Hints for Football Fanatic
Introduction
We've received a lot of mail asking for some hints. Some of you are going through some
tough financial times and getting the axe pretty quickly (art imitating life?). Here are some
suggestions to help get your name in the Footy Hall of Fame.
Hints
Build good media facilities. No one likes journalists, but they can help your club. Bite the
bullet, or anything else handy, and sink 4 million bucks to get quality services.
Minimize salaries. Consider carrying a skeleton reserve team to save money. Keep an eye
on the main squad. Some star players may be too expensive to keep, and you might have to sell
some talent.
Buy young players. Not only do they expect a smaller salary, but when you decide to sell
him one or two seasons later you generally make a good profit.
Keep some veterans. You'll find that a team full of youngsters lacks any cohesion. You
should try having a veteran at each position.
Have your scout search for players outside of Europe. Make it your 1st, 2nd and 3rd
priority. One of the "hidden" players will help your team.
Make sure you win a round or two in the EFL Cup. This will bring valueable additional
income for your team so you may want to keep some top players rested for the cup matches.
Experiment with the ticket prices. Try and figure out what prices bring in the most money.
Don't go crazy on the transfer-market. Try not buy and sell more than 4 or 5 players per
season. Players need time to get used to a new team and selling long-time players will always
weaken the team.
Look to the future. Buy a replacement for a player you think will retire or won't be renewing
his contract the next season. Make sure the new player gets some games under the belt by
substituting an older player or starting in his place. If you buy a young player but won't use him
for the upcoming season, let him improve his skills with the reserve team.
If you are playing a team which is much better than your own, play aggressively.
Try to stay with one or two formations.
If you are in the top divisions (Serie A or B), decide at the start what you're after. Either
concentrate on the league games or one of the cup tournaments. This allows to schedule what
players to rest.
If you take out a loan, choose a 2 or 3 year loan-repayment plan.
Select what funding aspects are more important to you. Main Squad expenses are for
additional costs, so you can keep those quite low.
Stick with the same youth-training program for a long period. In the lower divisions you
may want to concentrate on one position. Keep the selections similar to the style of play used in
the main squad.
Don't move players back and forth between the reserve and main squads. Their performance
will be affected plus they may become quite disgruntled.
Play friendlies in the off-season.
Don't collect too many international players.
Take care of your staff situation during the off-season.
If you can't sell off a top player under contract during the off-season, keep him and try to sell
him during the regular season. The other teams will only give you part of what the player is
worth in the off-season and you may lose a significant amount of money.
When signing an expensive player, try reducing the number of years in the contract. More
often than not, his agent will accept a lower offer.