bizarre takeover

I'm managing Palermo, and they were flying fairly high, and when I was appointed last year, we went on a late run to make a late push for the title and won the Coppa Italia.

This season, there have been rumours about a South African businessman, saying he was going to make the club a european force, and that '£60m' would be made available for transfers.

There was the usual takeover to-ing and fro-ing, until I heard nothing. For five months. Wasn't able to buy in January, and now in March he's taken over.

I'm then informed he's 'pumped £70k into the club.' Generous. My transfer budget was apparently restructured, but seems to be the same as what it was, £10m left.

I then noticed the club reputation was 'worldwide.' Strange, I thought. I went into player search, and saw Messi, Ronaldo, Aguero, Fabregas. 'Why is 'filter out unrealistic targets' unchecked?' I thought. Then I realised - it wasn't.

I haven't got to see my budget for next season, but it appears the money is basically the same but the reputation is through the roof?

Seems very strange but it could be a Man City type situation where he is waiting for the next transfer window to open and then give you loads of money.

This also might explain why those players are interested in you as well.

A big filthy rich businessman buying a team can often spread through the newspapers, reputation going up isn't a shocker especially if the South African is a charismatic ladies man.

I know, but Messi and Ronaldo extremely interested in plucky little Palermo? I await my next transfer budget with trepidation.

I imagine not many people have gotten transfer budgets the size you are awaiting. You may have a real rare experience. Keep us updated

I know, but Messi and Ronaldo extremely interested in plucky little Palermo? I await my next transfer budget with trepidation.

I agree it is quite far fetched but then i thought that when Man City went for Kaka (and actually had contract talks with him if i remember correctly) IRL.

I actually have to save my job first because we're having a fairly disastrous season in the league, only got to the second round of the champions league because of a lucky draw and a flukey away goal

I had to wait till the following summer before I got a big budget after a tycoon takeover, but the big name players were interested. Not as big names as Messi and Fab and such, though I didn't have Champs League football.

Click on the Italian flag and check where you are under the 'major clubs' tab. They're arranged in order of reputation.

I'm then informed he's 'pumped £70k into the club.' Generous. My transfer budget was apparently restructured, but seems to be the same as what it was, £10m left.

With some takeovers you can find that you can spend your transfer budget and within a couple of days the ambitious new chairman will top it up again.

It does sound like a strange one this.

This sounds Man City like near enough exactly. Man City's rep went up in the same way as you couldn't imagine them having adebayor and tevez 2 years ago

Shaun Goater and Huckerby playing alongside Tevez and Adebayor

The stuff dreams are made out of.

My West Ham team was taken over by a Turkish Consortium. He pumped 60 million into the coffers but made no extra transfer funds available. I assume this is a similar situation?

Click on the Italian flag and check where you are under the 'major clubs' tab. They're arranged in order of reputation.

top....

well, i've got a european championship to do and then we'll find out

Your takeover sounds like my Valencia takeover; I ended up with a transfer budget of £100 million, plus an automatic upgrade of my youth facilities to "State of the Art". Not only that, but when I've spent some of that my owner automatically injects a ton of cash into the budget.

To be honest, while fun, it's kind of killed the save. I'm buying up youth players by the truckload, but I'll never have to make the decision to sell someone for financial reasons as I'm pretty much set as long as he stays around. It's also killed any kind of creativity in roster creation (i.e., buying a player that's great in certain areas but lacking in others, then building a tactic to accommodate his flaws), which is a big part of the fun...and having the ability to buy any player in the world isn't that big a deal when you've already got great players. That happened to me in like season two.

If you do get a huge budget, consider limiting how much you spend on first teamers and how much you spend on prospects. Of my budget, I try to spend 25% on first teamers, with the rest for promising youth talent that I can tutor/loan out. Then get feeder clubs - GOOD feeders, with good facilities that play in good active leagues - and loan your best guys out there. Even if my chairman leaves, I'll be set for probably five years with the youth talent I've got stockpiled.

The other thing: you've absolutely got to win. My pre-season expectations were to win La Liga and the Champions League...which is the same as my preseason expectations from last year. I met that goal last season, but I'm second in the table now (I haven't lost yet, but I've drawn four while Atletico's drawn three); should I fall too far behind, I'd assume I'd be sacked.

£80m, win the champions league and serie A

Wow, I wish I had that sort of luck. I have never been taken over by a mega rich chairman...

annoyingly, it's one of those summers where the market is rubbish relative to my squad

annoyingly, it's one of those summers where the market is rubbish relative to my squad

If you have enough money, the market is NEVER rubbish.

The transfer market never really starts till the big clubs start buying and if filters down from there in my opinion.