Regardless of which club you choose in FM23, one area you will need to manage every time is the club finances. Ensuring you have enough money in the bank balance and therefore your transfer budget is crucial to the long term success of your club. Not everything is in your control finances wise (your Board need to be competent!) but you can make a difference to how much money you have available. So with that, here are six tips to manage your clubs finances in FM23.

Checking your clubs financial health

Once you have chosen your club, go to the Finances tab on the left and check two things: the Bank Balance and the Financial Health Status at the top of the screen. You will find one of the following words:

Rich – No need to worry about your clubs finances, you are rich for the foreseeable future.

Secure – Financially stable.

Okay – Not ultra wealthy, but financially healthy.

Insecure – Need to find cash under the sofa if necessary. Preferably go on a cup run to help you out.

Very Poor – Dire financial situation. Your squad will be sold off.

Identifying this will give you an idea of how good or bad your finances are, helping you plan whether to build or trim your squad.

Selling Players for a High Value

As ever, selling your players for as much as possible will always generate much needed cash for your club and your transfer budget, depending on the clubs financial situation. Once you have identified your clubs financial status, you may have to sell players if you don’t have much money available.

Two ways to approach selling players: sell players with the highest value and/or selling players on the highest wages. Selling players with a high value (especially in a top division team) can lead to a much needed cash injection, which can trickle into your transfer budget if you’re lucky.

Selling players based on their wage is useful if you are already over your wage budget, especially if you need to overhaul the squad. This is particularly useful if you are a lower league club, as wage budgets tend to be smaller the further down the leagues you go.

Schedule Friendlies to make some cash

This one is not just for pre-season, but even during the season you can schedule friendlies against teams in higher divisions. Playing higher reputation teams can boost your gate monies and make a dent in any debt you may have.

As a lower league team, this is a useful trick to try and use. Just be careful not to do this too often, as taking a beating at the hands of bigger clubs can tank your squad’s morale.

Also, using senior affiliate clubs can net you some annual revenue from them, but this is not a given. Some clubs will just offer a yearly friendly and allow you to keep the gate monies instead. Regardless, this is a helpful way to manage finances and get some cheap loans in to bolster your squad.

Cup Runs are King!

The King of all money grabs for lower league clubs! Domestic Cup runs can make a lower league club a lot of money, especially when drawn against a top team away from home. The FA Cup in England is the best example, as a dream tie against Manchester City in the Third Round could net your small club a lot of cash.

If you are a top team, especially one in Europe, aim for a deep run in your continental competition. Going deep in the Champions League or Europa League, for example, will net millions for your club finances. Safe to say finances are easier to manage with millions flowing in for that precious 1-0 Champions League win!

Free & Cheap Transfer Policy

This tip can be split into three different areas depending on the club you take over. These are three different ways to use transfers to manage your finances:

• Lower league club – the lower down the leagues your team is, the less money you are likely to have available for budgets. Free transfers are likely to be the way forward for you, especially with low wages for most of your players. Consider bringing in trialists all season round and snap up any players who look good enough, but won’t break your clubs finances.

• Top division cheap bargains – Even clubs in the top division may struggle for cash at times, so looking for cheap or free bargains should be your main priority. If you can, scout in countries with cheaper players (South America is a good start) or even cheap release clauses, as does happen with newgens contracts.

• Top Division free transfers – Just like with lower league clubs, bring in trialists during the off season just in case you find a released gem of a player for your squad. This may have less success than the previous point above, as a lot of released players may not be good enough for your top flight (I’m looking at you English Premier League!). Regardless, free transfers brought in can be sold for money later on, which will manage your finances in a long term save.

Success for your club attracts money

Sometimes, the best way to manage your clubs finances is simply to be successful on the pitch. And that is what we all strive for in Football Manager, right?

With a lower league team, even looking for free transfers and aiming for cup runs, you should aim to rise up the leagues as soon as possible. This way you will be able to access better prize money to help your clubs finances, as well as qualify for continental competition on a regular basis.

For top division clubs, qualifying for continental competitions, and winning trophies, will pad your bank balance. This is why top European leagues are popular for a Road to Glory type save, because just being in one of these top leagues results in you making serious money.

Continental competitions, particularly the UEFA Champions League, is where even more money can be made. At this point, this money should be used to build your transfer budget and/or club facilities. This was touched on earlier in this article, but getting into continental competition is truly the best way to make serious money. This is what tips your finances from Okay or Secure to Rich in the long term.

Conclusion

Managing your clubs finances in Football Manager is not a new phenomenon, but is something that is a foundation for long term success in FM23. Managing this right will reap big rewards for your club, whilst getting it wrong can result in selling your best players and even see you sacked if you mess up the wage budget. Like I said at the start of this article, not everything is in your control finances wise, but you can influence how much money is available to your club and your budgets.

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Follow me @Craig_FM1 for more FM23 content or find us on Twitter @DictateTheGame for more Football Manager News and content.

Check out these articles below for more on FM23:

•  When Finding a Save Isn’t Straightforward
• Football Manager 2023 Recruitment Breakdown
•  Breaking Tradition: Attributes v Statistics