Player Contract Demands - Help!

Hi,

On my latest FM24 save with Blackpool getting them back to the Prem. We're just about to win League One at a canter, (W28 D8 L3) already guaranteed ourselves promotion with 7 games still to play. However, 5 of my better players in the squad have all suddenly just asked for improved salaries at the same time.

Sort of to be expected when we've just had such an outstanding season but they're all asking for between 10-25k p/w!? For context my highest paid player is currently a loanee on 8k p/w, highest perm contract is 5k p/w.

I suppose my question is how do I deal with these scenarios? I've told all these players I'd enter negotiations with them but then I simply can't afford or justify the wages they're asking for. I have now p*ssed off basically my whole squad by standing my ground.

I find this happening more and more within FM which seems completely unrealistic imo. It genuinely ruins my fun of the save when I'm constantly having to battle my own players. We've just had one of the best seasons in the clubs history? Why are you not happy? I like to run a tight ship on a modest budget where I can so I suppose some backlash to wages is expected, but how do I avoid ruining my entire squads morale or derailing our season.

Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated. Even if that includes exploiting a broken game mechanic to get around this. It's the only aspect of the game I hate and genuinely ruins most saves for me eventually.

That's not a realistic reflection of real-life, though, is it, sadly? High-performing players want to get paid what (they think) they're worth. If you're not willing to pay up (albeit not necessarily as much as they'd like), then you have to expect to suffer the consequences. Older FMs gave us the mistaken impression that you could satisfy players' financial demands much more easily than irl…

Well, you have a magical season, the guys play magically, they are sure to want significant raises.