Pushing the Board: Part Three

Our third, and final part of the Pushing the Board guide today takes a look at those last eight remaining clubs we have yet to feature. If you haven’t already done so, check our parts One and Two.

Newcastle United - Wigan Athletic

Newcastle United

Newcastle United have always struck me as being a highly ambitious club, with the fans expecting some success. Yet the big name signings of the past (most of them, incidentally, turning out to be right Damien Duffers) brought little success and seem to have emptied the coffers – at the start you have a laughable £159, 352 to use. That’s right – as ShakeinStevenSpeare himself would say, ” ’tis not enough for thou’st bigg’st names”. So I stormed into Freddy Shepherds office, did a bit of way-aying, and was told in no uncertain terms that there would be no increase. Not one to give up, it took three attempts and three ultimatums before I was sent on my way.
Budget: £159,352
Three asks and three ultimatums: None, sacked

Portsmouth

Pompey are a fantastic team to manage in my opinion this season. With the board expecting a relegation battle, you have almost £20m on arrival to spend – more than most of the teams in the league, as we’ve seen. However, the board obviously feel that this is a fantastic sum themselves – one request and one ultimatum results in a straight sacking. Greed – what is it good for?
Budget: £19.7m
First Ask: None
Ultimatum: None, sacked

Reading

Ah, good old Reading. I’m not a fan of them, mind, but they are the current team I’m playing as on FM. Your given a competitive £5m on arrival. It took two requests and two ultimatums to get that increased to £8.25m – but with the club sitting on just £1.8m balance, spending all that will put you in some serious financial trouble.
Budget: £5m
First Ask: None
Ultimatum: None
Second Ask: None
Second Ultimatum: Increased to £8.25

Sheffield United

After Neil Warnock spent £1039m in the last year on new strikers, (okay, slightly silly, but there are TEN strikers in the squad, including reserves!) you have just £2m to splash out on new players. After three requests and three ultimatums, the board must have buckled under the strain of my faxes, and increased the budget to £5.350m
Budget: £2m
After three asks and three ultimatums: Increased to £5.350m

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs have a nice £14.1m on offer at the start of the game, but don’t push your luck, as you’ll be out on your bum before you can say Amstrad computers. One request and one ultimatum, and it was game over for me.
Budget: £14.1m
First ask: None
First Ultimatum: Sacked

Watford

£3m is given to you on arrival, despite the club being in dept to tune of £1m. Can I really expect more money to be made available? Apparently, yes. After a first ultimatum, the budget is improved to £6.25m – but could that money not have been spent getting the club out of debt?!
Budget: £3m
First Ask: None
First Ultimatum: Increased to £6.25

West Ham United

I’ve decided to do this one pre-takeover, as I know a few people like to play the game as it would be from the start of the season. With just £1.8m to spend, you don’t have that much in your pocket. The board seemingly agrees – one request is all it takes to get that figure increased to a nice £6.4m
Budget: £1.8m
First Ask: Granted: now £6.4m

Wigan Athletic

Dave Whelan must be selling a lot of trainers! With £5m to spend at the start, you’re hardly scraping around for coppers. One request and ultimatum later sees the figure rise to £8.75m – presumably a few more Reebok’s were sold in that time.
Budget: £5m
First Ask: None
Ultimatum: £8.75m

And that, my greedy friends, concludes the guide – for now. In the new year, keep your eyes peeled as we may take a look elsewhere, along with our undercover equipment as we find out just how much money your board is keeping from you! Think we should go somewhere in particular? Leave a comment!