Sections 1 - Competition Structure:

1.0

MDM has, at present, one division, The EPL.  20 teams make up the league, based on the 2004/2005 league season. Teams started off with a squad of players, and finances to dip into the transfer market.

In the league each team plays each other twice, home and away, making 38 league rounds per season.

1.1

A win is worth 3 points in the league and a draw is worth one. If a team loses they will get 0 points. The winner of the league is the person with the most points. If two team have equal point it goes to goal difference.

1.2

There is one cup competition running. Each round is one leg and it’s simply the luck of the draw to determine which teams will face each other. Should the game end in a tie … the match will go to a penalty shoot-out with a best of 5 and then, if needed, sudden death. The winner of the cup will be the team who wins all of their matches.

1.3

Right now we have only 1 league so no promotions or relegations with commence. In the future we hope for this to happen. If you manage to finish in the bottom three, for punishment however … you are likely to be fired by your chairman and put on the waiting list (if you still want to compete in MDM). In circumstances such as joining too late to affect anything or having a squad destined to fail … your chairman may be understanding and keep you at the helm.

1.4

There are various awards players and managers will win each month and for the season. For more see the awards section.

1.5

Two league games are played each week on Wednesday and Saturday. Occasionally, on cup weeks a cup round will be played on a Monday.

Section 2 - Joining:

2.0

Managers are always encouraged to apply for a job vacancy. If we think you are what we are looking for then we will either give you a free team or place you on the waiting list.

2.1

No one is allowed to manage more than one team at a time on MDM. If we think you have more than one team and we find out someone is cheating, needless to say … they will be fired.

2.2

You will officially be recognised as the manager of your given team once MDM has given you the ‘go-ahead’ and then when once you do the following two things.

A)     Join the forums (if not already a member)

And

B)      Write your first article, stating you have been appointed as manager of … and what your ambitions are etc. etc.

One MDM has acknowledged this, the team is yours.

Section 3 - Finances:

3.0

Money was distributed between the teams, to make a more even playing fields the squads with the less quality received the most funds.

3.1

The champion of the league will be awarded with 5,000,000 … second with 2,500,000 and third with 1,000,000. All other teams receive nothing.

3.2

The champion of the cup will receive 5,000,000. The runner up receives 2,500,000 and the two losing semi-finalists each attain 1,000,000. For every cup round you go through, the leagues governing body awards you with 750,000.

A list of 25 sponsors will be advertised, most, if not all, with varying contract deals. It’s first come first serve so be quick to get the best deals. Send your top 5 choices of sponsor to finance (clotmyster@hotmail.com) and the one ranked highest that hasn’t been taken up yet will be awarded to you.

3.5

You may indeed request to your chairman for more funds, and he may or may not give them to you. Frequent requests will on anger him … especially if the team is struggling so tread carefully to avoid being sacked.

3.6

‘Football Central’ is the official broadcaster of MDM matches. Teams will be paid money in advance. Each team earns the same amount per season from ‘Football Central’. The sum changes each season … but it’s around 5,000,000. If a team keeps scoring high number for a while ‘Football Central’ are likely to give you some funds to keep up the good work for their company.

3.7

If you take your team into debt you will be warned that you have 2 weeks to get out of it before your chairman will fire you.

It is either the buying or selling of a player. In MDM there are several types of transfer deals - cash deal, loan deal, player swap/exchange and free transfer. A transfer deal can only involve 2 clubs. After the deal is agreed on by both managers, both managers must send confirmation emails to the transfer office. To avoid being tricked into making ridiculous offers, new managers are advised to wait at least one or two week before making the transfers, so that they become aware of how much players are valued at in the league. A confirmed transfer cannot be cancelled. To confirm a transfer both teams must email the Transfer Office with the details of the transfer, after that the transfer will be registered on MDM and adjustments to finances and team rosters will be made.

Cash Deal - It is where a team sells a player in exchange for money. I player can’t be transferred until he has been at the club for at least half a season (19 games).

Loan Deals - It is where a player is loaned to another club. The teams can agree on some conditions under which the player can be recalled by his old club. The player must be at his new club for 4 weeks before being recalled and a player can’t be loaned for less than 4 games to a team or loaned out longer than the season’s end. Money can be given to a team loaning a player in loan deals if both parties agree a fee. Finally, only 3 players can be on loan at one club at any one time.

NOTE: If there are less than 4 games left in the season you will still be granted a loan even if it will expire before 4 games. This is the ONLY exception.

Player Swap/Exchange - It is where two clubs swap players/exchange players. One of the clubs can agree to add an amount of money to these types or deals.

Free Transfer - It is where a team signs a free agent/player from the free transfer list or from a team for free. The player must be at his new club for 4 weeks before being sold or released.

4.0

MDM has the right to cancel any transfer that does not seem right. The Commissioner’s verdict is final.

4.1

Teams are also not allowed to do transfers with one team paying the other in weekly installments. The other team can either pay at midseason or at end of season however.

4.2

To put a player on the transfer list, loan list, or to free transfer him, contact the transfer office at clotmyster@hotmail.com. 

4.4

To sign a player on free-transfer, tell the transfer office you want to sign him. If the player has just become available and is talented he may have many offers and so it is advisable to offer the player a signing-on-fee for joining your team. The free agent will join the team who offers him the most money for a signing-on-fee.

4.4

A transfer will only go through if both managers have a matching agreement on the transfer deal, if there is any difference in money to be paid or any difference in loan length or clauses etc., they deal will be cancelled.

4.5

Transfer business should be conducted either two ways. In the transfer forum or through email. The more secretive managers will prefer to use the email method to stop possible bids coming in from wealthier clubs whilst other will prefer the convenience and simplicity of the forums.

Section 5 - Team Sheets and Rosters:

5.0

To emphasize how important this part is it was placed at the top of the page. Team Sheets MUST be handed in the day before a game. If you fail to submit a team sheet for one week you’ll receive a warning. If it happens twice in a row or if team sheets are submit too infrequently … you will be fired.

5.1

If for one week you fail to submit a team sheet, we will use the Team Sheet Creator to generate a capable team sheet for your team.

5.2

If you go on holiday or are away for a bit, please inform us before hand to save you from being sacked. In this case we will use the Team Sheet Creator to generate team sheets for the games you will miss.

5.3

Do not use a player on your Team Sheet that has not yet been registered on your roster. When we have registered transfers we will announce it on the website where you can download your new roster.

5.4

Download the latest rosters, placed on the site a day or two after a game, to enable you to have the best possible chance of success showing you the latest fitness ratings and any improved player ratings, as well as players that may be injured or suspended from their last game.

5.5

Incorrect team sheets will rejected and we will just use the Team Sheet Creator to generate a new Team Sheet for your team. If it appears you keep on submitting incorrect Team Sheets, we will warn you and if it keeps happening, we will assume you aren’t interested and don’t care and take action to fire you.

5.6

A roster can have a minimum of 18 players and a maximum of 30

Section 6 - In-game players:

6.0

During the season players ability will increase and decrease but also at the end of the season players of a young age will increase in talent and concurringly players approaching their latter years in the business will certainly lose stamina and skill too.

6.1

Players can also grow in talent by training. After the last game of the month each manager should email the webmaster to inform him of which one player they have been working on and on what attribute (Shot Stopping, Tacking, Passing or Shooting). The webmaster will then update the players’ respective ability improvement points  (Kab, Tab, Pab or Sab, respectively) by a margin between 100 to 500.

6.2

Players will be added into the game at the beginning of a season. If someone comes up from the reserve squad of a team, that isn’t already on his respective teams roster, then he will be added onto the team roster. No fantasy players are ever made up.

Section 7 - Awards:

7.0

Automatic Awards – There will be awards handed out, determined by the statistical facts.

Fair Play - Team with least DP - 1,000,000 bonus money

Goldne Boot - 300 main ability points

Golden Glove - 300 main ability points

Golden Tackle - 300 main ability points

Golden Pass - 300 main ability points
Golden Boot - 300 main ability points
Most Assists - 300 main ability points

7.1

Voting Awards – There will be awards determined by the managers in polls. These too have rewards.

MDM Player of the Year - all skills increased
MDM Young Talent of the Year - 1 main skill increased (must be 21 or under)
MDM Veteran of the Year - 1 main skill increased (must be 32 or older)

MDM Manager of the Year - excluded from sacking the following season.

On voting awards one may not vote for any player on their team for a players’ award or for themselves to be Manager of the Year.

Section 8 – Our Newspaper (Football Daily)

Articles can be about anything in MDM. You could announce you are on the lookout for new blood to take your team to a new level or comment on a certain managers boring style or play. You could declare your thoughts on the previous game or the game coming up … the list is endless.

8.1

The criteria for each article is that it is a minimum of one paragraph … preferably more.

8.2

To write an article in first type your Forum name and password when prompted.

8.3

We understand not everyone is gifted with literacy skills and we aren’t expecting each article to be outstanding, just give it an honest go, check over to avoid unprofessional spelling errors and just try.

8.4

An example of an article would be …

9.0

The tribunal deals with any issues not explicitly covered by the rules. It covers things such as unfair transfers, actions and any other concerns that managers may have.

9.1

To start a tribunal hearing, a manager must make a complaint about another manager, team or an issue. Following that, 2 other managers must support a hearing on this case before the tribunal hearing will commence. We may dismiss a hearing before it starts if we feel it is a simple extortion attempt or if there is no grounds for complaint.

Following that, a panel will be selected as the tribunal. Information gathering and discussion will follow before a decision is reached. The Commissioner will be part of the panel and will make a final judgment based on the result of the hearing.

Section 12 – Miscellaneous

12.0

The forums are a valuable asset to MDM and if use effectively it will become a fantastic tool for managers to conduct business or just talk about real-life football. Absolutely no racism, foul language (swear words) or abusive remarks will be tolerated in the forums for this reason (friendly banter in the forums or in the newspaper about another manager is acceptable). We are understanding and we will give out warnings before we take any action.

12.1

For realism sake MDM needed a way of stopping stupid formations such as 1-8-1-1 from being used. We came up with our solution.

Position            Maximum    Minimum

Goalkeepers             1                1        

Defenders                 5                3

Def. Mids                  3               0

Midfielders                6               3

Att. Mids                   3               0

Strikers                      4                1