Going semi pro.

So I play Bossekop UL in the norwegian 2nd division group 4.

In my third season, finances are pretty decent. making about £50k a season + cup money making it about 100k-150k up a season. At this moment my balance is around 280k.

My problem is that I can only offer amateur and youth contracts, and I am the only one in my division who is an amateur club. There are also several clubs in lower unplayable divisions who are semi-pro.

Getting a promotion is tough since I'm the only not not able to protect my players with contracts. As soon as someone plays above average for me they are gone to some other club, with no compensation payed to me. As an example, after last season I lost 16 players in and around my first team squad, and there was nothing I could do about it.

So my questions is, does anyone know what I got to do, finance wise or otherwise to be able to offer my players semi-pro contracts, and as such be able to protect myself from losing 80-90% of my squad after every season.

Really not sure there is much you can do, sounds tough though.

Sounds like a fabulous challenge!

Only thing I can think is to offer youth contracts to very young players then at least they are protected for a couple of years, and if anyone does want them you get compensated. If you had 6-8 of these, then a flow of older players on amateur contracts that you'd just have to accept you might lose. Obviously a team of 17 year olds won't get you far but like I say if you had a few of them at least you'd have a core of players you could reasonably expect to be around for a while.

Do let us know how you're getting on.

There's a similar team in the lower Irish division. If you get them promoted they turn semi-pro. I've seen the AI turn it into a semi-pro team without promotion. Club was estimated to be worth about 2 million before it happened though.

It's a challenge allright. Been mid table my 2 first seasons. A bit worse this one but avoiding the drop.

Thanks for the info wear. 2M eh? that's like 20 seasons. hopefully I can have a super season before that then.

I'm in a similar situation with Afturelding in Iceland, and am only making about 60k/year with no real promotion prospects. I'm just glad to see it is possible, all the best with Bossekop!