This league has a Yahoo message board where you can chat about the league or any issues that you have. Any foul language or abuse will be treated as a breach of Rule 1 under Manager Conduct and action will be taken.

All currency in the PBESL is in Euros (€).

If there is a breach of the rules as mentioned on this page, the fines at the bottom of the page will apply. Fines will be taken from the team’s money reserves. In serious cases, managers may have their position under review.

MANAGER CONDUCT

The objective of this league is to not just pit our skills against other human players in the game, but also to have fun while playing in this league. Any abusive language or verbal attack on any manager of this league will result in fines and possibly the manager will be sacked as a result.

Managers are free to discuss issues in the message board as long as this does not contravene with Rule 1, in which case the manager(s) involved may be punished with fines or even sacking in serious cases.

ROSTERS

Each manager will be given a roster sheet that shows the players available to them in their club.

After each match, the roster sheet will be updated according to the events of the previous match. Injuries and suspensions will be taken into account, and ability points will change according to a player’s performance.

No manager can have less than 20 players in their squad, or more than 30 players.

Any players under 20 players cannot sell players while they are under the minimum player amount. Players that are loaned to a club count as one player.

TEAM SHEETS

A team sheet is where a manager sends the players that he wishes to field in a match. This includes 11 players and 5 substitutions.

MINIMUM PLAYERS ALLOWED IN STARTING LINEUP: 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and 1 forward. NO EXCEPTIONS

MAXIMUM PLAYERS ALLOWED IN STARTING LINEUP: 1 goalkeeper, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Any breach of the above rules will be met with heavy fines and the administrator will replace any “illegal” players with other players from the squad at random.

Team sheets must be submitted no later than Friday 11pm GMT. I will add times in other time zones to the community site if requested. Failure to submit a team sheet by this time will result in a fine. Repeated offences may put your position under review.

LEAGUE COMPETITION

There are two divisions, Premier League and First Division, which consist of 10 teams each. Each team plays each other twice over the league season. All matches will be played on Saturday with team sheets to be handed in by 11pm Friday night GMT. Failure to do so will be met with a fine, mentioned later in this section.

At the end of each season, the bottom two Premier League teams are relegated to the First Division. The top two teams from First Division will be promoted. Any team level on points will be determined by goal difference.

At the end of the league season, prize money is handed out to each team. The prize money will be handed out as follows:

DOMESTIC CUP COMPETITION

The Craigie Cup will be the cup competition held throughout the course of the season involving all of the 12 teams in the PBESL. The 12 teams will be split into four groups of three, and each team will play the other two teams twice (once at home and once away).

The top of each group will progress to the semi-finals, which is a two-leg match.

The final will be held at the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff. The participating teams will receive equal gate receipts and will each receive €500,000 for TV rights.

Each match will be played on a Wednesday, and the dates shown below indicate that the match will be played after the round shown, eg. Group Match 1 will be played after League Round 8.

The prize money for the Craigie Cup will be handed out as follows:

PLAYER WAGES

A player’s wage will be based on the player’s level of attributes. A player's primary attribute (the player's highest attribute) will be multiplied by €1000, with his secondary attributes (the player's other attributes) being multiplied by €500.

CONTRACT RULES

A player’s contract length is determined by the amount of years. When the number reaches 1, the player’s contract will run out at the end of the season, where he will be eligible for a free transfer.

A player’s contract will only run out at the end of his final season of his contract if it has not been re-negotiated.

An e-mail must be sent to the administrator if a manager wants to offer one of his players a new contract.

A player can only be negotiated for a maximum of 3 years.

A player is only allowed to stay for a maximum of 3 contracts, after which he will not renew his contract and go on the free transfer list at the end of his third contract.

A player who is out of contract and leaves his club can be reclaimed within one week by his manager ahead of any offers made by other clubs.

TRANSFER RULES

Managers are allowed to buy, sell or loan players at any time during the season until Round 16 of the league season, when the transfer window is closed and no more transfers can be completed until after the Craigie Cup final.

When a transfer bid has been accepted by both clubs, they must submit an e-mail to the administrator confirming that both sides are satisfied with the arrangement in a format that is explained here. 

Transfers become official once the administrator has sent an e-mail confirming the transfer is void. If one of the parties backs out of the deal, they must pay the other party 20% of the fee as compensation.

Managers may still bid for players after the transfer window is closed, but their transfers will not be completed until the end of the season.

Managers must send the confirmation e-mail to the transfer office before Friday 6pm EST if they want to field their new signing for the next match.

New signings cannot leave the club under any circumstances until their club has played a total of 10 games.

New managers cannot negotiate new transfers or loans in or out of their club within the first two weeks. Any dealings within the previous two weeks with the new manager’s club may be voided.

Any transfer may be declared null and void by the administrator if he feels the deal is outrageous or if the team receiving the player will receive an advantage beyond reason and clearly disadvantages the team the player is leaving.

TRANSFER WINDOW

The transfer window refers to the allowed period of when transfers can be made in a PBESL season.

A player can be transferred or loaned at any time except the period between the end of Round 16 and the Craigie Cup Final, which is when the transfer window is officially closed and no transfers can be made.

Managers may still bid for players after the transfer window is closed, but their transfers will not be completed until after the Craigie Cup final.

LOANS

Loan deals are when players are lent out to another team for an amount of time.

Loans are by default permitted to run until the end of the season. However, the loaner reserves the right to return the player if there is a shortage of players in his squad due to injury or suspension.         

Only goalkeepers are allowed to be loaned to teams in the same division. Outfield players can only be loaned to a team in another division.

A team cannot have more than three loaned players (loaned in or out).

Loan deals cannot be made after the end of Round 14 of the league season.

FREE    FREE TRANSFERS

Players can be released from their contracts and placed on the free transfer list at any time unless this contravenes with the minimum players limit or the closing of the transfer window.

A player cannot be released from his contract while he is on loan with another club.

A player who is released must be compensated with 10 weeks worth of wages.

A player who is out of contract at the end of the season will be immediately placed on the free transfer list.

If there are bids from more than one team for a player on the free transfer list, a roll of the dice will determine who will receive the player.

OVERSEAS PLAYERS

A list of overseas players available for transfer will be available for managers to see talent from overseas clubs.

Overseas player lists will be updated throughout the course of a season. Some players may be removed, but could reappear at a later date. Other players may be added to the list during the course of a season.

Since no manager owns any player on the overseas players list, this means that there will be a slightly different approach to bidding. There will be slightly higher values for overseas players but if the value is at least matched in a bid, the bid will be automatically accepted. The bid will have to be submitted to the administrator.

The formula for these player's values will be each skill rating added up and multiplied by 250000, and each ability point multiplied by 500. So the formula will look like this:

(ST+TK+PS+SH)*250000 + (KAB+TAB+PAB+SAB)*500

For example, if Tote had ST of 1, TK of 3, PS of 5, and SH of 7, his ratings would amount to €2,000,000. If he had 500 of KAB, TAB, PAB and SAB, that would mean he has 2000 ability points and they would amount to €1,000,000. Therefore, Tote's value would be €3,000,000.

YOUTH PLAYERS

Youth players are defined as players that are 21 years old or under.

A youth player list will be available for all managers to look at youth talent.

Youth players receive automatic skill increases at the end of the season, with one skill point increasing for each attribute (three skill points in total). This will continue until the player has reached 21 years old, which will be his final season of automatic skill increases of three each season.

OLD PLAYERS

Old players are defined as players who are 35 years old or over.

A player can retire at the end of the season that he is 35 years old. 

The only exemption to the above rule is if a player 35 years old or over is still under contract to a club.

A manager may renew an old player’s contract, but he must pay €300,000 per season for each old player he re-signs.

Players 34 years old will experience automatic skill losses, with him losing one skill point in each attribute. Players 36 and over will experience two less points for each attribute a season.

Players are automatically retired at the end of the season that they are 40 years old.

STADIUMS

Each team will start with an initial stadium capacity of 25,000.

A stadium’s capacity may only be increased at the end of the season. Seats can be bought in 500-seat increments, costing €50,000 for each increment.

A small amount of dignitaries will travel to each match. Depending on a club’s reputation and the importance of a particular match, the numbers of dignitaries per match can be from the maximum amount by the host club (depending on reputation), and half of that maximum amount.

Tickets are defaulted at €30 per ticket. Dignitaries pay €60 for their special tickets.

If the potential crowd exceeds the capacity, the extra numbers will be left out, divided between home and away fans (eg. If there are 800 extras, 400 home fans and 400 away fans will be left out).

Clubs will be fined if their fan base exceeds their own stadium capacity.

FAN BASE

A club’s fan base refers to the amount of fans within the club. This is also the maximum number of the club’s fans who can turn up to a single home match. The club’s reputation and popularity will determine the numbers in the away fan base. This is normally 1/6^th of the home fanbase, or less.

Each team will start with an initial fan base of 20,000.

Fan base numbers will change as the team’s fortune changes, in both league and cup competitions. First Division teams will have the below values halved in the case of increases in fan base numbers.

Changes to a club’s fan base will occur every four weeks. These will follow a principle that will only be broken by the opening four weeks of the season, where no position changes will affect fan bases.

Changes will be as follows:

Cup victory = 25 fans

Cup progression = 50 fans each round

Cup loss = -25 fans

League victory = 20 fans

3 League wins in a row = 100 fans

League defeat = -20 fans

3 League defeats in a row = -100 fans

At the end of the season, the clubs’ fan base changes from league positions will be as follows:

At the end of the season, the clubs’ fan base changes from the domestic cup will be as follows:

FINES