Starting Strategy for Older Gw - Season 2

Season 2 – Establishing the Club

Expanding the squad

Wage auctions can be excellent value, or you can end up spending your money on players whose wages are far too high. I had a clear strategy – to sign higher reputation players to increase my clubs reputation. I picked up world famous DC Pepe and solid midfielder Pierre Ducasse in transfer auctions, and added to that Joe Mattock (DL), Eoin Powderley (DL – oops! Bid on both expecting to only get one!), Ernane (MC/AMC), Petr Jandra (MR/ML) and Yaser Yildriz (AMR/ST) through wage auctions. After this I had very little money left, but I had kept my wages relatively low in total (around £110,000), so I was still making a daily profit, despite stadium payments.

These signings really established my club, adding real quality for not that much in wages. The key was to sign players such as Ernane for under half their wage demand in wage auctions, and players such as Pepe for very small fees in transfer auctions, meaning I could punch above my weight in terms of quality on the pitch. It also marked the first time I managed to sign players in their prime. Yildriz, Jandra, Mattock and Powderly meant my first team was no longer almost retired!


Matches & Tactics

GK – Sippel

DL – Powderly
DR – Mattock
DC – Pepe
DC – Garcia

ML – Jandra
MR – Yildriz
MC – Ernane
MC – Ducasse
MC – Kurtulus

ST – Ari

With the signings I’d made, I kept the same formation, but this time around my midfield had far more bite with Jandra, Ernane and Yildriz. Defence was much stronger, too, although I had to play Mattock out of position at right back due to my mistake in signing two left backs!

I moved to the All Evening FA and was placed in Division 1A, directly below the premiership. Here I faced a mix of teams, some teams who had joined at the same time as me as well as some teams who were entering their 7th season! To my amazement, my team managed to push for promotion, eventually winning the league. Key to the success was the use of Ernane. I gave him very, very attacking instructions and a lot of freedom. He re-payed me by managing a goal every other game and really being the driving force behind all my attacking play.

Stadium

Although the signings of the previous season had left me relatively poor, I continued to add to my stadium, paying it off over 4 to 8 weeks. By paying it off over time, I always made a slight profit and my income steadily increased. By the end of the season, I had mostly filled out the 2-Tier Azindale stand with an equal mix of Disagio and Di Lusso seats. As I was starting to get some demand for corporate fans, I also paid out for a Flauta corporate box, which really boosted my income.

I funded this not through player sales, but by keeping wages low and paying the stadium costs over 4 to 8 weeks. This meant I always made a modest profit to reinvest into players

Summary

- Expanded the squad through a mixture of low-fee transfer auctions and low-wage wage auction purchases.
- Improved the quality throughout the squad with players in their prime.
- Still avoided private transfers – much better value to be had in transfer and wage auctions
- Reached 3 star team rep.
- Filled out my first stand with Di Lusso and Disagio
- Added a Flauta Corporate box.