never make profit.... why!!

i am manager of nottingham forest... and i rarely make a profit each month unless it is at the beginning of the season when i get the television rights etc.

i have looked at my expenses and incomes, and cannot see where the problem lies. i am below my wage budget, and i rarely spend money on transfers each month. i have a fairly strong stadium, but i just can't see how i can ever make a profit each month! got any tips?

Sell some players maybe, get a parent club that usually helps

if i am losing money i look at the thing i am spending most money on and try to reduce it.

e.g. wages, sell/release players

in the lower leagues (i.e. non PL) i often find that signing on fees is the biggest hit on trying to keep stable finances. my advice is to try to reduce these as much as possible.

Are you filling your stadium because having a big stadium and not selling many seats will cost!

Could it be that you have an outstanding loan? Get your youngsters out on loan and have the loan team pay wages. Negotiate down some saleries (this wont save you much though).

I recently got Ferencvaros promoted from Hungarian division 2 east (which I was expected to do) I still had no tranfer budget the season after but I was only using £16,000 of a £39,500 budget on wages. I adjusted the budget accordingly and I gave myself upto £27,500 on wages and I then had £650,000 for tranfers....only shame no players really see's Hungary has the hot bed of european stardom.

Just look at Income and Expenditure and see what is the biggest expenditure and how wages match up to gate receipts etc, etc. Ignore your wage budget when looking at that - that is just what your board allows, it doesn't mean it is sensible or that you will not descend into debt if you allow yourself to use your full wage budget.

You might be able to re-allocate your squad status for each player to more accurately reflect how you play them. Maybe you're getting eaten alive with youth players getting exorbitant wages. A sure sign of this is to allow someone else to negotiate contracts with youth players.

By the way, how about a screen shot or two for your finance sheets so the rest of us don't have to keep guessing blindly as to what you are saying?

how can i get a screen shot? on a mac?

What league are you in? Being sucessful is the best way to make a profit so try and do well in cup competitions and qualify for european competition asap. One other thing you could do it try arranging home friendlies against teams in the top league of the nation your currently playing in and against the bigger european teams.

im in the premiership...

in the lower leagues (i.e. non PL) i often find that signing on fees is the biggest hit on trying to keep stable finances. my advice is to try to reduce these as much as possible.

This sounds like a logical reason for your problem.

Making a monthly profit is actually irrelevant.

You just need to consider your yearly balance.

Due to prize money and TV rights, most of your income will all be at the end of one season and the start of the next.

Many teams allow for a monthly loss in their budgets.Your transfer budget given to you by the board allows for performance expectations. So if you meet the targets set, you will still make a profit while within your transfer budget.

This is a feature I liked in FML. Where your could see your predicted balance over an entire season, based on predicted income outcome.

does anyone arrange lots of friendlies for their reserves with teams such as Barcelona B, and Castilla (Real Madrid Reserves)?

does anyone arrange lots of friendlies for their reserves with teams such as Barcelona B, and Castilla (Real Madrid Reserves)?

I have in the past and not just with my reserves. I was managing Dundee in the Scottish 1st Division once and managed to make £3 million from just playing friendlies. Doing this didn't clog up my fixture list either.

im always portsmouth, and i never make any profit, and always end up in debt after signing a few players !..its soo annoying..

i had the same problem and i reduced the wages even more than i had already. if you want to make profit you need to be quite a bit below your wage budget

I'm a Nottingham Forest fan and I happen to know we are operating at a huge loss. The team would not exist without NIgel Doughty (the chairman) This was the case in league 1. I'm not sure how its changed since our promotion to the championship and how it'll change on 09

At Werder Bremen my wage bill is ~500% of my gate receipts, such is the ridiculously low cost of tickets in Germany (in FM...dunno if it is so low in real life!). That's with me using ~80% of my wage budget too.

Currently playing as Dagenham & Redbridge and am doing financially very well, I think it's mainly about keeping within you wage structure, and making sure that you don't have any players with outrageous bonus's (goal bonus, appearance fees etc), if you do and they are quite high get shot of them or offer them a new contract, also if you have any future fees going out that has be remembered as well.

With my Dagenham team I am running a tight ship, I am making something like £60k a month, I have something like £1.2m in the bank even after improving my training facilities and absolutely no debts, if any contracts come up and players are asking ridiculous money I normally get rid and replace them, normally by scouring the transfer market, I'm currently sitting in 8th spot in League 2 and have a squad full of 6 and 7 stars.

It's literally all about micro-management I think, if a player thinks he's worth more than the club, sell him and get the money for him, don't over stretch your budget, and keep a tight rein on purchases and don't over do it.

Making a monthly profit is actually irrelevant.

You just need to consider your yearly balance.

Due to prize money and TV rights, most of your income will all be at the end of one season and the start of the next.

Many teams allow for a monthly loss in their budgets.Your transfer budget given to you by the board allows for performance expectations. So if you meet the targets set, you will still make a profit while within your transfer budget.

This is a feature I liked in FML. Where your could see your predicted balance over an entire season, based on predicted income outcome.

I think this is good advice, The cycle of your finance is often annual, I find the best way to increase the balance on a yearly basis is to spend less on transfers if possible

Selling players who are nearing their peak for (lots) of money and then buy cheaper (probably also in wages) younger players can help as well. Of course do sell all of your "older" players.

All my clubs have lost money every month, surely all clubs lose money on a monthly basis? I would expect only the top clubs actually make a profit for their shareholders, everyone else has to make do with money from the chairman/board and player sales mainly.

Maybe it could be contract bonus' such as appearance bonus' and goal bonus'

All my clubs have lost money every month, surely all clubs lose money on a monthly basis? I would expect only the top clubs actually make a profit for their shareholders, everyone else has to make do with money from the chairman/board and player sales mainly.

A good cup run can also provide a cash injection.

Also, any players you want to get rid of, try to get as much of a "next sale%" as you can with their transfer. It's nice then when you get a little message saying you have received £750,000 due to a sell-on clause from "player A"....

Maybe it could be contract bonus' such as appearance bonus' and goal bonus'

That's another good point Richie, bonus's can really drain your finances if you're not careful, especially further down the leagues

In reality there are only 2 or 3 clubs in league One and below that actually make a yearly profit let alone a regular monthly profit!!!