Barcelona Financial Help

Hey, so I've been managing Barca for about 5/6 years. For the first 4 years my balance was into the £200million odd range, with a profit always being made (usually in the millions). Lately though I've been constantly losing money, sometimes just a couple hundred thousand, but more often than not it's been at least a few million.

I've made a few expensive signings, but I've had a transfer fund of £150million, and never spent anywhere near that amount. I have a wage difference of about £878k p/w, being more than able to support the players and staff wages. Last year I managed to end 4th, and didn't get very far in the CL so I didn't get as much money from the competition as usual.

I'd just like some general advice as to how I can start to earn a profit again like I used to.

Thanks.

Hey, so I've been managing Barca for about 5/6 years. For the first 4 years my balance was into the £200million odd range, with a profit always being made (usually in the millions). Lately though I've been constantly losing money, sometimes just a couple hundred thousand, but more often than not it's been at least a few million.

I've made a few expensive signings, but I've had a transfer fund of £150million, and never spent anywhere near that amount. I have a wage difference of about £878k p/w, being more than able to support the players and staff wages. Last year I managed to end 4th, and didn't get very far in the CL so I didn't get as much money from the competition as usual.

I'd just like some general advice as to how I can start to earn a profit again like I used to.

Thanks.

Have you got any feeder clubs?

Get yourself one from the USA and/or Japan.

You should be able to get a good merchandising feeded club easily being a big club.

Sit back and watch the cash roll in.

Hey, thanks for the quick response. I actually have four feeder clubs, but only for first option on players. I've just requested the board to find me a commercial link with another club, so hopefully they'll get me a good one.

Hey, thanks for the quick response. I actually have four feeder clubs, but only for first option on players. I've just requested the board to find me a commercial link with another club, so hopefully they'll get me a good one.

Fingers crossed for you.

Post what you get offered.

Woo! I managed to get a Japanese team, Osaka AC, which will apparently be a "major benefit to all merchandising sales". I'm guessing those benefits will outweigh the fact I have to pay an annual fee of £1.1million?

Woo! I managed to get a Japanese team, Osaka AC, which will apparently be a "major benefit to all merchandising sales". I'm guessing those benefits will outweigh the fact I have to pay an annual fee of £1.1million?

They sure will.

You'll make a packet.

See if you can get an american one.

Recommend the club then compare how much merchandising income you now get.

I'll definitely try to get an American one, I've recommended the club and the board have accepted the link. I can't see any great increase in merchandising yet, but I'll give it a bit of time.

I'll definitely try to get an American one, I've recommended the club and the board have accepted the link. I can't see any great increase in merchandising yet, but I'll give it a bit of time.

You will mate don't worry.

I've made a few expensive signings

I'm not being funny, but wouldn't that be your problem? Profits wont always cover transfer budgets. You can't expect to make expensive signings yet always make a profit.

Well yeah, when I say "expensive signings" I mean like two, not in one season and costing like £20million.

You could also sell off one of your good players if you think you could cover the space left, as this would free up more wages and get transfer money in which may help a little.

The best way to keep the cashflow good is to make your own wage budget and stick to it. The ones defined by the board are usually far too generous to keep the club particularly profitable if you have a couple of bad seasons.

You may have to become a selling club briefly, but if you came 4th in the league and didn't get far in the CL, a bit of selling will probably do your team good.

if you have an acadamy as good as FCB's is normally then u can afford to sell off stars and replace with kids, its the policy that made my club valued at £1081m once!

I have Marcelo who is now valued at £14.25million and who wants a new challenge at a different club, so I transfer listed him and offered him to clubs. The two clubs that were interested in him, Arsenal and AC Milan, now say they don't need someone of his position!

Also, is it common for the AM to constantly say that all the players in the B and C teams are basically rubbish? Because that's the only coach reports I get from them.

dont offer high contracts to to many players. have 3 key players wich earns the same and keep the rest and important first team or rotation and dont give them to much wage couse then the rest in that bunch want that to.

with barcelona u should make 100-200 mill profit a year if u dont sit an sign players wich get 5-6 mill each per year in wages.

sell of all 29-30 year old players and replace with youngsters

Yeah I have quite a lot of players that are over 30 (Henry, Eto'o, Zambrotta, Ronaldinho the bigger names) who are all still decent players, and I'm struggling to either sell them for a good price or to find decent/better replacements for them at a young age.

Best thing I can do is get this season finished, then focus on re-shaping my squad. Problem is Henry is 36 now so I doubt I'll be able to sell him to any clubs, and his wages will stay pretty large, unless he and the other oldies want to retire at the end of this season (though the way they are playing, still very well, I doubt that).

transfer list them for 0, in worstcase loan them out and otherteams hopefully pay some of their wages.

every year u play u should rotate your squad and replace 1-2 old timers 29+ with 1-2 youngsters age 19-21, that way u keep an balanced squad and doesnt hit mountains like u have done now with old players with huge wage and little cash avaible to get the best teens

To attempt to sell some of the older players, offer them to clubs with £0 upfrotn and then the money you want for them over 12 or 24 months, this is good because there is a steady flow of money into the club each month and you get more than you would if you sold them normally.

In my last save I sold Mikael Silvestre for £10mill when he was valued at £2.9mill becuase I asked for it over 24 months.

Also as Richard76 has already said, try and get a commercial feeder club, I can see that you have just got Osaka and now try and get one from the USA and watch the money role in!

Hope I have helped .

You certainly have! All great advice, I never really thought about the whole payment over 12/24 months thing, might try that soon. How long does it take before you can ask for another feeder club?

You certainly have! All great advice, I never really thought about the whole payment over 12/24 months thing, might try that soon. How long does it take before you can ask for another feeder club?

I'm glad I could help .

I believe it's 6 months? But i'm not quite sure. Has Osaka brought in any merchadise money yet?

4-5 months in game time

Ah cool, I've only been linked with Osaka for 2 months. I haven't seen any great increase in my merchandising as of yet, but I'm guessing it probably takes a bit more time than two months. I've also managed to bring up a few kids from the B squad to slowly take over the older guys roles, so I'll just try and sell at the end of the season.

Another question, when I have a player that's 36 (Henry) who still plays great, is it better to keep him and let him retire or to sell him for whatever I can get?

IMO you should sell him for whatever you can get. TBH, I would have sold him when he was about 32 because I don't like old players; but it all depends on your personel preference. How much is he on a week? I'm guessing its quite a bit which is money that perhaps could be saved each week and which would eventually slightly improve your finances.

He's currently on £75K p/w, which is rather a lot, especially considering I rarely use him in my starting XI. I'm going to try sell him off, but I think it's probably got to the stage where no one will take him due to his age.

£75k p/w is far too much for a 36 year old. How long is left on his contract? If nobody wants him then you could consider just letting his contract run out.

When your signing players, are you offering money up front, or over a period of time, if the latter then this would be why your making losses each month. Dont forget that goal bonuses, clean sheet bonuses and appearance fees all factor in to your month by month profit/loss margins. And of course as a welcome top up to finances theres always the season ticket sales and end of season prize money at the end of the season. So unless your losing megabucks, ie your profit is in the red on your homepage by a good 30-40 mill, then there shouldnt be much to worry about. You are barca after all.

His current contract runs out on the 30th June 2015, and the current date is the 20th March 2014. And it seems no one is interested in buying him. I've actually got a few oldies that are getting paid way too much, which is probably the main reason I'm getting so much financial grief at the moment.

Yeah, I'm only like £5mil into the red at the moment. And it's most likely cause I've been totally niave about contracts, which will change after this season!

His current contract runs out on the 30th June 2015, and the current date is the 20th March 2014. And it seems no one is interested in buying him. I've actually got a few oldies that are getting paid way too much, which is probably the main reason I'm getting so much financial grief at the moment.

I believe this could be the reason. Just transfer list the old players on wages that are too high (e.g. Henry, Eto'o, Zambrotta, Ronaldinho etc.) and then offer them to clubs for £0, hopefully some clubs will come in with offers and take them off your hands. I know you won't get any money from the transfers but it will lift alot of financial issues off your shoulders, trust me.

Yeah, I may just have to do that. It'll suck to not get anything for such good players, but their getting past it now lol. Thanks again for all the help!

Yeah, I may just have to do that. It'll suck to not get anything for such good players, but their getting past it now lol. Thanks again for all the help!

I know it sucks but there's no other away around it I don't think . Keep me informed on how you get on. Do you have MSN?

Yeah I do, I'll PM you my address.

I only keep oldies if I like them and they want to do coaching. From there I just keep gettin their wage down as they decline.

From the very very start of the game at Barca you should be buying kids to put in your B/C teams, cause most are rubbish. With the right games, loaned out at certain teams Guy Assulin can become quite good, maybe not top flight barca level. Dont trust your AssMan and Scout reports aswell, they are a rough guidance, normally they are way off. I got a striker that looked awesome (regen), played on loan with me, got heaps of goals and my AssMan said he would be a decent signing. Checked his PA in the FMScout as I was curious and he has a PA of 200. Jackpot! Now everyones after him.

Also buy Henri Saivet, for money making purposes or to keep. For me he is loyal and bloody awesome.

Yeah it's strange, I've grown sentimental over certain older players that have been with me for 5 years winning trophies for me lol. And everytime I say that they would make a great coach I just get the usual "would rather concentrate..." response, which is annoying. I've definitely decided to almost ignore advice from scouts and the AM, due to have the time they've been completely wrong.

I'm actually in the process of trying to sign Saivet from Arsenal, had to put a bid of £16mil in but I need a young striker to pair up with Bojan once the oldies go.

spanish teams have the 2 huge advantages

-south american get spanish passports after 2 years , this means u can sign18 year old brazils and have eu on them by 20.

- having an B team in spansih segunda div, so they can reach very high potential and u can control wich players they play without needing to loan them out at same time u do tutoring to them for ppms and changing mental stats . its nice to have 5-6 wonderkids with exelent stats getting loads of playtime and nice ppms from first team and are ready to move up to first team if injury or banns take players.

segunda div can have 2 eu players and first can have 3. so in reality u can have 5 eu players in squad and everyone gets loads of playtime and spanish passports.10 brazilians in 4 years can be incoperated this way.and 4th year u can have 3 new brazilians.

this means by year 4 in the game u can have 13 non eu brazilians playing in your team.....

i useally sell saivet for 30 mill+ and 50% sell on clause by year 2-3.better getting sergio aguero as striker

£75k p/w is far too much for a 36 year old. How long is left on his contract? If nobody wants him then you could consider just letting his contract run out.

£75k p/w is far too much for anyone. 60 is my absolute max and only for a really, really world-class player. However good someone is, if they're on £100 odd K, they're not worth it. There will be someone at least almost as good who is better for the bank.

How do u reccomend a club to be a feeder/affiliate club?

You cant recommend any club, when you request a feeder club the board will find 4 or 5 clubs (whether they be local clubs, work permits, commerial etc).

You then recommend which of these five teams you want to be associated with