:: each manager will have 4 transfers to take during the season

:: these can be sent in at any time but will always come into effect from the start of the next month

Note: where weekends fall across the end of the month, there is usually an announcement that says that transfers will occur after a full weekend of games.

:: the fourth and fifth transfers will be available in the Easter transfer window

* The News of the World will publish their Dream Team of the Day each Sunday based on the previous day’s Saturday matches.

IF YOU WANT TO GET MORE TECHNICAL, HERE ARE FURTHER DETAILS…

Players who appear in the official Dream Team Player List score points in Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Carling Cup matches from Saturday August 16th 2008 until the final game of the season. Qualifying rounds for the Champions League and UEFA Cup do NOT count. Players not picked for ANY reason score zero points for each game they miss.
Three points are awarded to a player given a mark of seven or more in The Sun newspaper’s individual Player Ratings carried with every match report. A five-point bonus is awarded to The Sun’s Star Man, making his rating total eight points. In addition to the bonus points on offer from The Sun, players will also receive extra points for being named in the News of the World ’s ‘Dream Team of the day’. Players playing in games on a Saturday ONLY will be eligible and will receive two bonus points for being named in the 11-man ‘Team of the Day’ or eight points if they are named the Star Player in their position. A Star Goalkeeper, Star Defender, Star Midfielder and Star Striker will be named in each News of the World ‘Dream Team of the day’.
Five points are awarded for a goal scored. A player scoring three or more goals per game gets five additional bonus points. A player who has been awarded points as described above will retain those points regardless of whether a goal is attributed to another player at a later date. Any player who is subsequently awarded a goal will not receive the points retrospectively, nor will the original scorer lose points.
A goalkeeper or a defender who keeps a clean sheet scores five points. If they concede one goal, they score no points, two goals -1, three goals -2 and so on.
A midfielder whose team keeps a clean sheet scores two points. Midfielders are not penalised if their side concedes goals.
Any player who is booked loses a point. A player sent off loses three points in total. Any player that loses points for a booking or sending off will not have those points reinstated if the offence is rescinded on appeal.
A goalkeeper who saves a penalty scores three points. A ‘save’ is defined as a goal not being scored directly from the penalty spot (e.g. if the ball rebounds off a post then that is a ‘save’). Penalty save points are awarded even if a goal is scored subsequently (e.g. from open play after the ball has rebounded off a post).
Any player who comes on as a substitute at any time scores or loses points as if he had played the whole match. Players subbed off also score or lose points in normal fashion regardless of how long they were on the pitch.
There will be TWO mid-season Transfer Windows. During each one you can swap up to three players providing you remain within the selection rules – making a total of six transfers in total over the course of the game. The first window will be in October, the second in January.
Any player transferred from one Premier League club to another continues to score points in his team. For the purposes of the game, he stays registered with his original club. If a player leaves the Premier League, his points are frozen until such a time that he returns.
The rules remain the same for games involving extra-time/injury time. A match that is 0-0 after 90 minutes/injury time must be 0-0 after extra-time for keepers, defenders and midfielders to keep clean sheets. Penalty shootouts do not count. Replays are counted as separate games.
PLAYER RATINGS IN THE SUN AND NEWS OF THE WORLD
A unique component of Dream Team scoring is the points awarded based on the player ratings published with match reports in The Sun and the 11 players that make up the Dream Team of the Day in the News of the World.

At the beginning of the season each reporter is issued with strict guidelines – which we have reproduced here.

Any player given a mark of seven or more by our reporters gets three points in Dream Team. And the Star Man (i.e. the reporter’s man of the match) picks up a five-point bonus.

But what are the criteria used by our reporters in calculating those all-important player ratings?

The player ratings are calculated taking both general and specific positional considerations into account.

The criteria are:

Involvement in the game.
If during the overall course of a game a player does not make a positive contribution to his team, then he should not normally get a rating greater than 6.
Inspirational play.
A positive effect on other team members merits a higher rating. Because Dream Team points are allocated for specific events – goals, cautions, clean sheets etc. – there is no need to take these into account in the player rating, unless they stem from the specific positional consideration given below. By way of example, a striker might score two goals in a single game and gets ten Dream Team points for doing so. However both goals could have been complete flukes and, those aside, the striker had no other material involvement in the game. In this case he would not merit a rating of seven or more.
Goalkeepers.
Ratings for goalkeepers additionally take the following specific positional criteria into consideration:
Confidence and concentration
Command of the box and set-piece control
Aerial effect
Shot stopping
Minimising the goal as a target
Building offence from defence
Defenders.
Ratings for defenders additionally take the following specific positional criteria into consideration:
Protection given to the goal
Confidence
Clearing the ball from the danger area
Set-piece performance
Aerial ability
Tackles made and possession won
Building offence from defence
Midfielders.
Ratings for midfielders additionally take the following specific positional criteria into consideration:
Defensive contribution
Winning and retaining possession
Offence building and creation of goal-scoring opportunities
Work-rate and work off the ball
Attacking power
Goal attempts
Strikers.
Ratings for strikers additionally take the following specific positional criteria into consideration:
Work-rate and work off the ball
Offence creation
Positional awareness
Creation of goal scoring opportunities
Achieving one-on-one situations
Attacking power
Goal attempts
All criteria have both positive and negative elements and the final rating awarded by a reporter is a combination of these. The Star Man award goes to the player deemed to have made the greatest contribution to the performance of the team.

The News of the World ‘Dream Team of the Day’ is based on a combination the reporter’s match reports and the valid construction of the 11-man Dream Team of the day. NOTES ON SCORING

Notes on scoring
We check all the match statistics that affect the Game’s scoring with the individual clubs and where appropriate the Premier League. In the case of a disputed goal, for example, we would, after viewing the recording, approach both clubs involved and make an immediate decision based upon these discussions.

In most instances the decisions of the Premier League’s disputed goals panel’ take several weeks so are made too late for the conduct of the game.

Your main job is to decide who you think will perform best over the whole 2008/09 football season based on our points scoring system. This rewards the things you would expect – like goals, clean sheets and good performances and it punishes leaky defences, bookings and red cards.

Your 11 selected players then win or lose points for every match they play in the Premier League, FA Cup, Carling Cup, UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifiers) or UEFA Cup (excluding qualifiers) as season unfolds.

During the season you’ll also be able to make a number of transfers to ensure you have the best chance of scoring the highest possible points total! (to be confirmed based upon number of entries)

If you want to get technical then read on below…

The three main selection rules:

1. Your team’s value cannot exceed £50million.

2. You must pick no more than two players from any one Premier League club.

3. Your team must have one Goalkeeper, four Defenders, three or four Midfielders, and two or three Strikers.