shd34_216_42

If you keep having stability issues, you might have to start doing saves/autosaves after matches to not lose as much progress.

What are your autosave settings?

TV money and a likely sellout, what's not to like? (Stalybridge Celtic, that's what.)

I think stadium expansions are hardcoded to start at the beginning of the next offseason, so I knew the board couldn't stop the return home.

While we're at it, is Stalybridge Celtic still owned by a tycoon?

Good job board members!

Congratulations on finally playing in your stadium for a whole season!

He's probably leaving if West Ham bids regardless of what the media says, so be prepared.

You have it wrong, the player wants to go to West Ham likely for continental play which Everton can't offer, thus the preference to go to West Ham. (Also, West Ham probably would pay better wages, but that's a given.) The FA Cup final is immensely important to win for the Europa League automatic qualification, otherwise said player is probably gone.

I wouldn't ask for upgrades yet, you might actually be able to afford going professional.

Tragic loss in the FA Cup, but I guess if you had to pick between that and the league you would pick the league (and beating Stalybridge Celtic, the unofficial rival).

That's actually fairly quick for a stadium expansion. Season tickets look like a really good deal, seems like the game doesn't compensate for the added home league games from the promotion though.

Welcome to the normally playable leagues! Home playoff games are huge, I assume you get all the gate receipts, which means money naturally. The standard strategy to player recruiting at these low levels is trials, trials, and more trials. Typically most teams can only afford free agents that are interested because the money situation is not great (to the point that FA Cup games are absolutely vital), so the trial is more for attribute/personality scouting. @erik45 is applying a harder version because most of those free agents aren't eligible choices due to the restrictions added, and the eligible player options have really high wage demands even for a relatively rich club like FC Isle of Man, so he's effectively youth-only.

Congratulations on the cup overachievement! I wouldn't celebrate over the finances yet, the real test comes when you don't have the lucrative FA Cup games.

Be competitive in the cups basically means that they expect you to not be blown out in the first round you play in. (Also, naturally you aren't expected to do anything involving winning.) Mid-table is not actually top half, basically it's below that but above being in the relegation battle. You might not be playoff material yet, but definitely should be in the discussion at the very least. I should warn you that if you do get promoted that you might end up ground-sharing for a bit due to not meeting requirements (I believe National League North has a minimum capacity requirement of 3k) and your attendances will really suffer for however long it takes to expand the stadium to meet requirements (or possibly go beyond), so your finances will not be good for that time period.