Red Mist Auctions

So the Wage auctions have started and let me tell you it's insanity all over again.

I know I thought I would go heavy on a few players but it turns out I just can't bring myself to do it. You start looking and think ahh I've heard of this guy, you look at his stats, performance and then study the teams in for him. I check and can afford to outbid them but I'm not going to, I know eventually I can find cheaper elsewhere.

I managed to bag two Big Strikers to bounce off Wendall it might work, it might not, but these are well under £10k a day. It's an experiment, oddly one of them Franco looks a very good striker with a proven track record of a goal every other game.

It's not simply a case of if their good strikers but if their the right type of strikers. One player I did go heavy on was Romulo (I can't check his name as the servers are down again). The teams in for him I didn't think were serious apart from Wooley Hotspur who I know needed a target man.

Romulo has a wage demand of £12k and for once I went big at £25k and actually felt quite confident of bagging him. Then I started having second thoughts this guy didn't have any pace at all and that was the reason that Purovic went. The hour came and surprisingly Chris Nash of Surreal Madrid had chucked in £35k.

Romulo may or may not have been worth £25k that's a debating point however £35k I'm fairly confident is a no no. If he was 21 maybe but at 27 then no.

A lesson learnt here as then I looked elsewhere and found a free agent Franco with a simliar record, just as good in the air, had pace and only cost £4k a day. So assuming that Franco pans out I know have a £30k day advantage over one team.

Here is where I think I have a trick over other teams. Not wishing to blow my own trumpet but the team that takes the pitch is normally half that off wage over the other teams.

Often these teams have no youth policy and almost always have an older squad than mine. When you consider we're now bouncing between 50 and 100 in the rankings I'm fairly confident that my strategy is one that produces sustainable results.

I don't know why the insanity in auctions continues but I'll try to guess the psychology. One game a player makes a mistake, doesn't take a chance something... then the manager thinks that this player need replacing. The auctions start and players are shortlisted bids made. The manager loses out and takes it like a loss, the next player they will not be 'beaten' and the manager is now starting to get red mist.

It doesn't take long for the silly bids to start the odd thing is the manager often feels like he 'won'. Securing a player that has a wage demand of £20k and paying him £65k instantly put him at a disadvantage to everyone else. If the manager had thought ahead he could of got someone on £20k a day who's young and then locked the contract.

A £65k a day player is like paying a £1.35million transfer fee every single season.

I know many would argue beta but we're at least three seasons away from release and as I've stated before I rather doubt that SI will kill a gameworld anyway.

Another arrival at the Jakski is a young 19 year old winger from the far east. Wage £1.5k and thus far looks totally breathtaking.

I managed to hold both my players in auctions with only a minor increase to the left backs salary. Honestly it's almost lazy of me not to look elsewhere as I do think I could do better. Still at least I know what I'm going to get.

The one gap in the first team now is at right back and arguably at MC. Currently Arda is playing MC and this is not a natural position for him Molnga is covering on the left wing. Pablo is covering Right Back and once again not a natural position.

Much thought has gone into Montero, a young 16 year old kid that often controls games at youth level. I played Seahorse (a very good team littered with stars) earlier today and brought Montero on and he gleefully skipped past their defence at least twice in the twenty minutes he was on.

I think the bottom line is that Montero is already at Championship / Premiership level but quite a way short of World Class. I have the money and budget to buy world class so maybe I should. If the right player at the right price comes along then I'll move.

More pressing though is right back, Pablo is a fiercely competitive player who whilst isn't quite world class but is consistent and would not be phased by any level of opposition. Naturally he's an MC and just the sort of player you want in the heart of your team.

What would really suit is a experienced old pro in his twilight years. Ceedorf was being offered in the Market chat room but I could see that this season he had moved for £2m. I assumed his current owner had expectations of at least that sort of money and I'm not paying that for a 34 year old. The search continues.

We managed to do the double at Under 21 level in the NFA this season getting it with a 3-1 win over Birmingham. Nice, the U17 thing remains unresolved.