shd34_216_42

I think an away draw against Bolton would have technically been better, but at least you got money (especially some TV money, which is always nice). Also you didn't lose against Stalybridge Celtic, which is important against the unofficial rivals. Your real goal is probably top five to guarantee at least one home playoff game.

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.

Bury probably has really high reputation given their league to start with, in the FM22 database they start in the 10th level with a reputation of 1600 (so roughly the reputation level of a 7th level team). Still quite the accomplishment though to get to League Two. I think the personalities matter less at your level, you just want future contributors. Also, fickle is technically a positive personality for development purposes.

Seems like a bug if you're in the Premier League with a 5k seater stadium because the minimum requirements are much higher. (Also, shouldn't the base stadium have an expansion capacity of 8k?) The FM22 version of the save is hilariously overpowered (starting off with 1500+ attendances at home, and the team is a tier lower to start with and starts with rather low reputation), so it looks like the FM24 version is way more of a challenge.

Well, you are really good at making all the money... Overachieving has a positive effect on attendances (especially when you are in contention for titles/promotion playoffs) as you may have noticed. You should also get a nice reputation boost thanks to your league finish. An update on Stalybridge Celtic would be nice, they are the unofficial rival after all.

400-1 is not bad for odds. (Although as I mentioned earlier, real-life bookies would value reputation and popularity far more highly than the game does.)

Congratulations on staying up (and not having to deal with Stalybridge Celtic anymore). How's the contact situation now for the team?

Board wanted a bigger stadium, so off to Bournemouth where the team will have to figure out how to make it an island. I look forward to the Caribbean tour once the team is established enough.

You made profit because of the FA Cup game, otherwise you would have lost money for the month. Still, 1200 is good attendance for a home game.

1.1k/game is something like 45k/yr at your level (depending on cup performances), so he's probably gone unless you can afford something like 800/wk, which is unlikely if you want to keep salary costs at 200-300k/yr. (Your part time offer is about 450/wk as an equivalent, so that explains the lack of interest.) Ticket prices/season ticket prices are relevant here, it's also fair to assume that your attendances will be higher so you might be able to afford more than 200k/yr but obviously being sustainable beats spending recklessly.

Can you offer part-time contracts yet? (And you didn't need a million euros of player salary to get promoted!)