the most frustrating Footy manager game ever? The NEWCASTLE UNITED USERS GUIDE. updated (16/05/99) Version 3.03b update now analysed. CM3 is difficult, very difficult, at least it is for me it is . I used to be brilliant at the older versions of Championship manager, but the latest version is doing my head in, It was either bin the game or ask for some hints and tips. Apparently I am not alone in finding this game difficult to master, therefore I have put up this page not only to ask for advise but to share any info on it with others as frustrated as I am. Mail me with any good tips To start with I should point out that I don't want to manage Scunthorpe, Arsenal, Celtic or Boca juniors. I want to manage Newcastle United, so if you have any advise on other teams, thanks but no thanks, This a Newcastle United only page. When I first started I tended to be in the last 3 or 4,'You would start to win a few then along comes Arsenal and stuffs you Six Nil. Now though things are improving, I managed to get to second spot in the January of the first season, then hit a bad spell and got sacked when I was in 7th spot. Hmmmmm This really was harder than I thought. then I was told about the latest patch available from http://www.cm3.com, It's on the downloads page and is called 3.03beta. It automatically unzips itself and replaces files in your CM3 directory. The first thing you notice when you run the game is that you can now remove the disk. this was great news for me as for some reason I wasn't getting any commentaries ( I had the speed on slow and the sound turned on and Direct X six is installed but still no commentaries)'I wouldn't really want to listen to the commentaries as i prefer to listen to a bit of music while playing the game. It would be interesting to know if anyone else experience this problem. I have also found that the game often closes down for no apparent reason , quite often after I beat Man U 9 -0. It just closes down without saving the result, does it happen to you? Best thing is to put it on AUTO SAVE WEEKLY. The next thing and very importantly for newcastle united fans is that "The Board don't expect a Euro qualification" at the end of the first season. They will make do with a reasonable league position, this means that you can take your time on the transfer market and get mid table the first season before putting in a title challenge in the second year. The downside of this is that you have a little less money to start with and most of the attributes of the coaches have ben downgraded, therefore search for some better ones such as Klinsman before you start a game. A lot of the players attribute have also changed, mostly for the worse. Pearce , Albert and Perez have gone down, whereas Harper, Domi have gone up, Hamman can shoot and Solano is now an attacking midfielder. The following guide refers to Both (or all ) of the game versions. Remember though I AM NO EXPERT, I just pass on the info to you if it seems to make my team better. Formation. The two most used tactics by other premiership managers are the basic 4 - 4 -2 with attacking wingers or 3- 5 -2. I have tried 3 defenders and against all other teams tend to lose all of the time. Others say that they can do well with 3 or even two at the back, so perhaps formation is not that important Perhaps my defenders that I start with are crap?, then again all of your coaches that you start with prefer a 4 -4 -2 . so perhaps this is best. Overall I have been getting better results playing 4 -4 - 2 with a diamond shape midfield. This consists of one central defensive midfielder (Hamman) pushed back and a single attacking midfielder (Maric) playing directly behind the two forwards (Shearer and a new Blerk), along with two wide men.( the problem here is Newcastle don't have any wide men) This formation was sent in by A Mr keegan who says that the only thing wrong with this is you get beaten 4 -3 every now and then. I have found a useful formation to play against BETTER teams than yourself is to have a sweeper, virtually on top of the keeper, two wide full backs, 2 Central defensive midfielders, set to Man Marking. A central midfielder on the centre spot. Two wide men on the half way line , an offset attacking midfielder further forward and a lone striker to the other side up front. This is a good way to GET A DRAW, which is useful in the second leg of a cup game or against one of the top two teams that you would expect get thrashed by. This tactic was sent in by a Mr Dalglish who says it was quite successful for him although he used it against every club above him in the league causing him to narrowly escape relegation. Players that you start with. Forget what you think of the actual players in real life, they have little bearing on the actual Newcastle players as they are. Strikers. Ferguson wins lots of headers but is a waste of space, I can't ever remember him scoring, Even Andersson is better, Try to get rid of both of them by reducing the asking price. Ferguson normally gets £3 million after a few months. A new striker alongside Shearer is a must (see players to buy). Shearer takes a while to get into his stride but stick with him , he is easily sold , but not easily replaced. He doesn't like to be substituted or dropped, stick with him even if he isn't scoring. Promote Coppinger into the full team and give him an odd outing, he will become a good player. Hamilton Arnison and Serrant can be put into the reserves as they don't amount to much. Maric plays quite well along side Shearer. Defenders. Recall Pistone and Albert from loan they are no use at another club You may need them in the first season Left back Domi seems slightly better than Pistone, in the newer CM3 who in turn is better than Griffin who has been programmed as a left back. Domi tends to tire so Pistone is good as a sub. Right Back Barton is quite good, but to raise funds only Barton and Solano tend to be quickly sold so he may have to go to give you some spending money. Charvet is as good as Barton but tends to get injured It's risky selling Barton but like I say easy money and replacements that are better and cheaper can be found without much of a problem. Central defenders get reasonable stats when used as right or left back but again tend to let players get past them to score. Central Defence sees Dabizas as the best of the bunch although Howey, Pearce and Even Pistone are OK in Central defence , they all tend to get reasonable ratings but let in a stack of goals so perhaps replace them all eventually. Albert can fetch over £ 3 million if Transfer listed after his recall. Goalkeeper Shay Given has good stats, but again leaks quite a few goals, and gets sent off too much. Harper actually does better than Given in the short term so far he is as good if not better than Given although you wouldn't think so looking at his Statistics. Perez is crap, but will fetch a million or more, some french clubs will snap him up early on if you transfer list him . Midfield Newcastle are lacking in wide men, no one has real pace or good passing abilities On the left Speed is better than Glass, Maric is about the best attacking midfielder scoring a few when used just behind the front two and even scoring from central midfield when used in a flat midfield. On the right I reckon lee is the best although Hamman does OK there. Hamman is best as a defensive midfielder with Howey used there when Hamman is not available. They both seem to tire easily so look out for a good central DMC with high stamina Solano the other DMC (in early versions) never does anything for me (even as an attacking midfielder in newer versions) and is quite easily sold for £5 million. Georgiados, seems to have a problem with fitness , Unfortunately I can never get rid of him. Ketsbaia doesn't seem to do anything either. Two good wide men could be the answer to my lack of supply, but as yet I haven't found a good enough winger that wants to join Newcastle. PRE SEASON. If you are going to lose a few games at the start of the season they might as well be Pre season friendlies. You will have to go to competitions and arrange some friendlies as Newcastle seem to have all of August unused, Normally you can get in a midweek and end of week game, but make sure in tackling you set it to easy and use lots of players each game to get as many fitter than they other teams. when the season starts remember to take tackling off easy, I use HARD tackling throughout the season. (but I ain't finished a season yet) Selling Players You can See Ruud Gullits problem, No one wants our rejects, even if the prices are reduced. The most sellable appear to be Shearer (£20 m) , Barton(£4mill), Solano(£5.5 mill) and Perez. (£1.5 mill) Unfortunately if you have £10 million in the kitty to start with then sell Barton for £4 million, you don't have £14 million to spend. So It's best to Buy a player first then sell one then buy and so on. One season I sold A couple of players including Shearer off pre season and should have had over £25 million to spend. the maximum I had to spend was £14 million. I bought a new striker for around £5million thinking I may still have £14 Million, nope it was £9 million. Also the lower your league position the less money they give you to spend. Buying players Best thing to do is Spend your money on ROBBIE KEANE from Wolves, then put Solano and Barton up for sale. use Robbie Keane as an attacking midfielder , You then have to wait until Barton or Solano is sold then go for Shearer's partner. (in the meantime use Maric)  So far I have used Sergii Rebrov as a striker, He is better than Ferguson and Adde, He costs around £5 million from Kyiv but not brilliant Romario is often seen scoring against you, he looks cheap at around £2 million and is in my latest team although he score for other teams, he ain't too hot at Newcastle when the other Barton /Solano is sold you can look for a decent central defender. I tried to get Wimbledon's defenders but didn't have the money. instead I settled for FLYNN from Stockport, he goes for a million but if you don't snap him up some other big club does, He is better than any of your existing central defenders.  . A good Goalie is Paraguayan Chilavert he ends up in other teams and does rather well I have yet to buy him. A good tactic in buying is probably looking to see which other teams are buying who then get them first. When selling try clicking once on the after 10 appearances box IF A PLAYER NOT ON THE TRANSFER LIST IS APPROACHED. I had an offer for "£17 million for Shearer I refused and got an offer from Roma for £20 million..... kept him. Speed is also wanted by others. the £8 million you get will buy a much better midfielder with better pace and passing ability Captain make sure a player with 20 influence is the captain, It you don't change it at the beginning then the goalie is auto selected. Make sure you change it to SHEARER or LEE or Flynn if you buy him. Training I would like to know what to do with the coaches, all of them have all of the option boxes checked, Is it best to uncheck the things that they are not good at ? Two of them make good Goalkeeping coaches So do you uncheck most of the other options? replacing them with the likes of Jurgen Klinsman and Baresi seems like a good Idea, I haven't tried this yet. All your players start off on General training. I have started changing the training routine giving the strikers shooting practice etc. the two unused ones are edited to light training and Intensive training. When viewing a players statistics, if there are RED numbers in his row of attributes then he is over training and should be put on the new light training box that you made, If his attributes are yellow then put him on intensive training. Is this right? can someone add to this please. Also try putting defenders on fitness and midfielders on tactics and skill, this is supposed to work. Team instructions Passing Style what is the best passing style to use for NEWCASTLE ? Short and mixed have been suggested. SHORT passing seems to work well with most people. Tackling, is it best to risk a few injuries and cards by selecting hard? I am on HARD tackling and haven't had too many cards .... yet. Pressing, haven't tried this.has anyone? Offside trap. Works, as far as i can see you get goals against disallowed more Counter attacks? Yes or no? Most say YES so i will try this. Free kicks, It best to select the likes of Hamman and Shearer for your FREE KICKS , For corners is Hamman the man? Player instructions. Marking is the only one that I have bothered with so far. I have found that putting two Central defenders onto man to man and the others and midfielders (not the ones in the opposition half) onto Zonal marking is a good way of reducing goals scored against you Creating or modifying tactics, Too Bloody complicated , Do I need to do anything here? Picking the team. It's not to wise to play a player that isn't fully fit of almost fit, The more tired he becomes the more likely he is to have an injury. When the player gets below 75% during a game I tend to take them off. Is this the right thing to do? The likes of Shearer's moral plummets if you do this whilst others such as Speed don't seem to mind much. Is it best not to use all your Subs and not to tinker with positions during the game? Does playing the same team, providing they are fit, week in week out.do any good? One thing I will be trying is to put the likes of Shearer on Goalkeeper practice, That way you could use all 3 outfield subs knowing that if the goalie was injured then one of your outfield players could stand in if your Goalie was injured or sent off. I was 2 - 0 up to Spurs when Given was sent off, All the outfield players have 1 as their handling number, Spurs scored 3 in the last 10 minutes despite pulling everyone back to defend. Players have a lot of hidden attributes such as likelihood to be sent off and so forth, it would be a good idea to make some notes on individuals that aren't listed. I have found Shearer and Maric take time to get goals. Given and Dabizas get sent off more than they should, have you come across any hidden attributes with any of the player? Summary Like I said earlier on I am pretty crap at this game, Over the last few weeks I have become slightly better, I hate being a KENNY DALGLISH, I want to be a KEVIN KEEGAN Obviously there are many factors to achieving this, Some useful pointers in managing THIS TEAM would be greatly appreciated. mail me with anything concerning Success with CM3 AND Newcastle United. I want to be a winner. CHEATING  I could find a cheat if I wanted to ..Indeed a few editors have been sent to me that I don't want to use. If you have an Editor, why not put it to good use by leaving your team as it is and making the likes on MAN U and Sunderland crap, thats much more fun than tinkering with your own team. It is also possible to win all the time by saving the game after every match as "**** win" if you win , or "***Lose" if you lose, then restarting and selecting ***win" but this isn't the way to do it so I prefer just to go on till I get depressed then re start again .But like I say thanks to your E mails I might just win the league soon. Thanks again to those that have mailed me so far, I hope that you learn from this page, Please mail me with any modifications that you think others would benefit from. I will share any winning strategies with everyone by updating this page every few weeks