Previously we examined the Premiership teams in our Pushing the Board guides, a series of articles looking at how much money you can get from your board by asking nicely. Today we turn our attention to the Championship, and look at how you can swindle some extra cash for your club.
The Generous
Crystal Palace
Starting Balance: £1,170,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, balance now £4,250,000
Derby County
Starting Balance: £100,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Turned Down
Second Request: Turned Down
Second Ultimatum: Turned Down
Third Request: Turned Down
Third Ultimatum: Finally approved, now £3,100,000
Leeds United
Starting Balance: £1,200,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, now £4,950,000
Preston North End
Starting Balance: £600,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, now £3,200,000
Q.P.R
Starting Balance: £200,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, now £2,700,000
Sheffield Wednesday
Starting Balance: £100,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, balance now £2,950,000
Southampton
Starting Balance: £500,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, balance now £3,750,000
Sunderland
Starting Balance: £2,000,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Approved, £5,300,000
The Tightwads
Barnsley
Starting Balance: £425,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Birmingham City
Starting Balance: £1,000,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Burnley
Starting Balance: £50,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Cardiff City
Starting Balance: £750,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Colchester United
Starting Balance: £100,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Coventry City
Starting Balance: £3,000,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Hull City
Starting Balance: £2,000,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Ipswich Town
Starting Balance: £700,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Leicester City
Starting Balance: £100,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Luton Town
Starting Balance: £200,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Norwich City
Starting Balance: £2,000,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Plymouth Argyle
Starting Balance: £200,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Southend United
Starting Balance: £25,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Stoke
Starting Balance: £700,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
West Brom
Starting Balance: £3,000,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
Wolves
Starting Balance: £100,000
Request: Turned Down
Ultimatum: Sacked
What makes a giving chairman?
So you’ve seen that some clubs are willing to take on board your concerns and open their wallets a little wider, but why exactly is that? Of course, sometimes the reasons are obvious - if a team has a lot of money but a small transfer budget, then you are much more likely to be given some extra funds than a team with no money to begin with. However, some chairman, is in real life, are a little more ambitious and with the ambition oftens come the knowledge that to be big you have to spend big (at least, that seems to be the philosophy.)
Let’s take a look in more detail at the clubs who did provide some more money when requested for us: those being Crystal Palace, Derby County, Leeds United, Preston North End, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and Sunderland. On looking at the statistics of these chairman, I was a little surprised by the results I found. While the likes of Leeds, Palace and Southampton all have fairly ambitious chairmen, Derby’s Peter Gadsby was rated as ‘2′ (out of 20) for this particular criteria.
However, what Gadsby does rate highly in is the ‘business’ stat. With a score of 19, perhaps Gadsby see’s Derby purely as a tool for finances – rather than giving money to sign those players to get his boyhood team into the Premiership, perhaps the cash is dished out in the hope that the club may rake in the money (and, ultimately, provide him with a tasty profit?).
Of course, we can’t see these statistics in the game without using some kind of editor, so taking over a club and asking for money can be a bit of hit and miss. Even these results that I found may differ should I try and replicate this test again.
With only eight out of the twenty four clubs offering extra money at the start of the season, the odds are not that high. These can change dramatically over the course of a season, and should you be needing the money for a particular reason, you may have more chance of persuading your chairman than at the beginning of your career.
If you do want to demand more at the start of your game, save it first – that is what I would recommend. If you’re of the believe that saving and reloading a game is an act reserved for people on the same level as mass murderers, then make sure you use caution and know your chairman. While you may think that winning the F.A Cup is enough work to warrant an extra few million, your boss may not think so - and they will be a number of managers ready to step in and continue your work, should you push too far.
[...] Pushing the board part four [...]