[Suggestion] - Finances - Transfer debt - Different colour

[Robbie Hood]

In the game now under Finances - Debt and Loans, there are 2 main "categories": Net debt (which is what my club owes to other clubs) and Transfer debt (which is what my club is owed from other clubs)...i think.

So in my game i am owed 70 million pounds, but this is written in a red colour. In everything else regarding finances red is negative, but here this is positive outstanding payments. Why is the colour red being used for this? Wouldn`t it be more logic to have this in green or just plain white, anything but red? 

Or am i misunderstanding something here?

[Michael Sant]

Net debt is what your club owes out in excess of its finances. So presumably you have more than £16.5m in the balance for your club and so in theory you could pay off that debt at any time. 

Transfer debt is based on your clauses and so can be negative (money owed to you that you are hoping/expecting to receive but haven't yet) or positive (money you owe out but are perhaps hoping you won't have to pay). An example would be from the Stoke finances in my save:

The debt owed to the Coates family far outstrips what the club has in the bank and so poses a serious risk to the financial wellbeing of the club.

Because they're both debts the default position is the club owing money out so it needs to show as negative when you're actually owed money. If there's an idea on how it should be phrased going forward then that's something we could consider.

[Robbie Hood]

On 12/03/2022 at 04:47, Michael Sant said:

Net debt is what your club owes out in excess of its finances. So presumably you have more than £16.5m in the balance for your club and so in theory you could pay off that debt at any time. 

Regarding finances and transfer debt this should be a feature suggestion in itself: Pay off debt at any time when the finances allow it. It could be added as a board request under finances.

In my save game i have a bank balance of  £81m, but i still have to pay on a loan of £13.5m (250k per month) for 5 more years.  This loan could easily be paid off without any negative effect on my finances.

 

On 12/03/2022 at 04:47, Michael Sant said:

Not quite sure i understand this, but wouldn`t it just make more sense to have the net debt of £162,661,048 in a red colour?

On 12/03/2022 at 04:47, Michael Sant said:

Net debt is what your club owes out in excess of its finances.

When the net debt is no loner negative and reaches £0 the colour turns to white.

 

On 12/03/2022 at 04:47, Michael Sant said:

Transfer debt is based on your clauses and so can be negative (money owed to you that you are hoping/expecting to receive but haven't yet) or positive (money you owe out but are perhaps hoping you won't have to pay)

Again, maybe i don`t totally understand this, but couldn`t the game calculate this and when the transfer debt is negative the colour is red, but when it is positive the colour is white?

In my opening example i am owed around £70m in future payments and have no net debt so it just feels weird to have this in a red colour which gives it a negative feeling.

[Michael Sant]

9 hours ago, Robbie Hood said:

Pay off debt at any time when the finances allow it. It could be added as a board request under finances.

This is never going to be a club managers concern. It's purely within the remit of the directors/owners of the club.

9 hours ago, Robbie Hood said:

Not quite sure i understand this, but wouldn`t it just make more sense to have the net debt of £162,661,048 in a red colour?

As far as I'm aware its working correctly from an accounting perspective. If you list something as a debt a 'positive' value in this context means debts of X amount. If you use brackets to indicate a 'negative' it means you're owed money from sources.

So in theory a club owner could take a loan from the team. Or could loan money from the club to something else, its not especially common in footballing terms. 

[Robbie Hood]

13 hours ago, Michael Sant said:

As far as I'm aware its working correctly from an accounting perspective. If you list something as a debt a 'positive' value in this context means debts of X amount. If you use brackets to indicate a 'negative' it means you're owed money from sources.

Thanks for explaining.

But even if it`s working correctly from an accounting perspective, that does not mean it`s presented in a way that is easily understood by everyone playing FM, which should be the objective. But i don`t have any other suggestions of how this can be phrased or adjusted other than the colouring.