The Gaffer’s Handbook

The 1-minute guide to every mode

No jargon, no hidden mechanics. Every rule, reward, threshold, and fine-print detail in The Gaffer’s Ledger explained longhand.

Getting Started

Your first steps in the dugout

#getting-started
In one line

Draft legends, play the dailies, pledge your club, and get your name in the Ledger.

How it works

  • Sign in (Google, Discord, or email) — your first coins are waiting.
  • Three moves to start: declare your club, play today’s daily, draft your first season. The checklist on the home page walks you through them.
  • Everything you earn — coins, packs, cards, badges — lives in My Vault and on your Profile.

What you win

A daily login bonus of 100 coins, and every mode pays its own way.

The fine print

One account per manager; your username is your name in every leaderboard and Ledger entry.

Draft & Simulate

Build an XI across 34 PL seasons

#draft
In one line

Build an XI from 34 seasons of greats, then live a full 38-game season — and try to go unbeaten.

How it works

  • Pick a manager (real tactical identities), a formation, then draft one player per randomly-assigned real team — knowledge beats luck.
  • Set your duties (captain, penalties, free kicks, corner target) — they change results.
  • The sim plays all 38 games against the real current top flight, match by match, scorers and all. Same squad + same seed = same season: results are earned, never rigged.
  • Chemistry is real: same-club, same-era, same-nation links lift every line. A manager playing his favoured shape gets a bonus. Feuding players in one XI hurt you.
  • After the season, the reason report tells you exactly why you dropped points — the opponent, the numbers, the cause. It reads the sim’s actual data; it never invents.

What you win

Coins scaled to results, a reward pack tiered by wins, and for the full 38 unbeaten — the Invincible badge, 500 bonus coins, and your name in the Ledger.

The fine print

Realism mode (injuries, suspensions) is optional and off by default. A player can only appear once in your squad. Ratings are our own, computed from real per-season stats.

Daily Games

Four daily puzzles, reset at 00:00 UTC

#daily-games
In one line

One puzzle a day per game, same for everyone — build streaks, earn coins and packs, and win the card itself.

How it works

  • Higher or Lower (#higher-lower): 20 pairs, pick who our ratings scored higher. One miss ends the run.
  • Card Guesser (#card-guesser): name the mystery card in 8 guesses; every wrong guess narrows it (club, nation, era, rating direction). Win it and the card is minted into your collection.
  • Gaffer’s Grid (#grid): 3×3 — name a player matching both clues for each cell. One guess per cell, no player twice. Rarer answers score better.
  • Missing XI (#missing-xi): a famous starting XI with gaps — fill in the missing names.

What you win

Coins by score, packs at streak milestones (3/7/30 days: Bronze, Silver, Gold packs), and the Card Guesser card itself.

The fine print

Answers are checked server-side; the daily resets for everyone at 00:00 UTC — no timezone advantage.

Weekly Gauntlet

Themed squad challenge on a shared seed

#gauntlet
In one line

One themed squad puzzle a week — same rules, same simulation luck for everyone — top manager takes the prize.

How it works

  • Each week has a theme with hard rules (budget caps, tier limits, era locks).
  • Build a legal XI, enter, and the sim runs with the same seed for every manager — the leaderboard measures your squad-building, not your luck.
  • One official entry per week. Pick carefully.

What you win

The week’s Gold prize pack for the top spot; bragging rights all the way down.

The fine print

Entries lock when the week ends (countdown on the page); the theme rotates automatically.

Matchday & PL 26/27 Live Season

Survivor, Score Predictor & Season Auction League

#matchday
In one line

The real season is the game — survive week to week, call exact scores, and draft live 26/27 PL squads on FPL points.

How it works

  • Last Gaffer Standing (#survivor): pick ONE club to win each gameweek. A win keeps you alive; a draw or loss eliminates you from the run. You can never pick the same club twice in a run. Eliminated? Re-enter next round.
  • Score Predictor (#predictor): call the exact score on the week’s six headline games. Exact score = 25 bonus coins, correct result pays 50–1,200 coins (+ Silver pack for 6/6).
  • Season Auction League (#season-auction): draft this season’s real Premier League players in a live auction room with your mates. Set your 15-man squad, name your captain, earn live FPL points every gameweek, and drop flops to waivers.
  • Picks & Lineups lock at the first kickoff of each gameweek.

What you win

Survival rewards that grow with your streak (up to 3,000 coins + Gold pack at 10 weeks); weekly predictor coins; live FPL Season League glory.

The fine print

Scores sync from real FPL results several times a day — during a gameweek your points may show as provisional until finalized.

Club Wars, Allegiance & Ladders

Pledge your club and climb its ladder

#club-wars
In one line

Pledge your club once, then everything you play fights for its badge.

How it works

  • Allegiance (#allegiance): pick your club — any of the 20. ⚠️ It’s a real pledge: one change per season (seasons turn 1 Aug), and you can NEVER return to a club you’ve left.
  • Club Wars (#wars): every point big-six fans score in dailies, gauntlets, and sims counts for their club that week. Two tables: Power (total) and Pound-for-pound (per active fan).
  • Club Ladders (#ladders): 100 levels of club knowledge and squad challenges per big-six club — open to everyone, any club, no allegiance needed. Timers tighten from 25s to 12s; cap of 3 levels per day.
  • Club Album (#album): your collection, organized by club and era — completion milestones pay.

What you win

War week winners: active fans get a random card of their club (~90% gold / 10% icon). Ladders: rewards every 10 levels, gold card at 50, icon at 90, and the 3 top icons at 100.

The fine print

Active means you played that week — idle fans don’t dilute averages or collect prizes. Failed levels can be retried tomorrow with fresh variants.

Cards, Coins & Packs

18,000+ player-season cards

#cards
In one line

18,000+ player-season cards rated by our own engine from real stats — collect them, play them, trade them.

How it works

  • Every card is a player-season (Henry · Arsenal · 03/04 · 96). The same player can exist across many seasons at different ratings.
  • Tiers: Bronze (<70) · Silver (70–79) · Gold (80–89) · Icon (90+).
  • Ratings come from our engine: per-90 performance, percentile-ranked within position and season. No licensed ratings or photos — shirt, number, and colors are the card.
  • Earn coins by playing: season rewards, daily games, streaks, daily login (100 coins), quick-selling cards, market sales, referrals (up to Icon pack + 3,000 coins at 5 friends).
  • Packs: Bronze (150 coins), Silver (500 coins), Gold (1,500 coins), Icon (5,000 coins).

What you win

Everything above — coins have no real-money price and never will.

The fine print

All card and coin movement is server-verified and ledgered. Duplicates are normal and fuel the market. Cards burned in Challenges are gone for good.

Transfer Market & Trades

Auctions and direct manager swaps

#market
In one line

An open market between managers: auction your cards for coins, or strike direct swaps.

How it works

  • Transfer Market (#auctions): list a card with a start price (and optional buy-now). Bids escrow your coins instantly. Late bids extend the clock (anti-snipe).
  • Trades (#trades): list a card with "what I want"; others offer cards, coins, or both. Accept one — swap is atomic; other offers refund instantly.
  • Outbid? Your coins release the moment it happens.

What you win

The market is how collections get finished — album hunters pay well for the right era.

The fine print

Listed cards are locked; auctions settle automatically; all balances are ledger-backed.

Legends Auction House

Live draft rooms for historical catalog cards

#auction-rooms
In one line

A live auction night with your mates — bid real budgets for football’s historical greats, then run a shared 38-game season simulation.

How it works

  • Legends Auction: host sets budget, squad size, clock and filters; room bids live for one-of-each legend (ratings hidden).
  • Full Season Simulation: once squads are picked, ONE shared 38-game simulation runs every squad against the Premier League field.

What you win

The table and bragging rights. Room budgets are play-money per room — never your coins.

The fine print

Room cards are for that room only — they don’t enter collections.

My Journey

Player-career mode through PL history

#my-journey
In one line

Be one player. Win the shirt, keep it, and decide the moments that matter across Premier League history.

How it works

  • Create your prospect — choose your name, position, archetype, and starting club in any PL season from 1993/94.
  • Live your career season by season: match moments, tactical decisions, training, contracts, and Monday morning press conferences.
  • Manage club relationships, fatigue, and trust. Request transfers or accept loan moves to climb the football ladder.
  • Invest your earnings, build your legacy, and earn honours to enter the Hall of Fame.

What you win

Career wages, contract bonuses, silverware, player-season cards minted into your collection, and a permanent Legacy score.

The fine print

Career choices persist across seasons. Match moments use deterministic seeds so your performance is always earned.

Competitions & Leaderboards

Weekly fights and permanent records

#compete
In one line

Every week is a fresh fight — and the best of every era is written down forever.

How it works

  • Invincibles board: the week’s best seasons — unbeaten first, then points, then goal difference. #1 wins the week’s prize icon.
  • Weekly game boards: per-game tables resetting weekly (Monday 00:00 UTC); percentiles for everyone. Winners hold a title until dethroned.
  • Hall of Fame: Strongest XI board, Showcase, and Records Hall (the Ledger itself): first Invincible, career bests, every week’s winners.
  • Mini-Leagues: private tables with a join code — compare everything with your mates.

What you win

Weekly prize icons, titles, and permanence.

The fine print

Boards reset Monday 00:00 UTC; percentiles include everyone who played that week.

Achievements

62 badges across the product

#achievements
In one line

62 badges across everything you can do here — from your first pack to The Invincibles.

How it works

  • Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum (only four exist).
  • Every badge shows its rarity among real managers. A few are secret until someone earns them.
  • Land automatically — play, and the cabinet fills.

What you win

The cabinet on your profile, and rarity bragging rights.

The fine print

Badges are retroactive — anything you earned before a badge existed is granted when it ships.