fflix
09-26-2005, 05:24 PM
Hi,
It looks like my team is in a bit of trouble and I’m looking for advice.
Here is some background on my team (8223): I started out during the hattrick craze over two years ago in D5. Since the beginning I have been a playmaker trainer. A few seasons ago I decided to train my trainees up to high levels and switch to training scoring. At the time I thought this was a good idea because 3 of the 4 trainees I planned to keep were from the USA and I would be able to field a strong midfield during league and cup games. During the next few seasons I made minor improvements to the team, because I did not have the training profits to make solid upgrades, but I was still able to win fairly consistently due to the midfield. My team had a weak defense, formid keeper and excellent defenders at best.
As last season came to an end, the trainee pop I was looking for came and I began to make the transition to becoming a scorer trainer. I sold off 2 of my 6 midfield trainees and 2 of my wingers. I then bought 5 scoring trainees, using a forward already on my team to be my sixth trainee, since he was still of trainable age. I also bought a brilliant defender and backup goalie. My current goalie is injured for several weeks and my other backup goalie (my first transfer transaction) is getting up there in age.
Unexpectedly I promoted to Division 3, I guess it shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise because I was in the lead most of the season but I didn’t really think about it. So basically I promoted with an unbalanced team, strong midfield with weak offense and even weaker defense (with my starting keeper injured for 3 weeks). The offense problem was rectified through my new scoring trainees.
The problem with my team is that I underestimated the wage effects of having 1 magical, 2 mythical, and 1 e-t midfielders. What magnifies the issue is that I probably will do average at best in my current league, which will result in poor attendance. Even with a pretty good crowd this past league game I only broke even. My team expenses this last week was 611k, while my sponsor revenue was 158k.
In retrospect I probably should have either sold my best midfielder (magical, but unfortunately my lone international midfielder) and kept my 5th best midfielder instead or spent less money on trainees to spend more on improving my defense. I decided not to improve the defense as much, because any changes I would have made would have been more temporary. I wanted to keep a 4th midfielder around to play winger towards the middle and sub for injured/bad form midfielders.
As it stands, it looks like if I don’t make any changes soon, my team will go into debt. I currently have 1million in the bank. Should I sell my magical midfielder, using the proceeds to buy a keeper? Or should I wait for my current keeper to come back and see if I can be more competitive. In a panic move, I’ve already listed my midfielder, albeit at a high price so he will most likely not sell. I guess if it really comes down to it, I can sell even more of my midfielders and buy lower skilled ones. My original goal was to not have to worry about midfielders for several seasons, but it looks like my plan will not even make it past the first season. Making the sell decision is hard for me right now because I’m semi-attached to these players since they’ve been with the team so long.
How do upper division teams make enough money to support the wages of good players? Sponsor revenue does not come close to meeting wages.
If you’ve made it all the way down here, thanks for reading so far and for any advice.
It looks like my team is in a bit of trouble and I’m looking for advice.
Here is some background on my team (8223): I started out during the hattrick craze over two years ago in D5. Since the beginning I have been a playmaker trainer. A few seasons ago I decided to train my trainees up to high levels and switch to training scoring. At the time I thought this was a good idea because 3 of the 4 trainees I planned to keep were from the USA and I would be able to field a strong midfield during league and cup games. During the next few seasons I made minor improvements to the team, because I did not have the training profits to make solid upgrades, but I was still able to win fairly consistently due to the midfield. My team had a weak defense, formid keeper and excellent defenders at best.
As last season came to an end, the trainee pop I was looking for came and I began to make the transition to becoming a scorer trainer. I sold off 2 of my 6 midfield trainees and 2 of my wingers. I then bought 5 scoring trainees, using a forward already on my team to be my sixth trainee, since he was still of trainable age. I also bought a brilliant defender and backup goalie. My current goalie is injured for several weeks and my other backup goalie (my first transfer transaction) is getting up there in age.
Unexpectedly I promoted to Division 3, I guess it shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise because I was in the lead most of the season but I didn’t really think about it. So basically I promoted with an unbalanced team, strong midfield with weak offense and even weaker defense (with my starting keeper injured for 3 weeks). The offense problem was rectified through my new scoring trainees.
The problem with my team is that I underestimated the wage effects of having 1 magical, 2 mythical, and 1 e-t midfielders. What magnifies the issue is that I probably will do average at best in my current league, which will result in poor attendance. Even with a pretty good crowd this past league game I only broke even. My team expenses this last week was 611k, while my sponsor revenue was 158k.
In retrospect I probably should have either sold my best midfielder (magical, but unfortunately my lone international midfielder) and kept my 5th best midfielder instead or spent less money on trainees to spend more on improving my defense. I decided not to improve the defense as much, because any changes I would have made would have been more temporary. I wanted to keep a 4th midfielder around to play winger towards the middle and sub for injured/bad form midfielders.
As it stands, it looks like if I don’t make any changes soon, my team will go into debt. I currently have 1million in the bank. Should I sell my magical midfielder, using the proceeds to buy a keeper? Or should I wait for my current keeper to come back and see if I can be more competitive. In a panic move, I’ve already listed my midfielder, albeit at a high price so he will most likely not sell. I guess if it really comes down to it, I can sell even more of my midfielders and buy lower skilled ones. My original goal was to not have to worry about midfielders for several seasons, but it looks like my plan will not even make it past the first season. Making the sell decision is hard for me right now because I’m semi-attached to these players since they’ve been with the team so long.
How do upper division teams make enough money to support the wages of good players? Sponsor revenue does not come close to meeting wages.
If you’ve made it all the way down here, thanks for reading so far and for any advice.