How do you become self-sustainable ?

[Lemoche]

I loaded up a quick save on fm21 beta with at madrid , true say they are in a bad financial situation even when you sell players your dont get 100% transfer in your transfer budget! The question is can someone please explain step by step how do you become a self-sustainable club financially ?!

[FrazT]

Live within your means and don't spend more that you get in income.  Run the club without external assistance like loans.

[Justin Tomlinson]

I like a good financial challenge, on one of the earlier versions there was even a option to take on a financially struggling club.

Sell, loan or release unwanted players (all squads) - get that wage budget below what is set. End of season prize and TV money will follow and stabilise the situation, then you should kick on.

Check any buy out clauses you can cash in.

Always haggle on contracts.

Edited November 22, 2020 by Justin Tomlinson

[samdiatmh]

I'm guessing it means "sell to buy"

At Madrid don't exactly spend big on players, without previously having gotten the money in first
in 19-20, they spent 250m on new players, but also sold players worth 300m first
in 20-21, they spent 87m on new players, but sold 80m worth of talent too

 

I'd work on the basis that they're not giving you much of a transfer budget, and you'll have to fund your own new players with sales

[Phillybear]

It means getting world class players for free from Barcelona instead of spending money on transfers.

[Lemoche]

Thank you ver much guys!!

[Flinsenberger]

Have a setup that allows consistent financial success and a few basic rules

1. Develop young players. 

Young players take lower wages and will usually improve up until the age of 23. They can improve later, but not too much. So you want to strategically buy players that are younger. Buy them cheaper, pay less wages, develop them and then get a significant profit when selling. 

2. Sell old players

You want to almost never let a player go for free (unless they take so much wage that you are happy to get rid of them) . You want to get the maximum amount of money for them. That usually means you sell them when they are approaching 30. Unless you have an absolute world class star, you should be able to sell a 28 year old for a high transfer sum and replace him with a younger player that takes less wages but is similar in skill level, but has less reputation. 

3. Sign free players

Start looking for players at the end of their contracts soon after the start of the season. In Europe you have 6 months before the end of the contract to negotiate a new contract. So on January 1st, you start negotiating with your key targets. 

4. Sell expensive

You have 12 clubs coming in for a player for 2 million? Set the price to 4, and offer again. You had a deal with a club to sell your player? Put him on the transfer list, offer him out again for more. Don't just take the first offer. Try to squeeze out some more, get more bids in. 

Also enter a price for the players in your team's, even when you don't intend to sell them. Your DoF will tell you a realistic price over time, when you lowballed it. That helps with evaluating your players. 

5. Know your finances

Sometimes you are being given more budget than the club can afford. Be aware of your cost structure. If you use up your whole budget and notice you end up heavily in debt the next season, it is too late. 

6. Always haggle

Use clauses. Be aware of clauses. Don't grant clauses that make you pay the salary of a player at the new club. Don't grant a "match highest earner" clause. Try to get sell on fees when selling. Exclude sell on fees before the first negotiation when buying. Limit automatic pay rises (I try to put them to 5% max) and promotion increases (20 or 25% instead of 45%). Use relegation clauses. Try to prevent buyout clauses.

7. Buy cheap

Try to find players with cheap buyout clauses. Buy from lower reputation leagues and teams. Sign free. Buy young. Check the scouting recommendations for prices, if you have similar players, buy the cheaper one. 

8. Check prices for facilities

Check prices for facilities before you build them. Be aware of the planning phase and when you will need to pay the facilities. E. G. When managing in Germany, try to order facilities in mid November, so they are built after the season ends and you get the rather high payout. 

9. Take a step back if needed. 

If you are overspending, get rid of expensive players. Contemplate reducing your staff or your facilities. This should only be an extreme measure, but it is possible and might be feasible, especially at the start of a save. 

10. Keep a wage structure. When signing a new player his wage should correspond to your squad. Sign a regular starter for double the money, and during contract negotiations all the others will want that money, too. If players demand too much, sell them. 

Edited November 23, 2020 by Flinsenberger

[HUNT3R]

53 minutes ago, Flinsenberger said:

10. Keep a wage structure. When signing a new player his wage should correspond to your squad. Sign a regular starter for double the money, and during contract negotiations all the others will want that money, too. If players demand too much, sell them. 

This is a key point, imo. At least, it was for me during FM20. I worked my way up from the bottom to eventually manage Lille and had the task of trying to break into the top 2 of Lyon and PSG. Their sponsorships were massive compared to mine and, IIRC, gate receipts etc also were a lot more than mine. Financially, I couldn't compete. On the pitch, I couldn't compete yet either.

I started phasing out the older players on high wages. I bought younger players who had decent ability (so were either able to start or be on the bench) and with good potential. They weren't established yet, so most of them cost under ­£5m and none more than about £8m. Eventually, they developed and received attention from the bigger clubs. I refused to sell to Lyon or PSG, but did sell to other clubs - often for £35m+. In the meantime, I scouted and had the next batch of youngsters either waiting for their chance or I was ready to make a bid for a replacement.

A lot of that tied into previous points, but onto #10 that I quoted. As my players grew and established themselves, they wanted bigger contracts - which was understandable. I had a self imposed wage cap of £90,000 / week, which later grew to £100,000 / week. Sometimes I was able to hold onto my key players (and they were around 25-26yo usually) but other times, their wage demands meant that I had to sell. I never bought anyone who required a higher wage than that, even if it meant losing out on a fantastic player.

After about 3 or so seasons, I was challenging for the title and competing with the top 2 despite having a wage spend of 1/5 and 1/4 of their spend. As I started finishing in the top 3 and my reputation grew, I was able to attract better players and shifted my own cap up to £125,000 - still only a third of the high earners at the other 2 clubs. Then I started to dominate.

Wages spiral out of control quickly if there isn't any structure in place. You give one key player a massive wage and soon the others (of that ability/playing time) will look for something similar.

[Lemoche]

On 23/11/2020 at 13:22, Flinsenberger said:

Have a setup that allows consistent financial success and a few basic rules

1. Develop young players. 

Young players take lower wages and will usually improve up until the age of 23. They can improve later, but not too much. So you want to strategically buy players that are younger. Buy them cheaper, pay less wages, develop them and then get a significant profit when selling. 

2. Sell old players

You want to almost never let a player go for free (unless they take so much wage that you are happy to get rid of them) . You want to get the maximum amount of money for them. That usually means you sell them when they are approaching 30. Unless you have an absolute world class star, you should be able to sell a 28 year old for a high transfer sum and replace him with a younger player that takes less wages but is similar in skill level, but has less reputation. 

3. Sign free players

Start looking for players at the end of their contracts soon after the start of the season. In Europe you have 6 months before the end of the contract to negotiate a new contract. So on January 1st, you start negotiating with your key targets. 

4. Sell expensive

You have 12 clubs coming in for a player for 2 million? Set the price to 4, and offer again. You had a deal with a club to sell your player? Put him on the transfer list, offer him out again for more. Don't just take the first offer. Try to squeeze out some more, get more bids in. 

Also enter a price for the players in your team's, even when you don't intend to sell them. Your DoF will tell you a realistic price over time, when you lowballed it. That helps with evaluating your players. 

5. Know your finances

Sometimes you are being given more budget than the club can afford. Be aware of your cost structure. If you use up your whole budget and notice you end up heavily in debt the next season, it is too late. 

6. Always haggle

Use clauses. Be aware of clauses. Don't grant clauses that make you pay the salary of a player at the new club. Don't grant a "match highest earner" clause. Try to get sell on fees when selling. Exclude sell on fees before the first negotiation when buying. Limit automatic pay rises (I try to put them to 5% max) and promotion increases (20 or 25% instead of 45%). Use relegation clauses. Try to prevent buyout clauses.

7. Buy cheap

Try to find players with cheap buyout clauses. Buy from lower reputation leagues and teams. Sign free. Buy young. Check the scouting recommendations for prices, if you have similar players, buy the cheaper one. 

8. Check prices for facilities

Check prices for facilities before you build them. Be aware of the planning phase and when you will need to pay the facilities. E. G. When managing in Germany, try to order facilities in mid November, so they are built after the season ends and you get the rather high payout. 

9. Take a step back if needed. 

If you are overspending, get rid of expensive players. Contemplate reducing your staff or your facilities. This should only be an extreme measure, but it is possible and might be feasible, especially at the start of a save. 

10. Keep a wage structure. When signing a new player his wage should correspond to your squad. Sign a regular starter for double the money, and during contract negotiations all the others will want that money, too. If players demand too much, sell them. 

Thank youuuuu !!!!

[Lemoche]

On 23/11/2020 at 14:30, HUNT3R said:

This is a key point, imo. At least, it was for me during FM20. I worked my way up from the bottom to eventually manage Lille and had the task of trying to break into the top 2 of Lyon and PSG. Their sponsorships were massive compared to mine and, IIRC, gate receipts etc also were a lot more than mine. Financially, I couldn't compete. On the pitch, I couldn't compete yet either.

I started phasing out the older players on high wages. I bought younger players who had decent ability (so were either able to start or be on the bench) and with good potential. They weren't established yet, so most of them cost under ­£5m and none more than about £8m. Eventually, they developed and received attention from the bigger clubs. I refused to sell to Lyon or PSG, but did sell to other clubs - often for £35m+. In the meantime, I scouted and had the next batch of youngsters either waiting for their chance or I was ready to make a bid for a replacement.

A lot of that tied into previous points, but onto #10 that I quoted. As my players grew and established themselves, they wanted bigger contracts - which was understandable. I had a self imposed wage cap of £90,000 / week, which later grew to £100,000 / week. Sometimes I was able to hold onto my key players (and they were around 25-26yo usually) but other times, their wage demands meant that I had to sell. I never bought anyone who required a higher wage than that, even if it meant losing out on a fantastic player.

After about 3 or so seasons, I was challenging for the title and competing with the top 2 despite having a wage spend of 1/5 and 1/4 of their spend. As I started finishing in the top 3 and my reputation grew, I was able to attract better players and shifted my own cap up to £125,000 - still only a third of the high earners at the other 2 clubs. Then I started to dominate.

Wages spiral out of control quickly if there isn't any structure in place. You give one key player a massive wage and soon the others (of that ability/playing time) will look for something similar.

Thanks for the good advice ! Do you check the wage structure in the financials then the wage tab?

[Flinsenberger]

16 hours ago, Lemoche said:

Thanks for the good advice ! Do you check the wage structure in the financials then the wage tab?

In the squad section there is a contract view. There is no function to set it up. You just need to make sure that you don't do contract renewals or new contracts that exceed your self decided budget. 

Usually the start of the negotiation depends on the promised playing time and how much other players in your team at that level earn. 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Flinsenberger

[wearesporting]

Buy to sell. Sell to buy. Invest in youth. Get more out of your players to maintain that challenge. If you sort your players by wage and someone on higher wages isnt a first teamer, seriously, sell them.

Edited November 25, 2020 by wearesporting

[Lemoche]

10 hours ago, Flinsenberger said:

In the squad section there is a contract view. There is no function to set it up. You just need to make sure that you don't do contract renewals or new contracts that exceed your self decided budget. 

Usually the start of the negotiation depends on the promised playing time and how much other players in your team at that level earn. 

Thank you buddy

[Lemoche]

9 hours ago, wearesporting said:

Buy to sell. Sell to buy. Invest in youth. Get more out of your players to maintain that challenge. If you sort your players by wage and someone on higher wages isnt a first teamer, seriously, sell them.

That’s exactly what im doing now