Subject: I.1

Metaphor. I use Federal Express. They give Americans one day delivery but, for Canadians, since they are geographically further, it is only one day without the guarantee. The American and I pay the same for the service. I complain but Fed Ex tells me that is their policy and they won't change it. So, despite the fact that there are many other courier companies out there, that will charge me a bit more for one-day service, I choose to stay with Fed Ex and be the gloomy one on the corner and try to ruin the rest of their business in Canada. I admit, it is legal but it just brings everybody down.

In my opinion, a most significant savings can be had in staffing!
The integrity and functionality of all facilities can be maintained using a strict budget.
I set 1.5 million dollars as the ceiling using the following plan.
Maximum attributes:
Coaches at 85-95% effective in both attributes.
Physiotherapy at 65-75% effective in both attributes.
Managers at 85-95% effective in both attributes.
Custodians at 65-75% effective in both attributes.
lecturers at 55-65% effective in both attributes.
Directors at 85-95% effective in both attributes.
Physicians at 85-95% effective in attribute one,
and 10-20% effective in attribute two.
If you institute "no training" when each staff member reaches these objectives,
you will minimize your staff salaries without seriously affecting their performance!!
In addition, I make the hard decisions about who to keep when I am over the player limit,
and sell a player on the market before his contract is up so I get the maximum money!!

Anyways, moving on, that Czech goalie I grabbed was being sold from his source team to a farming team for their national team when I bought him. The guy who was supposed to pay too much seems to have fallen asleep. I got lucky and bought the guy when no one was watching and now they hate me but I don't care because they were CHEATING!! (wink and a smile!)

But I give it to the Czech's cause they can at least work together towards a common goal. That is why they have lots of teams and they are internationally successful. We in Canada just squabble and cut each other's throats in an effort to get to the top first. That's why I was going on about Marx...

Oh well. I have their goalie and I have a card to play. I look forward to making a decision. There are many layers to the nature of this game which makes it always so much fun!

Yeah, the insinuation that I am poisoning / ruining this game is laughable. The only one here arguing with others is you. Numerous managers have mentioned various aspects of the financials that are bad. You say you’re tired of the topic, start swearing at people, and then act self righteous. You want to point fingers about bringing the forums down, look in a mirror.

I hope someday you can learn to enjoy the game. Good day.

I like that idea. I have been going full speed at player training (100% on both attys), but it is true that the cost is exponential for those last few percentage points. It might be a more sound policy to give up on a few percentage points to keep better finances.

In terms of number of players though, I have not been able to keep under 40 players for quite a while. It's expensive, but if I do, I feel I will either not have enough older players (to play well for my team) or not enough youngsters to fill my training camps.

This is a lost cause. When Paul gets hot on an issue, he no longer sees the world as it is.

Keeping the number of players at or below the max is most challenging!!! I find it difficult to do myself, and still be aggressive. As that player number increases above the max, I find that workable solutions are more and more available and imperative. Sometimes the long term option for team health outweighs the desire to keep a good player. Each of us must determine the correct balance for our respective teams. As the arena building and facility improvements reach the maximums, there will be increasing amounts of funds available for player salaries and and FAs. In all four sports, I have had to restructure expenses to move forward. On occasion, I have had to cut expenses "to the bone" to have funds available to advance the franchise. I have sold players I really wanted to keep, sold off un-used arena assets, and cut or sold staff on many occasions in order to keep moving forward. Sometimes a step backward is necessary to facilitate more steps forward. The key is to keep our expectations in line with our ability to make them happen!!

Yes agreed. He also discounts everyone else’s opinions like his is the only one that matters and the everyone should love the status quo.

Yes, keeping the 40 players is tough. I highly recommend trimming down to 40 though. That will save you a ton of extra fees. The fees typically don’t make keeping extra players worth it.

I would recommend taking a hard look at your players, and cut down to 40. You don’t need to maximize your camp space. I run one camp mid season, after the first draft in case I get a good player, and that camp usually isn’t full. The second camp I run as soon as playoffs are done, and that one I fill.

It’s even harder in handball because you can only have 25, the salaries are much higher so the extra player fee goes crazy, and you need additional staff to keep facilities running as soon as you have more than 25.

Those are good points. I’ve been maxing out my staff for a long time, and cutting down on that expense would help.

I have never found training camps to require adding extra players. In most cases, the total number of players you can send is rarely higher than the number of 3-6CL players on the team. 1-2CL players do not achieve significant enough gains to warrant sending them to camp, even with the extra training bonuses awarded.

Well my team is quite young. I actually left out of TC a few 3/6s this season (mainly because they were Euros and I don't plan on keeping them much longer or worry they will cost me more if I invest in them).

The 40 limit is a good point though. I have definitely some players that are not extraordinary, but I find it tough to judge ahead of time... Even "ordinary" players can become great if they get all 4 6/6 potential seasons.

It is true I am paying a high price for this "russian roulette".

1 good rule I follow is, if the player won’t be 500 OR end of season at 16, don’t keep him. There are exceptions, like you get a super high AQ player end of season, but in general it’s a good rule of thumb. I saw on your team you have several 15 year olds around 300 OR and below 60 AQ. Cut them all. They won’t ever be on your team or worth anything, and they’re not worth the extra fees a day.

I thoroughly agree! In fact, I don't believe any 15 year old has any future value if his training percentage multiplied by his OR is less than 30,000.