Dealing with the finances of a lower league club

[PoolFan]

Does anyone have any hints/tips/advice on how to go about sorting out a lower leagues finances. I am currently in my 2nd season with Wrexham in the BSL and it's pretty dire at the moment. I can't seem to arrange friendlys with top teams like Man U etc.

Everytime I try and negotiate a contract the player always seems to want a huge sum of money including appearance fee's etc. I am just not sure how to generate any kind of money at this level, does anyone have any advice here?

[Coentrao]

It really depends on the country that you are managing in my experience, when i manage in Portugal for instance it seems no matter how tight my expense control is i always end up losing a lot of money in the lower leagues, right now i'm managing in Scotland and as i worked my way up the leagues i never really lost that much money, having a good cup run always helps.

About contracts you can lower down their demands a lot specially when they don't have an agent, also if you offer a large signing fee you can also reduce their wage demands a lot which will save you money on the long term, i avoid clauses like yearly rise or promotion increase as much as i can.

Finally, you can schedule friendlies with foreign teams that will pay very good, though i don't do this anymore since it's quite unrealistic and in my opinion it's an exploit.

[milkybarkidapb]

Create a pre season league with top clubs, you may not get many fans turn up for wrexham man utd, but man utd liverpool will fill out that stadium nicely, also remember that fm11 knows the distance between clubs, a local rival mini league may bring more funds i.e. Swansea/cardiff.

Finally if your selling a player remember the value of spreading the cost 250,000 over 36 months is better than 100,000 now, aslong as your prepaired to wait. And if you can get a few of these running in tandem you may find the cash flows nicely.

[dafuge]

Without cheating/exploiting, it is pretty hard to take a lower league club up through the leagues without racking up some debt. You either choose to keep a tight control on the finances and struggle or you gamble on the finances in the hope of winning promotions.

I'm usually in debt in every league until I get to the Premier League, that's the only place I can ever make a profit.

[isignedupfornorealreason]

You can usually cut wage demands by 25-50% and they'll accept on the first ask at that level. If the demands get out of hand, release them. At that level free transfers are easy to find and more than capable of replacing anyone.

A good cup run is useful. The FA Cup in particular can really rake the money in especially if you get a lucky draw. Push as far as you can in the competition even if you stand no chance. It's well worth the financial boost. I went from 50k debt to 150k positive just from that cup alone.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I regularly play in lower leagues and I do agree with Coentrao that it depends on the league you are playing in. Portugal is about the worst for finances early on, the lower leagues have no crowds and little prize money as well. In general though it is possible to keep a good balance without exploiting big name friendlies. Generally the best place to start is on wages, I will take my wage budget at the start of a season and divide it by 20 (eg 6k = 300p/w) and I will try to sign no players with a wage above that, as for players currently on the squad, if they are starting to get on a little bit you can quite regularly reduce their wages by offering them a new contract with a slightly reduced squad status & wage. As Coentrao said as well, remove the % wage increases, a 1-2k signing on fee seems to be enough to cover this and also mean you can reduce your wage offered to them (Generally get a scout report and offer them something on the lower end of the range the scout suggests). And finally don't use that transfer budget at lower leagues, as tempting as it may be there are plenty of players out there on a free every season, look at those got rid of by clubs being relegated from your own division, or the one above, even those players released by the clubs promoted out of your division. So to Summarise:

1) Stay under Wage Budget

2) Don't have players on large wages (Maybe one key player over the 1/20th rule)

3) Senior Players will reduce wages if getting on a bit

4) Use signing fees to reduce ongoing costs

5) Don't use the Transfer Budget

6) Sign Free Agents

7) Look at clubs moving divisions and sign good released players

8) Loans from higher leagues (Though these can be costly)

9) Look for Younger players you can sell for profit in a few seasons

This should at least keep your balance flat if not build a small profit.

[markyosullivan]

BSL

EH?!

I'm in BSP atm with Bromley, making a profit every season. 1st season I don't think I made a profit, thats when I was in BSS.

[arsenal_2111]

I've taken Boreham Wood (who start in debt) to having over £1mil in the bank. How?

Wages. Only this season has my wage bill exceeded £2k/week, despite having a budget of over double that. My highest earner is on £160/week, and this season is the first that I have had over one player on £100+.

Getting players as free agents (go through the Premier League teams of youth players they've released) and then selling them on (I've sold two for £250k+) is great too.

[stevevdm]

Organising several pre-season friendlies against big name reserve teams also helps to bring in a little extra cash.

[Myth0logy]

Pre-season friendlies. You may not believe it but I made nearly 600k from pre-season friendlies with my Weston-Super Mare team in my second season after winning BSS.

The WSM stadium has a capacity of just £2.5k and 70 season ticket holders.

Not at all bad with a total wage budget of £4k a week.

After I won the BSP I made £1mil in pre-season friendlies.

I would recommend you do them EVERY DAY. Leave them up to your asst manager, just be sure to give you players a week off before the season starts.

The teams you should ask for friendlies are big teams reserve teams - eg. Arsenal, Man City reserves. They will almost always accept, and should help to fill up your stadium nicely. I was making £24k per friendly against the big teams reserves.

If you are lucky enough to get a cup run you can make a bundle. I managed to get to the FA cup first round proper, but unfortunately got Exeter away. Made a little money but not much. The season I was in BSP I was quite fortunate as I got a lot of small teams until round 3... where I got Chelsea away! Netted me £850k from that 1 fixture.

Also ask you board for a feeder club. Not only can you loan a lot of players for free, you usually get a guarenteed friendly for which you can keep all profits and you get a yearly fee. I found it VERY difficult to get one because I shot up through the divisions too fast and WSM have the smallest reputation in the game - MP 22nd in BSS. If I can get a team as crap as that successive promotions anybody can.

[sjm]

Does anyone have any hints/tips/advice on how to go about sorting out a lower leagues finances. I am currently in my 2nd season with Wrexham in the BSL and it's pretty dire at the moment. I can't seem to arrange friendlies with top teams like Man U etc.

The very top teams won't play you because they go on money spinning tours. Target the fallen giants (Leeds for example) with big followings and a decent rep or the less glamorous top tier teams (Stoke, West Brom, Birmingham worked well for me). I don't know whether local teams are more likely to accept your proposals as well - I had success arranging matches against PL and CH teams, although a fair few might turn you down. If you're lucky/cunning you'll flirt with the opposing managers when playing these friendlies - it means they'll be very likely to accept future proposals or even propose friendlies themselves.

Matches against PL reserves will also attract decent crowds at your level.

Everytime I try and negotiate a contract the player always seems to want a huge sum of money including appearance fee's etc. I am just not sure how to generate any kind of money at this level, does anyone have any advice here?

Two words: cup run

You need to get into the FA cup proper - if you get lucky and draw a big team you'll be in the black for the next 5 seasons. Even smaller teams can net you an entire season's budget.

Don't give in to players' absurd demands. There's always someone better willing to sign for less - you just need to find them. Players' demands will also go down if they are without a club for some time. You can sign players throughout the season in the Conference, so just be patient. Don't offer contracts if the demands are too high, just check back in a month to see what the demands are now. If you offer a contract and don't reach an agreement you won't do your standing any good.