Quadruple Dreams and Impact of Recent Financial Changes
Posted on 21st January 2016
At the start of last week I had hopes of achieving a quadruple in Gold Championship 7 (Game World ID 3065) and it got me wondering how many managers in a Gold Championship have actually achieved this?
To achieve a quadruple is a unique achievement. It’s something that I wanted to try and achieve. I had already won the Spanish Shield earlier in the season. With 3 league games left of the season I were going toe-to-toe with Valencia for the title and I also faced them in the semi final of the SMFA Cup. I also faced Levante in the semi final of the Spanish Cup.
I always try and keep a small first team squad and it currently stands at 20 players with an average rating of 93. I usually have a dozen or so younger players out on loan but none are good enough to get into my starting XI. However, I have a handful of players in my youth squad that are 85-86 rated that I can call on to compliment my first team. Naturally when you have a small squad as soon as injuries or suspensions hit it can cause a few problems but to date it’s never been a major concern.
So I had hopes of achieving a quadruple but alas it weren’t to happen as I ended up playing 7 games in 10 days. The busy schedule took it’s toll on my small squad and something had to give and after reaching the Spanish Cup final I decided to sacrifice that competition:
- Monday 11th January SMFA Cup Semi Final Leg 1 Castilla 1-1 Valencia
- Wednesday 13th January Castilla 3-0 Valladolid
- Friday 15th January Spanish Cup Semi Final Castilla 3-2 Levante
- Saturday 16th January Granada 0-2 Castilla
- Sunday 17th January SMFA Cup Semi Final Leg 2 Valencia 0-3 Castilla
- Tuesday 19th January Spanish Cup Final Castilla 0-2 Zaragoza
- Wednesday 20th January Castilla 4-0 Zaragoza
Having a key first team player out with a torn ankle ligament since 23rd December, 2015, didn’t help and another squad player wasn’t due to return from injury until 15th January after a 7 week lay off. Throw into the equation one of my CBs picking up an injury on 16th January and this meant I were literally screwed!
I can’t really complain though as I made the decision to have a small squad and it was a good challenge juggling my starting XI from game to game. I also had to delve into the loan market after playing three consecutive games ahead of the Spanish Cup final. Morecambe (who I incidentally face in the SMFA Cup Final on 25th January) were kind enough to loan me 3 players and they went straight into my starting XI for the final along with numerous youth players. Something had to give and I sacrificed that competition so I could field a strong XI to try and clinch the league title the next day. Thankfully I gained revenge over Zaragoza the next day and won the league ahead of Valencia on goal difference!
Why do I have such a small squad? It’s to keep a rein on my finances as well as ensuring that I don’t hog players that I don’t need. My wage bill and ground maintenance is currently 98.8M and 4.63M respectively per season. So I know that next season my outgoings will be approximately 103M for the season. I’ve done some quick calculations and i’ll be making 1.97M per home league game and approximately 37.43M over the course of the season.Throw in the 511K that i’ll make away from home and that’s an additional 9.7M in income. So I can expect approximately 47M income over the season.
My initial thought is i’m screwed as i’ll be making a deficit of 56M. However, i’m not taking into account any cup runs that I may go on both domestically and in the SMFA as i’ve only factored in income from league games. My outgoings are as high as they are because the average rating of the 20 players in my first team is 93 and my youth players are developing as expected and likewise this is reflected in their increase in ratings.
Without wanting to blow my own trumpet but with the players that I have at my disposal I should be reaching the latter rounds of both domestic cups and also the SMFA Cup (which incidentally I have done this season). So this is were I close the 56M in deficit because any additional revenue that I generate from playing a domestic or SMFA cup game is a bonus.
I’m also sat here with a big grin on my face whilst I type knowing that i’ve just received 26.5M in prize money for winning the Spanish league. This is because we’ve just made changes to prize money based on our communities feedback. I know that i’ll be guaranteed at least 10M on 25th January for playing in the final of the SMFA Cup and if I win the trophy for the fourth time i’ll pocket 20M. Throw into the mix my share of gate receipts, merchandising and TV revenue and this is going to be a very lucrative game.
If the changes to prize money were in place at the start of the season I could’ve made in the region of 20-30M in my run to the SMFA Cup final. The prize money has also increased for the domestic cups and you also generate additional income from these games. However, I now know which competition other than the league that i’ll be concentrating on next season as the SMFA Cup is now a very lucrative tournament.
Actually i’ll be making additional revenue due to the revised attendances and stadium building. Prior to the changes I had a stadium of 17K or so and only averaged around 13K fans each home game. My stadium increased to 24K when this was in Beta in Gold Championship 7 (Game World ID 3065) and then again to 28K when this went live. Last week as a one off and to bring club’s up-to-date and in-line with the changes, some clubs received another increase and you can read about there here.
So my stadium capacity now stands at 31,284. My first home game after this increase saw a record 31,261 fans attend. Quite good timing really as they saw me clinch my first league title in 4 seasons! I might have to recalculate my projected income from home games next season as due to how attendances and stadium building works there is a very good chance that it’ll be increased once again when we move into season 22 in the next week or two.
So on reflection it’s not all doom and gloom and as bad as I first thought as I should be making a nice profit next season (that’s not even taking into account how I operate in the transfer market as I usually turn a profit in transfers each season). I’m now looking forward to the SMFA Cup final on 25th January and also a good battle next season once again with the managers in the Spanish league as I try and defend my league title.
About the author – Steven Gore
Steven is one of the co-founders of Soccer Manager and has been playing SM Worlds since August 2005. He can be found in Gold Championship 7 (Game World ID 3065) managing Castilla if you’d like to join him.
