Getting rid of debt

This may be a stupid question butttttt I'm Villa and in January 2028 and ranked #1 in the world.

In the past 5 years I have spent £185,000,000 and received £50,500,000.

I've won the Champions League twice, the Premiership three times and 3rd place once, the FA Cup twice, the Club World Championship twice, runner up in the Super Cup twice, the Community Shield three times and runner up in the League Cup twice so a total of trophies: 12

Surely I'd receive quite a bit of money from this and my TV rights are £40,000,000 a year and I am also £1,100,000 UNDER the wage budget.

However my finances are like a rollercoaster and towards the middle and of every end of the season my chairman has to loan me some money. My club is worth £186,000,000 but I have a loan debt of £171,000,000.

I am wanting to build a new stadium but this is holding me back big time as the board always says I don't have enough funding.

Can anybody suggest any ways I can reduce this ridiculous amount in order to have a healthy balance and have my finances as 'rich'? :confused:

What's your wage bill like?

What's your wage bill like?

and I am also £1,100,000 UNDER the wage budget.

.........................

.........................

I asked for the wage bill, not how much UNDER BUDGET it was.

Pillock./

I've won the Champions League twice, the Premiership three times and 3rd place once, the FA Cup twice, the Club World Championship twice, runner up in the Super Cup twice, the Community Shield three times and runner up in the League Cup twice so a total of trophies: 12

Those trophies I have won were also in the past 5 years just for the rep

My wage bill is £1,600,000

I asked for the wage bill, not how much UNDER BUDGET it was.

Pillock./

pillock?

If he is UNDER BUDGET, what does it matter what the wage bill is!

My wage bill is £1,600,000

Maybe you could trim that? Getting rid of a few fringe players might make a little difference, but £171m of debt is a lot to handle. I'm not sure there's any surefire way.

pillock?

If he is UNDER BUDGET, what does it matter what the wage bill is!

Sorry, not going to bother with your trolling anymore. Seems to be all you do.

the wage bill is how much your allowed to spend not what you should aim to be spendingyou can go into debt from high wages and still be under budget tho in this case I'd say 1.6m is fine for a team of your level.

Sorry, not going to bother with your trolling anymore. Seems to be all you do.

Im trolling but your the one calling m a pillock? The OP said he was under budget, I was just pointing that out then you call me a pillock, and im the one thats trolling? Grow up!

Surely it can't be to do with any of my wage budget?

I can only have 35% transfer revenue made availible but I'm being given budgets for each season of £60,000,000 just for title challenge.

The current date is 26/01/28

My loans outstanding are:

Bank loan of £45.5M (£248K/per onth until 27.9.2031)

Club Chairman Loan of £49.5M (£247K/per month until 22.4.2034)

Club Chairman Loan of £31.5M (£156K/per month until 28.4.2035)

Bank Loan of £44.5M (£242K/per onth until 29.12.2035)

Gift Loan of £41M (£170K/per month until 14.8.2044 when in profit)

Gift Loan of £78M (£324K/per month until 15.11.2045 when in profit)

My income last year was £295,972,583

My expenditure last year was £301,812,764

the only way your going to get rid of a debt at a club like villa is getting a takeover with a rich sugardaddy because trimming the wage budget and tranfers only gonna get you so far.

It won't all be down to your wage budget, but I'm top Premiership team also - we're spending £1.1m per week on wages. That works out at about £25m less than you per year. Big difference. And that's without all the bonuses too.

It won't all be down to your wage budget, but I'm top Premiership team also - we're spending £1.1m per week on wages. That works out at about £25m less than you per year. Big difference. And that's without all the bonuses too.

I know but surely with the competitions I'm winning, it should be balancing itself out?

If you have good young players that can go straight into the team, sell your star players that around 28-29 for big prices. Obviously you will receive a big fee and also get them off the wage books, and their replacements will already be young players at the club, on less wages, who can also do the job. Concentrate on signing players young and developing them then rinse/repeat. Over the next couple of years try to only spend around £10m per year on good young prospects and sell any aging players for big fees. In a few years you will be a conveyor belt of talent where you can sell your 28 year old stars and have 21/22 year old players good enough to step in.

If you have good young players that can go straight into the team, sell your star players that around 28-29 for big prices. Obviously you will receive a big fee and also get them off the wage books, and their replacements will already be young players at the club, on less wages, who can also do the job. Concentrate on signing players young and developing them then rinse/repeat. Over the next couple of years try to only spend around £10m per year on good young prospects and sell any aging players for big fees. In a few years you will be a conveyor belt of talent where you can sell your 28 year old stars and have 21/22 year old players good enough to step in.

This might be worth a try. The best players on your team are going to demand high appearance fees and other bonuses in their contracts besides the weekly wages. If you can offload expensive players while the youth are coming into the senior team you'll be making a nice profit.

You're going to have to trim the wage budget until you are making a profit.

Just because the chairman gives you money doesn't mean you have to spend it. You're running at a transfer loss of about 27M per year, it's hardly surprising you have to go cap-in-hand for more cash. 1.6M is a hell of a lot of money on wages (although in no way unrealistic or unmanageable) and I'm guessing this isn't offset by gate receipts, at £40 a game with a home game every 2nd week (I know they are more frequent but for the sake of example) you'd need to fill a 80,000 seat stadium, are you? Every bonus on top of the 1.6M will require more bums on seats. Your prize money then becomes profit to either offset transfers or pay off debt.

However, there is a simpler way of calculating your way out of debt:

Your income £295M

Your expenditure £301M

Thats a loss of just 6M, or, in other words, the sale of 2-3 youngsters that won't be good enough for your team anyway or spending 6M less on player purchases.

It's not difficult to see a way out of this, it's only marginally more difficult to see that you were always headed this way by consistently spending 27M more on transfers than you recoup.

Oh, and to butt in to another discussion, it makes NO difference whether you are under budget for wages or transfers (hence why Swarfega didn't ask for it) - almost every FM chairman will give you enough rope to not only hang yourself but to also hang everybody around you.

pillock?

If he is UNDER BUDGET, what does it matter what the wage bill is!

Quite often under budget does not mean sustainable.

In the past 5 years I have spent £185,000,000 and received £50,500,000.

Hello? You are spending almost three times what you received in transfer fees...If you want to get rid of debt then you need to stop spending like that.After the Debt is gone then you can go back to spending stupid money, if you buy younger players as back-ups to what you have right now you can get them cheaper (200k - 2M each) and then you spend a lot less, and if they don't get good enough for your top team then ship them off for a profit at about 20-22yrs old then you will slowly build a balance that is good enough to clear the debt.

The reason the chairman has to keep bailing you out would be because you are spending in January, but a lot of the money doesn't come in until May hence you end up short until you get the Champs League winnings etc. Stop spending as much on players and you will clear the debt.

I was reading in another thread that someone wasn't spending any money, only signing players on free transfers. His substantial debt (ie loans) was cleared due to the clubs strong financial position, so if you already have a world class side, perhaps just sit on it for a few seasons, or sell on a few players and replace them with freebies.

You're currently spending 1.6m p/w while I'm spending 1.25m p/w with my Las Palmas side which is also a top team in the world. Swarfega in post #14 said the same thing.

My top earner, a world class superstar striker, is on a 100k p/w wage, and most others sit around 50-70 now. I did this, as do most others, by developing youth who I sign for 1-5 millions. It is possible to cut the player's initial wage demand in half by giving him and his agent high sign-on fees and by having him reject a ridiculously high release clause only to reduce it afterwards (they loooooooooooooove release clauses).

You're spending £1,387,000 a month on loan repayments. That's a fair chunk of your problem.

problems i have seen so far...

wage budget of 1.6m. just because the board give you 2.7m doesnt mean 1.6m is ok. the ai in my opinion isn't clever enough to work out what your wage budget should be to keep clear of big debts. you need to work out yourself what is ok. anyway if you can cut this by 200k then that will save you over 10m a year.

nearly 1.4m a month on loans or 17m a year! sadly only a new board can help on this such is the big mess your in

spending over 120m more on players than what your raking in. if i was at this stage i would be buying in regens and selling players around 30 years old. i often make a profit on transfers by now because there is enough cheap regens on the game that you can buy.

Managing things well financially, ideally needs to be initiated as soon as you take charge of a club. Be that at the start of a new save (better and easier), or when you move to a new club during an existing save.

It may be the case that things have gone a little too far with your current club, but if you're intention is a long term save, then you can recover things. Plenty of good advice in this thread though, regarding contract negotiations, trying to bring in more than you spend through transfers, buying youngsters cheaply and developing them, etc...

In my own Granada CF save, although in the space of just three seasons we're amongst the top sides in Europe, I've basically given up on signing any big name players, unless I can nab them on a free when their contracts have expired. Although I'm at the stage where I can meet the release clause value for a player like Agüero from At. Madrid, when he demands 300k p/w in wages, I'm simply not going to bother taking things further. I set my own wage cap and only increase it if my club is comfortably able to cover the rise in wages AND will continue to make a profit each season.

I'm always scouting for talented young prospects I can develop, but I also keep an eye out for prospects who may develop well, even if they won't make my first team. These players I simply look to develop and sell at a large profit later. This season alone, I've generated over 15m in transfer revenue from five players, who cost me under 500k two seasons ago. Their wages were low, so lets say that overall they probably cost the club about 1m over two years, making a profit of 14m.

Aside from that way of making transfer profits, free agents are another good way to make money on the transfer market. I signed Gervinho on a free, a couple of seasons into my save. He just didn't do as well as I was hoping and I had a couple of good youngsters pushing him for a starting spot. I sold him at the end of the season for 16.5m.

Finally, try to leave your club with a financial buffer. I never let club finances drop below 10m if I can help it. Club is always in the black and there's never any need to raise finance externally. The only thing I do dread, is the inevitable new stadium that my club will have in the next few seasons. I'm planning ahead though, making sure the bank balance increases steadily and that hopefully, the bulk of the costs will come from existing funds.

Managing things well financially, ideally needs to be initiated as soon as you take charge of a club. Be that at the start of a new save (better and easier), or when you move to a new club during an existing save.

It may be the case that things have gone a little too far with your current club, but if you're intention is a long term save, then you can recover things. Plenty of good advice in this thread though, regarding contract negotiations, trying to bring in more than you spend through transfers, buying youngsters cheaply and developing them, etc...

In my own Granada CF save, although in the space of just three seasons we're amongst the top sides in Europe, I've basically given up on signing any big name players, unless I can nab them on a free when their contracts have expired. Although I'm at the stage where I can meet the release clause value for a player like Agüero from At. Madrid, when he demands 300k p/w in wages, I'm simply not going to bother taking things further. I set my own wage cap and only increase it if my club is comfortably able to cover the rise in wages AND will continue to make a profit each season.

I'm always scouting for talented young prospects I can develop, but I also keep an eye out for prospects who may develop well, even if they won't make my first team. These players I simply look to develop and sell at a large profit later. This season alone, I've generated over 15m in transfer revenue from five players, who cost me under 500k two seasons ago. Their wages were low, so lets say that overall they probably cost the club about 1m over two years, making a profit of 14m.

Aside from that way of making transfer profits, free agents are another good way to make money on the transfer market. I signed Gervinho on a free, a couple of seasons into my save. He just didn't do as well as I was hoping and I had a couple of good youngsters pushing him for a starting spot. I sold him at the end of the season for 16.5m.

Finally, try to leave your club with a financial buffer. I never let club finances drop below 10m if I can help it. Club is always in the black and there's never any need to raise finance externally. The only thing I do dread, is the inevitable new stadium that my club will have in the next few seasons. I'm planning ahead though, making sure the bank balance increases steadily and that hopefully, the bulk of the costs will come from existing funds.

I highlighted what I believe is the key point you made there. I did this too. Taking Las Palmas to the top was only possible when thinking long term, and so I too only signed players that wanted a reasonable wage from me. I often let better players pass by even though I could afford both the transfer fee and the wage demand, just because he would have broken -my- wage budget. I set it at 20k p/w first (season 2 - in BBVA), then 25, 30, 40, 50,70 and now 100. The rule is that my best player gets the highest wages and any new signing would have to be better than him if he's to receive a higher wage. That is unlikely because #1 is also the number one player in the world.

This is the reason I sell to Manchester City, and don't buy from them. If the player already exceeds the wages of my top paid man, it is very unlikely he'll settle for anything less. And so I look elsewhere.

Lots of help here which I appreciate so thank you to all who's posted.

I do think selling elderly players will probably be the safest bet to do so however, if I end up selling one or two of my elderly players these guys are mainly the players who everyone wants at the club and therefore I don't want bad morale to get in the way. Having recently spent ANOTHER £50,000,000 during March for only two young players to come in in the summer then I must now face selling 2/3 of my key players to maybe balance the books again. I will take most people's advice and cut the wage budget but I've got probably the best striker in Europe on the game having currently scored 38 in 38 with 30 of them being in 26 league games and he's 30 and he plays a big part of the wage budget, however I'd rather be in minimal debt than to let him go.

Just like people say though you don't win trophies with kids which I believe to be correct and this is the risk in getting rid of my elderly lot and developing into future players.

Lots of help here which I appreciate so thank you to all who's posted.

I do think selling elderly players will probably be the safest bet to do so however, if I end up selling one or two of my elderly players these guys are mainly the players who everyone wants at the club and therefore I don't want bad morale to get in the way. Having recently spent ANOTHER £50,000,000 during March for only two young players to come in in the summer then I must now face selling 2/3 of my key players to maybe balance the books again. I will take most people's advice and cut the wage budget but I've got probably the best striker in Europe on the game having currently scored 38 in 38 with 30 of them being in 26 league games and he's 30 and he plays a big part of the wage budget, however I'd rather be in minimal debt than to let him go.

Just like people say though you don't win trophies with kids which I believe to be correct and this is the risk in getting rid of my elderly lot and developing into future players.

I win throphies with kids. This is because if you're good enough, you're old enough...

Lots of help here which I appreciate so thank you to all who's posted.

I do think selling elderly players will probably be the safest bet to do so however, if I end up selling one or two of my elderly players these guys are mainly the players who everyone wants at the club and therefore I don't want bad morale to get in the way. Having recently spent ANOTHER £50,000,000 during March for only two young players to come in in the summer then I must now face selling 2/3 of my key players to maybe balance the books again. I will take most people's advice and cut the wage budget but I've got probably the best striker in Europe on the game having currently scored 38 in 38 with 30 of them being in 26 league games and he's 30 and he plays a big part of the wage budget, however I'd rather be in minimal debt than to let him go.

Just like people say though you don't win trophies with kids which I believe to be correct and this is the risk in getting rid of my elderly lot and developing into future players.

Tell that to SIR Alex Ferguson

Hmmmm compared to the amount Arsenal use I wouldn't say that but I see where you're coming from

Hmmmm compared to the amount Arsenal use I wouldn't say that but I see where you're coming from

Thats the thing with Arsenal though, its not the kids fault, its the way they are being told to play. If Walcott went to Man Utd instead of Arsenal, I am confident enough to say he would be twice the player he is now. The same for Chamberlain. Arsenal have no plan B so when all the tippy tappy rubbish doesnt work they just crumble. When it actually works in 5 games out of the 38 and they absolutely tear teams apart, Wenger is a genius and Arsenal play 'excellent' football, in most of the others, they scrape through or lose to the more physical teams and cry that they are being picked on.

Man Utd, Chelsea etc also have to play the likes of Bolton and Stoke, the difference is their kids get taught to play FOOTBALL, i.e attacking, defending, everything. Different styles of play. Quick counter attack or slow build up play. Arsenal teach one way and when the kids realise its not working and theres nothing they can do, they lose cinfidence. Queue the downward spiral. It will be the same this year.

If you manage to find good youngsters or regens with high potential, get them playing regularly and they'll quickly develop into key players.

The core of my strike force and midfield is younger than 21. I've a little more experience in defence though and some quality veterans as backup, who also feature strongly in helping mentor the younger players.

All the top European sides are drooling over my young players and every week, I have to rebuff offers or media links with my players. The good thing is though, I've got them on high minimum release fee clauses, so if someone does show firm interest, they'll have to pay a high price. I consider no single player indispensable, there's always replacements.

If you manage to find good youngsters or regens with high potential, get them playing regularly and they'll quickly develop into key players.

The core of my strike force and midfield is younger than 21. I've a little more experience in defence though and some quality veterans as backup, who also feature strongly in helping mentor the younger players.

All the top European sides are drooling over my young players and every week, I have to rebuff offers or media links with my players. The good thing is though, I've got them on high minimum release fee clauses, so if someone does show firm interest, they'll have to pay a high price. I consider no single player indispensable, there's always replacements.

I've just recently won the FA Cup & Champions League for the 3rd year in a row so the only problem I have is selling 2/3 big players this summer and then losing all momentum and squad morale to then find myself only reaching the Quarter Final's and aiming for a top 4/5 finish in the League. :/

If your squad is that good why have you just spent 50M??? Plus whatever agent and signing-on fees.

Seriously, if you want to play like that then you're going to be in debt.

If your squad is that good why have you just spent 50M??? Plus whatever agent and signing-on fees.

Seriously, if you want to play like that then you're going to be in debt.

Because one of my main strikers is currently retiring and the other player is 22 and was too good of a player to miss out on

Yeah, its no biggy, enjoy spending the cash. If you're serious about wanting a new stadium you'll have to stop your flamboyant transfer policy!

Most of the worlds banks are doing the same thing at the moment - however, they don't have a sugar daddio to bail them out!!

I'll report back at the end of the summer transfer window, this shall be interesting.

Just sold my star Centre Midfielder to AC for £23,000,000 at the age of 29 and also my 2nd best centre back for £40,000,000 after paying £17,000,000 for him 4 seasons ago. The problem is he was only 25 and he's now gone to Manchester United who are always up there with me.

My current finances are now +£29,576,806 so do I stop the spending until next summer and only purchase VITAL signings or do I carry on selling maybe one more star?

I take it your wage bill would have gone down at least 100k aswell so it may be ok.

Decalre yourself bankrupt, sort out a deal to pay 10 pence for every pound you owe.

Screw loads of people out of money, then less than a year later get a new owner and start splashing cash on players again?

I take it your wage bill would have gone down at least 100k aswell so it may be ok.

Current wage budget now is £1,350,850 so near enough 300K has been cut, but the max I can now spend on players is £1.8M instead of £2.7M..

The £50,000,000 I spent during March on two players seriously took a chunk out of my finances and I seriously regret doing that now, however I had 17 out of 19 stadium sellouts last year in the PRM and sell 40,000 season tickets a year in my 53,000 seater so that can't be too bad.

I recently asked for my youth facilities to be done when I had a positive balance and they accepted and it's too be completed in a years time.

Is there any way in making it easier to get taken over?

Is there any way in making it easier to get taken over?

No, and why would you want to when your chairman keeps bailing you out? You want a stingy one? Or a skint one?

Looks like you've gotten yourself into a decent financial position, I'm assuming you will now cut a profit. No need for a takeover, not sure why you want one? Just to clear the debt so you can overspend again?

Looks like you've gotten yourself into a decent financial position, I'm assuming you will now cut a profit. No need for a takeover, not sure why you want one? Just to clear the debt so you can overspend again?

I know but when you sell 9 first team players and 6 of them were regulars your team kind of doesn't perform as well and I haven't had enough spending money to get DECENT replacable players in

I know but when you sell 9 first team players and 6 of them were regulars your team kind of doesn't perform as well and I haven't had enough spending money to get DECENT replacable players in

If you have spent money on future stars (ie guys with prospects of being world beaters) then just throw them into the fire, you may not finish 1st this season, but top 5 is achieveable, and next season they have a year of experience under their belts and will continue to improve. Match Prep page to Team Blend during preseason helps too. Just work on them and you will get out of it.

Most Important is to stop spending...Fees of no more than 2M, cut wages in half and increase signing on fees (Saves Money), see if you can re-sign some of your high wage earners contracts to lower amounts through this...they may get annoyed at you, so only do it to those with more than 12 months remaining right now, but it will help a little. This is manageable, in one game I played my team was 10M in the red + 30M in debts when I finally got promotion (8 seasons) into the Liga Sagres (Portugal), I survived relegation by 1pt season 1, and then slowly fought up with spending minimal money and got back over 0 within 3-4 seasons, and there is little to no prize money in Portuguese Football.

I know but when you sell 9 first team players and 6 of them were regulars your team kind of doesn't perform as well and I haven't had enough spending money to get DECENT replacable players in

This really shouldn't be difficult at all! As long as the players you sign have at least 3.5 stars potential and at least 1 star current ability, and have Determined, Driven, Professional, Resolute, Ambitious personality types and 15+ Determination, your future should be blindlingly bright both result-wise and financially.

The fact is that Aston Villa isn't a club that can support 25 superstars who you have bought as superstars from other big clubs. In order for them to become that big a club, you need £200m in your bank account and plans for a new stadium. That takes at least five years to build up (baseless estimate), and can only be done if you buy cheap and sell costly. At the top level of football, that can only be achieved by signing 4-5 possible wonderkids every year and tutoring them with model professionals and the like.

As it is now, you will sort of have to start from scratch again in order to build up a healthy bank balance. Then you need that new stadium (and to get one of those you will have to fill up your stadium every match for a prolonged period of time), and only then, when the new stadium is built can you start to increase your imaginary wage budget to attract top quality players. This takes another 3-5 seasons.

To be honest with you, I would have started a new game instead, trying again with Aston Villa perhaps. Or (if I -ever- played career mode) changed club.

This really shouldn't be difficult at all! As long as the players you sign have at least 3.5 stars potential and at least 1 star current ability, and have Determined, Driven, Professional, Resolute, Ambitious personality types and 15+ Determination, your future should be blindlingly bright both result-wise and financially.

The fact is that Aston Villa isn't a club that can support 25 superstars who you have bought as superstars from other big clubs. In order for them to become that big a club, you need £200m in your bank account and plans for a new stadium. That takes at least five years to build up (baseless estimate), and can only be done if you buy cheap and sell costly. At the top level of football, that can only be achieved by signing 4-5 possible wonderkids every year and tutoring them with model professionals and the like.

As it is now, you will sort of have to start from scratch again in order to build up a healthy bank balance. Then you need that new stadium (and to get one of those you will have to fill up your stadium every match for a prolonged period of time), and only then, when the new stadium is built can you start to increase your imaginary wage budget to attract top quality players. This takes another 3-5 seasons.

To be honest with you, I would have started a new game instead, trying again with Aston Villa perhaps. Or (if I -ever- played career mode) changed club.

The thing is I am one of the biggest clubs in the world if I'm ranked #1 in Europe. That's the problem I'm facing.. I started off the game the right way as it got me to where I was about 5 years ago when I had a healthy balance etc. I am filling my stadium out every week and sell a good amount of season tickets and whenever a player I sign has past experience with getting on with fans it says in the conference how good the fans are.

What you're telling me is definitley right I know and I guess I'll just have to risk going a season without a trophy or at least settling for the League Cup.

The thing is I am one of the biggest clubs in the world if I'm ranked #1 in Europe. That's the problem I'm facing.. I started off the game the right way as it got me to where I was about 5 years ago when I had a healthy balance etc. I am filling my stadium out every week and sell a good amount of season tickets and whenever a player I sign has past experience with getting on with fans it says in the conference how good the fans are.

What you're telling me is definitley right I know and I guess I'll just have to risk going a season without a trophy or at least settling for the League Cup.

Yeah, you took Villa as far as they can go... and then you faceplanted into a wall, because the way it was going you would eventually stop getting more money to spend on transfers since loan repayments would grow exponentially. Since the club couldn't grow unless you got a new stadium, and you wouldn't get a new stadium unless you had hundred(s) of millions in your bank account even at the end of the season, and you couldn't continue winning without spending money ... you were in a unsustainable situation!

To climb over that wall you need to regress a little, which is what you are doing now. Good luck with that!