Should I throw the league/promotion?

Ok, here's the deal...

I started unemployed and took on Nardo, in Norwegian Second Division, mid-season.

The club was at the bottom of the table, yet I managed to make them survive, thanks to a couple of good signings (free agents of course) and firings.

The following year, with more good free agents and two luxury loans from parent club Rosenborg [reasonable loans, U19 players] we went on to dominate the league, winning in style, 12 points clear.

So I thought First Division would have been a tough challenge, despite having been able to re-loan the weaker of the two stars from the previous year. A bunch of strategic signings for free, but I still wasn't expecting more than a fierce struggle against relegation... or a respectable bottom-half finish at best.

Instead with just 7 games to go we're leading by 5 points and with a much reassuring advantage of 13 points on the last playoff spot.

Then again I'm pretty sure we'd get our ass handed to us should we make it to the Premier Division... The club is struggling to break even, many important players are pushing 30 and/or aren't worth much (4-20k range), I doubt the rise in status would attract many adequate players...

I've been there before (albeit in FM08) and as things could be in the next season it'd be a huge feat NOT ending up dead last...

So I'm asking you (and myself)...

Wouldn't it be better throwing the rest of the games away? After all we've been overachieving, and a choke, or better, a reality check, wouldn't be too outlandish... Even the fans could sort of take it well... After all we were merely supposed to survive... Promotion or playoffs weren't a viable goal at the start of the season.

Another season in First Division would be useful to rake up some cash and to build up a better team and reputation...

Still, I hate to lose... so losing ON PURPOSE would be twice as annoying. And unsporting... Kinda like cheating if you will

So, what should I do? What would you do in my shoes?

P.S. I should have mentioned that... This is meant as a journeyman career on FM10, so I'm not actually planning to stay at Nardo until we win the Champions League or such... Still I'd hate to leave an unfinished job (be it a half-ok club in First Division or a shambles of a club newly relegated from Premier Division in an emphatic way)

No! Continue doing what you're doing!!!

You may very well get relegated from the top-flight, but it's doubtful you'll get fired for it. Then, back in the second division, you should be able to attract better players than the ones you have now due to a reputation bump, and then you should be able to make it back to the top and then subsequently survive.

Also, 7 matches is still plenty of time for you to lose your grip on the title even if you continue as you are- it's happened to me before!

Get promotion!! If its your journeyman career then you want as many trophies as you can win. As a manager you want to win trophies. So win it!!

and let us know what happens.

Get promotion and then apply for other jobs at a higher profile club?

Keep doing what you're doing, which is: keep winning and go for promotion.

I had that same dilemma with Anhui in the Jia League. I won the league, got promoted to the top flight Chinese Super League, did okay (mid table) up to mid-season, and then left for a much bigger club in China with the finances and setup to succeed. Therefore, I strongly recommend you try and win the league and promotion

If the club is struggling to break even then promotion would be a godsend...

I've been in somewhat the same spot the last two years in my long term saves in Denmark. As there isn't too much difference between 1st and 2nd division, it's relatively easy to get promoted with a team that's no way up to standards.

Anyway, I got promoted, ended last because my team was not up to standards, but with the reputation increase I managed to sign a few good youngsters (first year mostly played my own grown), that weren't yet ready for Prem football. However next year in the first division I played them as starters, which skyrockets their development because of match practice, so when you return you have buildt a foundation for challenging for the title

So either you get lucky and stay up, or you return a year later with top youths

Get promotion and then apply for other jobs at a higher profile club?

This.

A promotion will boost your manager reputation too.

i would go for the promotion. i tend to over achieve what ever the board set as minimum expectation so i would be confident of just about avoiding the drop. also theres normally enough players around that will join, whatever level u play at

Get promotion. You never know what will happen.

why mess up all the good things you have done for the club already?? get promoted and so what if you do come last next season you still achieved loads in the space of three years

Thanks for the feedback...

I would have expected more fans of the "wait one more year" option, but I see very few would go for the proverbial two birds in the bush

Anyway... we won the league...

It was a decent 4-2-1 in the final 7 games [two very lucky 1-0 wins BTW) while other contenders kept on stealing points from eachother (just a 5 points gap from runner-up to 7th place).

And now I'll just have to wait and see what kind of players I can attract... not before I've offloaded a lot of aging First Division mediocrity...

TBC (or not...)

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!

Hell, with one third of that money they're getting and wasting on a new stadium we didn't really need (expect when Top Clubs will come visit and hammer us) I could have built a team capable of surviving...

Where's the "I don't want a damn new stadium, I want transfer funds FFS!!!" button?

get relegated and come back, new stadium is always a good thing, you didn't even need to take a loan.