'Adopting' a smaller club

[CBall]

In the past few versions of FM, I've usually done a LLM save. After making it into the Prem and having some spare cash, just to make things more interesting I 'adopt' a team in the BSN/BSS.

Basically, I loan one of their youth players for a fee of 500k/1M (depending on my own finances) each season and then keep track of how they do. My record so far is funding one team into the Championship. Interestingly though, due to the reputation, some clubs just never spend the money.

Anyone else ever bothered with something similar?

[MShing]

I have done something similar in my game. I bought a player for £10 million from Rushall and from Barwell who were both in the conference. Both clubs are still in the conference not looking like they will get promoted any time soon. Both teams however have upgraded their training facilities and built new stadia. After they did this both teams got into financial trouble and had to be took over to clear the debts.

I may try again and see if i can help a team to get higher up the leagues. I usually do this with an affiliate team but my board wont approve any clubs in the conference that I have tried yet.

[casdelo]

Kind of breaks down the realism level a bit doesn't it? Interesting concept though. Would certainly be a good way to improve league standards if applied in other countries as well.

[soccer.joel]

Never thought of doing anything like it

[MShing]

Kind of breaks down the realism level a bit doesn't it? Interesting concept though. Would certainly be a good way to improve league standards if applied in other countries as well.

True its not too realistic, but i find it as an additional interest in a save when they get a bit stale. I usually try this when my team is going through a good period and dominating every competition so while my main team is almost plodding along on auto-pilot I can concentrate on 'adopting' a smaller team.

[tajj 7]

Has anyone ever taken over at one of these small clubs with their main manager? I wonder what sort of effect it would have with the SAF equivalent taking over some League 2 or Conference club, would they be able to attract a lot higher level of player, maybe some aging stars from your all conquering team?

[BiggusD]

I do this too. I Buy a lowest league player for 5m over 48 months and see them rocket up the leagues. With me too, they built a new stadium and used money on facilities. But they also had increased player budgets and the increased reputation helped attract better players. The first time I did this, I used FMRTE to edit the club and their chairman to be suitably ambitious and resourceful, and I edited their manager to be quite good but with very low reputation so no-one would snap him up.

Later I found that this work was not really necessary, since moar money equaled more success eventually. Having a few hundred thousand extra income a month was more than enough to make the club compete for promotion.

It is indeed a little hobby that makes the game a bit more interesting once I have won everything and consistently do so. I am now only playing a two-player online game (Chelsea vs Arsenal) and I think that we both have enough spare money now to choose each other a BSN/S club and buy a nobody for 5m over 48 months - and watch which club uses that money in the best way Not that our game could be any more exciting...

[CBall]

Kind of breaks down the realism level a bit doesn't it? Interesting concept though. Would certainly be a good way to improve league standards if applied in other countries as well.

It's a nice side-project once my main team is established and doing well. Plus I only stick to smaller amounts, giving them 10M instantly would be pretty game-breaking. Whereas smaller amounts each season makes it interesting to see how it's invested and who they sign. Plus the youth player can take advantage of my better facilities

[sjm]

I don't go to anywhere near those extremes, but I do play a friendly against our main rivals each pre-season in the hope that the gate receipts give their budget a much needed boost. We've been an established PL side for years; they were relegated to the BSS for a while, although they've since reached League 2 (where they started the game). Especially when at the bottom of the pyramid, the gate receipts from a relatively full stadium in a big name friendly can go a long way - I know, because I started in the BSN

[D0bi]

Something I commonly do if I manage Athletic Bilbao, as there are numerous Basque teams in the French and Spanish lower leagues, and improving facilities of other clubs is one of the best ways to do this.

[Richey2008]

In FM12 managed Tritium in Italy and got them to Serie A on no budget and left with them in 16th place. About 5 years later I happened to look for them and they'd slid down to C1. I felt bad as they were my first team in that save, and loaned a player for $15m from them. 2 years later they are in mid table in Serie B and I feel great about helping them.

It is, after all, just a game.