Outrageous and unrealistic contract demands

[Lillywhite Dean]

I'm managing Man City and having just won the Prem and Champions League, City are the top team in England and are conquerors of Europe. However, I've had a number of players from lower league clubs turn me down because I won't agree to their outrageous contract demands.

I understand it's realistic for most established players to try and negotiate lucrative contracts when discussing transfers to clubs like City due to all the money they have BUT, I've come across a lot of unrealistic rejections from players who play at lower league clubs. For example,

I've scouted a player called Peter Russell who is 22 and plays for Llangefni - a semi-professional Welsh team. Russell earns £130 per week and is valued at 1K. Now I wouldn't say Russell is good enough to jump straight into my first team, but I'm happy to spend 10K on him to use as backup, see if I can develop his stats further and if need be, make a profit by selling him on. My 10K bid is accepted and we enter contract negotiations. Russell wants 48K per week over a five year period. I'm not prepared to give him that much money and so offer 5K per week which is a significant pay increase to what he is currently earning. Russell rejects the contract offer stating that he's very happy at Llangefni. I then offer 7K and again my contract is rejected. I then up my contract offer to 10K which is now £9,870 more than what he's earning at the semi-professional side. Again, Russell rejects it.

This type of thing has happened to me on a number of occasions where players from small clubs reject the chance of joining a much better club on significant better terms. Is there any way this can be tweaked? Any player who plays for semi-professional side would jump at the chance at joining a club in the top flight. I'd say a club in the Blue Sq Prem is still a fantastic chance for them.

[Marc Vaughan]

Any chance of getting me a save to look at? - its a delicate line with this sort of thing tbh, a player joining Man Utd will expect a competitive wage - I think the 10k request is fair enough myself, but agree he probably should have settled rather than lose the chance to move.

[Lillywhite Dean]

Thanks Marc. I have emailed the save game file.

[enthon]

Well I can confirm that such things happen all the time.

An 18 year old young talent from 3rd league in Spain asked for a $120,000 contract, happens all the time, if you make an offer (Arsenal). Without any experience or proven quality this should not be the case.

Another example:

26 year old good striker out of contract. I try to hire him for Sampdoria (Italian Cup Winner, 4th of actual ladder 6 weeks into the season, EURO Cup group phase) rejected my good offer and decided to join instead Alicante (2nd Spanish League ) for less money! And the guy was mentioned as AMBIGIOUS??? By the way he rejected my offer with the reason I cannot meet his demands? Maybe I should look for relegation?

Generally I see the transfer and loan system, including the player content and distribution, as biggest weakness in the game and I would really be happy if you have a very good look into it for FY 2013!

Thank you in advance!

[Lillywhite Dean]

Actually Enthon raises a good point. This has happened to me on a number of occasions. I can think of two scenarios that often crop up in my games.

1) I look to sign a player either on a free transfer or from a club. When I enter contract negotiations, the player's demands are OTT and so I try to play hardball. It gets to the point where the player refuses to sign a contract (despite it being far better than what he's currently on) and I no longer have the option to negotiate further. A couple of weeks later, a news item flashes up on screen to tell me that this player has signed for another club on lesser terms to what I was offering. often that club in question is a far weaker club.

2) I try to sign a player and offer a fee that I think is fair. As soon as I make a bid, another club automatically makes a bid that is greater than mine. The targeted club accepts my rivals bid and rejects mine. I then place a second bid to match my rivals. This bid is accepted and I enter contract negotiations with the player. Knowing I have a rival club competing with me, I offer more money than what the player is demanding. However, the player chooses to sign for the rival club on a far lesser contract. Again, often the rival club in question is a far weaker club.

I did actually come on here to give you a second example but having seen Enthon's point, I wanted to add my comments in support. Anyway, this was going to be my original post.

I won't keep bombarding you with examples but I though I'd just share this one with you as well.

I discovered a player called Steven Fletcher in the Championship who plays for West Brom. He's 20, plays MC, valued at 3.6M, and earns 10k per week. I offer 5M to West Brom which is accepted. Fletcher wants 55K per week, 1.5M signing on fee and a contract for 5 years. I have no problem with the length of the contract but I think the wage demands and signing on fee is excessive for a player that I class as having potential. I offer 45K and reduce the signing on fee to 900K which Fletcher rejects saying he is very happy at West Brom. In the end I just give in to his wage demands and he signs citing the prospect of playing European football was too good to turn down.

If you had that situation in real life, and Manchester City tried to sign a young 20 year old midfielder from the Championship, I am of the opinion that they would be willing to compromise on their wage demands to join one of the biggest clubs in Europe. A jump from 10K to 45K is still quite a pay rise.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from the contract negotiations for what is a handheld version of FM. However, if it is possible to tweak this (and of course you agree with these comments), it would definitely improve the realism aspect of the transfer/contract negotiations.

[Marc Vaughan]

Thanks, to confirm - I've got the file and will take a look at it either later this evening or tomorrow.

[Lillywhite Dean]

Nice one. Thanks

[Lillywhite Dean]

Hi Marc, did my file reveal anything interesting?

I just had another example where a 28 year old Swedish striker playing for Mallorca has refused a lucrative contract offer from me because I didn't agree to his original demands. I'm still managing Man City, I'm rated as World Class and #1 in the Manager standings. Defending Prem League and Champions League champions - currently number one in the Prem league and have qualified from the Champions League group stages having won all of my group games and keeping a 100% clean sheet in the process. You could say I'm more special than Mourinho

At Mallorca, the Swedish striker is on 24k per week. When I enter contract negotiations, he wants 80k per week and a signing on fee of 1.4M. I refuse to agree and after numerous negotiations, I offer 70k and 1M. He still refuses citing how happy he is at Mallorca.

He either adores Mallorca or is one heck of stubbon player!

[Marc Vaughan]

Hi Marc, did my file reveal anything interesting?

Yes it did - although bizarrely not at all related to what we've been discussing in the forum (something techy to do with the forthcoming update which was very useful to know and would have been a pain if it'd been missed) .... on the subject of transfers/contracts ... now we've sorted this other thing, I'll be taking a look further into that side of things in the next day or so.

[Marc Vaughan]

Just to fill in further on the contract front - it was because your club had a 'sugar daddy' ... he thought he could push his luck because you could easily afford things, I've made players a bit less likely to if they're at very small clubs (and on smaller contracts) presently .... however some very cocky/uninterested players might push things a little, but they'll be by far the exception rather than the rule in the update.

PS - He now asks for 6.5-7k wages which I think is fair enough really, do bear in mind if he establishes himself at your club then he will ask for more in time.

[Lillywhite Dean]

That's great news Marc - cheers. The tweaks sound more than fair to me so look forward to see those implemented.

I'm also happy to hear that my file save also assisted in other areas of the game.

Btw, as you mentioned Sugar Daddy, I was an extremely happy manager during the January transfer window. At the beginning of the season, I was given a budget of around 60M which I spent around 50M. Half way through the season and I lost top spot to Arsenal with my team on a bit of a bad run. I asked the board for more funds and they give me an additional 40M. Very happy indeed!

[ascendedmike]

Just to fill in further on the contract front - it was because your club had a 'sugar daddy' ... he thought he could push his luck because you could easily afford things, I've made players a bit less likely to if they're at very small clubs (and on smaller contracts) presently .... however some very cocky/uninterested players might push things a little, but they'll be by far the exception rather than the rule in the update.

PS - He now asks for 6.5-7k wages which I think is fair enough really, do bear in mind if he establishes himself at your club then he will ask for more in time.

Do we have an idea as to when this update will be rolled out?
I'm absoloutely bloody loving this game Marc, can't get enough honestly.

[Marc Vaughan]

Do we have an idea as to when this update will be rolled out?

It'll be within the next month all being well, I realise thats an incredibly vague timeline - but I'm notoriously reluctant to give out accurate dates before something completes QA just in case any issues arise .... better to be vague and not disappoint people than to give a date and have it slip imho.

I'm absoloutely bloody loving this game Marc, can't get enough honestly.

Glad to hear it

[ascendedmike]

It'll be within the next month all being well, I realise thats an incredibly vague timeline - but I'm notoriously reluctant to give out accurate dates before something completes QA just in case any issues arise .... better to be vague and not disappoint people than to give a date and have it slip imho.

Yeah it is pretty vague! But that's fair enough mate, I respect that. Looking forward to it. It's looking pretty spiffing on my new Galaxy Note by the way. Spot on!