FINANCIAL GUIDE TO FOOTBALL MANAGER 2011 How to create a stable club and Youth to Gold system

FINANCIAL GUIDE TO FOOTBALL MANAGER 2011

How to create a stable club

Hey guys, I have a rather special post for you today. Since Football Manager 2011s release, I have created many guides on tactics, cheap players, wonderkids and how to win. But it just dawned on me there is one vital aspect we all forget about, our clubs finances. I am the worst gamer when it comes to spending beyond my meansI just think, ahh the owner will take care of that! The allure of so many world class regens and strikers with 20 for pace and finishing etc just draws me in. Well today I want to share a few tips on how to keep the clubs bank balance in order. This Football Manager financial guide should help you see a nice white figure, as opposed to a nasty red one. Very soon I will be resuming my Newcastle United game. With this in mind I snook a quick peak at the in game finances. That certainly didnt make for happy reading. Despite winning lots of trophies and enjoying a full capacity stadium, my cash flow is grim and doesnt look like getting better any time soon. Getting carried away with my dreams of fame and glory meant losing track of the clubs bank balance which is now in the red. We also have 137 million of debt to clear by the year 2030ouch!! Well, over the last few days I have used a pen, paper, calculator and cup of coffee to get my long term plan together. Today, I want to use this Newcastle save as a perfect example on how you can turn your club into a profitable business. Dont expect easy answers, to spend ridiculous sums on players, or to offer Messi 300K a week ! It is impossible to have a healthy club and still enjoy that managing style. Youll need to change your ways, but I find this makes the game more realistic.

Income the happy part of finances?

First things first, lets take a look at the clubs income from last season and see how we can improve for next season. Just ignore anything that isnt boxed in red. These cannot be controlled by our actions and therefore are not worth talking about. Actually, we could ask the chairmen to increase stadium capacity, but this is a one time thing, so well leave it at that.

1. TV revenue This can be improved by making it to the top flight and also the Champions League. Somewhere around 15-20 million a season is offered from the Champions League depending on how far we progress. Because my Newcastle team are already going the distance in both league and Europe, I cant improve on this. But Im sure you can. I made 73 million plus last year and thats probably the maximum playing in England, this is what you could aspire to. 2. Players sold Part of the game none of us like, but one we should pay more attention too. Below are my five steps to make money from your players. Invest in your youth and training facilities. The better they are, the faster your players will develop and much better youth players will climb through the ranks. Sell any dead weight. Look through your squad, highlight any players that wont play or lack the potential to make it in your team and get rid of them. You can offload unwanted players by transfer listing them, then offer to clubs, still no luck then offer them for nothing and if all else fails just release the player on a free. You should be doing this every year! Send unused or young players out on loan and where possible charge clubs for this privilege. Buy players with potential for a good resale value, DONT JUST BUY 27 YEAR OLD PLAYERS THAT HAVE REACHED THEIR POTENTIAL!! I will elaborate on this while explaining expenses. Selling players could fill the largest part of your income pie, so always look to make moremoney on transfers than you spend. I made just under

7 million last season, not bad, but if Id followed the above and below steps it could have been much more. I WILL EXPLAIN HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY ON TRANSFERS THAN YOU SPEND IN PART 2! 3. Prize money This will vary depending on your division and level of club. My Newcastle side are battling in all competitions and getting into the Champions League final, therefore we make loads. Making the Champions League offers a huge windfall. Somewhere around 4 million can be earned just from reaching the group stages. Then you could make the same again by winning all your group games. Last season I made the final and earned a total of around 20 million from Champions League prize money.

Expenses where and how to cut back

Most of us ignore finances because we cant be bothered with tallying everything up and working out where its going wrong. Well I have spent a while looking through the potential pit falls within club expenses. Again ignore anything not highlighted within a red box.

1. Player wages The devil of football finances. If youre not careful these can spiral out of control. I started my Newcastle save with a wage bill of around 800K a week. Now my players wage bill totals a staggering 1.45 million a week. That is an increase of 650K within 4 years, how did this happen!! Simple really, I got greedy and wanted the best players available. Buying stars that werent too bothered by a move to Newcastle meant ridiculous wage demands. Below is what Im up against and how I can bring things back down. Again look at the red boxes and try to do a similar analysis of your first team

Do I really need 12 players with a key player status? No of course I dont, this is just what I assigned them to gain the signatures. This came at a cost, the average wage of a key player within myNewcastle squad is 73K a week!! A total of more than 873K a week, this is more than mostPremier League clubs spend on their entire squad. I aim to offload at least three of these so called key players over the next few seasons. Below is a list of my highest earners, the red boxes indicate which ones need offloading.

All four of the highlighted players were given inflated wages due to fear of losing them. In all reality, none are worth these extortionate wages. Steven Taylor threatened to leave with his contract running out, offering 110K was the only way to keep him. Afellay was offered such wages under a similar scenario and the list goes onBasically, stop and think if you really need to offer a player such wages, or you could end up like me.

My plan is to offload Afellay next year, and at the same time buy an under 21 to fill the gap. This new player should be on a maximum of 40K a week. I also want to sell Taylor ASAP, as I already have the players to back his departure. Enrique can be sold next season too as I have good enough cover for him. Then we have Dudu who can be sold straight away, he is surplus to requirements now. So taking all these sales into consideration as well as the replacement player wageswe can save 303K a week, which equals 14.5 million a year!! I seriously suggest you take 30 minutes to analyse your squads wage bill in a similar fashion, you may be shocked at what you see. 2. Bonuses I know offering a whopper bonus is the easy answer to good morale, but lets be sensible. I tend to offer high bonuses for the league and Champions League, but keep the domestic cups to medium. This isnt exactly money smart as the league and Europe cost more in squad bonuses than domestic cups. From now on I will offer a medium squad bonus in the league and Champions League, but up the domestic cup bonus to high. In theory this could save me around 4 million a year, maybe even more.

3. Signing on fees and renewals Another big expense as the agent and player tend to get greedy. The best way to avoid a big contract renewal signing on fee, is to offer the contract early. Maybe offer a player that is developing well a new contract 2-3 seasons before its expiry date. You will not save money by waiting for his contract to run down. Most players that are worthy keeping will just expect a bigger contract and signing on fee with every year that passes. So offer a new contract early and save some cash. As for new signings, you just need to be persistent. When considering their signing on fee demands, lower their initial request by 10%. seven times out of ten the new offer will be accepted. I paid 7.2 million for signing on fees last season. If I had used the 10% rule, I could have saved 720K. 4. Players bought The easy answer here is not to spend as much. But anyone who knows me, should expect a better guide than that. Please bare with me as I explain the best way to make money. OK, so let me ask a questionhow many times do you buy a player over the age of 24? Also how many times do you sell these players for more than you paid? I think I can answer that question and hopefully you see where Im going with this. Basically you need to buy players with a reasonable sell on value. What I mean is try to buy young players cheap, so you can sell them off between the age of 27-29 (their peek age) for a huge profit after theyve served a purpose. If you get organised, you should have the correct number of youth coming through to sell those older stars without losing quality. If you sell these stars just as theyve reached full potential, youll only miss two further

years of their best football, but will see a huge improvement financially. These extra funds could buy two or three amazing young prospects and the cycle goes on. Dont get me wrong, I know this is extremely difficult, but you cant expect to get rich by sitting around twiddling your thumbs. A great example is one of my first signings. I bought Sergio Araujo for 1.3 million, four years later he is worth 7.25 million. At the age of 24 the Argentine is almost surplus to requirements because of the clubs growth. I reckon I could sell him for 15 million, something I wouldnt have dreamed of until writing this guide. That is a profit of 13.7 million if I get a good enough offer. Below is a run down of my thought process. Every season look for a minimum of two under 21s for a maximum transfer fee of 5 million. These players should have the potential to be worth 8 million plus within 6 years. When you receive an offer too good to refuse, accept it. Other than that try to sell these players when they reach their peak, after about 6-8 seasons or before. Using this cycle every single season, will make you rich in the long run. After 6 seasons in game, you should be making a minimum of 15 million every season from transfers but probably more. Because you are bringing in new youth every season, there should always be someone waiting to take over from the key players you sell. Therefore no loss of quality. This is completely down to your judge of talent and management in terms of buying for the correct positions.

Conclusion How much money could I save

The answer here is a lot, but let me explain the figures. Below is how much I could save within the first two seasons by following the above guidelines (excluding the buying players with a sell on value rule.) Player wages savings a year = 14.5 million Squad bonus savings a year = 4 million plus Signing on fee savings a year = 1.5 million Total savings a year within first two seasons = 20 million Now lets look at how buying youngsters with a sell on value works in numbers. Remember this could take 5-6 years to see any rewards from. This is also based on buying at least two players under 21 with a big potential sell on value every season. You must also sell them after a maximum of 7-8 years. Lets also say you pay a maximum of 4 million per player, and then

manage to sell them for a minimum of 8 million 7-8 years later. This means you could make a minimum of 16 million every season after the first 5-6 seasons. Remember, the figures above are based on my Newcastle game. You may not make as much depending on your financial situation, stadium, level of football or in game time. I am already gaining the maximum from match day revenue, TV revenue and prize money but you could still increase your current income in these areas a lot more than myselfjust gaining Champions League football could earn an extra 25 million plus per season if youve not qualified yet. Equally, you may not have wasted money on wages like myself, and therefore wont save as much in that area by following this guide. However, I guarantee that you can save money from something within this guideif not, I dont know why youre reading it Only kidding.

Part 2 is a must read so dont miss it!!

During part two of this Football Manager financial guide, Ill be teaching you how to go beyond a stable club and get rich. It may be a little complicated and take some effort to put in place. But I promise if used correctly, it WILL work!! The post will be about buying youth with a sell on value, plus when and how to sell them while maintaining a quality starting XI. I have worked on a whole plan and cycle for this as well as a list of players with great potential sell on values to get you started. Part two will be tough to explain and structure. Therefore Ill base it on my plan with Newcastle so you can see clearly what is required. Until next time, thanks for reading.

FINANCIAL GUIDE TO FOOTBALL MANAGER 2011

Youth to Gold System (Y2G)
Hey guys, Im back with part 2 of my Football Manager financial guide. Let me start by saying thank you for the support and kind words, your comments from part 1 meant a lot.

OK, so part one covered all the basics. We looked at income, expenditure and a few other financial aspects. Then used my Newcastle save to analyze different ways of improving your clubs finances as well as secure the long term future. All fairly simple, well part two isnt such a walk in the park. While playing FM, I tend to succeed very quickly, but then see my club slowly decline below the level I have become accustomed to. This is partly down to finances and my owners getting sick of seeing red, but also poor squad management. Every season I expect to buy bigger and better players, understandable as my club keeps growing in stature. But after youve spent 15 million plus on one player, the price tags start to sore out of control. Before you know it, you are spending 60 million a year on just three players. Then as the seasons progress you lose track of which positions to buy for and just target the best players on the market. A few more years down the line and youre stuck with an old squad, or lacking in particular departments, or even in so muchdebt the chairmen wont offer 2 to buy a BLT sandwich from the cafeteria. Well today that stops!! Part one of this financial guide was created to teach you the basics on how to save money and create stability. Part two is not only to make you rich, but also keep tabs on some much needed squad management. Over the past few weeks I have been working on something called the youth to gold system. Before explaining my new system, we should establish a few ground rules. Firstly, this is not guaranteed to work and will come down to your skills as a scout and youth developer. Secondly, this system takes a lot of time and patience to implement, so dont expect any easy answers. Last of all, you must have completed the following stages before trying to implement my youth to gold system. Stage 1: Survive and build every club starts somewhere, whether it be the bottom division, a relegation threatened Premier League side or the best club in England. You must survive the early years, doing whatever is necessary to gain success and move forward. Even if this means ignoring your finances. You must buy the required players to move up the tableand gain that all important European status. Stage 2: Prepare for the future You should hopefully be moving up the table/leagues quickly. You must start to build a better future. This means getting the youth and training facilities upgraded ASAP. Also get the best possible backroom staff. Amazing coaches to train your squad and incredible scouts to find talented players are vital. Without these the system fails. Stage 3: Stabilize and secure When you have achieved European qualification and created a successful squad, we need to stabilize. This means following part one of this financial guide. Correct your wage budget, offload the over paid members and get your squad size

down to around 26 players. All the time upgrading your facilities and finding the best coaches/scouts available. Stage 4: Implement my youth to gold system When you have achieved Champions League status, your squad should be at a very high level. This means you shouldnt need to spend inflated prices for players over the age of 24. This is the perfect time to try my new system.

What is the youth to gold system?

Basically, its like playing chess. You need to assess the best time to sacrifice your top players. This means accepting big transfer offers for the greater good, like sacrificing your queen for check mate. Thomas Levin (FM Pundit) has this down to a tee within his Udinese save. However my youth to gold system is on a much bigger scale. We will use pre-defined selling dates for each player to plan the clubs future. By planning a big players departure, we can sign a cheaperwonderkid with enough time to develop him as a replacementthis is as opposed to panic buying when the likes of Afellay get too old, or are ready to be sold. On an even better note, because weve signed the wonderkid replacement young, he should hopefully be cheap. This will lead to a big profit when the wonderkid is finally sold. Hopefully you understand me so far and see a cycle developing.

Guidelines to follow
I know this system could get messy and disorganised, but below are the pointers you should follow and be strict with. If the system is to work, we must be buying youth at the right age, time and price. For the purpose of these guidelines, well say Im wanting to plan for the sale of Afellay and the purchase of his replacement. I should buy players under the age of 22, but preferably around the ages of 16-18. Each players transfer should not exceed 7 million, and players should have a potential sell on value of at least double that in six years time. I should plan for the new wonderkid to replace Afellay when he reaches 27-30 years old. This means Afellay will be around peak age and still worth a lot, but we wont be missing more than two of his best years. Afellay must still have two years running on his contract during the year I want to sell. This will avoid low transfer offers. The new wonderkid should be bought at least three years before Afellays departure. This is so I have time to develop him and nurture the youngster into Afellays role.

You need to follow these guidelines for every player. It will take a while to see the financial benefits, but they should be great. If you sign a 17 year old for 3 million, then develop him into a top class player. By the time he departs at 27-29 years old you could sell him for a massive profit. If you have followed the system correctly, his replacement will have been purchased at least three years ago and be ready to walk into the limelight without damaging the squads quality. Youll need a great eye for talent and the correct facilities/staff, but the youth to gold system will work if approached correctly.

Prototype the testing begins with Newcastle

Thats right friends, when my Newcastle game resumes, I will be testing the youth to gold system. Below is my squad and youll notice various different age groups for various different positions. This is because Ive been trying to build for the future already. The youth to gold system must be applied to every player. Therefore youll notice a planned departure for every squad member. This is the year I intend on selling the player. Obviously certain circumstances could change the preferred year, but its a good estimate. Youll also notice each departure is arranged for the players latter years (between 27-30 years old.) Name Position Ag Value e 30 28 28 28 27 27 27 Planned departure (now in 2014)

Vincent Enyea GK ma Gkhan Inler DM, M (C) Steven Taylor D (RC) Jos Enrique D/WB (L) Ibrahim Afellay M/AM (RLC) Martn Cceres SW, D (C) Sami Khedira DM, M (C) Danny Guthrie M (C) Danny D (R) Simpson M (L), AM (LC), Nicols Gaitn ST Micah Richards D (RC) Tim Krul GK Theo Walcott AM (R), ST Alberto Palosc ST hi Kieran Gibbs D/WB/M/AM (L) Gal Kakuta M/AM (RLC) D (C), DM, M Jack Rodwell (C) Mateo Musacc SW, D (C)

31 5.75M 5.25M 2015 6M 2014 6.25M 2015 11.5M 2016 4.6M 2015 5M 2016 3.5M 2015

27 3.4M 2015 26 8M 2016

26 5.5M 2017 26 3.3M 25 6.5M 2018 24 15M 2017 24 3.3M 2018 23 3M 2019 23 7.75M 2020 23 6.25M 2020

hio Danny Wilson D (LC) 22 Jack Wilshere M/AM (RLC) 22 M (R), AM (RC), Dudu 22 ST Sergio Araujo ST 22 Yaya Sanogo ST 21 Marco Verratti M/AM (C) 21 Phil Clark DM, M (LC) 19 Marcos Pereyr D (LC), WB (L) 18 a Marcelo SantosST 18 Luis HernndezM/AM (C), ST Peter Kalu D (C), DM, M (C)

26M 2022 6.5M 2021 6M 2014 7.25M 2015 8.5M 2022 4.6M 2020 3.4M 2023 2.2M 2023

2.3M 2024 12.25 18 2024 M 17 4.5M 2024

Based on the table above, I can work out when I need to be buying my replacements. ie Afellayleaves during 2016, but Ive already got the incredible Hernandez waiting at the age of 18. He will be 20 when Afellay is sold and ready to takeover. Remember my three year rule, each youngster must be bought at least three years prior to a current squad member been sold. E.g. Kieran Gibbs is scheduled to leave during 2018, therefore I need to get his replacement during 2015 so the youngster has time to develop.

How could this effect finances?

Simple, if you get organised and plan your squad management you wont be forced to buy older players at a huge price. Plus, by following my youth to gold system you shouldnt be paying more than 7 million per playerthen youll be selling them on at a later date for double the original price. Obviously I cant expect to just pay 7 million or under for every single player, but lets say I did. How would the transfer income and expenses look?? Lets fast forward to the year 2022. This should be around the time my first youth to gold signings are eventually sold. Lets pretend three of these players are scheduled to leave Saint James Park, one originally bought for 2m, another for 4m and the final player for 6m. Remember these players are aimed to sell for double their cost, which means an overall transfer income of 24 million. Now lets say we need to buy three new youngsters within the same year. The maximum fee should be 7 million, so a maximum of 21 million can be spent. Hence my transfers could pay for themselves.

I know what youre thinking, I hardly ever sell a player for double their original value. That could be because youre not selling them at the right time, age or when they have a reasonable contract length. But I share your concerns. The worst case scenario is you wind up selling players for a smaller profit, but the transfers should still pay for themselves if youre buying the players young enough and at the right price. Below are some players that I have seen sold for a huge profit. I have listed the value you can purchase each youngster for in 2010, as well as what Ive seen them sold for after their 25th birthday. This proves doubling your money is possible.

Name

Club

Position D AM (L), ST

Ag bought e for 18 6.5M 21 3M 5.5M 5M 4M 6M 3M 5.5M 5M 4.8M 6M 2.2M 5M 3M 3.8M 1.3 2M 425K

sold for 15M 12M 12M 14M 19M 10M 21M 12M 13M 14M 15M 25M 10M 11M 10M 10M 18M 15M 4.2M

Kyriakos Papadopo Schalke ulos Adam Hlousek Kaiserslautern AS Nancy Alfred NDiaye Lorraine Raphal Varane RC Lens Yaya Sanogo AJ Auxerre Rafael Toli Gois Leonel Galeano Independiente Sergio Araujo Boca Sbastien Corchia Le Mans FC Serge Aurier RC Lens Vaclav Kadlec Sparta Prague Romelu Lukaku Anderlecht Tom Cairney Hull Dennis Appiah AS Monaco FC Sime Vrsaljko Zezinho Lorenzo Crisetig Kevin Eyal Golasa Dinamo Bahia Inter Zaragoza M. Haifa

D , DM, M 20 4.2M D 17 ST 17 D 19 D 18 ST 18 D/WB 19 D/WB 17 AM (L), ST 18 ST 17 M 19 D (RC), WB 18 D/WB , DM, M 18 M/AM (LC) 18 DM, M 17 M (RC), AM 18 M/AM (RLC) 18

Conclusion
I accept you wont sell every single youth to gold type signing for double the pricebut by selling them at the right time you MUST make a profit at least. Now, when I say the right time, I mean if there is a good offer on the table 1-2 years before your planned selling date, accept it. If youve followed the guide, you will have an extremely talented youngster just one year away from been capable of filling the hole anyway. I just put the three year rule there as an example, you may want to change this. It all depends on your managing style and age of transfer targets. Some players need more time to fit into the slot than others. Please remember part two of this guide is a concept, not something that can be put in place and work straight away. I formulated this idea to try out myself and just wanted to share it with the FM community. You could use the structure of my youth to gold system, but generate your own version to suit your style. Just remember that buying replacements early, at a young age and a decent price are key. You should also make a big effort to sell your older players before the age of 30. I hope this post wasnt too complicated, I have redone it a few times to get the wording right. If you have any questions Im happy to help as always, but well soon see how this system worksIm getting close to resuming my Newcastle game and testing this youth to gold system. Until next time, thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments as always.