Auction Academy · Strategy
Premier League auction budget strategy: plan your £100m
Before every bid, subtract the money needed for your other empty places from your remaining budget. This gives an arithmetic limit. Set your own lower limit if the players you still need are likely to cost more. A legal maximum is not a recommended player price.
Auction budget calculator
Check your next bid before you spend. Keep enough money for every unfilled squad place.
Maximum next bid £16.00m
Reserve £4.00m for the other places. Your average budget per place is £4.00m, rounded down.
Use the minimum purchase price agreed by your group. £1m is an example, not an app rule. Use zero only if your rules allow free purchases. Include bench places in the number of places you still need to fill.
How the calculation works
Reserve = (unfilled places − 1) × minimum price. Maximum next bid = cash left − reserve. With £20m, five unfilled places and a £1m minimum, keep £4m for the other four players. Your next bid can be at most £16m.
This is a spending limit, not a player valuation. It does not check positions, club limits or player availability. Spending at the limit leaves only the minimum for every other place.
How much can you bid without leaving an incomplete squad?
Start with your league's squad size, positions, club limit and minimum purchase price. New Auction League setups default to 14 players. The organiser can choose 13, 14, 15 or 16 before the season is prepared. An example for one size will not fit every league. The minimum price in the examples below is an invented £1m house rule, not a claim about an enforced product setting.
Work through the whole budget
Suppose you start with £100m and need 14 players. Your first two purchases cost £35m and £20m. You have £45m for 12 places: £3.75m per place on average. This average helps you assess the rest of the squad. It does not value each player.
A third purchase at £25m leaves £20m for 11 players, about £1.82m each. Before raising the bid, list the eleven places still needed and several affordable alternatives. If your goalkeeper and forward targets alone need most of the remaining money, reduce the third-player ceiling or let a rival buy him.
| After purchase | Total spent | Budget left | Empty places in a 14-player squad |
|---|---|---|---|
| First, £35m | £35m | £65m | 13 |
| Second, £20m | £55m | £45m | 12 |
| Third, £25m | £80m | £20m | 11 |
Calculate the next ceiling
With £20m left and five empty places, a £1m minimum means reserving £4m for the four places after the next purchase. Your arithmetic ceiling is £16m: 20 − (5 − 1) × 1 = 16.
Now apply a practical reserve. Suppose your remaining plan needs £3m for a keeper, £4m for a forward and £2m each for two other places. Reserve £11m. Your next-player limit becomes £9m. These are invented planning amounts. The difference between £16m and £9m is the cost of protecting the actual squad you want, rather than merely completing any squad.
Write both limits before bidding. When you buy below your planned price, reassign the saving. When you pay more, name the purchase that will receive less. Do not count on a future bargain that has no available alternative.
Stop when the rest of the squad stops working
Check remaining positions and club limits after every sale. Cash alone cannot repair a squad that lacks a legal XI. Keep a small set of alternatives at each role and price level. If a rival buys one, remove him from your sheet. Your plan must use players who remain available in your league.
Past prices show what one group paid. They do not predict this year's room. Use the six public price examples as historical context, then check the squad setup.
Common questions
Is the maximum bid the correct price?
No. It protects minimum squad completion, not player value or positional needs. Use a lower limit when your remaining plan needs more money.
Should I spend all £100m?
Decide from your league rules and remaining options. Check what your league does with unused auction money before copying another platform’s strategy.
Put the plan into practice
Read six real auction prices from our founding league.
Ready to bring your group? Run your auction, then enter the final squads in the app.
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