Football Manager Blog | Football Manager Guru | Newcastle Ends Final Season on FM Guru

Hi everyone, hope you are all well after the past two months were a bit of a success I was now into my final post of my final season as Newcastle manger will it all end in a massive ecstasy or in huge disappointment like the last two season went.

Newcastle v Lyon

This was the first leg of the Quarter final stage of the Europa League but my Newcastle team look about as good as a team that couldn’t qualify. It was an awful performance but we somehow managed to get a precious away goal and hopefully this will give us some impetus when we play the return leg at St James Park in a week’s time.

Newcastle v Blackburn

A surprise defeat that saw us lose our second consecutive match. Yet another off performance from my Newcastle team and this was starting to become a worry and it needed sorting out fast. The winning goal came from a free-header in the first half from Christopher Samba.

Newcastle v Lyon

After the first leg result I was a bit pessimistic about our chances of going into the semi-finals but an historic win put my Newcastle team through on away goals. The win was made all the sweeter by the fact that the scorer of both my two goals was a former Lyon employee. Ben Arfa sent my Newcastle team into the semi-finals where we will play fellow English side Aston Villa.

Newcastle v Wigan

Our league form was again stuttering as we only managed a point against a Wigan side that were in a mid-table position. Bent got the game’s first goal in the 6^th minutes but Hugo Rodallega got the equaliser and the final goal of the game in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

Newcastle v Chelsea

This was turning out to be quite a weird month as after not being able to pick up points against Blackburn and drawing with Wigan I then managed to beat Chelsea in a very exciting match at St James’. A goal in the 90^th minute of the match sent the Newcastle fans into mass delirium and my title hopes were back on track

Newcastle v Villa

In the first leg of the semi-final of the Europa League it was my Newcastle team who came out on top with a fine display and an equally good score of 3-1. The goals coming from Ben Arfa, Bent and a James Milner own goal. This would put me into good stead heading into the second leg next week.

Newcastle v Wolves

Neither side seemed to want to win this game as both team lead at some point in the game but it was the team in black and white that won the game and for the second league came running scored a very late goal. This time Eduardo snatched the winner in the 92^nd minute of the game.

Newcastle v Villa

The all important second leg at Villa Park was now going to determine whether or not I was going to contest the final in Cardiff. Much to my relief we won the game by a slender 1-0 margin with the goalscorer the one and only Darren Bent who has been my talisman all season long. I had now booked my place in the final against Juventus.

Newcastle v Reading

The curse of not being able to win straight after a European match struck again as I lost against Reading at the Madjeski Stadium. Shane Long got the only goal of the game and the fatigue from my players was starting to show.

Newcastle v Everton

With only three games left of the Barclays Premier League season I was going to have to win every game from now on if I am going to win the league this season. I was still just one point behind Arsenal in second with the all important final game of the season against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Back to this game the score ended up in a 1-0 win for the visiting side the goal coming from Darren Bent in the 56^th minute of the game.

Newcastle v Fulham

In the penultimate game of the season I decided to give Jo a run out as Bent was looking very tired and I will need him fit for the next two games. It was Jo in the end that got the only goal of the game to secure the three points to keep us just that one point behind Arsenal with one game left to play.

Newcastle v Juventus

I was now in Cardiff in the final of the Europa League against Italian giants Juventus. It was no surprise when both sides were reluctant to go forward and it was quite a dull match. The only major talking point in the game was that Eduardo was sent off in the 86^th minute of the match for an elbow on Domenico Criscito. This was a bit of a letdown as this left a tired Darren Bent to have to play up front by himself. The game couldn’t find a goal in either 90 minutes or after extra time so the game was going to be decided on a penalty shoot-out.

Unfortunately we took poor penalties and that was our downfall as we lost on penalties 3-1 so our European dream was at an end. I had one game left of the season against Arsenal.

Newcastle v Arsenal

It was our biggest game of the season and it was going to decide whether the Premiership was going to either Newcastle or Arsenal. I named an unchanged side to the team that faced Juventus in the Europa League final. We started the game well and had the first major chance of the game when Eduardo was sent though by Verratti but his shot was well saved by Almunia and it went for a Newcastle corner. It was all Newcastle in the first 20 minutes of the game and again we nearly took the lead when Verratti’s shot it the post out bounced out for a goal-kick.

Arsenal’s first chances came in the 25^th minute of the match when Ramsey shot looked to be going into the top corner but Andrea Consigli superbly tipped the ball out for a corner and Arsenal felt that they were getting back into the game. After 35 minutes of the game I was forced to make a chance when Eduardo picked up an injury on came Jo and I was looking to him as has scored some important goals during the season.

It was 0-0 at half-time and I needed a second half goal if I was going to win the league in my final season. Arsenal were determined to finish the game off as quickly as possible and brought on both Bendtner and Van Persie.

The second half was a major contrast and the game seemed to die down a bit with no real major chances until the 69^th minute when for the second time in the game the woodwork was rattling. This time it was Consigli’s goal after a rasping Van Persie free-kick looked likely to give Arsenal the lead but I breathed a huge sigh of relief when it came off the bar.

It was now last chance saloon and I brought on another forward in the shape of Ryan Donaldson who has come up through the Newcastle ranks. In the 92 minute of the game when all hopes were lost of winning the league seemed to have ended. This happened

DONALDSON SCORES TO WIN THE LEAGUE FOR NEWCASTLE.

League Table

After the major disappointment of the previous two seasons I had sweet revenge and won the league in the greatest of fashions. I was in shock for a week with the way I won the league and it was the best send off I could get as Newcastle manager in my final season.

Thanks for reading

Warren

P.S. My new story will be here soon my a new team to manage