Football Manager Blog | Football Manager Guru | Newcastle Start 2012/2013 Season

Hi all, hope that you are all well. After the huge disappointment of last season I was determined not to let this effect my team and I will try and push on and go for the title this season. I also have the added bonus of playing in the Europe League. I am currently in pre-season and I will tell you about the signings that I have made give my best starting eleven and finish off with the results from my pre-season.

Transfers Out

I decided to sell ten players that were either in the first team squad or in the reserves. I decided to sell Grieve, Morris, Taverneir and Ngo Beheng as I felt that these players were never going to get into my first team squad and would therefore be better off playing for a different club.

I decided also to sell Routledge, Jonas, Rosicky and Kadar as even though these players were good enough to get into the squad they were never going to play very regularly.

I felt that Harper was getting on a bit and at 39 he probably wouldn’t feature in the first team this season. Finally I sent Ben Tozer out on loan as I felt that we could develop into a decent player if given a chance to play a run of games at a different club.

Transfers In

I made a total of seven signing in the summer transfer window with one only on a temporary basis I will now show you who I bought.

Hatem Ben Arfa

I actually signed this play way back in January but he was seeing out the end of his contract at Marseille this meant that Ben Arfa came on a free transfer which I was very pleased with. He will play in the central of midfield with Verratti.

Abou Diaby

I bought Diaby as I felt that he will become a good player in the future and for only just over £2 million I think that this could be one of the signings of the season.

Jo

I felt that this was one of the positions that I needed strengthening if I was going to challenge of the Premiership this season. Even thought both Bent and Eduardo were really good signings I felt that I needed something different upfront.

Van Aanholt

I decided to get this player on loan as cover for the left back position when Jose Enrique would pick up either an injury or a suspension that would rule him out of the game.

N’Diaye

I felt that I needed a keeper to cover for Consigli especially after I had sold Steve Harper to Spurs and with a price tag of £3.7million a decent buy.

Wilson

With only Coloccini and Steven Taylor as my recognized centre back I needed a signing that would play in this position. I ended up buying young Danny Wilson from Manchester United for quite a hefty price tag but hopefully he will justify that with some good performances.

Diagne

The right back position was probably my weakest area of the pitch and I decided to buy Sega Diagne from Spurs. At only 18 years old he came quite expensive but hopefully he is one for the future.

Preferred Starting Eleven

I decided to go for a 4-3-1-2 formation as I felt that this was the best formation that I had used in pre-season and his basically all of my best players playing in their most favoured positions. I felt that this was the formation and the team that was at least going to challenge for the top four places.

Pre-season friendlies

With four wins out of seven friendly matches before the start of the season I was pleased with the way things were going so far. The slip-ups seem to come under lesser opposition. I was really excited for the start of the season and I couldn’t wait to get things going.