Ajax finances definitely need a look at.
All sponsordeals and individual tv deals in the editor are set to end 30/06/15. In game this boils down to 1 (I assume generated) main kit sponsor deal at 2,5 million for 5 years. While in reality they have a individual tv deal worth 8,8 mil Euro a year and yearly sponsor income of roughly 25 million a year. The nice thing about a club that's also a publicly listed company is the fact that all financial numbers are public and freely downloadable at their website in handy pdf form. The annual figures show pretty much everything you need to know for FM. These figures also show their liquid assets or "cash" at roughly 70 million euros (and this is not including the big transfer fees collected this summer) . The 20 million euro balance they have now puts them below clubs like Kobenhaven, Hannover, LOSC and Frankfurt, among others, all clubs with much lower reputation than Ajax.
You make a good point about a big balance making it too easy to funnel money towards wages and transfer budget. I am not here making an argument for blindly taking the numbers and putting them into the editor, after all FM as a financial simulator has it's limits and data can and should certainly be used to make sure the in game experience as realistic as possible. I do think ajax's proven record as one of Europe's most financially healthy clubs for man years now could be reflected better in game. I noticed for example Ajax is set as a LLC and not PLC in the editor under ownership. Adding the philosophies certainly helps. Besides the one you already added for 17.1 I suggest adding buys young players for the first team. One of the tendencies for non-playing staff is "is frugal with transfer budget", maybe editing the attributes of board members could be used. I've played around with them in the past, but I a afraid that unless I get my hands on one of your prized research guidelines that would be all speculation from my end (for real, any researchers willing to hand me one of those in exchange for a cash filled brown envelope, hit me up on dm ).
Joking aside this probably all boils down to a much more philosophical decision. How much free reign are you willing to give a player when choosing a club like Ajax that traditionally employs certain transfer and wage restrictions. In the end Football Manager is a simplified representation of how transfers, contracts and club philosophies work in real life. In-game a singular manager has full control over all. You are able to change club philosophies at your first day at the club. If you wanted to play only Nepalese players, you could. So should we limit club finances just because players could decide to spend ridiculous transfer fees and wages on players a club would never sign in real life?
To be honest, I am ambivalent on that last question and can see both sides of the argument. I do think Ajax finances could be better represented in game though. I am sorry if this post comes across as overly critical, it's not intended that way at all. I am very passionate about both football manager and Ajax and in it's current state the db makes a long term Ajax game without editing the db myself in advance impossible, mostly down to the missing TV Deals and Sponsor contracts which has a pretty hefty effect on short term finances. Editing myself always leaves me with a feeling of cheating and incompetence (due to my lack of understanding of certain game mechanics), maybe that's why I am so passionate about this subject .
Sorry for the long rant. I really appreciate all the hard work you guys put in over the year and as always the player data looks pretty much spot on, keep up the good work!
