Stadium Expansion

I'm currently playing as Leigh, and have made it up to the championship. I'm doing fairly well right now and hope to get promoted to the premiership. The problem I'm having right now is that my current stadium is too small (10,000 seater) and is filled to capacity (has been for about 2 years now), and the board won't expand it.

I have about 10 million saved, and need the expansion in order to compete next year in the premiership (it's a wonder I can even compete in the championship). My Transfer budget is around 2 million, and my wage budget is about 100k, the teams I'm competing against right now have players who make my entire wage budget every week. I feer if I don't get the expansion soon, I might end up going right back to the Blue Square N/S.

Also had anyone noticed how rediculously hard it gets to move up divisions as the game goes on. Early on I made a couple of key signings, and had them recommend some players for my team. I build up a good team of romanians (had 6 on the team at one point) and then my chairmen went and sold 4 out of the 6 of them last year as I moved from L1 to CH. Then he sold a couple of my veterans as well, and left my team in rough shape. I tried to repleace them but I have to say that my team this year is more expensive then last year and only about 1/2 as good. This means my L1 championship team that only lost like 6 games last year, is strugling to survive in the CH. Although I do have a couple of players that are frustrated with their lack of first team experience joining me in January. If the same thing happens next year and I can't get my stadium to expand, I can see my Wage bill going up but getting less for it because players want more, any good players will be sold by my chairman, and I will quickly slide back down in the BSN/BSS. Maybe this is why they won't expand since they know I can't sustain this level of play.

What will it take for expansion to happen. Is there some magic bank account number that I need to hit, and if I do get them to ever agree to expansion how long does it typically take.

Any help would be great.

I'm currently playing as Leigh, and have made it up to the champions league. I'm doing fairly well right now and hope to get promoted to the premiership. The problem I'm having right now is that my current stadium is too small (10,000 seater) and is filled to capacity (has been for about 2 years now), and the board won't expand it.

I have about 10 million saved, and need the expansion in order to compete next year in the premiership (it's a wonder I can even compete in the champions league). My Transfer budget is around 2 million, and my wage budget is about 100k, the teams I'm competing against right now have players who make my entire wage budget every week. I feer if I don't get the expansion soon, I might end up going right back to the Blue Square N/S.

Also had anyone noticed how rediculously hard it gets to move up divisions as the game goes on. Early on I made a couple of key signings, and had them recommend some players for my team. I build up a good team of romanians (had 6 on the team at one point) and then my chairmen went and sold 4 out of the 6 of them last year as I moved from L1 to CH. Then he sold a couple of my veterans as well, and left my team in rough shape. I tried to repleace them but I have to say that my team this year is more expensive then last year and only about 1/2 as good. This means my L1 championship team that only lost like 6 games last year, is strugling to survive in the CH. Although I do have a couple of players that are frustrated with their lack of first team experience joining me in January. If the same thing happens next year and I can't get my stadium to expand, I can see my Wage bill going up but getting less for it because players want more, any good players will be sold by my chairman, and I will quickly slide back down in the BSN/BSS. Maybe this is why they won't expand since they know I can't sustain this level of play.

What will it take for expansion to happen. Is there some magic bank account number that I need to hit, and if I do get them to ever agree to expansion how long does it typically take.

Any help would be great.

how are you in champions league when you aint in the premiership? that aint possible pal!

I'm guessing he means the Championship...

He could have won it the previous year, but also got relegated...

but reading the entire post through, I think he means the championship - it is kinda confusing though...

yeh very confusing!!

i rekon you should just keep plugging away. if you can stay in the division and keep your balance stable, whilst also getting capacity crowds the board will soon expand the stadium or build you a new one.

Sorry I did mean championship, I'm Canadian, so not fully aware of the distinction. In in CH league, not PRM yet, although I hope to be soon.

I think it makes sense to be honest. Wouldn't CL be the correct abv for Champions League?

Try to get yourself a parent club and see if you can get a few good players in on loan.

What will it take for expansion to happen. Is there some magic bank account number that I need to hit, and if I do get them to ever agree to expansion how long does it typically take.

I'm not sure you have enough money for expansion to be build safely for your bank account. You said you current stadium have 10 000 seats, what's your average attendance? If you maximum and average attendance is somewhat low, it isn't likely you to get an expansion for the stadium. But if they agree to expand the stadium, that happens in preseason, and it takes a few months to complete.

What is the reason they give for not expanding the stadium?

If they can't get planning permission then they would have to build a new stadium which costs a lot more. If they say they don't have enough money to try to expand it then you'll just have to make do for now.

At least you have a bigger stadium than I do at Scunthorpe and we start the game in the Championship and have considerably less than £10 million. I know the feeling though about the comparison to other clubs - ironically I just started a story in FMS based on the premise of Birmingham City having just signed a Russian international for more than my entire squad cost on the day before we were due to play them in the league!

I'm in 20017/18 or there abouts with Fisher Athletic in the Championship. Because of my small stadium we were generally in debt for a long time while we built a brand new 12,900 capacity all seater stadium with undersoil heating but with now with heavy repayments hanging over our head and players sold by the board - expansion can be a double edged sword.

Funnily enough even with this new stadium and staying within my wage budget, by the end of that season we were about £1.5m in debt.

Even so, I asked the board to upgrade again the season after and they refused but shortly after announced another 3000 or so upgrade at the cost of a £4m loan.

So lots of loan debt not paid off for 20 years.... (I think about £140,000 a month payments) - not great. But my main point is that you don't need to always be in credit to get a ground extention. We do fill the stadium though nearly every week.

I'm hoping i don't come up against this problem, I never have before but with the way i get my team to play, we will definately fill the stadium once we get promoted again.

I guess get about 20mil and you should be fine.

you think you have problems, i've just got promoted to the championship with eastleigh in 2015, my capacity is still the same as the start -2300! Its been maxed out for about 4 years but didn't have enough money to expand

The board now have enough money to expand (about 3m) but its been blocked by the council due to strong local opposition

Well just to clear up a couple of things, I have an average attendance of 9927 with max capicity being 10,000. Last year in L1 I had an average attendance of 9856, so I've been more or less maxed out for the last 2 years. I played a little bit more since I wrote my original post, and now I'm fairly confident I'm headed to the permiership next year. My bank account is pretty steady at 10 million but I do have a sell on clauses for almost everyone I've sold, and will get 1.5 million if my star striker from last year scores 20 goals for his new team (he's at 13 right now with 20 games left).

I really enjoy the challenge, but can't imagine this scenario being realistic at all. If a small community had a team that went on a massive streak and climbed it's way to the premiership my guess is that the owners would take out loan debt to expand the stadium ASAP, or they would sell the team for big $$$$$$ and the new owners would expand the stadium. Either way I can't imagine the stadium not getting the go ahead.

The reason the board keeps giving me is that they don't think it is necessary. Considering I have one of the smallest stadiums if not the smallest stadium in the CH, is the part that bothers me the most. You invest all this time, build your team up, and then it seems that without a stadium expansion, I will have to look at jumping to a bigger club in the near future

Here's to hoping for that expansion.

You can't really use the realism argument. Taking Leigh RMI to the Premiership is in no way realistic therefore any arguments based on realism in that scenario are flawed. There are teams in The Championship in real life who have those kind of attendances. Crewe were there for a few years with quite a lot less than 10,000 per week from what I remember.

You can't really use the realism argument. Taking Leigh RMI to the Premiership is in no way realistic therefore any arguments based on realism in that scenario are flawed. There are teams in The Championship in real life who have those kind of attendances. Crewe were there for a few years with quite a lot less than 10,000 per week from what I remember.

I totally disagree with that. The game should remain realistic throughout. It is possible that Leigh make it to the CCC, unlikely but possible.

ive been where you are and tis very frustrating

try to get a good fa cup run going to up your bank balance a bit

get as many loaned players as possible so that you can save on your wage bill

sign players for free then sell them the next season for a profit

basically, scrimp and save and stay in that league for as long as you can and youll get the new stadium

alternatively, overspend and push to get into the prem and the tv rights alone will sort you right out

so either be conservative and save up, or spend everything and make a big push for the prem

I totally disagree with that. The game should remain realistic throughout. It is possible that Leigh make it to the CCC, unlikely but possible.

And in that 1 in a million chance how likely is it that they would expand their stadium very quickly which was new in ~2007?

And in that 1 in a million chance how likely is it that they would expand their stadium very quickly which was new in ~2007?

In the situation posted, I think they'd be looking to do it. They are filling the stadium, they seem to be well run financially and looks as though they could be challenging for promotion to the PL very soon.

They probably are "looking into it", they just aren't telling the manager until they have definitely decided to expand!