[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]

2 hours ago, RoguPL said:

Champions League Playoffs are on the cards here. That will be another £9M  

I thought we were nailed on to qualify automatically, but I reckoned without our last 2 games being against PSG and AC Milan. 

Playoffs and £9M will do me fine. 

Another £9M....... Maybe that means I should go in for Anderson (F.Pro) 5'8". 

[leobiazzi]

Go for him!

Also, what's going on with Tullibody? They're not going to qualify for any European cups at this pace.

[l4nd3r]

1 hora atrás, leobiazzi disse:

Go for him!

Also, what's going on with Tullibody? They're not going to qualify for any European cups at this pace.

With things going the way they are there, this challenge may end up going full circle with him back at Tullibody fixing their mess. lol I think the AI is having money problems there and replaced the youth only squad with a bunch of expensive scrubs.

[leobiazzi]

Lol, that would be amazing 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

Go for him!

Also, what's going on with Tullibody? They're not going to qualify for any European cups at this pace.

I haven't looked in great depth, but by the looks of it they are struggling with financial problems. Their/My/Our success with them was created on the back of really tight wage control, (that was only relaxed in the few years before I left), and the fact that I was completely accepting that we were a selling club who's "Rich" status was based completely on the funds generated by the selling of Academy products. 

What they did initially is that they sold High PA young players for more than their CA was worth, but less than their PA was worth, (in very general terms), and then replaced almost the whole squad with expensive signings who were older and paid significantly more. There is absolutely no doubt that the CA of the players they brought in was higher than the players I left them with, but at the same time I think it's reasonable to suggest that if the players that were at the club when I left, remained at Tullibody and reached their PA while there, then the CA of my Tullibody team would have been better/higher than that of the ageing expensive players they brought in for big transfer fees and even bigger wages. 

In the short-term their strategy worked fine and they were REALLY strong for a little while, but when the cycle came to be renewed and they needed to sell more players to generate the income that would keep the club running, the high PA players were no longer at the club, (because they had been sold to fund the overhaul), and it wasn't easy to sell the players they had because they were on really high wages. On top of that, the next generation of Academy players had now been stagnating and/or been sold for a pittance because they weren't good enough to get into the starting squad, so they hadn't developed and now weren't worth what they would have been had I been managing the club, keeping the pathway to the 1st Team clear and continuing their development. 

I have seen a few players that have come through the intake since I've left, (and they look great). So they're still producing great talent, but it's the slightly lesser talents that I would really working hard to develop and who formed the basis of the structure of the club. 

This bloke is on my shortlist. He's a Tullibody Academy product that came through after I left. I really like him. 

He's actually been played a little by the AI manager, (and loaned out to the Championship for 1 season), so the issue isn't developing players like him, (who they don't want to sell). It's developing the "not quite gonna be a star" players who you need to develop and sell on so that you don't have to sell the stars. 

I know the level of player we were producing when I was there, so it's only reasonable to expect them to continue that. 

Here is a player that I hadn't seen before. 

They seem to be addicted to signing ex Man Utd players, (and I wonder if they are now or have recently been managed by an ex Man Utd Manager). 

5 of their senior players were products of the Man Utd Academy. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, l4nd3r said:

With things going the way they are there, this challenge may end up going full circle with him back at Tullibody fixing their mess. lol 

No way. Although I'm really enjoying the Rangers branch of the save, I fully intend going back and continuing the Tullibody branch of the sa from where I left off. The original plan was that I was going to do 1 season of Tullibody and 1 season of Rangers and keep alternating, but the problem was that I would finish 1 season and then not have a clue what I was walking back into with the other save. I just couldn't do it. In the end I was enjoying the Rangers save so much that I just stuck with it and I'm still here, but always with the plan of returning to Tullibody once the debt was cleared. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, l4nd3r said:

I think the AI is having money problems there and replaced the youth only squad with a bunch of expensive scrubs.

I think you're right. 

I know there was someone in the thread quite vocal about suggesting that I pay more to bring back some of our big players who had moved on, and I tried to explain how the financial model worked and how tearing it up just wouldn't work and would put us in trouble, and that's, (I think), exactly what the AI has done. 

If we look at their Senior squad based on appearances, what;'s obvious straight away is that they are running quite a small squad.

20 players, only 19 who have played and only 15 who have started more than 5 games. 

If we now look at them in the same order, but looking at age and value, I wonder what that will tell us. 

5 of the 20 players are teenage Academy products, with a total of 11 of the 20 coming from the Academy. 

This season they didn't bring anyone in, (other than 1 loan), and sold players for £14.5M.
(57c) Hogarth (Res) * is only 23 years old and was sold too cheaply. 
(57f) Shearer (IRL)(Fick) * also sold too cheaply. 
Tevin Ho-Lung is 33 now and they just wanted him off the books, (and they had signed him on a free and also got £0.5M in loan fees for him while he was here so he was very good value). 
Zoltán Csank is a 32 year old GK and they signed him on the cheapo so I've got no complaints about that deal, (other than the need to sign him at all in the 1st place). 

Last season they didn't spend any money on bringing players in and sold players to the tune of £51M.

Adrian Harding was sold for £12M(£16M) but valued at £24M-£34M now. They did buy him for only £8.5M so it's still profit. 
(56l) Dow (F.Det) 5'7" was sold for less than £0.5M, but is the reason for that the fact that he only ever made 2(10) appearances for the club. It's just not enough to develop him even with the loans. 
Kubala (SVK) (F.Pro) 5'9" was a big player when Tullibody signed him for £61M. Now the only thing big about him is his wage demands. Big loss on this player. 
(58b) Lindsay (ENG) (Res) 6'2" was sold to us at Rangers and I think they should have kept him and played him. 
Reyes (POR) 6'0" HG is an Academy product who was sold to Man Utd for £3.1M despite never making a single appearance. 
Peña (ESP) 5'10" was signed on a free and sold for £17M so that's great business. 
Claridge (ENG) 5'10" was sold for a small profit, but he's valued at £10M+ at Aberdeen now so what have Tullibody missed? 

Since I left they have bought players with a cost of £298M. 
Since I left they have sold players to the tune of £538M. 

It's only 6 seasons, (5.5 to be exact I think), but that's a profit of £240M, but the problem is that they have nothing to show for it because it's all gone on player wages, who then seemingly left on a free rather than being sold on. It was just really really poor recruitment strategy. 

Now they are struggling because they have a small squad and 5 of their 20 man squad are teenagers. 

[Edit]

My DoF has just made an off of £1M(£1.3M) for a Tullibody player that isn't on the above list. 

He wasn't in the Senior squad so I looked in the U21's squad, (which was full when I left), and now there is 1 single player in the squad, (and it's not the player I'm looking for). 

The player my DoF has made a bid for is in the U18's. 

Quirino (POR) (F.Pro) 5'8" HG looks ok, but nothing special, and the scout certainly wasn't keen. 

Wallace (F.Pro) 6'3" HG is the player that really catches my eye though. He looks brilliant. 

Even with the problems the club must be in, they still have the tools to get out of trouble. They have just loads of quality kids, and they should embrace that and just throw them straight in, but instead they're still resisting. 

I've just saved the game so I can go back to it, and added a new Holiday Manager to take over at Tullibody and really see what the finances are like. Then I will go back and load up the old save after we have seen what;s what. 

The board only care about the culture of developing Youth, but the AI just doesn't do it as well as you or I might. They always only do it half-heartedly and pay lip service to it. 

The supporters are more demanding. 

They're £4.8M overdrawn at the bank, and when you consider that I left them with approx £100M in the bank and they've generated £240M more transfer profit, that's £340M that has vanished in 5.5 years. 

They have 1 loan outstanding, and that was for the stadium. 

Because of the money they're owed in transfers, (it should be even more), they're just about still breaking even, but breaking even when they should be absolutely rolling in money. 

When you consider that we're, (Rangers), are spending less than £500,000 pw on wages, (granted it's only that low because lots of wages are being paid by other clubs as players have gone there on loan), I'm absolutely astonished that Tullibody are spending £1.1M pw on wages, (more than double what I'm spending at Rangers), but even more astonishing the board have actually given them a budget of £1.6M pw. This is madness and there is no way that it's sustainable. This is the sort of thing got Rangers in their financial trouble and almost put them out of business. (I will be really interested to see what happens to them when I go back to the Tullibody save and the AI has to fix the financial problems at Rangers. I honestly don't think they will and I expect another period of Administration and another points deduction and I just wonder if it will get to a point where the game realises that it just can't continue. 

This is an example of what I mean by the strategy not being "joined-up thinking". They only have £310k to spend on new players, (but loads of wage budget), but they're spending more on scouts than they are on transfer budget! Who and where are they scouting and why? It just doesn't make sense. 

 

They haven't even got any scouting package to start off with, so really all they will be scouting is next opponent. 

They spent £53M on player wages last season and Rangers spent £22M last season. That's ridiculous considering Tullibody are the Youth Development club. 

They're just making all the same mistakes that Rangers were making that got them into trouble in the 1st place. 

It's a real shame that this doesn't go back as far as the point I was still in charge. 

In fact, I'm going to go back to my Tullibody save date, (Jun 2060), and this is what it looked like back then. 

This doesn't make sense because I was spending £533k pw in wages in May 2060 according to this, (and that makes sense). 

Tullibody are completely capable of being saved, (in the same way that Rangers were capable of being saved), but I'm pretty sure that Rangers weren't capable of being saved by the AI, and I'm not sure that Tullibody are either based on what I've just seen here. 

But according to the previous pic, "someone" at Tullibody was spending £1.5M pw in wages in Feb 2060. 

I'm a bit confused here now. Both the above graphs can't be true. Maybe the dates aren't quite accurate at the ends and they splashed the cash immediately I left and the new manager arrived, (and we know that to be the case). 

Edited July 16 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, leobiazzi said:

Lol, that would be amazing 

No way. Once the debt is cleared here I will be going back to my last save point with Tullibody and I will be going for World domination! 

[l4nd3r]

2 horas atrás, Jimbokav1971 disse:

No way. Although I'm really enjoying the Rangers branch of the save, I fully intend going back and continuing the Tullibody branch of the sa from where I left off. The original plan was that I was going to do 1 season of Tullibody and 1 season of Rangers and keep alternating, but the problem was that I would finish 1 season and then not have a clue what I was walking back into with the other save. I just couldn't do it. In the end I was enjoying the Rangers save so much that I just stuck with it and I'm still here, but always with the plan of returning to Tullibody once the debt was cleared. 

I was only joking.

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

Go for him!

I got a bid accepted, but then he wanted £100k+ pw in wages, so that's us out. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2065. 

UEFA Champions League. We smashed PSG in a really good performance, but then had a player sent off, (2nd yellow). while leading AC Milan 1-0, and the extra man took it's toll on us and we couldn't hold out. 

Scottish Cup. We're into the next round. 

Records. 

Clauses, but different. I'm 100% positive that I have never bought an Out-going clause from another club, for a player we've purchased, and the reason I've never done it is because I never include them in transfer deals. Here we have 3 deals that were done by the DoF and it makes sense to buy the clauses because I think they are worth more than the amount to be paid. 

Križman (CRO)(F.Amb) 5'10" PPM was signed from Rijeka and we've paid £1.7M for his 30% profit clause. For us to break even on the deal, we would have to make £5.67M profit on the sale, and as he was bought for £3.8M, that means a total selling fee of approx £9.5M. As he's already valued at £15.5M I think this is a very good deal for us. He's not played much yet because he has a PPM I really don't like, (plays short simple passes), and that, (together with some of his physicals), is affecting his gametime. 

Ditutala (ANG) (L.Heart) 5'8" was signed from HJK in Finland for just £1.4M and we've paid £2.81M for his 30% profit clause. For us to break even on the deal we would have to make £9.37M on the sale, and as he was bought for just £1.4M, that means a total selling fee of approx. £11M. He's hardly played this season and is already worth £13M - £16M, so I think this is a really good decision for us. When we sell him, (and we will sell him), all the profit is now ours. 

Wilshaw (ENG) (F.Pro) 6'5" was signed from Spurs for £725k and we've paid £ £1.77M for his 30% profit clause. For us to break even on the deal, we would have to make £5.9M profit on the sale and as he was bought for just £725k that means a total selling fee of approx. £6.625M. As he's already worth £8.6M - £9.8M while out on loan in the Championship, I think it's clear he's going to be worth more playing for us in the Premiership and we should be able to sell him on for much more than that. Seems like a very good but of business. 

Transfers.

Quirino (POR) (F.Pro) 5'8" HG was signed by my DoF while I was looking at the Tullibody squad/finances last month. There must be at least 10 players who I would have preferred him to sign, but he's got him on the cheap and he's likely to still generate decent profit so I agreed the deal. 

Pep (ESP) (F.Pro) 6'0" is another DoF signing, and again we signed him on the cheap so we're likely to make a profit so I had no reason to veto. 

Gómez (ARG) (Driven) 6'1" * is a player that I signed, but I honestly thought that I had decided NOT to sign him last night, (because the initial spend was too much), but whether I was just too tired and not really paying attention or had a change of heart or whatever, he's joined! He's already worth more than we paid for him, so at the very least he should be a nice little earner. 

Dillon (NIR) (F.Pro) 5'11" is another DoF signing, and again he was signed on the cheap, but he's actually made 1(9) appearances for Liverpool and although he's a midfielder, I see him as a potential backup Libero. Yeah he only has 4.0 PA, but 4.0 could still be decent. This might be a hell of a deal by the DoF. 

Abrahamsson (SWE) (Spirit) 6'5 is another DoF signing, (yeah, he really has been busy!!!) but it's actually a deal I really like and the timing was perfect. 1st of all we signed him on the cheap at just £575,000 and he's already valued at £5.8M - £6.4M, but he actually looks pretty decent. On top of that, we;ve been rotating 2 GK's, (to keep the value of both up so that they can be sold), and I have just sold Mina (ECU) (F.Pro) 6'4" for £5M+, so this bloke effectively comes in as a straight swap for him, but about £5M profit in the bank. The other thing is that the other rotation GK (55e) McLean (F.Pro) 6'0" is missing about 1 month with a broken finger, (so I had to recall someone from loan to play in Europe), so the timing isn't just good, it's perfect. Well done the DoF (or whoever is doing this). 

Finances. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2065.

Scottish Premiership. I was to blame for the Hearts loss. We were struggling with injury and suspension anyway, so we were already weakened, but I rotated the squad too much against Hearts and we came up short. What with losing against Hearts and then getting knocked out of the Champions League, the morale hit was enough to cause us to draw the Raith Rovers game. Their leveller was scored in the 94th min. 

UEFA Champions League. What an absolute shambles the 1st leg against Atletico was.  Honestly, everything they hit went in and we on the other hand had shots cleared off the line, their GK pulling off wonder-saves and defenders pulling off last-ditch tackles and blocks. It really was one of those games where everything went right for them and and wrong for us. 

Scottish Cup. We needed extra-time, but we're into the next round. 

Transfers. Nothing this month. 

Finances. 

 

Edited July 18 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2065. 

Initially it doesn't look a great intake. 

And the personalities are awful. 

But the GK is very good, (albeit very eccentric). 

Edited July 18 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2065. 

Scottish Premiership. 3 good wins come just at the right time and we go 8 points clear, (of Aberdeen rather than Celtic), with a game in hand on both. Celtic have only taken 5 points from their last 4 games and even Aberdeen, (who won 8 on the bounce in Dec and Jan), have taken 6 points from their last 4 games. 

Scottish Cup. It took a late pen, but we're into the next round. 

NxGn 2056. New signing Mihaljević (SRB) (Perfect) 6'0 looks great, (and he's Mihaljević (SRB) (Perfect) 6'1 now), and while I'm happy that he's played regularly in Croatia, and he looks really decent, the 1st thing that strikes me is that he's made 27 starts in the league and only scored 1 goals. For a player of his ability playing in a league at that level, for 1 of the bigger teams in the league, that seems a little strange. (For the record Rijeka have finished in the top 3 in the league, 3 out of the last 5 seasons, so they are certainly a decent Croatian club). 

When I look at his player stats, of course it only shows European games because all the Croatian domestic games will be.... [I've forgotten the word..... generated.... no, simulated, that's it], simulated, so they won't be visible and that's fine, but it still doesn't explain why he's only scored 1 simulated goal in 27 simulated games...

If I look at his form though, that makes a little more sense. He' been playing WBR and even DC. 

Let's filter out the European games and look at just the Croatian domestic games..... 

Now I don't mind him playing WBR, and I don't even mind him playing DC, but if he's played all these games in these different positions, why isn't it shown on his  Positional Abilities. I would have expected him to have at least a general knowledge of both by now. In actual fact I think it's probably good for his development, but that still doesn't explain the lack of positional experience. 

Transfers.

Friendlies, (arranged as a result of a transfer clause). £1.85M generated from just friendly clauses against 4 sides. 

Finances. 

 

[Thebaker]

i was going to comment about Mihaljevic not gaining any positions but you beat me to it. My guess is he has really low adaptability, has he learnt any english or struggling?

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

i was going to comment about Mihaljevic not gaining any positions but you beat me to it. My guess is he has really low adaptability, has he learnt any english or struggling?

You could be right about Mihaljević (SRB) (Perfect) 6'0, but I suspect it relates to him actually being a Rangers player who is just playing on loan in the same way that you are unable to tutor loan players, (I think), or teach them PPM's. 

I think that it's sort of a bug that just wasn't noticed, (because it rarely happens). 

I have access to the IGE though so let's have a look at his Adaptability. I think if I scroll to the bottom without looking at CA/PA then I can look at Adaptability without seeing the CA/PA. 

Yeah, adaptability is only 5, but the key attribute here is probably versatility which is more middling at 7. Adaptability is more related to moving clubs and Nations. Versatility is changing position, (I think). 

Even with an adaptability/versatility of 1 I would expect a player who played half a season at WBR/DC to have have improvement at least in these new positions, (even if it's awkward)

I've just gone through all the players we have loaned out currently and of those who have played new positions, none of them have any knowledge in these new positions. 

[l4nd3r]

In my experience, in non-playable leagues things are always weird with player stats, i think due to him playing for a non-playable team makes him not earn any development point because he's not actually training in a new position but put to play there by the team selector as those clubs usually lacks real players (and instead have a few gray ones), maybe this behavior changed in later versions but was still present in the 2021 version.

[Rikulec]

By the way, why is Mihajlević tagged as Serbian when he's quite clearly Croatian? 

[Jimbokav1971]

33 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

By the way, why is Mihajlević tagged as Serbian when he's quite clearly Croatian? 

Ah yes. Thank you. 

He's not dual Nationality or anything. I just put the wrong Nation abbreviation in. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, l4nd3r said:

In my experience, in non-playable leagues things are always weird with player stats, i think due to him playing for a non-playable team makes him not earn any development point because he's not actually training in a new position but put to play there by the team selector as those clubs usually lacks real players (and instead have a few gray ones), maybe this behavior changed in later versions but was still present in the 2021 version.

Yeah could be, but I've got some players on loan in active leagues who have played in unusual positions with no experience gain, so not really sure what's the cause. 

[l4nd3r]

3 horas atrás, Jimbokav1971 disse:

Yeah could be, but I've got some players on loan in active leagues who have played in unusual positions with no experience gain, so not really sure what's the cause. 

I think this means SI made a design choice so the loaned player doesn't waste ability points on possible things that aren't the wish/desired by the parent club, probably to stop complaints like "i loaned a striker and he was turned into a central defender by the AI".

If i remember correctly position learning cost CA, or maybe that's just normal training going to things that may not be as useful or a really old behavior.

Edited July 19 by l4nd3r

[Jimbokav1971]

12 hours ago, l4nd3r said:

I think this means SI made a design choice so the loaned player doesn't waste ability points on possible things that aren't the wish/desired by the parent club, probably to stop complaints like "i loaned a striker and he was turned into a central defender by the AI".

If i remember correctly position learning cost CA, or maybe that's just normal training going to things that may not be as useful or a really old behavior.

It could be, (because they have certainly made some strange strategy decision), but if they have done then I just think it's the wrong decision. 

Yeas playing experience in a certain position, (over a certain level), does cost CA, (at least in my experience), but I've always wondered what would happen if say for example a MC with CA of 150 and PA of 150 was retrained to play in a new position but had no CA points to spend. Does the player take an attribute drop? Does he never gain the experience in the new position? I'm sure I've seen people experiment with this sort of thing with the IGE, but it was so long ago that it's basically worthless info anyway as the game has progressed so much since then. 

That was something I was thinking about yesterday. It's possible that he's already reached his PA so there is no CA points to spend on new position xp, but the problem with that is that I'm pretty sure the low levels of positional xp don't cost CA points and it's only over a certain level, (Accomplished or even Natural possibly), that it costs CA points.

His PA suggests that there still is room for growth (CA 3.5 PA 5.0) but because he's never actually been at the club, (was signed and then loaned back to his selling club immediately), this is effectively like a Day 1 Youth INtake report and is often quite unreliable. It will be interesting to see what he looks like in terms of CA/PA when he actually arrives at the club in the Summer. 

Either way, it would seem that this is £2.9M well spent. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2065.

Scottish Premiership.  It's a really good time to hit consistent form, (obviously helped by no European games now), and we move 11 points clear. 

Scottish Cup. We're into another Final. 

Transfers. Nothing this month, (but I have been busy). 

Finances. We've got a £58m transfer budget now and a wage budget of £945k pw, (which is ridiculous), and I have no intention of spending that sort of money. 

 

Our loan debt is currently £331m. I think the last time I commented on the amount I forgot to include the interest portion, (So we've still got some way to go). 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2065.

Scottish Premiership. We've won the league with 3 games still to play. It's the 1st time Rangers have won the Scottish Premiership since 2046, (a gap of 17 years). That last title ended a run of 14 league titles in 16 years, and opened the door for a new age as 1st Celtic, Hibs and Aberdeen shared the next 7 titles between them, but then came the rise of Tullibody who won 7 league titles in 9 seasons, followed by a couple of seasons where Celtic were crowned Champions. 

Getting back to Rangers though, after 4 top 3 finishes in 5 season since we were promoted back to the top flight, I wonder if this signals a new age of dominance for the blue part of the old Firm. Now we've won the title I will obviously be keen to win it again, but 1st and foremost I will re-double my efforts to clear the debt, and we might see quite a few players leave this Summer. i wonder if we could raise £100M in the Summer? 

Scottish Cup. The final piece in an impressive treble is secured, but we needed an injury time goal just to force extra-time. 

Awards. 

Transfers. Nothing this month. 

Finances. We've got £116M in the bank at the end of the season, (and that's brilliant), but if you look at the commercial summary down below you will see that our Competition Prize money rose from 314.08M last season to £45.63M this season as we made our Champions League debut under my tenure. With that in mind you could be forgiven for wondering where the money has gone, but the answer is not that it's been wasted on expensive flops, but actually that it's been invested in young players who we will be able to sell-on at some point in the future. We should be able to offload quite a few players in the Summer, (assuming I can generate interest), but if not we will have a lot of players out on loan next season. 

I would love next season to be our last at Rangers but in order for that to be the case we would have to generate approx. £200M in profit over the next 12-14 months or so. It's stretching, but I don't think it's impossible. 

 

[Sir_Liam]

Congratulations on the league title, it's a great achievement to turn Rangers around after the mess the AI made of the finances.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2065. 

Endgame strategy. As I mentioned in my last post, I would love this coming season to be my last in charge of Rangers, (before I return to the Tullibody save), and despite me needing to magic up approx, £200M in order to clear the outstanding debt, I actually don't think that this is impossible. It's certainly not impossible to sell players for that value based on who we have at the club. Getting them out the door and getting the money in the door in the 14 month period is the problem, (but I'm going to give it a damn good go). I'm not in the slightest bit bothered about winning in Europe before I go, (because that's the challenge I hope to pick up when I return to Tullibody), and having completed the domestic Treble, I think we've proved categorically that Rangers are back at the top of Scottish football. 

Premiership TV Rights.

One final point though. I don't want to just sell everyone to generate enough cash to clear the debt and then walk off into the sunset leaving them an awful squad. No, I want to clear the squad and then leave them a vibrant young squad full of enough potential to allow them to continue at least competing at the top, while generating income that should allow them to build from strength to strength which no loan repayments to pay and an income that gradually builds the finances over time. 

Transfers. 

Williams (WAL) )(F.Pro) 5'9" and Black (ENG) 6'0" SELL left as soon as the transfer window opened but are included on last season's figures, adding £21.5M to the total. 

(58f) Severin (Unamb) 6'5" came in on a free because I plan on getting rid of 2 DC's in this window and don't want to be short. He's limited, but will do a job and is still young enough to be sold on for a profit. 

We've made 1 cash signing and 1 cash sale already this season. A 29 year old striker leaving and being replaced by a 20 year old striker seems like good business to me. 

Gudiño (ARG) (Fickle) 6'0" came in when we met his release clause and I like the look of him. More a wide attacker than a central striker though. 

5 players arrived on a free. 

Spellman (ENG) (Res) 5'8" was a DoF signing and because it's free and he seemed decent it seemed good enough to go with. 

Öğer (TUR) (Resil) 5'10" is the 1st of 2 Turks signed in this window. He's decent, but still has to develop physically before he plays for us. 

Cirav (TUR) (F.Det) 5'9" is the 2nd Turk and although he's ok physically, he needs to develop other aspects of his game. 

Miller (M.Citizen) 5'10" has a great personality and some good physicals, and I particularly like his dribbling and finishing. 

Marshall (Res) 6'0" came in because I planned on selling our #2 WBR, so I was keen to make sure that if he left we had cover. 

Friendlies, (arranged as a result of transfer clauses).

Finances. 

With only 1 player at the club out on loan our wages are maxed out at £609k, but are due to rise to £627k with the arrival of the free signings at the start of next month.We were only spending £536k towards the end of last season, so that means we were saving £91k per week via players who were out on loan and having 50%/100% of their wages paid by their loaning club depending on whether they paid or not. 

Our sales bring our bank balance up to £150M, but we're still £160M in the hole. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sir_Liam said:

Congratulations on the league title, it's a great achievement to turn Rangers around after the mess the AI made of the finances.

Thanks. It did feel like quite an accomplishment, although I also feel like I cheated by using Big players in what I think is basically an exploit, (but then again everything that works is some sort of exploit I suppose). 

We've got £160M to go to clear the debt and I'm going to really have a go at clearing it completely this season. We'll just have to see how we go. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2065. 

GK. 

1st Team. Abrahamsson (SWE) (Spirit) 6'5
2nd Team. Bruce (F.Sport) 6'0" * HG

WBL. 

1st Team. Simmons (Pro) 6'0"
2nd Team. Delcour (M.Pro) 5'10"

WBR.

1st Team. Eriksen (NOR) (F.Pro) 6'5"
2nd Team. Marshall (Res) 6'0"

DC.

DLC1. Moore (NIR) (Spirit) 6'4"
DC1. Gómez (ARG) (Driven) 6'1" *
DRC1. Wilshaw (ENG) (F.Pro) 6'5"

DLC2. O'Donnell (F.Pro) 6'5" *
DC2. (60h) Ferguson (F.Pro) 6'0" *
DRC2. Daoud (BEL) 6'2" * DRC

Backup1. (60b) Warnock (F.Pro) 6'3" *
Backup2. (58f) Severin (Unamb) 6'5"

MC. 

1st Team MLC. Radović (SRB) (Unsport) 5'9" *
1st Team MRC. Matrljan (CRO) (Fickle) PPM

2nd Team MLC. Houghton (ENG)(M.Pro) 6'3" MLC 
2nd Team MRC. Baranja (SVN) (F.Amb) 6'0"

Backup MLC. Stewart (Res) * 
Backup MRC. Križman (CRO)(F.Amb) 5'10" PPM

SC.

1st Team SLC. Zieliński (POL) 5'9"
1st Team SC. Matheson (IRL) (Unamb) 6'5"
1st Team SRC. Dzafic (BIH) (F.Pro) 5'9"

2nd Team SLC. Mihaljević (SRB) (Perfect) 6'1
2nd Team SC. Thomas (ENG) (Res) 6'6" PPM
2nd Team SRC. Ditutala (ANG) (L.Heart) 5'8"

Backup SLC. Bolaños (ECU) 5'11"
Backup SC. (58b) Lindsay (ENG) (Res) 6'2"
Backup SRC. Gudiño (ARG) (Fickle) 6'0"

[Thebaker]

well done on the dominant season,  impressed that fan favorite Ally McCoist is still around to pass comment

[RoguPL]

Congrats on the title ! 
So what is the plan now ? Make sales to try and clear debts and back to Tullibody? Or one more season here? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2065.

* Just had a crash on 17th July. Usually this wouldn't be a problem at all because there are no games in July and because I play Youth Only there are no transfers to lose. In this save, in this instance, there was a lot to lose. 

Transfers. Just in case you're not looking at the figures here, we sold clauses for £18M this month. In a different save I might have been tempted to hold onto the Pye (ENG) (F.Pro) 6'0" SELL clause, but £11.46M was simply just too much not to immediately accept. When we sold him the deal was for £20M(£24.5M), so to stick £11.4M on top of that is enormous. My aim is still to try and get the net debt down to zero by the end of the season, but if I'm completely honest I think I will probably need the next Summer window to achieve that, so maybe September of 2066, (13 months from now), is a more realistic target. 

Almost £7M received in loan fees is a big step in the right direction. 

Friendlies, (arranged as a result of transfer clauses). 

Finances. We've still got net debt of approx £111M, (even with our bank balance of £200M), but obviously £121M of that is interest, and if we were in a position to pay the debts off early then we would pay less interest so....... 

There have been rumours of a takeover for a while now. I would love for that to wait until Sept of next season because if we had more money in then bank than was owed at takeover time, I really think a new board might clear the debt. 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 21/07/2024 at 08:01, Thebaker said:

well done on the dominant season,  impressed that fan favorite Ally McCoist is still around to pass comment

I've just checked and he's not ageing. He's still 61 years old so might be around forever! 

As we also play in the Ally McCoist Arena, that's no bad thing. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 21/07/2024 at 10:34, RoguPL said:

Congrats on the title ! 
So what is the plan now ? Make sales to try and clear debts and back to Tullibody? Or one more season here? 

Thanks. 

Yeah, I'm not leaving until the net debt is gone. 

Although we have £200M in the bank now, we still owe £205M in loans and £121M in interest on the 2 loans, (if they run to term). We also have a negative Transfer debt, (meaning that we're owed money and it's not a debt at all), of £15.7M. 

£215.7M - £326M = £110.3M.

We've got a month of this Summer window to go and then I would like to think that between that and the Jan window and then next seasons's Summer window I should be able to completely clear the debt, (or have the money to do so), and walk away with the club completely on an even keel and in fact well set up for the future. I have set myself a deadline of Sept 2065 to have the debt cleared. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2065.

Scottish Premiership. It's a tough start to the season, and I think it's largely because there have been so many ins and outs. Let's see how next month goes but we certainly need to score more goals. 

UEFA Champions League. 

League Cup. Into the next round. 

Premiership TV Rights. 

Season Tickets. Finally our season ticket sales have risen, and it's a big rise too. 

Transfers. 

Although I've brought in 5 more players for a fee, I have really tried to keep the spending down and not spent more than £3.9M on anyone. Some real bargains here. 

Chávez (ARG) (F.Det) 5'11" was signed as a Libero, but actually he could get some minutes in midfield. 

Shtelong (ISR) (Resil) 5'8" might have a name that is hard to pronounce, but I still like the look of him as a wide forward, and I think he'll prove a bargain!

Danneberg (GER) (Bal) 5'11" was the 1st of 2x WBR's signed when it looked like we were going to lose our 1st choice WBR on deadline day. 

Rubio (ESP) (Temp) 5'10" was a DoF signing that I was all set to cancel, until I realised that we were just a little short in midfield, and especially short of lefties. 

Vetere (ENG) (Perfect) 5'10" is the 2nd WBR who I brought in on deadline day when it looked like we were going to lose our 1st choice WBR.

Our income from loan fees has risen to £9.5M, (which obviously I'm delighted about). 

Eriksen (NOR) (F.Pro) 6'5" is the new addition to the loans out list and a German club game in for him on deadline day and my eyes lit up at the thought of getting £20M for him, but they couldn't agree terms and by that time I had lined up 2 replacements for him and basically accepted that he was going. When the deal fell through I tried to generate other interest and this was the best I could get done before the window closed, 

They're paying all his wages, but we're also getting £150k pm if he plays. If he doesn't play we're getting £300k per month. They can buy him at the end of the loan period for £20M(ish), and then there is another £10M on top of that via installments, and then we either have a 40% profit or a 25% clause on top of that, but I can't remember which and it won't be visible unless and until the deal is made permanent. 

Friendlies, (arranged as a result of a transfer clause). 

Finances. 

 

I was going to say that we need to generate £107M in profit in the next 12 months, but actually, as we will make £21.9M in loan repayment, (and interest), we will only have to generate £85.1M in profit this season, and that seems far more doable. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2065. 

Scottish Premiership. We're doing ok, but I don't think we're playing particularly well. We're missing Eriksen (NOR) (F.Pro) 6'5" at WBR, (he's gone out on loan with a view to a permanent deal), and we don't have many partnerships anywhere and we're also short of lefties all the way through the squad. It all just looks a little disjointed and injuries haven't helped either. I think we just need to hang in there and when the games start coming thick and fast, the benefits of our rotation policy will kick-in and players will start to gel. It's not pretty viewing at the moment though. 

UEFA Champions League. I'm not quite sure what happened in the 2nd half against Galatasaray. It was 2-0 at HT and it appeared a decent game, but Gudiño (ARG) (Fickle) 6'0" grabbed his hat-trick to make it 3-0 and then Thomas (ENG) (Res) 6'6" PPM scored his own hat-trick, (in 5 mins with goals in 52, 55 & 56), and then added a 4th and a 5th. We had 15 shots on target in all and to be completely honest even left a few goals out there. We just tore them apart! 

League Cup. This loss was down to me. I rotated the squad anyway, but we had players unavailable due to INternational call-ups and others due to injury and I basically just weakened the side too much. 

Transfers. 

Finances. 

 

We've still got £106M to find to repay the debt over the next 11 months or so, but the good news is that I've already spent £29.75M on 5 new players who will be arriving in Jan, so we've effectively got £136M to fine over the next 11 months or so. 

The good news however is that the new arrivals are young and relatively cheap, (do the maths), so if we can sell the 1st Team options for players in these positions then that should generate a few quid and also save some wage spend. Then when I leave, (even though the save won't be continuing), the club should be set financially and also have a good young squad to start their new journey on. 

I might be tempted to holiday this save a few seasons after I resign, because I think that Rangers will do really well and Tullibody might be in serious trouble. The "problem" with Tullibody being in trouble is that they still produce such good youngsters that it's hard for them to screw up completely because they keep getting decent players through. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2065.

Scottish Premiership. 

UEFA Champions League. Apologies but I forgot to post the monthly update before we played the Club Brugge fixture. 

Transfers. Nothing this month but I mentioned last month that we had secures the arrival of 5 young players in Jan for a combined fee of just under £30M. 

Finances. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2065.

Scottish Premiership. It's 2 wins from 2 in the league this month, (and we're comfortably 2nd, 6 points clear of 3rd), but I really don't think things are clicking properly on the pitch. We're obviously conceding too many goals, but thankfully we're able to score 1 more than our opponents most of the time. Celtic are just 3 points ahead now, (with no games in hand), so we're right bang in the title race, but their goal difference is almost double ours and it's completely down to the fact that they can defend and we can't. 

Because this is, (hopefully), the last season of the save, I'm not enormously concerned with our defensive issues, but I actually think it's down to the old players we've got not being good enough, and the new players we've signed struggling to fit in and performing poorly as a result. Language and homesick problems haven't helped that, and I think that in time they well get over these issues and we will be much-improved at the back. 

UEFA Champions League. I'm really quite surprised how well we've done in Europe. Our only loss was away to Real Madrid who are top of the table on maximum points, and the fact that we lost by a single goal to them, playing away is quite frankly astonishing. 

Transfers. 

I'm trying really hard not to sign any more players while clearing the debt before next season starts, but it is hard because I keep seeing players that I would bring in in other circumstances. 

Just 1 player definitely leaving in Jan. 

Dzafic (BIH) (F.Pro) 5'9" was someone I like, but they met his min fee clause so that's that. It;s good money though for a player who cost us just £6m at the beginning of last season. 

Finances. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2065. 

December is such a pivotal month in Scotland because you play so many games. We have 8 league games scheduled for this month, (plus a Champions League game), and the difference between a good December and a bad December can be the difference between winning the league and not. 

Scottish Premiership. Although we dropped 5 points this month, (loss away to Celtic and home draw against Kilmarnock), Celtic actually dropped 8 points from 8 games this month, (despite going unbeaten in the league), as they drew 4 league games and in doing so relinquished their points advantage at the top of the table. Their advantage now is just a single goal. 

UEFA Champions League. I'm really not sure what's going on here. There is something that is clearly "clicking" for the 2nd Team, that just ins't working for the 1st Team.
10 against Galatasaray. 
1 goal loss away to Real Madrid. 
7 against Brugge. 
An away win against Dortmund. 
Hitting Spurs for 5. 

If we were playing like that in the league Celtic are the only team that would get near us. 

Transfers. Nothing this month.

Finances. Don't they understand I'm trying not to spend money? 

I don't understand why we have lost money this month. 6 home games plus £2.4M from a Champions League win should be plenty to keep our heads above water. 

Match Day Expenses were enormous, (£2.6M for the month). 

At the same time, our income from gate receipts was only £3.1m for the month, only approx £500,000 more than the Match Day Expenses. 

Is this down to playing away in Germany in the Champions League and having to travel? 

No, because there is obviously a separate line for that. 

Match Day Expenses were only £11.4M for the whole of last season. How can they be £2.6M for a single month? 

Anyone know what the hell is going on? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2066. 

Scottish Premiership. This is really frustrating. We win 6/8 in December and really crank up the pressure on Celtic, and then go and lose at home to St Mirren. 

The reality is that we've had loads of players leave in this window and I've completely re-done the 1st Team and 2nd Team selections, and on top of that, after I sold historic 1st Team TM Matheson (IRL) (Unamb) 6'5" to Sampdoria, his replacement Thomas (ENG) (Res) 6'6" PPM then immediately got injured for 5 weeks. So we've gone from rotating 3 starting TM to having just 1 available. (The 3rd choice one). 

UEFA Champions League. With the exception of the Porto game we've been really good in Europe this season. Fingers crossed we keep that up in the Knockout Rounds. 

Scottish Cup. We're into the next round. 

Transfers. 

Vlastelica (CRO) (F.Det) 5'8" has had his PA downgraded since his scout report, but this often happens when a player is bought and then immediately loaned back to selling club. We will just have to see what he's like when he eventually arrives. Still, he's reasonable at least and doesn't have to be that good for us to make a profit on him. 

Tomić (SRB) (Bal) 5'8" still has some work to do, (especially some of the defensive areas), but he's still a teenager so does have time to get there. 

Nymand (DEN) (F.Det) 6'0" looks great, and if someone could just explain to me how he has been capped by Denmark without playing a single league game for FC København, then I would really appreciate it.  I'm loving both his PA and his physicals, and for an 18 year old his crossing, passing, off the ball and even dribbling and finishing are decent too. I can't remember if he forced me to to sign a min fee release clause. I know it was a problem and...... yes, just checked and he has a min fee release clause of £24.5M. That's about £12M more than we paid for him, and the key I think will be getting a 25% clause on him even if it means lowering the initial fee received. 

Rodríguez (ARG) (F.Det) 5'9" looks brilliant and £7M well spent I think with his 4.5 PA. 

Njie (GAM) (Det) 5'7" is very young and very raw, but I've got to admit I love attacking players with good agility and balance. I know you pay a CA premium for that level of physicals, (and his others are pretty good too), but I've always found that these attributes can be quite undervalued. I expect this guy to have a big impact given time and the right PPM's. 

Friendlies, (arranged as a result of transfer clauses). 

Finances. Our net debt is down to £52M and I think we're well capable of getting that done before the end of the Summer transfer window next season. Now I can relax and try to win the league again before I leave. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2066. 

Scottish Premiership. After the loss in the league last month, it was a relief to get back to winning ways because I wasn't sure it was just a blip at the time. 

Scottish Cup. We're into the next round. 

Transfers. 

There is absolutely no doubt that selling players to the value of £170M in 1 transfer window has weakened us. Of course it has. How couldn't it. But at the same time we're still 2nd in the league just 3 points of Celtic, and we have to play them twice more this season. When I leave, (assuming I leave at the end of the next Summer Transfer window), I can't just sell everyone and leave. We have to leave the club in a strong position going forward, (and I think we're on target to achieve that).

Finances. Our net debt is down to £38m and it looks far more achievable than the huge figures we have been dealing with in the past. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2066. 

This will, (hopefully), be my last intake in this save and it's a strange one.

The 1st reason it's strange is because there are absolutely zero "Elite talents" in this intake, and even at Tullibody, (where the level of player the new intake was being judged against was far higher), I don't think we ever had an intake where there wasn't a single "Elite talent". It's just not something I'm used to seeing very often in any save. It's particularly strange in this save because we've just off-loaded most of our high CA players. 

The 2nd reason it's strange is because despite their being no Elite talents", the intake as a whole has been judged as 5.0 out of 5.0, Excellent intake. You can see why I'm confused right? On the 1 hand we don't have any ELite talents, but on the other hand this is the highest rating on intake that we can receive. Both these things can't be true, (unless "talents" is CA based and star rating is PA based?)

The next thing that's strange is that I really like some of these players.

(66a) Slane (Bal) 6'1" isn't good in terms of his ability to start immediately, (because he can't), but I actually like the look of him. His physicals are good for a Day 1 15 years old, lots of his technicals will hit double figures pretty quickly and his mental's are the same. He's really decent. 

(66b) Hay (Res) 5'10" is another player I like. His lowest physical is 8 and he's already decent at lots of the thing we will need him to be good at in the future. First Touch, Technique, Passing, Workrate & Decisions. There is a lot to like here. If this was a Youth Only save I would really like this bloke. He even has a (Res) personality. 

(66c) Denham (F.Sport) 5'11" looks brilliant for a Day 1 15 year old GK. 

(66d) Gibbons (Unamb) looks pretty decent, but it's just a shame he's both (L.Det) + (Unamb). 

(66e) Daw (F.Det) 5'10" looks decent, and it's just a shame he's not bigger because he has the making of a decent TM. Jumping, Balance, Strength, Heading First Touch, Det, Bravery. Even Off the ball is at 9 and Finishing at 8. 

(66f) Jenks "Crouchy" (Bal) 6'5" might only have 3.5 PA, but just look at this beast of a 15 year old. He's 6'5" with Jumping of 12, Balance of 13 and Strength of 9. He has Heading of 14 and Technique of 12, with Det of 14, Bravery of 12 and Agg of 15. To top it all he has finishing of 17!  Yeah his pace of 6 is a little bit of a problem and his acceleration of 3 is an enormous problem, but it should be pretty easy to improve them with Natural Fitness of 6.

Really quite like this group. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2066. 

Scottish Premiership. We drew against Tullibody, but Celtic also drew, (against Dundee), so I would say we've come out on top this month. Their GD is 10 goals better than us though. 

UEFA Champions League. Isn't it strange. I've absolutely decimated the squad over the course of this season and we've really struggled especially with building partnerships and players are moved and replaced as soon as they start performing well, and we go and qualify for the Knockout stages pretty comfortably and then romp through to the Quarter-Finals where we have one of the easier opponents available. 

I should qualify the above statement by saying that we were 1-1 with Schalke on 50 mins and we'd just had a player sent off and I would have taken an away draw had it been offered at that stage, so to score 3 2nd half goals with 10 men was pretty impressive. 

Also, when I say that Villarreal are easier opponents, I really do not mean easy. They get out of the Group Phase of the Champions League most seasons and over the last 4 seasons have made the Semi-Final once, the Quarter Final once, and twice made the Round of 16. To add another Quarter-Final, (at least), to that tally shows that they are big hitters rather than minnows. 

Villarreal are 5th in La Liga and Sevilla are 4th. It was between either of them if I had a choice. 
Newcastle, Spurs and Man Utd are the big hitters from England at this stage of the save. 

Scottish Cup. We're into the next round. 

Transfers. I've got 9 more incommings agreed,  and 3 more on top of that still in negotiations. I just can't help it!  We do have 1 definitely leaving the club with 3 more still in negotiations.

Finances. £27M still to find, (as well as whatever I've spent on the new players arriving). 

 

[leobiazzi]

Too bad this save is coming to an end. It's as good as Tullibody's IMO, albeit totally different. You really saved Rangers.

[BML]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Both these things can't be true, (unless "talents" is CA based and star rating is PA based?)

This has been my assumption since this news item was introduced, but who knows really?

Hopefully this is the last we see of this screen in this particular format with the UI/UX change in FM25.

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

Too bad this save is coming to an end. It's as good as Tullibody's IMO, albeit totally different. You really saved Rangers.

Thanks @leobiazzi

I must admit I'm quite surprised how much I've enjoyed this branch of the save. Absolutely loved it. 

I do have some questions, (for myself), though. In particular, why was my scouting of Argentina so good, but my scouting of Brazil so rubbish? All my scouts were Scottish, (so there was no starting knowledge and it took a good while to get going, but we got some great (ARG) players through but I'm not sure that I signed even a single (BRA) player. They did find some, but none that I was able to sign. 

As for me "saving Rangers", yeah, I did pretty well, and I'm well on course for finishing 1 month into next season at the end of the Summer window. That will give us a clear view of where things are and then I think I'm will do some holidaying and see what happens 5 and 10 seasons on. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, BML said:

This has been my assumption since this news item was introduced, but who knows really?

Hopefully this is the last we see of this screen in this particular format with the UI/UX change in FM25.

It's always, (or at least for quite a while), been my assumption too, but yeah, we don't really know do we. I haven't looked much at the announcements for FM25 so I away to be pleasantly surprised. I think the Youth intake screen is like so many other features. Great idea and so much potential, but just not done as fully as it could/should have been.

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2066. 

Scottish Premiership. To say we were unlucky against Celtic would be a huge understatement. We scored 2 good goals and they scored 1 pen and 2 OG's.  If the league had been decided on that I would have had the right hump, but we then went and dropped points at Kilmarnock so it's probably not going to be that close. Celtic probably deserve it because they've beaten us twice this season, (1 more still to go). If I'm completely honest, they're just better than us. 

UEFA Champions League. With a 2 goal advantage from the 1st leg, Atletico are favourites to progress, but weren't they always? 

Scottish Cup. We're into the Final where we will play my old/soon to be new club Tullibody. 

Transfers. At this point in time there are 11 confirmed arrivals,  (7 of them on a free), and 4 departures. I need to stop signing players. 

Finances. 

 

The agree transfers, £9.7M in and £14.25M(£33.75) out give us £4.5M to deduct from the net debt of £24.4M, so we still have some work to do when the window opens. 

[leobiazzi]

10 horas atrás, Jimbokav1971 disse:

Thanks @leobiazzi

I must admit I'm quite surprised how much I've enjoyed this branch of the save. Absolutely loved it. 

I do have some questions, (for myself), though. In particular, why was my scouting of Argentina so good, but my scouting of Brazil so rubbish? All my scouts were Scottish, (so there was no starting knowledge and it took a good while to get going, but we got some great (ARG) players through but I'm not sure that I signed even a single (BRA) player. They did find some, but none that I was able to sign. 

As for me "saving Rangers", yeah, I did pretty well, and I'm well on course for finishing 1 month into next season at the end of the Summer window. That will give us a clear view of where things are and then I think I'm will do some holidaying and see what happens 5 and 10 seasons on. 

I think this has to do with your salary cap. Brazil doesn't have a strong economy, but good players earn more than a lot of European leagues, still.

It's easier to hire Argentinian players in that sense. They're cheaper and demand less salary.

All that said, FM has a thing for Argentina in recent years. You can sign 3-5 top regens per year if you scout Argentina properly, at least in my experience.

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

I think this has to do with your salary cap. Brazil doesn't have a strong economy, but good players earn more than a lot of European leagues, still.

It's easier to hire Argentinian players in that sense. They're cheaper and demand less salary.

All that said, FM has a thing for Argentina in recent years. You can sign 3-5 top regens per year if you scout Argentina properly, at least in my experience.

I'm really inexperienced when it comes to scouting, simply because I do it so little.

I set up 8 identical recruitment focus' for 8 different areas. Initially for U19s that I soon expanded to U21's.

ENG

FRA & GER

Scandi

BRA

SCO

ARG (This was 2nd only to Balkans). 

Balkans (This was like a gold-mine to me in this save). 

ESP & POR

Some of it will be down to the leagues I had loaded, (ENG, GER, ITA & ESP), but still...

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2066. 

Scottish Premiership. Celtic beat is again to make it 3 - 0 to them this season, and a 9- point swing, (actually it would be an 18 - point swing if we won the 3 games rather than them), If we had drawn all 3 games then we take 6 points off their total and att 3 to ours and we're still 4 points short. If we draw 2 games and win 1 then we still lose by 1 point. If we win all 3 games then we win the league by 3 points. That's how important these head-to-heads are. 

UEFA Champions League. We were 2-0 up at 65 mins and it was 3-3 on aggregate so I got my hopes up...... and then they sucker-punched us. 

I'm really gutted because it would have been phenomenal even just to make the Final. just getting to the Semi has been pretty special. I know how hard it is to get here, (I've really struggled with Tullibody in the Champions league), and I just think this is a huge missed opportunity. 

It was a good run and we missed out by setting a record for goals scored in the Champions League, (only managing to equal the record held by Newcastle). 

Scottish Cup. It's not the treble of last season, and it's also not the Champions League that I was dreaming of, but it's still a decent way to end my time in charge at Rangers. (Now I just have to finish the job and pay the debt off). 

Awards. 

Thomas (ENG) (Res) 6'6" PPM only scored 11 goals in the league, but he also only made 13(6) appearances in the league. He did however score 13 goals in the Champions League and 6 more in domestic Cups. In hindsight I should have probably played him more in the league and that's possibly why we did as well as we did in Europe, but not as well in the league. 

Transfers. 

Finances. 

 

Technically we have cleared the debt, (even though the loans are still there), however I'm going to go to the end of the Summer Transfer window just to see where we are at that stage. I would love there to be a board takeover and for the debt to be cleared, because my fear is that they will leave the debt in place, allow the £100M transfer budget to be spent and allow the wage budget to soar to £2.2M and the whole dirty cycle will start again.

If they cleared the debt now they would save the club £114M in interest payments over the next 15 years and still have somewhere in the region of £100M in the bank