Deadline Day

Twelve hours. One budget. The window shuts at 11pm.

Deadline Day: Transfer Window Football Game

Deadline Day is a free football transfer game on the Club Manager engine. Run recruitment at a real club on the last day of the window, haggle with selling clubs, agree personal terms with agents and fill the board's needs before the window shuts.

Deadline Day puts you in charge of recruitment at a real club on the last day of the summer transfer window. The board have picked out three or four places in the side that need an upgrade, left you a budget, and the window shuts at 11pm.

It runs on the Club Manager transfer desk, so every asking price, counter, patience count, valuation read, rival bid and agent's demand is the same one the full game plays. What is new is the clock: twelve hours, and every bid costs one of them.

There is a daily, the same club, the same list and the same budget for everyone, and a free play mode at any club you like.

How to play Deadline Day, the free transfer window game

Choosing the daily club or free play

Open today's window for the shared daily club, or pick any club in free play, or let the game pick one at random.

Reading the board's brief

Read the brief. Each need is a place in your current eleven, with who starts there now and the rating that would count as an upgrade.

Under each need are two or three real players who could fill it, cheapest first, each with what your recruitment desk thinks he is worth.

Working a deal

Tap a player to open his deal, then call his club. The call is free and their asking price comes straight back.

Bidding at the fee table

Type a bid and watch the meter, or use the quick buttons to lowball, haggle or meet the ask. Sending it takes an hour.

Agreeing personal terms

Once the fee is agreed, his agent names a contract length, a weekly wage and a signing bonus. Offering terms takes an hour too.

Selling to raise money

Short of money? Sell one of your bench players to a club that has made an offer. Each sale takes an hour and the fee goes straight into the budget.

Finishing the day

Keep going until every need is filled, or shut the window yourself when you are done.

Deadline Day rules: the clock, the fee table and the grade

The clock and the brief

The window opens at 11am and shuts at 11pm, so you have 12 hours.

Calling a club and walking away cost no time. Every bid, every offer of terms and every sale costs one hour.

The board want 3 or 4 places filled. A need is filled by a signing who can play that place and is rated at or above its line.

The budget is about what the cheapest man for each need would cost at his listed price plus the signing bonus his agent asks for. The dearest man for every need would cost more than you have.

Your desk gives a range for what each player is worth, and what he is really worth is always inside it.

How the selling club answers

Bid 97 percent of their ask or more and the fee is agreed.

Between 75 and 97 percent they counter: the ask comes 40 percent of the way down to your bid, and it costs one round of their patience.

Under 75 percent is an insult. The ask goes up 4 percent and it costs two rounds. Under 55 percent they end the talks on the spot.

A selling club starts with 4 or 5 rounds of patience. Run it out and the deal is dead.

The agent and the budget

His agent hears 3 offers at most. An offer that adds up to what he asked for signs him, a near miss gets a lower wage demand back, and a poor one costs two tries or ends the meeting.

The board will not go over the wage or the contract length he asks for, so you cannot pay him more a week to skip the signing bonus.

The signing bonus comes out of the same budget as the fee. A bid or an offer you cannot afford is refused before the hour is spent, so the budget never goes below zero.

Rival clubs moving in

Rival clubs move for players on your list. If a rival is in for a man and you do not push his deal that hour, there is a 30 percent chance they sign him.

If a rival is in at the fee table, your bid has to beat theirs. Bid at or under their number and there is a 30 percent chance they close the deal there and then.

Walk away from a deal with a rival circling and they usually take him.

When the window shuts

When the window shuts, any deal still in talks or at the terms table collapses, and none of its money is spent.

How the grade adds up

The grade is out of 100: 50 for needs filled, 30 for value for money and 20 for budget left.

Value for money is full for a fee at or under what the player is really worth and nothing at 1.5 times it, averaged over your signings.

Budget points are the share of the budget you kept times the share of needs you filled, so a window that signs nobody scores nothing.

The letters are A+ from 90, A from 80, B from 65, C from 50 and D from 35. Anything lower is an F.

The daily and the leaderboard

The daily is the same club, the same list, the same budget and the same dice for everyone on an Eastern day. One go per day, and a refresh picks up where you left off.

Deadline Day records that you played but puts no points on the leaderboard for now, while the points system is being rebuilt.

A Deadline Day walkthrough, four signings before 11pm

The board's shopping list

Say today's club needs a goalkeeper, a central midfielder, a right winger and a striker, and the board have left you £29m.

Haggling for the keeper

You start with the keeper. His club are asking £3.6m, your desk says he is worth £2.4m to £3.2m, and you bid £3.1m. That is a counter: they come down to £3.4m and one round of patience is gone. It is noon.

You bid £3.3m, inside 97 percent of their ask, and the fee is agreed. His agent wants 4 years at 10k a week and a £1.8m bonus. You offer exactly that and he signs. It is 2pm and you have £23.9m left.

A rival steals a target

While you were on the phone, a rival came in for the dearest keeper on your list at noon and signed him at 2pm. It did not matter this time, but the same thing can happen to the striker you were saving for last.

The striker with an hour to spare

By 8pm the midfielder and the winger are in, three hours each. The striker's club will not budge much and a rival is in for him, so you bid over the rival's number and inside 97 percent of the ask. Fee agreed at 9pm, terms signed at 10pm, an hour to spare.

Grading the window

Four needs out of four. The keeper cost £3.3m for a £3m player, 10 percent over his real worth, which keeps 80 percent of his share of the value points, and say the other three went about 10 percent over too. That is 50 for needs, 24 for value and, with £1m of the £29m left, 0.7 for budget: 75 out of 100, a B.

Deadline Day tips for beating the clock without overpaying

Using the free phone calls

Call every club on your list early. The call is free, and it puts every asking price in front of you before you spend an hour.

Pricing off your desk

Open around the middle of your desk's range, never under 75 percent of their ask, then come about half way up to their number each round. Every fee at or under his real worth keeps your value points whole.

A haggle costs an hour and a round of patience. With plenty of clock, pitch low and come up. With the window closing, pay near the ask and get it done.

Do not insult a club unless you mean it. Under 75 percent of the ask costs two rounds and pushes the price up.

Leaving room for the bonus

On a cheap player the signing bonus can be more than half the fee, so leave room for it before you agree the fee.

Seeing off the rivals

When a rival comes in, deal with that player next. Every hour you leave him alone they have a 30 percent shot at signing him.

Raising money from the bench

If the sums do not add up, sell a bench player early, so the money is there when the fee table needs it.

What the grade rewards

Money left only scores once the needs are filled, so a full window at a fair price beats a cheap half window.

Shutting the window early earns nothing for the hours you did not use. Unused money counts, unused time does not.

Deadline Day FAQ: real players, the daily and the leaderboard

Is Deadline Day the same as Club Manager?

It runs on the same transfer desk. The clubs, squads, market, asking prices, patience, valuation desk, rival bids and personal terms all come from Club Manager unchanged. Deadline Day is one day of it against the clock.

Are the players and the deals real?

The players, their clubs, ratings, ages and values are the real ones Club Manager uses. The negotiations, the rival bids and the signings are simulated, so nothing that happens here is a claim about a real transfer.

What happens to a deal at 11pm?

If you are still haggling, or the fee is agreed but his terms are not signed, the deal collapses and none of the money is spent.

Can I replay today's window?

The daily is one go per day, and a refresh picks up where you left off. Free play has no limit, and every free play window is a fresh one.

Does it count on the leaderboard?

Not yet. It records that you played, but it puts no points on the leaderboard for now.

Is Deadline Day free to play?

Yes. Deadline Day is free to play on DoUKnowBall, right in your browser. No download and no signup needed.

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