[FM24] Going off on a tangent with Rangers, after just getting relegated, with -£2.8M (not), in the bank and loans of £485M being repaid at £1.8M per month. Should be easy right?

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm currently in 2058 with my Youth Only save managing Tullibody in Scotland, but I have come across a little situation that interests me and has grabbed my attention. 

Rangers have been relegated to the Championship again, (they recently spent 4 seasons there between 2049/50 - 2062/53), but I fear they may find it harder to bounce back this time. 

The last time they were relegated, (in 2048/49) the catalyst for the relegation was a points deduction due to Administration, (although they would have been relegated even without the points deduction). 

Although they bounced back after 4 seasons, the financial problems were never resolved and in fact the board have made a bad problem even worse by not cutting the budgets appropriately and the money that was paid to players was simply ridiculous. 

The overall balance situation isn't good, but it's also only the tip of the iceberg. 

A bigger problem are the loans outstanding. Although the loans were initially for £370M, (and there is only £307M outstanding now), there is also interest of £178M that will be payable over the period of the loans and this increases the total amount of the loans outstanding to £485M. 

A few years ago I did a save with Barca where they aim was to repay their debts of £3.2B over a period of 5 years, (I think), while also keeping them competitive in both La Liga and European competition. It was really tough, but also really enjoyable, and although this is only £482M rather than £3.2B, I think it might actually be much tougher because obviously Rangers is tiny in comparison to Barca and the income they generate completely dwarves the pittance that Rangers receive, (however significant that is comparison to other Scottish clubs). 

At this stage I'm not even sure if this sort of challenge is achievable. Rangers really are deep in the poo and while I am positive that an AI manager can't fix them and they are destined for oblivion, I do wonder If a real manager, (me), can get them out of the mess they're in. 

I usually play Youth Development saves and in fact I usually play Youth Only saves, so this sort of save is completely alien to me, (other than my few seasons with the Barca as mentioned earlier). I think my preference for Youth Only saves will probably stand me in good stead here, but I also think that if I'm going to put a dent in the £482M debt then I'm going to need to do a fair amount of wheeler-dealing too. 

But that brings me to another problem. 

Wage Budget. The Board have finally realised that the budgets they were authorising were ridiculously high and causing more harm than good, but now they're cutting the budget by more than 50% and it's going to be tough to get it down anywhere near that. 

To offer some perspective to our wage budget, our wage spend this season has been the 2nd lowest in the league at £2.98M and that equates to £57,308 per week. On the plus side, we won't be competing against these clubs next season. 

If you're wondering about both Tullibody & Rangers both being managed in the same save, that isn't something that will continue. At the moment I'm still managing Tullibody, and I have installed a Holiday Manager in charge of Rangers in order to unseat the current manager. I will now resign the Holiday Manager, resign myself from Tullibody and then apply for the vacant Managers role at Rangers. 

It took the Rangers Board almost 3 weeks to get back to me, but they did eventually offer me an  interview. 

It only took them a few days to offer me a 3 year deal. 

[leobiazzi]

I'm sure you'll fix Rangers!

[RoguPL]

Thats interesting  
Alternative future of alternative future. 
I wonder how Tullibody is going to cope without you here. 
Good Luck ! 

Is this going to be running in tandem with Tullibody save ?

[l4nd3r]

So, are you running both saves? As a crazy "what if" scenario?

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

I'm sure you'll fix Rangers!

The whole point of me doing this save is that I'm not sure if it's possible. I think it's pretty impossible for an AI manager, but I think I do have a small chance. I will have more of an idea as the save progresses. At the moment I just can't get a handle on their finances and that will be the deciding factor. 

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, RoguPL said:

Thats interesting  
Alternative future of alternative future. 
I wonder how Tullibody is going to cope without you here. 
Good Luck ! 

I expect Tullibody to struggle a little. They will start paying proper wages immediately and they will also start spending money on players with big wages and playing them ahead of young Academy products on low wages. I guess we will see. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, RoguPL said:

Is this going to be running in tandem with Tullibody save ?

 

7 hours ago, l4nd3r said:

So, are you running both saves? As a crazy "what if" scenario?

Yeah, that's the plan. I'm not willing to finish with the Tullibody save, but at the same time I'm looking for something to pique my interest again. 

I will probably run 1 season of the Rangers save and then 1 season of the Tullibody save and see how that works. 

[Edit]

I should add that the Rangers game is likely to be pretty different, with obviously much more transfer business, but the games themselves taking very much a backseat in updates. 

I think I should be able to get Rangers into the Premiership again even with a team of kids, but in order to get them out of the mire their in they probably need to be playing in Europe every season and more than that playing in the Group stage of some sort of European competition. That's a bigger ask when you consider how the Scottish Premiership has improved, but with 7 European spots now, (I think). who knows what's possible. 

Edited June 2 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Money. Jun 2058. 

Although we were spending £74k pw when Holiday Manager was here, (with committed spending of £71k pw), things seem to be different now I'm in charge. 

I've been given a bigger wage budget than they offered Holiday Manager, but we're also spending less (£60k) with our committed spending the same. 

The reason we're spending less on wages is because players have left the club, (both for cash and on a free). Some of them were good players, but it's probably more important to get the big earners off the books than anything else at this stage. 

We've still got 61 players at the club. 

Only 1 of them is getting paid more than £20k pw, (and he's leaving to join Premier League Brentford in a £3.7M deal. 
Only 1 more player is earning more than £5k pw, but he's Selfridge 6'5" and I won't be selling or releasing him. In fact I will be triggering his +1 clause when I can, because I plan on making him the focal point of our attack. He's a big unit at 6'5" and I plan on delivering the ball for him to score. 

It's not all bad news though, but I don't yet quite know how the good news balances up against the bad news. 

To start off with, the club has good facilities. The club has very good facilities. 

Where as the Youth Facilities at Tullibody are currently maxed out on just L10, Rangers have a Youth Facility at L10.

More good news is that while they already have the 54,536 Ibrox Stadium at their disposal, they are in the process of moving into the 72,670 capacity Ally McCoist stadium in 2 years time. For a lot of clubs this probably wouldn't off a huge immediate benefit, but Rangers currently sell 48,676 season tickets and all of their home league games saw a 50k+ attendance. With average ticket prices at £24 and 18,134 additional ticket available, then that's a potential increase in income of £8.2M from their 19 league home games. If I can get them playing in Europe then it's even more. 

Last season showed Player Sales of £22m and Season Tickets of £19.5M, together with Sponsorship of £8.2M, Gate Receipts of £4.2M, Corporate Income of £3.8M, Merch of £2.7M, Match Day Income of £2.1M and then misc assorted income totalling £9.3M. That's an awful lot of money coming in.(£69.8M)

That's where the good news ends though and the flip side of the coin is that the club paid £22.8M last season just to cover Loan Repayments and interest. 

Player wages were down at only £3.8M so you can see straight away that the problem with the finances isn't driven at all by player wages, (at least not current player wages), but is caused by the debt massive debt, (which was absolutely caused by historic player wages). 

I wonder if I have bitten off slightly more than I can chew here? 

Edited June 2 by Jimbokav1971

[Rikulec]

Oooh, this is interesting!

[Jimbokav1971]

9 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Oooh, this is interesting!

I'd like to think so, but if the finances aren't workable then........ 

[l4nd3r]

Pretty sure the new stadium itself is also responsible for a big chunk of the loans. It alone probably managed to cost like 300 million euros at least. Hopefully the next stadium sponsor pays way more...

Edited June 2 by l4nd3r

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, l4nd3r said:

Pretty sure the new stadium itself is also responsible for a big chunk of the loans. It alone probably managed to cost like 300 million euros at least. Hopefully the next stadium sponsor pays way more...

Yeah, that's a good shout. 

Other than the CVA debt from when they last entered administration, there are 2 loans outstanding. 

A look at the club history shows that there was a change at Board level in Oct 2057, so the bottom of the 2 above loans would be a restructuring of the bank owed debt at the time, (restructuring from overdraft to loan).

That means that the £218M loan taken out in May 2056 would have been to pay for the new stadium. £218M sounds a lot of money, but when you add the interest on it's £370M and that's a ridiculous amount of money. 

As if all that isn't bad enough, you will see that we turned Semi-Pro in May 2058, (which was last month). I hadn't actually realised that, (and it is another significant barrier), but it's just another obstacle to overcome and with any luck we will turn Pro if and when we get back into the Premiership. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Save strategy. 

I've been thinking about the save this morning and over lunch, and I think it's going to be very different to the way I usually play. While I usually use and IR button to progress through the save rapidly, I'm actually considering even holidaying through periods of this save. This isn't about winning games or titles or anything like that. This is about finances and in particular the finances of saving the club and making it solvent again, (because I'm not sure it is now). While there will be much attention paid to the signing and selling players, (especially the selling of players), there will be much less attention paid to just your run of the mill games, (or most games for that matter). 

Scouting is obviously something I will have to start looking at, but that can be expensive so we might be quite limited in that area to start off with. 

We've inherited a tiny scouting budget that allows scouting only of Premiership clubs, (and will soon be changed to Championship only). We may have to rely on getting players in on trial and signing them based on what we can see and our Coach reports, because £3.600 isn't going to go very far. 

Scouting a single player in Scotland costs £650 per time, (and that just isn't going to work), so for the time being at least we're going to have to use the list that is available to us, exclude players who aren't interested in joining us permanently and then also limit it to players who are currently not under contract. 

A Model Citizen called Scott Brown seems too funny to ignore. 

I'm also interested in doing something with "big" players, so I've also excluded everyone under 6'0", (although I may remove this restriction from time to time). We just 

Anyway, we can't just be signing any old players. We have to have a particular need for a particular type of player in order to splash the cash, so for the time being I will just be concentrating on what we've already got and with that in mind I need to have a look at the squad we've inherited. 

[BillHoudini24]

Interesting challenge Jimbo and a great idea to present the development of the save with a focus on the financial perspective.

To play devil's advocate here, do you think you could make Rangers sustainable by becoming a Champions League regular, or the risk of relying on sporting success is far too big at this stage?

[Jimbokav1971]

20 minutes ago, BillHoudini24 said:

Interesting challenge Jimbo and a great idea to present the development of the save with a focus on the financial perspective.

To play devil's advocate here, do you think you could make Rangers sustainable by becoming a Champions League regular, or the risk of relying on sporting success is far too big at this stage?

I think it really is interesting and it's quite a long way removed from any save that we usually play. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. 

I think playing in Europe has to be part of the solution, but I don't think it's the full solution on it's own. After all, Rangers have been sat at the top of Scottish Football for centuries rather than decades, and theys still find themselves in this predicament. 

As I commented in my Tullibody save, Celtic had actually fallen away from the top at 1 point and Rangers were FAR the more dominant team in the save, (until disaster struck). So going back to what they were doing before certainly wouldn't be a fix on it's own, but absolutely the money that comes with European football will certainly be needed pretty soon if I'm going to manage this. The good news with that is that Scotland is no longer quite the poor relation of European football it was in the past. 

There are currently 4 Champions League spots and 7 European spots in total for the Scottish structure, which is significantly advanced of where it is now in real life. That means that 1 team who misses the top half cut still qualifies for Europe, and in this case it was relegated Motherwell who beat my Tullibody side in the Scottish Cup Final. 

So yeah, absolutely the easier route into European Football and the Champions League in particular will definitely play a part. The problem is that I don't think it's enough on it's own, even with tight control of wage spend. The increased attendance of the new season will be key, but I also don't think that's enough with European football to fix the financial wrongs of yesteryear. I think we need to be a really proactive selling club, (while regularly playing in Europe and also keeping a tight control on expenses. I think we will have to maximise both the financial benefits and increased scouting range of our existing, (and new), affiliate clubs, and really go through the gears of singing young talent and then developing and selling it for a big profit as soon as the big boys come calling. 

Of course we need a Chinese/American feeder club. We need loads of feeder clubs to grow the brand, but that's stage 5 or 6 down the line. Stage 1 is cutting costs where we can, identifying young players who can get us back in the Premiership and a return to our Pro status.

Our income last season was approx £70M all in, and our expenditure was "only" £53M, suggesting that we had a surplus or "profit" of £17M, but that's not even close to accurate. We're hemorrhaging money on an enormous scale and the biggest part of that is the monthly loan payments of £1.8M. I can't begin to tell you what a burden that is now. Even if we were a Pro club playing in the Champions League, then £21.6M in loan repayments would be a big deal, but to a Semi-Pro club playing in the Championship it's just beyond comprehension. I'm seriously concerned that we will enter Administration again and get hit with a 2nd points deduction. I would like to think that even with a points deduction we would be too good to get relegated out of the Championship, but I'm also just a little reluctant to make grandiose claims until I work out how this TM strategy is going to work on the pitch. 

This graph shows the wages we have spent in recent years. We've just paid £160,289 in wages this month in player wages, but as recently as 3 years ago we were paying £1.2M per month in wages, and this situation STILL occurred. It's so bad now that wage control on it's own won't fix it anymore than guaranteed European football on it's own will fix it. 

If I was to create a template for what our future will look like, then it would ideally be something like this. 

2058/59. Promoted as Champions of the Championship. 
2059/60. Revert to fully Pro status, (even if we need a 2nd consolidation loan to clear our short-term bank debts for the season). 
2059/60. Survive in Premiership.
2060/61. Move into new stadium, (with the increased attendances and income it offers). 
2060/61. Finish high enough in Premiership to earn European football for following season. 
2061/62. Start really spending for the 1st time with a view to selling further down the line. 
2062/63. Start to feel the benefits of selling some of our higher PA players, but the money obviously needs to be reinvested. 

All of the above is in an ideal situation. It's quite possible that we won't bounce back to the Premiership at the 1st time of asking, and it's also quite possible that we will get relegated again even if we do get back. European football is FAR from guaranteed. 

I think it's going to be a bit of a slog if I'm honest. The more I think about it, the tougher the challenge appears. I think we'll only fully know how tough the challenge is after we get back to the Premiership, return to fully Pro status and move into the new stadium. At least then I will know where we are financially and whether or not this is even doable. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Players. Jun 2038. 

We've got 9 players at the club with 5.0 PA. All of them are teeners, but the good news is that they all have at least a little bit of CA too, (and that suggests that our best players rated by CA are not actually very good). My plan is to pretty much select a team based on PA to compete in the Championship, because first and foremost we need to develop players to sell. That's not to mean that we won't be trying to get back into the Premiership, (of course we will), but we be doing so with at least 1 eye on the future and if we have ageing players, then they will be sold if we can make money on them, (with 1 exception), especially if their wages are significant. 

When we look at the 10x 4.5 PA players we can see that 1 of them is leaving, (Tawanda Bgoni is joining Brentford), and (53c) Robertson (L.Heart), (who is a product of the Tullibody Academy), has been out on loan in Australia and will be back shortly. 

My plan is for Selfridge 6'5" to be used as a TM, (to a greater or lesser degree), but certainly for him to be the focal point of our attack. 
Lee Kingsley is our with a cruciate ligament and may be missing for as long as 5 months.

Keiran Brebner looks like he could be quite useful on the right hand side of an attacking trio, but at £3,400 pm we will also be keen to get him off the books. Ridiculously he has a 10% sell on clause, (and I suspect he's not the only one). I honestly can't remember the last time I signed a player with that clause. I just refuse to do it even if it means missing out on a player.  

The 3.5 PA players look pretty raw, but I fully expect these players to play an important part in our journey over the next couple of seasons. We're really not going to have the finances to bring players in above them. 

Even 3.0 PA players are going to be needed I think. 

Looking at CA though, this is what the top end looks like. Probably more important than how good they are, is whether they will still be here at the start of the season. 

This is the "squad" that I see us starting the season with, (assuming they are still here), and you can see that it's very PA heavy and very CA light. 

I feel like I need to start progressing and playing games before I can make better decisions on players. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Unhappiness. Jun 2058.

I'll be completely honest with you. Absolutely ANYONE can leave if they want, (with the exception of Selfridge 6'5"), and even with him I fully expect Livingston, (or someone else), to make an offer that our Chairman will accept. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. 

The only good news here is that because of the cruciate injury suffered by Lee Kingsley, he might still be our player come the start of the season. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2058. 

Reputation. To be expected.

Expectations. I think we can do better than a top half finish, but obviously that's dependent on who is still here come the start of the season.

They've also increased the wage budget from £46,518 pw to £69,777!  Have this Board learnt nothing? 

Professional status. This certainly wasn't expected. 

New contract. I wasn't expecting this either. I was already on a 3 year deal and they've extended it to a 4 years deal. That 1st press conference but have been a belter. 

Not they I was likely to be sacked anyway, but it's much less likely that I'm going to be sacked now simply because they can't afford to sack me. 

Affiliates. 

Parachute Payment. Well that's not going to go very far. 

Contract clauses. This is ridiculous. It's 2058 now and I haven't had a single player with a yearly wage rise clauses in this save yet, and they've got a whole club full of them! 

On the plus side, at least there are some 30% reductions in there. 

Compensation for staff. At £84,000 a go, they can have whoever they like! 

Internationals. 

Transfers.

Tawanda Bgoni leaving had already been decided before I arrived, (and I was fine with that), but I thought it was only a £3.5M fee, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him go for £7M. The only bad news is that there are no future clauses involved. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2058. 

When I started this save I honestly had visions of me not being able to sign or re-sign anyone to start off with, but actually it's been fine. Most players that I've wanted to keep have agreed to sign new contracts, and I have been a little sly with both +1 year after promotion and +3 options. At the same time none of the new contracts have sub appearances or yearly pay rises or even promotion pay rises for that matter.  (I'm planning ahead). It's actually been easier than I expected, and the squad doesn't look too shabby at all, (if a little young). 

Friendlies. Who cares right? Well actually for a change I did, and it was nice to see Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" * score some early goals. I didn't look at the Sint-Truden goals, but his 2 goals in the 1st friendly were both headers, 

League Cup. (Basically Friendlies) We didn't get out of the Group, but I would say that's a decent start. 3 clean sheets out of 4, and 11 goals scored. 

Oops. I don't think the board agree with me. Good job I've got a 4 year contract and there's nothing they can do about it. 

Debuts. 

Contracts. I haven't managed to extend all the contracts I want quite yet, but I'm a fair way there and things are looking much better now. At the very least we're not losing everyone on a free next season. 

Bruce (F.Sport) 5'9" * has signed a new contract with a +1 & a +3 but it's not showing yet because he's still on a Youth contract. 
Stewart (Pro) * isn't interested in negotiating but there is a chance of him changing his mind if we do well this season. 
Anderson (F.Det) * is already earning £3,800 pw so there is no way I can offer him a new contract. At the same time I want to keep him for this season. 
Sim (Res) 6'2" * SELL is worth £2M but I can't sell him at the moment. 
Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" * doesn't want to sign a new contract, but let's see what happens if we get promoted. 
(53c) Robertson (L.Heart) * is a player I'm unsure about. No rush. 
Smith (Res) * is 31 years old so not getting a new contract.

Transfers. There is only 1 player I would turn down a £3.1M bid for. 

1 arrival that was made by the HoYD, (or whoever), and while I vetoed the other 3 players he had arranged to sign, this bloke looked reasonable so I let it go through. At the moment my staff can both find and negotiate for new players, but I make the final decision. 

Nothing of note in the players that I've sold other than the fact that I got 25% and a friendly from Palermo for Harry Brown 6'2", 30% and a friendly from Raith Rovers for  Jim Kerr 6'0" and 50% and a friendly from Aberdeen for Murray (Bal) 6'0" *. 

That's £740,000 in friendlies for 3 transfers who's combined value was only £21,800. 

Finances. 

Edited June 2 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2058. 

Season Preview. 

Scottish Championship. It's been a sluggish start to our league campaign, but actually I'm fine with that. We're playing quite well and see to be getting better with each game. 

Debuts. 

Season Tickets. 

Ridiculous clauses. Thank God I saw this before the window closed. He's currently getting paid £3,800 pw and that's a lot, but now way am I paying him £7,750 pw if I can help it. The problem is that he's only 22 and I don't really want to sell him. 

Transfers.

I really want to sell Sim (Res) 6'2" * SELL because he's valued at £2.2M, but I just can't get a deal done. I have even considered an Intermediary, but what they can get for him just isn't worth it, (because he could be the difference in going up or not). 

Fraser (F.Det) 6'2" * SELL left the club simply because he was in the last year of his contract. He went to Lecce for a nominal fee, but as usual I stuck a 25% clause in and a friendly that will generate £350,000. 

Brebner (F.Det) * was a decent player, but he was a high earner and it made sense to cash in on him. As well as £210k, we also got £2,000 per 50 league games, (I love that clause), £63k after 20 league appearances, 25% and also a friendly, (which will generate £190k), so all in he was worth £400k even before the add ons for league appearances and the 25%. That's good for me.  The only downer is that he pocketed 10% of the deal himself. The bloomin club man! 

Our DoF, (or whoever), did the deal to bring (52e) Davidson. (F.Sport) in on loan, and after having shifted a few centre-backs out the door and with the potential for another one to leave before the window closed, it made sense with relatively low wages. 

Finances. 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2058. 

Scottish Championship. We're doing ok, but we;re conceding too many goals.

Challenge Cup. A late winner in the Cup. What's not to like? 

Debuts. 

Takeover. Are they bonkers?  

Transfers. 

Internationals. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2058. 

Scottish Championship. A really good month. 

Transfers. I forgot to show you the 3 loanees last month. Apologies. They weren't actually signed by me. THey were identified and the deal was done by the DoF, (or whoever). He also did a deal for a really good Left Back from Wolves, butu he just wanted too much money. 

Finances. We started the season with £13M in the bank and we're already down to £2M despite bringing in £7.25M in transfer fees. That means we've lost £11.25M in 4 months. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2058.

Scottish Championship. It's a poor month with 9 dropped points, and we now trail Queens Park by 6 points and Motherwell will also go 1 point ahead of us if they win their 2 games in hand

Debuts. 

Internationals. 

Finances. 

[jrobertgordon13]

This seems like an interesting save idea, good luck!

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, jrobertgordon13 said:

This seems like an interesting save idea, good luck!

I don't think we will fully know how interesting the save will be until we get back in the Premiership, into the new stadium and see how much of a shortfall we still have each season once we're playing in Europe. At the moment we've lost £11.25M over 4 months, even with is selling players for £7.25M, so it would otherwise be a loss of £18.5M over 4 months. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2058. 

Scottish Championship. That's decent form and we're now just 2 points behind Queens Park. There is now a bit of a gap behind us as Forfar are now 15 points behind us. 

Challenge Cup. (SPFL Trust Trophy). Anyone who is a regular reader of my stuff won't be surprised in the slightest that I rotated the squad for this game and sneaked through on pens. 

Transfers. The 2 centre-backs we had in on loan from Tullibody have now returned, (I just assumed they were full season loans), so now my DoF is looking for replacements. 

Youth Intake preview. Not really sure what to make of this, (as usual). Only C's suggesting that it's not a great intake, but 5.0 Excellent Intake saying otherwise. Considering how poor the CA of our current squad is, I suspect that this intake is low on CA but high on PA, (and I'm fine with that). 

Finances. Our money in the bank is just about gone, but we're still paying £1.8M per month in loan repayments. Worryingly, we're only halfway through the season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. Jan 2059. 

I've looked at this already obviously, but not shared the info fully. 

Clauses In. (Money that is owed to us). It's not great, (because this club have been run by idiots), but it's a start. 

This isn't all of them, but it gives you a general idea of what's available. 

1x 12 monthly instalment of £98,000
2x 12 monthly instalments of £1.55M
1x 12 monthly instalment of £30,000
2x 12 monthly instalments of £26,500
1x 12 monthly instalments of £23,000
1x 12 monthly instalment of £529,000

1x 6 monthly instalment of £1.66M
2x 6 monthly instalments of £25,000
1x 6 monthly instalment of £257,000

£1.5M after 5 league appearances

£2,000 per game for the next 49 league games
£2,000 per game for the next 10 league games

20% profit clause 
30% profit clause
30% profit clause
20% profit clause (available to sell for £6.380)

25% sell on clause
25% sell on clause (available to sell for £63,740)
25% sell on clause (available to sell for £35,390)
30% sell on clause (available to sell for £12,010)
30% sell on clause
50% sell on clause

Clauses Out. (Money that is owed to other clubs).

2x 12 monthly instalments of £23,500

£1,500 per game for the next 5 league games

30% profit clause
20% profit clause

5% sell on clause (These 3 clauses are as a result of poaching players from other Academies). 
5% sell on clause
5% sell on clause

There isn't much of significance either way really. We're owed about £4M in instalments and that's about it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2059. 

Scottish Championships. We've only lost 1 of our last 17 league games, but the draws are killing us. That being said, we're scoring quite late so a draw is certainly better than a loss. 

Scottish Cup. 

Challenge Cup. (SPFL Trust Trophy). 

Transfers. The staff at this club just don't seem to learn. We've gone into Administration once and I don't think we're a million miles from doing so again, and they want to spend £425,000 on a centre-half. 

Now it's £1M on a 28 year old utility player. We just can't spend this sort of money!

They also made a bid of £120k for ex Tullibody GK (44f) Gordon (F.Pro) 6'1". You might remember him as they guy who conceded 6 goals on his debut after waiting 13 years to do so before being sold.

The little Maguire & Roberts deals both included friendlies and this adds another £380k to the coffers. I know it's not much, but it all adds up right? 

Finances. 

[leobiazzi]

Lol, your board and the director of football are lunatics 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

Lol, your board and the director of football are lunatics 

It's ridiculous isn't it! 

There have even been more than I have shown. If they were splashing the cash on someone really raw but who the scout report said might have loads of PA then I might, (just might), be tempted to splash a little cash, but they are absolutely bonkers. Spending proper cash on very average players with little or nothing to offer us now never mind about in the future. 

I think we can all see why they are in the mess they're in now. 

Now don't get me wrong, I've agreed to a couple of players signing who each cost about £10k, and earlier this year they found a guy who I agreed to sign on a free, but they're talking about £1M cash! Lunatics is the correct word. 

[leobiazzi]

Yeah, all they do is sign trash players that damp the progress of the youngsters lol

I think you'll be "fine" as long as you reach the First Division asap. It will take a while, but the matchday income + your transfer policy and usage of youngsters should save Rangers after a decade give or take.

[Jimbokav1971]

35 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Yeah, all they do is sign trash players that damp the progress of the youngsters lol

I think you'll be "fine" as long as you reach the First Division asap. It will take a while, but the matchday income + your transfer policy and usage of youngsters should save Rangers after a decade give or take.

You'll see in my next update that we have made some signings, (and all of then instigated by the staff), so they're not ridiculous the whole time, but I have had to veto about 8-10 signings already this season that was just them throwing money away. 

I'm actually not used to signing players, (because I usually play Youth Only), so I wonder if the fact that I have been avoiding recruitment meetings and not yet taken much of an interest in recruitment, (I will start at the end of the season), has possibly caused the staff to act on my behalf, (and act  poorly because I have given them no direction). 

With regards to the finances being "fine" I honestly think it's too early to tell yet. I don't think I will really be able to form an educated opinion until after we have spent a season in the new stadium while playing in the Premiership. I don't really want it to take a decade, but yeah it feasibly might take that long to get the Recruitment and the Academy firing on all cylinders.

Promotion is tough from the Championship to Premiership with just 1 auto-promotion spot, and at the moment it's a 2-horse race between ourselves and Queens Park. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2059.

Scottish Championship. Had we beaten Queens Park we would be 2 points clear at the top, but they were far too strong on the day and deserved their win and instead they're 4 points clear of us. 

Scottish Cup. I was sort of expecting us to get a bit of a hiding at Aberdeen. Both Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" * and (54d) Lochhead (Loyal) 5'8" * were injured so we had to start "wide striker" Stephen (Perfect) 6'0" * playing through the middle on his debut, and although he had a quiet game, we won 4-0 so who cares!  I don't usually care about Cup competitions in this sort of save, but the prize money in Scotland is decent in the Scottish Cup, (even though it's a drop in the ocean compared to our debt.We've been drawn against Kelty Hearts of League 2 in the next round and then if we get past them we play either Harthill Royal (of non-League) or St Mirren, (of League 1) in the Quarter Finals. While everyone else will be battling against eachother, we have a relatively straightforward route to the Semi-FInals. 

Debuts. 

Transfers.

Players out.

Kingsley (Res) * is a good player, but he started the season injured, isn't interested in signing a new contract and his deal expired in the Summer. He had a min fee release clause of £300k so it made sense just to move him on and get him off the books. I would love him to have signed a new deal, but he just wasn't having it. 

Anderson (F.Det) * is another good player and also a good age too, but he didn't want to extend his contract and I just can't afford to be letting players like this leave on a free. As well as a few different clauses on him, in particular we've got a 25% clause and that's what I was really after, (together with the friendly clause which is worth approx £156,000. Off the top of my head I think that's 5 friendlies we're arranged now as a result of transfers, and I think we're up to £1M+ income from them now,  

Johnson (F.Det) 6'1" * was our 1st choice GK, but when the DoF brought in a loanee who was better than him, I jumped at the chance to sell him for a nominal fee + friendly, (that generated another £156,000). I personally think he was plenty good enough for the Championship, (and I was happy with him), but we would have needed an upgrade for the Premiership anyway, (assuming we get there). The fact that he's gone down to League 1 rather than up to the Premiership probably tells you all you need to know. 

Players in. 

(55e) McLean (F.Pro) 6'0" has come in on loan and I like the look of him. Although he's a Tullibody player, the DoF arranged this and I still haven't actually instigated a signings myself yet. 

(52e) Davidson. (F.Sport) is a player who we had on on loan earlier this season, (and I've got to admit I thought it was a full season-long loan and was surprised when he left). Signing him for less than £10k seems a no-brainer. 

Tiffoney (Bal) comes in to be 2nd choice WBL and I actually quite like the look of him. He hasn't got amazing CA.(2.0 *), but what he does have is all in the right areas. A cheap as chips option but one I'm really happy with. 

Stephen (Perfect) 6'0" * is a player I like the look of and he was found by the DoF and was meant to be a free agent signing at the end of the season. They wanted just £5k to make the move happen instantly, so I jumped at it. I love his personality and think he's decent in either of our wide roles, (although his worktrate is a shame). To only cost £5k I think it's a no-brainer, and I would like to think I can play him and then sell him for a profit. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2059. 

I completely forgot about the Youth Intake. That doesn't happen to me very often. 

I'll be honest, I have no idea how good an intake this might be. Not a clue. I tend to take more notice of the 4.5 Excellent Intake infor than the "Elite", "Top" or whatever.

My 1st reaction was to only sign a few of these players to save money, but the costs involved are so tiny that it really doesn't matter either way. We've got spare wage budget so I'm going to try and ignore money when making the decision of who to sign. I'm just going to look for a reason not to sign. 

This isn't a Youth Only save now and I need to try and flip my mind-set completely. 

There are 6 players with single digit Det values and many of these are also (Unamb). I have released these 6 and will sign the other 10, (with no real expectation). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2059.

Scottish Championship. We're in good form, but we only managed to close the gap on Queens Park by 2 points, (so they still lead by 2). 

Scottish Cup. The other Semi is Hearts v Tullibody, so even if we get past Hibs then we will still be up against it. The truth is this is probably the end of the road for us as far as the Cup goes. 

Debuts. 

Internationals. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2059.

Scottish Championship. I actually didn't realise that (A) our last game was against Queens Park, or (B) that it was the last game of the season. I'm so used to there being a split before the end of the Premiership season that I just expected it to happen in the Championship. We were 2-1 down against Queens Park going into the last minute and on the verge of losing the league, but then a last minute leveller gained us the parity we needed to finish the top of the table and even an injury time failure from the spot couldn't darken our mood. 

Scottish Cup. We played pretty well against Hibs, but they scored and we didn't. 

Finances. I think we had approx. £13M in the bank at the start of the season and even with selling a player for £7M & the board investing £0.5M, we've still managed to run up a debt of £6M. By my reckoning that means that we ran at a shortfall of approx. £26.5M this season.  (£13M + £6M + £7M + £0.5M). 

Now that I know we have managed to at least return to the Premiership, the plan is to look to see who we can bring in on a free to make sure we can stay up. I think we would have stayed up even with this squad and no additions, but there are some players that are just not interested in re-signing. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Stats. May 2059. 

Squad by Appearances. 

Sim (Res) 6'2" * SELL scored 19 goals this season from centre-half and although 9 of them were pens, (at 100% with a penalty taking attribute of 4), he still hit double figures even without pens. He was really effective at the back post. I wanted to sell him earlier because he was valued at £2.2M, but I just couldn't get a deal done. 

Goals. 

28 goals from pens is better than decent from Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" *, but he's now into the last year of his contract and as he's already earning more than £10k pw it might be tough to negotiate a new deal, (but I will try). If we can't get him to sign a new contract then I will have to decide if we sell him or keep him for another season and then let him leave on a free. I suppose it depends on who else we can bring in. 

Assists. 

Clark (Res) * was the top asister with 17, but I think I have a player lined up to come in who's an upgrade. 

Avg Rating. 

Carroll (NIR) (F.Det) 6'2" had a fantastic season at right back. 

CA. 

PA. 

Contracts expiring. 

Sim (Res) 6'2" * SELL will be a big loss, but we just have to replace him. 
Chraïbi (ENG)(ESP) (Bal) had a +1 that I was going to trigger, but instead he's joining Cambridge Utd on a free. 

Lots of work to do in the off-season. 

Edited June 4 by Jimbokav1971

[BML]

If/when you move on from Selfridge, will you be bringing in another Big Lad to replace him?

He (or a similar lump) was half the reason you thought you could save Rangers in the Tullibody thread.

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, BML said:

If/when you move on from Selfridge, will you be bringing in another Big Lad to replace him?

He (or a similar lump) was half the reason you thought you could save Rangers in the Tullibody thread.

Yeah, that's the plan. In my head I already have an idea of a save for FM25 along the lines of "Big is beautiful!" where everyone we sign has to be over a certain height, (or something like that), so I will sort of use this as an experiment for that, (if I can). 

He actually wants to sign a new contract. The problem is that we can't afford to offer him a new one right now, (at least we couldn't the last time I tried). I'm in the Tullibody save right now, but I think his wage is either £10,750 pw or about £15,000 pw. I'm pretty sure it's one of them. When I tried to offer him a contract before we were limited to a max of about £3,200 pw, but that was in the Championship when we had money in the bank. Now we're going to be in the Premiership with zero money in the bank.

He's the 1 player I won't be selling though. I will keep him on for another season even if it means him leaving on a free. We wouldn't get loads of money for him anyway and he is my favourite player so.....

Sim the 6'2" Libero will be hard to replace. The 2 of them worked as a bit of a double act at the far post and properly ran riot from attacking corners. This was the 1st time I had looked at set-pieces and it seemed to go really well. In fact, you've piqued my interest now so as I'm at the end of the month in Tullibody I will do an update and then load up the Rangers save and see what's what. Really interested to see how we did from set-pieces at my 1st attempt. I even chose to put defenders on both posts at defensive corners and saw this work multiple times with them clearing the ball off the line. 

[I will be back]

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, BML said:

If/when you move on from Selfridge, will you be bringing in another Big Lad to replace him?

He (or a similar lump) was half the reason you thought you could save Rangers in the Tullibody thread.

Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" * is on £10,750 pw and is valued at £1.5M-£3.2M.

His agent says he's happy to take a pay cut and would sign for another year at £7,500-£8,000 and I would immediately do that deal and then add a +1 after promotion, (which would be triggered shortly), and a normal +1, although it would probably be smarter to just keep it going in 12 months blocks because the wage demands would probably come down each year. 

Despite being £6M overdrawn at the bank, we've got the budget, and there is even a little cash for new signings. 

  

We scored 21 goals from corners, (in the league), and the next highest had only 9. Then again, we scored more than double goals in total than many in the league. 

In terms of new signing options, I've just had a look at our scouting pool and of the interested strikers who are at least 6'1", and Jack Meres (Res) 6'2" is the only bloke that catches my eye. I really don't like his heading ability, (or lack thereof), but I like him as a player and I think I'm going to try and sign him. 

Jack Meres 6'2" is the only centre-half that jumps out and he doesn't have the same limitations of heading the ball. 

Both these players have a (Res) personality and the wages aren't going to kill us. I think they are pretty sensible signings for a 1st season back in the Premiership and making sure that we don't go down again, (with the goal of possibly getting some sort of European football come the end of the season). Although I don't know how achievable that's likely to be. We could be making do with a few more loan signings again next season, (something that I'm really not keen on doing usually). 

Edited June 5 by Jimbokav1971

[jrobertgordon13]

Why aren't you using a Goal-Scoring GK?

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, jrobertgordon13 said:

Why aren't you using a Goal-Scoring GK?

I just didn't see the point initially because it will be s short-term(ish) save. 

The other thing is that form drives player value and there is no substitute for goals in terms of a driver of form. The idea of letting GK's take pens to drive up their value, when in my experience they are significantly under-valued in the transfer market doesn't make sense to me. Instead, the idea of strikers, (ideally), who are significantly over-valued in the transfer market having their form and value boosted by the simple act of converting lots of penalties, seems to be quite a sensible strategy.

In the 1st season I just left it to the Ass Man to decide who would take pens, and Libero Sim scored either 9/9 or 10/10 with a penalty taking attribute of just 4. We did miss 1 pen, but that was taken by a striker, (not sure who and not sure what his penalty taking attribute was). I know that we were only in the Champion ship, but can you imagine adding 10 goals a season to a striker's goal tally and how much this will impact his form and transfer value? Now imagine selling that striker every season? It just makes sense to me.  

[jrobertgordon13]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I just didn't see the point initially because it will be s short-term(ish) save. 

The other thing is that form drives player value and there is no substitute for goals in terms of a driver of form. The idea of letting GK's take pens to drive up their value, when in my experience they are significantly under-valued in the transfer market doesn't make sense to me. Instead, the idea of strikers, (ideally), who are significantly over-valued in the transfer market having their form and value boosted by the simple act of converting lots of penalties, seems to be quite a sensible strategy.

In the 1st season I just left it to the Ass Man to decide who would take pens, and Libero Sim scored either 9/9 or 10/10 with a penalty taking attribute of just 4. We did miss 1 pen, but that was taken by a striker, (not sure who and not sure what his penalty taking attribute was). I know that we were only in the Champion ship, but can you imagine adding 10 goals a season to a striker's goal tally and how much this will impact his form and transfer value? Now imagine selling that striker every season? It just makes sense to me.  

Ok that's fine 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Stats. May 2059. 

Before we start this, we're over £5M overdrawn at the bank, so although we have £207,000 to spend in transfer fees, it's not really ideal to do so, so anyone we sign is likely to be as a free agent. It also means that we're probably going to have to consider very carefully any offers we receive for any of our players, (with the obvious exception of Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" * who I'm keen to keep at the club). 

 

GK. This isn't a strong position for us at all. Bruce (F.Sport) 5'9" * and (59c) Sloan (NIR) (F.Pro) 6'3" have decent potential, but they are a million miles away from being ready for 1st Team football, (at least 1st Team football for us). 

Nobody grabbed me from our scouting list and of the 3 players suggested by our DoF, 2 were too expensive, (wages), and the 3rd, (Kevin Marshall), really isn't great but may have to do. Maybe another loan is the answer, (but I really don't want to do that because we need to develop and sell our own players for profit). 

1st Choice. New signing. 
Backup. New signing. 

WBL. While this position wasn't a priority, we still managed to bring a 1st choice player in on a free. Even though it's not a priority, I will always be on the lookout for new players who are free/cheep.

1st Choice. (49f) Clark (Pro) New signing. 
Backup. Clark (Res) *

WBR. Although we don't have much depth in this area, Carroll (NIR) (F.Det) 6'2" was a standout performer last season. When he wasn't available we really did just have to make do. I'm expecting that someone is going to make us an offer for him, so it really is vital that I bring someone in who can step up immediately. 

1st Choice. Carroll (NIR) (F.Det) 6'2"
Backup. New signing. 

DC. It's a huge blow to be losing Sim (Res) 6'2" * SELL, (especially on a free), but it's obvious after his 19 goals from centre-half last season that he;s too good for us even after us getting promoted. Good luck to him! 

We don't have a suitable Libero at all, but maybe after last season at Tullibody the answer is to play a midfielder there rather than a centre-half? Williamson (L.Heart) 6'5" * isn't good enough to start in midfield, (and covered at WBR last season), but maybe just maybe he's the answer? The fact that he's 6'5" is obviously an advantage, and yes I really am embracing this "big is beautiful" thing. Although he made 41 appearances last season, only 13 of them were starts and he played as much at WBR as he did in the middle of the pitch. I don't see him as a Premiership midfielder, but maybe he just might do a job as Libero. I would still love to sign a proper Libero, but even if I had loads of money that wouldn't be easy, so maybe I should just look at a defender who can pass and be happy with that. 

1st Choice DLC. O'Donnell (F.Pro) 6'5" *
1st Choice DC. Williamson (L.Heart) 6'5" * is a midfielder who is our best option in the Libero role. 
1st Choice DRC. (52e) Davidson. (F.Sport)

Backup DLC. Jack Meres (Res) 6'2" New signing. 
Backup DC. Frail (Low S-B) 6'0" * 
Backup DRC. McKean  (F.Pro) 6'1" *

MC. We actually have a little bit of quality and depth in this area. With no European football we should be able to field our 1st Team most of the time and then just rotate the squad when we play twice a week, (which shouldn't be too often). 

1st Choice MLC. Smith (Res) *
1st Choice MRC. Stewart (Pro) *

Backup MLC. Fry (NIR) (Res) *
Backup MRC. (53c) Robertson (L.Heart) *

SC. We're more than likely going to lose the battle in midfield, and I fully expect us to concede a lot of goals, so it's of vital importance that our front 3 score goals when given the opportunity. I think we're looking pretty decent in this area. 

1st Choice SLC. Boland (Unamb) *
1st Choice SC. Selfridge (F.Det) 6'5" *
1st Choice SRC. Stephen (Perfect) 6'0" *

Backup SLC. Thomson (F.Pro) 6'0" * New signing. 
Backup SC. Blair Stewart (Res) 6'1" New signing. 
Backup SRC. Toumi (ALG)(FRA) (Unamb) *

I didn't actually realise until now that he was a product of our Academy and had played for us before. I really like the look of him but of course it's a risk signing a TM who is rubbish at heading the ball. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Stats. May 2059. 

Squad by Appearances. 

Squad by Goals. 

Squad by Assists. 

Squad by Avg Rating. 

Squad by CA.

Squad by PA. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2059. 

Transfers. 

Cancelled deal. I was all set to sign Alieu Marong (GAM) (Res) on a free, but we were paying him a £100k signing bonus and £6,500 pw and basically I just bottled it. It was a mix of the £6,500 pw, the £100k signing bonus and the injury proneness mentioned in the scout report that just scared the life out of me, (because I think he looks great), and £438,000 for his 1st year as a bit of an unknown quantity was just a risk I couldn't take. The more I look at him though, the more I think I've made a mistake and should have confirmed the deal. It's the position we most need improvement in and if we signed him then maybe I could have sold Carroll (NIR) (F.Det) 6'2" and replaced him with a better and younger model. I've made a mistake haven't I? I'm so out of practice with transfers.  On the other hand, I love the idea that Carroll (NIR) (F.Det) 6'2" is another "big is beautiful" player wt WBR. I does Dan Burn have any Grandkids in the game? 

Ticket Pricing. I was about to say that a 30% rise in ticket prices is a bit steep, but we've just been promoted from Championship to Premiership so maybe not so much. 

Clauses triggered. Note that there are no % pay rises left, and we now have quite a few options being triggered as a result of our promotion. 

Finances. 

[l4nd3r]

Crazy how you still had 14.53 million in taxable profit when ending the season pretty much on the negative.

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, l4nd3r said:

Crazy how you still had 14.53 million in taxable profit when ending the season pretty much on the negative.

That's another good spot. but actually it's just slightly different start and end dates for the seasons. 

When the Holiday Manager took over to get rid of the incumbent manager, the bank balance was approx £2.8M overdrawn. 

I took over in Jun 2058, and that's when we had £13.4M in the bank, and this was made up largely of £7M in transfers and then the rest  would have been season tickets of £16.2M, (which might have not all been in by the end of Jun).

This season we've already had income of £21.1M from Season Tickets, (an increase of £4.9M)

I just think that I have caused some confusion by not taking over at the actual start of the season.

[leobiazzi]

Excited to see what will you deliver in the Premiership with Rangers!

[Jimbokav1971]

37 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Excited to see what will you deliver in the Premiership with Rangers!

So am I. It will be interesting to see how we cope with the financial restrictions and if we can progress at all.