Managing club finances

Can some experienced FM-pro help me out to understand a few aspects of this game? I have Football Manager 2006, and I have started my very first game. I picked Ystads IF in 2nd Division South Gotaland in Sweden. The board is happy to stay safe from relegation, has no transfer budget but offers me a wage budget.

The first confusion is that the majority of players in the squad doesn´t seem to have a contract at all. Many are greyed out. What is up with that? How can players belong to a club squad and don´t belong to the club?? What should I do about those players?? :confused:

The next trouble is the club finances. The board has given me a wage budget, and that allows me to buy two decent players into the squad. I also buy a coach for the team. I do not, however, exceed the wage budget. I am now 8 games into the season, and Ystads IF has exceeded all expectations. The predicted relegation battlers is 2nd in league and still unbeaten.

However, the club finances are bleeding dry. There are big, red numbers all over the place. How can this be happening? How can a board give me a wage budget that the club can´t afford? How can they be "satisfied" with the finances? How did the club ever managed to get a decent squad in the first place with an economy like that? How come my success on the pitch hasn´t brought increased income to the club in more attendances? Will my club go bancrupt?? :confused::confused:

I just don´t understand this. It seems so unfair when I have managed to exceed all expectations with this team and it will still go straight to hell because of the stinking economy!

post the finances screen (expenditures pages)...

in regards to the greyed out players, they are 'not' proper players or even regens... when you have a small squad or lack of a position the game will automatically give you these players to fill out the squad...

the board probably is satisfied with the current fianances, but their comments will eventually get updated and they prob wont be happy eventually... you are only 8 games in there is still a long way to go, the finances don't turn around that quickly at all...

Usually the wage/transfer budget you get will NOT mean the club will not lose money.

Tight control of the wages is needed, manually looking through the numbers etc. Deficits are normal in many clubs though, of course if you are losing money so fast that your balance is in the red already you should look to drastically cut wages.

Without knowing the club or much about the swedish 2nd division south, it is probably an amatur/semi-pro club, and so you will have a low budget obviously geared towards having cheap semi pro/amatur players.

As to increased income etc, you probably are getting that, only 8 games into the season though and really the most significant attendance increases happen over time when you increase in stature/are promoted, the trees do not grow into heaven irl neither do they in FM.

If any of your greyed out players are worth keeping you should sign them if you have that option, if not i'd suggest you go look for better players.

Were thr finances bad when you took over the club, or has it happened since? It would help if you posted a screenshot of your income and expenditure pages, or just listed the problem areas.

I could post some screenshots if I knew how to do it... How do I save screens and upload them here?? :confused:

Those screens hardly matter, as I already said you cannot blindly spend within the wage and or transfer budget and expect not to have a deficit, it does not work like that.

But you take a screenshot by pushing "print screen" on your keyboard, you can then put it into paint or whatever and upload it on the internet, for instance at imageshack.us etc.

I could post some screenshots if I knew how to do it... How do I save screens and upload them here?? :confused:

Press the 'Print Screen' or 'PRT SCN' button on your keyboard, usually in the middle.

Then openup Paint and click Edit > Paste

Save your image as a .JPG or .GIF and upload to imageshack.us or tinypic.com

Then once completed, you are given a choice of links, you need the forum one that has the tags.

Then just copy that line into a new post and your image will be displayed.

Can some experienced FM-pro help me out to understand a few aspects of this game? I have Football Manager 2006, and I have started my very first game. I picked Ystads IF in 2nd Division South Gotaland in Sweden. The board is happy to stay safe from relegation, has no transfer budget but offers me a wage budget.

The first confusion is that the majority of players in the squad doesn´t seem to have a contract at all. Many are greyed out. What is up with that? How can players belong to a club squad and don´t belong to the club?? What should I do about those players?? :confused:

The next trouble is the club finances. The board has given me a wage budget, and that allows me to buy two decent players into the squad. I also buy a coach for the team. I do not, however, exceed the wage budget. I am now 8 games into the season, and Ystads IF has exceeded all expectations. The predicted relegation battlers is 2nd in league and still unbeaten.

However, the club finances are bleeding dry. There are big, red numbers all over the place. How can this be happening? How can a board give me a wage budget that the club can´t afford? How can they be "satisfied" with the finances? How did the club ever managed to get a decent squad in the first place with an economy like that? How come my success on the pitch hasn´t brought increased income to the club in more attendances? Will my club go bancrupt?? :confused::confused:

I just don´t understand this. It seems so unfair when I have managed to exceed all expectations with this team and it will still go straight to hell because of the stinking economy!

It's pretty tough as a small club trying to keep your Bank Balance healthy!

There are several was to make some money: firstly, organise some Friendly Games in pre-season vs the biggest clubs you can: Man Utd, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan etc. Obviously your team will be on the losing side (quite heavily!) but it should draw a big crowd to your club. A friendly League is probably the best bet because you'll also keep the proceeds from the other games too.

Also, try looking for a Parent Club under Board Requests. The Board will seek out a club who get first option on your players if you wish to sell them. It's also easier to loan the parent clubs players if they have any good kids. The Parent club also pays you a small sum each year to help your finances.

You can't make any money in the Swedish Second Division. I went 300k in debt in my first year with Motala AIF in FM08. Get a parent club to send you players, and get promoted asap!!! There's some money for TV in the First Division North/South so your finances will be better.

Just go for promotion this year...another year in the Second Division would double your debt.

I play FM 06, so parent clubs are not an option...

Why shouldn´t it be able to manage lower league clubs? I thought this game was supposed to be a somewhat realistic depiction of football management. Obviously, semi-professional teams manage to survive financially in the lower leagues in the real life, so it seems SI has got the basics for those teams wrong if this financial situation is a common thing!

A lot of lower league clubs struggle financially in real life, just look at how many go into administration every season. You just have to be extremely careful with what you spend, and do everything you can to generate extra income, such as friendlies with bigger teams. Also hope for a decent cup run and drawing a big team or two.