I also find having someone mark the keeper can take him out of the fight.
Laxeyman
30 декабря, 2010 at 17:11
Hi Darren, good signings, once again you’ve brought in young players with loads of potential. The two regens you signed look really good, and I’m sure they’ll be quality players for years to come. Good win over Chelsea too, and good luck for the new season.
Darren Smith
30 декабря, 2010 at 18:23
Thanks Laxeyman, I really enjoy watching youngsters grow into superstars and having a young squad means less maintanance in the future.
ravenie
30 декабря, 2010 at 17:52
Great signings Darren. It would appear with such a strong squad that you would be under pressure to push for the inevitable anyway. Expecting another strong season from your team :)
Darren Smith
30 декабря, 2010 at 18:25
Thanks Ravenie, Im really happy with my new signings and you’re right about the pressure. We’re starting to shrug off the underdog status which will probably make life tougher. Thanks for commenting Ravenie.
Johnny Karp
30 декабря, 2010 at 18:04
Wow, that Santos lad is simply amazing! With these new signings your squad is definitely the best in the world at the moment so I guess we’ll enjoy a spectacular season with loads of fine goals to watch! :)
Darren Smith
30 декабря, 2010 at 18:27
Hey Johnny, Santos is certainly something special and at a very low price. Theres still big name players at Real and Barcelona but bar them I think we have a top squad. Strength is depth will help us a lot this season!
Birdy
30 декабря, 2010 at 23:50
Hey Darren
Very Nice signing lets hope you can win again
Good Luck
Birdy
Darren Smith
31 декабря, 2010 at 09:04
Thanks Birdy, the regens were very pleasing and hopefully should be around for a long time.
Kevin
31 декабря, 2010 at 00:21
Hi Darren
Those are tremendous signings al round. Santos to echo everyone else is a world class player in the making if not already and i like the fact you picked up both Gibbs and Rodwell to keep things honest. Rodwell in particular should be a great asset to your current squad.
Darren Smith
31 декабря, 2010 at 09:25
Thanks Kevin, Santos is amazing and I took a look at my squad and noticed a lack of home grown talent. Thats the main reason for me picking up Wilshere last season, Gibbs and Rodwell this year.
Lye Kuek Hin
31 декабря, 2010 at 07:09
Hi Darren,
Another quadruple in the making? Superb signings with them so young and a lot of room for improvements. Can’t wait to see you sweep all trophy again. Great job. Have a great season ahead. Good luck.
Darren Smith
31 декабря, 2010 at 09:27
Hey Lye, Im not sure about a repeat quadruple but love your enthusiasm. It takes a lot of look and good timing to pull a quadruple off…I think my luck was used up last season.
matt
31 декабря, 2010 at 19:18
hey, do you know if something has happened with dudu because he doesnt seem to be on the new patch
Darren Smith
31 декабря, 2010 at 19:50
Hey Matt, Ive tried looking for him on a new game but you’re right hes not there. He isnt amazing as such but a good signing for me with Newcastle so I wonder whats happened to him? Thats a shame!!
matt
31 декабря, 2010 at 19:43
also i’ve noticed some negative comments suggesting that you have cheated and i have a few points to make, its perfectly possible to have the success you’ve had when you have good players backed up with your tremendous top 3 i’ve downloaded your tactic and with the right sort of players you could win anything with anyone. I have experienced winning the champions league with bolton but failing with barcelona the quality of the players only goes so far you need good tactics and management to be successful, best of luck with future seasons Darren.
p.s. no-one would waste their time cheating and stick with it for 3+ seasons keep this in mind before making that sort of accusations.
Darren Smith
31 декабря, 2010 at 19:56
Thanks Matt, that really means a lot. There are people out there that don’t like seeing other people succeed in the game if they can’t. I understand some people wondering how I did so well last season and Im more than happy to pass on my tips like I have done so far with 5+ posts to help others. Whats annoying is that I try and share this info with people, spending time doing it just to recieve comments accusing me of cheating. Comments like yours remind me of why I started this site and are what keeps me posting. I appreciate the supportive comment mate and hope the tactics posts have helped.
matt
31 декабря, 2010 at 20:05
no problem, the people who feel that way are the sort of people who pick the best teams and get the best players but can’t win anything because they dont take their time with it i mean this is a simulation of football management if you just rush it and dont listen to the asistants advice on the tactics then there is little to no chance of success