Anyone got any experience with Financial Feeder Clubs?

I currently pay DC United £2.54m a year.

Looking at my merchandising figures, it doesn't seem to have made a huge difference. It does seem like I get a tiny bit more now, but not a 'major boost to merchansing' like they say.

I have the chance to get a Japanese one now, and I don't know whether or not to bother.

Does the old thing about, the more you pay, the more you get back still hold?

I've read that financial feeder clubs can be of great benefit when you are signing big name high profile players. If you prefer to sign young players and develop them into stars (as I do) then I don't think the benefits are that great.

In FM2010 I used to always try and get two financial feeder clubs - one in the USA and one in Japan. They did used to make quite a difference and generate me some decent money. i am just playing my first season in FM2011 and have one club in Japan. i will wait until the end of the season though to see if it makes and difference.

I've read that financial feeder clubs can be of great benefit when you are signing big name high profile players. If you prefer to sign young players and develop them into stars (as I do) then I don't think the benefits are that great.

My understanding is similar to D's above.

You only gain any benefit when you sign a player from that country, the higher their rep/profile the more benefit you get. If you don't sign any players from that country then you are wasting the link and therefore paying money for nothing.

So I basically have to sign Landon Donovan to get any benefit? Bollocks. They should make that clearer really. Are you sure though? Most big clubs have them but they never endeavour to sign players from that nation really.

What a waste of £2.54m this has been.

So I basically have to sign Landon Donovan to get any benefit? Bollocks. They should make that clearer really. Are you sure though? Most big clubs have them but they never endeavour to sign players from that nation really.

What a waste of £2.54m this has been.

I'm definitely not sure but the research done by others on FM9/10 suggests this is the way it works.

Maybe do a search see if you can find some of the old threads (possibly in the tactics forum).

So I basically have to sign Landon Donovan to get any benefit? Bollocks. They should make that clearer really. Are you sure though? Most big clubs have them but they never endeavour to sign players from that nation really.

What a waste of £2.54m this has been.

I think your foreign link will give you greater merchendising income for any big name signing, but it will be even greater if the player is from that country. I could be wrong though.

Who are you managing out of interest?

If you are managing someone like Man Utd then you are going to make a lot of cash over time as they are a known "brand" but if your managing the likes of Hull City or something it will take longer to reap the rewards as they are not really that well known outside of Britain.

Just done a little graph of my data

14 is the year with the feeder club. It is higher, and we haven't had as higher rep recently as earlier so it does help. Especially in November for some reason.

I think I'll stick with it, but not getting the extra Japanese one. If we show strong growth over the rest of the year I'll try again for the Japanese one.

Especially in November for some reason.

Did you agree/arrange new contracts in November by any chance?

Well in Janaury I got one 14 year old from Brazil (Italian passport), and one French 15 Year old.

Thats all the business I done. Didnt renew any contracts

If you can work out what you did in November then you've got your answer as to what benefit the feeder club has!

Don't you also get the scouting knowledge of the feeder club? That's got to be worth £2m if they're a big club in their country.

So I basically have to sign Landon Donovan to get any benefit? Bollocks. They should make that clearer really. Are you sure though? Most big clubs have them but they never endeavour to sign players from that nation really.

What a waste of £2.54m this has been.

No, you don't have to sign players from that nation. Any big name signing will increase the merchandise revenue. Since linking with a Japanese club on a 1.5M/year deal and signing Dzeko for free, my merchandise revenue has increased from 1.5M/month to 2M/month, or an extra 6M/year.

No, you don't have to sign players from that nation. Any big name signing will increase the merchandise revenue. Since linking with a Japanese club on a 1.5M/year deal and signing Dzeko for free, my merchandise revenue has increased from 1.5M/month to 2M/month, or an extra 6M/year.

Athos is correct. It was widely believed that nationality was important, but a user on here by the name of swisso (bolded so he gets the credit) did some research, and discovered that it was the reputation of the signing that made the difference, not their nationality.