beachbernie said:

To point this out: I don't have anything against hostile takeovers in general. This has happened to me before and that's part of the game. I only argue against hostile takeovers with the clear intention to hurt another team.

dustinwind said:
Talking about the release clause, i think it's a fair game.

You need to have a team with depth.

You need 2 goal keepers with the total release clause of about 5 or 6M. If some player do the dirty play by buying all your goalies, with 6M, you can easily find another. If you're playing in the 4th div, then maybe the release clause have to be even higher to make sure that you can buy the release clause of other good and comparable goalie.

Don't be cheap, give your players good pay. The release clause should be 1.5 or double the value of the player.

And finally, if people take advantage of the release clause to get good ones, you should do it to. It takes so much time find good players with low release clause (sometimes you don't find them using your coach secr.) so this rule should be a rewards for anyone who really gives it some time in order to get desired players.

beachbernie said:

The problem is if someone buys up Your goalies 24 hours before Your decisive game against his team, You won't be able to buy a replacement in time. Since then You don't have enough time to look for a new goalie, since You can't buy one over the release clause, because there's a 24 hours waiting period. That's what I would call playing it dirty. It won't help You if you could buy an even better goalie after the game.

Otherwise You are right, it's part of the game that someone buys up a player from Your team that is important for it. Usually You can use the money You get to buy yourself a new one, but not if someone screws You up intentionally, as I described it.

beachbernie said:

It's not necessarily the case that hostile takeovers are made to improve one's own team. It also imaginable that someone uses this tool to weaken his opponent, say in the struggle to get promoted to a higher league, which I personally consider unfair.
Though it hasn't happened to me (yet) I would prefer a rule which forbids hostile takeovers within Your own league. This would still leave plenty of room for making Your team better, but would make it impossible to "steal" Your opponents goalkeeper 25 hours before a decisive match, making it close to impossible to replace him in time.