Can't Spend the Entire Transfer Budget!

Part 17 | Yanbian FC | 延边足球俱乐部 | 연변축구 | FM23 Hardcore Mode

Feb 23, 2023

Critics

I saw before the Beijing Baxy match that the critics among our fanbase were back up on Weibo, trying to find things to nitpick about. One overzealous fan said that I’d better have a good reason for starting 22-year-old striker Huang Bowen.

I do have a good reason for starting him. He’s our best goal scorer.

After 14 league matches (including today’s win), Huang Bowen leads the squad with 14 goals and 4 assists. It’s even more impressive when you realize that he’s started only 7 games and has come on as a substitute in only 3 others.

Luciano Parra, the 19-year-old Chilean Hat Trick Machine, has started in 8 matches, netting 13 goals and 2 assists. He’s got the flare, but Huang Bowen’s got the talent.

I’m having a hard time envisioning any scenario in which I wouldn’t start Huang Bowen, assuming he was healthy enough. Meanwhile, Kim Yong-Il has been rotting away on our bench.

Beijing Baxy

That’s right — we won again. We only put 6 past them this time, though, which is a bit of a disappointment.

Most of our scoring took place in the first half hour of the match. Once we were up 5-0 we essentially drifted away into complacency.

Liu Yue managed to get the man of the match today, though it could have been anybody. He also managed to win the player of the week, though just about anybody on our side could have won that award as well.

Pietro Rovaglia, who is starting to become upset that I’m not treating him like the star he thinks he is, managed to get another goal in this one. That makes 8 goals in 8 appearances for the 21-year-old, whose only failing is that he’s not as fancy and as consistent as Parra and Huang.

I suppose the most shocking part of the match was Stefan Jonovic scoring his first goal for the club. I guess I should play him more often, though it’s hard to find a spot for him among all of our good young players. In truth, the most help he provides to us is social support for our DPRK contingent.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, that makes 14 straight league wins in a row, with no sign of slowing down.

Big Spender

You’d think that Chairman Guo would be thrilled with our success.

If that’s the case, you simply don’t know Chairman Guo.

He doesn’t hang around the clubhouse often, but he was there a few days ago for our staff meeting. He kind of barged in unannounced, which scared me. You see, I normally conduct staff meetings with a bunch of grunts and nods. The coaches and staff members come to me with their suggestions, and I usually approve them without much thought — assuming that they’re not totally ridiculous, of course.

I learned a long time ago that grunting, nodding, and delegating all but the most essential tasks is the northeast Chinese way. Of course, the problem is that you never know what the big boss thinks about your habits.

Chairman Guo asked me into his office afterwards, and I thought he was going to chew me out for my inattentive managerial style. I was surprised by what he said.

“Why haven’t you spent the transfer budget yet?!” he demanded in a scratchy voice and a harsh, almost guttural northeastern Chinese tone.

“Sir, umm, well, you see…” I hemmed and hawed, looking for an escape.

“Perhaps 300 million RMB was too much?” His eyes were firey and his face was demanding.

“Well, sir, you see… At our level, it’s not easy to find pla—”

He cut me off before I could finish.

“Oh, it’s a scout problem, is that right? We can get you a new scouting team if you want. I’ll make it happen right away.”

That wasn’t going to help, of course. The real problem is our reputation, not the quality of the scouting team or the amount of money in the bank.

“No need,” I said quickly. “We’ll manage. I’ve got a plan, and I’ll spend the money. You’ll see.”

That got me out of the meeting, but didn’t solve the problem.

We’re simply not at the level yet where we can buy expensive players for massive amounts of money. I do have a large group of new players ready to come in during the winter transfer season, which will help a little bit. I just hope that our scouts can find us somebody good that is actually worth the money. As nice as it is to play for a billionaire, I’m also not in the mood to make stupid financial decisions that could hurt the club in the long run.

We’ll also eventually need to figure out how to convince other clubs to take some of our surplus players on loan. After all, we can only register 50.

I never thought having a big transfer budget would wind up being a problem.