Advice Wanted

Hey fellas

I have just purchased a decent Italian 18 year old back that I believe with the right training could became a pretty handy player for my team and hopefully future NT honors.
Egidio Totera will not be eligble for any Zimbabwe national team until he is 21 but by then he could be a star with 3 years of Lvl5 training.

The issue I have is if I train the Italian then I will be dropping a possible ZIM player to the TM who I am currently training.

Below are both players stats

Seong Heo
17 y/o (R2, D2) | 25,954 CSR | $5,317 p.w. | 185cm | 87kg | Zimbabwe
Right handed, left footed, in decent form

A psychotic player with controlled discipline, average leadership, and despicable experience.

Stamina: Satisfactory
Handling: Admirable
Attack: Admirable
Defense: Reputable
Technique: Moderate
Strength: Average
Jumping: Horrible
Speed: Satisfactory
Agility: Average
Kicking: Admirable

Egidio Totera
18 y/o (R6, D6) | 42,411 CSR | $7,009 p.w. | 189cm | 93kg | Italy
Right handed, right footed, in decent form
A collected player with flawless discipline, decent leadership, and despicable experience

Stamina: Princely
Handling: Admirable
Attack: Impressive
Defense: Admirable
Technique: Horrible
Strength: Moderate
Jumping: Limited
Speed: Impressive
Agility: Reputable
Kicking: Average

I'd be interested in knowing others thoughts. Doesn't anyone else see NT potential in the Italian player

I guess it depends on which would be more use to your team.. a Zim fly half or an italian winger.

my own opinion is that the fly half is a year younger and due to the scarcity of good kickers in BR he would be a better player and worth more in the long run.

I think you are doing the right thing, but to make it worthwhile it is a mighty long commitment as he cannot play for our U20's. The ZIM youngster is an odd WC season and not spectacular. So really both players are aiming for NT honors with ZIM, with that in mind I'd go the Italian.

Personally I would go with the Italian, your young Zim lad has a lot of ground to make up if he is to make the grade for the S16 squad.

Hope this helps.

Cheers fellas

I am inclined to start training the Italian both for the benefit of my team and if at worst case to only put pressure on other managers to keep training players for NT team.
I think in 3 years time he will be a decent 21year back.

not sure where to put this so i taught this would be a good place

hi guys just looking on advice on whether to go to lvl 3 ya or to lvl 5 senior facilities. iv currently have 500k in the bank making a lose of 38k a week with a match day profit of 150k and at least 140k price money for top4 in div iii so could afford lvl 5s by end of next season.
or start upgrading my ya now? i do pay a nice bit of interest in ya so kind of leaning towards that

what do people think?

It really does depend on your club and where you re taking it etc.. I am lucky I will have both come April, but with it falling at an odd pulling season and taking such a long time to get up to scratch and a lack of gurantees, I'd go for level 5's first and then concentrate on YA. I was always unsure if level 5's are worth it, but if you have any ambition of training top end players that will make lots of money, win your club trophies, play international rugby, then you should get the training facilities

Mattt wrote:

It really does depend on your club and where you re taking it etc.. I am lucky I will have both come April, but with it falling at an odd pulling season and taking such a long time to get up to scratch and a lack of gurantees, I'd go for level 5's first and then concentrate on YA. I was always unsure if level 5's are worth it, but if you have any ambition of training top end players that will make lots of money, win your club trophies, play international rugby, then you should get the training facilities

already made up my mind iv gone with lvl 3 ya with advertising times should be fully set up end of next season

seanand wrote:

Mattt wrote:

It really does depend on your club and where you re taking it etc.. I am lucky I will have both come April, but with it falling at an odd pulling season and taking such a long time to get up to scratch and a lack of gurantees, I'd go for level 5's first and then concentrate on YA. I was always unsure if level 5's are worth it, but if you have any ambition of training top end players that will make lots of money, win your club trophies, play international rugby, then you should get the training facilities

already made up my mind iv gone with lvl 3 ya with advertising times should be fully set up end of next season

That is still pretty great. In fairness there is no right or wrong answer to the question

In my opinion sean you have made the right decision, lvl 3 YA is much more useful as you will be able to sell players you do not train

In my opinion sean your wrong lvl5's will benefit your team and Zim more in the long term. But then each to their own, I prefer the training element of the game more than the YA side.

Though in general i agree with Matt, there is no right or wrong answer here (though I still say your wrong )

markharrison wrote:

In my opinion sean your wrong lvl5's will benefit your team and Zim more in the long term. But then each to their own, I prefer the training element of the game more than the YA side.

Though in general i agree with Matt, there is no right or wrong answer here (though I still say your wrong )

thanks muzza always liked you more than mark.

ya maybe but lvl 4s are good enough for me at the moment and lvl5s will come in time be patient

I could tell sean!

P.S I should be level 5'ing it at some point next season

muzza wrote:

I could tell sean!

P.S I should be level 5'ing it at some point next season

plus next season will be only my fifth season and havent even had lvl 4s for a full season yet

I think ill be headin the YA way too. A good source of money and be able to train my own superstars. Plus selling the youths might bring me closer to lvl5...thoughts?

Would not rely on the YA being a way of achieving income. Very rarely do clubs make a profit from the YA so if that is the reason you are going for it you might be disappointed, even if it does work out, it wont for a long time, minimum a season

I disagree Mattt, I don't have the numbers to hand, but I am definately sure that I have made money from the YA over the seasons which I have them

Yea but you have trained guys hard for quite a while to make that money?

Had a look at my YA history and I have had level 3s for about the last 4 seasons

During my time of having level 3s

Running Costs
YA maintenance	20,000
YA Coach wages	12,500
YA scout wages	12,500
Weekly Total	45,000
Season Total	720,000
4 Season Total	2,880,000

Income from Player Sales
Season 14	132,000
Season 13	383,834
Season 12	9,000
Season 11	50,000
Total Player Sales	554,834

Thats a loss of 2,325,166 over 4 seasons

My prize money has been

Season 14	64,800*
Season 13	57,600
Season 12	54,000
Season 11	48,600
Total Prize Money	225,000

*Estimated based on current position

Setup costs were 450,000 for level 3s

That gives a total spend of 3,330,000
And total income of 779,834
Giving a net loss of 2,550,166


There has however been many players I haven't sold on promotion they are

Name	Promoted CSR
Gideon Chinodya	17,881
Benedict Namasaka	30,446
Allan Nguma	31,609
John Omulu	33,796
Nashe Zhatata	20,785
Simbarashe Biti*	20,334
Maurice Duncan	22,714
Kiptoo Mwatasa	15,610
Lavin Mwachogoa	19,924
Okella Musa	20,344

*Sold for 225,000 after using 123 individual training sessions (went for 450,000 6 weeks later with prob no more ind sessions)

The players I have kept would have to average about 200,000 for me to break about even which may have been possible as I have kept most of the better players but I doubt I would have made a lot if anything at all. However since I first got level 3s there has been several increases in the amount of training provided meaning results should be better from now on. At first level 3s were no real improvement on level 1s apart from the scout.

Also there was the whole star hoarding going on so I haven't promoted as many players over the seasons as I would now and I haven't included any possible income the players currently in my juniors may bring. I imagine there are plenty of managers that have made more money than I have from their academy but I have kept all the best prospects including several heavy players which would have cost a small fortune.

I can't say for sure whether you will make money from having a good academy but it will add a bit more excitement and you need patience as it will take a few seasons to reap the rewards

Great post there.

Having set mine up for this season I am looking forward to seeing how it it goes next season as it will be the first time I will have a YA that has the potential to actually deliver talented youngsters. With so many on the TM I can see why it is hard to make the big bucks without training for a period of time, they really do have to be fat, tall or pretty special. However lucky you do get, I really don't think you can rely on it as a cash cow.

interesting read safe hands. i think its possible to make a profite yes but i wouldnt count on it for it unless you get lucky really

Mattt wrote:

Yea but you have trained guys hard for quite a while to make that money?

Well, certainly the £3.8m I got from Merriman sale was due to the hard training, but even without that I feel that I have made money. Will go back and check the stats and show a detailed analysis later.

So my costs from YA will be about the same as Safehands, I first had level 3's in season 10, but got rid of them for a couple of seasons in the middle.

These are my player sales from YA

Todd Pride 380,472
Jason Woodgate 2,001
Aidan Hunter 23,001
Mohammed Grufffudd 1
Ray Dell 3,001
Frasier Naylor 22,004
Iestyn Jenkins 1,001
Chogugudza Rademeyer 1,001
Nokutendaishe Segura 17,000
Nathan April 80,000
Colin McColl 1,001
Tamuka Chinodya 27,000
Fito Noguera 11,001
Howie Roper 45,000
Ndumiso Shiri 16,000
Tapiwa Cullen 8,001
Samson Tshabalala 13,000
Mnqobi Gweru 5,001
Ronnie Stather 280,000
Jerome Brock 32,000
Lester Male 53,060
Abednigo Tata 364,140
Makomborero Garaba 82,456
Ndabezinhle Rafemoyo 270,938
Dakarai Kuwana 118,590
Travis Merriman 3,800,000
Nigel Hellings 171,392
Jonathan Webber 89,883
Clint Speare 104,040
Shungedzumwoyo Digby 18,000

Thats a total of 6,039,985 from player sales (2,239,985 without Merriman).

The only ones there who had proper training were Merriman and Tata (for one season).

I think I will leave the YA system to sean and see how he gets on...I will save my money up for lvl5 facilities. However I did advertise for another lvl4 attack and defense trainer just in case you guys want me to train up some U20's when i arrive...because I was a bit short in that department. I also invested in a youth manager, just so i could see any decent youths. So my budget is down to 350k

As someone who tries to be as frugal as they can when it comes to expenses - but likes a gamble. I have approached the YA in a skeletal manner.

L1 coach, no facilities paid for (e.g. buy and sell each week) - forgotten twice and had to pay an extra $5k/each time, grumble, brief forays into L1 manager x2, although never seen any benefit from this, and I have recently purchased a L3 scout.

The plan is get them to 17 and promote them ASAP if they are decent, maintain a squad of players that will be competitive and likely to come in the top 3 of the YA league. Preference for tight 5 forwards

Overall expenditure (Inc all fees) $796k
Overall money in (sales and prizes) $346k

Outstanding talent (estimated value on promotion):
Shane Barrow - 200k
Gattinara - 30k

Current talent in YA squad: 5x 20 stars, 2x 16 stars, 2x 10 stars

to have made a profit those still in the YA would have to average 3k/star investment - which is unlikely, having said that as they are U20 WC season contenders it is possible. Next season (this will be closer to 2.24k/star) and the following season closer to 1.8k/star as there will be more of an influx of 10 star "free" players. Even with this strategy - i am not sure there is the market to guarantee each 10 star chap being worth 20k.

In short: a skeletal YA does not bankrupt you; but in my case it does not make you that any money whilst setting up. The benefit is that once you are set up, the costs effectively diminish for increased returns (no more fees and increased number of "free" 10 star players).

as an aside the 'flip-flop' of buy and selling L1 YA facilities in this set up has saved me $170k (including weeks I forgot), not to be sniffed at if you are planning to run such a set-up and if I had ignored the manager throughout the set-up would probably be just about breaking even.