Transfer Budget of £40 Million? Roots Torn Out, Time to Plant a New Tree

"How on earth did a second-tier club end up with a transfer budget of thirty-five million pounds?"

Sunderland's budget should be seven to ten million at absolute best. This is nearly four times that. What's the reason?

Han Shin decided he needed to sit down with the club's hired accountant and get a proper walkthrough of the books.

"It's an enormous sum. Feeling the pressure?"

"In the game I've handled hundreds of millions, but this is my first time in real life."

Far from feeling burdened, the mere thought of completely evolving the squad sent dopamine and adrenaline surging through him. His hands trembled as they gripped the railing.

Speakman watched him carefully.

His hands are shaking. Of course a sum like that would weigh on anyone. I'd better support him properly.

"Phew… In the end we never actually touch a single banknote. I wouldn't call it game money, but if you handle it with that same mindset, you'll be fine."

"Game money, huh…"

I'm ridiculously excited. With this kind of money, only an idiot would fail to win the title. Still, I won't move like a fool in the market just because we got a sixty-billion-won budget.

Han Shin gave a vague answer while running quick calculations in his head.

- Even if I set the four data analysts I just promised at a hundred million won each, that's only four hundred million. Barely a scratch on six hundred billion.

- If the annual salary is a hundred million, monthly is about nine million, weekly roughly 2.25 million.

- With a budget this size, staff weekly wages should range from a minimum of 1.5 million to a maximum around ten million.

- Is that take-home? British taxes are murderous, so maybe I should calculate pre-tax.

- Ten million a week is only for someone truly hard to land or exceptionally gifted. Nothing higher.

- Health insurance has to be factored in too. And from now on I need to think in pounds or euros, not won.

And so on.

"Manager, you said you were curious about the background behind the forty-million-pound allocation?"

"Are you going to explain it yourself?"

"Of course. No one knows the state of our club better than I do."

"I'll listen gratefully."

"First of all, it's naturally the owner's will. You know we've been stuck in the second tier for ten years ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now, right?"

"Yes, and it's been five years since the takeover."

"No—this isn't the place for that conversation. Let's head back and talk properly."

"What? You're killing the mood…"

"Ah! And while the amount is heavy, with me here you don't need to worry at all."

"Worry…?"

"You're bound to be a bit green on the practical side, so I'll support you there. That's why a sporting director exists."

"Then let me ask one thing first."

What is this manager going to say? Is he going to admit the pressure is too much and ask for help?

"When we offer weekly wages, is it pre-tax or post-tax? In the game it's always pre-tax."

"…Pardon?"

For a split second, the entire tax-optimization process through paper companies in tax havens flashed through Speakman's mind. Even though it was perfectly legal outside of Spain, the thought that justice-burning Han Shin might call him out on it sent cold sweat trickling down his spine.

"It's complicatedly intertwined, so pre-tax. Pre-tax, but… that's not a conversation for out here either."

"By the way, if you keep smoking like that your lungs will rot. Let's go talk."

"Yes."

Still… this guy is insane. Asking that at a moment like this. Forty million pounds isn't some dog's name.

Back in the meeting room, Isaac was alone tidying up.

"We'll need to hire scouts first."

"Right."

"Manager, congratu—!"

"Shh!"

Han Shin cut off Isaac, who had clearly seen the same notice and was about to offer congratulations. The broadcast team was still around, and he wanted to keep internal club matters from leaking as much as possible.

Though Isaac might already have blabbed…

"Oh~ Manager Han~~~ I've been waiting with my neck stretched out~~~"

Peter, the producer in charge of Manager War and now producing the follow-up program Black Cats, rose from a folding chair and greeted Han Shin as if he were a hero.

"Thank you! Mister Han!! You really are the god of ratings. A god!"

"Peter, you ended up with an incredible scene you never planned for."

"Oh man~ It was truly~ magnificent. In just a few days you uncovered the club's corruption and then literally ripped it out by the roots."

"Now that the roots are gone, we need to spread fertilizer and plant a strong new tree."

"Hahaha, of course, of course. A tough tree. With impact like this, this project might even win an Emmy or an Oscar."

"Congratulations. If you win Best Director, do I get Best Actor?"

"Hahaha! Manager Han, you weren't acting."

"Why not? Manager War had great ratings too, didn't it?"

"Then aim for Best Newcomer. Hahaha."

"As if aiming for it would make it happen."

At least he doesn't seem to know I've been given authority. Someone among the staff could leak it, so stay careful.

"Ah, right! Do you remember at the championship celebration when I said I'd introduce you to a great beef Wellington place?"

"Of course I remember."

"Let's keep that promise after this season—in Paris."

"Paris?"

"I'll treat you properly at Epicure or Le Grand Véfour, with Romanée-Conti to boot. Hahaha."

Han Shin had no idea where those places were, but he had heard of Romanée-Conti as one of the world's finest wines. With that level of fanfare, they had to be at least Michelin three-star.

"I'll look forward to it sincerely. But Peter?"

"Yes?"

"The club has agreed, so filming is fine, but nothing can leak before broadcast. There's nothing good about internal club matters getting out."

"Absolutely. Don't worry, Manager—I'll lock the production team down so tight not even a single bug can slip out. You can't get footage this real anywhere else."

"That's reassuring. Our next shoot is… the friendly against FC Zenit in seven days, right?"

"Prepare thoroughly. A full-scale crew is coming. And make sure you win!"

"It's only a friendly, but winning would make for better pictures, wouldn't it?"

"You talk as if you can control winning and losing!"

"Losing is incredibly easy. Just field the entire youth squad with no tactics."

"Hahaha, true. But if Sunderland loses we can frame it as the underdog story, and if you win we paint you as an invincible team. Either way works for us."

"If I get sacked mid-league, it becomes a tragic tale of the ill-fated Korean manager."

"And if you get promoted, it's an instant human-triumph comedy about a genius manager."

Meanwhile Speakman, still awkward in front of the cameras, tapped Han Shin on the shoulder.

"Ah! Peter, we need to discuss transfers involving money, so could you turn that camera off now?"

"You heard him. Let's wrap it."

The red recording light on the broadcast camera blinked a few times and went dark.

"You're already short-staffed, so you'll be swamped."

"Yeah, probably."

"We won't get in Manager Han and our sporting director's way any longer. All right, pack it up~"

"Thank you for your hard work~"

"See you in four days at the Zenit match~"

Once the entire filming crew had left, the room felt suddenly spacious. Only Han Shin, Speakman, and Isaac remained.

The sporting director carefully suggested to Isaac,

"Isaac, could you give us the room for a moment? I need to speak with the manager alone."

"Understood."

Han Shin glanced at his watch.

"In about thirty minutes, gather all the scouts here."

"Yes."

Alone in the meeting room, Speakman explained the background behind the enlarged budget.

"There are several reasons the club significantly increased the transfer budget this year. First, our financial position has improved dramatically. Let me walk you through the numbers. How's your head for figures?"

"In the East we joke that if you can't do math they kick you out of the house."

"Hahaha! Actually, there was a Korean exchange student at my school who swept every A+ in mathematics. Perfect—this will go quickly."

If someone only enjoyed setting tactics and signing players in World FM, they were a beginner to intermediate. Han Shin was a veteran who thrived on the highest-difficulty concept playthroughs: starting unemployed, taking over bankrupt clubs, climbing from the lowest division to a top-flight title. He even enjoyed multi-year runs with zero signings, relying solely on the youth system.

In those extreme challenges, club finances were non-negotiable. Income and expenditure, plus debt. The game's fairly realistic revenue streams included transfer fees from player sales, gate receipts, season-ticket sales, TV rights, sponsorships, kit sales, prize money, and more. The bulk of expenditure was player wages and bonuses, loan and interest repayments, taxes, and so on. So Han Shin already grasped the concepts.

Still, hearing it from an expert matters.

"One moment."

Speakman picked up the tablet on the desk and showed him a graph.

"As you can see, over several years the debt ratio has dropped from 85% to 10%. Through four years of austerity we also strictly restructured the wage system and accumulated an average of three million pounds a year in transfer funds."

That's twelve million over four years alone.

"No big signings because of the austerity, I take it."

A "big signing" meant paying a large transfer fee for a famous player—not a "big shining."

"Instead of big signings we invested heavily in youth development. The result is top-tier youth facilities and a large number of players we've raised ourselves."

"I'm very satisfied with the quality of the home-grown talent already in the squad. So what about additional revenue?"

"Look at this. Through the collaboration with Manager War, the club's revenue structure diversified enormously over the past year."

He pointed to the red bars representing income.

"Just from the ratings-based revenue share we received over a million pounds, and stadium income rose 20%. Merchandising is already up 35%."

Then he showed a photo of a "SOLD OUT" sign.

"On top of that, since your appointment the season tickets are already sold out."

"Sold out? Wow…"

"We usually sell close to capacity, but this is quite early."

"That means the fans are expecting a lot."

"There's huge interest outside the UK as well. Especially in Korea—we're in talks with broadcasters, sports channels, and Coupang, the sponsor of the Korea tour, for rights deals. That will generate additional broadcasting fees."

"So league matches will be shown in Korea too."

"Exactly. Look at this as well."

Speakman displayed a kit and manager's tracksuit embroidered with the Hangul name "Han Shin."

"Do you know what Emily did the moment your victory was confirmed?"

She called me then, asking if I had any ideas.

"Emily seems overflowing with marketing ideas."

"She does. She's practically a marketing genius."

"Where did Emily work before joining the club?"

"As far as I know, at one of the fashion brands under the LVMH group. You should ask her for the details."

"I will. So what did she do?"

"Emily showed us the scale and influence of the Asian population and market, then insisted we contact the factory immediately for extra kit production. And she was dead right. Orders poured in so fast the servers crashed."

"Is that so? I had no idea it was that big."

"There's even constant demand from fans for a product line under your name—dolls, cushions, what they call 'goods' these days. You'll probably be choosing from a few samples soon."

Han Shin recalled the clause in the corner of his contract.

"I retain 50% of my image rights, so…"

"Yes, a portion of the merchandise revenue goes to you."

Nice. Money for nothing.

Speakman swiped the tablet to the right, revealing logos of major Asian corporations.

"This might be the largest and most important revenue stream… Emily compiled this data too."

"Sponsorships. I heard about them from the chairman at dawn on the first day."

"You've already heard. We've attracted many new sponsors especially in the Asian market. Competition has driven negotiations for deals ranging from four to eight million pounds each."

Hold on… accumulated transfer funds plus just a few of these sponsors already clear twenty-five million.

"So the reason you could allocate over thirty million pounds is that the cash liquidity appeared. In effect you're reinvesting the money I brought in."

"You're quick with the numbers. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠When you add it all up, yes. The decision to reinvest the incoming revenue was the chairman's. This is marketing revenue."

He showed various SNS metrics.

"Club social media followers more than doubled, so digital marketing value has risen sharply. They're even giving you a personal SNS account. Emily said your popularity is enormous—she can't understand why you have zero social media activity."

"I was just thinking I needed a new phone anyway."

"She'll probably handle that too. Once you open an account you'll start getting personal sponsorships."

"Cars too, maybe?"

"Not happy with the current one?"

"Hahaha. Something like that."

"And there's a chance of a sponsorship to replace the watch on your wrist."

"A digital watch is better. More functions."

Speakman, who had been explaining calmly, casually rolled up his sleeve. Even Han Shin, who had little interest in luxury watches, recognized the gleaming Patek Philippe.

"Come on, Manager. Where else is a man supposed to show a bit of style? Strap one of these on and the whole feeling changes. You just won prize money—buy one while you're young and it'll last a lifetime."

"True. It's a beautiful watch. Still, digital is more accurate. By the way, what was our sporting director's weekly wage again?"

"Ahem… considering my wage, this is modest."

"Fair enough."

"And Manager, from someone who's lived a little longer, one piece of advice. This is the last chance a single man in his thirties gets to enjoy."

"I'm listening."

"You were thinking of a German car, right? The Audi dealership down the road."

"The Audi place is right on the street—hard not to notice."

"Skip the Audi. Looking at you, a Ferrari suits you perfectly. Let's go Ferrari."

"Ferrari? What do you drive, Director? Parking space number four is yours, right?"

"I have several. G-Wagen for family outings, Nissan for commuting. Speaking of family, want to see photos of my daughter?"

"Sure."

It turned out Speakman was a complete daughter-dad. He shared several photos and videos while they chatted.

"Shall we get back to work? The scouts will be here soon."

"Right. My daughter's really pretty and cute, isn't she?"

"Yes—she must take after her handsome father."

"Hahaha! You're too much!"

Everything sounds positive so far. But even if the situation has improved, is it really okay to invest this aggressively?

"But won't such bold investment put a heavy burden on the club's finances?"

At the financial question Speakman regained his composure and explained.

"Excellent question. We calculated carefully… Did you know this? It was before I even became sporting director here."

"What was?"

Speakman spread his palm wide.

"Six or seven years ago our club was among the five most indebted in the whole of England."

"What? Not among second-tier clubs—across all of England?"

Han Shin had seen the near-bankruptcy from the debt bomb in documentaries, but he hadn't realized it was that severe.

"Man United, Arsenal, Everton, Tottenham, then Sunderland. Our annual loan interest was third-highest in the country."

"That was when we were in League One, right?"

"We had been relegated to League One. Income was already quartered, debt repayment became impossible, and then the COVID pandemic hit. Bankruptcy was the only thing left."

COVID… I had forgotten.

"That's when Chairman Kirill personally took over the club and began the rebuild."

"Yes. Thanks to a wealthy owner we wiped out a huge portion of the accumulated debt. But after the takeover many eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were watching our finances, so we had no choice but to tighten the belt with austerity."

"Because we somehow had to repay the debt while dodging FFP."

"Exactly. After multi-pronged efforts… look at this."

He handed over an accounting report laid out in tables.

"Current cash liquidity ratio is 1.8, well above the industry average of 1.1. That means we can fully meet short-term financial obligations. You don't need to know this right now, but…"

Han Shin, who had been diligently taking notes, said,

"May I turn on a recorder?"

"Of course."

He's really going all-in…

Speakman continued, explaining that the Debt Service Coverage Ratio had risen—indicating ample capacity for additional debt—and that EBITDA had jumped 60% year-on-year.

"In short, the club's efforts secured financial health, the books have improved dramatically this year, and combined with the sponsorships you attracted, we can now make bold investments for the next several years."

"Understood. Thank you for the clear explanation. It all clicked."

I missed a few parts, but three-line summary…

"So Manager, don't worry about the finances—just win the title."

"Honestly, in game terms, failing to win with this money would be a crime. A crime."

If I fail, this is at least an Eden Hazard-level free-ride.

"Manager, you saw what happened when Man United spent nearly a hundred and forty billion won on Antony, right?"

Ten Hag was eventually sacked for poor results, and Antony followed Martial's path—happily collecting wages until his contract expired.

Han Shin stretched.

"Aah~ So we can't waste that precious money, can we? To win we need the best players."

"Shall we start the proper transfer meeting with the scouts?"

"Before I meet the scouts there's something I'm honestly curious about."

"Ask anything, freely."

One of the life truths Han Shin had learned was this:

Don't pretend to know what you don't. If you don't know, ask.

"I understand the player transfer process from the game."

"Experiencing it yourself will feel quite different."

"Of course. It's not just sitting at a computer and clicking a contract."

"So what are you curious about?"

What massive question is he about to drop…?

Speakman waited expectantly.

"About the team doctor. Do we go to a hospital and recruit a practicing physician, or hire through an open application?"

It's a full-time contract, so they'd have to give up their regular practice and stay with the club… right?

"Ah… I see what you're asking. That is…"

A soft knock came, followed by Isaac's voice from outside.

"The entire scouting team is assembled!"

"Give us three minutes~"

Speakman answered and smiled.

"Ask the scouts who travel the world on foot. They'll know."

"Ah~ I'm really curious. That works too. They must have plenty of interesting stories."

"Ah! I never answered you, and I have something I'm enormously curious about myself. May I ask?"

"Of course, anything."

The air suddenly felt heavier.

"All the staff and players connected to Jocelyn will leave the team, correct?"

"Yes. Even if we don't tell them to go, they'll walk out on their own."

"Then roughly how many players from the squad are you planning to release?"

"Hmm… the transfer budget exceeded my expectations, so the numbers have changed quite a bit."

"Three? Five?"

"Right now, at least eight?"

"Eight???"

"I'll watch until the Zenit match and release up to ten. Keep only the core and overhaul the squad completely."

"Ten???? Ha… nothing we can do. If that's the case I'll tell my wife in advance that I'll be working late."

"No need—you have a family. You can leave first."

"Absolutely not! Don't worry. This is a job where you pour every ounce of energy into the two transfer windows a year."

Speakman refused with unusual force.

"Besides, these past few days something I had completely forgotten—passion—has started boiling up again. I feel alive. I'll support you completely, Manager."

"Thank you just for saying that. Let's make this transfer window a hot one."

"Let's do it! Hot! But Manager, to match each other's class you need at least a Lange & Söhne on your wrist or a Ferrari under you…"

"What's a Ferrari? Shall we go even hotter with a Lamborghini?"

"Hahahahaha!"

They sealed their resolve.

He talks like that, but this is the man who rebuilt a bankrupt club into something rock-solid. It feels like I've met Xiao He.