How To Be Your Own Sugar Daddy (FMM19 Version)

Back in the 2017 version, I wrote an article on how to print money, titled How To Be Your Own Sugar Daddy.

The premise centred around buying either:

• a) players with high potential, but low value, from clubs smaller than you; or
• b) free agents with high value, then turning around and selling them for a much higher price.

If you could abuse take advantage of the auction system to drive the price as high as possible, all the better! 

 

Sugar Free Diet In FMM18

That didn't work in FMM18 for two reasons: 

1. The auction system was removed.
2. The "Offer to clubs" option actually transfer listed players, which caused chaos when used on new players / too many players.

But guess what? Most of what I covered in the original article works again in FMM19.

 

Sugar Daddy FMM19 Style

Auctions are back in FMM2019 - but don't get your hopes up. You won't get clubs bidding against themselves long after the other clubs have dropped out, driving the price up to insane levels. This year's auctions are more balanced and dare I say realistic. You can drive the price up a little, but that's it.

The key though was always the ability to offer players to other clubs without them knowing being transfer listed. If you transfer list a new player, they get upset. If you do it to 10 players at once, you've got a mutiny on your hands... Fortunately, FMM19 reverted to FMM17 behaviour: offering a player to other clubs does not add them to the transfer list.

This means in FMM19 you can once again pick up a player and turn right around and sell them for a profit...

 

How To Do It

As mentioned in the original article, you need to find a player you can sell for more than you buy them.

Good free agents fit this description to a tee, but you can also buy players on the cheap, who increase in value almost at once. In the last article I recommended buying good players from smaller clubs (where they would be undervalued) and selling them on to bigger clubs, who would pay more. This part has changed slightly in FMM19 though.

It's now harder than ever to find a really good player and buy them anywhere near their list price. The clubs are all insanely greedy! However, I've had good success with the following:

• Buying transfer listed players at way below their list price (seriously sometime they can be got at a fraction of it - or even free).
• Buying players with a release clause.
• Generally scouting around for players that look promising, but don't cost much.
• And of course, good quality free agents.

You can normally sell these players for much higher than you asked for. It seems (to me) like that there are more clubs willing to buy players than ever and they don't mind paying over the odds. 

 

Examples

Matt Butcher was released by Bournemouth and I picked him up on a free, only to immediately sell him to Bristol City for £10.5M (where his value has now dropped to £2.8M):

 

Next, Matt Olosunde was no longer wanted by Man Utd, so I bought him for £0. Yes, his value was several million, but I offered them £0 and they went for it. Then I turned around and sold him to Bristol City for £7.25M (once again higher than his value after the sale):

 

Final eg, I bought Mahlon Romeo for £550K from Millwall (where he was undervalued because he was at a smaller club) and sold him to Blackburn for £5M (his value after the transfer went up even more, but I'm happy with my profit):

 

 

Scale

In the original article, I had a whole section about scale and whether it would work for clubs of all sizes. Same advice applies: your mileage may vary. However it's working a treat for me as a small club (Macclesfield) newly arrived in the Championship. The same principles still applied down lower, but it really took off once we hit the Championship, because we could attract better players who'd fetch a decent amount. I expect it will work even better in the Premiership (let me know how it goes if you try).

 

Final Thoughts

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's just made FMM19 so much easier for me - but I was enjoying the challenge of it being harder and more realistic. 

In hindsight, I think I'd like something in the game to prevent this. I'm NOT suggesting going back to the FMM18 behaviour of players being transfer listed when offered, but maybe some sort of behind the scenes functionality to prevent (or severely limit) any offers in the 6 months after a player signs. 

What do you think?

 

[BigAl]

Great article mate. I love following this approach. 

[Nucleus]

Nice read @Scratch, I’m sure this will help a lot for those undergoing journeyman saves

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

Great article mate. I love following this approach. 

Thanks mate! Glad you liked it...

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Nucleus said:

Nice read @Scratch, I’m sure this will help a lot for those undergoing journeyman saves

Thanks mate. Not only journeyman saves - I used this approach to finance my FMM17 1KCs at Celtic. Takes quite a while to build up a decent kitty otherwise. Didn't have the same problem at Newcastle in FMM18 though...

[Ashez]

A very reliable system this but you do need to be careful of the wages you give and so on. Signing young free transfers and loaning them for a few seasons can also be beneficial. 

My personal favourite way for yearly cash is to rotate my back up striker every season, like most my first team striker is my main man but he can't play every game so having a back up is an necessity. So every year I sell my back up and replace him with a free agent or a cheap transfer listed option, after a year of reputation building and goals you can usually bring in a decent fee. Tbh I do tend to rotate my back up back up options across the squad but the striker is the one I do the most. 

[Scratch]

8 minutes ago, Ashez said:

A very reliable system this but you do need to be careful of the wages you give and so on.

Yeah, I had trouble in FMM18 with giving players wages that were too high and then I could never ever sell them again. So far I haven't had that problem in FMM19, but that's probably because a) my wage budget is not that big yet and b) the players I'm targeting are happy for a lower wage (I guess the ones wanting higher wages aren't Interested in me yet). 

15 minutes ago, Ashez said:

My personal favourite way for yearly cash is to rotate my back up striker every season, like most my first team striker is my main man but he can't play every game so having a back up is an necessity. So every year I sell my back up and replace him with a free agent or a cheap transfer listed option, after a year of reputation building and goals you can usually bring in a decent fee. Tbh I do tend to rotate my back up back up options across the squad but the striker is the one I do the most. 

Yeah, this is a very sensible way to do it and pretty much what I was doing in FMM18. But in 19, I can buy my main striker and a backup striker for the season, then also buy 3 or 4 more strikers I have no intention keeping, which I just turn around and sell the same week, just to build up my budget... It's too easy...

[BatiGoal]

Good read, Scratch, and surely helpful for many. If it makes your game too easy then simply don't use this trick. 😉   or add a new rule to existing challenges for others to counter this. Easy enough.

I like to only buy players that I intend to use in my (future) squad so no extra money-making needed for this manager. 

[Nucleus]

2 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Good read, Scratch, and surely helpful for many. If it makes your game too easy then simply don't use this trick. 😉   or add a new rule to existing challenges for others to counter this. Easy enough.

I like to only buy players that I intend to use in my (future) squad so no extra money-making needed for this manager. 

That’s exactly what I do to be honest, i also try and make sure I’ve got a few versatile players so I can trim the squad size to as little as possible

[Gunners Rishi]

Nice one @Scratch! But i couldn't bear getting a promising youngster on a free with him filled with excitement for gametime! Then selling him back to Chelsea for him to be loaned for the rest of his career...

 

[Rob]

Love the article!

[FuddledFox]

Some great tips on how to play the “moneyball” way, good work @Scratch.

[Scratch]

9 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Good read, Scratch, and surely helpful for many. If it makes your game too easy then simply don't use this trick. 😉   or add a new rule to existing challenges for others to counter this. Easy enough.

I like to only buy players that I intend to use in my (future) squad so no extra money-making needed for this manager. 

Haha, well I won't add it as a rule to the Long Way To The Top, or I'll have kicked myself out of my own challenge! 😄

I have mixed thoughts on that anyway. It's part of the game. When we find a tactic that works that really should we don't say "that tactic wouldn't work in real life, so we can't use it in challenges".

Quote

I like to only buy players that I intend to use in my (future) squad

Yeah, strangely enough that's how it starts out for me, especially when taking a club forward (vs maintenance of a great club). I see a player who's going to improve the team, so I buy him. Then I see another player who's a little better. So I buy him. Then.... I always *intend* to use them. 😄

added 0 minutes later

9 hours ago, Nucleus said:

That’s exactly what I do to be honest, i also try and make sure I’ve got a few versatile players so I can trim the squad size to as little as possible

Like I said to BG in previous comment, that's how it actually starts with me - but my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so to speak...

[Scratch]

6 hours ago, Gunners Rishi said:

Nice one @Scratch! But i couldn't bear getting a promising youngster on a free with him filled with excitement for gametime! Then selling him back to Chelsea for him to be loaned for the rest of his career...

 

Thanks mate! Yeah, I know. I want to keep them and watch them grow, just I always end up with too many. It's even worse this year because it's so obvious they need the game time to improve - when I can't give it to them, then .. well I haven't worked out what to do yet. Sell them and let them get on with their careers? Keep them and find a way to give them a chance later? Loan them out (but don't know if they develop much). Choices...

added 0 minutes later

4 hours ago, Rob2017 said:

Love the article!

Thanks Rob!

[Scratch]

4 hours ago, Foxy said:

Some great tips on how to play the “moneyball” way, good work @Scratch.

I'm a wheeler dealer I am (and I actually unlocked that achievement, which I didn't know existed). This just sorts of happens when things get a bit out of hand! 😄

[Scratch]

17 minutes ago, Scratch said:

I have mixed thoughts on that anyway. It's part of the game. When we find a tactic that works that really should we don't say "that tactic wouldn't work in real life, so we can't use it in challenges".

LOL, @BatiGoal I'm just now reading your latest genius tactic! Nice one mate. Wish I could come up with tactics like that!

[BatiGoal]

14 minutes ago, Scratch said:

LOL, @BatiGoal I'm just now reading your latest genius tactic! Nice one mate. Wish I could come up with tactics like that!

Isn't it a real life one? Kinda from the 1940s but still 😂 

[Cockers2505]

CHEAT!!!! CHEAT!!!! CHEAT!!!! play it as it's supposed to be played, your manipulating the system!!!!!!

Thats brilliant mate, can get these small clubs up and running quicker with all the money made, my only problem is the board will not accept any board Requests to Improve anything, unless the message comes up telling me they will accept the next Request, so I can have all the money in the world, but without the facilities to entice players, it kind of ruins my chances if getting the smaller club into a leading super club (will see)

[Scratch]

6 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Isn't it a real life one? Kinda from the 1940s but still 😂 

Haha, yeah it's a real life one. Maybe from a museum, but still a real life one. Wasn't talking directly about any tactic, but if I had to name one that shouldn't work at all, it's probably one of those BG 1-1-8 formations! 😜

[Scratch]

6 hours ago, Cockers2505 said:

CHEAT!!!! CHEAT!!!! CHEAT!!!! play it as it's supposed to be played, your manipulating the system!!!!!!

Thats brilliant mate, can get these small clubs up and running quicker with all the money made, my only problem is the board will not accept any board Requests to Improve anything, unless the message comes up telling me they will accept the next Request, so I can have all the money in the world, but without the facilities to entice players, it kind of ruins my chances if getting the smaller club into a leading super club (will see)

Haha, yeah, I might have gone slightly over the top. I'm just a sucker for a good deal. January is approaching and I probably need to move on 6 or 7 players that aren't working out, but I'm a little scared to because my transfer window screenshots are already big enough to make you all shake your heads!

I'm having the same thing with the board as well. L2 > L1 > Championship in consecutive seasons and they won't improve the training facilities at all. The club has had a status of rich since almost the beginning (back when I sold a few players but couldn't afford any worthwhile replacements, long before the stuff in this post).

Nope, my board is convinced it's all going to fall away soon and we'll be back in conference or something...

So yeah, I have money to spend now, but can't buy the top players, but I can get very good youngsters. The top youngsters I bought in season 1 are topping out and will be good Championship players, but some of the ones I've bought this season are shaping as though they will be Champions League players within in a few seasons. So it's transformed the team, but only through the youngsters I can bring in. And it has to be said that 90% of the ones I try to get won't come, but the 10% who do are gonna be great!

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, Scratch said:

Haha, yeah it's a real life one. Maybe from a museum, but still a real life one. Wasn't talking directly about any tactic, but if I had to name one that shouldn't work at all, it's probably one of those BG 1-1-8 formations! 😜

😂 The good ol TKO (2-2-1-5) did actually have a quick go to see and it's not bad, with tweaks it'll work, but it's too crazy so not using it. 

Sorry for derailing. Uhh.. money was the topic 😎

Edited November 15, 2018 by BatiGoal

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, BatiGoal said:

😂 The good ol TKO (2-2-1-5) did actually have a quick go to see and it's not bad, with tweaks it'll work, but it's too crazy so not using it. 

Sorry for derailing. Uhh.. money was the topic 😎

No no go ahead and derail it. The topic is now: taking advantage of the games less realistic parts...

Whew, nice, I think I got away with justifying this! 😄 

[Don Franco]

On 14/11/2018 at 20:03, BatiGoal said:

Good read, Scratch, and surely helpful for many. If it makes your game too easy then simply don't use this trick. 😉   or add a new rule to existing challenges for others to counter this. Easy enough.

I like to only buy players that I intend to use in my (future) squad so no extra money-making needed for this manager. 

Bro why my team reserves not play on their competition plz answer thx u lets friend from indonesia

[Scratch]

32 minutes ago, Don Franco said:

Bro why my team reserves not play on their competition plz answer thx u lets friend from indonesia

It'd be best to start a new topic to ask that as more people are likely to see it (vs adding it to this topic).

Not sure I can answer it anyway. I mainly play in England where the reserves don't actually play - I know some leagues have playable reserves, but I've never used them... Sorry.

[Don Franco]

5 minutes ago, Scratch said:

It'd be best to start a new topic to ask that as more people are likely to see it (vs adding it to this topic).

Not sure I can answer it anyway. I mainly play in England where the reserves don't actually play - I know some leagues have playable reserves, but I've never used them... Sorry.

Sory im newbie bro

[Scratch]

46 minutes ago, Don Franco said:

Sory im newbie bro

Yeah, no worries! Just you may not get the right people reading it here. Hope you find the answer. 🙂

[FedeQuinta]

in addition to these 3 players there are no others?

[Nucleus]

10 minutes ago, FedeQuinta said:

in addition to these 3 players there are no others?

Did you even read the article?

[FedeQuinta]

31 minuti fa, Nucleo disse:

Hai almeno letto l'articolo?

Sì, ma non ho capito bene. Non sono inglese

There is no list?

Edited November 17, 2018 by FedeQuinta

[Scratch]

12 hours ago, FedeQuinta said:

Sì, ma non ho capito bene. Non sono inglese

There is no list?

No, there is no list and those 3 players were just examples of the things you can do. It's not about particular players - it's about the technique of signing players free/cheap and selling them straight away for a profit. The technique is outlined in the How to do it section above. Hope that helps.