Addickted To Winning (A Charlton story) IIIIIIIII

Cos managing shit teams is fucking cool again.

Here's the lowdown.

Don't ask me how I broke the Hall of Fame. I'm banking on this game recognising my achievements in previous FMs and making me de facto Hall of Fame King.

Good to see you back on here mate.

LOOK AT HOW SHITE WE ARE.

MADE THIS CUNT MESELF.

ATTENDANCES.

A few spikes due to drawing some big teams at home in the cup, we have a 5,000 stadium and we currently have 312 season ticket holders. Averaged over 1,000 for the past 13 seasons. 6th highest average attendance in the league this season.

Now for a look at my tactics. Over the years I've experimented and messed on a wee bit, not as much as at Cheonan last year or at Ajax the year before but I have played on. Some tactical changes were forced upon me due to a poor squad of players available to me, some changes were simply made because I fancied something new and for almost the whole 2020s I relied heavily upon the youth academy and based my tactics around what was coming through.

2012 / 13 - 2017 / 18



Can't say I recall much of this 4-2-2-2. Looks nice though. That AML was some African lad who got a load of assists one season. That LB was a good player too.

2018 / 19 - 2027 / 28



Now we're talking. See that AMC? Carlos Santos? I built this formation for him. Guys a legend. Came through the youth academy and played for me till he was 40. Fucking legend.

2028 / 29 - 2028 / 29



Seven of these lads were homegrown. Fonseca was meant to be Santos' longterm replacement but he never lived up to the hype, got 14 goals from AMR once but that's it.

2029 / 30 - 2029 / 30



Santos' legs had started to go so I moved him back to MC for an Indian summer. Tried to give Fonseca everychance to take the ball and run with it but he faltered.

2030 / 31 - 2037 / 38



Longterm I'd always wanted to play 433 but couldn't get the wingers for it. I'd been retraining AMCs and STs to fill those voids for years.

2038 / 39 - 2040 / 41



This was a grand wee period, we had three class strikers and I decided to go all guns in for promotion. Managed 74 goals one season in the league but it still wasn't enough.

2041 / 42 - 2041 / 42



Horrible season, hated playing the five at the back but I had to. Didn't have any creative players in the squad so relied on my strikers and counter attacking. Was totally new to me and I didn't enjoy it. I love my inconsistent mavericks too much.

2042 / 43 -



This is where we are now. 433 as it should be. Oliveira is a beast and that's all that matters.

Overall



If I had that team I'd walk this fucking league. The players come and go but they always seem to come and then go at the wrong times. Seven players in that starting eleven came through the youth academy.

So after 31 seasons I am stuck in the same division I have always been stuck in. The Portuguese third division. Why is this? Finances my chums, finances. We're a semi-pro club. We've been in administration three times in the last 20 years. By rule of thumb things seem to go like this;

Six years of losing money -> Get to about 500k in the red -> New chairman comes in -> Repeat

Only recently have I started to break this cycle, in a good month I can make a tiny profit. This is due to my wage bill being as low as its ever been 1.4k a week. Over the last 30 years my budget has oscillated between 1.4k and 1.9k. At the very start it was 3.7k but that was due to us having some shite players on high wages.



This is what we are up against. I'm slowly sorting out the finances but with the wage budget so low it means renewals are hard, as is signing quality. In the past I could ask players to lower their wage demands due to our poor financial position, but since we're slightly more stable nowadays (only 32k in the red atm) I can't request this. Basically means if I want to keep this squad together its going to cost me in wages.

Transfers wise its been a funny ride. I've tried many a strategy, from keeping a solid core together to relying on the youth academy to signing veterans to signing players on potential. I'm currently relying on bringing in players on one and a half / two star CA and four star PA with the odd quality signing in the mix. Only have four players at the club on over £100 a week (£100, £110, £150, £180).

Between 2017/18 to 2025/26 I only signed five players on permanent deals. Did this in an effort to keep a core squad of players together. Gave youngsters every chance but it didn't pay off. In the past twenty years I haven't signed on more than ten youth players from the academy because the quality just hasn't been there. We had a mini quality spell and now we're in a long barren run. Signed on a AMC and a DMC this season though so hopefully they can buck the trend. May even look to incorporate them into my squad from next season. Been working with squads of 17/18 players for the past few seasons because I've been lucky with injuries. Its a risk but it does keep the wages right down.

I'd like it mentioned that I am your motivator!

Will be following this one, of course.

Final broad career post. I have encountered problems whilst being at the bottom. The odd crash dump and being unable to exit games doesn't bother me. But manager and club rep problems do. Still.

On the manager front I've never been offered a job, ever. Never even been linked. I haven't won anything but fuck me I've consistently fought well above my weight. I've had a few cup runs, managed to finish well above my predicted finish of 16th a good few times and consistently avoided relegation even with the lowest wage bill around. Yet no clubs in and around it fancy me. Its ridiculous. Some club would have taken a punt on me in real life, but not in FM. I've won nowt so I'm shit. End of.

As a club we've always had a half a star rep, we've always had the lowest rep in the league. That too is stupid. I've had some cracking players, cracking finishes, I've never been relegated, yet we're still the same shit club from the start. I'm not expecting us to be a two star team but I do expect some sort of improvement.

The player search is still a fucked function, as is being able to request a parent club due to a lack of finances. Staff are non-existant at times and staff wage demands are predictably boring. The little things at this level add to the difficulty but not from a playing point of view. It adds a kind of 'Football Manager' difficulty level to it, whereby you know the limitations of the game so you know what is and what isn't worth your time. The SI boys need to test at these levels more than they currently do. But they won't. Been spouting it for years and we're still nowhere.

Onto this season......



Well off the pace but this was my joint highest ever points total. Used to think we needed a 25 goal a season striker for promotion, but I have that in Oliveira and I still can't get promotion. So now I've decided that if we want promotion we need 30 wins.



My beautiful squad. Remember the ratings are based on the season prediction of 'Avoiding Relegation'. Not even worth me aiming for more because the budget only goes up by £100 if I say I want the title. And trust me when I say I struggle to find players worth £100 a week.



My star man. Signed him a few January's ago, this is his record;

10 in 11
27 in 30
12 in 27
12 in 23
19 in 23
29 in 30



Beast of a CB who averaged a 7.95 that season I played a back five.



Signed this season as a backup but became a breakout star. A fluke or a legend in the making? Time will tell.

Odds and ends;

- Training is set to very high with a focus on fitness. Definitely does the trick. Haven't had too many injuries with it and I don't usually have to make many substitutions in games.
- My rep went up to National two seasons ago for some reason. Not gonna complain too much.
- No idea what my plan is for this summer, gonna think it through, type it up and share. Don't really know where to improve the squad.
- The 433 will definitely remain heading into next season, I like building my squad around it.
- I have Porto as a feeder club but so far I've had nowt off them, its a relatively fresh partnership so hopefully they come good soon.
- Next season will be our season, A CAN FEEL IT.

You've been spending too much time with Liverpool fans.....

Transfers wise don't think I will be signing anything beyond depth, if that. I'm happy enough with my starting eleven, could maybe use a little bit more at MC and AMR but I think I might risk it to keep the costs down. Only my backup GK and a player who I have had on non-contract terms for two years are out of contract this summer.

The GK can fuck off cos he's shite and complains. The MC has decided to stay at the cub for the past two seasons even though he has no contract. He gets twenty quid a week and I keep him around because he's depth and he doesn't complain if he gets no games. The risk is he could leave at any time but with the young DMC and AMC I can afford to lose him as they are my new depth.

So I will only sign if something exceptional comes up or if we get a really bad injury in pre-season.

Just what we needed. Can't say I'm overly perturbed, never placed too much of an importance on training in FM.

If I had the money I wouldn't be pumping it into facilities she would be going straight into improving our Junior Coaching. Better Junior Coaching = Better youth batches. Oh how I dream of an excellent academy. One day, one day.

I have to admit, even though detrimental to your season, I quite like this feature. It does make sense.

Finances of the last two seasons;

Income



Only two figures I have any real interest in are the top figures (Gate receipts) and the overall profit figure at the bottom. Gate receipts rose, average attendance was up by about 70 people. Attendances fluctuated from low 1200s to high 1900s. If we can get more people through the gates we can start operating at a profit. Simple premise but its taken 30 years to get us to this point. Its currently £6 for a match ticket and £61 for a season ticket.

Expenditure




Player wages were cut this season compared to last and I need to keep my wages in and around this kind of level. 1.4k a week is what I need to strive for, gonna be tough and some big calls will have to be made, but hopefully we can start making a profit this way.

Loan payments went down by 60k a year thanks to some creative accounting, but 'Other' went up by 30k a year. I told the fucking chairman not to get a club dog but the cunt went and got us a St Bernard and he called the cunt Martha. Costs a bomb to look after.

Looking at these finances excites me, I could feasibly start making a profit. I might cut the squad down a bit further and fully incorporate those two youngsters I signed. If attendances continue to rise I can start making a small profit. The only thing that worries me is squad turnover, every three years I could be looking at practically a whole new squad if my current players demand too much.

I'm gonna have to start paying closer attention to contracts too, rein it in a little on the bonuses and add ons. May even start to actively look to sell some players, currently only six of my players are actually valued at anything. Aye squad quality may decline but in the long, long term this could be very beneficial.

Just put my U in AS level Math to use. I'm looking to ship out my AMR who is on £180 quid a week (averaged 7.42 last season) and my £110 MC who only started one game. I've agreed a contract with a new AMR who has a two star CA and four star PA, £45 quid a week, £30 an appearance. Current AMR has £55 an appearance. The MC has £60 an appearance, I'm looking to replace him with this new MC I got in the youth batch.

All in all I'll save about 13k/14k a season if I go through with it all. And I think I will. Sure its a risk but attempting to make a profit really has piqued my interest. And 13k is a start.

I've learned over my 30 years that the longer you keep a staff team together the higher the staff wage bill. At the end of this season my scout retires and I will be letting my Ast Man go. Both are high quality, both are on £150 a week. Lets say I can get in a scout on £30 and an Ast Man on £40, I reckon I could pull a £30 Ast Man but lets be safe. I'll be saving 4k a year.

Transfers wise I'm just making a few cuts, shipping out backups and bringing in some cheaper backups. Have seven contracts up for renewal so that will be interesting. Currently trying to come up with a wage structure to try and adhere to but its gonna be tough. So far I have this;

One player on £150 a week(max £200)
Three players on £100 a week
Five players on £75
Two players on £50
Eleven players on £30

That will give me a squad of around 22 and a wagebill of around 1,300. Obviously giving myself some room to move with that. Will things work out to this plan? Probably not. But I have no precedent to go off. This is just educated guessing.

I like how you actually think about your finances, too many stories on here where they just throw stupid sums of money at players and then wonder why their always in the red.

For the most part I've accepted being in the red and I've had to because of the lack of income. But now that we have a potential source of income in the form of gate receipts I have to try a new approach. Squad quality will suffer but if we get lucky we could nab promotion one year. I don't know what the next few seasons hold, but over the next three to five I'm hoping to eventually be constantly be in the black. That right there is my five year plan, be in the black all year round.

A risk? Yes. Has the wage bill ever been so low? No. Will we get promotion? I wouldn't bet on it.

Started the season with a 2-1 away win. Media have us finishing 8th which is my highest ever predicted finish. If we don't get struck down by injuries we could finish in and around 8th. If lady luck decides to pop into Mirandela we could win promotion.

Wee bit disappointed, hopefully attendances and season ticket sales don't drop too drastically if we underperform this season. Like I say though, the quality is in the squad, the depth ain't but the quality is.

Tough third round draw, already came through two rounds and was hoping for a run to make some money as we always get good crowds for the cup games. Will take a lot to come through this.

League wise I'm sitting on 11 points after five games. ON COURSE FOR A 66 POINT SEASON.

Went down 3-1 but it raised 42k. Takes me to minus 5k, projected balance for the season is now minus 14k. Lets see how this accurate will be.

Halfway stage. Going strong, should be a lot closer to first but we've fallen to some stupid late goals. I'd be more than happy to finish in and around our current position come the end of the season.

Got this years youth batch, only an AMR, ST is of any note so I've signed him onto a contract.

League wise there's four to play and we're ten off the pace, sitting in fourth place. The teams above us are the three teams with the highest wage budgets.

60 point season and we still couldn't fucking pull it off. Highest points total I've ever had and would have been good enough for promotion in two of the last five seasons. WE NEED A 70 POINT SEASON.



Four first teamers (Moura, Inglais, Moutinho and Gomes) are out of contract this summer. Gonna be really difficult to keep hold on Gomes on a decent wage. Wages are currently 1.1k and I still haven't made a profit, if I'm to keep these players then the wage bill will obviously creep towards 1.5k but I'm not going to break the bank.