Starting Strategy for Older Gw - Season 3

Season 3 - Moving towards youth

Transfers

After two seasons of signing experienced high profile players, I’d raised my reputation to 3.5 stars. This was boosted by the sale of Ari and subsequent reinvestment of that money in the slightly older, higher wage but excellent Barreto and the recruitment of solid defender Lima to replace an aging Walter Garcia. I then shifted to looking at excellent youth players who could come through at my side, buying regen midfielder Simon Hughes at wage auction, followed by ace left winger Tim Walton in private transfer and powerful striker Mark Richardson in transfer auction.

This trio of younger players marked a change in my clubs strategy from immediate success to planning for the future, merging youth with the experience to ensure a future for the club.

Towards the end of the third season, I sold Joe Mattock and Petr Jandra. With both of them coming to the end of their contracts, I felt I could cash in and reinvest the money. Mattock had been played out of position at right back, but fetched a cool £600,000, In Tim Walton, I had a ready made replacement for Jandra, and the £600,000 recouped represented a vast profit on the £170,000 paid and a huge reduction in projected wages (as he was due to increase to 15,000 from 5,000!)


Matches and Tactics

Unlike the departed Ari, Barretto possessed great pace, passing and dribbling skills, making him excellent in an attacking midfield position. I therefore shifted to a 4-6-0 formation to make best use of my 3 central attacking players – Barretto, Ernane and Hughes. This meant I was even tighter at the back and made my side notoriously hard to beat, especially with the

The AEFA closed and migrated to the EFA the following season. However, as I had qualified for the premiership the previous season, I was put straight into the EFA premiership. My main aim was to avoid relegation, my hopeful target was a top half finish. In the end, I managed to pull together a decent set of results and qualified for the Silver Cup in my third season in the gameworld – quite an achievement.

Stadium

I took a gamble and paid out a lot of money for a 3-Tier Azindale stand with 2 blocks of Astilla and 3 electronic advertising boards. I could have, and probably should have, gone for another 2-Tier stand, which would have been built quicker, resulting in quicker turnaround of profits. Additionally, I would have been able to afford (and require) another corporate block soon.

The reason I went against this as I was of the opinion that if I went down this route, I’d need to build a 3-Tier stand eventually regardless and my overall expenditure would be much higher for initial increase in income compared to cost.

Due to the long construction time, these improvements wouldn’t finish until the start of season 4.

Summary

- Reduced the average age by switching to purchasing top prospects rather than experienced players, keeping an eye out for relative ‘bargains’.
- Reached and retained 3.5 star team rep.
- Added a new, 3-Tier stand with ample space for future improvements.