StuW's Toon Adventure

After looking at every player, staff and the rest of my club, I have now been able to look at potential sales, potential targets. 

GOALKEEPERS

Certainly two decent 'keepers to begin with, although with Soderberg, I will have to bring someone in to fill the third choice spot.


Steve Harper - A fantastic servant to the club, where he has been his entire professional career. Will be number 1 for this season.
Tim Krul - A top youth keeper, who will provide good backup for Harper.
Ole Soderberg - Youngster, who is nowhere near the standard I need. Will look to loan him out for match experience.

DEFENCE

Defence is the key to any team. Good solid defence will lead you towards glory, whilst a weak line will surely see you fall into trouble. I feel the defence I have will fit just in behind the 'Good' category. 

Central

Fabricio Coloccini - Argentinian international, who has good, all-round stats.
Sol Campbell - Old reliable will be integral to the team, with his experience being hugely important.
Steven Taylor - Has the potential to be a great defender. With an injury until around November, he will have to work to get back into the team.
Mike Williamson - A player who spent half a seaosn with Portsmouth before joining, has the ability to push for the starting berth.

Full-Backs
Danny Simpson(DR) - Signed from Man Utd, and after an impressive season behind, will certainly want to show his quality again.
Jose Enrique(DL) - A workhorse who will be looking for another good season at Left-Back
Ryan Taylor(DR) - A versatile player, who can play right up the right. Average stats, may have a job to do.

MIDFIELD

Future Stars??

Now, I will show you the potential superstars currently at the club. 


Haris Vuckic(AMC/ST) - Could be the greatest export of Slovenia. With potential to be as good as anyone, big things are expected from the 17 year old.
Yven Moyo(AML) - Signed from under the noses of several big clubs, Yven comes with a huge reputation, and huge ability.
Tamas Kadar(D LC) - very promising all-round defender. Entering his fourth season at the club.
Aaron Spear(ST) - hot striker, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the great forwards who have blessed the club in the past.
Fraser Forster(GK) - Currently at Celtic, has all of the attributes to be world class.


Now the analysis is done, I can look at where the axe must fall, and where I will need to spend.

Premier League Squad Rules -  
 - Maximum Squad Size of 25 players. 
 - Players under the age of 21 before 1st Jan do not need to be registered. An Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences. 
 - 8 players must have been trained in England for 3 years before they turned the age of 21.

NEXT POST - PRESEASON & TRANSFERS

Sorry it has taken some time to get this going, I have been working on some graphics.

Since taking over the Toon Army, I have been working on tactics, and looking into the squad and staff at the club.

SEASON 2010/2011

Transfer Budget - 2.1m.   Not much money, but there are a couple of players I am looking to ship out to give me more freedom in the market.

Media Predicted Finish - 15th.   Not to ambitious according to the media, they see my side finishing out of relegation places, with a view to pushing on next season. 

League Target - Top Half Finish.   With the strength of the squad here, I think with the right players in, a top 10 finish is certainly within reach. 

Captain - Kevin Nolan.   The true leader of the squad, someone who will hopefully lead the team through a good season back in the big team.

Next Post: Squad Analysis.

As the dust settles after a hugely successful campaign, startling news emerged from St. James' Park. After disagreeing with club chairman Mike Ashley over his contract extension, Chris Hughton decided to walk away from the club. The ex-Ireland player is widely respected by Newcastle fans, and the fans are very disappointed to see the club's recent saviour depart.

Hughton had taken over the club after it suffered the humiliation of relegation from the Premier League. The club was at it's worst position for many years, after failed attempts by Ashley of selling the club, and key players leaving, the club called upon Chris to steady the ship. And that he did. Leading the club to promotion at the first time of asking, as the club notched over 100 points for the first time in it's illustrious history.

Fast-forward a year, and things are looking not too bright. Hughton has gone, and the club heading into a huge season back in the big time, who will replace the Irish saviour?

The club have decided to appoint Youth coach Stuart Watson as interim manager, with the possibility of the talented young manager to take the helm permanently.

Bookies have already brought a list of front-runners to publication.

4-1 - Martin O'Niell

6-1 - Stuart Watson

7-1 - Vicente Del Bosque

11-1 - Guus Hiddink

14-1 - Roberto Donadoni

175-1 - Paul Gascoigne

Martin O'Niell is the favourite to land the job, with interim boss Watson close behind.  Del bosque, Hiddink and Donadoni are the other favoured names, with Gazza also listed.

As you most certainly already know, Football Manager 2011 is just 7 days away! After one year, we finally put our FM10 disc and box away, to open the new installment of the greatest and most popular management simulation game in the world. If you have been living in a cave somewhere, here is what you will see in the new game -

Contract Negotiations - making its debut in Football Manager 2011 is a new live contract negotiation system, with a host of new contract clauses. Learn to deal with different types of agents as you try to secure your next big signing.

Re-vamped training system - including more basic training schedules and individual training focus where players can be in trained in 14 different skill areas. Plus, a new match preparation area, where you can get your team to concentrate on special focus areas, and train in specific tactics, in the lead up to a match.

Improved Interaction - new board request and backroom advice options as well as a new player interaction module allowing you to have private conversations with your players, including lots of options never seen before, taking interaction to a whole new level.

News subscription service - expanded to make the way that news and mail is distributed even more user friendly and immersive. Dozens of additional news items and a new module written to add more intelligence in the news items themselves.

Match View - play under the glare of the floodlights for the first time with night matches and over 100 new animations including player models, stadiums, goal celebrations and much, much more. Not forgetting improvements to what was already the best match simulation on the market.

Dynamic League Reputation - a new feature meaning as teams get stronger and perform better on a continental level, the league they play in will also get stronger, attracting more players to want to play in the league and a more accurate modelling of the changing face of world football.

If you cannot wait to try the game, visit Sports interactive for the demo.

*The demo is available in two flavours. Vanilla and Strawberry. Here is a breakdown of the differences.

Vanilla
The vanilla version of the demo will be using reduced assets and featuring the English and Scottish leagues only in order to minimise the size of the download.
English language only
Quickstart leagues: England, Scotland
Approximate file size 300MB

Strawberry
The strawberry version of the demo includes quickstarts for the world's biggest leagues, giving players a chance to try out their skills with teams from multiple countries. Details of languages and leagues are below.
In-game languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech, Polish
Quickstart leagues: England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Chile
Approximate file size 1GB

LINK

Go to this link, and choose your download.