Tips and tricks

New agent lfc112 asked us for some tips on playing this game of ours, so here's my top ten:

1. Go for what you know: Sticking with names you know is probably the best way to start, especially if you don't know that much about football - if you've heard of them they probably got the media profile to do well in the game
2. International bonanza: Internationals pile on the points especially for England players - get them in a good week before.
3. Follow the crowd: If you're just starting out, check out the top picks table. This will tell you who the current top agents have in their portfolio. If you want to beat them though you'll need to find you own way.
4. Check the gossip columns: Long drawn out transfer speculations, controversial incidents and court action are the points machines of FFA, find out who's involved and if you think the price is right get them in
5. Use all your budget: Sounds pretty obvious but a lot of agents don't do it. Values are updated on Friday Morning always make sure you check if your players are still worth what you pay for them
6. Drop players on the slide: Players going down in value are under-performing best ditch them and replace them with someone on the rise.
7. Star players: Making a player a star player will double whatever points he earns. As a general rule this works better for expensive players. The 'Your clients' page explains how to make a player a star.
8. Check the stats: The 'Player stats' page shows how many points each player has earned. Clicking on the 'track' link will show even more information showing daily and weekly performance charts together with graph of his recent valuations. Remember though: past performance is no guarantee.
9. Big clubs score big: Manchester United and Liverpool have huge global followings and players for these clubs tend to score a lot more - sometimes you can find a bargain among them though
10. Check on Tuesdays: Tuesday is the day that players enter and leave the game. We only include Premier League players so if the drop out the League they drop out the game. New players are generally introduced because they're in the news - if they're in the news they're in the points.

Well I hope that's helpful. If anyone else has any tips, let us know.

Welcome to the new season

The Premier is still 24 hours from kick-off but the points are already rolling in thanks to to a round of internationals that are always good for business.

It's regular season time now so values are changing every week - keep an eye on them as you don't want any unused budget.

A big welcome to all the new agents that have joined in the past few weeks - we're a friendly bunch really so don't be shy in leaving comments or following us on twitter - if you say hello we'll follow you back.

If you tried to start a league recently you might have been disappointed. I've taken a spanner to Zen and everything seems to be working fine - but if you experience any shonky goings-on with anything on the site please let me know.

Good luck in the new season everyone.

New season 09/10

The fourth season of Fantasy Football Agent begins on 1 August.

You've two weeks to sort out your portfolios until then.

I am currently hammering a load of new improvements for the new season including a new Star Player feature, where for an extra £100 you can earn DOUBLE POINTS from a player.

If you have any suggestions for improving the experience, please let me know via the usual email or via the twitter account.

Summer Transfer Day: 30 June

Tomorrow is the day when all the players leaving the Premiership so far this summer are removed from the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Owen and 32 others will be removed after the morning points round up.

This could leave your squad looking very thin, but on the bright side it will give you a heap of budget to splash around - I'll leave it up to you to decide who to spend it on.

There'll also be a host of new players as players from Birmingham, Burnley and Wolves join the roster together with some of the bigger summer signings.

The new players should be up by midday (UK) tomorrow. So that's lunchtime sorted!

Quizking does it again!

It was never in doubt, the king has reclaimed his crown - quizking is FFA champion for the second time.

A strong early season set up for the campaign, but the champion certainly hasn't had it his own way with only one Agent of the month title to add to impressive tally.

While we're mentioning AotM, let's also give a slap on the back to rigby, who won Agent of the Month for May. Look he's dancing in the corner, with delight.

And before the confetti settles we're on straight away into our summer tournament Summer Madness

For the benefit of all the new agents that have joined us this season, Summer Madness is our close season. It plays exactly the same way as the regular season game but the player values remain static throughout - so you can go on holiday and not worry losing half of your team.

Newcastle, Middlesbrough and West Brom players will be removed at the end of June - when they'll be replaced by players from Birmingham, Wolves and Burnley.

Thanks for cracking season everyone, our best yet! Enjoy the summer!