The Auction is the most important event of the year - your optimism and hope is at it's peak, your mind isn't cluttered with incidents from the previous weekend, the scars of the previous season have healed and you have your strategy all raring to go. Now is the time to ruin the reigning champion’s day by outbidding him for the stars that led him to victory last year.
There are two great ways to run a Fantasy League Professional auction; the Traditional Auction - where all managers gather together at a set time and venue; or the Online Auction - where everything can be completed from the comfort of your own boardroom.
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The traditional auction is the opening event of the Fantasy League year. It's an important occasion, as over the course of a single evening your team will take shape. One wrong move could see you playing catch-up over the following months. And if you manage to sign up a future Fantasy League star at a bargain price, your team could be set up for the season!
The auction should be organised to take place at a time and place that is convenient for all. Some suggested locations are a home, pub or club – anywhere that the group of managers can mingle and get round a table. You can hold your auction at any time, but most take place in the fortnight leading up to the Premier League’s opening day. Auctions can even take place after the start of the season, with the option for leagues to backdate points to the start of the season or start scoring from the date of the auction itself.
Once the venue is sorted, you should work out your league’s local rules regarding budgets, squad sizes, club quotas and formations. Make sure that all managers are aware of the rules before they prepare for the auction!
You then need to appoint a responsible auctioneer who can control proceedings and keep a record of players who have been taken. The chairman will usually take control of this, but if you can find a willing independent volunteer then all the better. Managers should each have their own player list and team sheets, which you can download from this website along with a handy auction tracker for the auctioneer.
Auction Tools
Fantasy League provides you with the tools you need to help make your auction run efficiently.
You should make sure that each manager has an up-to-date version of the Player List, which lists all available players along with their position and club.
Each manager should also have their own Team Sheet with which they can keep track of the players they have purchased and see the gaps in their Championship-winning squad.
Finally, the league chairman or auctioneer should make sure they have a copy of the Auction Tracker. The Auction Tracker is a master document that details the picks made by all teams.The auction tracker is a vital piece of equipment as it provides the record of who-went-where, and can be used after the auction to submit each manager's squad into the Fantasy League Pro website.
The Auction - Finer Points
The auction itself will see a flurry of bidding as managers announce their chosen player’s name, set a starting price and counter each others’ bids until all teams have been assigned their full complement of players.
The league chairman will then come back to the website and enter the details of all teams in the league.
For more details on the finer points of the traditional auction, please read on.
Budgets
Each manager starts with a budget of your league's own choosing. Remember that each manager will be paying what they feel each player is worth and not some predefined price tag. The budget provides the currency that allows them to buy their players.
£40-50 million is a normal figure, although feel free to improvise, depending on whether you are more Sheikh Mansour or Bill Kenwright.
Most importantly, decide on the bidding increments. A £40 million budget with £1/4m bid increments will lead to a long, nervous auction whilst £1m bid increments will lead to a short, nervous affair.
Building A Winning Team
So you know your budget; but how many players will managers have to buy? What formations can they use? And how many players can they have from each Premier League Club? That's all down to individual chairman as well.
Your league's Formations must be selected from the five valid Fantasy League formations (4-4-2, 4-5-1, 5-4-1, 5-3-2 and 4-3-3), and you can decide upon how many of these you allow your manager's to use; while your Squad Sizes can be anywhere between 11-18 players, as chosen by the chairman.
To reflect the squad rotation of the modern game and to allow you to stop 'greedy' managers snatching all the Chelsea defenders, you are able to determine your league's Club Quota. They can have anywhere from one to three, players from each club - it's entirely up to you.
A player's club is determined by the Premier League club he was listed at when the manager initially bought him.
For instance if you bought Robin van Persie at Arsenal and the player subsequently moved to Manchester City he would remain as an Arsenal player at your club until you released him from your squad.
Player positions are strictly as the player list and no other players can be included in your team until they have been assigned a player code by Fantasy League.
The aim of the game is to outscore all other teams in your league so once you've understood the squad constraints, get ready to outbid your opponents to get your hands on the players you want.
Bidding For Players
The first manager kicks everything off with an opening bid, e.g. "Wayne Rooney, £0.5 million". The bidding continues until the player is sold to the highest bidder.
The next manager then raises a player and bidding goes on until he is sold ... and so on until everyone has a full squad.
Players can be raised in any order with any minimum bid, usually for free. Don't go through the list by position - that's too predictable!
Money Doesn't Grow On Trees
Managers who run out of money before they complete their squad can either pick up all remaining players on free transfers each time it's their turn to bid, or drop out of the auction until the free transfer rounds at the end (they should then spend their time running to get the beers from the fridge / bar for the lazier managers still left in).
The bidding process continues until everyone has a full quota of players. The broke (or broken) managers left at the end take it in turns to pick up free transfers from the dregs remaining.
Wrapping Up
Once the bidding frenzy is over, everyone should check their team sheets to ensure that:
- They have a valid formation for their first eleven.
- No two managers have the same player.
- No one has exceeded the club quotas chosen by your chairman.
- No manager has sneakily inserted a player not on the official Fantasy League player list.
If they haven’t already, managers should think up a team name and hand the sheet over to the Chairman to do the necessaries. Don't forget the player codes!
Now that all the squads have been formed, the Chairman should return to the website, register the league and enter the teams within the league lobby. All is now set for mangers to sit back, relax or sweat it out until the opening day of the season.
Short Cuts
An auction can and does last anywhere between 2-6 hours depending on league size, bid increments and the masochistic nature of the managers involved.
For those of you who seem to think that there's more to life than football, then here are some ideas for cutting down the time of your auction.
- Only allow bidding for eleven players and make all subs free. Choose the subs on a rotation basis.
- Have no budgets and stick to a first come first served format by going round the room in order until everyone has a full squad.
- Have a small budget (say £20 million) with a large bid increment (£1 million). It's not pretty... but it's pretty quick!
- Have a time limit where you bid for (say) 40 minutes and then have 20 minutes to pick up your free players.
The online auction, which is available to interactive and premium leagues, allows managers to join a league and select their team from the comfort of their own boardroom. All details of the auction are handled online, which means you can still play the game against colleagues without the need to organise a live auction.
The league chairman will set up the league and assign teams and local rules in the League Lobby, before entering the auction and setting a deadline for all teams to have input their first set of bids.
Each manager in the league will put in their secret bids using our Online Auction Engine, entering the maximum price they are willing to bid for each player.
Once the deadline passes, the chairman hits 'Process Bids' and the system reveals each manager’s bids, assigning each player to the team of highest bidding manager.
The league chairman will then set the bid deadline for Round Two of the auction, and the process continues in bidding rounds until all squads are complete.
For more details on the finer points of the online auction, please read on.
Budgets
Each manager starts with a budget of your own choosing. Remember you'll be paying what you feel each player is worth and not some predefined price tag.
£40-50 million is a normal figure, although feel free to improvise, depending on whether you are more Sheikh Mansour or Bill Kenwright.
Most importantly, decide on the bidding increments. A £40 million budget with £1/4m bid increments, will lead to nervous manager's fidgeting in their seats, increasing and decreasing their bids by the smallest margins, where a £75 million budget with £1m bid increments will lead to a vicious toe-to-toe slug-fest .
Building A Winning Team
So you know your budget; but how many players will managers have to buy? What formations can they use? And how many players can they have from each Premier League Club? That's all down to individual chairman as well.
Your league's Formations must be selected from the five valid Fantasy League formations (4-4-2, 4-5-1, 5-4-1, 5-3-2, 4-3-3), and you can decide upon how many of these you allow your manager's to use; while your Squad Sizes can be anywhere between 11-18 players, as chosen by the chairman.
To reflect the squad rotation of the modern game and to allow you to stop 'greedy' managers snatching all the Chelsea defenders, you are able to determine your league's Club Quota. They can have anywhere from one to three players from each club - it's entirely up to you.
A player's club is determined by the Premier League club he was listed at when the manager initially bought him.
For instance if you bought Robin van Persie at Arsenal and the player subsequently moved to Manchester City he would remain as an Arsenal player at your club until you released him from your squad.
Player positions are strictly as the player list and no other players can be included in your team until they have been assigned a player code by Fantasy League.
The aim of the game is to outscore all other teams in your league so once you've understood the squad constraints, get ready to outbid your opponents to get your hands on the players you want.
Bidding For Players
Once you've set your Auction Rules and your first Bid Deadline, managers can start bidding for players.
Managers enter their players with bids alongside them via their own secure bidding page. Before being accepted, bids are checked to make sure they follow the rules of the game and the auction league rules (formations, club quotas etc) set by the chairman.
The Auction Status page tells you all you want to know about your Auction. It includes Budget details, Free Agents list and a Bulletin board for up to date online banter. Basically it allows all league members to see how much money managers have left and whether they are yet to submit their bids for that round - without revealing the details of the actual bids of course.
Process Bids
When the deadline has passed and you are happy that all managers' bids are in, the Chairman can process the bids and set the next round deadline. Each player is then allocated to the highest bidder. In the event of a tied bid, the player is allocated according the pre-specified order (tie preference), which is automatically generated when a bid deadline is set-up.
Each time a round of bids is processed by the chairman and a new deadline set, an email is sent out to the managers, keeping them up to date with their developing squads and the new bid deadlines and tie preferences.
The same process continues for subsequent rounds, with the players already bought appearing in each team as confirmed.
Managers who have no money can continue to bid nothing for players (as long as your minimum bid is zero), but when all spaces are filled, a manager takes no further part in the Auction.
Wrapping Up
Once everyone has a complete squad, the Online Auction Engine automatically creates your league, complete with teams, ready for the season's start. An email is sent out to all managers in your league and everything is ready for the new season.