How to find the an affiliated club and the patron club? | Questions and Answers Football Manager 2016 Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Affiliated clubs and patron clubs are ones that your club signs a contract with, which strengthens cooperation between both clubs. Thanks to this, both teams profit in several ways, both when it comes to finances and personal gains. A affiliated club is, usually, a team that is much weaker than yours, which acts as your branch, whereas a patron club is a better club that supports your club that is weaker and not as well-known. It is worth noting that authorities of both clubs do not agree to be dependent of each other and to find patron clubs. For a very weak team, on the other hand, it is very difficult to find a affiliated club.
Searching for such a club, in itself, consists in filing a request, with the Board, just like in the case of other requests, and it depends to a large extent of the stability of your position. To file a request, access Board -> Request to Board ->Contracts, where you can pick the appropriate option. If you convince the Management Board, they start preparations and soon afterwards, they present you with a list of recommended teams, out of which you need to pick one team. If the Board's satisfaction is high enough, you will be granted the option to suggest any team you want, which is not to say that the Board of the other team will accept that. In case everything works fine and both teams agree on the patron/affiliate club status, appropriate contract will be enacted.
Of course, what is most important is profits that result from such a cooperation. With the weaker team, your finances will be limited, which makes costly transfers and borrowing players a handicap in your way to the development of the club. Finding the patron club is an excellent way out that will allow you to borrow players for free, and also patch up your budget (the annual match profits from which go directly to your team). Thanks to this, you can obtain players from higher divisions, where you do not have to pay for borrowing them.
Being affiliated with another club means, predominantly, that you do not have to pay for borrowing weaker players or promising young talents from a weaker club/division. Thanks to this, the such players get the opportunity to gain experience and improve on their skills. This is especially important if you plan to include such a player into your first line-up for 2-3 seasons. By borrowing the player from the affiliate club, you ensure his development (pay attention to the training base of such a team). Further profits are the income from souvenirs (international cooperation, you can maximize on your profits by getting a player from the country that you are entering a cooperation with), or the possibility of obtaining work permits (e.g. in England, for players with no EU citizenship, cooperation speeds up the process of endowing citizenship, without the necessity to obtain work permit).
To sum up, you should remember that both sides profit here: by managing a affiliate club, you can borrow players for free, which strengthens your team. While managing the patron club, you can provide players with experience, who learn skills necessary to play in the first line-up in several seasons. Affiliated clubs mean certain expenses, of course, but profits that you can acquire surpass that. All clubs that you cooperate with can be found in Club -> Partner Clubs.