FM2005: a frog in the Premiership

[FrogMan]

This dynasty is the continuity of the one and only FM2005 career I have played since getting the game on November 15, a couple weeks after it was released. It started unpatched and has now been patched twice

It all first started in 2004-05 with Luton Town (see FM2005: a frog at Kenilworth Road), from where I eventually got sacked after 4 years of fun and a half year of nightmare

I went on to get a second job, this time with the Queens Park Rangers (see FM2005: a frog at Loftus Road). They were in the English Championship when I got there, we got demoted after my first half season there and my reporting picked up at the start of my first full season at the helm of the team, now down to League One level. We dominated the league that season and promoted to the Championship, where we had a heck of a start to the season, going 22 games without defeat to start it off. We slowed down a bit, eventually finishing 3rd after the regular season, missing out on an automatic promotion in the last game of the season. We then went on to the playoffs, which we won to finally allow us to promote to the Premiership. Here we are, going to the Premiership, bringing Premier football to Loftus Road for the first time since the 1995/96 season, just one season removed from being down to League One level.

To be perfectly honest, I'm a bit nervous about taking this big plunge. I'm sort of a newbie in all of this CM/FM world. I played CM4 a little last Summer, and that was the first version of CM I'd ever owned/played. I first played with Luton Town in League One. I started this career again with Luton Town in League One, we had a stint in the Championship and came back down, crashing to heart, all this time with very modest transfer and wage budgets. Then I went to Q.P.R. maybe with a bit better transfer/wage budgets, but that much more. This time, I'll have to deal with players that have much bigger wage demands, that are worth more, and that are usually better in skills than the kids I used to pick up on free transfers left and right. It should be interesting, that's the least I could say, if not for you, at least for me it'll be

All that being said, I can't guarantee we'll remain in the Premiership for a long time but we'll fight with everything we got. Right now, we're guaranteed one season (they've never demoted a team in mid-season have they? ) and I hope to survive that first season and build from there...

The date is June 6, 2010, and this is where the story picks up...

Hope you'll enjoy the read!
FM

[terpkristin]

Woohoo, I've made the move!
Lookin' forward to it, FM.

/tk

[mrkilla22]

Goodluck in the Premiership! Have fun!

[thetrain]

congrats with the promotion FM, and good luck with battling in PL!

[Desnudo]

Congratulations Froggy! A few loans and some bargain signings and I'm sure you'll be fine.

[robbgmaier]

I recommend you just send the dogs after chelsea players going for some more 8 month injuries

good luck

[FrogMan]

Thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Congratulations Froggy! A few loans and some bargain signings and I'm sure you'll be fine.

bargain signings, yeah, I'd like that. Hopefully I can find my next Keigan Parker, or my next Jeppe Lund Curth or my next Tom Howell, well you catch my drift

Loans, well I'm having a hard time with those. I don't have the reflexe to offer to loan a player when he's transfer listed by his team. Maybe I'll develop that instinct out of need

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by robbgmaier

I recommend you just send the dogs after chelsea players going for some more 8 month injuries

good luck

LOL! that's an idea

And that's another thing that kind of feels weird about being in the Premiership. I feel kind of intimidated by the big name teams, like I'm a kid in the big league now... Just like I was intimidated by having to play two Premiership demotees in my first 3 games of last season in the Championship. Thing is, we came out of these games with 3 wins

FM

[Galaxy]

Good luck Froggie. I just got my new blazin laptop, downloaded the 5.0.5 patch, and will set up a game tonight, and start my real venture. Hopefully I'll get a dynasty together.

[FrogMan]

June 6, 2010
This is it, the official beginning of the Summer program. I have set everybody to the "resting" schedule as far as training goes.

I'll probably do some cleaning of my U18 candidates, for now they've all been moved to either the Senior squad, or the reserves squad, in preparation of the possible promotion of a new class of kids.

I'm also sending my scouts left and right, myself scouring through the list of players available, either transfer listed, or coming up with unprotected contracts, since I've only got $750k to spend on the market. For now, I'm having a hard time finding anything really much better than what's already on my squad. That's another problem I have right now. I've grown to like these guys. Heck, they've pulled me through two very nice seasons so far. Guys that were there before I got here, like Big Dan Shittu, Nigel Quashie, Marc Bircham, and guys I've brought on, like Keigan Parker, Jeppe Lund Curth (who's still 7 months from coming back though), Andrew Johnson. Some of them I feel just need to get a little better to have a very bright future, like the aforementionned AJ, or even John Davies, even at only 18 years of age. I'm a bit sentimental with this and it will take a player who's clearly better than what I have for me to make a move...

Speaking of good player, I see one 28yo Brazilian DM C, currently playing in Germany. Name is Fabio Rochemback and he looks very, very solid all around. Valued at $8.6M and would be available on a Bosman type transfer. The good thing is he's "only" asking for $24.5 with a 750k signing fee for a 2 years deal. I say "only" since most of the players I think would be difference makers as new signee/transfers are all asking for weekly wages of upward of $35k, while my team board will not allow me to offer more than $28k. My assistant believes he would become an essential member of our first team. While I don't always listen to what he says, it's not often that the words "essential member" appear in his assessment of a possible signing of mine. Usually it turns around "useful" or "active", when they're not called "not worthwhile", but most of the time for the latter, I agree with him Anyway, I ask my scouts for a report on him.

I transfer list Chris Day, asking $500k for the experienced keeper valued at $700k. He's one of the latest to want clarification about his role at the club...

I offer Scott Blake to a few clubs. I'm asking $1.8M for the 18yo midfielder valued at $2.4M

I offer Mark Taylor around, to many clubs. I ask $60k for the 19yo midfielder valued at $120k.

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Good luck Froggie. I just got my new blazin laptop, downloaded the 5.0.5 patch, and will set up a game tonight, and start my real venture. Hopefully I'll get a dynasty together.

Thanks. I got the email notification but it doesn't show your signature. I was like "who's Galazy???" Sweet news about your laptop, have fun with the game, it's simply mind blowing

FM

[FrogMan]

June 8, 2010
Here's a quick overview of who's on the roster right now, sorted by player's value. This mostly serves as an example of how much a club's reputation, or the league it plays in, is important to a player's reputation from which value is a byproduct.

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Nat	Age	Value
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	ENG	20	$8M
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	DEN	26	$6.2M
FC	Wnt	Keigan Parker	S C	SCO	28	$5.6M
-		Ben Watson	M C	ENG	24	$5.4M
MR		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	ENG	24	$5.2M
-		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	ENG	19	$4.8M
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	NGA	29	$4.4M
-	Unh	Justin Wall	F LC	ENG	17	$3.6M
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	SCO	31	$3.6M
ML		Tom Howell	D/DM L	ENG	18	$3.4M
-	Inj	Craig Crane	D R	ENG	20	$3.2M
-		Chris Chapman	M LC	ENG	18	$3.2M
MC		Marc Bircham	DM C	CAN	32	$3M
S3	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	ENG	29	$2.8M
-	Unh	Darren Evans	D C	ENG	19	$2.8M
-		Scott Blake	M C	ENG	18	$2.4M
-	Req	Mike Cook	M C	ENG	17	$2.2M
DR	Unh	John Davies	D R	ENG	18	$1.95M
-	Wnt	Scott Donnelly	AM RC	ENG	22	$1.9M
S1	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	ENG	21	$1.85M
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	DEN	23	$1.65M
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	ENG	25	$1.55M
-	Unh	Peter Till	M L	ENG	25	$1.5M
DC		Matthew Bates	D LC	ENG	23	$1.45M
-	Unh	Nathan Jameson	M RLC	ENG	25	$1.2M
S4		Ricky Hanson	D/DM/F RC	ENG	22	$1.1M
-	Wnt	Michael Parker	AM RC	ENG	18	$1.1M
-	Unh	Joe Marshall	GK	ENG	18	$1M
-	Unh	Michael Synott	D RLC	IRL	23	$1M
S2		Lee Mansell	AM C	ENG	27	$850K
-	Lst	John Boyle	DM RC	SCO	26	$800K
S5	Unh	John Oster	AM RL	WAL	31	$750K
-	Lst	Chris Day	GK	ENG	34	$700K
-	Trn	Lee Cook	AM L	ENG	27	$420K
-	Req	Iván Kaviedes	S C	ECU	32	$150K
-		Mark Taylor	D/DM RLC	ENG	19	$120K
-	Lst	Matt Matthews	S C	ENG	20	$100K
-	Wnt	Gino Padula	D/DM L	ARG	33	$80K
-	Lst	Craig Birch	GK	ENG	19	$60K

Some players, like Andrew Johnson, have seen their values take huge jumps (AJ went from approx. 6.6M to 8M) while not playing amazingly better in the end of the season than during the season. Same goes for players like Lee Mansell on a much smaller scale. He was valued at around $100k all season long last season. He's now valued at $850k, wow...

Some other players have seen their value skyrocket simply because they have been huge part of our success last season. Best example of that are Jeppe Lun Curth, and maybe even more Keigan Parker. I pointed that out in the other thread, but Parker for one saw his value jump from around $1M to $5.6M. Most of this is probably due to him being in the spotlight by scoring more than 20 goals last season, that helps...

Finally, there are some nice kids in there. Again, AJ is high on that list, but at 20, we can't really consider him a kid anymore. By kid, Matt Cross is a nice one, but I'm even more impressed by promising striker Justin Wall, who at 17 years old is already valued at $3.6M. He gained tons of value following his loan spell at Cheltenham, compared to another kid, Tom Howell, who gained his value early on and could be on the verge of exploding if he gets more playing time with the first team. Chris Chapman is another young chap who's got a bright future ahead of him, as does John Davies, whom I find a bit undervalued, but that's mostly because he only had 5 appearances with the senior squad all season long last season...

FM

[FrogMan]

June 9, 2010
The 2010 World Cup has started. I usually don't pay much attention to international competition, although, it is the World Cup, so I may. I'll at least take a look at how my players are performing. To my knowledge, only two Rangers are playing in the World Cup this time around: Marc Bircham with Canada (Canada qualified for the WC?!? That's gotta be a bug, quick, somebody ping Marc Vaughan!!! ) and Danny Shittu with Nigeria.

Barrow offers to loan Michael Parker, a kid who was on our U18 squad all of last season, for 3 months. Who would loan a player for three months on June 9??? Loan would end on September 9... oh well, they would pay 100% of his tiny wage, so I accept.

June 10, 2010
Nobody wants of Scott Blake. I kind of expected it, I may offer him around a little later on, probably for a smaller fee with some future sale percentage...

June 12, 2010
Michael Parker has no intention to go on loan at Barrow.

I see that Everton is now scouting Danny Shittu. I'm sure they understand that I see Big Dan as possibly the toughest player to replace on my squad. When he's in there, we have something special on our defensive line, something I can't put my finger on, but we're definitely better with him than without him...

June 13, 2010
Michael Synott requests to be transfer listed. I grant him his request. Valued at $1M, I ask $900k for him. I may possibly offer him around for a much lower price though. He never got it going with us...

Danny Shittu played well for Nigeria in the WC. He got rated at 7 in the 0-0 draw of Nigeria against the Czech Republic.

June 14, 2010
Marc Bircham acted as the captain for Canada and played well, getting rated at 7 in Canada's 0-3 loss against Brazil.

June 15, 2010
My scouts get back to me on Fabio Rochemback, among others. I gotta say I sent two of my scouts to the World Cup, maybe they could come back with some unknown superstar, either on an unprotected contract, or somebody playing on a small club somewhere and I could land him, who knows... Back to Rochemback, the first news is awesome. Both scouts think he would instantly command a place on our first team. However, they also both think it would be very unlikely that he could get a work permit in the foreseeable future, bummer...

Following that report, I realized that I've spent a week looking at possible players, and I've not found much that is either better than what we have, or that is affordable to us, poor Rangers. It also hits me that now that we're in the Premiership, the top division in England, we'll have to abide by the transfer windows... hrm, that's something I'll have to keep in mind...


FM

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Thanks. I got the email notification but it doesn't show your signature. I was like "who's Galazy???" Sweet news about your laptop, have fun with the game, it's simply mind blowing

FM

Hmmm.I got it set-up to show my sig. It will be fun to read how you handle trying to build from the ground in the Premiership, and seeing how Doc can keep the United on top of the Premiership. Can you set-up it up to minimize or half-screen the game, and have Word open in another?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Hmmm.I got it set-up to show my sig. It will be fun to read how you handle trying to build from the ground in the Premiership, and seeing how Doc can keep the United on top of the Premiership. Can you set-up it up to minimize or half-screen the game, and have Word open in another?

no, no, I see your signature in here, but it's not visible on the email notification, even though I get the text of your post, and the name of the poster. For example, here's the text I just received as a notification of this post you just made:

Hello FrogMan,
Galaxy has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - FM2005: a frog in the Premiership - in the Dynasty Reports forum of Front Office Football Central.

This thread is located at:
http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=37720&goto=newpost
Here is the message that has just been posted:

***************
Hmmm.I got it set-up to show my sig. It will be fun to read how you handle trying to build from the ground in the Premiership, and seeing how Doc can keep the United on top of the Premiership. Can you set-up it up to minimize or half-screen the game, and have Word open in another?
***************
There may be other replies also, but you will not receive any more notifications until you visit the forum again.

Yours,
Front Office Football Central team

As you can see, I get the text of your post, just without the signature...

As for having Word (or notepad) opened while playing the game, I'd rather not. There have been some weird things that have happened in the past with my computer setup. My PC is only an Athlon 2000 (1.67Ghz) with only 256Mb of memory and while FM2005 runs just fine with the leagues I've got selected (England only from Conference North/South and up), it's not the best to have something else open at the same time. Weird thing that happened in the past was while saving a screenshot with IrfanView. It saved all right, but when I tried to go back to the game, it would not go back. The game was there at the bottom of the screen, on the status bar (or whatever it is called) but I just could not get back to it. I ended up having to kill the process, losing the one match I had played in that session. No need to tell you that I now get a bit nervous whenever I do screenshots or when I have another app open while playing the game...

I like writing down notes, most of the time cryptically, and then add some meat around the bone. I understand that it may turn off some people to sometimes read after the fact, but, heh, that's how I'm having fun, tons of it actually Hope you, and many more, will keep on visiting, should be an interesting season, especially if we can have a good start to the season...

FM

[Galaxy]

Thanks, I was wondering how you write the dynasty. Now, when you open the game, it says, "Version 5.0.5" at the top of the screen, that means it has the lastest patch, correct? Also, how the MLS now, with the patch?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Thanks, I was wondering how you write the dynasty. Now, when you open the game, it says, "Version 5.0.5" at the top of the screen, that means it has the lastest patch, correct? Also, how the MLS now, with the patch?

Yeah, about how I write the dynasty, it's mostly writing down notes on a 5"x8" notepad, since it fits nicely between my mousepad and the keyboard I print the lineup screen prior to every game, and league tables every now and then. When something happens that I'd like to comment about, say a question from the media, or some manager mind games, I'll save a screen shot from the inbox message I get in-game, and I only writed down "media question, screen" to remind me to go take a look at the screenie. I always name my screenshots starting with the date (aammdd) and a name that reminds me what it's about, say "100523jdavies.jpg" was the player profile of John Davies on May 23, 2010. That way, they all sort by date (year, month, day) and within a day, by subject... I'm anal retentive like that

Yes, if it says "5.0.5" on top, you're patched, at least I hope so since that's what my games says

The MLS, I got no clue, maybe someday I'll start something with it, but now I'm playing with only England on...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

June 6, 2010
This is it, the official beginning of the Summer program. I have set everybody to the "resting" schedule as far as training goes.

I'll probably do some cleaning of my U18 candidates, for now they've all been moved to either the Senior squad, or the reserves squad, in preparation of the possible promotion of a new class of kids.

I'm also sending my scouts left and right, myself scouring through the list of players available, either transfer listed, or coming up with unprotected contracts, since I've only got $750k to spend on the market. For now, I'm having a hard time finding anything really much better than what's already on my squad. That's another problem I have right now. I've grown to like these guys. Heck, they've pulled me through two very nice seasons so far. Guys that were there before I got here, like Big Dan Shittu, Nigel Quashie, Marc Bircham, and guys I've brought on, like Keigan Parker, Jeppe Lund Curth (who's still 7 months from coming back though), Andrew Johnson. Some of them I feel just need to get a little better to have a very bright future, like the aforementionned AJ, or even John Davies, even at only 18 years of age. I'm a bit sentimental with this and it will take a player who's clearly better than what I have for me to make a move...
FM

I think that sentimentality will go out the window once you find out who can play at this level and who can't. It really isn't fun watching players you like get roasted on the pitch. Of course your lack of transfer funds means you are sentimental by default.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I think that sentimentality will go out the window once you find out who can play at this level and who can't. It really isn't fun watching players you like get roasted on the pitch. Of course your lack of transfer funds means you are sentimental by default.

yeah, I guess you've pretty much circled my whole sentimality problem. Not many players I could get for 750k would be much better than the guys I have on my team, at I don't see any right now. And I'm not gonna spend it to exchange for quarters for a dollar. I'm kind of waiting to see if the transfer budget will be increased once we get some of that TV money that Premiership sides get.

And one other thing that could change the whole thing is if I get any kind of offer on one of my players. Keigan Parker Still has that $3.8M minimum release fee clause that is active on his contract, and he's valued at over $5M right now. This means that anybody could come and make a $3.8M bid on him and I would have to accept it. 3.8 + 0.75 would still give me $4.5m to go shopping, which would not be too bad either... I have a few players I'm also thinking of listing for transfer, so it's not all said and done...

FM

[FrogMan]

June 20, 2010
Huge day of news, some good, some not so good... Starting with the good news...

Marcus Kelly has been unanimously voted Q.P.R.'s Player of the Year by the supporters, and for good reasons, as his average form rating of 7.82 in competitions matches is a new Q.P.R. team record! Look at his stats sheet for the last season:

Statistics	Apps	Gls	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Sh Tar	Fouls	Fls Ag	Av R
Non Competitive	3 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	2.37	70 %	-	3	4	6.83
League	35 (6)	6	12	16	6	0	2.21	78 %	47 %	34	85	7.88
Cup	3 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	3.72	74 %	-	1	4	7.25
Continental	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	----
International	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	----
Overall	38 (7)	6	12	16	6	0	2.34	78 %	45 %	35	89	7.82

He wasn't in there to score goals, but still managed 6, while assisting on 12 others. He was named Man of the Match an astounding 16 times, another Q.P.R. team record.

Another team record was broken, this time really on a team level, as the average attendance of 18583 we recorded this past season is a new record high, sweet! We can only hope to bring more people this season, at least to come see teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, etc...

We're given $24.5M for Premier Division TV Rights, woah! That's a lot of money... but that's about the end of the good news

Now with the bad, or sad news... None of that new money will go to either an increase in transfer budget, or wage budget

The team board appraisal mentions that they are very please with my performance as manager this season. They make it known that the team is expected to fight bravely against relegation from the Premier Division in the coming season. All nice and cute up until now, here's the kicker: "The Q.P.R. board have indicated that they will initially limit your transfer budget to $750k until you have proven your ability." Say that again?!? I may not get the chance to "prove my ability" with no better players And it's not as if the team's finance were deep in the red either. We finished last season with around $7M in the bank account, after earning a profit of about $3.5M and with season tickets and TV money, we now have close to $33.4M in the account... Dang, they really don't want me to have it easy...

Among bad/sad news, I get the news that our U18 squad has received a new batch of youngsters and frankly, they all suck, baaaaadly. I'll report more in depth about them a little later on, but frankly my first look at them wasn't too exciting...

Amon other news, Notts Co offer to loan Scott Donnelly for another 3 months. They would be paying 100% of hi $800 weekly wage, so I accept.

Danny Shittu played well without excelling in Nigeria's 0-2 loss to USA. Freddy Adu scored a goal in that game.

I offer Michael Synott around, to all Championship and League One club. I'm asking $600k for the defender valued at $1.3M


FM

[terpkristin]

Hmm it almost seems as if the board WANTS you to fail in the Premiership. That really makes no sense to me.

/tk

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Hmm it almost seems as if the board WANTS you to fail in the Premiership. That really makes no sense to me.

/tk

yeah, it is making me even more nervous about the whole move up... Hopefully we can get a couple lucky wins early on and get the team morale up and I'll ask for some more transfer budget then...

Even before we got the huge $24.5M TV money, we still had $7M, they could/should have given me something more than $750k to ge ready for the season, especially knowing that the huge TV money was coming up, it's not like this $24.5 is a special payout that has never happened in the past... Oh well, I guess they manage as a real world company would, lotsa dumb moves made in the real world

FM

[terpkristin]

I mean, I can understand they don't want to expand it by TOO much, especially at first, but not increasing it at all really just doesn't let you be competitive, especially considering your assistants recommend upgrades across the board. Oh well, good luck!

/tk

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I mean, I can understand they don't want to expand it by TOO much, especially at first, but not increasing it at all really just doesn't let you be competitive, especially considering your assistants recommend upgrades across the board. Oh well, good luck!

/tk

hehe, I know, I wasn't expecting them to allow me to spend $20M of that new $24.5M, but geez, they could at least have giving me 3 or 4 of them... Oh well, they've set the bar at "fight bravely against relegation from the Premier Division" and I'd really like to make them crap in their pants by doing at least that and surviving that first season in the Premiership. I think I said the same thing when we got back to the Championship with QPR, that the first is always the toughest. It's gonna be the same this season. If we can somehow simply survive this first season, we could be in great shape for season 2 in the Premiership. Hopefully, there will be a season 2

FM

[FrogMan]

June 21, 2010
Marc Bircham was again the captain for Canada in their 0-0 draw against Liberia. He was said to be in magnificent form, impressing both pundits and managers for the entire match.

Coach Joe Gallen, who had been with the team since before I took over, is now without a contract and has decided to leave the club. I've place an advert to find a replacement and it shouldn't be too hard to find a better coach than old Joe who wasn't very good with kids especially...

June 22, 2010
I off Mike Cook around. I'm asking $1.5M for the 17yo midfielder valued at $3M.

Nobody wants of Michael Synott...

June 23, 2010
Scott Donnelly agrees to go on loan at Notts Co. He'll be there for 3 months.

June 24, 2010
I offer $26.5k to Fábio Rochemback, despite my scout's reports that he probably wouldn't get a work permit. The offer is for two years and includes a $750k signing fee. (it just occured to me, what if he aggrees to a deal but never gets a work permit, thus cancelling the deal, does he get the signing fee?)

I decide to test the waters with Keigan Parker. The striker is currently earning $6,600 per week and he wants $28.5k and a $600k signing fee. More importantly, this new deal would push his minimum release fee form $3.8M to 9M. I offer him $20k per week with a $400k while not touching the other clauses. This is significantly less than what he's looking for, but still a whole lot more than what he's earning now. His current contract runs through Jun 2012, so it still has 2 years left on it.

June 25, 2010
We get some offers for friendlies:
QPR - FC Bayern on July 21, a Loftus Road, I accept
Roochdale - QPR on July 18, on their pitch, I reject
Nottm Forest - QPR on August 1, on their pitch, I accept

The Nottm Forest friendly includes a fee paid to QPR for $18k. It's the first time I've had a team offer me a fee to go play them on their pitch. I use this tactic all the time to bring teams to our pitch, but I had never seen it offered to me before...

Danny Shittu played well without excelling (rating of 7) in Nigeria's stunning 2-1 win over England.

Marc Bircham also played well without excelling in Canada's 1-0 win over Holland. I also find this one a bit surprising...

June 26, 2010
Keigan Parker rejects our offer but is willing to negotiate. I up the weekly wage to $23k per week while not changin anything else.

Fábio Rochemback accepts our offer but there's no "accept/delay/cancel" button. The work permit dance begins...


FM

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Froggy

it just occured to me, what if he aggrees to a deal but never gets a work permit, thus cancelling the deal, does he get the signing fee?)

Nope, he only gets it when he becomes part of your roster

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Nope, he only gets it when he becomes part of your roster

good, made sense too. Thanks for confirming.

FM

[Desnudo]

It sounds like you're saddled with a conservative board. Also, the scouts never think anyone will get a work permit.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

It sounds like you're saddled with a conservative board. Also, the scouts never think anyone will get a work permit.

Conservative board, maybe, but they did give me $5M as seed transfer money when I got on board, two seasons and a half ago, so they were not always cheapos...

About work permits, my scouts have been telling me about 50-50 when it comes to work permits. I currently have two at the 2010 World Cup and they recommend players, that I can't afford but that's another matter, and sometimes they say the player could not get a WP and sometimes they say he could. They were right with Mfundo Shumana a flaymboyant midfielder from Cape Town that I had signed at one point, now I'll hope they're wrong about Rochemback...

FM

[FrogMan]

June 28, 2010
I start offering friendlies around, gotta do that at some point
Well, I striker out twice, asking big time clubs Arsenal (for 08/04) and Manchester United (for 07/26), but they both reject our offer for a friendly.

While looking at our list of fixtures and in my ever learning experience, I see that league play in the EPL only starts on August 14, and we'll play only 38 games... That's all news to me, well not the 38 games, I vaguely knew about that, but I find the start a bit late... I do know that top teams will play a ton and a half of extra league games though.

I decide to make a final offer to Keigan Parker. I offer him $25k per week and $260k in signing fee.

I offer a friendly to Liverpool on August 5 and they accept to play us. We'll pay them $60k for their presence.

June 29, 2010
The decision on Fábio Rochemback's work permit is expected for July 13.

Marc Bircham played well as captain of Team Canada as they lost 1-3 against USA in the second round of the World Cup. The game was tied in regulations but the Americans scored twice in extra time. Landon Donovan had 2 goals over the course of the game. I'm quite impressed by Canada's showing in that World Cup. First to qualify was nice, I've not seen them qualify often in my living time, but to make it to the second round of the World Cup is pretty amazing...

June 30, 2010
Woah, Keigan Parker puts pen to paper on a two year deal. That's sort of unexpected. After he'd rejected the first few offers, I thought he was gonna fall in the Matt Cross mode of rejecting everything.

While going through the transfer market, I find a 23yo striker named Igor Nadal Lázaro, a Spaniard playing currently playing with Real Madrid. The kid's got great physical skills and an amazing way to finish it off. He's not world class in his other skills, but he's no slob either. He could do well in support of my main strikers (Johnson, Curth, Parker) and could even push Brooker for playing time while Jeppe Lund Curth is away with his broken leg.

While he's only 23 and his contract is unprotected, I see that I wouldn't have to pay compensation to Real Madrid to pry him away. Currently valued at $2M and earning $8,800 per week, he's asking for $22.5k per week and a signing fee of 160k for a 3 year deal. I offer him $15,500 per week and a $90k signing fee for a one year deal, that way if he doesn't fit, he'll be let go without too much hurt. His current contract runs through July 31, 2010.


FM
PS: my advice to my readers would be to keep on reading and come back when something's posted. This first post covers 2 of the 47 notepad pages of notes I've taken over the weekend. I don't wanna spoil the fun, but plenty has happened in this offseason

[FrogMan]

July 1st, 2010
It's the start of the transfer window.

The Team Board is very pleased with my work as manager. Hopefully it'll at least stay that way for a little while...

I offer two more friendlies, this time to teams out of England:
Ajax accept to come play us at Loftus Road on August 9. We'll pay them 60k for their trip.
However, Dinamo Kiev reject our offer for a friendly on July 26.

David Marek Rozehnal joins QPR on a free transfer. I see him as a pretty solid centre-back that should complement Danny Shittu pretty well. He'll turn 30 in a few days, but has good, if not always great, all around skills, as you'll see by taking a look at his player profile (click thumbnail)...



He comes to us on a pretty affordable contract and shouldn't hurt the team's wage budget too much if he drop right back to the Championship after only one season...

I also just noticed the Premiership logo to the left of everyone of our player's name. Sweet
After seeing a few offers made for him, Chelsea left fullback Celestine Babayaro catches my eye. He could be a player I'd like to put a bid on, as they want to get rid of him and are asking only 550k for him.

Fábio Rochemback is now officially out of contract. His work permit approval is still pending...

Iván "Kavi" Kaviedes is also now without a contract with QPR and he leaves the club. This makes me sad, but he didn't fit into our plans anymore...

Gino Padula's contract is also over, but he's okay with staying at the club on a month by month contract. At $5k per week, I'm not okay with that option. I release him.

I get a message that Keith Keane is now out of contract with Luton. I ask my scouts for reports on the former Irish U21. He could challenge Craig Crane hard for the right full back spot...

I get some weird feeling when I approach to sign a defensive middie called Renato Forster. I wasn't too sure I wanted to sign him (asking too much for what I see skill wise), but when I approached to sign him, I see that the Team Board is now allowing me to offer wages up to $48k per week, woah! It has never been higher than $28k before today. Looking at the wage budget, I see that they upped it to $480k per week. We're currently a tad over 210k, niiiiiice!!!

I see that Darren Evans is being scouted by Millwall. I offer him to them for $3M + 10% next sale. He's currently valued at $3.6M.

While looking at free agents, I see an interesting prospect, Igor Biscan. He's described as a strong centre-back of 32 years of age. He's from Croatia and played in the 2010 World Cup for his country with good form ratings, and he's been playing in the Premiership since the 2000/01 season, with Liverpool then Aston Villa. He's asking for a wage of "only" $19k per week with a signing fee of 40k for a 2 year deal. I offer him $17k and a $40k signing fee but for a one year deal, as a rotation player (so he knows what to expect).


FM

[FrogMan]

July 3, 2010
I keep on scouting free agents and possible free signing, in the hopes of finding some good help on the cheap side, possibly free of any transfer fees...

Millwall say no to Darren Evans...

July 5, 2010
We get a good response to our coach advert. There are many succky ones in the bunch, but Mark Proctor, a coach currently with Darlington, catches my eye. He's pretty good with youngsters, at managing his men, and at coaching outfielders. In addition to that, he's got a very high level of discipline. He wants $900 per week and it would cost us 90k in compensation to Darlington. I offer him $900 per week and I let the advert continue. I need to find at least one, maybe two, good to very good goalkeeper coaches. This could help Kasper Schmeichel and Paul Davies develop. They're still fairly young (23 and 21 respectively) so they may still have some learning left to do...

I find 39yo Edwin Van Der Sar, an eccentric fello who's great at coaching keeper. He's a free agent, planning to retire on July 13, 2011. I think he could come as a player/coach for one season, but he's asking for $12.5 per week while my board limit spending on him to $4,200. I offer him that, if he rejects, I may offer him to come as a coach only...

I'm also thinking about changing my assistant manager, for no other reasons than I think having an upgrade in that area could help the team. I'm especially looking for a guy with higher reputation than mmy current assistant, John Gorman. While looking at possible replacements, I find Bruno Conti, currently coaching with Roma. He's got national reputation and is amazing (read 20) with youngsters, at motivating players, at evaluating player's abilities and potential, as well as in his tactical knowledge. While he says it would take a very large contract offer for him to even consider agreeing to terms, he's only making $2,600 per week now and my team board must agree that he's worthy of something since they allow me to go as high as $12.5k per week for him. I offer him $10k per week and a signing fee of 60k. Roma would have to be paid a compensation of $420k.

FM

[FrogMan]

July 6, 2010
Quite the twist today. While I was thinking that maybe I was stuck with a conservative board, only happy to be making money, I get called into the board chairman's office. Bill Power tells me that he would like to raise the club's profile by bringing in a high-profile player.

Power added that a top signing could really put Q.P.R. on the map and create a sense of excitement around Loftus Road.

Before I was able to point out the tiny tansfer budget, he also added that should I find the right player, the board is willing to allow me to exceed the current transfer budget, providing the amount concerned doesn't put the club's overall finances into the red.

Woah, I'm stoked! I leave him, speachless and I get back to work, not restricting my scouting to low budget buys... Exciting times!

There a few holes I could plug, thinking about a killer middie to feed the strikers, or a killer keeper, or a god left, or right full-back. Well, just about anything actually

July 7, 2010
Bruno Conti agrees on a contract to become my assistant. As I look at his profile, it hits me that he speaks only Italian, oopsie. Let's hope he'll be able to give me the team report properly

In my inbox, I get the news that Youssouf Hersi has rejected Plymouth's latest offer. I've had my eyes on him for quite a while. He's a 27yo AM C valued at $6.4M and is currently very unhappy at Plymouth. He is described as a flamboyant midfielder. I ask my scouts to report on him.

Mark Proctor agrees to deal with us and becomes our newest coach. Oopsie #2, the compensation money (for him and for Conti) came from our transfer budget, should have thought of that. We're now down to about $250k left in the budget. Click the following thumbnails to see Conti's and Proctor's coach profile...




Igor Biscan agrees to a 1 year deal and joins us. The 32yo free agent D/DM C is described as a strong centre-back and has played for quite a few seasons in the Premiership, look at his stats sheet for the last few seasons:

Year	Team	Division	Info	Apps	Gls	Asts	MoM	Av R
2009-10	Aston Villa	Premier Division		22 (9)	0	1	0	7.16
2008-09	Aston Villa	Premier Division		9 (11)	1	2	0	7.15
2007-08	Aston Villa	Premier Division	$4.6M	15 (1)	0	3	0	7.31
2007-08	Liverpool	Premier Division		7 (7)	1	0	0	7.00
2006-07	Liverpool	Premier Division		34 (3)	2	2	0	7.16
2005-06	Liverpool	Premier Division		43 (5)	2	1	1	7.21

And his stats for the 2009/10 season were at least very reasonable too:

Statistics	Apps	Gls	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Sh Tar	Fouls	Fls Ag	Av R
Non Competitive	4 (2)	0	0	0	1	0	5.81	87 %	-	5	-	6.83
League	16 (7)	0	1	0	2	0	3.07	80 %	40 %	28	20	7.09
Cup	6 (2)	0	0	0	0	1	2.39	79 %	50 %	6	5	7.38
Continental	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	----
International	9	1	1	1	1	0	6.43	78 %	-	16	9	7.56
Overall	22 (9)	0	1	0	2	1	2.90	79 %	44 %	34	25	7.16

I find it reassuring that he's played at that level for a long time. That way, he shouldn't be too starstruck when the season starts... I'm even thinking that he could play ahead of David Marek Rozehnal. You can check out Biscan's profile by clicking the following thumbnail.


At only $17k per week for a one year deal, he's definitely a bargain.

I just realized that we only have 4 friendlies set for now. I go and offer the following:
Chelsea at Loftus Road, 07/29, they reject it
Roma at Loftus Road, 07/15, they accept and we'll pay them 90k for the trip
Luton at Kenilworth Road, 07/18, they accept it.

I thought that playing Roma, given my assistant's ties to them, would be a nice idea, and I just had to go back to Kenilworth Road. I was worried about them not taking it, since they already had 7 friendlies booked, but they agreed to make it 8. Weird, but I have a feeling they wanted me to go back

I now have tow assistant on staff and John Gorman is still acting as the #1 dude. I don't wanna pay the $190k I'd have to pay him to release him, so I offer him a new contract as a coach. He's currently earning $1850 per week as my assistant and is looking to increase that to $6400 with a new contract. My team board allows me to offer him only $4800, so I offer him that, for a one year deal.


FM

[FrogMan]

July 8, 2010
Edwin Van Der Sar rejects us, not willing to even negotiate. Oh well, I let go...

The chase hots up for Chelsea left full back Celestine Babayaro. They are looking for $550 for the experienced full-back who's been with them since the 1997/98 season. He's also had decent form ratings over the years. I see that Portsmouth have offered $380k for him. I may be tempted to make a bid...

I offer a friendly to Rangers on July 26, 2010. They accept and we'll pay them 56k for their trip.

July 9, 2010
We learn that the QPR-Roma friendly match on July 15th has been picked up for live TV coverage. Nice...

John Gorman accepts our contract offer and now becomes a coach with us. Bruno Conti now takes over as assistant manager.

FM

[FrogMan]

July 10, 2010
Arsenal put in a $380k bid for Celestine Babayaro... hmmm, okay, I offer $400k for him, despite only having $240k in transfer budget. We'll see how that shakes up...

France wins 4-1 over USA in the World Cup 3rd place playoffs. It was 1-1 after regulation when France put in three in extra time...

I think I may have found a solid goalkeeper coach in Jamie Johnston. Currently unemployed, he's rated at 20 for coaching goalkeepers and 18 for working with youngsters. He wants $1800 per week, I offer him $1200 per week...

July 11, 2010
Igor Biscan plays for Croatia in the World Cup final against Uruguay. They lose, but he played well, getting rated at 7. Uruguay are the World Cup champions.

The Manager of Team Canada, Frank Yallop decides to leave his post. That's interesting, although I'm unsure if I'd be interesting by it. Maybe, maybe not...

Jamie Johnston rejects my first offer. I offer him what he wants, which is not that big a deal, $1800 per week.

My scouts report that they're done with their scouting of the World Cup. Mel Johnson found 19 suitable players and Mike Fairclough found 13 suitable players. I'll have a look at their list...

I change my transfer bid for Celestine Babayaro to $550k after Southampton put in a bid for $500k.

July 12, 2010
Southampton, them again, have offered a contract to Keith Keane. He's still a free agent and he wants $20.5k per week with a $56k signing fee. I offer him a "no strings attached" one year deal worth $18k per week with a $20k signing fee and a bonus of $1800 per appearances. As I said before, he could challenge Craig Crane and John Davies pretty hard for the right full-back spot.

I offer Michael Synott around. I'm looking for $500k for him.


FM

[FrogMan]

July 13, 2010
Fábio Rochemback's work permit has been turned down. Grrr, this feels like déjà vu... I appeal the decision. We should know on July 20th.

From the listing of my scouts on the World Cup, I see this amazing 24yo Colombian named Freddy Guarin valued at $8.4M. He's currently playing with Fenerbahçe and is described as a playmaking midfielder. I think he'd fit the bill as a high profile player. I offer them $8.4M.

July 14, 2010
Jamie Johnston accepts our offer and signs with us, but I'm a goof. I offered him a contract to become an assistant manager, doh! I immediately make him another offer, for the same wage, to be a coach...

Oxford put in a bid for Michael Synott. They're offering $56k now, $380k over the next 24 months, and 50% of the next sale. Not bad, I accept the offer.

Portsmouth are the latest in the Babayaro stampeed. They put in a bid at $498. That's an odd number

July 15, 2010
Dag & Red want Mike Cook back with them for another 3 months loan. They'll be paying 100% of his salary so I accept.

I learn that the friendly between us and FC Bayern, scheduled for July 21, 2010 at Loftus Road, has been picked up for live TV coverage. Always nice


FM

[FrogMan]

July 15, 2010
We play our first friendly of the offseason, at Loftus Road, against Roma. This match is on TV.

The oddsmakers have Roma as 1-2 favorites to win. Danny Shittu is seen as the key man for Q.P.R. while Ivan Pelizzoli is seen as the same for Roma. They fancy Roma to win as they think there's more about them than Q.P.R.

I don't have the lineup for this one. Nobody but maybe Kasper Schmeichel will play more than 45 minutes with a massive change at halftime.

The half ends scoreless, but I'm very surprised how well it's gone for us so far. We're outshooting them 7(2) to 2(1) and winning possession convincingly with 56% with a big 25% of us controlling the ball on their end of the field.

Neither team will be able to score in the second half either and we kind of slowed down on attack. But we didn't let them come either, which I think is good.

Final Score: 0-0

Marcus Kelly is named Man of the Match with a rating of 8. He had 11 runs past opponents, picking up where he left off at the end of last season. Both keepers got rated at 8, Schmeichel in the first 60 mintues, Davies in the last 30 minutes.

Steve Brooker suffered a minor injury which turns out to be a damaged shoulder. He'll miss 5 days.


FM

[FrogMan]

July 16, 2010
Jamie Johnston signs a new contract with us, as a coach finally

Keith Keane rejects the contract offer from Southampton and signs a one year contract with us. The 23yo D/DM RC, former U21 player for Ireland (25 caps/1 goal) is simply described as a defender but as you'll see by looking at his profile, he's got some skills that could make him develop into a pretty solid right full-back.


Michael Synott agrees to a deal with Oxford. We get $420k for the full-back that cost us only $48k a year ago. Too bad he wasn't able to impose himself in the offseason last season. No matter where I played him, he got more 6's than 7's and that's not good enough for me. He goes to the media saying that his Q.P.R. hell is finally at an end. Oh, the drama queen...

Our latest offer for Celestine Babayaro is accepted, but when I go to offer him a contract, well, it's not good. His agent tells me he's not interested in a move to Q.P.R. Bruno Conti recommends $38k per week and tells me he believes he'd become an essential memeber of our first team. I offer him that, $38k with a $240k signing fee.

While looking for keepers, I spot two interesting ones. First a Brazilian playing at Cruzeiro. The guy's named simply Jefferson, and I find that funny. He's a 28yo keeper with continental reputation, valued at $8M. I ask my scouts to report on him.

The second one is currently playing for Manchester City, Dave Reynolds. The kid is only 20yo but is described as a WONDERKID! WOAH, That's the first time I come accross one of these Walued at $8.2M I offer $10M. That would certainly be the kind of player that would cause excitement at Loftus Road...

Mike Cook agrees to go on loan at Dag & Red for 3 months.


FM

[FrogMan]

July 18, 2010
We play Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. I'm always a bit sentimental when I go back to Kenilworth Road. Luton are now in League Two. Hopefully for them, it'll only be a short stay down there and they'll go right back up to League One.

They score early on, in the 5th minute, but we reply in the 36th minute, when Keigan Parker relays a Marcus Kelly throw in to Andrew Johnson who scores.

The half ends 1-1 with us dominating them, especially in shots, 9(6) to 2(2).

No goals will be scored in the second half.

Final Score: 1-1

Keigan Parker is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He completed 19 of 21 passes, 6 of them key passes. Keith Keane had a solid game too, completing 30 of 35 passes and winning 6 of 7 headers.

Chris Chapman had a minor injury in the game. It turned out not to be so minor, as it's a shoulder injury and he'll miss 2 weeks.

July 19, 2010
Brazil, Spain, and Italy all appoint new National Team managers. This reminds me about Canada and the fact they've still not appointed a replacement to Frank Yallop. I'm still unsure about it though, not too tempted...

Unsurprisingly, our bid for Dave Reynolds is rejected. I offer $12.5M plus Paul Davies.


FM

[FrogMan]

July 20, 2010
WOOHOO!!! Fábio Rochemback has been granted a conditionnal British work permit for his move to Q.P.R. Don't know how conditional it is, but I can now accept and finalize the move, weehee!!!!

The 28yo will be great for us in the midfield, he's got great skills all around, a continental reputation, and best of all, he's a free transfer, signed for two years at the "modest" wage of $26.5 per week. Take a look at his player profile:


As the signing is announced to the public, I get the news that Q.P.R.'s Commercial Director noted his monthly financial update that the purchase of Rochemback is likely to cause a sharp increase in revenue from shirt sales. Sweeeeeet! Me happy!

Following on the momentum of the free signing of Rochemback, I go back to a player I've had on my shortlist for quite a while: Plymouth's Youssouf Hersi. He's a 27yo flamboyant midfielder that would add quite a bit to our attack, at least from where I see it. I offer them his current value, $6.4M.

July 21, 2010
Nigel Quashie strains his groin and will miss at least two weeks. At least cause usually groin=physio and that's the case. Specialist says it's going to be 4 big weeks of physiotherapy for the 32yo, dang!


FM

[Koryo]

Conditional, meaning if he doesn't get significant playing time on the first team, then they can revoke his permit.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Koryo

Conditional, meaning if he doesn't get significant playing time on the first team, then they can revoke his permit.

That's what I thought it was. If it's playing time with my team, then I don't have to worry about that, he'll get plenty

FM

[FrogMan]

July 21, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Very Good	6-8-7-8-7	100%	-	-	-
DR	Unh	John Davies	D R	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	98%	-	-	-
DL		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-7-9-7-7	93%	-	-	-
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
DC		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	90%	-	-	-
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	9-8-10-8-8	92%	-	-	-
MC		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	92%	-	-	-
MC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Very Poor	-	100%	-	-	-
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Very Good	9-7-7-7-9	93%	-	-	-
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-8-7-7	92%	-	-	-
S1	Bid	Paul Davies	GK	Very Good	7-6-7-7-8	99%	-	-	-
S2		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Superb	7	92%	-	-	-
S3		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	92%	-	-	-
S4		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Good	7-7	92%	-	-	-
S5		Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	6-8-7-8-7	98%	-	-	-
S6		Ricky Hanson	D/DM/F RC	Superb	7-5-7-7-7	96%	-	-	-
S7		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	8-7-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
S8		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	90%	-	-	-
S9	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Good	7-7-7-7-7	98%	-	-	-
S10	Unh	Nathan Jameson	M RLC	Superb	7-8-7-6-7	91%	-	-	-
S11	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	81%	-	-	-
S12	Unh	Justin Wall	F LC	Superb	7-7	90%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Chris Chapman	M LC	Superb	7-8-8-7-7	60%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	52%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Unh	Darren Evans	D C	Superb	7-6-6-7-7	92%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	59%	-	-	-

We play FC Bayern at Loftus Road.

I saved the lineup, kind of to give you an idea of who's playing and where...

They show a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation.

This is Fábio Rochemback's first game with us.

Ben Watson has to leave the game injured in the 89th minute. Marc Bircham comes in.

Andrew Johnson scores in the 15th minute, as a free kick from Tom Howell got headed toward the goal by Keigan Parker but the keeper only deflected it to AJ who had an empty net in front of him.

The half ends with us ahead 1-0. We're outshooting them 8(5) to 4(1). Rochemback was rated at 8 until the last minute of the half. He's completed his 23 passes.

Matt Cross has suffered a minor injury in the first half.

Final Score: 1-0

We didn't score in the second half, despite unleashing the dogs on them. We outshot them 14(6) to 6(1) and their keeper is named Man of the Match.

The TV team thought that Bayern would win, could have thought that we'd snatch a draw, but they admit they never thought we'd win this one. It's only a friendly, but I'm happy.

Back at the clubhouse, the bad news hit, and hard. Ben Watson has suffered a torn groin muscles and will miss at least 2 months. My physios are all unanimous, he should have surgery to correct it for good. Dang, the hit is ever worse, he'll miss 4 months...

At least Matt Cross' injury is only a damaged foot and he'll miss a week, but the blows to our midfield are hard to take...

FM

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

July 20, 2010
WOOHOO!!! Fábio Rochemback has been granted a conditionnal British work permit for his move to Q.P.R. Don't know how conditional it is, but I can now accept and finalize the move, weehee!!!!

The 28yo will be great for us in the midfield, he's got great skills all around, a continental reputation, and best of all, he's a free transfer, signed for two years at the "modest" wage of $26.5 per week. Take a look at his player profile:


As the signing is announced to the public, I get the news that Q.P.R.'s Commercial Director noted his monthly financial update that the purchase of Rochemback is likely to cause a sharp increase in revenue from shirt sales. Sweeeeeet! Me happy!

Following on the momentum of the free signing of Rochemback, I go back to a player I've had on my shortlist for quite a while: Plymouth's Youssouf Hersi. He's a 27yo flamboyant midfielder that would add quite a bit to our attack, at least from where I see it. I offer them his current value, $6.4M.

July 21, 2010
Nigel Quashie strains his groin and will miss at least two weeks. At least cause usually groin=physio and that's the case. Specialist says it's going to be 4 big weeks of physiotherapy for the 32yo, dang!


FM

The conditional work permit means he has to play at least I think 75% of the first team games he is eligible for (not injured/suspended). If not, when his contract ends, the team cannot renew it,

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

The conditional work permit means he has to play at least I think 75% of the first team games he is eligible for (not injured/suspended). If not, when his contract ends, the team cannot renew it,

That's even clearer, thanks. Looking at him, would anybody doubt he'll play 75% of the games he's not injured or suspended?

FM

[FrogMan]

to add on Rochemback, his $9.4M value ties him with our highest valued player at the moment, Andrew Johnson...

FM

[terpkristin]

So, how has the board responded to these moves? Are they still willing to let you go after some players?

/tk

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

That's even clearer, thanks. Looking at him, would anybody doubt he'll play 75% of the games he's not injured or suspended?

FM

75% of league matches

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

So, how has the board responded to these moves? Are they still willing to let you go after some players?

/tk

At that point, other than the comment on the increase in shirt sale, the board had not commented on my signings. I consider that the Rochemback signing was a big one, but it didn't really register to them as one, since it didn't cost a penny to the team. They were still willing to allow me to go over the transfer budget if I found a high prestige kind of player...

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

75% of league matches

yeah, I figured so, or at the least, 75% of competitive matches. What I meant is that I don't expect to let him off the field very often, except if he's injured or suspended...

FM