Wage Structure Spreadsheet | Revamped and overexplained

[lozzny]

TL;DR: I shamelessly copied and gathered inspiration from various sources, and now I'm sharing my new wage structure spreadsheet with you. Below are instructions on how to use it, explanations in the middle, and downloads at the bottom. Maybe it'll be useful to you.

Credits: This is my own spreadsheet, but I gathered information and received inspiration from the following sources:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/15v0zyf/club_wage_structures_anybody_else_implementing/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/17jxuuz/how_do_you_not_screw_up_your_wage_structure/
- https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/564908-how-do-you-setcalculate-wage-budgets-to-set-a-wage-structure/ 
- https://fminside.net/guides/financial-guides/54-how-to-use-a-wage-cap-in-football-manager 
- https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/577189-wage-structure-excel/#comment-14110950

I am aware that there must be other places where this has been shared or discussed, but these are the ones I looked into.

How does it look?

This is an example of my Ajax save in the first season (23/24). As you can see, there is a nice color scheme that indicates some overpaid starters and important players from the start, as well as room for squad players who could be given more playing time.

 

This is an automated sheet, so every time you modify the info, colors, and calculations will change accordingly.

How to use it?

1. First, you must download it. There is one protected version, so there's no risk of breaking formulas by mistake.
2. Enter the required info. You can fill the cells surrounded by a black border:

 

 

A. Player's info. Wages are in £ per year/week according to the one you downloaded. End of the contract is dd/mm/yyyy.

• Key player: Star & Important players.
• Starters: also includes the first-choice GK
• Squad players: squad players and below, I make no distinction.
• Prospects: the most important upcoming youngsters. In big teams, usually the best among U23/U21/B team.
• Youth: future prospects and below, practically everyone in U18.

B. Total budget: transfer budget + wages budget + scouting budget. (you can see all three in the finances tab, to the right, in the default skin)
C. Scouting budget (you can set this according to your level and finances) I usually do it by multiplying Scouting package cost * 0.5.
D. Your preferred percentage of wages budget against your transfers budget. In small teams and non-league, this usually is 100%. For big teams, I have found that 80% is a healthy ratio and then I test it over time.
E. Percentage of Buffer: it's healthy to have some non-spent money that can alleviate bleeding cash for unexpected needs, like increasing the scouts' budget or paying bonus fees.
F. Number of matches that you expect to play in a season (this helps to better calculate the recommended appearance fee)
G. Important dates for the end of contracts. By default, I want to know which players are in their last 1 or 2 years.
H. Ideal number of players you wish to have eventually. The ones by default are based on a team with U23/21/B team and U18 team. The exact numbers and calculations are in the EXPLANATION below.
I. Change these as you wish. The ones by default are the ones I use, but feel free to redo.

 

 

Once you enter the info, everything else will calculate itself. There you have it.

 

EXPLANATION

Why is this important?

Many managers fill the forums with issues derived from upset players who want their agreed playtime, and others avoid this issue by overspending. Having a strong financial structure ensures you are always in the green, or at least, that you can have enough reaction time to see the issues coming.

Also, a clear wage structure tied with the agreed playing time allows you to evaluate your players. Who is being paid for poor performance? Who doesn't deserve their playtime? Who deserves a raise?

In my experience, although it's difficult at the beginning (it's tempting to give a superstar whatever they ask, and negotiations can take a hard turn once you see a player who accepts a squad player position but charges an important player wage), the end results are extremely healthy finances, a full squad of happy players (I already know who will not get next season's Christmas), and a tight planning. Also, the naturally growing room for wages allows you not to be afraid of buying megastars when the time comes.

How am I calculating these numbers?

OK. By researching in a lot of places and some testing, my ideal configuration right now is based on a 75 players full-squad, 25 per tier (senior, U23/B, U18)

4 Key players
7 Starters
11 Squad p.
14 Prospects
36 Youth
 

and for smaller teams, a 50 full-players squad (senior and U18)

4 Key players
7 Starters
11 Squad p.
7 Prospects
21 Youth

Obviously, we're talking about the ideal. Those are the numbers that I expect to achieve during the first two seasons after rebuilding.

Now, the numbers.

Total budget is all the money you, as a player, have at your disposal. It's divided between transfers, wages, and scouting. The reason I use this added number is so I can manage the squad building and club finances at the same time. With other methods, there's a tendency to break the bank account if you suddenly enter on a takeover or have to make emergency signings in lower leagues.

Every club and every manager has a style for scouting, so I allow myself to decide my scouting budget based on the pack that I can afford. Also, since you always want to have some extra for individual scouting, I usually calculate this by +50% (pack cost * 1.5). Unless you have a very long shortlist with the checkbox for keeping the reports up to date at all times, usually it's ok. And if you spend it all, there's always the buffer.

To me, 80-20 in the wages-transfers budget ratio is more than enough unless you are already ahead of the curve.

Once you have filled the spaces, you can see the percentages each tier of player takes from the budget. In my first example, Key players account for 29% of the wages budget. This is then calculated per player on the left.

Bear in mind that the entire sheet uses only two values: base wage (weekly or yearly) and appearance fees.

The formulas are:

For recommended max base wage: ((wages budget * %tier) / #players per tier) * 0.8

For recommended max app. fee: (((wages budget * %tier) / #players per tier) * 0.2) / (#matches per season * %matches expected per tier)

As you can see, I have divided the 100% of a player's contract (when you sign it) into 80% base wage and 20% for the maximum app. fee. (the number displayed is purposely taken down, so in reality, you have the buffer + some unaccounted budget for other bonuses, but I don't want to math. The point is, you can put in other bonuses and maybe never notice the difference)

Also, I assume these numbers for the % of matches each tier expects to play in a season:

Key: 90%
Starters: 65%
Squad: 50%
Important prospects: 20%
Youth: 1% :P

This is matches played, so matches paid for, NOT matches as a starter. Even if you substitute a prospect, he is being paid the full app fee.

 

DOWNLOADS

Everybody plays differently, and honestly, who knows if this will be used by anyone, but just in case, I have created different files for different kinds of FM managers, so that you can play with the numbers and configs as much or as little as you want. Also, I usually play in the local currency of my club, but since the majority of you are playing in £ that's what the protected versions use. I have divided the community into:

"I just want to use it but not break it": protected sheet, only allows you to write into the black boxes.
- Beta weekly wage guy: same formulas but divided into 52.
- Yearly wage enjoyer

"I want to break it": you can edit as you wish.

 

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts or if there are mistakes, and have a nice day.

 

Just_use_not_break_YEARLY.xlsx Just_use_not_break_WEEKLY.xlsx I_want_to_break_it.xlsx

Edited February 6 by lozzny
some numbers and I'm new, sorry

[Vladis]

Great work! Doing similar spreadsheets for myself for about last seven fm editions but for wages only. Though I`m setting not only rec max wage but rec min also like salary cap system in NHL. So, for example for key players I set min wage 1000k and max wage 1500k, then for regular starters min 750k - max 1000k etc. And then calculate average min, average max for the whole squad. But your work is much deeper.

Edited February 6 by Vladis

[st4lz]

Looks awesome! Clearly, a great effort was put into this.

I like all types of analytics people use while playing the game, but appointing the wage structure is something I can't fully grasp.

Firstly, when I want to sign a player, I negotiate hard. Even if I plan to use the player as a first-team member, I don't hesitate to give him an Impact Sub, if he agrees to. Regarding wages, the transfer fees often surpass the yearly wage multiple times, so the wage is usually secondary. If I can sign a player for 500k and I know his value is around 5M, I can easily give him 500k p/a like other First Team players in my team, even if I know he wouldn't play regularly. Also, the problem with pre-defining key players is, that if I see they are underperforming, they immediately sit on the bench. I don't care who is the Important Player and who is Fringe, if they earn their chances, they play. This may change a couple of times throughout the season, and I am not too attached to it. If a player is unhappy about the playing time, well, everybody will have to leave eventually, if a good offer comes at the right time I sell, no matter how unsettled he is. 

I am worried the wage budget would put too many constraints on the way I am managing clubs. Don't you feel it is too much corporate management for a football club?

[lozzny]

hace 8 horas, st4lz dijo:

Looks awesome! Clearly, a great effort was put into this.

I like all types of analytics people use while playing the game, but appointing the wage structure is something I can't fully grasp.

Firstly, when I want to sign a player, I negotiate hard. Even if I plan to use the player as a first-team member, I don't hesitate to give him an Impact Sub, if he agrees to. Regarding wages, the transfer fees often surpass the yearly wage multiple times, so the wage is usually secondary. If I can sign a player for 500k and I know his value is around 5M, I can easily give him 500k p/a like other First Team players in my team, even if I know he wouldn't play regularly. Also, the problem with pre-defining key players is, that if I see they are underperforming, they immediately sit on the bench. I don't care who is the Important Player and who is Fringe, if they earn their chances, they play. This may change a couple of times throughout the season, and I am not too attached to it. If a player is unhappy about the playing time, well, everybody will have to leave eventually, if a good offer comes at the right time I sell, no matter how unsettled he is. 

I am worried the wage budget would put too many constraints on the way I am managing clubs. Don't you feel it is too much corporate management for a football club?

Yes, I do the same, hard negotiations where I try to get the lowest wage / agreed playtime. And obviously performances are almost always > dinamics.

However, that's not the use of this table. You can think of it like a lite moneyball style. It only gives you a picture of a given moment in wich you can see what's the state of the finances relative to the agreed play times so that you can make decisions. For example, in the picture of my Ajax save, I know from first day that Bergwijn and Berghuis must deliver good performances, otherwise I should start looking for replacements while if they perform I may consider not replacing them, or can try to lower their wages (If, for example, I value their leadership, position in dinamics, personality or ITs as very useful)

Realistically, in Ajax this sheet will probably get used as a simple guideline for new signings after two seasons, but I find it very useful the lower I go down the league ladder. In non-league I have to be very cautious of who is getting paid and wheter or not they are performing accordingly, or if a new signing demands ceratin wage I just end negotiations and go next. Also, as I go up I can be on top of how much I am willing to pay for an improvement.

Yes. Is kind of too much corporate haha. But I'm playing football manager :P There's folks in here who have gone a lot deeper in the moneyball rabbit hole.

[Kloppy]

Will be using. Thank you for efforts

[lilljons]

Im going to try this out!

 

How ever, i play with a different currency - will it affect or is it all the same? Just look at the numbers per se.

[lozzny]

En 8/2/2024 a las 7:17, lilljons dijo:

Im going to try this out!

 

How ever, i play with a different currency - will it affect or is it all the same? Just look at the numbers per se.

Doesn't matter, they are just numbers. The currency is just to add flavor cause In Game there's only one global currency. Hope you find it useful

[mibsweden]

Deffo Will be checking this out.