Politics in Football: How can I not "sell-out"?

[LiamSpursFan]

I have recently started a game as FC St. Pauli and in my first season I was promoted without buying high earning players and keeping a good squad nucleus with a small wage disparity, as well as playing far-left teams such as FC United of Manchester and Livorno in pre-season to "teach" my players the philosophy of St. Pauli as a whole.

Now I'm in the Bundesliga it's much harder to keep these core beliefs. In order to stay up I need better players who inevitably will want higher wages. Ticket prices have soared and I can't help but feel that I'm starting to sell out in order to gain success.

Any ideas on how I can keep St. Pauli being the "rebel's choice" without falling down a league and into obscurity?

I'm curently locked in a relegation dogfight and I'm losing more and more faith in this game..

 

[Jake]

To many of its fans, St Pauli have sold out in real life anyway. They sell roughly 4 million euros worth of merchandise a year, which goes totally against the grain of the kult football revolution started in the 80's. Of course, this increased commercialisation which began in 2003 was necessary to save the club from financial turmoil (it was nearly wound up in the early 'noughties') and a plummet through the leagues. The club still retains a great atmosphere and philosophy on and off the field, and in the short to medium term is unlikely to ever go down the route it took in 01/02 (acquiring, at great expense, players who flopped rather than rely on the squad that had won promotion to the top league) when/if it returns to the bundesliga. The recent (part) commercialisation was reluctantly agreed by the fans who have a major say at board level and for now there is a status quo. Many would rather see the team relegated than become a corporate machine like for example man utd.

In FM terms, its almost impossible to progress without 'selling out.' I would congratulate anyone who manages to seal a bundesliga trophy with St Pauli without spending any cash.

FM doesn't recognise kult clubs like St Pauli, so basing your management style around this policy is pointless. By all means try to be successful without spending silly amounts of cash, bringing in free transfers and acquiring talented youth is a better policy than waiting for those youth players to turn into proven quality and throwing millions around to sign them. Keep wages as low as possible by negotiating hard at the contract table, but ultimately, you will have to improve the playing squad, which will involve some sort of financial outlay.

 

[LiamSpursFan]

Yeah I think I'm going to have to cave in on a few transfers. I'm going to try and get around having to buy a full scale squad by upgrading my youth facilities as uch as possible and giving good prospects more matchtime than normal. It seems to have worked with a few prospects, so maybe that's the way?

To be honest with you I think that the real St Pauli are still a kult club, survived by their fans. The Jolly Rouge phenomenan and the whole atmosphere around the club hasn't changed that much. St. Pauli's constitution is still very progressive and left-leaning (I'm trying to convince myself they're still leftist lol).

I may have to go further down to clubs like Babelsberg and Altona to get real leftist football then.. Or maybe even FC United.

I just think that FM should have some political options to it, to please the fans and the board alike. Charity events etc. would really make it feel like a team and not just a game. But maybe that's just me..

 

[Jake]

In my opinion the club have struck the right balance between commercialising and remaining true to kult traditions. It is still possible to enjoy a beer with some of the players in the jolly roger (as i have done) after a game. Though the supposed wild days of the late 80's and 90's are probably gone, they are professional footballers after all. The matchday atmosphere is fantastic and the spirit/values held among the fans are very strong.

The same fans, are represented by the fanladen and other groups have a strong input in the running of the club. Whilst they are reluctant to allow the commercialisation that has occurred, they do understand the difficulties of running a club in the modern world.

As i said, in my opinion the right balance has been struck. An increase in charitable work, community projects and such like has appeased the worries of all but the most hardcore st pauli fans and hopefully the club can grab a foothold in the top flight using some home grown talent next time they go up.

Bilbao have some hardcoded restrictions/policies within the game, so maybe a kult football club is possible to have within the FM world, but i have no idea how it would be done.

 

[LiamSpursFan]

On a completely off-topic note, was a trip to St Pauli expensive? I have my 21st coming up...

 

[Jake]

Not overly expensive. Budget airlines fly regularly to hamburg, there are plenty of cheap places to stay in the St Pauli quarter itself, and even a glamour game (although highly likely to be sold out) is pretty cheap ticket wise.

The club has an english speaking website, as does the independent fanladen, and both are very happy to help you sort tickets/accomodation. Wearing a celtic shirt (fansize affinity, celtic and st pauli fans have been partying together since the 90's) or afc wimbledon, fc united of manchester etc shirt (breakaway clubs receive a great deal of support and love from st pauli fans) will probably get you a free beer or two thanks to the affinity st pauli fans feel with said clubs.

I would say as a 21st experience, a weekend spent immersed in everything the area of St Pauli itself, as well as St Pauli FC as a football club has to offer; matchday atmosphere and party afterwards, far outweighs going to a british city and paying through the nose for a night out in a chain nightclub.

 

[LiamSpursFan]

Thanks mate

 

[crispy6]

Unfortunately there is no way to stop teams from "selling-out" just to stay in football. Even if you take out all the super-spending teams, you are still going up against clubs that have established fan-bases and revenue sources that far exceed the vast majority of clubs. With that in mind, and the fact that these clubs can offer rich contracts to back-up/hot prospects means you will be at a disadvantage all the time. The only way to counter-act this is to literally move rock and earth to find talent that is good enough for what you need while being cost-friendly. Unfortunately this is nearly impossible for lower-league clubs to do because they don't have the "presitege" to attract higher quality players for lower wages.