Choosing your club and your moment

Every club in 115.football gets the same £900m. They don't start in the same place. Where your club begins, who it's up against and which seasons are there to be won all shape how you should spend. This guide covers the bigger picture.

Where your club starts

At the start, your team is your club's real 2009/10 squad, at its real strength. The gap from top to bottom in 2009/10 was big. On our strength scale, Chelsea started 2009/10 about 460 points above Hull City. Manchester United were close behind Chelsea. Arsenal and Liverpool were the next tier. Then came a pack of Spurs, Everton, Aston Villa and City, all within about 20 points of each other.

The stars on the club picker show this. One-star clubs need a few upgrades to win the league in year one. Four-star clubs need a whole new team.

That changes how you spend:

• At a top club, the bar for a signing to start is high. You'll buy fewer players, and they'll need to be very good. Your money goes on stars.
• At a mid-table club, a handful of very good players gets you into the top four, and a full XI of them gets you a title race.
• At a relegation-threatened club, almost any good player starts. Your first job is to stay up in 2009/10, because a relegation sets the whole run back. Spread the first summer's money across the XI before chasing stars.

Not every title race is equally hard

The champions weren't equally strong every year. Here's how strong each real champion was on our scale, from the strength the game uses for them:

Two seasons stand out. 2015/16 was the softest title race of the decade by a long way, as anyone who watched Leicester win it will remember. 2016/17 was the next softest. If your team is close to title strength by then, those are the years to go for it.

At the other end, 2017/18 is the hardest league to win. City's 100-point side was the strongest team of the decade. Winning that title takes a team built to peak at the end of the run, not one that peaked in 2013.

Leagues and cups reward different teams

The league rewards being strong all season. The cups reward being strong on the day, and some cups are more forgiving than others:

• The League Cup is the most predictable. Big clubs rotate in the early rounds, but the stronger side usually wins.
• The FA Cup has more upsets. A strong team wins it often, but not as reliably.
• Europe is the hardest. You have to qualify through the league first, and the knockout rounds bring the best sides on the continent. A Champions League win needs a genuinely great team and some luck.

Every trophy counts as one on the leaderboard. A run that wins the league and a domestic cup most seasons will usually beat a run that chases the Champions League.

Weaken the teams you're racing

City spend their own real money in every simulated season, at their real strength. So do Chelsea, Manchester United and the rest. You can't stop that, but you can take their players.

A signing leaves his real club for as long as he's in your squad. Sign a key player from the team you're racing and you get stronger while they get weaker. In a close title race that can be worth more than any player from abroad.

Know when you've done enough

There's a limit to how far above the best real side any team can go. Once you're well clear, extra spending buys very little, and on the leaderboard ties go to whoever spent less. The cleverest runs get to the top and then stop spending.

Pick a plan to suit the club

• Big club: a few stars, early. Go for the league every season and use the cups as a bonus.
• Mid-table club: fix the XI in 2009 and 2010, aim for the top four, then push for the softer title races of 2015/16 and 2016/17.
• Small club: survive 2009/10 first. Then build towards one big push, and buy young so the team gets better as it goes.

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