Advice for the Championship **PLAYER NAMING**

Ok so im not used to managing lower league teams. I took over my birth club Aldershot and won promotion in my first season to League 1 (was predicted 23rd)...and now im in the playoff final and could win promotion to the Championship (when predicted 24th)...so for me this will be back-to-back promotions..but for Aldershot the club it's back-to-back-to-back promotions. Im not too sure on how I can survive in the Championship right now. Ive got 1.5mil in the bank, a small stadium at 7500 and clearly not enough money to expand. How do other lower league managers go about expanding there club and getting the money for ground expansions and such. Thanks for any advice you can give.

I would look around the Free transfer players. If you need a decent player then look to loan from lower Premiership teams or good Championship teams for players like O'toole and Delph.

Well its official...I am now promoted to the championship (on penalties)...thanks for your advice YNWA...i'll look into loaning some of good quality. I think a few of my squad are good enough....the thing that im undecided on is strikers though. As a team, we were the highest scoring in the league...but not one player on my team got over 11 league goals (or 12 in total)...do I need a solid 20 a season striker or should I just hope my team can keep scoring well?

I think you should look to loan in a decent young striker from the Prem, remember not many players can score 20 goals so it will be hard to find one that will permenantly join you. Also look in the Free transfers to see if any decent striker that got released will join as you wont have to pay for him.

Good idea....any advice about the stadium though? Like I said its 7500 capacity (most of which is standing) but even with the success ive had and never making a loss, ive only got 1.5mil in the bank. How can I make the money to expand the ground?

Sell the deadwood

Yeah I had planned to do that...the problem is my deadwood is mostly from my League 2 side (hell some of my first team is still the same as in League 2)...so there values are around 25k. I have just 4 players in my whole squad worth over 100k (one who hasnt even played all season and was a league 2 original so he'll be gone)

Sign Leigh Griffiths from Livingston hes a proven FM goalscorer. Done the business for me in Championship, League 1 and 2.

yeah your rubbish players will have gone up in value from the promotion, so sell them at a higher price, then look to buy the players from the teams that get relagated when you go up.

also look at players whoes contracts are "expiring" and see who wants to come to you for free.

also try a parent club, a champ club could easily get a prem team and therefore get free loans in and 50k-100k for free

Well ive actually had Arsenal as a parent club since April in my first season, so that isnt a problem for me...they give me 70k a year.

Theres some good players coming up on there contracts but with my current wage budget I can't afford to give the real good players the wages they want. Players like Beckford and Itandje will join me, but not for the pitiful wages I can offer.

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Only joking!

Lower your expectations a bit, you have just had back to back promotions but they cant go on! Look to consolidate for 1-2 seasons first, then build slowly and sustainably.

Yeah I get what you mean...I just really want to be able to do everything I can to survive which isn't going to be easy. I have a great left winger who will be very useful (but he wont sign a new contract and has only 1 year left) and i'll be able to get some good loans in...other than that im not sure of any players good enough to keep me up in my squad. The main thing I want though is to build some money and expand the stadium as im filling it right now and I know I can make some more money if I had the money to expand it in the first place.

ask the board for a new stadium they might take out a loan to build one

Whenever I reach the Championship, I really start to have problems hanging on to players. It seems like even the players that were marginal in League 1 start to look for bigger teams. I generally spend a few seasons as a revolving door for players, which makes continuity and morale big obstacles. The plus is, if you play your cards right, you should be able to make a tidy sum of money.

Another thing that really annoyed me is that depending on your reputation, your scouts may still only find players that project as League 1 or 2 contributors (at least, I think that's what happens). So I'd suggest spending quite a bit of time scouting manually for hidden gems that you can get at a discount, even if you have to sell them a year or two later.

I've shied away from taking on loan players; I'd rather start some youth and let them develop. Definitely look at upgrading facilities, especially your stadium.

As I mentioned earlier, I find that I need to be very deliberate in the Championship, as it's very easy for your team to lose morale.

Oh, and if you sign players, be very wary of relegation release clauses. On my last save, I didn't pay much attention to them because I fully expected to survive. When I got relegated, I lost a ton of money on players I could have kept or sold for much more.

Yeah I get what you mean...I just really want to be able to do everything I can to survive which isn't going to be easy. I have a great left winger who will be very useful (but he wont sign a new contract and has only 1 year left) and i'll be able to get some good loans in...other than that im not sure of any players good enough to keep me up in my squad. The main thing I want though is to build some money and expand the stadium as im filling it right now and I know I can make some more money if I had the money to expand it in the first place.

I'd sell the winger if I were you. If he refuses to renew throughout the season, most probably will be signed for free and you'll lose a lot (since he's a good player). On a previous save I'd lost my best defender just waiting the time when he'd renew-that time never came. I was exactly in your situation, strangling to survive/be established in the Championship and I could use the money from his transfer to boost my finances. So if you find a free-transfer-replacement or a loanee, then imo you should go for it.

Well ive actually had Arsenal as a parent club since April in my first season, so that isnt a problem for me...they give me 70k a year.

Woah there! As rich a vein of free loanee talent as you can get, surely?

Well ive actually had Arsenal as a parent club since April in my first season, so that isnt a problem for me...they give me 70k a year.

Theres some good players coming up on there contracts but with my current wage budget I can't afford to give the real good players the wages they want. Players like Beckford and Itandje will join me, but not for the pitiful wages I can offer.

You should look at asking them for players like Nacer Barazite, Rhys Murphy, Fran Merida, Keiran Gibbs etc. they will all be more than competent in the CCC and that will give you a good chance of staying up. Rhys Murphy could be your 20 goals a season striker you're looking for