Competing at the top

I’ve been playing this game on and off for a long time and after a couple of years hiatus I’m thinking about doing something that I’ve never done before- looking to compete in the top leagues. Normally I just train up players for profit.

How do people compete at the top sustainably?
Do the gate receipts cover wages/ produce enough profit or do you need to flip players as well?
I have around half a billion credits, how much shall I spend on players/ what age range? Shall I save a large chunk and use it to develop youth as I’ve done in the past?

Sorry for the barrage of questions… please remove my credits if it’s not allowed!

A Tribe Called Quest wrote:

How do people compete at the top sustainably?
It is much harder after the introduction of player age decline to remain at the very top consistently.
I haven't done a full study recently, but I think the absolute top clubs have trained up a great team of youth players who will succeed and then wain. Presumably they'll be sold, the club will rinse and repeat, others will take over the top spot with the same result.
IMO gone are the days where you can sustainably buy your way to the top overnight.
The absolute best players at the peak of their ability tend not to be listed for sale, and even if they were you'd pay massively for them with only impending substantial value drops to look forward to - probably before you've got to the absolute top of the game anyway.
However, getting to, and competing in, a top Division, is absolutely sustainable with the required effort.

Do the gate receipts cover wages/ produce enough profit or do you need to flip players as well?
Yes. Your gate receipts should cover all regular expenditure as you climb the league - so long as your Stadium capacity is kept up to the necessary level.
The thing is that everyone else is doing the same.
Flipping players is the way to get ahead of your peers. Most managers here don't do this to maximum potential, those that do get to afford more quicker. ie better players and facility upgrades sooner.

I have around half a billion credits, how much shall I spend on players/ what age range? Shall I save a large chunk and use it to develop youth as I’ve done in the past?
This is where you have to make the decisions.
How high do you want to go?
How hard are you prepared to work to get there?

GL whichever way you choose to go smiley

& feel free to message me directly if there's anything specific you'd like to ask ...

A Tribe Called Quest wrote:
I’ve been playing this game on and off for a long time and after a couple of years hiatus I’m thinking about doing something that I’ve never done before- looking to compete in the top leagues. Normally I just train up players for profit.

How do people compete at the top sustainably?
Do the gate receipts cover wages/ produce enough profit or do you need to flip players as well?
I have around half a billion credits, how much shall I spend on players/ what age range? Shall I save a large chunk and use it to develop youth as I’ve done in the past?

Sorry for the barrage of questions… please remove my credits if it’s not allowed!

Lowood Mohicans wrote:
A Tribe Called Quest wrote:
I’ve been playing this game on and off for a long time and after a couple of years hiatus I’m thinking about doing something that I’ve never done before- looking to compete in the top leagues. Normally I just train up players for profit.

How do people compete at the top sustainably?
Do the gate receipts cover wages/ produce enough profit or do you need to flip players as well?
I have around half a billion credits, how much shall I spend on players/ what age range? Shall I save a large chunk and use it to develop youth as I’ve done in the past?

Sorry for the barrage of questions… please remove my credits if it’s not allowed!

Re credits, I don't flip players and in my most successful spell I spent 250m and collected 10 senior trophies including a Vman and Super Cup. I spent it on players with a 90+ rating. I had a 64k stadium. I couldn't sustain it because my revenues couldn't keep pace with player replacement required. More recently, I've spent about 100m and collected 3 senior trophies. Better teams might have been more successful, but it's competitive at the top. I'd budget 25-30m expenditure per trophy.

Legends, thank you both so much.

A Tribe Called Quest wrote:
Legends, thank you both so much.

SuDoku is a legend, not me. And, he's correct in indicating that you need to generate credits from activities other than ticket sales and prize money to sustain a challenge in the top divisions. The costs of buying decent players, replacing them and paying their wages are very high. I started with 400m and by the time I finished and sold up the team I was left with 150m. But it was great fun and, if you've got the cash, I'd recommend having a go.

Lowood Mohicans wrote:
A Tribe Called Quest wrote:
Legends, thank you both so much.
Sudoku is a legend, not me.

How patient are you?
You can trade for a youngish first 11 that you can train up and steadily climb the leagues with.
You could buy a team that can compete now but lose 4 weeks of their potential while you climb the leagues.
I'm trading my way up. Buying players (mostly) at a discount that are good enough for mid table in the league above and then transfer listing them to make way for better players.
I haven't decided what to do when I get to league 2. I'll either buy a team I can train up for that last step or just try to buy a competitive 11. It may depend on the players that are on auction when I'm ready to make that call.
When I hit that top flight, I will be expecting to make a few million in transfer profit every week to sustain the challenge,

Other things to consider are your physio department. I'd suggest specialists as a minimum because you can boost player energy. Also squad size - depends on your preferred formations but I'd consider boosting your 1st XI, with subs - defender, midfielder and forward. They should be decent in terms of ratings. Ideally, DC, MC and FC because they offer more flexibility in terms of field positions.

I use both if I'm competing I'm a top division, although they are a bit of a luxury otherwise.

I had exactly the same thought when returning from my most recent break, and have pretty much been in the top division ever since bar 1 season for the last 30+ weeks and it is really good fun.

For me, i buy and sell players 29-30 y/o for up to 10m a piece, some i sell on the T/L for a profit and others even if i have to auction them only really tend to make a loss of no more than 1m per player. This is where the stadium is key though, as i often make around 8m on ticket sales and spend 2-3m on wages.

So i am actually making 5m a season which massively offsets the odd player where i have to sell for a loss. At the same time, throw in 500k for a mid table finish, 200k for reaching the QF of the cup and at least a 1m sponsorship its close to 7m a season and you negate the retirement risk.

Its doesn't take much time to maintain but is definitely rewarding in terms of the excitement, even for that relatively low cost and low risk for an average top division side (mid 80 rated players mostly) I have finished 2nd and been in 7 cup finals, winning 1, which is great fun!

If you do something similar, i think it will give you a good idea of what its like and whether you enjoy it and then you can decide whether you want to aim even higher, or return to what you did before...again, at low financial risk.

Forums

Miscellaneous