How money works at every level of the pyramid

Every club in ManageFC lives on the same simple rule: what comes in each week has to cover what goes out. What has changed is that every number on both sides now follows one scale — what a typical squad costs in your division, in your country. This guide walks through that scale, with real figures for a strong football nation.

The scale

A typical squad's weekly wage bill is the yardstick for everything else:

Weaker football nations run on smaller numbers at every level. The jump between the fifth and the third divisions is where football turns professional, and it is where the money starts to grow quickly.

What comes in

• TV money — the same for every club in a division, paid weekly: about a third of the typical wage bill. That is around 57 a week in division 10 and 52,000 in division 1.
• Commercial income — about a quarter of the wage bill, more or less depending on your club's reputation.
• The gate — an ordinary crowd at a fair ticket price brings in a bit more than a third of the wage bill each week. Every division has an ordinary crowd, from about 80 people in division 10 to 40,000 in division 1; a club that grows a bigger crowd than its division earns more.
• Sponsors — the best main deal in your catalogue pays about a sixth of the wage bill each week, a secondary deal about half that, both scaled by reputation.
• Prizes — paid to every club at the end of the season, in weeks of the wage bill: ten weeks to the champion, six to the runner-up, four to third, two to the rest of the top half and one to the bottom half.

Add it up and an ordinary club earns a little more than its wages. A well-run one saves for players and buildings; one that overspends still sinks.

What goes out

• Wages — your players, as above, and your staff. A coach costs a share of the division's wage bill, but never less than a floor of about 60 a week for the weakest and 360 for the best, so the smallest clubs usually run on volunteers.
• Building work — new stands and facility levels, paid up front.
• The academy and scouting — both priced on your division's scale: an intake costs a few hundred at the foot of the pyramid and six figures at the top, a day of scouting from about 15 to several thousand.
• Loans — the bank lends on the same scale and takes its instalment every week for 26 weeks.

Reading your own numbers

The Finance screen shows each of these streams for your club, with the wage budget for your level next to your wage bill. If the bill is under the budget and the gate is growing, you are building something. If not, it tells you how many weeks your balance can carry the difference.