Addickted To Winning (A Charlton story) IIIIIIIII

June 1st. 50k in the red. Bit down heartening. But we continue the cost cutting. Staff cuts will take place, sadly player wages will rise, need a cup run.

Will healthier finances benefit me in the long run? Well hopefully new Chairman won't need to take out huge loans which add to our debt. Want to try and make us a debt free club. Currently sitting at 550k, costing me 3k a month. Due to be paid off in twelve years time.

If a new Chairman comes in and takes out a loan then there isn't much I can do to reduce the debt. If I'm seeing no improvement within five year with these financial cuts then I will revert to trying full on for promotion. If I see slight improvement then I will continue with the cost cutting.

I really like reading your careers Skacel, because unlike most you put so much thought into what you want to do and where you want to go with it. There are others that say "I want to do this" but nobody puts it down on paper as much as you do.

MON THE MIRANDELA!

This is what I have missed about careers, getting it all down and giving myself a bit of vision. The vision of the last 30 years has always been in my head but typing it up and seeing it infront of you gives clarity. Updates will be a bit sporadic following this Monday so I want to get as much in place as possible before then.

Currently going through contracts, will update yous once I'm happy with my business. Shouldn't be too long.

Roundup of contract negotiations:

Moura -> Wages down by 15 quid to £75 a week, appearance fee down, promotion bonuses.
Ingles -> Wages up by £35 to £40, appearance fee down, promotion bonuses.
Moutinho -> Taken the decision to release him, was on £90 and averaged a low seven all season.
Olexienko -> Moutinho's readymade replacement at LB, wages up by £30 to £70, appearance fee down, promotion bonuses.
Fernandes -> Releasing him as he only made 3 sub appearances all season. £30 gone.
Cassama -> Gonna try and keep him on his non-contract which is £20 a week
Chula -> Gonna release him and replace him with the young AMR, ST that has came through
Gomes -> Top quality AML, wages up £35, appearance fee down, wages now at £75.

Overall I am happy with my business. Gonna try and bring in a backup DL on about £30 a week and overall that should save my £30 a week from last seasons wage bill. May or may not look to add to the squad a bit more, will see how we shape up in pre-season.

I probably could have been stricter in negotiations but I'm happy enough. Appearance fees are down and the wage hikes are minimal. Still learning as we go.

Great read so far like the way you have been trying to cut the costs !

Youth players are trying to kill me with their wage demands, seeking wages worth five times more than their current youth contracts. Fuck that. I'll not go beyond £40 for a player signing his first professional contract. You never know how the cunts are going to develop, especially as this level.

Struggling like mad for an Ast Man and scouts of note. Ast Man is a must purely for the player search, a second scout is a necessity and I'm not bringing one in for the sake of it.

A few years ago I brought in a coach with decent JPA/JPP, did it incase I couldn't find a solid Ast Man one day and I could just promote him. Tried to do it. Cunt wanted £400 a week. His coach wage is only £40.

One year contract. Awful quality. Want rid of him next year.

Needless to say my largest ever victory and a crowd of nearly 2,000 showed up for it. The cup run begins.

Drawn a second league team away from home in the cup, not ideal. A good cup run would do our finances the World of good. The team we've drawn are predicted 10th out of 22 teams so they aren't mugs.

MAYHEM. The Mirandela fax machine has never been so busy. One in, three out. Wage bill sitting at 1.1k a week.



Brought in purely cos he's cheap as sin and can cover me at DR, DL, DMC and MC.



Promoted to play backup down the wings and through the middle. Should get his fair share of sub appearances.

For the third year in a row we sell bang on 312 season tickets. What comes first, new season ticket holders being born or old ones dying?

Fell fucking 1-0 in ET, only raised fucking 14k. All hopes for profit this season are gone with that result. Time to focus on promotion for the season.

Hey, you're still around.

Made it my mission to slowly creep back into your life. Starts with the odd Facebook conversation, then I return to my former haunts and it all ends with an invite to your wedding.

Grand start but fucking Chaves. I abhor them, right wee bogey team for the past decade.

Back to back defeats leave me five off the pace with seven to go. Fuck me its tight. Its doable, certainly doable.

This is the closest I've ever been to promotion. We've slipped up many a time in recent week, we should really be a few points clear. But fuck it. Dare to dream. I have Oliveira Barrio next at their place. Huge game.

Tremendous. Hoping to have them both back for the last day. Hopefully we'll still be playing for something come then.

Our best ever chance for promotion and we threw it away. Too many silly results in the last few weeks. Agonising. Two 60 point seasons in a row is a great sign but fuck me, we need just that little something extra to push us over the edge.



Fuck knows what I'm doing squad wise. Want a wee break for a few hours before I start to look at things. This game is giving me headaches. Chaves have a wagebill about seven times that of our own and we came within three points of upsetting the applecart. Gah.

Fuck that's gutting. 3pts. I'm sure there must have been a game where you conceded a late equaliser, and suffered a loss to someone you should beat with ease. That was all that stopped promotion. So close, and now comes the usual merry go round with contracts and free's.

Good to see you back Skacel Surprised you haven't got promoted yet

Good to see you back, surely the big promotion is just around the corner. Never had any interest in Oliveira? Even at his age you would have thought someone would have nabbed him.

Dude, I'm still playing this career.

Looking at that last squad I posted here's what I remember;
- Paulo Dias is the second GK I've ever had
- Peixoto is a beast, holds the record for my highest ever season average, something like 7.95
- Marcal is a club legend cos he had one good season, overrated in my opinion
- Alex Oliveira is still the highest scorer in the history of the club

Look at those gay wee graphs I made in the first few posts, my graph skills are still revered to this day within some small rural communities.

Haven't bothered with FM14?

Bought it, played about 12 seasons in one save game, took me from the MLS, to Russia, to Greece and to Korea but I just wasn't enjoying it. I had my successes, MLS titles, Uefa Cup wins, K-League titles, but the tactics system I loathe. Hate the shouts, can't be arsed to sit and watch the engine and see what everything does to fully understand things. I'm an FM pensioner with set views and a To Madeira framed shirt, can't be had for new fangled features.

I will return to FM14 though, seeing some of the careers here like Fanny's and re-reading my old Mirandela days when we struggled financially has wet my lips.

First FMGod and now Skacel what is happening to Susie??? lol

Next it'll be Bian

It's high time he told us more about the German birds he fucked.