Local Rules

Main Auction

• Managers must make a squad of 15 players made up of at least one goalkeeper, two full backs, three midfield players and one striker.

• Permissible formations are 4-4-2, 5-3-2, 5-4-1, 4-5-1 and 4-3-3.

• There is a maximum of two players from one Premiership club allowed in each Fantasy League team.

• Each manager is awarded a budget of £200M.

• The bidding begins with the manager who was highest placed the previous season.  They commence by choosing a player from the official Fantasy League player list.

• Bids can start from zero but must increment in amounts of £1M.

• When each bid is complete, the next manager in a clockwise direction chooses a player from the list.

• There are no punishments for managers who exceed budgets or other constraints, in each case the player that exceeded the limit is returned to the player list.

• Managers who could not make it to the auction are allowed to pick from the players remaining on the player list but will have £5M per player subtracted from their budget.

• £50M is added to each manager's budget at the end of the main auction.

Mini Auctions

• Mini auctions are held at the beginning of September, the middle of November and the beginning of February and March.

• Only players on the official Fantasy League Free Agents List will be up for sale.

• The auction is split into two separate parts; blind bids are opened first, then live bids follow until everyone is fed up of buying players.

Blind Bids

• Blind bids can be outbid at the auction by people who are present at the auction..

• Blind bids can be sent by email or written down.

• The latest time for emailed bids on the day of the auction is 7.00pm.  Any emailed bids received after this time will be void because the Chairman will be in the pub.

• Blind bids can be brought along to the auction and can be written out and handed in at any time up until 8.00pm.

• Second and third choices can be added to a blind bid in case the first bid fails.

• Each player to be discarded for each player purchased must be included on the blind bid.

• Bids must be in increments of £1M. FREE bids are allowed.

• In the case of equal highest bids, the team placed lowest in the league will be successful in purchasing the player.

• Discarded players are available for purchase during the auction weekend but can’t be bought by the manager who discarded them.

• Players purchased on the night can not be released until the next auction unless it is to another SSPA club (e.g. in a swap deal).

• Managers must take responsibility for their own budgets.

• Mistakes will be rectified when the transfers are processed, usually the following day.

• In the event of too many players from one club, the manager must release the last player bought from that club.

• In the event of an exceeded budget the manager must release the player that caused that manager to go over their budget.

Other Transfer Issues

When a player transfers out of the Premier League (e.g. to Spain or Accrington Stanley)

• The manager has the original purchase amount refunded to their account.

• This amount is available to use at a mini auction provided the departed player is discarded during the auction.

• All managers will be informed of the addition to the managers' budget.

• In the case of loans, only full season loans are applicable and have to be confirmed by the player being removed from the official Fantasy League player list.

When a player transfers from one Premiership club to another

• The player is transferred out and then back in again to change the club identity of the player (Fantasy League do not do this automatically, because they are silly).

• If the SSPA team already has two players from that club then the player is not moved. However the manager must, on their next transaction, transfer out one of the three players from that Premiership club.

Transfer deals between SSPA managers

• Inter SSPA transfers can take place at any time provided the Chairman is informed of the deal. The only exclusions to this are at the main auction and after the transfer deadline (see below).  They can take place during the live bids part of the auction.

• Only the SSPA Chairman is allowed to process player transfers.

• The transfer deadline for all transfers is midnight on 31 March.

Tosspot League, Jillytub Memorial Trophy & Onion Bag Cup

There has to be a minimum of 66% of Premiership fixtures played for scheduled Tosspot League, Jillytub Memorial Trophy and Onion Bag Cup matches to proceed.  There are normally 10 Premiership games played so seven is the minimum amount of games required. Fixtures would be rescheduled to a later date.