Team Pele

Good afternoon. The five of you remain in this competition and I hope it's clear to you all that I mean business. I will not tolerate foolish ideas or childish remarks. I want an Azzrentice, not a court jester.

Today you begin Task 2 of this year's competition. As you already know, Nando will manage Trebs in Team Pele, and GSC will manage Miky and Viva in Team Integrity.

This week's task is one that you will all enjoy, a classic task that brings out the fondest memories for all Azzrentice fans.

I am going to give you $6bn (four billion thirty-two million eight hundred ninety-four thousand nine hundred sixty Pounds). With that $6bn, I want you to build a new football team. From scratch. I expect the following:

- Select which of the major professional leagues you want to play in, and why. I will arrange for your team to be placed into the top division of whichever country you select.
- Choose a team name that reflects well on the city, town or region you have decided to be based in
- Build a stadium, youth facilities, everything a club needs to be a success
- Buy a squad of players, bearing in mind FFP. Use TM values for all players.
- Bring in your own staff, manager, coaches etc
- With all this, you need to keep in mind that you will need to ensure once the money is spent, the club looks after itself - wages, sponsorship, tv money, everything has to balance (or at least comply with FFP)

What are your thoughts on these Trebs?

- Select which of the major professional leagues you want to play in, and why. I will arrange for your team to be placed into the top division of whichever country you select.

(Personally id go PL on the basis of parachute payments if go down)

- Choose a team name that reflects well on the city, town or region you have decided to be based in

Maybe somewhere like Maidstone? Got a big population & is just off the M25 nearest club is Gillingham/Crawley realistically and their still a fair distance away & Poopie.

- Build a stadium, youth facilities, everything a club needs to be a success

(Could be worth maybe leasing a stadium or building a 20,000 seater & a proper academy - Maybe could have an Academy Centre lease with a nearby college/Uni. Need Shirt sponsor & stadium sponsors (advertizing boards)

- Buy a squad of players, bearing in mind FFP. Use TM values for all players.

Maybe buy youth?

- Bring in your own staff, manager, coaches etc

Get someone approachable & build a back room staff for future

- With all this, you need to keep in mind that you will need to ensure once the money is spent, the club looks after itself - wages, sponsorship, tv money, everything has to balance (or at least comply with FFP)

Get some decent sponsors & look into TV money. Work out a wage budget to spend & a Transfer budget.

Bookmarked.

Nando i will have a look tonight at ideas.

I'm thinking avoiding premier league. Its such an expensive league, i think getting success would be difficult when thinking about city and chelsea's megabucks.

If we do UK the South West would be my suggestion for location.

Germany would be ideal, we could have that team to challenge bayern and virtually guarantee second at least and therefore CL football. Or maybe Italy but I have no idea what the finances with sponsorship, tv etc is like there.

Other riskier option could be somewhere with an emerging league like USA.

No matter what we decide to do, picking a location has to come first.

Well if want CL football why not somewhere like Russia. Full of oil money & bar CSKA their sides aren't great.

I think the major european leagues and usa are the only real options? Spain is out?

I say split them up and look at the finances of the top couple of teams in each case.

Obviously its your call and i don't want to step on your toes, but i think we don't have a hell of a lot of time and lots of
wprk to do.. The jobs should be something like

Pick country
Find a location - team name
Build facilities including stadium and youth, training etc.
Sponsorship
Work out transfer budget
Pick playing style/philosophy (combine with finding a manager)
Sign players and build up up an xi

As an aside, we need to look at financial fair play as i don't fully know the rules there.. Read exactly what they are as not complying would completely wreck our chances.

I think Germany is a good suggestion so maybe find a space there to work us into?

My immediate thought is there.

But, do you think we should have a good look at the alternatives first? Russia, USA, Italy, France, England etc. Or are you happy with just going for Germany?

Im happy to go with Germany or England tbh - I had a look & pretty much all the big places in the other countries are taken

http://www.sportmapworld.com/map/soccer/germany/bundesliga/ < There is a lot of space in East Germany - Maybe Nuremberg or Dresden who have a population of over half a million & their teams aren't great both in Bundesliga 2.

FFP Rules

Only a club’s outgoings in transfers, employee benefits (including wages), amortisation of transfers, finance costs and dividends will be counted over income from gate receipts, TV revenue, advertising, merchandising, disposal of tangible fixed assets, finance, sales of players and prize money.

Any money spent on infrastructure, training facilities or youth development will not be included.[52]

The legislation currently allows for eight separate punishments to be taken against clubs transgressing the rules, based in order of severity: Reprimand / Warning, fines, points deduction, withholding of Revenue from a UEFA competition, Prohibition to register new players for UEFA competitions, Restrictions on how many players a club can register for UEFA competitions, Disqualification from a competition in progress and Exclusion from future competitions

If we go for England, Cornwall is the place to set up the league, or somewhere in that area. I did a lot of research in a previous task, the only thing is we can't let Luke McCormick play for us.

Leipzig would also be a good shout as well if we're looking at East Germany.

I think its probably best to go for somewhere in Germany, Not convinced that people in Cornwall not exactly football fans

Okay, germany it is.

I'll scout about looking for locations? Facilities etc.

Personally id go with one of Nuremburg/Dresden or Leipzig

Maybe could ground share with the other Nuremburg side got a 50,000 seater stadium?

Been looking in Germany rules etc, Apparently you need an FFP style license to compete in the league, We can't have high priced season & we won't get alot of TV Money.

Starting to think Southern england may be better for overall FFP stuff.

But azzy said he'd arrange for us to compete? Does that get around it?

I'll explore the other options, italy, russia, usa are my three thoughts?

Not entirely sure,

Bayern charge around £100 for a season ticket

Arsenal/Chelsea & United around £800-£1400 that's a large difference & with the new TV deal it may be worth sticking around in the PL.

If you find a suitable place in Italy/Russia & Usa then let me know.

I will explore those three options and let you know. Will check out tv money etc.

I had a look at TV Money for Germany & the side in 20th in the PL gets more then Bayern

England - $8 Billion from 2016 to 2019 -
Germany - $715 million -Per Season
Italy - $1 Billion - Per Season
Spain - Is dominated by Madrid & Barca they get 3/4's of it

Yeah i knew spain wouldn't happen.

I'm just worried that a lot of premier league teams seem to struggle and what happens if the money runs out.

Ill be honest with you Trebs £4bn is more then Arsenal are worth so it seems rather excessive. If finish top 4-7th your guaranteed around 60-80m by the sounds of things.

Could we circumvent FFP like PSG & Barca and all the top sides do with sponsorship money?

That is entirely your call. It's your club, you decide how to manage the finances.

I'm fairly sure it has to be a legitimate sponsor and not just your owner sponsoring you with a massively above market deal. City failed on that front

I'm just worried about PL being bad value for money.

I will have more time tomorrow to more thoroughly look at all the numbers though. Final decision tomorrow then on country/location?

It's good value for money really. You get 90m if you come last + sponsorship/Ticket Sales etc that's close to around 140-160m

In time you buy a team & Wages you going to be at a loss but according to FFP rules your allowed 30-35m a year

Realistically whichever league you go in it's going to be hard to make your money.

I'm looking at a map of the UK of all the football league teams:

http://www.myfootygrounds.co.uk/AreaMap.asp?view=ENGLAND

The obvious gaps are the South East corner as you mentioned in the Maidstone area, out on the East around Boston and Grimsby area, the South West down in Devon/Cornwall and possibly Durham/Darlington?

The lowest payment in premier league TV Money to a club was £63m in the most recent figures, the highest £98m.

If we assume £75m TV money to come in next season then?

£20m is easily achieveable through gate receipts in a season as long as we have a decent sized stadium.
Sponsorship and advertising I think about £10m is a reasonable figure.
(Combined shirt sponsorship brings £147m to the league, so about £7.5m on average - 2012.)

Overall about £100m per year income per season I'd say, excluding cup runs. It depends if we want to be safe, or really go for it and think about the Champions League additional revenue.

http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/annual-reports/season-review-2013-14.pdf
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/apr/18/premier-league-finances-club-by-club