Hi there!
I know I said that it would probably take me a week to do my pre-season but at the moment I can’t find a job so I’ve got more spare time than usual and I was forced to miss out a key part of pre-season, the transfers!
We all knew that Rangers finances were bad but there are a whole host of things that are squeezing them from all sides. At first I was given £5K wage budget which is useful even without any transfer kitty, but then I found out that Steven Whittaker, Steven Davis, and Majid Bougherra all needed new contracts which means that I’m now £10K a week over my budget!
Anyway, that’s enough griping. I’m sure you’d like to see how pre-season went for The Gers so here it is:
Good stuff. Much more pleasing than our bank balance. El-Hadji Diouf has persuaded me to not cancel his loan out of spite because he played really well, and to be honest, I ain’t got enough players to get rid of him. Naismith had a good pre-season too but unfortunately he and Lafferty got injured until the first game of the season. The Coleraine and Wigan games are my favourites so here they are:
Coleraine vs. Rangers — Friendly
Now that’s domination! They didn’t get a sniff and to be honest we probably should have hit double figures but once were 4-0 up my team just had some fun and started shooting from all kinds of angles, Whittaker nearly scored from the byline!
Rangers vs. Wigan Athletic — Friendly
This time Rangers are the blue bars and as you can see this was another convincing win. The reason I chose Wigan was that I needed to know I could beat ‘better’ opposition after the Frankfurt draw but didn’t want to get beaten in my last friendly so I chose The Latics as a happy medium.
Now onto transfers…sort of…
Players Out
This is it. My dealings for the summer. Not sure what you guys will make of it but Shinnie was sold to Derby because he was the only reserve player that anyone wanted, Cole was loaned out because although he was in the first team, he’ll benefit more from being a key part of Morton’s team, and Papac was sold for £1.1million since I needed to offload someone and he was my least needed player.
Not too exciting I know but what can I say, the club didn’t exactly give me the means to strengthen, if anything, with the sale of Papac my squad actually got weaker even if only a little.
Now onto the depressing bit, finances:
Finances which are surprisingly not that depressing, at least we’ve shown improvement. The bank balance has increased nicely since I took over and we almost made a £3million profit last month. Hopefully this will continue to improve with Champions League revenue that we’ll receive in the coming months.
Well that’s all for now! Since my season is about to start I promise that my posts will become more ordered and easier to follow, I know they’ve been a bit all over the place so far. I’ll post my season in 2 monthly sections with January getting it’s own separate section due to all the transfer activity that goes on. So until then…
Thanks for reading!
Darren Smith
2 августа, 2011 at 21:39
An excellent pre-season mate, some great results and you enjoyed great amounts of domination. You may not have signed anyone new but the squad is already capable of a push on all domestic fronts. Some more cash from Europe could see a better transfer budget next season and hopefully you’ll be able to start building your own vision then.
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:36
Thanks Darren!
Hopefully I won’t have to wait until next season to be given some money since we should have gained quite a lot by January from the Champions League. The problem is though even if they do give me some transfer budget I now only have £1.3K wage budget left so I’ll most likely have to convert transfer budget into wage budget…
JeanPaul Borg
2 августа, 2011 at 21:44
I hope you do well without Papac, he’s a pretty good player.
That was a pretty good pre-season and the finances aren’t that suckish. Looking to see how you play against Celtic and Dundee United.
Good Luck mate!
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:31
Well you’ll get to see how we did against Dundee Utd in my next post since they were my 1st game of the season. Don’t play Celtic for a while though. As for Papac I’ve got Foster and Wylde to replace him so he hasn’t been too much of a loss. :)
MRDNRA
2 августа, 2011 at 21:55
You’re definitely going to need as much CL revenue as you can get. On my numerous saves with Celtic I have often found myself losing between £1M and £2M per month, even with a relatively small (although larger thhan Ranger’s) wage budget of around £300K per week.
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:29
Surprisingly I’m yet to make a loss with Rangers, not sure why but the money always seems to come from somewhere. I do want to stay in the CL as long as possible though but if not I’ll aim for 3rd place which is more realistic considering I’ve now seen the group I’ll be in.
Sears
2 августа, 2011 at 22:51
Excellent set of pre season results , hopefully your Rangers team can continue the good work into the new campaign , good luck pal ! ;)
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:27
Thanks Sears I really hope they do continue the good form but it’ll be more difficult playing decent opposition week in week out :)
Martin
3 августа, 2011 at 09:44
Hey Dan!
Good Pre-season! Nice results and Diouf has definately been inform…hopefully that will continue for you. It’s always difficult when you have no funds to bring in players but the team is strong enough for top 2…champions of scotland…i hope so because the champions league play-offs can be cruel.
Looking forward to the League fixtures/cups…all the best fella….can wait to see your progress :)
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:16
Thanks Martin!
I hope we can be champions of Scotland and Celtic had to fight their way past Ajax to qualify for the CL, I could do without that!
Johnny Karp
3 августа, 2011 at 10:07
Very good friendly results there, I think that not bringing in any new faces has a good side as there won’t be any adaptation problems. Best of luck, looking forward to an exciting season!
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:14
Hi Johnny,
That is a benefit like you said but the problem is going to be injuries throughout the season. I didn’t mention it in the post but I ran out of forwards at one point!
Laxeyman
3 августа, 2011 at 10:34
Great pre season Dan, shame you couldn’t bring any new players in, but that’s the constraints you’re under I suppose. Good luck for the season!
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 12:12
Thanks Laxeyman, I’m hoping I’ll get some money to spend in January.
Ricky
3 августа, 2011 at 12:55
Hi fellas,
I just bought fm11 a few weeks back & decided to give it a go recently but seem to be having a few problems.
I’ve started by managing my beloved arsenal & wanted to strenghten the squad by sigining 2 or 3 players but it seems every enquiry i make is being dismissed! Its not as if im going after player out of my reach. I have a shortlist of around 20 players with the likes of m’vila, lukaku, subotic, hummels & vidal & i cant seem to get the other clubs to accept my offers no matter how high. Even when going after some reserve players from other clubs.
Im very close to getting shot of this game. If anybody could help me in anyway i’d be really gratefull.
Thanks.
Sears
3 августа, 2011 at 14:58
I assume your using patch 11.3 ? If so , M’Vila can be bought for around £14 million , Lukaku around £10 million , not sure about the other 3 . I’d guess you’d be paying in the region of around £15 to £20 million for Vidal , and I’ve never tried sign Hummels or Subotic before on FM ( Though their my central defense partners on Fifa :-D ) . I’d highly recommend Phil Jones , he can be purchased for around £14-£15 million pounds .
Now , when I bid for players , it’s a long negotiation . Let’s say I was bidding for Phil Jones . I’d begin at £10 million , Blackburn would reject , so my next bid would be £10.25 million , then £10.5 million and so on until we can agree to a reasonable price . After a few bids , let’s say , I’ve bid £11.5 million , Blackburn finally negotiate and want around £21 million . I then go back to them with an £11.75 million offer , then they would negotiate again , but this time they would lower their asking price , so then I’d bid £12 million and Blackburn would negotiate but lower the same asking price , you get the picture . Keep doing this as I’ve bought him many times for around £15 million . It’s a very slow process , but it could save you millions :-)
https://footballmanagerstory.com/scout/player-index/
There’s a list of wonderkids , it’s been added to continuously and you will definitely find some exciting gems there .
Hoped this helps buddy ;)
Ricky
3 августа, 2011 at 16:26
Thanks mate.
I’ll give it ago when a get a chance.. I notice theres a big difference between the valuation price & the actual buying fee!
Now i guess i’ll have to start all over again. :(
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 17:10
Hey Ricky,
Sorry for not noticing the comment but Sears couldn’t have answered it any better. Just follow his instructions and you’ll be able to sign anyone you want and over time will begin to memorise transfer fees for certain players which makes things so much easier :)
Darren Smith
3 августа, 2011 at 18:37
Don’t get shot of the game mate, its very realistic and a great simulation if you give it time. There’s a lot to adjust too and if you have any specific questions we are the guys to ask, Sears has already answered some player queries well but just drop by and comment if you need anything else. Honestly mate, you’ll become addicted if you give the game time.
FM Blogger
3 августа, 2011 at 15:44
Hello Dan,
Wise but risky move not to buy players but I think that with the poor economic structure of your team, you did the best choice. Besides, you debt is not that big, after a couple of years and if you manage to get qualified for the CL groups you will make your team financialy healthy. Good luck!
fmblogging.blogspot.com
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 17:06
I’m not too down about the finances since I’ve been Rangers on past FM games and they get sorted out relatively easy as long as you’re bringing in some kind of European revenue :)
vaibhavc
3 августа, 2011 at 15:54
Hey Dan
You have to ask the board for more wage budget, even if they reject it once or twice. Good to see you win against Wigan, I think they are the same as a high placed Scottish team.
Dan
3 августа, 2011 at 17:05
The club is that skint that there isn’t even an option for me to ask for any kind of funding at the moment, they’re all greyed out… :(
Kevin
3 августа, 2011 at 21:28
Hi Dan
Good results in preapring for the upcoming campaign and the lack of newcomers may benifit you with a more gelled team. Good luck!!
Dan
4 августа, 2011 at 15:45
Hey Kevin!
Hopefully the pre-season form can now be transferred into a successful season! :)
celticman
3 августа, 2011 at 21:54
A good pre-season Dan. Shame about the transfer situation though. Personally I think it’s a brave move letting Papac go but on the other hand, you’ve got to make money somehow. You’ve also re-signed key players in Whittaker, Bougerra and Davis so I think that’ll be a real help to you.
Dan
4 августа, 2011 at 15:44
Thanks celticman,
I had to sell Papac really since the re-signing of my key players made me go way over my wage budget and Papac wasn’t worth the £12K a week I was paying him in my opinion.
Sibo
4 августа, 2011 at 08:49
Consolidation is going to be the buzzword of your season. The squad is still head and shoulder above the rest of Scotland (bar Celtic) so you can expect success there, before trying to build up your European squad.
A word of advice, put McGregor on a five-year deal, I have seen him bought by clubs like Aston Villa in a couple of my games, and play for them regularly, so if he is that good he can definitely do a good job for you between the sticks in the Europa and Champion’s Leagues…
Good luck mate (but only in the game)! :D
Dan
4 августа, 2011 at 15:48
Hey Sibo, I’ll keep McGregor in mind for next season when I should get at least some kind of budget, even if it’s just a small one. I think that Rangers and Celtic are very even but Rangers seem to be more consistent in their results (from what I’ve seen so far) but things may get difficult when we get further into the season and tiredness sets in :)
Excessive
4 августа, 2011 at 16:53
Some great results pre-season Dan.. Just hope you can keep the momentum going and hit the ground running in the SPL and in Europe.
You’ll be hard pressed to do any worse than the current side are doing anyway ;)
Dan
4 августа, 2011 at 17:20
I was a pretty good pre-season and while I should hit the ground running in the SPL it’s just not going to happen in the CL and you’ll see why when I reveal the group I got.
You’re right though, unless I get relegated I can’t do any worse than Rangers are doing in real life!