___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
/ ________/\ / _____ /\ / _____ /\ /___ ___/\
/ /\_______\/ / /\___/ / / / /\___/ / / \__/ /\__\/
/ /_/_____ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
/ ________/\ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / ____
/ /\_______\/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /___/\
/ / / / /_/__/ / / / /_/__/ / / / / / \___\/
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
/__/ / /__________/ / /__________/ / /___/ /
\__\/ \__________\/ \__________\/ \___\/
___________ ___________ ____ ____
/ ____ /\ / ___ /\ / /\ / /\
/ /\__/ / / / /__/ / / / / / / / /
/ /_/_/ / / / / / / / / / / / / /
/ ______ / / / /__/ / / / / / / / /
/ /\____/ / / / ___ / / / / / / / /
/ / / / / / / /\_/ / / / /_/_____ / /_/_____
/ /_/___/ / / / / // / / / /\ / /\
/__________/ / /___/ //___/ / /___________/ / /___________/ /
\__________\/ \___\/ \___\/ \___________\/ \___________\/
________ ________ __ ___ ________ _______ _______ _______
( ) ( __ ) ( \ | ) ( __ ) ( ____) ( ___) ( _ )
| |\/| | | |__| | | \| | | |__| | | | __ | |___ | |_| |
| | | | | __ | | | | __ | | | (_ ) | ___) | _ /
| | | | | | | | | |\ | | | | | | (__) | | |___ | | \ \
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| \_| |_| |_| L______) (_______) (___) \_)
_____ _________________ ________________
/__ /\ / /\ / /\
\_/_/ / / _________ / / /__________ / /
\_\/ / \_______/ / / \_________/ / /
/ __ \ / / / / / /
/ /\_\ \ / / / ____/ /____
/ / / \\ \_/ / / /___ ____/\
/ / / \\ / / \__/ /\___\/
/ / / \\ / / / / /
/ /_/________\ / / / / /
/ / / / / /
/________________/ / /_____/ /
\________________\/ \_____\/
------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--------------------
******************All Shall Bow Before My 1337 ASCII Skillz********************
------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--------------------
---------------------
Football Manager 2007
Lower League Management Guide
By
Harry Shave aka SonofFenix
hshave [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk
-------------------------------------
_______________________________________________________________________________
+--------+
|Contents|
+--------+
s1. Introduction
s1.1 What is a Lower League.
s1.2 What Does This FAQ Cover?
s2. General Notes
s2.1 Transfer Budgets
s2.2 Currency
s2.3 Database
s2.4 Difficulty
s2.5 Loan Players
s2.6 Randomly generated Players at the Start
s2.7 Key / Promising Players
s2.8 Greyed Out Players
s2.9 Reputation
s2.10 Squad Size
s3. Lower League Clubs by Nations
s3.1 English Conference North
s3.1.1 Rules
s3.1.2 Clubs
s3.2 English Conference South
s3.2.1 Rules
s3.2.2 Clubs
s3.3 Scottish Third Division
s3.3.1 Rules
s3.3.2 Clubs
s3.4 Italian Serie C2A
s3.4.1 Rules
s3.4.2 Clubs
3.5 Italian Serie C2B
s3.5.1 Rules
s3.5.2 Clubs
s3.6 Italian Serie C2C
s3.6.1 Rules
s3.6.2 Clubs
s3.7 Brazilian Third Division Groups 1-16
s3.7.1 Rules
s3.7.2 Clubs
s3.8 Spanish Second Division B1
s3.8.1 Rules
s3.8.2 Clubs
s3.9 Spanish Second Division B2
s3.9.1 Rules
s3.9.2 Clubs
s3.10 Spanish Second Division B3
s3.10.1 Rules
s3.11.2 Clubs
s3.11 Spanish Second Division B4
s3.11.1 Rules
s3.11.2 Clubs
s3.12 Belgian Third Division A
s3.12.1 Rules
s3.11.2 Clubs
s3.13 Belgian Third Division B
s3.13.1 Rules
s3.13.2 Clubs
s3.14 Danish Second Division East
s3.14.1 Rules
s3.14.2 Clubs
s3.15 Danish Second Division West
s3.15.1 Rules
s3.15.2 Clubs
s3.16 French National League
s3.16.1 Rules
s3.16.2 Clubs
s3.17 Norwegian Second Division 1
s3.17.1 Rules
s3.17.2 Clubs
s3.18 Norwegian Second Division 2
s3.18.1 Rules
s3.18.2 Clubs
s3.19 Norwegian Second Division 3
s3.19.1 Rules
s3.19.2 Clubs
s3.20 Norwegian Second Division 4
s3.20.1 Rules
s3.20.2 Clubs
s3.21 Portuguese Second Division A
s3.21.1 Rules
s3.21.2 Clubs
s3.22 Portuguese Second Division B
s3.22.1 Rules
s3.22.2 Clubs
s3.23 Portuguese Second Division C
s3.23.1 Rules
s3.23.2 Clubs
s3.24 Portuguese Second Division D
s3.23.1 Rules
s3.23.2 Clubs
s3.25 Swedish Second Division North
s3.25.1 Rules
s3.25.2 Clubs
s3.26 Swedish Second Division West Gotaland
s3.26.1 Rules
s3.26.2 Clubs
s3.27 Swedish Second Division Middle Gotaland
s3.27.1 Rules
s3.27.2 Clubs
s3.28 Swedish Second Division South Gotaland
s3.28.1 Rules
s3.28.2 Clubs
s3.29 Swedish Second Division North Svealand
s3.29.1 Rules
s3.29.2 Clubs
s3.30 Swedish Second Division East Svealand
s3.30.1 Rules
s3.30.2 Clubs
s3.31 German Regional Division 1
s3.31.1 Rules
s3.31.2 Clubs
s3.32 German Regional Division 2
s3.32.1 Rules
s3.32.2 Clubs
s3.33 German Regional Division 3
s3.33.1 Rules
s3.33.2 Clubs
s3.34 German Regional Division 4
s3.34.1 Rules
s3.34.2 Clubs
s4. Useful Players From Non-Manageable Leagues by Nation
s4.1 England
s4.1.1 Decent Players
s4.1.2 Promising Players
s4.2 Scotland
s4.2.1 Decent Players
s4.2.2 Promising Players
s4.3 Italy
s4.3.1 Decent Players
s4.3.2 Promising Players
s4.4 Brazil
s4.4.1 Decent Players
s4.4.2 Promising Players
s4.5 Spain
s4.5.1 Decent Players
s4.5.2 Promising Players
s4.6 Belgium
s4.6.1 Decent Players
s4.6.2 Promising Players
s4.7 Denmark
s4.7.1 Decent Players
s4.7.2 Promising Players
s4.8 France
s4.8.1 Decent Players
s4.8.2 Promising Players
s4.9 Norway
s4.9.1 Decent Players
s4.9.2 Promising Players
s4.10 Portugal
s4.10.1 Decent Players
s4.10.2 Promising Players
s4.11 Sweden
s4.11.1 Decent Players
s4.11.2 Promising Players
s4.12 Germany
s4.12.1 Decent Players
s4.12.2 Promising Players
s4.13 Miscellaneous Players
s4.13.1 Contributors
s4.13.2 Decent Players
s4.13.3 Promising Players
s5. Copywrite Stuff and Email Policy
s6. Useful links
s7. Thanks
s8. Version History
s8.1 Overview
s8.2 Version 1.00 Notes
s8.3 Version 1.05 Notes
s8.4 Version 1.06 Notes
NB: You can jump to any section you like by hitting ctrl+f and typing in the
section number. Ensure the cursor is at the top of the screen, and enter the
section number as it appears in the contents: e.g. s4.2.2. and click find twice
and it will take you to the section.
_______________________________________________________________________________
+----------------+
|s1. Introduction|
+----------------+
This is a guide for those people who have had enough of Champions League glory
with Chelsea or Arsenal or whoever and fancy slumming it with down at the foot
of the football pyramid. I don't know about you but whilst it is a lot of fun
managing one of the world's top teams and winning continental or international
glory, for all true football fans there is always a special place in our hearts
for the minnows. Everybody who truly loves football feels a rush of excitement
when a non-league side scores against superior league opposition (unless the
league opposition is your team!) in the FA Cup. There's something different
about watching lesser players succeed, maybe it's a little patronising but I
like to think that it's because it's a lot easier for us to imagine ourselves in
their position battling against the bigger teams in a cup competition than it
is to imagine ourselves as an international striker scoring a hat-trick in the
World Cup Final. Because, let's face it, that's probably not going to happen
for any of us.
Everyone knows about the top players in the world. As far as I am concerned
there's no real glory in signing Ronaldinho, you just have to have the money
to do it. Even the more obscure promising players such as Ustari are now well
documented so even the most inexperienced player can build a decent team in the
top flight that is capable of challenging for all major honours within a few
seasons. Personally, the fact that all these players are so well known takes
away some of the challenge for me and hence the production of this FAQ.
Would you know where to look for decent players to help you out of the mire if
you were the manager of East Fife rather than Real Madrid? Would you know who
to pick out of a squad of complete no hopers when you're competing in the
Nationwide Conference South rather than the Champions League? I'm sure that
there are some of you out there who would, and for those people this FAQ is
more of a reference guide for you, but if you don't (and there's nothing wrong
with that!) then I hope this will give you a little prod and encourage you to
do something a little bit different.
It might take a little longer to reach true glory, but in my opinion there is
much more satisfaction to be gained from taking a minnow and turning them into
a world renowned giant than just taking Abramovich's shilling, buying a load of
the world's best players with your unlimited budget and then, surprise,
surprise winning everything in sight (unless of course you are a tactical
muppet!). Personally, my most satisfying moments have been when I have
achieved greatness with lower league teams, whether it be taking Scarborough to
the Premier League championship and the European Cup (admittedly before they
went into receivership), getting East Stirling where they truly belong, i.e.
the Scottish Premier League and the UEFA cup (I still can't beat Rangers or
Celtic), or my finest ever moment a 4-2 victory over Barcelona in the quarter
final of the European Cup in the Nou Camp as none other than Bishop Aukland
(admittedly in CM2 but still more enjoyable than winning with one of the
more famous teams).
Hopefully you will feel the way I do about Lower League Management, but if not
hopefully this will inspire you to try something new, especially as this is
a massive part of the game or at least have a good nose about at some clubs
you may never have heard of.
This is the fourth FAQ that I have written for this esteemed website,
following a guide to Championship Manager 01/02 on Xbox, a guide to various
Easter Eggs found in Championship Manager 00/01 on PC and a guide to secrets
and hidden places for Transworld Snowboarding on Xbox. It's definitely the
most in depth FAQ I have ever written. You'll notice from the first version
that there are a large number of sections still to be completed. Hopefully I
will be able to complete them all (though if anyone wishes to help me out, as
long as they write in the same format that I am using they are more than
welcome). Either way, it's certainly a very interesting FAQ to write and I am
definitely getting a better feel for how the game works.
If you are interested in any of my other CM related work or any of the stuff
I FAQed or reviewed you can find it here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/47655.html?type=1
or
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/47655.html?type=4
+----------------------------+
|s1.1 What is a Lower League?|
+----------------------------+
OK, now I have got all my wistful musing on the beautiful nature of the
struggle of lower league sides, it's probably worth saying a little bit about
what will actually be in this guide!
Firstly, let me clarify my definition of a Lower League Team. A Lower League
Team will always be in the bottom level of manageable leagues in Football
Manager. This does not mean though that in countries where you can only manage
one league that I would count these teams as Lower League, even though they are
almost certainly going to be from countries where the overall standard of
football is low even at the highest level. So I will not be discussing teams
from the Indian football league, even though the playing standard there may be
lower than some of Lower League Teams from other countries that do make it into
the FAQ. To be honest I would quite like to but it would a) lead to a lot more
work and b) the main point of Lower League Management is to take teams to
levels that, with the best will in the world, they are unlikely to reach in
real life.
However, a club does not necessarily have to be non-league for it to make it
into the FAQ. Obviously the Lower League Teams in England will be but the
Lower League Teams in Scotland will be Division 3 as there is no Non-League
feeding in Scotland. For other countries whether they are discussed will
mainly be a judgement call based on two factors:
1) How many leagues can you manage? If you can manage more than three leagues
in a given country then I will count the fourth league or whatever is lowest,
as a Lower League.
2) If there are three leagues that are manageable in a given country then
the lowest of the three will be classified as a Lower League. As such, the
Brazilian third division is counted as a Lower League. (That won't take too
long to write up then!)
+------------------------------+
|s1.2 What does this FAQ cover?|
+------------------------------+
This FAQ will provide details of all the clubs that fulfil the criteria listed
above. In places where the lower league is divided into various regional
divisions, this will be represented in the FAQ for easier cross referencing
related teams.
I intend to follow the same format that Inferno uses in his FM FAQ (which is
here if you are not reading this on Gamefaqs:
http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/worldwide_soccer_manager_2007.txt
Mainly because I think that it is good way to set out this information as it is
easy to read and secondly because, whilst I think at the moment his FAQ is at a
stage where it would be confusing to have details on lower leagues for
countries where the top division has not yet been covered (as well as my own
view that this is an area of the game worthy of a stand alone FAQ) I would
like to think that as his FAQ expands to cover more countries and more of their
higher leagues, so our work could be combined to form an overall FAQ for the
game that could form a template for FAQs for future versions.
As such, within each division, the information about each club will be
presented thus:
---------
Team Name
---------
Reputation:
Stadium + Capacity:
Media Expectations:
Board / Fan Expectations:
Squad Size:
Training Facilities:
Youth Facilities:
Estimated Value:
Finances:
Transfer Budget:
Wage Budget:
Current Wage Total:
Key Players:
Top 3 Earners:
Top 3 Most Valuable:
Good young/reserve players:
Difficulty (/10):
Notes:
You will see that I have not included the continental competition field that is
in Inferno's FAQ for obvious reasons. Although I originally was not going to
put in the board and fan expectations as it is not something that has ever
concerned me, but it appears that some people on the GameFAQs Football Manager
forum think that it is a very important part of selecting a team, so I am
happy to bow to pressure and I will include them with all the clubs as it
really doesn't take as much time as I thought it would do. However, you may
find that I put in information for a division, but won't get round to doing
the board / fan expectations, but don't worry, I find it is quicker to do them
seperately so they will be coming! Furthermore, I will not necessarily put a
figure in the Difficulty section. To be perfectly honest, with the exception of
a very small selection of clubs most of the clubs will be pretty difficult and
the difference in skill between most of them is negligible. I'll only put a
figure in when a team in a given league is noticeably better or worse than
their peers.
A brief note on board and fan expectations. Where the expectation is followed
by 'x2' that means it is the same for both fans and board. I know this is
obvious but you have to spell things out to some people! ;-)
Stadium and capacity will only deal with current capacity and the stadium that
the team play in at the start of the game. If the team is scheduled to move at
any point then this will be covered in the Notes section. Any expansion
capability at the ground will also be covered in the Notes section. If no
expansion capacity is listed then the ground is as big as it is going to get!
Where all players in a squad are listed as being worth nothing, I will use
the figure generated by FM Genie Scout, as although players are listed as
being worth £0 this is not actually the case, it merely means they are
worth less than £500 (those worth more than £500 but less than £1000 will
be listed in the game as being worth £1k). This is partly for pedantry's
sake but also because you will actually receive that money for the transfer
and the sale of a couple of players worth around £500 could give a £1k
transfer budget helping you to bring in that all important player from another
club.
You should note that there will be no assistance given here on tactics. You
have to do some of the work yourself!! The purpose of this FAQ is to provide
detailed information about each of the Lower League Clubs to give the player an
idea as to the level of challenge each club offers, since most of these clubs
I guarantee you will never have heard of. I know this goes against the
principles of Lower League Management as held by the good people at FM Britain,
but I offer no apologies! ;-) As far as I am concerned no real life manager
would last five minutes in any league without the knowledge presented in this
FAQ, even if I do say so myself!
If you really are tactically stuck I would recommend that you go to the LLM
Britain website, which is a subsection of the normal FM Britain website. Here
they have detailed discussions of the tactics. There's no set tactics to
download, and the essays are rather technical, but they do explain in proper
footballing language why certain things work and how. I've found them quite
useful and with a few tweaks for your respective team and the right purchases
you should be able to succeed (I managed to get Thurrock out of the Conference
South using the FM Britain notes as a guide for my tactic - though the
Conference proper is proving to be a bit more difficult!). The web addresses
for FM Britain and LLM Britain are:
http://www.fm-britain.co.uk/
and: http://www.llm-britain.co.uk/
One other thing that I will include is a brief list of decent players from non-
manageable leagues below the Lower Leagues. These aren't intended to be
exhaustive so if you feel I have missed someone out then by all means email me
to let me know. These lists will be placed at the end of the FAQ so those who
just want to use it as a source of information can do so without worrying that
they might see something they don't want to. As you can see from the contents,
these are divided into Decent Players and Promising Players. If you do email
me about this could you please check the player in at least two games to
ensure that the player's stats weren't just a fluke. Also check to see, with
regard to Yth players that they are in fact real by reconciling the game
squad with the database to ensure that he actually exists, otherwise it won't
be much use to anyone!
Decent players in this context are players aged 20 or over who have a current
ability which would make them a key player in all but the very best lower
league teams in that country. Promising players are players under the age of 20
(though not including Yth players as it is too hard to judge whether the
player is a genuine youth player or whether the player was just randomly
generated at the start of the game - see below for more on this). These
promising players will have potential abilities which, if fulfilled, would make
them far and away one of the best players in that league and would probably
allow them to play several divisions higher. In most cases these players will
have a potential ability greater than 100. As well as this they will also have
a reasonable current ability, generally around 20 or 30, so there is at least
a chance that they might fulfil their potential. I didn't see much point in
including players with great potential abilities but current abilities in
single figures.
Each league will also have a brief list of the relevant rules for each. I will
repeat these for each division within a given countries league. This will make
things a little repetitive but I think that most people won't really read
through this whole FAQ. Instead I think they'll probably think one day that
they fancy managing a team in a certain division and will just go to that
division. Repeating all the rules means that readers won't have to search
through a huge amount of data to find a small set of rules.
As a final point, for those of you who like to play the game as true to life as
possible, i.e. only take over clubs at the start of the game who are lacking a
manager, I will include a list of these clubs before the rules for each nation.
_______________________________________________________________________________
+-----------------+
|s2. General Notes|
+-----------------+
These are few notes that apply to all the leagues discussed in this FAQ. If you
find something to do with a particular club that you think is a bit weird or
something then you should probably look here. Kind of like a FAQ for the FAQ!
+---------------------+
|s2.1 Transfer Budgets|
+---------------------+
Firstly, the transfer budgets listed here are those given in the data editor.
Where they are listed as £0 this means that the figure will be decided
randomly, not that the budget is actually £0. However, where the budget is low,
in all probability the transfer budget will in fact be £0. I will do my best to
find out the precise budget in-game but this would be very time consuming. I
will do a few random checks taking over teams to compare the actual in-game
budgets and as long as these match I will be satisfied.
In keeping with Inferno's policy all figures will be taken from players
entering the game as managers with no experience. If you do find any budgets
that are wildly different and you are also a manager with no experience then do
let me know.
You should also note that a very few budgets will be listed as £1 or
occasionally £5, this is because whilst the £0 figure will almost always mean
£0 for a completely newb manager it can theoretically change (although it
probably won't, given the fact that most clubs have very little money). The £1
or £5 budget means that regardless of your previous footballing experience
you will always start with a £0 budget.
+-------------+
|s2.2 Currency|
+-------------+
All financial figures are given in £ sterling. That's just how it's going down.
Sorry if you're from another country but all the figures are relative and there
are plenty of currency converters out there on the old interweb. Also it does
mean that with the lists of players you can easily compare values so decide
which one will be most be beneficial to your club.
+-------------+
|s2.3 Database|
+-------------+
All data is taken from the 7.0.1 update. I know this is different to the
database used by Inferno, but I always play with 7.0.1 and I feel so do most
other people too. I am aware that 7.0.2 has literally just come out as I write,
but I have started with this database so I will finish!
+---------------+
|s2.4 Difficulty|
+---------------+
Given that many of the Lower League Clubs are pretty comparable in terms of
difficulty, I will only make remarks concerning the difficulty when a team in a
given league is either considerably below or considerably above the standard
of the other teams in that league. This figure may be given due to extremely
precarious finances or a woeful squad, it should be obvious from the
information given why I feel that one team is particularly better or worse than
another.
+-----------------+
|s2.5 Loan Players|
+-----------------+
I will also stick with Inferno's policy of including loan players in the top
earners but will not include them in the most valuable section. This is because
you may not want them regardless of their ability because of their effect on
your wage budget but they aren't a player you can make any money on because he
doesn't belong to you.
+--------------------------------------------+
|s2.6 Players Randomly Generated at the Start|
+--------------------------------------------+
With reference to the players listed, I will only be going off the list of
players given in the database. If any of you are seasoned Lower League
Managers then you may have noticed that the game randomly generates some
players for certain (I think randomly decided teams). As far as I can tell
from my own personal experience, these players are always youth players
without exception. You'll have to make your own decisions about what to do
with these players! For example, when I was searching through the Brazilian
third division looking for the most challenging team to manage I found
several with absolutely no real players whatsoever, but when I started a
different game I found that those teams had six or seven real players in
them, all youth players. As I was running quite a few leagues at a time, this
could have been due to timing differences (i.e. I had started the game at one
point in time, the start of another nation's season and was actually seeing
the selection of youth players who you get at the end of every season
promoted from your youth setup and I just hadn't noticed). Either way I am
pretty certain that the players are not real, though if anyone out there can
clarify exactly what goes on I would be grateful and they will, of course, get
full credit for their assistance.
One point I ought to make at this juncture is that these randomly generated
players are people you should check out right at the start. Not because they
might be quite good (I suppose there's a chance they might be but that's not
the point), but because they could be a major drain on you wage budget. I have
often found, particularly at cash strapped clubs that these players are often
earning considerably more than members of the first team. Ten of these players
can easily add a grand a week to your wage budget which is a lot at this level.
You need to immediately offload them unless you think they are going to be
immediately useful to free up some money for more experienced or better
developed players. See my notes on East Stirling for a prime example of this.
I won't mention this in particular when dealing with clubs unless I think that
there are a large number of useless youth players whom you could easily do
without or if the club is in debt and you will need to get back in the red ASAP
You should notice that most of the teams listed here are over their wage budget
This is because the budget is preset but the youth players are predominantly
generated when the game is starting. Their wages then are added to the current
total often taking it over the budget.
+----------------------------+
|s2.7 Key / Promising Players|
+----------------------------+
Although I will be using FM Genie Scout to obtain some information about the
value of players, I will not use it to generate information regarding the
ability of players. This will come entirely from the database. In case you
are unaware, the game decides how good a player can get in three ways:
i) The player will have a set potential ability. That is as good as a player
can get in the game full stop. It doesn't matter how well you train him, a
player will always be limited by that figure. The potential ability as well
as current ability is a number between 0 (i.e. random) and 200.
You also have to consider the player's current ability. Those with extremely
low current ability are highly unlikely to fulfil their potential. However,
if they are very young (14 or 15) then they may well do and could well
warrant inclusion.
ii) It is hard to judge players potential exactly, especially with youth
players and so often they will be given a negative number between -1 and -10.
These potential abilities work in the following way. The greater a players
negative number the greater the chance he will have a high potential ability
when a game is started. For example a player with a potential ability of -10
will pretty much certainly have a high potential when the game starts (i.e.
over 180). A player with a potential ability of -1 still has a chance of
starting the game with a with a very high potential ability but it is much,
much less than someone with -10. The figures in between work on a sliding
scale between these two potential outcomes.
With negative numbers you also have to consider the players current ability.
A player with a potential ability of -10 but a current ability of 10 will
start the game with a very high potential ability, but is extremely unlikely
(definitely not?) going to fulfil this potential.
iii) The player has 0 for potential ability. In this case, and the same
applies with current ability, the figure will be decided randomly. Presumably
this is done with reference to the reputation of the club and the reputation
of league the club is in. As we are dealing with Lower League Clubs, I think
it is safe to say that no player with zeroes in these fields will start the
game or ever end up as the next Henry. So I won't be hedging my bets by
including any of these players in this FAQ.
This is quite a lot of information when most clubs described won't have any
proper (i.e. non-randomly generated) youth players worth commenting on, but I
thought I would explain it and when I put a player in either the Key Player
pr Promising Player lists I won't list their ability as well so you will have
to make your own decision. I know this isn't all that helpful but when a player
has a potential ability of -5 that is not uncommon and doesn't really mean
anything until you have actually started a game.
+-----------------------+
|s2.8 Greyed Out Players|
+-----------------------+
Remember you can sign these to a contract if you want but only if they are
from your club. However, obviously they can't be discussed in this FAQ! With
many of the teams in leagues such as the Brazilian third division, there is
often clubs that do not have enough real players to form a squad. Make sure
you have an assistant manager to advise you whether they are worth signing.
They probably won't be but you never know!
+---------------+
|s2.9 Reputation|
+---------------+
This will be the figure given in the database. This is because the level of
football we are concerned with is such that pretty much all clubs will be
local. Using the database figure will allow easier cross referencing and if
one team is noticeably stronger than the others or weaker, this will still be
easily noticeable.
+----------------+
|s2.10 Squad Size|
+----------------+
Towing the Inferno line these are first team figures only. These may include
some youth team players who are in the first team squad, but in the main these
are real youth team players rather than randomly generated ones.
_______________________________________________________________________________
+----------------------+
|s3. Lower League Clubs|
+----------------------+
Right let's get down to the nitty gritty, the clubs. Sorry if I wasted your
time with all that bumpf beforehand but I wanted to make this FAQ as accessible
as possible, so that anyone from the most experienced football manager to
someone who has only just started playing could get the gist of what I intend
to cover and how it works in the game without having a load of questions left
at the end.
First off:
+-----------------------------+
|s3.1 English Conference North|
+-----------------------------+
Lancaster and Worksop both start the game managerless.
+------------+
|s3.1.1 Rules|
+------------+
- 42 Games;
- Positions sorted by goal difference, goals scored then results between
teams;
- No player restrictions;
- 5 subs used, maximum 3 used;
- 1st place promoted to Nationwide Conference;
- 2nd-5th playoff. 2 legged semi final, 1 leg final. Winner promoted to
the Nationwide Conference;
- Bottom 3 relegated;
- 5 yellow cards = 1 match ban;
- 1 red card = 1 match ban;
+------------+
|s3.1.2 Clubs|
+------------+
-------------
Alfreton Town
-------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Town Ground, 5000
Media Expectations: 17th
Board / Fan Expectations: Battle Bravely x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 11
Estimated Value: £200k
Finances: £13325
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4180
Current Wage Total: £3729
Key Players: Mark Rawle, Tristram Whitman, Dale Roberts.
Top 3 Earners: Marcus Ebdon £275, 4 others £180.
Top 3 Most Valuable: Mark Rawle £12k, Tristram Whitman £7k, Craig Mitchell £4k
Good young/reserve players: Matt Glass
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Marcus Ebdon could do with a wage cut as he's earning £100 a week more
than anyone else and is not really a key player nor is he worth to much. I know
£100 a week doesn't sound like much but it is £5200 a year but as you only
start with £13325 you will end up saving more than a third of your original
cash with this one deal. If you're used to six figure a week contracts with
players then you might think that it's a bit pikey but it's something you're
going to have to get used to. There are quite a large number of frankly
incompetent players at this level taking home more that pocket money and you
need to get strict with this from the outset if you ever want to see any cash
for transfers! If you find that you are in a healthy financial position at the
end of the first season then I think it is probably a good idea to invest a
bit of that cash in upgrading your training facilities as they are not only
the worst in the league but also as bad as you could get! To be honest though
they are not alone in this, most teams at this level will have pretty woeful
training facilities for their first team and reserves, though surprisingly
their youth facilities are usually markedly better!
------
Barrow
------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Holker Street, 4500
Media Expectations: 11th
Board / Fan Expectations: Invest in new players and rebuild / Safe Mid-table
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 8
Estimated Value: £190k
Finances: £39422
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3008
Current Wage Total: £3638
Key Players: Stuart Howson, Kyle Wilson, Tom Pope
Top 3 Earners: Chris Butler £275, Kyle Wilson £250, Michael Taylor £230.
Top 3 Most Valuable: Neil Brisco £9k, Michael Taylor £5k, Chris Butler £5k
Good young/reserve players: Paul Jones
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 6000. It doesn't take a genius to notice that
again the training facilities here are awful, though anyone who saw Barrow
play in the third round of the FA cup earlier this year can probably appreciate
why, it looked pretty bleak up there. If you're in a decent financial position
still at the end of the season you'll want to sort these out to get the most
out of your players, coaches and training schedules. To be honest though, most
of the training facilities in this league are pretty woeful, so I'll save
myself the time and not repeat this every single time. To be honest you should
have noticed anyway!
--------------
Blyth Spartans
--------------
Reputation: 1050
Stadium + Capacity: Croft Park, 6000
Media Expectations: 15th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe Mid-table Position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £275
Finances: £23907
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2930
Current Wage Total: £2468
Key Players: Robert Dale
Top 3 Earners: Robert Dale £110, Dale Crawford £100, Paul Catto £100
Top 3 Most Valuable: Robert Dale £9k, Graham Fenton £7k, Alex Gildea £5k
Good young/reserve players: Chris McCabe
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 4000. This team have got their wages sorted
out nicely. Once you have dumped the useless U18s from your club you should
have a fair bit to play with. Don't go too mad, you don't want other players
demanding parity with that new guy you just signed on £500 a week, though
at least there will be scope here to bring in a few guys on a bit more cash if
you can entice them in the first place.This club has excellent youth training
facilities for this level though so you should definitely look to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting
yourself out with some decent youth coaches.
---------
Droylsden
---------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: The Butchers Arms Ground, 3500
Media Expectations: 8th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe Mid table poisition
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £160k
Finances: £16761
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3541
Current Wage Total: £4208
Key Players: Michael Wolski, Terry Fearns, Steve Jagielka
Top 3 Earners: Jamie Tandy £350, Terry Fearns £325, Steve Daly £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Steve Jagielka £16k, Terr Fearns £14k, Steve Daly £10k
Good young/reserve players: James Tandy, Kevin Rapley
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 3000. This club has excellent youth training
facilities for this level though so you should definitely look to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting
yourself out with some decent youth coaches.
--------------
Farsley Celtic
--------------
Reputation: 900
Stadium + Capacity: Throstle Nest, 4000
Media Expectations: 19th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight Bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 15
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 15
Estimated Value: £140
Finances: £1812
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4045
Current Wage Total: £2897
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Craig Midgley £275, Dominic Kreif £250, Damian Reeves £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Craig Midgley £7k, David Walls £6k, Andy Watson £6k
Good young/reserve players: None
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: A very difficult team. None of the players in the squad are worth
retaining. It would be advisable to try to sell them all to try to raise some
money given that you will be in the red within a week! Wage cuts across the
board are essential here (that's something you'll hear me saying a lot in this
FAQ!). This club has excellent youth training facilities for this level though
so you should definitely look to take advantage of this if you are planning a
long game with this club by sorting yourself out with some decent youth
coaches.
--------------------
Gainsborough Trinity
--------------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: The Northolme, 4000
Media Expectations: 16th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 7
Estimated Value: £170k
Finances: £9995
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2931
Current Wage Total: £3510
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Matty Caudwell £250, Adam Sollitt £250, Sam Lancaster £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Ryan Mallon £8k, Sam Lancaster £5k, Matty Caudwell £4k
Good young/reserve players: Eric Graves
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Quite a boring team really. Average finances, no one openly taking the
piss with the wages, with the exception of Sollitt, so keep an eye on him.
--------------
Harrogate Town
--------------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Wetherby Road, 3800
Media Expectations: 6th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 13
Estimated Value: £170k
Finances: £20024
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3192
Current Wage Total: £3684
Key Players: Danny Holland, Jamie Price
Top 3 Earners: Darren Dunning £275, Danny Holland £250, Roy Hunter £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Danny Holland £14k, Dave Merris £8k, Jamie Price £8k
Good young/reserve players: None
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 5000. Club is affiliated with Huddersfield,
make sure that you take full advantage of this. You might get lucky with
Huddersfield, or whoever you are affiliated sending you a few decent players
but you should definitely be pro-active in this area. Go for anyone and
everyone in their reserves (or first team later in the season who doesn't seem
to be getting a game) it won't annoy anyone at your club, nor will continual
rejection affect the affiliation and you never know who you might get. On a
tight budget, don't be afraid to offer £0 a week for a player you want on
loan, even if you want him for the whole season, they still might accept if he
is young and they want him to gain first team experience. The chairman is only,
'enjoying his time at the club', so there is an outside chance of a takeover a
few seasons into the game.
---------------
Hinckley United
---------------
Reputation: 1500
Stadium + Capacity: Marston Stadium, 4329
Media Expectations: 4th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £210k
Finances: £8025
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £6220
Current Wage Total: £6507
Key Players: Wayne Diuk, Matt Redmile,
Top 3 Earners: Carl Heggs £400, Danny Haystead £350, Leon Kelly £350
Top 3 Most Valuable: Richard Lavery £10k, Sam Shilton £10k, Neil Cartwright £9k
Good young/reserve players: Adam Wykes, Tom Birch
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 10000. The top three earners are on way too
much money for a club of this size. They need to be cut by half or got rid of.
This club has excellent youth training facilities for this level though so you
should definitely look to take advantage of this if you are planning a long
game with this club by sorting yourself out with some decent youth coaches.
-------------
Hucknall Town
-------------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Watnall Road, 5000
Media Expectations: 9th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe Mid table position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £220k
Finances: £11820
Transfer Budget: £5000
Wage Budget: £3943
Current Wage Total: £4022
Key Players: Paul Dempsey, Peter Handyside
Top 3 Earners: Paul Dempsey £300, Peter Handyside £300, Michael Fox £230
Top 3 Most Valuable: Laurie Wilson £8k, Michael Briscoe, Peter Handyside £5k
Good young/reserve players: Rhys Powell
Difficulty (/10): Slightly easier than most Conference North teams as they
actually have a transfer budget!
Notes: Rhys Powell is one of the best prospects in the league. Ground can be
expanded by 3000. The Chairman is only, 'enjoying his time at the club so there
is an outside chance of a takeover a few seasons into the game.
-----------
Hyde United
-----------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Ewen Fields, 4130
Media Expectations: 13th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table / Invest in new players and rebuild
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £150k
Finances: £11235
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2649
Current Wage Total: £3280
Key Players: Steve Pickford, Gareth Seddon, Mike Flynn
Top 3 Earners: Mike Flynn £450, Earl Davies £250, Steve Pickford £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Gareth Seddon £14k, Earl Davies £10k, Steve Pickford £5k
Good young/reserve players: none.
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Mike Flynn is out of contract. At 37 you can either retain him as a good
useful, experienced player or cut £450 a week from your wage budget at no cost.
Ground can be expanded by 6000. This club has excellent youth training
facilities for this level though so you should definitely look to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting
yourself out with some decent youth coaches.
--------------
Kettering Town
--------------
Reputation: 1750
Stadium + Capacity: Rockingham Road, 6100
Media Expectations: 1st
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 16
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 13
Estimated Value: £325
Finances: £19184
Transfer Budget: £15000
Wage Budget: £3676
Current Wage Total: £4284
Key Players: Marcel McKie, Craig Westcarr, Nathan Koo-Boothe
Top 3 Earners: Darren Caskey £800, Andre Boucard £500, Craig Westcarr £400
Top 3 Most Valuable: Craig Westcarr £40k, Darren Caskey £24k, Andre Boucard £12
Good young/reserve players: Serge Makofo
Difficulty (/10): Heavy expectations on last year's relegated team from the
Conference. Their squad really is little better than others in the Conference
North.
Notes: Decent transfer budget. Darren Caskey needs to take a big wage cut. At
31 he isn't going to be doing that much and his physical stats are risible. You
might want to consider Craig Westcarr's future too. He hasn't quite got the
finishing and could bring in a tidy sum. Ground can be expanded by 6100. Just
try not to be so dumb as to let Gazza (or G8 or whatever the man is calling
himself these days) get a foot in the door again!).
--------------
Lancaster City
--------------
Reputation: 1150
Stadium + Capacity: Giant Axe, 3513
Media Expectations: 10th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 7
Estimated Value: £140
Finances: £6191
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3117
Current Wage Total: £3697
Key Players: Mark Quayle
Top 3 Earners: David Bayliss £350, Jimmy Kelly £325, Ryan Zico Black £275
Top 3 Most Valuable: Mark Quayle £18k, Ryan Zico Black £6k, David Bayliss £4k
Good young/reserve players: Ryan Yeomans
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 4000. Club is affiliated with Crewe and
Morecombe. I'm not really sure of the use of an affiliation with Morecombe, but
the Crewe one is quite tasty, you know what to do with this! The Chairman is
only, 'enjoying his time at the club' so there is an outside chance of a
takeover a few seasons into the game.
---------
Leigh RMI
---------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Hilton Park, 7500
Media Expectations: 21st
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 9
Estimated Value: £325k
Finances: £6511
Transfer Budget:£500
Wage Budget: £3434
Current Wage Total: £3970
Key Players: Chris McGrath, Mark Jackson
Top 3 Earners: Mark Jackson £250, Lee Unsworth £250, James Coates, £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Mark Jackson £10k, Carl Furlong £6k, Lee Unsworth £3k
Good young/reserve players: None
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Leigh are due to move to 10000 Capacity Leigh Sports Village on 1/12/07
----------
Moor Green
----------
Reputation: 950
Stadium + Capacity: Damson Park, 3050
Media Expectations: 12th
Board / Fan Expectations: Stay clear of relegation x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £22k (really!)
Finances: £5233
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3557
Current Wage Total: £4092
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Terry Flemming £300, Phil Trainer £250, Phil Midworth £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Phil Trainer £8k, Dale Anderson £6k, Danny Davidson £6k
Good young/reserve players: None
Difficulty (/10): 8.
Notes: This is a useless squad, sell anyone who you can get money for and
rebuild. The players in the squad are little better than most who are on free
transfers. Flemming needs a sizeable wage cut and you could do with losing
Trainer all together. This will be a tough job either way. Moor Green have the
lowest reputation in the league, small finances and are hardly worth anything.
----------------
Nuneaton Borough
----------------
Reputation: 1600
Stadium + Capacity: Manor Park, 6500
Media Expectations: 2nd
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 15
Estimated Value: £300k
Finances: £112524
Transfer Budget: £10000
Wage Budget: £4658
Current Wage Total: £4913
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Duane Darby £800, Daryl Burgess £300, Gary McPhee £300
Top 3 Most Valuable: Oliver Burgess £9k, Martin Reeves £8k, Gary MacPhee £5k
Good young/reserve players: Jay Denny
Difficulty (/10): 6
Notes: The media expectation is massively overblown for a club with players of
this standard. Either get rid of Duane Darby or cut his wage by at least half
as he is a big drain on the wage budget and not really up to it. Club is
affiliated with Coventry and you should try to make use of this. The transfer
budget is pretty decent and you shouldn't be afraid of spending it as the club
have the finance to back it up, however even getting rid of the made up U18
players will hardly give you a bean to spend on wages, so you definitely need
to shift a lot of dead wood before you splash out. If you can't get rid of them
for cash then just free transfer them, again, you can afford it. The first
season might be a bit of a struggle but once you've pruned a bit the second
should be a bit of a doddle. This club has excellent youth training
facilities for this level though so you should definitely look to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting
yourself out with some decent youth coaches. Nuneaton have the best youth
facilities in the whole division actually.
---------------
Redditch United
---------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Valley Stadium, 5000
Media Expectations: 20th
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 7
Estimated Value: £200k
Finances: £1112
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2479
Current Wage Total: £3159
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Matt Clarke £200, Simon Rea £200, Simon Hollis £150
Top 3 Most Valuable: Simon Rea £9k, Lee Downes £5k, Chris Murphy £4k
Good young/reserve players: Robert Taylor
Difficulty (/10): 9
Notes: Awful squad. No one worth keeping, sell anyone you can for money and
cut the wage budget. finances are in a pretty bad state, although not in the
red you'll have real trouble keeping them afloat
-----------
Scarborough
-----------
Reputation: 1750
Stadium + Capacity: The McCain Stadium, 6687
Media Expectations: 3rd
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 15
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 11
Estimated Value: £325k
Finances: -£15921
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3608
Current Wage Total: £4325
Key Players: Lee Whittington
Top 3 Earners: Denny Ingram £575, Lee Cartwright £350, Lee Whittington £300
Top 3 Most Valuable: Tony Hackworth £10k, Denny Ingram £8k, Chris Thompson £5k
Good young/reserve players: Ryan Blott
Difficulty (/10): 10
Notes: This team is in a real mess and it would be a miracle if they stayed up.
They are in debt to the tune of £16k and £700 per week over their wage budget.
If this wasn't enough they have a loan debt of £1.5 million! Ingram needs a big
wage cut or get rid of him. Sell anyone you can for money except perhaps
Whittington as he has decent finishing. Thankfully they are affiliated with
footballing giants Whitby. Useless! The board and fan expectations are one of
the few in this division that are unreasonable. The squad is really weak and
it will take a considerable effort to get into a halfway decent league
position. The chairman is, unsurprisingly, willing to listen to offers, so you
might get a bit lucky and get a takeover quite early in the game which could
help out your finances.
------------------
Stalybridge Celtic
------------------
Reputation: 1150
Stadium + Capacity: Bower Fold, 6108
Media Expectations: 7th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position / respectable position
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £250k
Finances: £21782
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2948
Current Wage Total: £3323
Key Players: Steve Brodie
Top 3 Earners: Mark Hume £300, Steve Brodie £200, James Turley £180
Top 3 Most Valuable: Andy Parton £6k, James Turley £5k, Steve Brodie £4k
Good young/reserve players: Ian Snodin
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 7000. The club is affiliated with Oldham. Make
sure you keep hold of Ian Snodin. He is an excellent youngster at this level.
He is out of contract at the beginning of the game so make sure you sort this
out straight away. Mark Hume needs a big wage cut or offload him.
---------------
Vauxhall Motors
---------------
Reputation: 900
Stadium + Capacity: Rivacre Park, 2500
Media Expectations: 22nd
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 20
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 12
Estimated Value: £95k
Finances: £8474
Transfer Budget: £2000
Wage Budget: £1939
Current Wage Total: £2626
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: John Lawless £200, Anthony Wright £200, Tommy Rooney £180
Top 3 Most Valuable: Stuart Whittaker £12k, Darren Wright £7k, John Lawless £4k
Good young/reserve players: Sean Lake
Difficulty (/10): 9
Notes: A woeful squad with far too many useless players. Stuart Whittaker needs
to go as he is worth a bit and not really that good. Get rid of all the youth
players to bring down the wage budget. Don't let go of Sean Lake. He is a good
young keeper and you'll need him! Use your affiliation with Tranmere as best
you can. The ground can be expanded by 3000.
--------------
Worcester City
--------------
Reputation: 1250
Stadium + Capacity: St. George's Lane, 4749
Media Expectations: 5th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 12
Estimated Value: £240k
Finances: £39966
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4540
Current Wage Total: £4666
Key Players: Chris Cornes, Danny McDonnell
Top 3 Earners: Mark Danks £300, Chris Cornes £300, Andy Preece £300
Top 3 Most Valuable: Jimmi-Lee Jones £5k, Adam Webster £5k, Danny McDonnell £4k
Good young/reserve players: Troy Wood
Difficulty (/10): 5
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 9000. Mark Danks isn't really worth his £300 a
week and can be got rid of for nothing as he is out of contract. Just joining
the club reduces the wage bill by £300 as useless player manager Andy Preece
gets the boot. A general wage cut all round would help here as the average
first team wage is over £200 per week.
----------
Workington
----------
Reputation: 1050
Stadium + Capacity: Borough Park, 2500
Media Expectations: 14th
Board / Fan Expectations: Stay clear of relegation / invest and rebuild squad
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £100k
Finances: £4290
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2954
Current Wage Total: £3450
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Kyle May, Tony Hopper, Graham Anthony all £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Graham Anthony £2k, Darren Edmondson £2k, Ian Arnold £2k
Good young/reserve players: None.
Difficulty (/10): 7
Notes: Another one of those middling clubs. Finances aren't diabolical, there
aren't any jokers when it comes to wages, but unfortunately no one is really
worth anything and you're stuck with a 2500 capacity stadium. No real reason
to manage this team unless you're from Workington!
------------
Worksop Town
------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Babbage Way, 3000
Media Expectations: 18th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 16
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 6
Estimated Value: £120k
Finances: -£1490
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3636
Current Wage Total: £4147
Key Players: Steve Wilson
Top 3 Earners: Steve Robinson £350, Tony Crane £325, Steve Wilson £275
Top 3 Most Valuable: Steve Wilson £10k, Steve Robinson £6k, Lee Thompson £5k
Good young/reserve players:
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: You need to get back into the black ASAP as you are both over your wage
budget and £1.5k in the red. I'd advise selling Steve Robinson, he's eating up
£300 a week and is worth a bit of cash. Other than that the squad is your
average Conference North side. Keep hold of Steve Wilson. Even though cashing
in on him might be tempting he is one of the best goalies in the league. The
ground can be expanded by 3000.
+--------------------------------+
|s3.2 Nationwide Conference South|
+--------------------------------+
+------------+
|s3.2.1 Rules|
+------------+
- 42 Games;
- Positions sorted by goal difference, goals scored then results between
teams;
- No player restrictions;
- 5 subs used, maximum 3 used;
- 1st place promoted to Nationwide Conference;
- 2nd-5th playoff. 2 legged semi final, 1 leg final. Winner promoted to
the Nationwide Conference;
- Bottom 3 relegated;
- 5 yellow cards = 1 match ban;
- 1 red card = 1 match ban;
+------------+
|s3.2.2 Clubs|
+------------+
-----------
Basingstoke
-----------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: The Camrose, 6000
Media Expectations: 21st
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 8
Estimated Value: £275k
Finances: £11589
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3236
Current Wage Total: £2850
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Ben Surrey £300, Jason Bristow £275, Cristian Levis £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Joe Dolan £8k, Matt Warner £6k, Mark Peters £5k
Good young/reserve players: Simeon Howell
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 2000.
------------
Bedford Town
------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: The New Eyrie, 3000
Media Expectations: 17th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely / stay clear of relegation
Squad Size: 16
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 13
Estimated Value: £130k
Finances: £13571
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3564
Current Wage Total: £3245
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Lee Howarth £275, Eddie Lawley £230, Barrington Belgrave £180
Top 3 Most Valuable: Barrington Belgrave £5k, Dave Daniels £4k, Aaran Cavill £3
Good young/reserve players: None
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Barrington Belgrave - what a name!
------------------
Bishop's Stortford
------------------
Reputation: 1150
Stadium + Capacity: Woodside Park, 4000
Media Expectations: 11th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 9
Estimated Value: £180k
Finances: £18743
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4560
Current Wage Total: £4933
Key Players: Roy Essandoh, Martin Grainger
Top 3 Earners: Roy Essandoh £300, Richard howell £275, Ryan Lockett £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Ashley Fuller, Roy Essandoh, Jordan Fowler all £4k
Good young/reserve players: Louis Evans
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Martin Grainger is injured for between 7 and 11 months with damaged
cruciate ligaments. You will also lose Martin Hayes if you take over as he is
player manager, but he's rubbish anyway at 40 years old but will save you a
massive £45 a week! Ground can be expanded by 4000.
-----------------
Bognor Regis Town
-----------------
Reputation: 1050
Stadium + Capacity: Nyewood Lane, 6000
Media Expectations: 12th
Board / Fan Expectations: Stay clear of relegation / invest and rebuild squad
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £300k
Finances: £11107
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2887
Current Wage Total: £3430
Key Players: Luke Nightingale, Ben Watson
Top 3 Earners: Luke Nightingale £275, Ben Watson £230, David Piper £230
Top 3 Most Valuable: Luke Nightingale £18k, Ben Watson £8k, Dan Marney £7k
Good young/reserve players: Dan Beck, Ben Johnson
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: The big challenge for Lower League Managers for the last couple of years
according to several websites, and still a popular pick if the threads on
Gamefaqs, though I'm not sure why. They're an OK team but nothing special
either in terms of ease, difficulty, state of finances, wages. I haven't got
anything against them but they just seem like a middling team. Luke Nightingale
is a strong striker though so may be that's why. I certainly wouldn't let him
go for less than £30k. I'm not sure why the board and fans are so negative.
I mean, Bognor are not the worlds best team but they aren't bad, they have
quite a decent strike force for this level and you really shouldn't be down the
bottom of the league with this team. This is probably a good team for those new
to lower league management to start off with as the expectaions will allow you
a little more time to get your head around things.
--------------
Braintree Town
--------------
Reputation: 1150
Stadium + Capacity: Cressing Road Stadium, 4000
Media Expectations: 13th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £180
Finances: £7124
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4110
Current Wage Total: £3090
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Louis Riddle, Steve Parmenter, Ollie Adedeji all £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Eugene Ofori £3k, Louis Riddle £3k, Dwayne Plummer £2k
Good young/reserve players: Nick Morgan, James Baker
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Decent youth facilities for this level, so you'll want to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting out
a couple of decent youth coaches. Their finances aren't amazing but they are in
the black, their wage structure is sensible but the players are quite weak
overall, so the first season should be one of rebuilding.
--------------
Cambridge City
--------------
Reputation: 1150
Stadium + Capacity: City Ground, 5000
Media Expectations: 6th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position / respectable position
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £275
Finances: £23324
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2795
Current Wage Total: £3110
Key Players: Ben Bowditch
Top 3 Earners: Greg Lincoln £250, Craig Cope £200, Lee Chaffey £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Ben Bowditch £8k, Greg Lincoln £7k, Lee Roache £4k
Good young/reserve players: Stuart Sinclair
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 6000.
---------------
Dorchester Town
---------------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Avenue Stadium, 5009
Media Expectations: 10th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 12
Estimated Value: £240k
Finances: £5847
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3491
Current Wage Total: £3728
Key Players: Richard Martin, Justin Keeler
Top 3 Earners: Justin Keeler £350, Richard Martin £300, Scott Morgan £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Matt Groves £16k, Justin Keeler £7k, Guy Lopez £7k
Good young/reserve players: James Rowe, Simon Evans
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 7000. Don't worry about selling Matt Groves
if you fancy raising a bit of cash, he's a bit shonky.
------------------
Eastbourne Borough
------------------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Priory Lane, 2500
Media Expectations: 14th
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 12
Estimated Value: £110k
Finances: £5847
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3491
Current Wage Total: £3728
Key Players: Scott Ramsey, Adam Wilde, Jiri Dohnal
Top 3 Earners: Neil Jenkins £300, Paul Armstrong £250, Scott Ramsey £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Adam Wilde £14k, Jiri Dohnal £8k, Lee hook £5k
Good young/reserve players: None
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Get rid of Wilde, you can get better players for less money. Jenkins
needs a wage cut and Scott Ramsay is out of contract at the start so you can
sign him again if you want but I'd advise cutting your wage bill by that £250
to bring you in under budget as it won't cost you anything. This is another
good club for the player who is new to lower league management. Like Bognor,
this team is not going to set the world alight and there finances are not as
strong as other clubs but they have a much better squad than the media and the
fans and board would seem to appreciate.
---------
Eastleigh
---------
Reputation: 1050
Stadium + Capacity: Silverlake Stadium, 2300
Media Expectations: 9th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £120k
Finances: £8107
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £5525
Current Wage Total: £5789
Key Players: Francis Benali
Top 3 Earners: Bertie Brayley £500, Justin Bennet £350, Paul Musselwhite £350
Top 3 Most Valuable: Danny Smith £10k, Bertie Brayley £9k, Stuart Douglas £7k
Good young/reserve players: Steve Forbes
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Eastleigh have a huge reserve team full of dead wood. This needs to be
sorted out straight away. They also have a massive backroom staff including
eight managing directors! You might want to have a look at this if you want to
save more money on your wages.
----------------
Farnborough Town
----------------
Reputation: 1500
Stadium + Capacity: Cherrywood Ground, 4400
Media Expectations: 4th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 10
Youth Facilities: 13
Estimated Value: £220k
Finances: -£13781
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4887
Current Wage Total: £4455
Key Players: Steven Laidler
Top 3 Earners: Kevin Scriven, Paul Harkness, Sean Hankin all £350
Top 3 Most Valuable: Paul Harkness £7k, Ben Townsend £4k, Sean Hankin £4k
Good young/reserve players: Michael Charles, Nic Ciardini
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Farnborough are in trouble financially. Get rid of all youth players,
which will save you around £600 a week in wages. Sell anyone you can to get
back in the black. Wage cuts all round too. Ground can be expanded by 6000, but
4400 has been used. This is one team for the experts only. The 10 point
deduction with which they start means the 4th place prediction is a big, big
ask. The board and the fans don't seem to have taken this into account either
and with a squad as mediocre as this and no money available whatsoever, you'll
be hard pressed to satisfy them.
---------------
Fisher Athletic
---------------
Reputation: 850
Stadium + Capacity: The Surrey Dock Stadium, 5300
Media Expectations: 22nd
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £375
Finances: £5556
Transfer Budget:£0
Wage Budget: £6155
Current Wage Total: £5915
Key Players: Joel Kitamirike, Charlie Hearn
Top 3 Earners: Steve Clarke £350, Chris Piper £350, Charlie Hearn £300
Top 3 Most Valuable: Charlie Hearn £14k, Joel Kitamirike £12k, Joe Healey £9k
Good young/reserve players: Joe Healey
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Not a great team at the moment but a lot of potential for a team of this
level, if you can keep them in the league and have a good training setup then
you can begin to move up the league pretty easily without having to spend any
money. £825 a week can be saved by clearing out the whole U18 team all of which
will be pretty much useless. This club has excellent youth training
facilities for this level though so you should definitely look to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting
yourself out with some decent youth coaches.
------------------------
Havant and Waterlooville
------------------------
Reputation: 1350
Stadium + Capacity: Westleigh Park, 4500
Media Expectations: 3rd
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 18
Estimated Value: £200k
Finances: £21103
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4480
Current Wage Total: £4887
Key Players: Rocky Baptiste, Dean Holdsworth, Fitzroy Simpson
Top 3 Earners: Justin Gregory £500, Craig Watkins £350, Rocky Baptiste £350
Top 3 Most Valuable: Richard Pacquette £5k, Matt Gray £5k, Rocky Baptiste £4k
Good young/reserve players: Richard Pacquette
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: You can lose Craig Watkins and Tony Taggart for a £600 a week saving for
nothing as they are both out of contract at the start. Another £500 can be
saved by free transferring Justin Gregory if you wish as he is also out of
contract but he is a decent left back at this level and getting near his peak.
Try to sell Darren Annon in the reserves if you can for another £350 saving but
he is a reasonable central defender so you might want to bring him into the
first team if you have made savings elsewhere already. Howells and Wilson-Denis
could bring in £6k together if you sell them from the reserves. They are not
up to it. The ground can be expanded by 2000. They have the best youth
facilities at this level in England. The team is also affiliated with
Portsmouth bringing in a decent sum a year for the friendly. Make use of their
reserves too! The media predicition is somewhat overblown, but at least the
board and fans seem to have a better understanding of the true status of their
club.
-----
Hayes
-----
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Church Road, 6500
Media Expectations: £275
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 7
Estimated Value: £275
Finances: £29163
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £1609
Current Wage Total: £2233
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Ryan Tackley £150, Kevin McKenna £150, Damon Ming £100
Top 3 Most Valuable: Will Hendry £8k, Kevin Davies £5k Kevin McKenna £3k
Good young/reserve players: Will Hendry.
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Will Hendry is the best person in the squad and although young is
definitely ready for first team action. Sell anyone else you want and get rid
of the U18s as usual especially given the low level of your youth facilities.
The ground can be expanded by 4000. Though the training facilities for both
the first team and youth are pretty woeful, the clubs finances are OK and
though the wage budget is a bit tight, it is sensible for this level and no
one is over-paid so this club is in a good financial situation and would
provide a decent challenge.
------
Histon
------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Bridge Road, 3250
Media Expectations: 5th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £180k
Finances: £19563
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £4300
Current Wage Total: £4940
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Neil Andrews, Antonio Murray, Ian Cambridge all £275.
Top 3 Most Valuable: Antonio Murray £10k, John Kennedy £8k, Junior McDougald £6
Good young/reserve players: Denny King, Nathanial Knight-Percival, Adrian
Cambridge
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Very Overrated team. Sell any player in the first team that you can
except Antonio Murray, especially Kennedy and McDougald. Don't let go of
Denny King at all though he is an extremely promising players and could turn
into one of the best players in the this league or the conference and at 16
still has the time to do this. Knight-Percival (another quality name) is not
quite as promising and a couple of years older but still worth developing.
-----
Lewes
-----
Reputation: 1450
Stadium + Capacity: The Dripping Pan, 3000
Media Expectations: 2nd
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable League position x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 7
Youth Facilities: 16
Estimated Value: £140k
Finances: £106500
Transfer Budget: £5000
Wage Budget: £4546
Current Wage Total: £4080
Key Players: Andy Drury, Gary Holloway, Ian Simpemba
Top 3 Earners: Ian Simpemba £450, Lewis Hamilton £350, Jamie Cade £350
Top 3 Most Valuable: Gary Holloway £14k, Andy Drury £9k, Lewis Hamilton £8k
Good young/reserve players: Lewis Hamilton, Sam Sowter, Jack Stern, Lee Farrell
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Wow! A team in the Conference South that starts with any form of
transfer budget. Also being £500 under the wage budget gives you plenty of
scope to bring in new players, especially once you've got rid of all the U18
players as usual. Save another £160 a week getting rid of Sigre, a striker who
couldn't hit a barn door and you should find yourself with a good £1200 a week
in wages to play with. That coupled with the £5k transfer budget means you can
bring in pretty much whoever you like. No excuses for not doing well with this
team £107k finances is a fortune at this level! The ground can be expanded by
5000 too. This club has excellent youth training facilities for this level
though so you should definitely look to take advantage of this if you are
planning a long game with this club by sortingyourself out with some decent
youth coaches. A decent team for those new to lower league management to take
on. They have a well above average squad anf the board and fan expectations
mean that you have a little more time to get to grips with things before the
pressure starts to mount.
--------------
Newport County
--------------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Newport Stadium, 4300
Media Expectations: 16th
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 11
Estimated Value: £140k
Finances: £13104
Transfer Budget: £2000
Wage Budget: £5335
Current Wage Total: £5882
Key Players: Steve Jenkins, Ian Hillier, Richard Evans, Darren Garner
Top 3 Earners: Lee Jenkins £600 , Darren Garner £500, Ian Hillier £500
Top 3 Most Valuable: Steve Jenkins £14k, Richard Evans £9k, Ian Hillier £7k
Good young/reserve players: Tyrone Toppar
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Newport are a real Jekyll and Hyde team. They have some great players
for this level. Namely the key players listed plus Jason Bowen they also have
some real stinkers clogging up the side and taking home far too much money a
week. you'll need to sort yourself out with another keeper as Ovendale and
Pennock are too old and too rubbish. Hopefully you can get £10k for the pair.
Lee Jenkins needs a big wage cut and should probably be offloaded too. Darren
Garner could take a cut too as though he is not bad he is earning a lot more
than the squad average. The ground can be expanded by a massive 15000 though.
The best thins about Newport is their affiliation with none other than
Manchester United. You have to take advantage of this! Another team for the
lower league management n00bs out there. If you can sort out the dead wood,
maybe get a couple of cheap players in with that £2k you have to spend and get
a couple of players in from Man U (if they'll come) there is no need to be
fighting bravely!
--------------
Salisbury City
--------------
Reputation: 950
Stadium + Capacity: The Raymond McEnhill Stadium, 4038
Media Expectations: 20th
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 1
Youth Facilities: 14
Estimated Value: £230k
Finances: £4487
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £7099
Current Wage Total: £6450
Key Players: Matt Tubbs, Ryan Clarke, Danny Clay
Top 3 Earners: Liam Cockerill £350, Aaron Cook £300, Paul Sales £250
Top 3 Most Valuable: Matt Tubbs £14k Declan McGregor £7k, Wayne Turk £7k
Good young/reserve players: Matthew Bullman, Tommy Widdrington
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Oh my god! Who on earth was in charge of handing out the contracts here?
!?! The reserve team wage budget is £1500 a week and there's only seven players
! Definitely lose all U18 players. OK you may have a huge wage budget for this
level and be well under it but you don't even have the cash to pay 5 day's
wages let alone one week! Everyone needs a wage cut of at least a third. If
they won't take it then offload them. Thankfully most players have some sort of
cash value so you might be able to buy a little time in terms of going into
the red if you can offload them. Stevens, Hodgson, Middleton and Matthews
should go as a matter of course which will save you £600 a week, but you
shouldn't feel bad about letting anyone other than the key players and Paul
Sales go if they won't take a cut. In the reserves Cook needs to go ASAP for
another £300 a week saving. You also need to have words with your player coach
Tommy Widdrington. He's on £600 a week which is a joke. If he won't take £300
then mutual termination should be your next step, though he is not too bad even
though he is old so you might want to think twice about it if you've already
got rid of a load of players. You might want to terminate Cockerill's loan too
as it's £350 a week for not very much. this is definitely a team punching well
above their weight. Did they not learn from Leeds's example a few years ago?!
This club has excellent youth trainingfacilities for this level though so you
should definitely look to take advantage of this if you are planning a long
game with this club by sorting yourself out with some decent youth coaches.
If you have the facepack from sortitoutsi then you will have seen Matt Tubbs
picture, one of the cheesiest in FM in my opinion!
-------------
Sutton united
-------------
Reputation: 2250
Stadium + Capacity: Gander Green Lane, 7032
Media Expectations: 1st
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £275
Finances: £28750
Transfer Budget: £25000
Wage Budget: £4359
Current Wage Total: £4535
Key Players: Matt Gray
Top 3 Earners: Matt Gray, Phil Wilson, Eddie Akuamoah all £300
Top 3 Most Valuable: Matt Gray £16k, Richard Harris £5k, Peter Fear £4k
Good young/reserve players: Sean Rivers
Difficulty (/10): 8
Notes: This is an awful team, god knows why the media predict they'll finish
first. Thankfully you have a big transfer budget because you basically want to
get rid of everyone except Matt Gray from all three teams, though even he is
not really that good and if you can get £16-20k for him then you might want to
sell him too. Not the best of squads to achieve a respectable league position,
even with the money available this is a team for those who have a little
experiance at this level.
--------
Thurrock
--------
Reputation: 1150
Stadium + Capacity: Ship Lane, 4500
Media Expectations: 7th
Board / Fan Expectations: safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £190k
Finances: £7609
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3043
Current Wage Total: £3405
Key Players: none
Top 3 Earners: Gary Fisken £230, Steve Harper £200, James Hussey £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Gary Fisken £4k, Amos Foyewa £200, Terry Bowes £180
Good young/reserve players: none
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Another useless team. You will need all your managerial skill to win the
league with these guys. Sell anyone you can get money for especially Foyewa as
he is awful. Luckily the home fixture against Wolves as a pre-season friendly
will bring in about £40k (I have already played a game as Thurrock) which means
you should end the season in the black) but you won't see any of it for
transfers! The ground can be expanded by 2000.
--------------
Welling United
--------------
Reputation: 1100
Stadium + Capacity: Park View Road, 5500
Media Expectations: 8th
Board / Fan Expectations: safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £230k
Finances: £7609
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3043
Current Wage Total: £3405
Key Players: Danny Kedwell, Ben Lewis
Top 3 Earners: Jamie Day £750, Danny Kedwell £400, Chris Moore £400
Top 3 Most Valuable: Danny Kedwell £14k, Fobi-Edusei £8k, Che Stadhart £7k
Good young/reserve players: Ronayne Benjamin
Difficulty (/10): 5
Notes: First off, do not let Danny Kedwell go under any circumstances. In my
opinion he is the best striker in either of the Conference feeder leagues, with
outstanding finishing, great flair, first touch and penalty taking and pretty
decent dribbling, free kicks, bravery, composure, off the ball and positioning.
Only let down by some less than average physical stats but his stamina is
acceptable. It's a shame about his height and heading other wise he would make
an excellent target man but you should find someone who can play this position
and have Kedwell running off him for goals aplenty. You need to have words with
Jamie Day. Why is he on £750 a week? He needs to be on no more than £200 or get
rid of him. Chris Moore is on £400 a week and is utterly useless. Luckily he is
out of contract so get rid of him! Ben Lewis is on £300 a week and out of
contract but he is pretty decent so make sure you sign him up, but not for £300
a week. The ground can be expanded by 4000.
-----------------
Weston-super-Mare
-----------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Woodspring Park, 3000
Media Expectations: 15th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 11
Estimated Value: £120k
Finances: £9651
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3579
Current Wage Total: £3955
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Ryan Northmore £350, Lee Jarman £350, Marvin Brown £300
Top 3 Most Valuable: Marvin Brown £8k, Marc McGregor £8k, Scott Walker £6k
Good young/reserve players: Michael Gillan
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: One of more boring teams. No one of any real note either good or bad.
You do have to question Northmore and Jarman's wages.
-------
Yeading
-------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: The Warren, 3500
Media Expectations: 18th
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £130k
Finances: £204 (really!)
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3773
Current Wage Total: £4035
Key Players: Nevin Saroya
Top 3 Earners: Darti Brown, Davis Haule, Danny Allen-Page all £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Jefferson Louis £12k, Liam Collins £3k, Ben Huddell £2k
Good young/reserve players:
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Another pretty boring team. Get rid of Jefferson Louis, the £12k you
could get for him is better than what he could provide you in footballing terms
Sort out the reserve team budget which stands at £850 a week for just eight
players. A general wage cut wouldn't hurt here as most players are slightly
overpaid.
+----------------------------+
|s3.3 Scottish Third Division|
+----------------------------+
There are no clubs in the scottish third division without a manager at the
start of the game.
+------------+
|s3.3.1 Rules|
+------------+
- 36 Games (teams play each other four times);
- No player restrictions;
- 5 subs named, 3 used;
- League sorted by goal difference then goals scored;
- Top team promoted to second division;
- 2nd-4th qualify for playoff semi final;
- one match ban for every 16 points;
- one match ban for every red card;
- maximum of five domestic based loans per season.
+------------+
|s3.3.2 Clubs|
+------------+
-------------
Albion Rovers
-------------
Reputation: 1500
Stadium + Capacity: Cliftonhill, 2496
Media Expectations: 10th
Board / Fan Expectations: Invest in new players and rebuild the squad x2
Squad Size: 16
Training Facilities: 8
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £80k
Finances: -£1499
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £1236
Current Wage Total: £1994
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Lee Sichi £70, Scott Friel £65, Tom Lennox £60
Top 3 Most Valuable: Scott Chaplain £1k, Scott Friel £290, Ian Chisholm £130
Good young/reserve players: Alex Cleary
Difficulty (/10): 9
Notes: Utterly abysmal side. Cleary is the only person worth retaining. No one
in the rest of the team is genuinely even of third division standard. So bad
they are even described by former East Stirling manager Dennis Newall as
"f*****g s****e"! Says it all really. Really impossible to say what to do with
this team, just hope for the best. If you're going to go for any of the free
players on my list do so quickly and go for all of them, you don't want to go
for one or two whom you think you would like and find that some other
unscrupulous third division team, or worse, junior team snaps them up
because the player thinks you're not good enough. It is essential to get rid
of the youth players in this squad unless by some miracle there is someone
worth keeping (there won't be) to do your bewst to avoid slipping further into
the red. There is no one worth anything here, but if you can get a grand or two
for Chaplain then do it. Other than that your only hope for getting back into
the black is to land a lucky away cup draw against Rangers or Celtic.
--------
Arbroath
--------
Reputation: 1950
Stadium + Capacity: Gayfield Park, 4131
Media Expectations: 4th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position / safe position
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 7
Youth Facilities: 18
Estimated Value: £200
Finances: £3493
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £2267
Current Wage Total: £2830
Key Players: Barry Sellars,
Top 3 Earners: Barry Sellars £275, Robbie Raeside £200, Jay Stein £200
Top 3 Most Valuable: Barry Sellars £8k, Alan Brazil £3k, Kevin McMullin £2k
Good young/reserve players: Bryan Scott, William McCraw, Willie Martin
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Wage cuts for the three top earners plus McCulloch and McGlashan could
save you £450-£500 a week. Bryan Scott is a promising young striker, but
William McCraw is the real star talent in this team and should be kept hold of
at any cost. Bring Willie Martin out of the reserves as a good backup striker.
The ground can be expanded by 10000 but 4131 has already been used. This club
has excellent youth training facilities for this level though so you should
definitely look to take advantage of this if you are planning a long game with
this club by sorting yourself out with some decent youth coaches. In fact
Arbroath have the best youth training facilities in the league so it you are
planning a long game with them you will want to get in some decent youth
coaches and take advantage of this.
---------------
Berwick Rangers
---------------
Reputation: 2100
Stadium + Capacity: Shielfield Park, 4131
Media Expectations: 2nd
Board / Fan Expectations: Win promotion / respectable league position
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 11
Estimated Value: £90k
Finances: -£4199
Transfer Budget: £1200
Wage Budget: £2331
Current Wage Total: £2089
Key Players: Denis McLaughlin, Gary Wood, Calvin Shand
Top 3 Earners: Stuart Fraser £110, Gary O'Connor £100, Grant McNicoll £100
Top 3 Most Valuable: Gary Wood £3k, Calvin Shand £1k, Grnat McNicoll £1k
Good young/reserve players: Sean Simpson, Scott Lucas
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: This club is in trouble. On top of the £4k+ debt in the bank they also
have a loan debt of £100k. Denis McLaughlin's loan is only until the end of
December. He's quite decent and you're not paying anything for him so why not
try to extend it until the end of the season. The ground can be expanded by
2000. A club for those with considerable experience only, as the board seem to
have a considerably over-inflated opinion of the stature of the club.
---------
Dumbarton
---------
Reputation: 2250
Stadium + Capacity: Strathclyde Homes Stadium, 2100
Media Expectations: 1st
Board / Fan Expectations: Win the third division / respectable league position
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £100k
Finances: -£6750
Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £3635
Current Wage Total: £3654
Key Players: Stephen Dobbie
Top 3 Earners: Mark Dempsie £180, Andy Greggan £150, Stephen Grindlay £150
Top 3 Most Valuable: Chris Boyle £410, David Bagan £370 Mark Dempsie £90
Good young/reserve players:
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: The reserves wage bill is nearly £1500 a week for a large number of
players none of whom you actually want or need. Sort this out straight away.
If you don't get another keeper in quick make sure you sign Paul Moody who is
out of contract at the start. He's OK. Stephen Dobbie the loan signing is
simply awesome for this level. His loan runs out in December so do whatever it
takes to extend this to the end of the season. The ground can be expanded by
4000 but 2100 of this has already been used. Even with the excellent Stephen
Dobbie this is a big ask when nothing but silverware will suffice, especially
when the club is in precarious financial straits. The club chairman is,
understandably willing to listen to offers so you might get lucky and have
your finances sorted out pretty early on in the game.
---------
East Fife
---------
Reputation: 1750
Stadium + Capacity: New Bayview, 1995
Media Expectations: 7th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position / invest and rebuild squad
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 2
Youth Facilities: 6
Estimated Value: £75
Finances: £15820
Transfer Budget: £10000
Wage Budget: £1953
Current Wage Total: £2415
Key Players: Craig O'Reilly, Scott Crabbe,
Top 3 Earners: Scott Crabbe £500, Neil Jablonski £200, Elliot Smith £80
Top 3 Most Valuable: John Dodds £3k, Neil Jablonski £3k, Craig Smart £2k
Good young/reserve players: none
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: £395 a week being wasted in the reserves. No big deal really but you
wont want any of the players. Craig O'Reilly is pretty decent on loan and he's
there for the season so you don't need to do any thing here cos you're not
paying for him! Re-negotiate Scott Crabbe's contract. Even though he is player
coach £500 a week is ridiculous. He's OK but he's 37. Re-negotiate for no more
than £150. Jablonski's wage should also be halved. This club has pretty solid
finances for a team at this level and a sensible wage structure should ensure
that you stay in the black. The best challenge for this club is to try to
achieve the legendary result of East Fife 5 - Forfar 4! The club chairman is,
understandably willing to listen to offers so you might get lucky and have
your finances sorted out pretty early on in the game.
-------------
East Stirling
-------------
Reputation: 2050
Stadium + Capacity: Firs Park, 781 (See notes).
Media Expectations: 6th (See notes).
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position / safe league position
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 12 (See notes).
Youth Facilities: 12 (See notes).
Estimated Value: £65k (See notes).
Finances: -£8199
Transfer Budget: £1
Wage Budget: £320
Current Wage Total: £1093 (See notes).
Key Players: Gary Wild, Stephen Learmouth
Top 3 Earners: Chris Morrison £35, Stephen Learmouth £25, everyone else £10.
Top 3 Most Valuable: Andy Brand £2k, Derek Ure £1k, Joe Boyle £470
Good young/reserve players: Mark Molloy, Ryan Campbell
Difficulty (/10): 11!
Notes: Ah! East Stirling, my second team. Such a shame that the programmers got
pretty much all the information about the club wrong. If you're playing as them
you may or may not wish to amend the details (those you can at least). Firstly
the capacity of Firs Park is 1880 not 781. The seating at the ground is 200 not
245. The figures for facilities and youth setup are vastly overrated. I
wouldn't wish to slight East Stirlingshire by saying they should both be 1 but
I certainly would not have either of them higher than 3. The estimated value of
the club is actually closer to £1m as the club own their own ground. In fact,
this is one of the major bones of contention at the club, with the hardcore
fans convinced that the only reason Chairman Alan Mackin and his family (who
are by far and away the biggest shareholders) still maintain any interest in
the club is that they wish to sell the ground, the clubs only asset, split the
proceeds between the majority shareholders (i.e. the Mackin clan) and then
disappear leaving the club with very little money from the sale as the
remaining shareholders own very little in terms of percentage. The club would
effectively be homeless.
Furthermore, since 2003 chairman Alan Mackin instituted a £10 a week wage
policy. As such all players on salaries greater than that need to have them
reduced to £10 (I suppose regardless what the board say you should never offer
a player more than £10 until there is a takeover ;-) ). The average crowd at
Firs Park to Feb 07 is actually 313 (don't pretend you don't want that extra
cash!). Also how on earth could the media predict that East Stirling would
finish 6th?!? This is the team that finished bottom of the third division
the last two years and only a win on the last day of last season saved them
the ignominy of having the worst ever results in the Scottish league. Should be
tenth without question.
The wage budget is right and the reason you're so far over it is because the
randomly generated youth players are all on a lot more than the first team
players and their £10 a week salary!. This is a pain as this is one of the very
few clubs where most of these players are not demonstrably worse than the real
guys! Still you'll have to get rid of them if you want any chance of getting
back into the red.
Players wise the only person worth keeping is Learmouth. Transfer list everyone
else and accept all offers. You might as well keep Wild as you're not paying
anything for his loan and even though he is really not that great you should
try to extend his loan beyond december as to be honest he is probably going to
be better than any other defenders who would be interested in joining the club.
Furthermore the expectations are grossly overrated. I dont believe there is a
genuine East Stirling fan out there who believes the club will escape the
lower reaches of the third division in the next few years. Also the board must
be expecting something approaching a miracle if they think you are going to
finish anywhere other than the bottom few places! Nevertheless, those are the
expectations so this is strictly a team for the experts amongst you!
The club chairman is, understandably willing to listen to offers so you might
get lucky and have your finances sorted out pretty early on in the game.
----------
Elgin City
----------
Reputation: 1650
Stadium + Capacity: Borough Briggs, 3927
Media Expectations: 8th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position / invest and rebuild squad
Squad Size: 16
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 13
Estimated Value: £150k
Finances: -£192024
Transfer Budget: £5
Wage Budget: £3120
Current Wage Total: £2852
Key Players: none
Top 3 Earners: Mark Johnston £250, Steve Mackay £150, Adam Nelson £150
Top 3 Most Valuable: Mark Johnstone £3k, Chris finnigan £3k, Steve Mackay £2k
Good young/reserve players: none
Difficulty (/10): 10
Notes: God knows how you would save a team this much in debt when there is so
little money available at this level. Selling your players would normally be a
good idea but it would barely make a dent in you debt. Personally I don't think
it matters whether you get rid of players or not. I would just carry on
blithely ignoring the debt and pray for a miracle. Chris Finnigan might be good
but that's about it! Pretty much the only good thing to say about Elgin is
that their ground can be expanded by a whopping 20000, how they would afford it
is anyone's guess though! This club has excellent youth training
facilities for this level though so you should definitely look to take
advantage of this if you are planning a long game with this club by sorting
yourself out with some decent youth coaches. Quite how the fans expect you to
invest in new players when the club is nearly £200k in the red is a mystery to
me but at least it means they won't give you to much hassle if things aren't
going so well but given that the chairman apparently loves the club, you'd
think he would show this love and put some of his money where his mouth is!
--------
Montrose
--------
Reputation: 1550
Stadium + Capacity: Links Park, 3292
Media Expectations: 9th
Board / Fan Expectations: Invest in new players and rebuild the squad x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £65k
Finances: £5341
Transfer Budget: £3000
Wage Budget: £1624
Current Wage Total: £2139
Key Players: Scott Michie, John Adam, Chris McLeod
Top 3 Earners: Greig Henslee £250, Craig Higgins £150, Chris McLeod £150
Top 3 Most Valuable: Scott Michie £10k, Craig Higgins £1k, Greig Henslee £1k
Good young/reserve players: Stephen Fraser
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Greig Henslee is a promising player and worth holding onto but he could
do with a wage cut to bring him down to the level of the other decent players
at the club. Try not to be tempted to cash in on Michie's price tag (at least
not for less than £30k. Also Higgins can turn into a quality defender that
could play at least a couple of divisions higher if he is coached properly. The
ground can be expanded by 10000, but 1334 of this has been used to put in some
seating. A better team than Albion Rovers. Couple this with the fact that no
one associated with the club expects you to do well makes this a decent team if
you are inexperienced in the world of lower league management.
------------
Queen's Park
------------
Reputation: 2000
Stadium + Capacity: Hampden Park, 52500 (See notes).
Media Expectations: 5th
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable / safe league position
Squad Size: 16
Training Facilities: 16
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £15.75m
Finances: £2061045
Transfer Budget: £313665
Wage Budget: £1698
Current Wage Total: £1087
Key Players: None
Top 3 Earners: Johnny Whelan £150, Robert Dunn £150, Richard Sinclair £100
Top 3 Most Valuable: Frankie Carroll £3k, Shaun Molloy £2k, Mark Ferry £1k
Good young/reserve players: David Crawford, Richard Bowers.
Difficulty (/10): 3
Notes: Make no mistake, this is THE team to start off with if you want to
experience lower league management. Admittedly the game does make quite a major
mistake with the ground in the sense that when Queen's Park play at Hampden
most of the ground is actually closed and supporters are only allowed in
certain areas, so you might want to create a new ground in the editor with a
reduced capacity but it's up to you. I suppose if Queen's Park got into the SPL
then they would make more use of the ground.
Squad wise they are woeful even for the third division. £250 a week can be
saved by free transferring the out of contract players and several player are
actually on £0 a week! Get rid of anyone you can bar the two good young players
(though they are really not that good either).
Though the wage budget is quite restrictive the amount of money you have means
you should be able to hoover up the cream of the third division players from
other clubs and have little trouble getting promoted. Be aware though that the
club has an £8.5m loan debt.
One other change you might want to make to the database is that the reserve and
youth teams do not in fact play at Hampden. They play at a ground called
Lesser Hampden which is in fact right next door
(http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=55.825663,-4.255518&spn=0.002281,0.005
032&t=h&om=1) this has a capacity of 1000. You might wish to create this ground
. To be honest this is a really interesting club in real life and I recommend
you check out their Wikipedia article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Park_F.C.
The history of Lesser Hampden is also quite interesting.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Hampden). It was originally a farm but was
converted to a football ground when Queen's Park wanted somewhere for their
lower teams to play. The club actually kept the original farmhouse and utilised
it as their club house and changing rooms and still do. There was some concern
during World War II that it would be re-converted to a farm if there was a
national food shortage but this never happened. A few years ago the club also
had to fork out £20000 to clear up the ground when it was discovered that the
earth was contaminated with Chromium. The fact that they could afford to do
this is evidence that their in game finances are accurate.
This club has far and away the best training facilities in the division so make
sure you get some decent coaches in and set up a decent training regime to
take advantage of them.
If you needed any more reason to have a go with the Chelsea of the Scottish
third division, then you need look no further than the fact that even though
they have all this cash available, they don't expect you to do anything other
than languish in mid table mediocrity.
-------------
Stenhousemuir
-------------
Reputation: 2000
Stadium + Capacity: Ochilview Park, 3776
Media Expectations: 3rd
Board / Fan Expectations: Respectable league position x2
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 4
Youth Facilities: 15
Estimated Value: £140k
Finances: £5378
Transfer Budget: £1
Wage Budget: £1045
Current Wage Total: £1746
Key Players: John Baird, Ian MacSween, John Paul McBride
Top 3 Earners: Brian McLaughlin, Willie McCulloch £150, David Templeton £40
Top 3 Most Valuable: Ian MacSween £6k, Shaun Dillon £3k, David Maurie £3k
Good young/reserve players: David Templeton, Paul Murphy, Tommy Sinclair
Difficulty (/10): 5
Notes: This is probably the second best team in the division after Queen's
Park. The first team is in the main strong. John Baird is a decent loan signing
but is only on loan until January so you might want to extend this. David
Templeton is a promising young player. £140 a week can be saved by getting rid
of the four out of contract players in the reserves and first team, you don't
need them. This club has excellent youth training facilities for this level
though so you should definitely look to take advantage of this if you are
planning a long game with this club by sorting yourself out with some decent
youth coaches.
+-----------------------+
|s3.4 Italian Serie C2A|
+-----------------------+
There are no clubs in Serie C2/A without a manager at the start of the game.
+-------------+
|s3.4.1 Rules|
+-------------+
- 34 games;
- No player restrictions;
- 7 subs named, 3 used;
- Positions decided by results, goal difference, goal scored;
- Top team promoted to Serie C1;
- 2nd-5th playoff for promotion;
- 14th-17th qualify for playout;
- Bottom team is relegated;
- Four yellow cards = 1 match ban;
- Next four yellows = 1 match ban;
- next three yellows = 1 match ban;
- next two yellows = 1 match ban;
- next yellow = 1 match ban;
- one red card = 1 match ban
+-------------+
|s3.4.2 Clubs|
+-------------+
----------
Alto Adige
----------
Reputation: 2000
Stadium + Capacity: Marco Druso, 3000
Media Expectations: 13th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 22
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £170k
Finances: £50291
Transfer Budget: £5476
Wage Budget: £8154
Current Wage Total: £7286
Key Players: David Bianchini, Paulo Goisis, Andrea Servili
Top 3 Earners: Davide Carfora £1200, Alessandro Chiurato £850, Bianchini £550
Top 3 Most Valuable: Davide Carfora £35k, Chiurato £26k, Bianchini £12k
Good young/reserve players: Davide Bortolotti, Massimiliano Dal Piaz
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Ground can be expanded by 3500. Carfora needs a big wage cut, around
half, he's not bad, but there are several players who are better than him. The
two youth players listed are pretty good for this league already and, Dal Piaz
in particular, can develop into pretty decent players.
--------------
Bassano Virtus
--------------
Reputation: 1750
Stadium + Capacity: Rino Mercante, 3900
Media Expectations: 13th
Board / Fan Expectations: fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 22
Training Facilities: 9
Youth Facilities: 11
Estimated Value: £170
Finances: £193771
Transfer Budget: £19238
Wage Budget: £18686
Current Wage Total: £14213
Key Players: Tommaso Peresson, Daniele Pepe, Emanuele Berrettoni
Top 3 Earners: Emanuele Berrettoni £2.6k, Paolo Tommei, Dalle Nogari both £800
Top 3 Most Valuable: Berrettoni £180k, Giovanni Abate £24k, Alessio Pirri £24k
Good young/reserve players: Lorenzo Staiti
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Berrettoni could do with a hefty pay cut. He's a pretty good player at
this level but he is on nearly three times as much as the next player and is not
really worth it overall. You might as well get rid of the loan signings even
though you're not paying for them as they are all awful and some of the worst
players in you side. The team is afiliated with Padova and Vicenza. Not a bad
side for your first forays into lower league management in Italy. A reasonable
squad and certainly not one that should be at the bottom of the league come
the end of the season.
--------
Biellese
--------
Reputation: 2000
Stadium + Capacity: Alessandro Lamarmora, 5000
Media Expectations: 10th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against / stay clear of relegation
Squad Size: 22
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £190k
Finances: £197872
Transfer Budget: £18480
Wage Budget: £12738
Current Wage Total: £11460
Key Players: Costantino Borneo, Enrico Antoioni, Marcello Koffi Teia
Top 3 Earners: Koffi Teia £1.1k, Luca Mordenti £925, Gianluca Soragna £900
Top 3 Most Valuable: Enrico Antonioni £24k, Mirko Monetta £22k, Massaro £20k
Good young/reserve players: Bortolotto (Co-owned by Chievo)
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Lose all the loan players except Bottone who, despite being a little old
is still a useful striker, the others are all weak. The club is affiliated with
Genoa. Even though Bortolotto is not that great at the moment, don't get rid
of him just yet as he has potential to be effective at this level.
-----------
Carpenedolo
-----------
Reputation: 2000
Stadium + Capacity: Mundial 82, 2500
Media Expectations: 5th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe mid table position x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 20
Estimated Value: £110k
Finances: £381586
Transfer Budget: £103448
Wage Budget: £16247
Current Wage Total: £13728
Key Players: Giacomo Lorenzini, Luca Galuppi, Damien Florian
Top 3 Earners: Galuppi, Zubin, Florian all £1.1k
Top 3 Most Valuable: Galuppi £26k, Altebrando £26k, Zubin £22k
Good young/reserve players: Claudio Sisto, Federico Longo
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: This team is in a pretty good position financially. You still have a bit
of cash in the wage budget, and that coupled with a decent transfer budget
should enable you to bring in a couple of pretty decent players should you wish.
Zubin is not really up to it to be honest and you might wish to cash in on him.
Also don't be afraid to lose your half interest in Altebrando as he is a pretty
poor keeper. The club is affiliated with Brescia. Great Youth facilities means
that you should definitely get hold of the best youth coaches you can ASAP and
sort out a decent training regime to take full advantage of these facilities.
-----
Cuneo
-----
Reputation: 1500
Stadium + Capacity: F.lli Aldo e Riccardo Paschiero, 4000
Media Expectations: 9th
Board / Fan Expectations: Stay clear of relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 8
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £210k
Finances: £144970
Transfer Budget: £14542
Wage Budget: £12663
Current Wage Total: £11098
Key Players: Andrea Fabbrini, Mirko Graffoni, Matteo Solari
Top 3 Earners: Andrea Fabbrini £1.9k, Matteo Solari £725, A A Taribello £650
Top 3 Most Valuable: Andrea Fabbrini £110k, Matteo Solari £30k, Riva £30k
Good young/reserve players: Samuel Enam Mba, Emanuele Ferrari
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Rossi is a player with potential, but you won't see any of it during his
season long loan so you might as well get rid of him. You might also want to
have a good think about Fabbrini's future. He is on more tha ntwice the salary
of his nearest rival, and whilst he is a decent player for this level, you
could get someone just as good if not better for less than the £110k you should
be able to get for him. The ground can be expanded by 6700 and the club is
affiliated with Torino.
-----
Lecco
-----
Reputation: 1250
Stadium + Capacity: Rigamonti-Ceppi, 5000
Media Expectations: 15th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 24
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £200k
Finances: £203850
Transfer Budget: £22426
Wage Budget: £10917
Current Wage Total: £8978
Key Players: Jose La Cagnina, Andrea Mussoni
Top 3 Earners: La Cagnina £800, Enrico Bartolini £675
Top 3 Most Valuable: Jose La Cagnina £55k, Elia Chianese £30k, Narducci £16k
Good young/reserve players: Elia Chianese, Michele Della Marca
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Again this is a club that has a load of appalling loan players on its
books. You're not paying anything for them but they're useless so you might as
well let them go. This club had a sensible wage structure and shouldn't go into
the red too quickly if you're careful, but the league position predicted by the
media seems a little excessive, for what is not a very great squad. The best
thing about this team is they are affiliated to AC Milan, so make as much
use of that as you can! The chairman is willing to listen to offers so you
might see a takeover pretty soon in the game which could prove a big boost as
the club is in quite a decent position financially.
-------
Legnano
-------
Reputation: 2000
Stadium + Capacity: Giovanni Mari, 6700
Media Expectations: 8th
Board / Fan Expectations: Stay clear of relegation / safe mid table position
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities:5
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £300k
Finances: £205152
Transfer Budget: £21238
Wage Budget: £18216
Current Wage Total: £16069
Key Players: Loic Lumbilla Kand, Stefano Avogadri, Dario Bettini
Top 3 Earners: Fabio Moscelli £1.1k, Pedro Kamata and Carmine Giordano both £1k
Top 3 Most Valuable: Pedro Kamata £35k, Fabio Moscelli £35k, Arioli £24k
Good young/reserve players: Andrea Avolio, Lorenzo Marietti
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Kand and Avogadri are decent loan signings and are two of the best
players in your squad so hold onto them. Legati is a pretty woeful sweeper so
you can terminate his deal. the main thing you need to do hear is sign at
least one more keeper. Gianelli and La Macchia wouldn't even cut it at East
Stirling.
---------
Lumezzane
---------
Reputation: 2750
Stadium + Capacity: Nuovo Stadio Comunale, 5000
Media Expectations: 2nd
Board / Fan Expectations: Win Serie C2/A / invest in new players and rebuild
Squad Size: 17
Training Facilities: 8
Youth Facilities: 15
Estimated Value: £325k
Finances: £535398
Transfer Budget: £275862
Wage Budget: £19851
Current Wage Total: £20508
Key Players: Pietro Marco Strada, Emanuele Bruni, Mario Rebecchi
Top 3 Earners: Pinamonte £2.3k, Rebecchi £2k, Bruni £1.9k
Top 3 Most Valuable: Mario Rebecchi £250k, Morini £120k, Bruni £50k
Good young/reserve players: Mario Rebecchi, Daniele Pedruzzi,
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: You need to sort out the wage budget if you want to take advantage of
the decent transfer budget. Around £1500 a week can be saved in the usual way
by immediately offloading all the rubbish youth players, but you should bear in
mind that this team has decent youth facilities so you might want to take a
closer look before making any decision. Also have a look at Biancospino in the
reserves as he is eating up £1.1k a week on his own and you have a much
better left winger in Rebecchi (though he is out for up to two months at the
start of the game. You might also want to think about cashing in on Morini.
He's worth a lot at this level and is punching above his weight in my opinion.
The club is affiliated with Brescia.
There is clearly a major breakdown in communications at this club given the
great disparity between the fan and board expectations. There is absolutely no
way that this club should be down the bottom of the league at the end of the
season, but, whilst they are strong, it's a lot to expect that the team will
definitely finish in the number one position. A decent challenge, but not one
that you will necessarily need a vast amount of experience to succeed at.
-----------
Montichiari
-----------
Reputation: 1750
Stadium + Capacity: Romeo Menti, 3000
Media Expectations: 12th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £110k
Finances: £173289
Transfer Budget: £16868
Wage Budget: £15047
Current Wage Total: £12793
Key Players: Daniele Semenzato, Francesco Cigardi, Daniele Capelloni
Top 3 Earners: Marco Pierobon £850, Zaccagnini and Cigardi both £775
Top 3 Most Valuable: Cigardi £35k, Fusari £26k, Pierobon £18k
Good young/reserve players: Daniele Semenzato,
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Nearly £2k a week can be saved by losing the youth players who are
rubbish as usual. Do not under any circumstances let Semenzato go, even if his
co-owners Inter start sniffing around as he is the best player you have at the
moment and also the most promising. The club is affiliated with Brescia.
-------
Nuorese
-------
Reputation: 1400
Stadium + Capacity: Franco Frogheri, 7000
Media Expectations: 16th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 20
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 15
Estimated Value: £275k
Finances: £59640
Transfer Budget: £41379
Wage Budget: £19863
Current Wage Total: £16828
Key Players: Gianluca Festa, Luis Airton Barroso Oliveira, Thomas Mandl
Top 3 Earners: Oliveira £3900, Mandl £1900, Gennari £750
Top 3 Most Valuable: Thomas Mandl £85k, Gennari £35k, Ferraresi £30k
Good young/reserve players: none
Difficulty (/10): 7
Notes: This team is financially in a precarious position. Whilst Oliveira is
the best player you have at the moment there is no way he is worth £4k a week
especially at his age. Mandl is a quality keeper and is worth £2k, but Oliveira
should at least be brought down to Mandl's level or offloaded as the financial
state of the club will not allow you to fork out £16k a month for one player.
The key thing with this team is to find some decent youth, all the best players
you have are way on the wrong side of thirty, including former Middlesborough
favourite Gianluca Festa. The chairman is not in love with the club so there
is an outside possibility that a takeover might occur in the first few seasons.
-----
Olbia
-----
Reputation: 1500
Stadium + Capacity: Bruno Nespoli, 5000
Media Expectations: 17th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 22
Training Facilities: 3
Youth Facilities: 5
Estimated Value: £190
Finances: £31328
Transfer Budget: £30827
Wage Budget: £13844
Current Wage Total: £13490
Key Players: Giordano Meloni, Mattia Mastrolilli, Fabio Filippi
Top 3 Earners: Masrtolilli £1.1k, Meloni £875, Ugo Capello £825
Top 3 Most Valuable: Meloni £45k, Mastrolilli £40k, Manca £26k
Good young/reserve players: Marco Fina
Difficulty (/10): 8
Notes: A difficult team to get to grips with, they have a much bigger squad
than their finances can hope to support. Trimming the squad and the wage bill
is the order of the day here. Polverino should go as he has risible technical
stats as does Manca, Pipito, Castioni, Orlandi and pretty much everyone worth
less than them can be sold.
----------
Pergocrema
----------
Reputation: 1250
Stadium + Capacity: Giuseppe Voltini, 3700
Media Expectations: 14th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 21
Training Facilities: 0 (See notes).
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £190k
Finances: £55809
Transfer Budget: £5435
Wage Budget: £10468
Current Wage Total: £9760
Key Players: Federico Pettina, Mauro Belotti, Mario Tacchinardi
Top 3 Earners: Mario Bonomi £650, Lorenzo Crocetti £625, Claudio Salvi £575
Top 3 Most Valuable: Lorenzo Crocetti £55k, Fedrico Pettina £28k, Marconi £24k
Good young/reserve players: Stefano Gusmini
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: With regard to the training facilities being listed as 0, this is not a
joke, nor does it mean that the training facilities are randomly allocated at
the start of the game, it literally means that the club have NO training
facilities at all!?!? You might want to get on the case with this one! You can
also lose loan signings Rossi, Sorlini and Provenzi as they are all rubbish.
You'll definitely need to sort yourself out with another goalkeeper too as
Girelli is woeful and isnt going to be getting any better either. The club is a
feeder club for Atalanta and Genoa and a parent club of Bergamo Cenate.
------------
Portosummaga
------------
Reputation: 1000
Stadium + Capacity: Pier Giovanni Mechia, 2000
Media Expectations: 18th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 21
Training Facilities: 6
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £150k
Finances: £58864
Transfer Budget: £5878
Wage Budget: £11155
Current Wage Total: £10614
Key Players: Sergio Marcon, Adrian Madaschi, Andrea Federici
Top 3 Earners: Adrea federici £950, Sergio Marcon £875, Michele Pietranera £775
Top 3 Most Valuable: Sergio Marcon £70k Cristian Adami £35k, Federici £30k
Good young/reserve players:
Difficulty (/10): 8
Notes: A very difficult team to manage, their loan signings are useless and
should be got rid of and you will need to search for a new goalie ASAP. Adami
is a solid defender though and you should do your best to hold onto him. The
ground can be expanded by 2500. If you take over this side you will definitely
be pleased with all the slack the board and fans are willing to grant you! The
chairman is only 'happy' at the club so keep an eye out for a potential
takeover.
------------
Pro Vercelli
------------
Reputation: 2250
Stadium + Capacity: Silvio Piola, 10700
Media Expectations: 4th
Board / Fan Expectations: Safe league position x2
Squad Size: 19
Training Facilities: 7
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £500k
Finances: £205952
Transfer Budget: £19881
Wage Budget: £25145
Current Wage Total: £26506
Key Players: Maurizio Ganz, Mirko Benin, Adriano Panepinto
Top 3 Earners: Massimo Carrera £4.5k, Mirko Benin £2.6k, Christian Scalzo £2.6k
Top 3 Most Valuable: Andrea Boscolo £50k, Mirko Benin £45k, Bernardi £35k
Good young/reserve players: Alberto Serafini, Maurizio Rossi,
Difficulty (/10): 4
Notes: This is a decent team with a good mix of youth and experience. The club
is financially sound, but some of the players are taking home a little too much
cash. Massimo Carrera is a good defender for this level but he is way, way past
his prime and should not be taking home £18k a month! Scalzo at £2.6k a week is
probably on a grand a week too much for a player of his age at this level and if
you could get rid of the same offMirko Benin's salary and halve Carrera's then
you would have nearly £4k a week to spend on salaries for new players. As seems
to be the trend in this division the goalkeeping is woeful. Castagnone is
pretty poor but a servicable reserve keeper for this level, but he is the first
choice keeper here and his deputy Guarino is better off watching football at
this level than playing it!
---------
Sanremese
---------
Reputation: 1500
Stadium + Capacity: Comunale, 4800
Media Expectations: 11th
Board / Fan Expectations: Fight bravely against relegation x2
Squad Size: 18
Training Facilities: 9
Youth Facilities: 10
Estimated Value: £240k
Finances: £47135
Transfer Budget: £5139
Wage Budget: £10322
Current Wage Total: £9000
Key Players: Gregory Campi, Dino Giannascoli, Marco Vianello
Top 3 Earners: Marco Vianello £875, Daniele Federici and Gregory Campi both £775
Top 3 Most Valuable: Marco Vianello £100k, Dino Giannascoli £45k, Campi £40k
Good young/reserve players: none
Difficulty (/10):
Notes: Meh, this is one of those annoying teams that's not too bad and not too
good. Finances are unremarkable, players are unremarkable and they don't have
any potential stars in their ranks. I'd just avoid if I were you. Marco Vianello
isn't that bad but his finishing sucks so you might want to consider cashing in
on that £100k price tag and finding someone else. The chairman is not in love
with the club either so you may find a takeover occurring at some point in the
near future.
--------------
Sassari Torres
--------------
Reputation: 3000
Stadium + Capacity: Vanni Sanna, 12000
Media Expectations: 1st
Board / Fan Expectations: Achieve respectable results / invest and rebuild
Squad Size: 21
Training Facilities: 5
Youth Facilities: 10 plus youth academy
Estimated Value: £700k
Finances: £322407
Transfer Budget: £36208
Wage Budget: £16586
Current Wage Total: £16573
Key Players: Filippo Furiani, Salvatore Monaco, Alessandro Frau
Top 3 Earners: Furiani £2.8k, Frau £2.6k, Magnani £2k
Top 3 Most Valuable: Frau £120k, Furiani £75k, Monaco £40k
Good young/reserve players: Alessio Ciano
Difficulty (/10): 4
Notes: Sassari Torres are new to the league having been relegated from C1/B the
last season. They are a decent team however and have a decent set of loan siging
to backup their admittedly small proper squad. Do not under any circumstaces
let Alessio Ciano go as he is a great prospect for any club and could turn out
to be one of th best players outside of the top flight in a few years. The club
is affiliated to Juventus, so you may want to review who you have as your loan
signings and see if you want to take a gamble and get rid of some of them and
try to get some of Juve's reserves in instead. Sassari TOrres start the game
with a two point deduction, though this is clearly not that big a deal! The
media prediction is perhaps a bit bold, but you should do more than achieve
respectable results in this division with this squad and you should have no
trouble winning round the fans.
---------
Valenzana
---------
Reputation: 2500
Stadium + Capacity: Comunale, 2500
Media Expectations: 7th
Board / Fan Expe