sorry guys I was out the country until this morning and could not get logged in - not that it matters looking at my 1st 4 picks :)

Obviously instant selling on the back of 1 or 2 team/personal performances does not make sense to the majority of us, I do personally understand the fall in price. I actually sold out of Messi much earlier this season for the following reason.

He is 32 years old and we are making at the maximum a 3 year bet

Does anybody actually believe he will be worth the same or more in 3 years time (hopefully you all say no he will not)

Therefore it is obvious then that his price will fall over that period of time

In that case you will need the dividends to make up the shortfall and more to move into profit.

With other players offering better capital appreciation and dividend potential it is rather obvious that he becomes a gamble that involves timing your exit.

In addition 1 injury of any size will massively impact his price unlike for instance a younger player such as Harry Kane

Please add me - Thanks

I am in the smoke quite a bit in January - However my requirements include beer that is not flat and comes with a nice creamy head

I have held Messi since I joined the index in May 2018 but have had him in the sell queue for 10 days and it has taken until today for his shares to start selling.

He has been a fantastic investment and returned great dividends and I have some decent capital appreciation.

However I have now taken the decision to sell for various reasons:

1. His dividend return will/should be excellent over the coming years but his share price will fall as he ages - he will not be anywhere near his price today in 2/3 years.

2. As each season passes his dividends will possibly only make up for the capital depreciation and therefore money may well be better off in a younger player who offers lower dividends but better capital protection/appreciation.

3. At his current age 1 slice of bad luck (broken leg etc) could end his career in Europe

Use Sterling and Kane as an examples:

It is unlikely either will win more dividends than Messi but we will all agree that the probability is they will win above average MB and PB over the next 3 years.

If they do this they will at least hold if not increase there share price especially with Euros and World Cups every 2 years as well as high media presence.

Therefore there overall return could/should be ahead of Messi over this period and if they had a year out due to injury there share price should recover. So as a risk they are actually lower as the timing of your exit is less important.

This is not to say you should not own him it is just pointing out why I have sold him now having made my money and not wanting the current risk.

Mo has been falling week after for circa 3 months now from over £5 to his current £4.22 and his Instant sell price of £3.92 would suggest there are quite a few shares in the queue.

His positives are a possible 1st title for Liverpool and another champions league challenge which should produce MB and Gold PB chances in the latter rounds of the champions league.

His negatives are that he now shares more of the limelight with Sadio Mane and he obviously has no Euro’s.

Therefore what do you think is more likely £3.50 or £5.00.

I currently have just 300 shares left as sold 700 hundred over a month ago but not sure what to do with these.

Currently I am thinking sell as I do believe without PB win in the next month or so it could be £3.50

@Ellisandro

I have just cashed some in for a VCT will use the tax free dividends to invest back into FI and if I get my sums correct will wipe out my tax bill :)

@Ellisandro

It took me over a week to sell some Salah's and a few other obvious ones.

Glad the majority are going as you will need to invest soon if you want the EIS certificates in this tax year!!

@Ben_pz

As I said this is just my reasoning, however you are unwise to use the graph as new players keep being added to the platform which artificially increases the index. In addition all the new traders buy players which creates new futures which pushes the index higher but if they then sell and buy other players the index may increase but not player prices.

Remember statistics can prove anything!

I am selling up because the index is now substantially different to when I joined and so not for me - I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have but personally I do believe buying and sitting on players is a safe strategy.

I have today spent 3 hours reading through literally 1000’s of posts on the forum discussing the current downturn in the Index. There are all differing types of posts some support the current direction and many more worry about it.

As a businessman that has spent his life building a substantial business that has always had to move with the times and embrace change I believe I have identified the direction FI are moving in and for me it is time to take out all bar 10% of my funds.

This does not mean everybody should as we each use, invest, enjoy FI for differing reasons, but for me it is time to go.

Why

In my opinion Football Index has now reached the part of its business plan where it diverts from it’s original strategy. It only makes money when players are sold so the more selling the more profit. Daily buying and selling (gambling) on the outcome of matches (IPD’s) is now and probably was always planned to be the heartbeat of the operation and it is where it can maximise profit and revenue.

To get to this point it needed to build a large loyal and dedicated fan base (us) to help build its name and reputation so it could achieve this. We have made money month after month which is the perfect way to build the brand. However it is now happy to lose a percentage of us as we were never actually part of the long term plan.

When I sell my players off they will make commission, the players will fall in value and as more traders do the same, these players will become more affordable to daily trade! Players going up and up in value are not what the platform is about from there point. Cultivating regular punters who enjoy a differing style of short term gambling is where the big profits are.

Do not be upset as this is a business and I have benefitted greatly but over the next few years you will see it more and more become a more mainstream gambling site - It is a disruptor just like Betfair was. However the bottom line is that it was created to make profit for the owners not a cash cow for us. Eventually 90% of people will lose money as that is what gambling is all about.

It has been a great ride and I wish you all well, I will still be here gambling and punting on players with a couple of grand of my profits but the other 20k of profits is about to be used to buy a property for my daughter (she is only 14) so will be paid off by the time she needs it 😀