Can anyone point me in the direction of how to take a MLS (USA) team on??

Meaning what they mean by the draft, player caps and quota's?? I'm fancying a bit of American but find it a wee bit confusing, so if there is a quick guide out there a heads up would be v welcome.

I wrote this below for FM10.

I'm not sure whats changed for FM11 but the basics should be much the same:

Ok lets start with contracts:

1) Senior contract - This is what most of your players will be on.

2) DP contract - Reserved for a special star player (eg Beckham). You start with one but you may have 0 or two places depending on trades. Only a portion of the wages counts towards the wage limit.

3) Development contract - Given to young players U23, set wages but they don't count towards the wage limit.

4) GA contract - Special contract given by the MLS to the best 10-15 players in the draft. Wages are set by the league and you take over their contract when they sign for you, they don't count towards the wage limit either.

Next squad rules:

1) Max of 20 senior players in a squad (DP + senior contracts).

2) Max of 24 total players in a squad (which means in a 24 man squad at least 4 need to be on a GA or development contract).

3) Stay under the wage limit (Senior contracts + a portion of DP contracts)

4) Internationals places - Any player who hasn't got a USA nationality is classed as an international player. You are limited to the number you can have and these places can be traded between teams so check your squad screen for your limit.

During the off-season the squad rules don't count and you can have as many players as you want.

The draft happens in January with 125 amateur players selected for it and you get a pick in each of the four rounds unless they have been traded away/traded in. Some players can be scouted in advance while there are 2-3 matches in early January between some of the draft players.

If you draft players with a GA contract you take over the contract otherwise you negotiate with them (99.9% of the time they'll accept development contracts).

Before the season starts you need to cut your squad to fit the rules above, anyone not given a squad number is waived (like a free transfer). Then follows the waiver draft which includes all the players cut (teams don't normally select anyone from this draft as squads are already in place).

During the season if you sign anyone you immediately need to give them a squad number, waiving another player if you need to to stay within the squad rules.

Probably should also mention transfers:

Any transfers out of the MLS usually mean the league take a % of the fee (33%?)

You don't have a transfer budget, you get an allocation fund instead. Transfers between MLS teams can also include player, draft picks, international slots & DP slots as well as money.

Nice one, thanks, that's a great help, much appreciated.

And don't worry about the Academy Apprentice roster spots (2)...SI failed to properly implement them in the game, so unless your team (such as Toronto FC) have one or two at the start of the game, there's no way to offer an AA contract.

Ok, cool, thanks.