Nominal Fee

on FM08, deault database ... i have found a player called David Thompson on a free ... whe i looked at his transfer history it said he had a Nom.Fee to bolton ..

sorry if im sounding a bit stupid but what does Nomnial Fee actually mean ?

It means you've paid something just for the sake of paying it. So you've signed someone for £2,000 just to avoid signing him on a free. The major advantage of this, I assume, is that the selling club doesn't have to rip up the player's contract.

Is it not something similar to a fee set by a tribunal e.g. John Bostock, Spurs ordered to pay £700k to Palace for pinching him and that's considered a nominal fee, but no where near his actual value.

I think it just means he was signed in exchange for a bag of carrots rather than on a free transfer just because there is presumably some difference in some aspect of something in the deal if a fee is paid (tax related stuff? No idea, but I'm pretty sure it just means something silly like £1 was paid).

Is it not something similar to a fee set by a tribunal e.g. John Bostock, Spurs ordered to pay £700k to Palace for pinching him and that's considered a nominal fee, but no where near his actual value.

No, that's definitely different. The fee wasn't "nominal" it was what the suits in the tribunal felt that Bostock was worth. "Nominal payment" is simply paying something for the sake of paying. Actually I think glamdring's example is better than mine. Think of Tony Cascarino's transfer to Gillingham - a bunch of old tracksuits. Brilliant.

quote from wikipedia:

"Having originally planned to be a hair-dresser and a part time yoga instructer, Cascarino joined Gillingham F.C. in 1982 from Crockenhill FC, for a transfer fee of a set of tracksuit tops and some corrugated iron."

and we have the cheek to complain to si about inflated transfers...

on FM08, deault database ... i have found a player called David Thompson on a free ... whe i looked at his transfer history it said he had a Nom.Fee to bolton ..

sorry if im sounding a bit stupid but what does Nomnial Fee actually mean ?

Sorry if this is a little boring, but i'll keep it brief...

In contract law in England and Wales, you must have Offer, then consideration and finally acceptance for a contract between two parties to be enforcable.

In relation to the transfer an offer is the selling party offering to sell the player for a sum.

Consideration is 1p or £1 or a bag of carrots as someone said above (this is where nominal comes in)... it must be a physical amount of something, or a promise of something in return... it can not be free

and acceptance is the act of acception the terms of the contract.

Therefore under English Law, the contract is enforcable, stopping either side pulling out.

Under Scottish law, consideration does not have to be present for a contract to be enforced, therefore, it's only Offer and Acceptance and there is not need for a nominal fee.

Got to love all that accountancy training! lol

Ninjamark:

does that mean that in the game, when a team offers you £0 for a player, that couldn't actually happen irl?

You have to remember though that the game rounds things to the nearest £1,000 (I think). In actual fact an offer of £0 will probably be something nominal, but just miles closer to £0 than £1,000. I have seen in my transfer history before now that I actually signed a player for £790 or something strange like that - clearly in that case it was a £1,000 bid, but the same can be true for a £0 bid.

Ninjamark:

does that mean that in the game, when a team offers you £0 for a player, that couldn't actually happen irl?

Like is said above, it may be a roundings issue.

Also may be dependant under what law the contract is signed under...