Idea regarding club debts

I always felt club debts were harsh in Football Manager. Please don't think I am petitioning for SI to wipe the clubs debts...that's crazy! I just want to be able to have an option to speak with the chairman/board on way's to better run the club.

Here is an example;

I managed Southend United who started the first season with some debt. I was promoted each season till I got into the Premier League. I was very lucky in that 2 of my free transfer signings were bought for £5,000,000 each during my journey to the Premier League. This meant I had alot more money available to strengthen the squad.

After a few seasons in the Premier League I had two major concerns.

1) The club's stature did not improve (I was finishing around 6th place) yet no player wanted to join my club, nor could I afford wages as it did not scale to the league I was in. I heard this is being looked into for FM 2011 so won't say any more on this.

2) The club and it's loans. Because the club had some normal loans, plus a manager loan, it was impossible for me to improve the club's facilities and capacity. The club was making money from my performances with the league and cups, but I had no way to tackle the loans.

I was being given £20,000,000 to £30,000,000 for transfer funds, however this money was not being well spent. I shall explain;

A) Due to club rep not correctly scaling with my earlier success, players would want to leave for 'bigger' clubs. I would be the same or bigger than some clubs they would be sold to (usual complaining if you dont sell them etc)

B) I struggled to sign decent players. Club's would accept my bids, but due to club reputation they would be disinterested in joining. If by chance they wanted to join, their wage demands of about £20k to£40k would be far too high for me to match.

C) Stadium expansion and improved training facilities would never happen as the club carried loans.

Conclusion

Each new season I would lose players due to the above. I would purchase new players and still have some transfer funds left. If I could pay off the loans with the remaining money, or somehow re-finance/re-work the loans, this would greatly help us in the long run.

My Solution

At the end of the season we have the option to look at the club's balance. This would be at the point where you receive all your sponsorship, TV Rights, Champions League TV money etc. We can then say to the chairman;

"Ok, we have £60,000,000 Bank Balance. You would offer me £27,000,000 transfer funds if I can challenge for the title".

(This amount would change depending on the success we think we can bring). We already have the wages and transfer funds decided by how well we think we can do, so it's not really any different?

Let's say I am offered £27,000,000. I would like to be able to say "I would like £20,000,000 for new players and wages, but I would like '£7,000,000' to be put towards the loans".

The frustrating problem I had at Southend United was a poor business model. We had money coming in from competition performances, however I could not generate money from Sponsorship deals (due to club rep), nor could I make any money from Season Tickets and Match Day Revenue as the club had such a low capacity. It almost felt like the game thought "OMG Loans!!! We must pay these back before improving the team". The problem there is I am paying £50,000 a month for the next 5 years, which is nothing compared to the revenue I generate.

p.s. You have kinda done this, but for the players. The ability to buy out the contract claus is a great idea!

Sounds like a great idea to me, providing the club dont decide to pay all the loan back as soon as possible while cutting down on wages and transfers. I can understand why this hasn't been implemented due to managers of clubs not being in total control of the finances at a club however you could link it into how well you are thought of at the club. So you couldnt take the Liverpool job for example and pay off all the loans saying we dont need transfer money (cause it's quite clear to see they do! ) but if you had been at a club for a number of years and been successfull your opinion on the loans and outstanding debts would be taken on board.

From a business point of view it would make sense as you would have less debts to pay off and would there for make more money and be able to expand the staduim or training facilities or simply buy better players, thus bringing more success and more money.

The whole point in giving someone a loan is to make money from it.

Therefore, they want you paying interest for as long as possible.

Which means they don't want you to pay it off early.

Which means banks insert clauses in so you CAN pay it off early, but that it costs a huge amount in penalties to do so.

The whole point in giving someone a loan is to make money from it.

Therefore, they want you paying interest for as long as possible.

Which means they don't want you to pay it off early.

Which means banks insert clauses in so you CAN pay it off early, but that it costs a huge amount in penalties to do so.

my thinkings as well. generally loans are not as simple as saying, "here take this extra towards it"

there is not enough financial details in FM to allow this to happen, you would need to have the loan in detail on the finance screen with clauses etc on early repayments. Good luck to my fellow researchers finding out that information if this was ever added!

Some banks do and some don't, I say this as I work for a bank and have some experience in finance.

However the idea from what I can tell was not one about banks making money but more about your club making money and progressing in a strong financial manner, not getting crippled by debts as the season runs untill you get your end of season performance related bonuses to bail you out of the brown stuff.

That's a fair point, however I would still like it if you could clear some/all your loan in FM as it would make the game more enjoyable for the long run.

Edit:- Yup to find out that info would be impossible. Maybe including my idea would take out some realism, but it'd just be realism of banking/finance?

it is one of those grey areas, where the manager doesnt get to say how to pay back loans, but then also the manager doesnt really get to ask for new stadiums etc either generally.

id be happy if it was in the game to be honest, but not unhappy that it isnt.

maybe an option that if..and only if you have lots of money you ask the board to clear the debt? that the club has

Something like "renegotiate loan deal" would be nice, for example to increase interest payments (but shortening the loan) or decreasing interest payments (but lengthening the loan) would be nice - bearing in mind that the bank doesn't always accept, and there is always usually a penalty for renegotiating the deal.

Or even just paying off the Chairman's loan would be nice, if a news bulletin read 'Christmas came early for the chairman after a meeting in the boardroom as the commmity came to a unanimous vote and decided it was time to pay back the loan due to excess funds in the budget'. lol

Hehe am liking the idea Johnie12inch

Or even just paying off the Chairman's loan would be nice, if a news bulletin read 'Christmas came early for the chairman after a meeting in the boardroom as the commmity came to a unanimous vote and decided it was time to pay back the loan due to excess funds in the budget'. lol

Hehe am liking the idea Johnie12inch

I am sure that Johnie12inch is exaggerating the size of his debt.