Introduction to Player Transfers
Successful management of Duncastle requires you to make the right decisions about the Duncastle playing squad. Your Manager can work his magic on the training ground and in the dressing room. But ultimately it is you, the Chairman, that decides what playing assets the Manager has at his disposal, how much they are paid and how they are treated by the Club.
Remember too that player wages are the most significant operating cost of the Duncastle business. Typically a top division football club will spend over 50% of its ticket revenues on player wages. If you want to make Duncastle profitable, then you need to keep close control over wages, although the risk is that this would be at the expense of performance on the pitch.
You start the game with a First Team playing squad of 22 players, split between Goalkeepers (3), Defenders (7), Midfielders (6) and Forwards (6).
Duncastle also has a Reserve Team squad from which the Manager will select players if the First Team squad does not have enough players available. However, these players are unlikely to perform well given the demands of top-flight football, so it is sensible to ensure that the Manager has a sufficiently strong First Team squad from which to choose.
Take some time to look through the squad you inherit as the new Chairman. As you do so, you may want to ponder questions such as:
* Who are the stars that will bring success to the team and supporters through the turnstiles?
* Are there players who appear to be coming to the end of their useful playing careers in the top flight?
* Are wages a good guide to playing ability?
* Who might you look to sell in the transfer market to generate some cash and to make a saving on weekly wages?
* Do you want to encourage a youth policy as the future for Duncastle, or will your strategy be to rebuild the Club around a core of experienced, hard-nosed professionals?
* Where are the weaknesses and gaps in the current squad?
* Do you have a Manager with the right skills and experience to make best use of the existing squad?
* Will your chosen Manager be able to identify new signings that will enable the Board to invest successfully in developing the squad and achieving success on the pitch?
