Number 1 Activity

For all I allowed myself to dream after the win over Derby that we might be about to work our way into the automatic promotion hunt, we simply had to win at Brentford or else realistically the main thing for our last 10 games would just be securing our pl...

My expectation had been for February to be difficult, but we were 2 games away from managing to go unbeaten for the whole block of 7 games in the month. This is certainly a good starting point given that promotion challengers Brentford, Bristol City and W...

Thrashing Millwall was a great start to February after a chaotic January, bringing with it 3 defeats, transfer policy motivated by lowering our astronomic wage bill after it got cut further, and a ton of injuries. But there is still a shitload of work to...

We were in 4th for 3 weeks tbf but the defeat to Wigan saw us drop below Fulham in the sequence. I'll be happy to finish there tbf. Things are getting tougher and tougher out there.

Wigan Athletic was next in the diary, followed by 11 days off where the main business would be trying to raise some desperately needed cash to stave off the risk the team might enter administration, which concerns me as something that could undermine our...

January has arrived, with it bringing a raft of notes about visa changes from 2021 I don't fully get that will change how we can do business. In saying that, such is our budget, I'm not sure how much of a test we're going to give the change...

On Christmas Day, Sheffield Wednesday are 5th - very much a decent starting point to find ourselves going into the second half of the season. This is especially considering that for some, the main top 6 thing about us is our wage bill - we have the 4th...

I would say so, yes. Our form does balance itself out, given that we've had some games where we've dropped points against teams we should've beaten, but got 7 points from 3 of the 4 above us, and have also beaten the duo that for now are o...

Before we enter our first game in December and the home straight towards Christmas, there was some admin to take care of as we had the FA Cup Third Round draw. We landed a PL name, in the form of a home tie with Aston Villa at Hillsborough. We now have a...

Its difficult to know what to make of our form coming into a big test against West Brom straight after the international break. On the one hand, we've lost just once in 8, but we also haven't win any of the last 4. However, given the Baggies hav...

We may have taken something from Leeds, but the fixture list isn't about to get easier. Next up were Blackburn and Swansea games, with both close to us in the table chasing play-offs, and playing 4-2-3-1 - a formation we seem to struggle against. Th...

Not at all. Its weird. I had some misgivings about Newcastle being used as a front for Saudi sportswashing and was uncomfortable with how people were getting carried away so quickly when it looked like the thing was about to be done. But given Mike Ashle...

With the October week over and done with, it would be possible to turn attention to the 3rd game back. We have clashes against Cardiff and Stoke to ease us back into the swing of things, but the promotion juggernaut that is Bielsa and Leeds are making the...

Forestieri or no Forestieri, our big test was now looming by welcoming Fulham to Hillsborough. The selected 18 was: Dawson - Odubajo, Borner, Bates, Fox - Harris, Luongo, Lee, Reach - Fletcher, Wickham Subs: Jones, Iorfa, Palmer, Pelupessy, Bannan, Murph...

One of the few perks of our Carabao Cup irritation at Barnsley was having a free week off rather than getting bogged down in another tie in the competition. Would've been up for the test, but if we can't earn a place, we don't win the raffl...

It is going to be an interesting challenge to sustain it. I know the real world Wednesday didn't - 3rd after winning on Boxing Day, beat Leeds in early January, ended 16th after just 3 wins in the final 18, with a few thrashings thrown in. We'...

With the Championship as intense as it is, there's no time to dwell on the disappointment of 2 draws and 1 penalty shoot-out defeat. Indeed, as Barnsley are local rivals, it didn't help with my reputation with fans and board. First in wait is a...

Of course, its one thing to win a football match. Consistently doing it will be what gets us close to meeting Chansiri's lofty goals... or not. For that end, its a double dose of Barnsley that we now have to deal with. We first play the Tykes in the...

So, the first day of the season is upon us. To amend the words of The Producers, opening night, its opening night, its my Football Manager's latest show, will it flop or will it go? The season opener is Reading at the Madejski - a team I did conside...

Pre-season is over and done with. After the traditional FM start of an inter-squad friendly, we had 2 routs over local non-league sides, a comfortable win over Beerschot from the Belgian second tier and a fairly reasonable draw with the Italian side Sa...

Upon arrival at Hillsborough, I also had no Director of Football or Assistant. Neil McDonald, formerly of Villa and West Ham, was hired as a number 2 but a DoF will be something I wait a while before approaching. So far, a 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 have t...

So, a squad full of ageing strikers with my coaches recommending a lone striker tactic, the best CB and CM are long term injured, a transfer budget of £0, the chairman wants play-offs, and there's no doubt more than a little envy at the neigh...

I can buy the argument about Swansea beating Brentford - the way they overwhelmed the gap to Forest is a much more positive backstory to making the play-offs than Brentford blowing a genuine shot at automatic. Cardiff are in my opinion the outsiders. Whi...

The Championship's final day was insane. Impressive amount of position swapping.

"Karius" trending on Twitter as a nickname for De Gea... something's gone wrong with him since the 2018 World Cup.

They made a huge mistake offloading Grosicki and Bowen in January, but blimey this is a complete catastrophe from Hull. I see Wigan are trying a pretty big way to take out their agitation at the administration and the forthcoming deduction.

Subject to FIFA approval, the window opens the day after the PL season ends, so clearly it was going to already be the subject of a big buzz. Not that I'm sure what to expect. I thought this would be a low budget window thanks to covid crisis, but g...

So Man City have been un-banned from the Champions League as CAS over-turned UEFA's original band. Seems to be going down badly outside the Man City fanbase. I know a few are also suggesting this means the death of FFP but given coronavirus has des...

I mean, I enjoyed the first Newcastle game after the restart. Probably because for once, we weren't shit. I'm convinced we would've lost the game had it happened when originally scheduled, given Dubravka had a big injury in the Southampton...

Just confirmed 17th June as a restart date for the 2 games not played on Carabao Cup weekend - so Man City v Arsenal and Villa v Sheffield Utd - with a full programme the following weekend. Not so sure if its still too soon (if not as soon as this desire...

Agreed. It'll be a long time before leisure events with mass crowds attending are able to be held, and even closed doors football might be a stretch for a while if there's still large clusters of cases and healthcare resources required for bigg...

There's legitimate talk Ashley might be about to sell Newcastle to a consortium largely lead by Saudi cash backed up by a number of UK-based business people, which would put Newcastle as one of the wealthiest clubs about. Though I'm aware if it...

Initially I was for just deciding the season using the current tables, but I'm aware that would just annoy a lot of people and lead to a lot of further arguing to serve nobody that well, particularly from anyone relegated in a close fight. My instin...

I haven't played FM since FM2015 but a part of me is legit tempted to get FM2020 just to play this. The Offensive is a great podcast.

BBC reporting both Euro 2020 and this summer's Copa America have both been postponed to 2021, with a football journo from The Independent tweeting that UEFA have June 27 as a provisional first date to reschedule the Champions League Final. I can...

Surprised it hasn't already happened in the UK tbf, given that it is the case everywhere else.

No solution to this crisis is a good one. Its all about picking the least shit one at this point.

So... leagues in Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Denmark and the USA have been suspended along with the previous ones in Italy & Switzerland, with the Champions League & Europa League stopping games and Euro 2020 in severe risk of postpo...

Middlesbrough, Stoke and Huddersfield all being in the Championship relegation battle has caught me by surprise, even if I'm aware all have by themselves had crap seasons. Think its safe to say that so far, Woodgate for Pulis at the Riverside hasn&...

Quite something the scoreline in this photo from 2015 was the same score of last Saturday's result. A result I'm still perplexed happened, even if I did think Liverpool's first PL defeat would come to a team outside the usual top 6.

Newcastle in the FA Cup quarters... Been far too fucking long since I could write that phrase.

Almost an old school thread this given most of the posts were still in 2014. Also quite something that back then, the vibe was "Anyone but Vettel & Red Bull" whereas now "Anyone but Hamilton & Mercedes" might be the common thou...

I can see this being tied up at the CAS for ages. I can also see a similar attempt to kick PSG out the Champions League, given I seem to recall similarly serious allegations were made by Football Leaks about their financial conduct. Whether it is acted o...

I'm still puzzled that a Newcastle fan decided the appropriate emotional response to our winner at Oxford on Tuesday - even if it was a great goal - was to drop his jeans and do a helicopter. Christ knows what he would've done if that was an FA...

Can't say I'm impressed a Newcastle starting 11 not too dissimilar to our normal league 11 failed to beat a L1 side who hadn't won in 4 and were missing key players, with Oxford also having the better chances.

Just had a flick through the whole thing - season 1 in the Champs League, winning the Carabao Cup in season 2. Excellent start to proceedings.

If Liverpool fail to win the league from this position, they're never going to win it. But I suspect given all the rest of them below are so dysfunctional that Liverpool can afford to let 2/3 games slip and nobody would emerge to make life more uncom...

West Ham let Moyes go to "move to the next level" under Pellegrini, and have now sacked Pellegrini to potentially bring back Moyes... so that's gone well. I know, meanwhile, its almost a cliché at this point to complain VAR is being...