I haven't been able to find any details previously so here is some things I have learned from my save to help you guys get a new stadium for those that start very low leagues. I can't really help the guys starting in high leagues I don't enjoy managing at the top so I rarely do it.
1. Don't bother upgrading your facilities. In any of my saves I have not been able to produce any young talent worth keeping or worth anything on transfer. If you do manage to produce a wonderkid well you either sell him or loan him out. Expanding seating is 50/50 you have to do the math, upgrade cost - no. of seats x ticket price. If you have a young squad and want to try and improve them hire a good assistant manager and coaches. I have had John Morling and Ian Arnold from my time in the BSS to now. I use the training schedules that are around for download as well.
2. Make bucketloads of cash. http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f79/llm-big-money-without-cheating-t24323.html. Most of the BSS/BSN/BSP teams have a stadium of around 5000 capacity (most are valued around $2million). A 15000 seat stadium costs around $20million. If premiership teams won't play you in preseason cups, try Championship, SPL squads they're still good enough to get you $150-$200K per cup. I've not had any reject me. All your friendlies should be away at low levels they pay you instead of vice versa.
Make your reserves and u18's earn their keep - schedule AWAY fixtures against higher division reserve squads and u18's once in L1 and L2. They have the potential to earn you around a million a year . Having around 10-15million should be enough to get a new stadium. Also having this amount of cash makes sure you're not completely stuffed in your first year in the premiership. You'll get around $50million for TV right alone so you're not in the red and can buy good quality players.
3. Improve your club rep. Going on FA cup runs is great way to earn $ but unless you win it or reach the finals I don't think it improves your clubs rep. I found in the seasons I won lesser trophies like the FA Trophy and JPT I went from being obscure to local and from local to regional if I remember correctly. I also found my sponsorhip income increased dramatically. As an added bonus you'll get better loan signings and should be able to sign players on a free easier.
4. Why is 3 important? Well you need to sell out your stadium for 5 years straight at least. Every time your club reputation goes up, you see massive jumps in season ticket holders. By my final year in the old stadium I had 3901 season ticket holders (averaging 4448 attendance) in a 4500 seat stadium.
5. Transfers-just because you have a transfer budget doen't mean you spend it. Your scouts should be looking for expiring in a year and expired contracts contniously unless you are absolutely desperate. There's usable talent there for free you just have to find it. Even then the old and unhappy should be your targets as they'll be cheap .I still can't bear to spend more than $500k on a transfer now I'm in the premiership. Also target plaers who can play a variety of positions. Also retrain your players into other postions. Depending on stats most midfielders can be trained to be AM's or DM's some strikers can be made into AM's, Fullbacks should be trained for right and left. Great way to save $ and makes them easier to sell
see here for bargains when starting out
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f73/lower-league-signings-thread-t29028.html
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f79/...nings-for-lower-league-shortlists-t36428.html
6. Even if your board says that the council won't allow stadium expansion don't demand an ultimatum. Sell out enough games and make enough $ and you'll eventually get it. Hang in there. I've had numerous RAGE inducing moments you name it - shocking passing, shocking finishing eg missing a completely open goal with the keeper nowhere in sight.
7. A note about players and keeping them together - I note that even now the majority of my squad is 2 1/2-3 star in the EPL but were doing ok and sitting mid table at the moment. Make sure the players you buy will fit in. IMO success has a lot to do with team chemistry. Chucking a whole heap of talent together and hoping it works is a disaster waiting to happen. I think that's what causes a lot of new signings to flop in this game. Have a plan. Most of the time a champion team will be succesful (and cheaper) than a team of champions. You'll know you're on the right track when the players list each other and yourself as "preferred personnel". I can't really explain it well but I don't have a particularly good squad but the team keeps winning (see attached pics). Most of the starting midfield and the backups have been together since L2 and the strikers have been together since L1
Also remember this is only a very rough guide all the low league teams are different and have different situations. I'm trying to replicate this succes with other teams so hoopefully I can fix it for accuracy
(Note: I was running my own 4-2-4 in the BSN/BSP until I found complete dominance. I've got a couple of low league save going this one is from Thurrock of the BSS, If anyone has a team preferrablfrom BSN/BSS or lower they'd like me to give a run let me know. I'll try to start a more interesting story as well as trying to update this for accuracy)
EDIT: I'll try to do a real time story to illustrate financing. If you want to see follow my Worksop story (superbladesman patch 10.2) here
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f81/winning-with-worksop-t36340.html
1. Don't bother upgrading your facilities. In any of my saves I have not been able to produce any young talent worth keeping or worth anything on transfer. If you do manage to produce a wonderkid well you either sell him or loan him out. Expanding seating is 50/50 you have to do the math, upgrade cost - no. of seats x ticket price. If you have a young squad and want to try and improve them hire a good assistant manager and coaches. I have had John Morling and Ian Arnold from my time in the BSS to now. I use the training schedules that are around for download as well.
2. Make bucketloads of cash. http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f79/llm-big-money-without-cheating-t24323.html. Most of the BSS/BSN/BSP teams have a stadium of around 5000 capacity (most are valued around $2million). A 15000 seat stadium costs around $20million. If premiership teams won't play you in preseason cups, try Championship, SPL squads they're still good enough to get you $150-$200K per cup. I've not had any reject me. All your friendlies should be away at low levels they pay you instead of vice versa.
Make your reserves and u18's earn their keep - schedule AWAY fixtures against higher division reserve squads and u18's once in L1 and L2. They have the potential to earn you around a million a year . Having around 10-15million should be enough to get a new stadium. Also having this amount of cash makes sure you're not completely stuffed in your first year in the premiership. You'll get around $50million for TV right alone so you're not in the red and can buy good quality players.
3. Improve your club rep. Going on FA cup runs is great way to earn $ but unless you win it or reach the finals I don't think it improves your clubs rep. I found in the seasons I won lesser trophies like the FA Trophy and JPT I went from being obscure to local and from local to regional if I remember correctly. I also found my sponsorhip income increased dramatically. As an added bonus you'll get better loan signings and should be able to sign players on a free easier.
4. Why is 3 important? Well you need to sell out your stadium for 5 years straight at least. Every time your club reputation goes up, you see massive jumps in season ticket holders. By my final year in the old stadium I had 3901 season ticket holders (averaging 4448 attendance) in a 4500 seat stadium.
5. Transfers-just because you have a transfer budget doen't mean you spend it. Your scouts should be looking for expiring in a year and expired contracts contniously unless you are absolutely desperate. There's usable talent there for free you just have to find it. Even then the old and unhappy should be your targets as they'll be cheap .I still can't bear to spend more than $500k on a transfer now I'm in the premiership. Also target plaers who can play a variety of positions. Also retrain your players into other postions. Depending on stats most midfielders can be trained to be AM's or DM's some strikers can be made into AM's, Fullbacks should be trained for right and left. Great way to save $ and makes them easier to sell
see here for bargains when starting out
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f73/lower-league-signings-thread-t29028.html
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f79/...nings-for-lower-league-shortlists-t36428.html
6. Even if your board says that the council won't allow stadium expansion don't demand an ultimatum. Sell out enough games and make enough $ and you'll eventually get it. Hang in there. I've had numerous RAGE inducing moments you name it - shocking passing, shocking finishing eg missing a completely open goal with the keeper nowhere in sight.
7. A note about players and keeping them together - I note that even now the majority of my squad is 2 1/2-3 star in the EPL but were doing ok and sitting mid table at the moment. Make sure the players you buy will fit in. IMO success has a lot to do with team chemistry. Chucking a whole heap of talent together and hoping it works is a disaster waiting to happen. I think that's what causes a lot of new signings to flop in this game. Have a plan. Most of the time a champion team will be succesful (and cheaper) than a team of champions. You'll know you're on the right track when the players list each other and yourself as "preferred personnel". I can't really explain it well but I don't have a particularly good squad but the team keeps winning (see attached pics). Most of the starting midfield and the backups have been together since L2 and the strikers have been together since L1
Also remember this is only a very rough guide all the low league teams are different and have different situations. I'm trying to replicate this succes with other teams so hoopefully I can fix it for accuracy
(Note: I was running my own 4-2-4 in the BSN/BSP until I found complete dominance. I've got a couple of low league save going this one is from Thurrock of the BSS, If anyone has a team preferrablfrom BSN/BSS or lower they'd like me to give a run let me know. I'll try to start a more interesting story as well as trying to update this for accuracy)
EDIT: I'll try to do a real time story to illustrate financing. If you want to see follow my Worksop story (superbladesman patch 10.2) here
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f81/winning-with-worksop-t36340.html
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