transfer issue with amateur club

I am aware of the many issues concerning the transfer-system in FM11 (rediculous fees and such), but I havent seen this one fly by yet:

I dont know if anybody is managing a fully amateur club, but I am (in a custom league, dutch hoofdklasse) and somethings off with the transfers there aswell.

As I am only able to offer amateur contracts (so no money is involved, no length is agreed and no salary is paid, first time I see this in FM (reasonably realistic at this level, although some bonusses would be more realistic..) you would imagine it would be hard to get players and especially hold them at the club. I actually found it quite easy to get some fine clubless players in. And I was soon flying so high that some pro-clubs were making contract offers for my best players.

Then came the funny bit: I tried to offer them a pro contract also, but couldnt being an amateur club, but the players did like a new 'contract' (all of my players are 'green' when it comes to my far from lucrative amateur offers btw). The same € 0,0 infinite (N/A) contract that they already had that is, and strangely enough they all accepted, while legions of pro clubs had offered them pro contracts (in the english championship and dutch eredivisie even). Maybe love for the club is at play here, but as most of the players were only at my club for half a season, it seems more than odd that the players would prefer to earn nothing in dutch lower league in stead of making a more than nice living at a much higher level.

I found out that only at the last day of the transferwindow a pro club could be quick enough with their contract-offer that I couldnt intervene with a 'new' amateurcontract due to lack of time, and the player would accept the pro contract. In other cases I have always been able to keep the player at the club. Might be a coïncidence, but seem unlikely.

A little error accurs also when these contract renewals get to the press: "Player x gets reward for fine form. A new one year deal worth € 0...".

It hardly seems a reward and the 1 year deal is nonsense also as is says N/A at contract lenghth in his profile.

Did anyone hhere have the same problem? Or is it odd in the first place that my custom league has 'pure amateur' clubs (are there supposed to be any amateur clubs like that)?

In the Editors' Forum RTC has created a db of English leagues down to Level 10. At the lowest level most of the clubs are amateur, so lots of people are managing them.

I don't know about The Netherlands, but in England there is no transfer window for non-league clubs - amateur players come and go all the time. Not sure if they can go to league clubs outside the window, though.

I guess the guy who made the expansion made the transfer-window work like the 'normal' dutch transfer window.

But do people managing amateur clubs also get this odd transfer-issue that they can out-offer pro clubs by offering amateur contracts?

I also have that english pack loaded btw (up to 8th level playable), and the strange thing with that: I've just become champions of dutch 4th level and when I show interest in a job at (close to bottom table, but not relegated) english 8th level clubs I am "not considered to have any chance of being offered the job" while some 2nd level dutch clubs do consider me for the job. Strange?

But thats a different issue..

Regarding the management applications... do you really think a low level English team is going to know who the manager is who has just won the Dutch 4th tier?

Or I can put it this way... do you know the managers of the English clubs who have won their 8th tier?

I guess the guy who made the expansion made the transfer-window work like the 'normal' dutch transfer window.

But do people managing amateur clubs also get this odd transfer-issue that they can out-offer pro clubs by offering amateur contracts?

I also have that english pack loaded btw (up to 8th level playable), and the strange thing with that: I've just become champions of dutch 4th level and when I show interest in a job at (close to bottom table, but not relegated) english 8th level clubs I am "not considered to have any chance of being offered the job" while some 2nd level dutch clubs do consider me for the job. Strange?

But thats a different issue..

Yes, I have stupidly stupidly good players for a Level 9 amateur side. the reason is that the reputations of the leagues and clubs are too high in the RTC db. I've pointed this out in the thread and they are revising this for the next build.

Regarding the management applications... do you really think a low level English team is going to know who the manager is who has just won the Dutch 4th tier?

Or I can put it this way... do you know the managers of the English clubs who have won their 8th tier?

Well in the past versions of FM they we're... Maybe not very realistic I agree, but it seemed reputation went a long way in past FM's. And as english 8th tier is the lowest I've loaded it's my only way out really (as dutch 3rd tier laugh in my face (haven't tried 4th tier))... But as I said thats a wole different topic, in which there seems to be a bug according to a guy who's won a lot with Celtic and cant get a much lower rep job either.

My question here is the strange thing that I can outbid a much higher rep club that actually pays a lot of salary for one of my players, with an amateur contract worth jack-****. Happens to all my reasonably good players, even english 2nd tier wants to give them a contract. I can endlessly offer them new € 0 contracts when another club offers them a pro one, and they all accept my worthless offer. Even if I just offered them a new (worthless) contract a couple of days earlier.

Being amateurs, they may have families and well-paid full-time jobs in their home town. The ambition hidden attribute may be low.

The amateur part of the game i broken - I would like to take a bottom club to the top, but found that it was way to easy as an amateur since your players always sign new contracts with you.

I started as semi-pro in the lowest english division instead as this seems like more of a challenge - Being an amateur club is way to easy.

I had a brazilian striker named Felipe (Spellmeier) playing two seasons as an ameteur in Denmark. In my new game he is playing for Newcastle in Premier League :-)

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/236219-Amateur-contracts-repeated-offers-player-always-resigns.-%28and-other-issues%29?p=6100873#post6100873

quote "Being amateurs, they may have families and well-paid full-time jobs in their home town. The ambition hidden attribute may be low."

Hmm, might be, but it seems a bit far fetched. We're talking about holland here, the dutch version of "Lands End - John O'Groats" is approx. 350 km. And most 2nd tier clubs pay enough to quit the day job I would think. And then again, the players also got offers from dutch 2nd tier, maybe even closer to home than my amateur club is, and paying full time contracts. And club loyalty doesnt apply either as I got most players the previous transfer-window. And I actually tried nót to offer a player a contract after another one did (a player I "tricked" a previous time), and then he did make the move, so something must be off.

Ambition being low... could be, haven't checked that, but seems unlikely as I can do this "trick" with all my players:

"Hi coach, there's a club in 2nd league that have offered me a contract."

"What, a real one, with money and such?"

"Yes, sir. They like me to play three leagues higher for a real salary, and a pretty good one aswell"

"Well, here's my zero euro's offer for you to counter that. It's an offer you can't refuse! ;-)"

"O boy o boy, what a great offer! I get to play at this mediocre level some more, crouds under 200 every game. And for absolutely no money! I couldn't be happier! Thanks coach!"

Edit: oops hadnt seen Reffi's post ...