What makes a team transfer-list a player and put him in reserves at the start?

Is it reputation or what? Craig Dawson (WBA), Scott Dobbie (Swansea) and Danny Simpson (Newcastle) are some examples of players who are transfer-listed and placed in the reserves when the game starts, and I'm curious as to what causes this. Clearly none of these players will be sold in real life in the near future (except Dobbie) unless someone comes in with a crazy bid, so I'm just wondering what went wrong in the editor or whatever so I can maybe fix it myself.

A lot of it is based on rep of the player in question and the players in his position at the club. The managers preferred formation also plays a part. For example if a manager has a narrow 4-3-3 as his preferred formation, you may find the players who are predominantly wingers would be left out/transfer listed.

Rep and CA of the player in comparison to the players he is competing with for a first team spot.

Do you mean Stephen Dobbie?

Yeah, Stephen, but it kinda makes sense that he's transfer-listed even though Rodgers blocked a loan move in January. The other two though. I thought their age + stats + CA + PA would make them wanted at their clubs.

Well, I raised Dawson's and Simpson's reputation in FMRTE, and they're both playing now.

It was explained in a thread about Balotelli being in the reserves. If the AI manager plays a particular formation, say using only 1 striker, and the player in question is rated below say 3 others in terms of reputation, the the game considers that it would be best to move him on. Not always logical but you can at least see where the thinking come s from.

Alright, thanks for the reply