[kopiteinkc]

One of the hardest things I find in hattrick is when to actually sell my trainees.

How high do you let your trainee go before you sell him? How old do you let him age before selling him?

There is no perfect answer to this. I'd be interested to know at the higher levels at what point the improvements in skill level don't bring you that much more money.

[Helghallen]

Originally Posted by kopiteinkc

One of the hardest things I find in hattrick is when to actually sell my trainees.

How high do you let your trainee go before you sell him? How old do you let him age before selling him?

There is no perfect answer to this. I'd be interested to know at the higher levels at what point the improvements in skill level don't bring you that much more money.

I too would like to hear what the others say about this.

I presently have a 19 year old excellent. Will pop to formidable before the end of the season. I'll keep him a while longer. I have some other players that I am currently trying to pop so I can upgrade their age. Both are 19, but neither are solid yet. In the future I plan to keep them longer, but until I get the quality of player to start with, my plan is to continue doing what I'm doing, except Mikael.

[johno]

Originally Posted by Helghallen

I too would like to hear what the others say about this.

I presently have a 19 year old excellent. Will pop to formidable before the end of the season. I'll keep him a while longer. I have some other players that I am currently trying to pop so I can upgrade their age. Both are 19, but neither are solid yet. In the future I plan to keep them longer, but until I get the quality of player to start with, my plan is to continue doing what I'm doing, except Mikael.

what is the size of your squad? If You are selling off promising players I assume its because you have better ones on the bench... then, u are selling them to avoid paying wages as well?


Sorry bout all the annoying questions guys... I am dying to start playing this game...

[kopiteinkc]

Originally Posted by mtkillamanjohno

what is the size of your squad? If You are selling off promising players I assume its because you have better ones on the bench... then, u are selling them to avoid paying wages as well?


Sorry bout all the annoying questions guys... I am dying to start playing this game...

How long before you get your team? We are all ready to give you lots of really good advice

[Helghallen]

Originally Posted by mtkillamanjohno

what is the size of your squad? If You are selling off promising players I assume its because you have better ones on the bench... then, u are selling them to avoid paying wages as well?


Sorry bout all the annoying questions guys... I am dying to start playing this game...

No, ask away. We don't mind answering questions.

My roster presently has 18 players on it. I have a full slate of midfield/wing trainees: 6 midfielders and 4 wingers. I have to play my goalie in both games and one forward and defender in both games.

I don't have better players on the bench, just younger ones. I'm trying to get younger with my trainees, that is the reason I have sold off the two players I did recently.

[johno]

Originally Posted by kopiteinkc

How long before you get your team? We are all ready to give you lots of really good advice

Thanks for the vote of confidence (ie, not seeing me as an idiot for all the questions).

I registered late Monday night/ early Tuesday morning...

The last group of 26 players joined on yesterday after applying 2004-04-11 23:57:00

[Craig P]

Originally Posted by mtkillamanjohno

what is the size of your squad?

Right now, I have 21 players who get time most weeks when they're not injured, although I shortened the squad considerably over a couple of weeks in the Cup when I needed to win both matches.

If You are selling off promising players I assume its because you have better ones on the bench... then, u are selling them to avoid paying wages as well?

When I sell a trainee, I generally don't have a better player on the bench. I do have a player who's about a season behind, so two or three levels of skill, which isn't all that much of a drop. It's not so much about paying wages as cashing in my training investment so that I can improve other areas of the squad.

As an example, at the start of this season, I sold an outstanding keeper for $2.5 million. His backup was actually pretty close in skill because I started training the backup at solid and the guy I sold at inadequate, a season apart. That wouldn't be the case if I did the same thing now, my backup is excellent and my primary is outstanding going on brilliant.

Anyway, I did want to save the wages, but he was getting too old to train and I also needed to upgrade my squad to compete -- I bought an outstanding midfielder for $1.5 million, an excellent forward for $400k, a new trainee (18-yo solid who was only a week or two from excellent) for $180k, a solid/poor coach for $270k, and a 10k stadium expansion. The middie and the forward have been important components in a team that currently sits atop the series (albeit only on goal differential) -- I doubt I'd be in the same position if I hadn't cashed in my trainee.

[Craig P]

Originally Posted by kopiteinkc

One of the hardest things I find in hattrick is when to actually sell my trainees.

How high do you let your trainee go before you sell him? How old do you let him age before selling him?

There is no perfect answer to this. I'd be interested to know at the higher levels at what point the improvements in skill level don't bring you that much more money.

I don't like to train past 20. I haven't hit on the rolloff point on the high end of keeper training yet -- I know that outstanding keepers sold for $2.5 million at the start of the season, but I don't know about the higher levels. I suppose I should start keeping an eye on it so I can make that kind of a judgement.

[johno]

Originally Posted by Craig P

Right now, I have 21 players who get time most weeks when they're not injured, although I shortened the squad considerably over a couple of weeks in the Cup when I needed to win both matches.

When I sell a trainee, I generally don't have a better player on the bench. I do have a player who's about a season behind, so two or three levels of skill, which isn't all that much of a drop. It's not so much about paying wages as cashing in my training investment so that I can improve other areas of the squad.

As an example, at the start of this season, I sold an outstanding keeper for $2.5 million. His backup was actually pretty close in skill because I started training the backup at solid and the guy I sold at inadequate, a season apart. That wouldn't be the case if I did the same thing now, my backup is excellent and my primary is outstanding going on brilliant.

Anyway, I did want to save the wages, but he was getting too old to train and I also needed to upgrade my squad to compete -- I bought an outstanding midfielder for $1.5 million, an excellent forward for $400k, a new trainee (18-yo solid who was only a week or two from excellent) for $180k, a solid/poor coach for $270k, and a 10k stadium expansion. The middie and the forward have been important components in a team that currently sits atop the series (albeit only on goal differential) -- I doubt I'd be in the same position if I hadn't cashed in my trainee.

Thanks very much... so insightful... so you wont sell a good player unless you have abundance in that position or, enough in that position and he can earn you enough to benefit the team in the long run... kinda like selling Ruud Van Nistelrooy to buy Henry, Totti, and Ballack right?

Thanx

[Craig P]

Originally Posted by mtkillamanjohno

Thanks very much... so insightful... so you wont sell a good player unless you have abundance in that position or, enough in that position and he can earn you enough to benefit the team in the long run... kinda like selling Ruud Van Nistelrooy to buy Henry, Totti, and Ballack right?

There are two kinds of sales that I make:

1. Selling a trainee -- when one of my trainees gets to the right age and/or ability, it's time to sell. I'll get diminishing returns, and the cash is better spent on a new trainee and improvements to the club. The nature of selling trainees is that there's always someone else to step in, albeit usually a season or so behind in skill. This would be (in my case) like selling Oliver Kahn to buy Rio Ferdinand or David Beckham.
2. Selling an obsolete player -- my squad is to the point now that I don't really need more depth. I could maybe add one more player to get a full "B" squad, but I'd have to be careful to make sure it didn't hurt my tactical flexibility. So if I buy somebody to improve (as with that outstanding middie I mentioned), I'll also sell the weakest player at that position and move everyone else down the depth chart.