Economic advantage of playing in England

My brother and I started a network game a couple of weeks ago, he is managing Huddersfield while I took control of Rayo.

I managed to win promotion the first season, but had only around €1 mill to strengthen my squad with, and was relegated the first season. The third season I finished 4th with 79 points just like the three teams getting promoted. Unlucky I guess. But now, starting on our 4th season, I am pretty much exactly where I started. Rayo are now estimated being worth €15 mill, up from around 9.

He, however, managed to win promotion 2 times in a row. When he got into PL he was given €33 mill from TV rights, along with price money from the championship. His board decided he could spend all the money on transfers. Having been able to buy an entire new squad, he managed to stay well clear of relagation, and finished mid table, which earned Huddersfield another €10+ mill. Add the TV right money for the coming season, and he is even better off than before. Huddersfield are now estimated around €35+ mill (before counting in the PL price money and the new TV rights money), up from around 5.

Is it much easier to STAY up in the English PL than the Spanish L1, solely based on the insane amount of price and tv money?

I am starting to doubt that I will be able to win promotion and stay up, when I do not get any extra funds to strengthen the squad with.

Any ideas on how to do it?

Of course getting funds in England makes it an easier task. Yet of course, if you manage to do it in Spain it's a better achievement and thus more rewarding.

Apart from the obvious hint to concentrate on free transfers and to have a good tactic, my approach would be the following when I have very little funds:

Try to sell a few players to create some funds for new transfers. There is no need to keep players from the reserves. If they weren't good enough in D2, they certainly won't make it in D1. But you could even think of selling one or a few first team players if you can get a fair amount for them. Then use this money to bring in players in 48 months instalments only. By doing that you can spend up to 20 million after making just 5 million.

That should give you enough freedom to assemble a squad which is good enough to stay up. Also that shouldn't put your club at risk as in the first year after a promotion the board usually calculates a lot more cautiously than thereafter. Remember, you have to spend those 15 million difference over the next 3 years then, but staying up will give you much more money than that.

I managed to get CD Denia of Spain promoted to LIGA BBVA on FM09

I managed to get CD Denia of Spain promoted to LIGA BBVA on FM09

How exactly his that going to be of help to the OP in his effort to stay up after promotion on FM10?

Of course getting funds in England makes it an easier task. Yet of course, if you manage to do it in Spain it's a better achievement and thus more rewarding.

Apart from the obvious hint to concentrate on free transfers and to have a good tactic, my approach would be the following when I have very little funds:

Try to sell a few players to create some funds for new transfers. There is no need to keep players from the reserves. If they weren't good enough in D2, they certainly won't make it in D1. But you could even think of selling one or a few first team players if you can get a fair amount for them. Then use this money to bring in players in 48 months instalments only. By doing that you can spend up to 20 million after making just 5 million.

That should give you enough freedom to assemble a squad which is good enough to stay up. Also that shouldn't put your club at risk as in the first year after a promotion the board usually calculates a lot more cautiously than thereafter. Remember, you have to spend those 15 million difference over the next 3 years then, but staying up will give you much more money than that.

Thank you.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you are basically saying that I should gamble and spend much more than I have available, in a desperate effort to stay up?

I mean, if I succeed it's all well and good, but if I spend 4 times my budget, and get relegated, Rayo are pretty much doomed. Might be the only way to do it though, so I will give it a shot unless I find another possible solution.

I guess bringing in very young (and thus cheap) talents, making a complete U19 team with promising players, and just wait for them to develop is another, albeit slow approach that might just work.

It's not as big a gamble as it seems at first.

Just imagine, if you make 5 million and spend 20 over 4 years you will be break even in year 1, got 5 million and spent 5 million. In year 2 you would spend another 5 million. If you stay up that should be no issue to you at all. Remember, your board will calculate a very tight budget for year 1. So in year 1 you should easily make a profit which will serve as a reserve for the coming years.

If you stay up, then the TV money difference alone is more than 5 million (the investment pays itself off and you'll still have additional money to spend in year 2) and if you go down again then it might be enough to sell just one of your newly signed players again to get the 5 million you spend.

It's not completely risk-free, but if you spend your money wisely you should easily be able to stay up and there will be no problem and even if you fail you'll have enough room to accomodate the transfer debt. Since FM allows us to spread transfer fee payments I have always used this approach and was always rewarded with a quick growth of my club, including club income, and never I was close to being broke.