RULES OF ANDY PULLS JASON OUT OF THE HAT LEAGUE,
2025-26 SEASON ver 1.1
New or altered rules are in red.
Each manager in the League has a squad of up to
sixteen players, either bought at Auction, bought
during the season or retained from the previous season. The players are chosen
from those that are available to play in the FA Premier League. Each manager
selects eleven players from those available in their squad to play each week.
Depending on how the selected players perform in the Premier League during the
week, points are awarded or deducted in order to provide a weekly team total.
At the end of the season the manager whose squad has
amassed the most points is declared to be the winner.
PLAYERS
Players fall into five categories: Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Wingers
Forwards.
The categories are taken from the website
www.transfermarkt.co.uk.
A player's category may not be altered except during
the close season, even if his club play him in a different position to that
listed. If a Player is sold back to the Pool or entered into the Auction then
his category will be the current one shown on transfermarkt.
SQUADS
Each player squad may consist of a maximum of fifteen
players, unless two or more goalkeepers are included when the maximum number is
sixteen. Each squad must include at least one Goalkeeper and four Defenders.
Squad members may only be purchased if they play for a Premier League team. If
a player is transferred out of the Premier League he may be retained until the
end of the season if so wished, but must be sold before the next season's
auction if he has not returned to the Premier League through transfer or
promotion.
Any squad that does not include a Goalkeeper or has
less than four Defenders will have one point deducted for each player short,
every week, until the situation is remedied.
Each manager will have allocated an equal share of the
unpurchased Premier League players as Reserves. Players that join the Premier
League after the start of the season will be put into a Player Pool.
TEAMS
Each manager selects a team of eleven from his squad
before the start of the first game of the weekend, the
team selected remaining current until the next Friday. Any manager not
notifying any team changes will be assumed to have selected the same team as
the previous week.
All teams must play in one of the following
formations:
5-3-2, 5-4-1, 4-5-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, and 3-4-3.
Wingers may be used either as Midfielders or Forwards
as long as the formation is permissible.
MATCHES
All FA Premier League games will count for points. No
FA Cup, League Cup or any other games will count.
If a player selected at the beginning of the match
week plays more than one game during the following week then all of these games
will count for points towards that player's total.
Any selected player that does not play will not score
any points.
TRANSFERS
Players may only be bought and sold during the ‘open’
periods of the Premier League Transfer Windows. Except *
below.
Players may be transferred between teams if managers
can agree a deal. Players may be released back to the owning manager’s Reserves
on a Free Transfer.
Players may be bought from the Player Pool or from
another manager’s Reserves for a price equivalent to the average cost of all
the players already bought in the same category. The owning manager of any
Reserve that is bought will receive the full transfer price.
The manager of any player that retires,
is in prison or is currently banned from playing for a year or more will not
receive any money for that player.
*
Managers are allowed to Sell or Buy a Player from another Team between the end
of the season and June 30th, if a deal can be agreed between them. Just one
transaction per Team - either Buy or Sell - and it has to be completed before
either Manager submits their Retained List of 11 Players.
PLAYER
LOANS
If a manager is unable to field a complete team
through injury or illness or Players being away on international duty, then a
substitute player may be taken on loan from that team’s own Reserves, at no
cost, even if this takes the number of players in the squad above the set
limit. Reserves may only be used as direct replacements for players in the
squad. Teams will not be able to use Reserves to play more Players in a
position than would normally be possible, e.g. a team with two forwards in the
squad who are both unavailable will not be able to take three forwards on loan.
All transfer and loan deals must be notified before
the start of the weekend’s games if the players affected are to take part in the
following week's games.
PLAYERS AWAY ON SEASON-LONG LOANS
OR SOLD OUTSIDE THE TRANSFER WINDOWS
Any
Player loaned out for the season, or permanently transferred away from the
Premier League, AFTER the Fantasy League Transfer
Window has shut may be sold with the owning Manager receiving half of the
Player's value. A replacement may be purchased, even outside of the normal
Transfer Windows as long as the purchased Player is of the same Player Category
as the one sold.
TRANSFER
DEADLINE
No transfers or loans (excepting
Players away on season-long loans etc; see above) may take place after the
Transfer Deadline, which will fall at 8 p.m. on the Friday immediately after
the closure of the Premier League Transfer Windows. All Reserves are returned
to the Player Pool at the end of the season.
Players that are BANNED / SUSPENDED / INELIGIBLE may
not be transferred both In and Out of the same Team in
the same Transfer Window.
POINTS
Points are awarded as follows:
3 points for each Goal scored by
any of your players.
3 points to the Goalkeeper for each Penalty missed,
whether the Goalkeeper makes an actual save or not.
2 points for each Assist scored by
any of your players.
2 points for each appearance by a
Goalkeeper.
1 point for each appearance by a
Defender.
2 points for each Clean Sheet kept
by a Defender or Goalkeeper.
-1 point for each Goal conceded by
a Defender or Goalkeeper.
-2 points for each Own Goal scored
by any Goalkeeper or Defender.
-3 points for each Own Goal scored
by any Midfielder, Winger or Forward.
·
Goals and Own Goals stand as
attributed by the Premier League.
·
Assists are determined by
television showing of goals augmented by the press and the Internet where
necessary.
·
No player may score both Goal and
Assist for the same goal.
·
No Assist will be awarded if the
last player to touch the ball prior to the goalscorer
is a member of the opposing team.
·
An Assist will be given if a ball
rebounds from the crossbar or goalposts and is not touched by another player
prior to the goalscorer.
·
An Assist will be given if a
player is fouled or has a shot handballed by a member of the opposition, which
leads directly to a penalty, but who does not take the penalty and it is
scored.
·
Some Goals are solo efforts
therefore an Assist will not be given for these even if the last player to
touch the ball prior to the goalscorer was a member
of the same team.
·
Goalkeepers and Defenders will
only be deemed to have kept a clean sheet if they play a minimum of 60 minutes
and their team does not concede a goal during the entire match.
·
Goalkeepers and Defenders will
only lose points for goals conceded while they are officially on the field of
play; i.e. not before or after being substituted, except in the case of a
Goalkeeper or Defender who is Sent Off. These players will lose points for all
of the goals conceded by their team between the arrival of the player on the
field and the end of the match.
If two or more teams are tied on the same number of
points then the following criteria apply in determining their position in the
league.
1. Most goals scored. If equal then
2. Fewest goals conceded. If equal then
3. Most assists scored. If equal then
4. Most clean sheets kept.
INCOME
During the season each manager will receive a weekly
income generated by the selected players that actually play in Premier League
matches.
For each game that a selected player plays, a sum
equivalent to £5 multiplied by one eleventh of the attendance figure at that
player's game, (rounded up to the nearest whole number), will be allocated to
the player's manager.
The same calculation will be used to allocate income
to Players from a Manager’s Squad – and Reserves – that play in Cup matches.
It is in a manager's interest to ensure that his
selected players actually play in order to maintain a steady cash flow for use
in the transfer market.
If a selected player is sent off during the course of
a game then he will receive no attendance figure and thus no income for that
particular game. However if the sending off is overturned on appeal then the
money will be added at the next opportunity.
PRIZE
MONEY
At the end of the season Prize Money will be awarded
as follows :
|
Champions |
£3,000,000 |
|
Runners-up |
£2,500,000 |
|
|
£2,000,000 |
|
|
£1,750,000 |
|
|
£1,500,000 |
|
|
£1,250,000 |
|
|
£1,000,000 |
|
|
£ 750,000 |
|
|
£ 500,000 |
|
|
£ 250,000 |
THE CUP
There
will be a knockout Cup, to be played during the weeks that the FA Cup 3rd to
6th Rounds take place. Teams will be drawn in direct opposition to each other,
with the team gaining the most 'goals' progressing to the next round. If teams
are tied then a Replay will take place. If the Replay also results in a Draw
then the winning team will be decided using the League points scoring system.
Managers
may choose any of the players from their regular squad, or from their Reserves,
for Cup matches. If there are League games during a Cup week then managers may
choose a separate team for each competition.
The
winner of the Cup will be awarded £1 million in prize money.
THE
AUCTION
The Player Auction will take place, if possible, on
the Saturday before the start of the FA Premier League programme for the new
season. The website will show a list of current players before this date in
order to allow managers to decide on their fancied squad.
All managers new to the League will have £30 million
with which to buy their players. Managers of existing teams will have any cash
surplus and prize money from the previous season to spend, plus any monies
received from players sold to the Pool or gained at Auction.
Managers of existing teams may retain, sell to the
Pool or enter for Auction any players that they own at the end of the previous
season. All managers of existing teams are allowed to retain a maximum
of eleven players, and there may be only ONE goalkeeper in the eleven.
If a player is sold to the Pool then the manager will
receive half of the purchase price. If a player is entered for Auction the
manager gambles on the price that the player will command. If a player entered
for Auction attracts no bids then the selling manager may either retain that
player or release him to the Pool on a free transfer.
If any player who has been retained, sold or entered
for Auction is transferred from or to an FA Premier League club, or changes his
category before the start of the Auction, then the player's manager may
reconsider their decision concerning that player.
No manager may bid at Auction for a player that he or
she has entered into that Auction.
All bids at Auction are to be in multiples of
£100,000.
MANAGERS NOT AT THE AUCTION
Managers
who cannot attend the Auction are invited to submit Sealed Bids for players
that they wish to purchase. The number
of Sealed Bids submitted must not be greater than the number of players
required to make up a full squad. Each Sealed Bid must have the amount of the
bid sealed inside an envelope with the player’s name and club written on the
outside. Sealed Bids will be opened after bidding on the Player at the Auction
is concluded. The highest amount bid, either at Auction or Sealed Bid will take
the player. In the event of an identical amount coming from both sources, the
Manager present at the Auction will win the bid.
Managers
that can not attend the Auction will be expected to be in contact with the
organiser during the week following, in order to find out how their Sealed Bids
fared and to bring their squads up to full strength. Prices of these players
will be determined by the average cost of all players in a category. Players
must be bought before the allocation of the Reserves to their teams.