Hey guys, welcome back to my FM 2011 Newcastle story. The new season has begun and today I will reveal the results from August through to the end of November. After a busy pre-season my squad have to adjust, we have offloaded a few high value stars and brought in three very young prospects. The first team hasn’t been strengthened for the first year since my appointment, instead I have promoted young players from the reserves and tried to strengthen from within the club. My hope is that this won’t damage the quality of our football, and instead prove my Y2G system stronger than ever. Today’s post won’t go into much detail, but will show every result so far along with the usual run down on finances. So let’s get going and check up on Newcastle’s progress.
August 2016
We started the month with a tough match at Villa Park. With around 6 first team players unavailable (due to the Olympics) I had to field a weakened side and cross my fingers. A very close match was won 1-0 thanks to Dardouri, the midfielder has solved some personal problems and finally settled in at Saint James Park. Three of my missing stars returned to England from the Olympics for our next game. One of which was Yaya Sanogo, a good job too as the Frenchmen was instrumental to our 3-0 thrashing of Manchester City.
After a promising start, I left the Premier League behind for Europe and a Super Cup final against Sevilla. Using my strongest XI Newcastle ripped through the Spanish side in extravagant style. One Frenchmen helped our cause, but I’ll let you watch the highlights below to find out who.
View the match highlights by clicking here
We travelled back home after our triumph in Europe to face an even tougher opponent. Chelsea may have struggled in the league, but their quality was undeniable. However, none of these big stars turned up on the day as my boys thrashed Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge. Anconetani was sensational and my 19 year CM, Tinga also started to show some potential.
September 2016
You know what they say, all good things must come to an end. Well my boys managed to avoid this for two further matches in September. First of all Middlesborough took a 3-0 thumping at Saint James Park, then we travelled to Palermo and beat the Italians 3-1 in the opening Champions League group game. The winning streak ended at Wolves as they held us to a 1-1 draw, but was soon forgotten when we beat Manchester City away from home in the League Cup third round. September ended with a Sanogo swansong, the striker scored three goals to help us beat West Ham 2-0 in the EPL and Panathinaikos 4-0 in Europe.
October 2016
With the opening two months to a side, Newcastle embarked on a long October. The opening two matches were in the Premier League and provided some real entertaining football. Newly promoted Portsmouth felt strangers in their own home as we won 4-0. That was followed by the demolition of Spurs, 3-0. My wonderkid striker, Marcelo Santos, was really fulfilling the promise of his attributes. But fellow compatriot and rival striker, Fernando, wasn’t letting go of a first team place so easily. The 18 year scored against Rapid Bucharest in the 3-0 Champions League group stage win. Sanogo must have felt threatened by my young duo and didn’t let the next three games go to waste. The Frenchmen scored six goals in total as we beat Birmingham 5-0 in the league, West Ham 4-1 in the League Cup fourth round and Bolton 1-0 in the EPL.
November 2016
Getting closer to winter and November provided a mental set of fixtures, 8 matches to be exact.The first was at Saint James Park against Rapid Bucharest where my left winger Goetz played very well. That 3-0 victory was followed by four Premier League wins on the bounce. Another amazing run came to an end while playing Palermo in the Champions League. The Italians held us to a 1-1 draw and we suffered the same result against Stoke in the league. November did end on a nice note though, we visited the Emirates and beat Arsenal 2-1 in the League Cup fifth round.
League standings
The league looks fairly promising. Manchester City may prove difficult to shrug off, but we hold a five point lead in first with winter fast approaching.
As for the Champions League, we had an easy draw and battle it out with Palermo for top spot. That three point cushion should be secure after the last game.
Squad stats
After such a good start, there seems to be many names with a +7 average rating. Marcelo Santos has impressed with 9 goals from 5 starts, not to mention Sonogo’s 13 goals from 11 starts. These two have been rotated with my youngest striker, Fernando, who has scored 5 goals and assisted 5 from 7 starts. My best centre back is still Danny Wilson, the clubs captain has scored 6 goals from set pieces already. I’ve also been impressed by Anconetani’s 4 goals and 9 assists. To be honest I could go on forever, but check the list below for the full story.
Four long months have passed since I last reported on the clubs finances. We did have £144 million in the bank before the first ball was kicked. Since then Newcastle have made the usual losses and now have £136 million. Not too bad really but I do expect further losses before the end of season jackpot.
Now for the final part, my up and coming fixtures. The next post will take us from December to the end of February. The worst run has to be from the end of December to start of January, where the toon are scheduled to play Liverpool, Aston Villa, Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd. Ouch!
Well that is all for today’s update, I hope you enjoyed the post and thank you for reading. I did have hopes of posting some sort of a video diary, but due to bad quality and it just not coming out right I’ve postponed this for another day. Anyway, please feel free to comment below and I’ll see you next time.
Johnny Karp
5 июня, 2011 at 10:58
That was an almost perfect start, it seems that you’re only competing with the banks at the moment :)
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 12:13
Thanks Johnny, I can only see a problem coming when this generation of players leave the club…hopefully the evolving doors can keep moving though.
Laxeyman
5 июня, 2011 at 11:05
Brilliant again, you’ll win the league by miles once again, and I reckon you’ll win everything else as well. Like Johnny says, there seems to be no real competition, and of course, good luck!
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 12:14
Thanks Laxeyman, must admit I’m waiting for someone to come and challenge me….it has to happen one year lol :)
Sibo
5 июня, 2011 at 13:11
Well done Darren, lots of trophies on the horizon again this season I believe as you are, quite frankly, on fire! Sanogo is on form once again and I am sure he will be banging them in for the rest of the season as usual.
BTW I saw the video on youtube because of the link for the Sevilla highlights, it is a really good video! You have said about your emphasis on tactics and instructions but seeing it in action like that, well it’s no wonder you win so much with that kind of eye to detail! Unlucky about the result, at least it wasn’t a loss! :D
Well done and good luck! :D
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 16:00
Thanks Sibo, well I’m glad you liked the video, I will post one up properly soon.
Lye
5 июня, 2011 at 13:22
Hi Darren,
Another strong start and performance by the team. Not only Sanogo is doing very well but Marcelo Santos is absolutely on fire. Keep going mate as you are going to sweep all trophy again.
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 15:59
Thanks Lye, must admit its tough choosing between Sanogo and Santos for the lone striker at the moment. :)
vaibhavc
5 июня, 2011 at 13:33
Hey Darren
Your squad looks very strong as they are all contributing to the great start. You have managed to go unbeaten so far, and your defence is going strong. Only four goals against you in the Prem.
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 15:49
Thanks Vaibhavc, I am happy with our strength in depth as I can choose multiple combinations of players and still expect a win. We just need to avoid an injury disaster now.
Aaron
5 июня, 2011 at 16:07
I think the financial side gives your story an extra dimension, it’s fast becoming one of my favorites! Maybe if you get so around £300/400 million one summer you should splash out on one big player? Even Barca do it from time to time :)
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 16:20
Thanks Aaron, after playing one version of FM for ages it can get stale…so I decided to add this financial side to keep the story fresh. Glad your liking it and when the money roles in maybe we’ll see one massive purchase. :)
Timmy
5 июня, 2011 at 16:15
your team is very rich,i want to apply your Y2G but still confused how to make a profit :P
ps:what is the most interesting free transfer action happened in your game?
good luck
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 16:25
The Y2G system can be a little confusing I guess but all the info is in the posts I wrote. As for most interesting free transfer I’d say Robinho from AC Milan to PSV for free at the age of 31.
Timmy
5 июня, 2011 at 16:32
wew,i know it now,thanks
ps:really?Robinho to PSV :P
Sibo
5 июня, 2011 at 16:31
In one of my mates games Messi went from Barcelona to Ajax in 2018, he was 31…
You should make this a thread in the forum! :D
Timmy
5 июня, 2011 at 16:33
OMG Messi huh?how much is his wages?
Sibo
5 июня, 2011 at 16:35
They were giving him like £300,00 a week, I don’t know how they got the money, maybe it was because they had won 5 consecutive Champion’s Leagues… ;-)
Sibo
5 июня, 2011 at 16:36
*£300,000
Daniel
5 июня, 2011 at 17:05
Great story, great start. I love your new strikers, sanogo must be really feeling the heat for his place! the video’s are a good idea!
Keep the form going.. you will anyway..
Daniel :D
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 18:44
Thanks Daniel, I love competition for places and my two Spanish strikers could be the best around so Sanogo needs to keep scoring. :) There will definitely be videos, when depends on how quickly I can produce one of decent quality.
Matt Clark
5 июня, 2011 at 19:21
Hi Darren this is just too easy for you that’s the only problem with this game after a while there’s no challenge btw what happened to you making profile posts of wonderkids
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 19:52
I see where you’re coming from Matt, but there are still a lot of challenges. I have set huge goals financially and have a lot of youngsters that need game time, but I have to select them during the right games to avoid bad performances and results at the same time as been able to develop them.
As for the profiles, life has been too busy of late, but they will resume within the next few weeks I promise. :)
Kevin
5 июня, 2011 at 19:58
Hi Darren
No surprise to see Santos and Sanogo leading the pplayer rankings and your form has been nothing short of breathtaking. As for your defensive record it’s phenominal! Did I spell that right? :)
Darren Smith
5 июня, 2011 at 20:18
I agree Kevin, Santos and Sanogo are both pure genius. As for the spelling, I think thats right lol :)
Stromson
5 июня, 2011 at 22:07
Aw man, no video, I was really looking forward to that. :( Aside from that disappointment, you’ve done pretty durn well for yourself at Newcastle. I’d say you’re officially in «dynasty» mode, and I think it’ll be quite some time before we see you facing any serious challenge to your pole position in the Premier League. Good luck in the CL, can’t wait to see the results!
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 12:03
I’m sorry Jon, there will be one soon though. :) Its always nice to have a challenge but I can’t say I don’t enjoy thrashing smaller opponents and going into matches confident for a change.
Ana Garcia
5 июня, 2011 at 22:31
How great would it be if you opened you own bank balance and saw that amount in it! :)
Sanogo as been amazing but nice to see a few Spaniards performing well, Santos looks like he is finding his feet in your team and he has a very impressive average rating.
Domestically you have been far superior and another title already looks like it is on the way, seeing as you always seem to find a way to win.
The champions league group was a very simple one but always nice to go through top in the hope to avoid the ‘bigger’ sides so you should be able to do that with a game left to play.
Good luck Darren!
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 12:02
I know, imagine looking at your balance on the internet now…you’d probably faint. :)
Sanogo has been key this year, but I love that those Spaniards push him for every match. The league has become very predictable but at least the CL is a challenge as always.
liam101
5 июня, 2011 at 23:59
great work darren. Some really impressive results there and those ratings are amazing. you must struggle who to pick.
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 12:00
Thanks Liam, I have a rotational system in place that makes the team selection simple…that should only change with bad form and injuries which we’ll hopefully avoid :)
Sears
6 июня, 2011 at 02:44
Haha, I love the title… »Newcastle’s normal start» lol. Were so used to you winning nearly every single match now :-D Btw, in your next post, can you show us your managerial stats, like wins, number of players bought/sold etc?
Anyhow, wonderful start, as usual :-) You’ll easily dominate in every competition again… I love looking at your finances too, £136 million is phenomenal..! If you continue this story for another long time, it’s inevitable that you make Newcastle the richest club in the world… Plus you’ll get revenge on greedy Mike Ashely too when you show him your bank accounts :-D! Good luck bud,,,!
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 11:58
lol thanks Sears, I wanted something catchy but that was the best title I could come up with. Sure I’ll post my managerial stats next post, just remind me if I forget though but will try not to.
CsAtlantis
6 июня, 2011 at 10:07
A video diary? :P Wow, the fixture list from Boxing Day to 3rd of January is pretty tight, your squad will have to stay fit for that run of 4 games, still doing well in the league and Champions League, plus still striding through the League Cup, and Sanogo is doing the business as usual, what will you do with the bank balance though………..:D
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 11:56
Yeh, I’ll be doing videos every now and then to show you around the club and also during bigger matches so everyone can see what I do. :)
It certainly is a tough run, but with the entire squad playing well I can rotate as much as is needed. Still don’t know about the bank balance, maybe one year I’ll really splash out, but until then I want more money :)
Edward Wylie
6 июня, 2011 at 19:25
Hi Darren, one of my mates was wondering what your pitch dimensions are?
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 19:39
Hey Edward, the length is 105m and the width is 68m, I’ve never bothered changing them tbh.
Edward Wylie
6 июня, 2011 at 19:46
Ok thanks mate.
Martin
6 июня, 2011 at 21:13
Hey Darren!
Yet another fantastic post…great progression in all competitions…in which there isn’t much competition lol. The finances are look amazing lol…wont be long now until your the richest club. Keep up the good work bud.
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 21:30
Thanks Martin, guess my biggest challenge is making these posts more interesting lol Only kidding, I do worry about over confidence and feel it may play a part this year. There’s one surprise for everyone within the next post though. :)
Sears
6 июня, 2011 at 21:39
Can you give us a hint what that surprise may be or will you keep us all in suspense :-D?
Darren Smith
6 июня, 2011 at 21:51
Put it this way, it involves pressing a play button.