My club's board members are out of their minds...has this happened to anyone else?

[danius]

I have just completed my second season with the same club, and won the Skrill North to get promoted. The club also made a good bit of cash over the last season (mostly from cup runs), and my balance sits at about £1.4 million. So, despite the fact that I'm obviously going to have to spend money on new players, higher salaries for re-signing the ones I have, and other expenses as I'm moving up a league, my chairman decides that isn't a good use of the windfall we've had. He decides that even though the average attendance from last season is only slightly higher than 20% (568 in a stadium that seats 2500), and the stadium and pitch are in good condition, now is a good time to build a new stadium. The stadium costs the club roughly £6 million, putting the club in debt and the current balance at -£4.68 million. Because of this, my wage budget goes from an already low £6500 to a whopping £7250, and I have no transfer budget whatsoever. I have to let a couple of my better players go because of this (I can't afford to re-sign them), and no player of any equal ability can be signed. I can't even seem to get any loans to sign. Two weeks after the start of the new stadium project, I have still signed no new players. About 20 have turned me down, and some of them wouldn't even have made my starting squad last season, in a lower league. Then comes some more good news: The club goes into administration, we are docked 10 points before even playing a match, and I can't sign any new players (transfer embargo). So, there goes 50 hours of my time spent on this save. Even if I revert back to a save before the decision to build a new stadium comes about (the closest one is four months before), there is no way to know that the same decisions won't be made. Has anyone else seen this before?

 

[Piemaster]

I dunno, it sounds semi-realistic to me, in a warped kind of way. Don't look on the time as wasted, you've won promotion, increased your rep a bit etc. You have the same choice you would have in real life. Either stay and help the team rise again or start sending out your CV. Save scumming... meh

 

[matranti]

It is a bit gash but not outside the realms of possibility when you look at some of the chairman we've seen before Kenwright, Shepherd, Mandaric, Tan, Oyston, that guy at Leeds. They're all liabilities and ambition clouds judgement. At least in administration you might end up with a takeover. I'd say crack on and even if you get relegated you'll end up having a great save to keep going back to. I reckon it could be annoyingly fun.

 

[dabigberto]

least it wasn't as bad as my board, I had a takeover 18 days into my career as Gran Valencia in Venezuela... didn't even get to play my first game before I was back looking for a job

 

[MillerJA9]

I really feel for you on this one but I'd love for you to keep us updated on how it's going. As a Blackburn fan I am used to dodgy owners.

 

[yaniv297]

At least in real life the manager could talk to the chairman and advise against it... explain the obvious logic... not sure that's possible in FM.
Yeah, that sounds like a bad scenario to be in. You'd probably be best off quitting this job and look for another job.

 

[kingtut313]

sounds like a great challenge, honestly. i would try to build that team back up and become a legend there

 

[danius]

Update on the situation:
Two days after entering administration, the club took out a loan for roughly £3.5m, and three days after entering administration, I was out of it. Why the board didn't attend to the issue before we were penalized 10 points, I guess I'll never know. I decided to stick with the club, and after selling a couple more players, I was able to get the wage budget raised to £8500/wk and sign a few decent new players, and loan in three more. The beginning of the season was a bit rough, but we've hit a good vein of form lately, and even with the issues, it looks like I may be able to push for playoff places. As of now, I'm in mid-February, and only 5 points and one place from the playoff positions. The receivers (staff brought to oversee the monetary workings of the club) are annoying me, as they won't allow my youth to go on loan, even though they are wanted at 100% of their wage. Since having their wages covered 100% by another club would only help the financial situation, refusing to allow them to leave makes no sense. Slowly, though, the club is working it's way towards the black, and I expect to be out of debt at the end of the season (apart from the bank loan). Whether I'm able to keep my job is in question still, as the chairman still expects me to win the title, and there is very little chance of that. My job status is insecure, but it's better than a couple of months ago, when I was constantly under pressure to get a result, or be fired.

 

[onetwodnb]

Sounds a bit better than my second season with Sassuolo, managed to finish 2nd and qualify for CL. I had about 7 loan players who were amazing so I decided to re-loan them before the loan ran out, then the transfer embargo was enforced for the whole transfer window and none of the loans were renewed. I had a 7 million budget despite the balance being about 35 million, which I couldnt use til January. After 8 games into the season relying on Missiroli as my main striker I am sacked for sitting in 14th after 4 losses 2 wins and 2 draws. What a waste of time I have just spent building up a team of potentially great players.

 

[danius]

I ended up finishing seventh, only 2 points from the playoff places, when the clubs above me just wouldn't lose at the tail end of the season. The club was still about £200,000 in the red on 16 May, so they should be ok at the start of next season, with their new manager. I was fired on 16 May, despite finishing second in the Manager of the Season voting. I'm trying to find another job, but have lost out on three opportunities in Skrill North/South already. :_(