FC Porto budget issues - $900k transfer budget, can't offer contracts way below budget

So, I'm on my 3rd file, playing as Porto, and I'm a bit worried about my funds, after just 1 season. I've heard Porto is quite stingy when it comes to selling players, and I know they aren't huge spenders like the typical European giants and I know Portugal is having a big economic crisis in reality, but some of this stuff just seems a bit odd...:

- Jan window of 2011-12 (I disable summer budgets in first year) - $8.5m budget - seems reasonable. Again I know Porto aren't huge spenders, but then...

- Summer window of 2012-13 - $900,000. Umm...ok? Surely the board for Porto isn't that stingy when trying to get some new talent...especially considering I won the league and advanced past the group stage in the CL...

- after some adjustments, got enough money to buy a new player, he wants $100,000/week and I'm $400,000 under my weekly payroll budget. However, the max I can offer to him is only $95,000/week which he rejects constantly *sigh*, so I have to do further budget adjustments, even though I'm already $400,000 UNDER my weekly budget!

So I ask - is anyone else playing as Porto (FCP)? Are you seeing similar issues? Again, I know Porto buys low and sells high in real life, but this is a bit ridiculous - $900,000 transfer budget??? Contract offers still super low even if a huge amount under the payroll? ...should I just play it out and see how my budgets are in year 2?

edit: for comparison's sake, my other 2 files were Palermo and Sevilla. Palermo gave me a $50m (I kid you not) budget first year and got all the way up to $90m by my 3rd year (this was pre 12.1.1 if that matters) and Sevilla I was always around $20~30m. Surely Porto could, and should, be on the same level as Palermo and Sevilla.

You need to sell if you want to get financial stability with portuguese teams,

put the wage/transfer budget all the way to transfers,agents ask more money if you have a big wage budget

try to use useless clauses,renew after league games, *prize* after 30 league goals,sell on profit 5 % etc... i've reduced the wage demand of players by 30k(sometimes even more) a month and reduced app bonus too by simply doing that

try selling your stars,teams in portugal rarely have a star player for longer than 2/3 season before some team comes and takes them,

if you had a good 1st season than you should be able to sell hulk for a good price

am playing as Benfica and i used to keep my star players no matter what,but i found the game much more competitive(and realistic) when you have to keep selling your stars and rebuild your team year after year

along with that try to play smart in transfers,scout every bit of south america for bargains,and remember any transfer over 9 m is alot

also irl portuguese clubs have massive running costs that if not for the player sales would leave them in SERIOUS debt if am correct,so if you havent sold any players for big money then 900.000 is kinda realistic

btw the only reason why you only have 8.5m in the first season is because Porto have already spent something close to 40 m in transfer irl (Danilo,Mangala,Defour Etc... )

A bit more info on how your over all finances have been since you started? Might be an explanation in there somewhere. You losing money, have a low balance etc... $900,000 does seem very low though. Maybe you do just have a stingy chairman, even $8.5m isn't that high really.

The wage thing isn't that big a deal, being well under budget doesn't mean you can throw as much money at a player as you want, it's unfortunate you fell only 5k short in this case. Did you try offering the agent more money?

Just had a peak at the Porto thread. With budgets enabled you get about $19 million, so you certainly seem to have been sold short. Maybe you should read that thread and/or post there

thanks for the quick replies.

A bit more info on how your over all finances have been since you started? Might be an explanation in there somewhere. You losing money, have a low balance etc... $900,000 does seem very low though. Maybe you do just have a stingy chairman, even $8.5m isn't that high really.

The wage thing isn't that big a deal, being well under budget doesn't mean you can throw as much money at a player as you want, it's unfortunate you fell only 5k short in this case. Did you try offering the agent more money?

Just had a peak at the Porto thread. With budgets enabled you get about $19 million, so you certainly seem to have been sold short. Maybe you should read that thread and/or post there

I searched this forum for Porto and couldn't find anything in the first 3 pages, could you link me the Porto thread plz?

As for my finances, I seemed to lose $10,000-$4m per month during the non-transfer months, then win about $40m after the season. Monthly reports always said the club was financially secure/okay. Balance during the season was $20-40m during the first half, then during/after the Jan transfer window it went down to -$20m and stayed in the -$20-$10m range for the rest of the season (according to the charts). It is now at $466,000 at the beginning of July. I'm being 100% honest when I say I have no idea how that actually affects budgets or how to I can affect the balance...besides simple income/expenditure concepts. But I don't see how my expenditures could've been THAT much higher than my income. I've had other files where I lost money at my clubs 10 months out of the year and still had $20m-90m budgets (see OP reference to Palermo and Sevilla). If I could get $19m...that'd be a godsend! =D

You need to sell if you want to get financial stability with portuguese teams,

put the wage/transfer budget all the way to transfers,agents ask more money if you have a big wage budget

try to use useless clauses,renew after league games, *prize* after 30 league goals,sell on profit 5 % etc... i've reduced the wage demand of players by 30k(sometimes even more) a month and reduced app bonus too by simply doing that

try selling your stars,teams in portugal rarely have a star player for longer than 2/3 season before some team comes and takes them,

if you had a good 1st season than you should be able to sell hulk for a good price

am playing as Benfica and i used to keep my star players no matter what,but i found the game much more competitive(and realistic) when you have to keep selling your stars and rebuild your team year after year

along with that try to play smart in transfers,scout every bit of south america for bargains,and remember any transfer over 9 m is alot

also irl portuguese clubs have massive running costs that if not for the player sales would leave them in SERIOUS debt if am correct,so if you havent sold any players for big money then 900.000 is kinda realistic

btw the only reason why you only have 8.5m in the first season is because Porto have already spent something close to 40 m in transfer irl (Danilo,Mangala,Defour Etc... )

Yeah, I've been able to wiggle my way around w/ my funds by adjusting the slider and adding clauses. I could actually get my budget up to $1.5m, but then I wouldn't be able to pay any new player anything as I'd already be going over my payroll. I sold $19m worth of players and only $8m went to the transfer budget (although I now see only 40% of transfer revenue is available, so that makes sense).

As for my players and selling them for high prices, Hulk scored 43 goals in my 1st season and is at 167 CA and I'm only getting $13m~18m offers for him... Otamendi is at 155 CA (as a defender!), averaged 7.22 rating and is only valued at $6m - meaning I can basically only sell him for $12m if I offer to clubs, not enough in my book. I sold Defour for $12m (after a great year, another "not enough" imo, but I was desperate), Mangala for $2m and Sapunaru for $4m. Considering I only see 40% of that on my budget, I can't sell low and expect to buy any good players when CPU clubs are so damn stingy on their own sales.

The whole thing can be explained by you not having money in the bank. The wage budget not being what the board allow means nothing - they are absolutely terribly irresponsible in that matter. If you're losing money with the likes of Porto after competing in the CL, you are spending way too much - you should really make 2-3m a month with a club at that level playing in the CL!

Why play as porto, Gil Vicente are way better.

Porto Thread.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/294825-FM-2012-FC-Porto-Hulk-SMASH

put the wage/transfer budget all the way to transfers, agents ask more money if you have a big wage budget[/b

Agents somehow know clubs wage budget and adjust their/players demands according to it. If you have huge wage budget their demands can quadruple, so always reduce your wage budget before entering negotiations and gradually increase it if necessary.

that is easily explained if you have been buying lots of expensive players with the monthly payments... also check if you signed contracts with the option where a player will have their wage updated to the highest wage in the squad