Hidden fees with amateur clubs!

[The Maestro]

I recognized this strange but interesting occurence in FM 2017, and was able to recreate it in FM 2018. Had two nice saves going with a lowly amateur club in Norway. Really cool country to start a lower league career btw. Team had no players at the start of the game other than the useless greyed out ones who disappear when you bring in real players.

In save A, I only brought in 16-year-old Norwegian regens and some other young Norwegian freebies. In save B, I went for the best players I could get, so my squad consisted of many European under-19 internationals who were free at the start of the game, as well as Africans, South Americans and even a couple of Asians.

Two totally different approaches of course, but ultimately both were amateur squads with only amateur players who were free at the start of the game. No fees or wages paid.

It's well known that managing finances is really tough in lower leagues. Not much income, if any at all, other than prize money. In save A, I was in the red after a few months, but nothing big. Eventually I advanced to the 2nd round in the domestic cup and almost broke even thanks to prize money. In save B, the international squad, I discovered a huge deficit of 200k a few months into the season!

Started another save with the club and closely monitored finances. Anytime I brought in a young Norwegian freebie, expenses in the category "Other" grew a little bit, but not really much. But when I brought in young players from abroad or older better Norwegians, the "Other" expenses grew significantly. I noticed jumps from 10k to 30k per new player in the "Other" category!

So while in theory all these players were amateurs on a free, they really weren't. It would be interesting to know if these expenses are intentionally coded into the game. Would be quite realistic, since no amateur club in the 5th tier could attract a whole bunch of under-19 internationals and many other players across the globe.

Obviously it's less than ideal that these "hidden fees" occur among the "Other" category, so you can't see the real expenses of your "free" amateur player. Anyway, it's an interesting topic for conversation if you like to manage amateur clubs in lower leagues. I also tested some semi-pro saves and never noticed these hidden fees. I could replicate hidden fees with all amateur clubs I tried.

 

[Snorks]

That is very interesting.
I wonder if, because they were higher profile players, the club was covering relocation expenses for them? There would still be insurance etc involved, I guess an International player premiums would be higher than a 16yr old Newgen.

Would be very interested to see what they were for, and how or if they impact on bigger clubs?

 

[The Maestro]

That is very interesting.
I wonder if, because they were higher profile players, the club was covering relocation expenses for them? There would still be insurance etc involved, I guess an International player premiums would be higher than a 16yr old Newgen.

Would be very interested to see what they were for, and how or if they impact on bigger clubs?

In theory they were higher profile players, but they had mostly the same reputation as some of the young domestic freebies. Only thing they had going for them is that they were either European under-19 internationals or full internationals in smaller African and Asian countries.

Since I don't load a very big database when playing lower leagues, I could sign under-19 internationals from England, Scotland, Ireland and Italy. They were by far the worst players in their international squads, but great signings for my amateur club.

I will do some further testing on these hidden fees. Want to compare hidden fees in regards to player reputation, age, country and whether the player is under-19 or full international.

Another thing I noticed: it seems my running expenses are much higher with all these international players. Until now I've only been monitoring the onetime hidden fee when a player joins my club. Will need to look at running expenses as well.

Btw my most expensive player, who cost me about 30k immediately upon signing, has been a 22-year-old Somalian full international. That's ultimately more than 570 (!) per week if you spread it out. Crazy for an amateur club!

I've had some semi-pro saves going too, with all players earning between 30 and 300 per week. Always had healthy finances in lower leagues with semi-pro clubs despite bringing in lots of players from different countries. "Other" expenses were fairly low compared to "Other" at amateur clubs.

 

[The Maestro]

Did some testing yesterday. Player reputation doesn't matter for hidden fees. I got some very old domestic players with high reputation who are former full internationals. No hidden fees charged for them.

Hidden fees thus far have only been charged for current under-19, under-21 and full internationals. I noticed that running expenses are charged especially when said players are travelling to their national teams. It's quite strange since in real life the national team pays for the travel costs. Maybe the fee is charged per international cap. Anyway, there seems to be a correlation between trips to the national team and hidden fees.

Also noticed that European youth internationals are the cheapest upon arrival, costing between 3k and 10k (which is still a lot for amateur clubs). Players from more exotic countries like Africa or Asia cost between 10k and 30k! The hidden fee always gets charged right after the work permit process. So my best guess is that this is a work permit fee, at least for amateur clubs.

Exotic players who need a work permit but aren't internationals at any level, like amateur feebies from Brazil, initially cost 10k to 30k, but no hidden fees afterwards since they don't travel to international games.

That's my best guess after a couple of hours testing. Will do further testing to confirm my theory.