KickAbout Rulebook

There are very few clubs who can have a successful season without dealing in some sort of transfer of players, as few sides have the depth of quality players needed for a prolonged season of success. In KICKABOUT, there are two ways of acquiring new, qualified players; by purchasing them from other teams, or by outbidding everyone else when the transfer `Auction’ has something on offer you want. For the first of these methods to succeed, you will have to contact the opposite manager, and the two of you can then thrash out any deals you wish. Provided that we receive matching instructions from both of the players involved, then the deal will take place at the end of the session that they submit it. (NOTE: This means AFTER all the matches for that session have been played, not before!)

Both sides must agree, and the player, or players, involved in the deal must be uninjured and free from suspensions. If they are not, then the deal will be cancelled.

However, if a manager knows in advance that the player he wants is either injured or suspended he can let us know about it, and we will allow the deal to go through. Also, to safeguard against unscrupulous managers (who tend to be better known as `cheats’), you can specify all the details of the player(s) you expect to receive as part of the deal (except for BW/CR stats), and if they don’t match, we will also cancel it.

We reserve the right to cut out deals that we think are either unfair, dubious, or the result of two friends trying to asset-strip one side, and leave the other as a super-team. We are willing to listen to argument on the matter, but don’t expect sympathy if you are guilty of trying to win an unfair advantage. The only other time a deal such as this will be blocked is if the player(s) involved is currently out of contract, and has appeared in the same sessions Auction List. If this is the case, then the deal will be ignored, and the player will be sold as is normal for an auction.

The only other thing to note is that there are just six slots available on your orders sheet for deals. THIS IS THE MAXIMUM YOU CAN DO PER SESSION. Please don’t try to do more than this, as it will simply not be allowed, and all of your deals may be cancelled as a result.

The same goes for bidding in the Auction - there are just eight slots, and that is the maximum number of bids you can tender. Also try to remember that ALL such deals are done AFTER the matches have been played; it’s no good trying to buy a player with the intention of putting him in this week’s games, nor trying to sell an unqualified SBY so that you can discover another on the same week. Transfers occur AFTER the games have been played.

The Auction List is an artificial method of bringing new players into the league at various intervals throughout the game. It also allows managers to put their own players into the same list, presenting them as `open to the highest bidder’. The Auction works in much the same way as you would expect, with managers bidding for a maximum of eight players, giving one bid for each of the players they would like to purchase. The highest bidder for each player will get that player added to his squad at the end of the session, provided he can afford to spend the money he bid.

The default method of buying players in the auction is that once one of the bids tendered by a player succeeds, then all his subsequent bids will be ignored. You can place your own players into the rolling auction by telling us which players you want sold, and including all of the relevant details about him. However, the main drawback by making a player available to the whole league in this manner is that once he is placed into this “list” of players, he cannot be sold through private means. Any manager that tries to do this (sell a listed player to someone else privately) will be severely penalised. Also only one player per side can be put into the “list” and he will remain there for three sessions. After that, if he is unsold, he will return to your side.

In addition you can state a minimum price (reserve) you would be willing to accept for each player. Please note that there is a minimum level depending upon the session you are in, below which players CANNOT be entered in the rolling auction. This rule is rescinded for qualified SBY’s, APP’s and SPECIAL PLAYERS. Though remember that unqualified SBY’s and APP’s cannot be traded in any way so therefore cannot be placed in the auction list.

Instructions can be given contrary to that which stops your first successful bid stopping the rest going through, in that a manager can say `Buy Player A, and then Player B, regardless of the result of the first bid’. Or a manager may wish for all of his bids to be tendered, regardless of any of the results. Be wary of using this option though, as you must have the money to be able to afford ALL the purchases, otherwise every one of your bids could be cancelled.

The main type of order we cannot accommodate is one that instructs us to spend a certain amount of money, and then ignore bids after that. Basically think things through and you should be able to work it out. If not ask us and we’ll offer what help we can.

Things to note…

When the GM places players in the Auction, those players are not named. It is up to you to name any of these players when you bid for them. If you fail to provide a suitable name then your bid is void and will not be entered into the computer. We also reserve the right to remove bids where the name entered by the player is plain silly, or abusive. Not many top-class players are named `Larry the Lamb’ or `Dirty Den’, so please try and keep it sensible, and help maintain the atmosphere of the game. When coming up with International names the general rule of thumb is that if the name sounds as though it will fit the nationality, then it will be accepted. Bids which take you over your agreed overdraft limit will be ignored. You cannot bid for any of your own players which have appeared in the Auction List. You cannot bid BELOW a listed Reserve price for a player, and you cannot name a player that already has one. [player entered by manager in auction].

As the season goes by the players for offer on the auction will be older and less effective, though there may be some surprises. When bidding for players your bids are considered to be conditional upon the result of the previous bid unless you state otherwise. Each bid must be made in units of one thousand pounds and can be denoted on the turn sheet as follows;

Bid 100K means ‘bid £100,000’ Bid 1251K means ‘bid £1,251,000’ etc.

Conditional bids are a tricky set of “rules” to work out, as they tend to be determined by a semicommon sense and semi-logical approach to the way buying is done. You can ask to bid for a second player dependant on the conditions of a previous bid, you can ask to buy two players together or you can join up a number of lesser bids with the intent of buying them all. However, you cannot give us instructions which simply say “buy any three of these players” or “spend just £1.5 million” or anything too complex.

An example of legal and illegal bidding patterns are shown below…

1) Jones 1250k 2) Williams 750k 3) Phillips 1355k 4) 2 PP’s 355k

LEGAL

• “Bid for players 1 & 2 regardless of result of player 1 bid” - this would attempt to buy both of the first

two players, but would stop checking for further buys if either/both of the first two players are bought.

ILLEGAL

• “Buy any player and the 2 PP’s” - Unfortunately, this may sound okay, but is an illegal bid. The PP’s can be made dependent upon any one of the players, but not on them all.

LEGAL

• “Buy all the items” - Provided the manager has enough money to afford all of these players (£3.8 million) then there is no problem in doing this.

ILLEGAL

• “Buy player 1, and then any one other” - Again, this sounds fine but isn’t. The bid for player 1 will be tendered along with one of the other bids, but cannot be entered separately to be tallied with each.

LEGAL

• “Buy player 1, but if this fails, buy all the others” - As with the “buy all” option, there is no problem with this sort of bid, provided the manager has the money to spend.

If you are unsure of what constitutes a legal or illegal bid then ASK THE GM.

You can also get rid of unwanted players from your squad at any time, which is regarded as selling them to the Non-League, at the following rates…

For example, an AGE 23 LEVEL 6 player will raise 150K for club funds if sold to the non-league. [GK or SW will raise double the rates listed below], and if a player is sold to the non-league after the transfer deadline (after the last auction of the season, normally session 13) you will raise only half the rate.

Also note that there are no deals between managers allowed after the last auction of the season, simulating the transfer deadline coming into operation, on session 13. Remember that when selling a player to the non-league your income is less the amount it costs to pay up his remaining contract.

Many managers who are looking to sell a player to the non-league choose to ignore any contract negotiations for him on that week - if he’s up for negotiation and you ignore it, then his wages will be negotiated for you, meaning that the amount you have to pay him as he leaves may rise. If he’s up for negotiation and you want to sell him to then non-league then enter a minimum offer on the turn sheet. The computer will always calculate the income gained from sales to the Non-league, so please, don't try to convince us that you received an incorrect amount - machines very seldom count wrongly!