Advice on an average League One team achieving promotion to the Championship

[paz]

I'd like some help from fellow players on how to deal with promotion to the Championship when you are as the team report says 'the worst squad in the league'. For context FM23 is my first fm since FM20 so maybe I am inexperienced compared to the reader.

In my first save I took over AFC W and managed to get them promoted to League One in first season. In my first season in League One I somehow managed to finish just outside the playoffs, despite my board expecting me to battle against relegation. In the following season I managed to win the league on goal difference despite having a pretty average team. In fact, that might be kind. A few loan players and my goalkeeper saving every single penalty he saved that season (6!!) really helped to ensure we are promoted.

My challenge is this:

- I have 2.6 million pound less in the bank due to the board trying to expand the stadium (but then the local council blocking it anyway), so my financial situation isn't brilliant. I can have a 139k per week wage budget as long as I set my transfer budget to £0. Or I can have a 4.9mill transfer budget if I set my wage budget to 44k per week. And obviously I have many options in the middle. In the bank I have 742k.

- I can't sign any players outside the UK because none of them get work permits. The French/Spanish/Estonian etc players I go for have low world reputations and don't have the necessary points to obtain work permits, and I can't keep flitting away 25k+ on each application and appeal.

- I have 5 players maybe good enough for a relegation avoiding first XI, whose contracts are expiring, but they want double or triple their current wages to sign on. They are 'good EFL League One players' and want like 5-9k per week basic wage. Am I out of touch in feeling that's over the odds, especially when they were on 2-3.5k last season?

- I am no longer able to offer some of my backroom staff contract extensions on the some wages they are currently on. The board limit me to offers that mean significant wage reductions so they won't renew their contracts.

Has anyone been in a similar position where they have entered the Championship and they have either 0 or 1 player that is Championship standard? Should I offer what I deem over the odds to my League One standard first teamers, so that they stay at the club? I can see there are a number of players whose contracts are expiring at other clubs. However, I have to wait 30 days to avoid paying a transfer fee as it's still early June. I will try and sign the best possible loan players from the Premier League U21 teams, but often I can't afford the wages of the best. And even my senior affiliate Tottenham sometimes ask me to pay the wages of the players.

I'm excited about the challenge and appreciate any advice or thoughts from the community. It's probably quite a realistic simulation of real life if AFC Wimbledon did the same. I'd expect them to go straight back down! I'd love to prove the media, the board and the fans wrong

[Brasilia88]

It seems you know what you are doing and what options you have, so there isn´t much light one can shed on the situation here that would possibly help you out. 

Have you looked at the released players from the Prem and Championship? There might be some options there you might be able to use. There is also the option to sign players who got relegated to L1, but that usually demands a transfer fee. 

Do you only have one senior affiliate? I believe the maximum is five, but don´t quote me on that. Surely, that might be worth trying, yet it requires some RNG due to your board willing to do it AND them finding a suitable option. 

Regarding your tactic, I´ve been in the same situation and you can play two ways: play defensively and hope for the best or gegenpress the hell out of them and hope by the 70th minute you have scored (if not gg!). Probably others will disagree, but I want to have fun in a game and not see my overpaid dudes set up camp before our own goal and hope for the best, which also mean losing a ton. Teams actually expect it, so the more reason to get creative. You´re already expected to go down anyway, hence the fun part. 

[paz]

9 hours ago, Brasilia88 said:

 

Do you only have one senior affiliate? I believe the maximum is five, but don´t quote me on that. Surely, that might be worth trying, yet it requires some RNG due to your board willing to do it AND them finding a suitable option. 

 

I had Brentford, and when I asked for a new one, they were replaced by Spurs. Are you sure the game allows for more than 1 senior affiliate?

[paz]

Well that turned out a lot better than i could hope for

The last 10 games I played many of my youth graduates as I had nothing to play for. 

Biggest contribution to my success was reading every single scout report (hundreds and hundreds) in pre season, to buy the best I could for what money I had!

[paz]

Next season in and we have 1 point from 6 games. I think I made too many changes to the squad and backroom staff in one go!

[Justin Tomlinson]

Quite a step up to the Championship - plenty of clubs with much bigger wage budgets etc. Much harder to find freebies who are competitive at this level too. (You can easily get out of League One with ex PL young freebies.