Football Manager 2010 is now available for pre-order. Get your personalised FM 2010 copy from Play.com (free home delivery) right now.

Football Manager 2010 Top 10 Wish List

Football Manager. Just saying those two words amongst a group of football-mad mates will almost surely send everyone into a state of euphoria. For many the game is a way to relax on a Saturday afternoon; for others, the game is life — an addiction, if you will.

Whatever side of the fence you sit on there’s one thing all groups can agree on, and that’s the need to consistently critique the game from the day we get it in our hands.

After much deliberation and forum consulting, in no particular order I have produced a comprehensive list of ten necessities that Sports Interactive must consider for Football Manager 2010. You will no doubt disagree with many of my choices so please feel free to use the comments section below to outline exactly what you would incorporate into FM 2010 ready for its autumn/winter release.

Remember, you can buy FM 10 online here.

1. Testimonials

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to acknowledge that dying breed of the one club man by arranging a testimonial fixture for their services to your club? A glamour tie against a Manchester United, Real Madrid or AC Milan would bring the fans flooding in and would add an extra dimension to the fixture planning and media/player interaction side of the game.

2. Bring back the fun of the game!

We are all undoubtedly split in our dedication and affinity to FM. To some it is their life, to others a pass time for the weekend. Although at the end of the day FM is just a game and I want it to feel more like a game. The complexities surrounding things like training and tactics at times require far too much perseverance. I want to be able to send out a strong Manchester United team in a basic 4-4-2 formation and expect to beat a relegation threatened side at home without having to tweak my tactics at numerous intervals during the match.

3. Overhaul Press Conferences

Don’t tell me I’m the only one who sends my assistant to every perceivable Press Conference (bar the very important ones!). FM Press Conferences mean as much to me as the BBC does to Sir Alex Ferguson. The answers become mandatory and I believe this area of the game needs to be developed further as it can clearly has the potential to work.

4. 3D Match Engine

I don’t know about you but I turned off 3D after only a couple of games of trying it. It just doesn’t do it for me. Maybe I’m too old fashioned and completely susceptible to change but I really haven’t seen the need, as of yet, to switch from the classic 2D blobs that still manage to fit the bill. The 3D match engine is clearly still in its early stages but unless it’s improved drastically, I won’t be interested in using it again for another season of FM at least.

5. Match day Experience

The match day experience should really be the lifeblood for FM and I don’t feel like Sports Interactive can safely say they have delivered with decent results. The AI of both human and computer players is at times shocking where on field reactions and movements can often be likened to that of an intoxicated Titus Bramble ice skating on one leg.

6. Tactical Sliders

Arguably my biggest gripe with FM and I am sure it is being addressed but I just can’t comprehend the need and point for the sheer amount of tactical sliders. Why can’t I send out Lionel Messi and tell him to be creative and express himself rather than have to nudge a slider seven ticks to the right hand side to get the desired effect. At the moment it’s just not realistic.

7. Chairmen Interference

Chairmen don’t really do a great deal on FM 09. They don’t have any personality and rarely have any involvement in the game. Yes, it’s Football Manager not Football Chairman, but wouldn’t it be a nice addition to have your billionaire Sheikh demanding that you sign big name players or he will take matters into his own hands? I seem to remember this sort of thing happening on a previous version of the game and I’m all for bringing it back for FM 2010! Why not throw in Directors of Football too?

8. Realistic expectations

OK, so you’ve just achieved the proverbial miracle of breaking into the Champions League with West Brom in your first season in the big time. Your fans love it, your chairman loves it but you know deep down that it was a one off. The following season you finish tenth in the league and get knocked out of Europe by Barcelona. Jeremy Peace shows you the exit door as a result of underachievement. I’ve seen it happen and it needs to be addressed.

9. Penalty takers (See who wants one!)

I, for one, hate having to rely on attributes when it comes down to the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. Because that’s exactly what it is. A lottery! You’re bustling centre-half may not be Francesco Totti from 12 yards out, but if he’s got the balls to step up to the plate, I want to know about it.

10. Make sure the game is ready for release

The problems with activation were well documented with the launch of FM 09 and I’m sure the guys over at SI don’t need me to tell them to do everything in their power to avoid a similar predicament. Although the main problem I find and it happens every year, is that the game is never really completely playable until a patch is released a couple of months after the game becomes available on the shelves. I know it’s difficult, but if SI can deliver a first release that is relatively bug free and we don’t have to wait for a patch, then everyone will go home extremely happy. I’m sure of it!

The Football Manager 2010 Demo is available here.

You can buy FM 10 online here.

Update: Thank you for participating. This offer is now closed.

Love Football Manager but haven’t had the chance to play it? Or do you love it so much you want to give the gift of Football Manager (or curse, if you want your coworkers to stop working completely) to your friends?

Next week, Soccerlens will pick one lucky SL reader to give away a FREE copy of Football Manager 2009 (PC only) – DVD, packed and all that. To qualify for this giveaway, all you need to do is answer a simple question that we’re asking in this forum thread.

It’s that simple. We’ll pick the winner at random from everyone who answers our question in the forum thread above. The winner will be announced on Monday morning (22nd December 2008).

So go here and put your name in the hat for your free copy of FM 09.

How To Get Football Manager 2009 For Free

Football Manager 2009 has been released. For those who wish to download it online, they can get FM 09 via Steam – fast download, instant activation). For those not able to buy it in a store, this is the fastest way to get your hands on a copy of the latest edition of Football Manager.

FM 09 – oh how I’ve waited and waited for you (don’t worry though, FM 08 kept me very good company)…

Folks, Football Manager 2009 will be launched on 14 November 2008. The game needs no introduction; everyone I know who’s played it has been addicted to it as badly as myself, it’s a menace to your health, your sanity, your social life and quite frankly a contender for the best fuckin’ game ever made.

Features, system requirements and more below:

Football Manager: The Greatest Job on Earth

Football Manager 2009 Demo

If you can’t wait, download the FM 09 demo here. Discussion thread here.

FM 09 – Features

• 3D Match Engine — This year’s match engine has seen more testing than ever before having been extensively beta tested in Football Manager™ Live for the past year.
• The famous Football Manager™ match engine can now be viewed in full 3D with motion captured animations the players. Sports Interactive has been working on the 3D match engine with the support of SEGA Japan’s football development team who provided the motion capture data and some of the animations.
• You can now watch your matches in 3D from multiple camera angles and re-watch any part of the match by fast forwarding and rewinding the action using a new match time bar that flags the key moments in the game.
• The old 2D view of the match engine is still there, especially for those people whose computers aren’t powerful enough to take advantage of the 3D views.
• TV View — Watch your matches in new full screen TV view and customise your match day screen with widgets to view the information you need as a football manager, be it player performance, match action zones, pitch radar, latest scores and many more.
• Assistant Manager Feedback — Pre-match and in-match feedback from your Assistant Manager on how the team is performing and your player’s motivation levels, as well as hints on how your tactics are working and how you could outwit the opposition’s tactics.
• Improved Media — SI have worked hard to reflect the greater impact the media has been having in recent years on the world of football, in the in-game dealings with the press. The game now features more news stories, more detail and greater media interaction.
• Press Conferences — Attend pre-match and post-match press conferences with local and national journalists and build up relationships with them over time, but choose your answers carefully because they could come back to haunt you in the media at a later date.
• Transfer System — Completely new and re-written transfer system code, providing an even more realistic simulation of real-life football transfers.
• Transfer Rumours — View the latest news on what players are being speculated on, and who’s said to be interested in securing their services.
• Board Confidence — Following on from its addition in Football Manager™ 2008, board confidence has been expanded and improved. In addition, the board will now also feedback to you on your squad harmony and the club’s stature in the football world.
• Preferred Moves — Train your players to learn ‘preferred moves’ to add to their game. For example, train central defenders to not dive into tackles, or wingers to do stepovers before crossing the ball.
• Female Manager — For the very first time you can now play as a female manager. All of the text in the game now also has a female gender so the game represents female managers and staff in the game in the correct gender.
• Realistic Finances — SI have listened to feedback from all of their researchers to try and model every single financial area of the game correctly for each country, including transfers, staff wages, budgets, ticket prices, season tickets, competition bonuses and club sponsorships.
• Updated Competitions — Fully updated for the new 2008/09 football season with all the latest league, club and player data, featuring over 5,000 playable clubs from over 50 countries, and around 350,000 players and staff from around the world, drawn fresh from the famous Sports Interactive database.
• Widescreen Support — As a result of usability testing on Football Manager™ 2008, this year sees widescreen support for the game for the first time, as well as lots of tweaks to the user interface for easier navigation.

FM 09 System Requirements

Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista
Processor: XP: 1.4GHz or Faster, Vista: 2.0GHz or Faster.
*Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon.
Memory: XP: 512MB RAM, Vista: 1GB RAM
Graphics: 128 MB video RAM or greater.
**Supported Chipsets – Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater.
DirectX Version: Version 9.0c (included)
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Hard Drive: 2 GB available hard-drive space
LAN: TCP/IP compliant

Get ready for it. Mark your calendars. 14th November 2008. Football Manager 2009.

Today’s big game is Tottenham v Liverpool at White Hart Lane and we’re blogging it live. Of course, if you don’t care for Liverpool’s reserve team thrashing the Carling Cup champions, there’s plenty more for you to read:

• Seymour Price chairman Keith Harris talks about the recent Premier League takeovers (City, Villa, West Ham) as well as possible Premier League takeovers (Newcastle, Everton and Liverpool). A must-read article.
• The race for Axel Witsel is heating up. Arsenal and Manchester United have both been linked with the player. Never mind that he’s an attacking midfielder and not a holding midfielder, and that both teams are looking for the latter and not the former. 15m and he’s yours this January.
• Gabriel Agbonlahor thinks Aston Villa can beat Arsenal this weekend. May I point Gabby to this article and this result?
• Manchester United have the biggest… Make sure you see where (or what) everyone is looking at.
• Is Xavi headed to Manchester United for 20m? Yea, as if Xavi will a) leave his boyhood club and b) Barcelona will let him go over 10k / week wage disagreement. Dream on. Unless…unless Xavi loves the rain.
• In the same vein, Manchester City selling Dunne to Tottenham is equally ridiculous. They made such a big deal of keeping their captain last summer, now with the club moving forward there will be even more of a fight to keep him at Manchester City. Still, London is more attractive than Manchester, but you have to consider that he’ll get more money at City than in Tottenham’s tight wage structure.
• Evilo from The Offside looks at the top 50 prospects in French football. Well researched, top stuff.
• Roma are planning a new stadium. Well they be able to ensure crowd safety in this one?
• Landon Donovan to train with Bayern Munich. Klinsmann loves him, and there are rumours he might even sign on loan. Destined to end in heartbreak if he does so…
• Charton Athletic couldn’t secure new owners, but Crystal Palace did snag an Arab sponsor.
• Just one day to go before Football Manager 2009 is available for download.
• Should Barnsley sue Sheffield United (or rather, Chris Morgan) for Hume’s injury or is it just part and parcel of the game?
• The new Nike Pro commercial, starring Manchester United kit-man Albert Morgan.
• Keith Harris talks football club takeovers. Do you think Premier League takeovers have been successful?
• Arsenal’s kids are proof that talent still trumps experience on a football pitch.

And finally:

How to Break Up

While you wait for Football Manager 2009 (little over 2 days to go), here is today’s news in brief to keep you company (don’t worry, you’ll be saying goodbye to rest of the year this weekend):

• Carling Cup 4th Round: The 4th round of the Carling Cup gets underway tonight, with Tottenham playing Liverpool on Wednesday night in the pick of the draw.
• Nereida Gallardo talks dirty, complains about Ronaldo and takes her clothes off…
• Ronaldo v Messi v Torres – the numbers. Hell, this blows so many holes in the Ronaldo > Messi argument that I don’t know where to start. If you account for overall impact, Ronaldo edges it barely on points. If you measure it on impact per game, Messi blows Ronaldo away. If you measure it on titles won, Ronaldo takes it over Messi. It’s a close one, with Torres third but not too far away.

  And let’s not judge players on character, please? A womanizing, coke-snorting fascist would get my vote if he was doing the business on the pitch as well as off it. I draw the line at actual crimes and not on religious or sexual preferences. Not that it matters…

• The FA want LMA to respect their referees. You know, I totally dig that, but maybe the FA should make more of an effort to respect the referees and give them a helping hand?
• Mandatory drug testing for footballers in England. Drug testing = good. Maintaining a list of potential offenders = so bad on so many levels. This is a sport with a huge public profile and commercial interest. The last thing the FA wants is to tarnish it’s reputation, and they’re now going to turn drug testing into a witch hunt in full view of the media? Suicidal doesn’t begin to cover it…
• The Football League wants its clubs to pay their taxes and be more financially responsible. It’s a good initiative and I hope it’s pushed through sooner than later. Football needs to be responsible for itself, even if clubs occasionally need the local social setup to step in and support them financially.
• Manchester City getting harassed by the press. After Newcastle and Tottenham, it’s the Citizens’ turn now. Will they be able to chase Mark Hughes out before results turn around?
• How wild do you think a football match can get? Sometimes football can exceed your capacity to think crazy. Enter Bolivian teams Aurora and Wilsterman, and sheer madness.
• There’s a takeover going on at Portsmouth. Maybe.
• There’s a takeover going on at Newcastle. Maybe.

And finally:

Football Manager: The Greatest Job on Earth

Update: Images supporting the ’sex study’ at the end of the article.

That’s right ladies (for those to those of you that read Soccerlens, may it be because you are a football fan, or if you just think Becks is a stud muffin pancake), so come and get it!

Okay, most kidding aside, this headline will no doubt surprise some who might have thought that an unhealthy love for FM might make you as sterile as your outdated supply of anabolic steroids, and for others whose relationships may have suffered because they stayed glued to their screens more than their significant others, bring relief or solace.

In case you’re wondering, this information comes directly from a reliable source – the makers of the Football Manager brand, Sports Interactive and SEGA.

Their study revealed that, during a period between 1995 and 2005, birth rates in England were at their highest in July, nine months after the release of SI’s addicting little masterpiece of a game, giving way to the possibility that playing FM is actually more of a benefit than a hinderance for your relationship.

And according to Dr. Pam Spurr, who gets paid to know a thing or two about sex and relationships, there are a few possibilities as to why Football Manager could aid your sex life.

“There are a number of key reasons why Football Manager may actually enhance a couple’s sex-life. The excitement and adrenaline generated by playing FM boosts the player’s mood leading to more action in the bedroom! However if a couple’s argued over how much he’s been playing this could lead to passionate make-up sex. Also if he’s a keen player they may look for times to slip in a quick sex session between matches.”

I’m sure some of you might be wondering if the good doctor has some inside info on this particular topic, and also if she has a clone, or an equally as smart twin/daughter/cousin.

It’s been a little while since I had enough time on my hands to play FM (sadly), but I can certainly agree with her first point. If you’re pumped about something (Football Manager, your new promotion, or even the local grocery having your favorite brand of frozen pizzas), the resulting excitement adrenaline could lead to a great night in the bedroom. And, if your lady is pretty understanding, she might give you a nice little pick-up if your team’s form is suffering a little.

As for point #2, for all of you guys in need of a reason to feel better about your addiction (or get a little extra action), the next time you and your little lady argue over your game-playing habits, point her to this article. If you‘re not too serious with her, you might want to skip over the births part.

And #3, well, if you’re advanced enough to not tune the entire world out (including the woman who’s naked and sitting on your lap) while you’re playing FM, then this could be a way for you to be spontaneous and creative at the same time, which is (usually) never a bad thing.

Now if you’re single and addicted to Football Manager, I don’t recommend using this little tidbit of information as a pickup line, unless your target happens to love playing FM (or watching her man play FM), or if you‘re good looking or charming enough for such statements to work in your favor. It might be a smart idea to step away from the computer right now (you can get back to your porn later, your Barely Legal Babes will still be right there in your favorites when you get back online), and it’s also quite possible that your issues with snagging and shagging may be just a little deeper than this writer cares to delve into, now or later.

Is there anyone who can back up this information with their own personal experiences? For example, if you’ve been lucky enough to not be slapped when suggesting that you do it in a certain canine-like position. Or do you think it’s a load of shit/or are bitter over being dumped because you couldn’t take your hands off of the keyboard and put them on your girlfriend’s/wife’s/friend with benefits where they should be?

And ladies, if you were wondering what to get your man for Christmas or for his birthday to make him really happy, now you know what could work just as well as, better than, or better yet, along with, dressing up in that little black thing and the accompanying stilettos. Or if you’re upset about him playing Football Manager too much and turning his attention away from you, find a way to turn his addiction into a positive, because as long as he shares that same addiction to you, all should be well – that is, unless he has a penchant for saying ‘GOOOOOOAAAAAAAL!!!!’ at the most inappropriate of times.

Now that’s something that will make you sterile.

Football Manager 2008 for PC (XP & Vista) and Apple Macintosh (OS10.3.9 and above) is out now. For further information please go to www.sigames.com or the completely re-vamped www.footballmanager.net website.

The following images were sent to us by the kind folks at FM 08.

Football fans prepare yourselves! The ultimate football manager simulation is back! Work will be left undone, dishes unwashed, beds not done, girlfriends and wives neglected. Yes, for the uninitiated, FM is really that addictive. I kid you not.

And it is with great difficulty, that I pry myself away from the game and present you here with the full game review of Football Manager 2008.

What’s good: Numerous improvements, faster loading and processing

What’s bad: No new tactical options

FM08 is choke full with new features, but despite its many improvements, one of the first things that you’ll notice is that it runs faster. Amazingly, Sports Interactive, the creators of FM, have managed to reduce loading and processing times and that can only be a good thing. Even on my almost 3 year old system, running 3 leagues and managing 4 teams simultaneously was a breeze and I experienced no severe lag nor extreme loading/processing times.

The next thing you’ll probably notice, apart from the new skin, is FM08’s new match day feature called ‘Match Flow’, which is in fact a second match engine. With ‘Match Flow’, we now get both pre and post game analysis as well as an improved team-talk system. It also allows you to alter team tactics on the fly, without the need to pause. All things considered, ‘Match Flow’ is a welcome addition, but apart from the pre and post game analysis, there is really nothing much to cheer about. Commentary remains largely unchanged and there are no new team tactics options either.

Another significant improvement made in FM08 is the ability to manage clubs’ funds. Need more money to sign Kaka? Take excess funds from the wage budget and channel it directly to transfer funds. This is one of the more useful and thoughtful improvements. With this, managers now have more freedom and flexibility when it comes to signing players.

Board and supporters’ confidence have also been revamped. They are now more informative and will even tell you things like “They feel XXX player is a good signing” or “They feel XXX player is a poor acquisition”. It will even notify you of specific results that supporters feel were particularly damning.

Training and scouting functions have been upgraded as well. Coach and scout reports are now more detailed and that is really especially helpful when deliberating on a potential signing. Of course, the accuracy of the report remains largely dependent on the skill of your coach/scout.

There are also many other minor improvements as such a new player awards system that has more awards and is also more accurate. There is also the ‘Transfer Center’ which allows managers to monitor the club’s transfer activities in one convenient screen. In addition, the player and team statistics screen have also been revised to allow for easier and faster viewing.

As you can see, this FM08 is in many ways superior to last year’s offering. It not only runs faster but also incorporates many new features that are both useful and notable. However, I would have liked to see more changes made in respect to the tactical aspect of the game. It is here where FM08 falls short. This is after all Football Manager, and tactics should be its emphasis. Team and player instructions sadly remain the same and in my opinion, FM could really do with a more flexible player positioning system.

However, even without new tactical options, FM08 is still by far the most accomplished football management simulation I have ever played. The lack of new tactical options is a letdown to be sure, but the numerous new features and options more than make up for it. Fans of the FM series should definitely check it out.

This website has been highly critical of Steve McClaren’s credentials to manage England – with that in mind, it’s interesting to take a look back at my weekend romp with FM 08 and look at what it takes to manage England.

The charges leveled against Steve McClaren (and against his predecessor, Sven Goran Eriksson), are as follows:

• Tactical naivety – especially when it comes to changing things during the course of a game
• Not picking the best Team but the best XI – Macca has done a bit better than Eriksson but as we’ll see, not much better
• Inability to motivate players

Let’s start with these (and lump England’s inability to use possession instead of wasting it with tactical ineptness).

Tactical Ineptitude

It’s surprising that Steve McClaren has not been able to get England working properly on the basics – keeping the ball, moving forward with it, attacking as a unit, discipline in defence, etc etc. The main gripe has been that the talent coming through the ranks in England is not good enough, but quite honestly even crap players can be adequate if they’re given the right training.

England’s performances, at times, are woefully inadequate. Part of that is mental and another part is team selection – I’ll tackle both in a bit – but sometimes simple tactics can mean the difference between winning 2-0 and losing 1-2 in Moscow.

England’s performances against Macedonia and Israel away were precursors to how England played against an opponent who was comfortable on the pitch and ready for a fight. Against settled teams, England’s nervousness shines through. While it was embarrassing to see England lose 0-2 to Croatia (a 1-1 or 0-1 result barring that freak own-goal), they probably played better that day than England have against Macedonia or Israel away from home.

Joe Cole – misused. Wayne Rooney – misused. Emile Heskey – falsely congratulated for Russia’s mistakes (they didn’t repeat them in Moscow, mind you – Hiddink learns). Paul Robinson – his inability to learn is fascinating and sad at the same time (he’s a decent keeper though, just shot of confidence). Steven Gerrard – needs to provide results instead of efforts. Michael Carrick – misused and to an extent, not first-choice in any case for England. Barry – again, lauded for his performance in easy games, but fundamentally not used right against Russia.

The list goes on. The one thing FM 08 drills home time and time again is that each situation demands different players and different tactics. England are strong at home against average opponents but woeful away from home against below-average opponents. The problem lands squarely at the feet of Macca.

At the start of England management career, I sympathised with Macca, thinking that it was difficult to arrive at the right tactics and that perhaps, England just weren’t good enough. But I’m a beginner – Macca has learned from one of the best (Sir Alex Ferguson) and has been in management for a long time now. He’s had far more time to hone his management skills. And yet the words that sting the most are Hiddink’s tongue-in-cheek comment that England were tactically naive, because we know it’s true.

The substitutions at Moscow were damning – Downing and Lampard are workhorses, not impact players. Joe Cole, on the other hand, is an impact player. Hell, Theo Walcott is an impact player (for those who remember World Cup 2006). Why bring Downing on for Cole when you could have started with Downing, worn down the defenders with his width and pace and then brought on Cole to cut and weave inside?

Poor Team Selection

When I was losing my early matches in FM 08, the urge to bring on Frank Lampard for Owen Hargreaves and Michael Owen for Dean Ashton (and indeed, Joe Cole for Stewart Downing) was overwhelming. I sympathise with Eriksson and Macca when they repeatedly pick players who clearly do not fit into the system. Michael Owen, for example, is an excellent player and fully capable of playing together with Wayne Rooney, but to use the two properly you need specific tactics, which change immediately if Rooney or Owen are paired with Crouch / Ashton / Bent.

Within England’s tactically naive structure, pairing Rooney and Owen is a wild throw of the dice. It’s easier to follow the big man – little man strategy for Macca because it requires less fine-tuning.

For Lampard – the discussions on how Lamps / Gerrard cannot play in the same central midfield have been done to death, so no repeats here.

For Joe Cole – explain to me the purpose of playing an attacking midfielder on left wing who refuses to play in his position and therefore forces his left back (the admirable Ashley Cole) to do the work of two men?

Why do England coaches pick center-backs for full-back positions? Carragher ended his career because of this (a stupid move) and at any rate, Lescott, despite his history as playing as a left-back, is NOT a Micah Richards on the wings. With Leighton Baines doing so good for Everton, why not pick him? A genuine left-back matched with a genuine left-winger (Downing, not Cole) could have made a world of difference. As it were, England’s left flank was weak as always and Hiddink exploited it with ease.

England have no defensive midfielders apart from Carrick and Hargreaves, it seems. Reo-Coker is what, too black to play with Gerrard? Sissoko isn’t, so there must be a different reason, but the fact that I had to say this signifies something deeper – where are the players England needs?

To be honest, England are NOT that good as they lead themselves to believe. Hargreaves and Carrick are not better than Gattuso, not today and not in any fantasy world that you or I live in. And yet those two are the best defensive midfielders we have, so the question then is, what does Steve McClaren do? Does he thrust someone unknown into the mix or go with the tried and trusted, as Eriksson did with Lampard and Macca did with Barry?

Playing FM 08, I realise that England aren’t that good. I also realised that the temptation to go with experience is great, and while the risk of defeat in my case was balanced by saved games, Macca has no such fall-back options.

England’s failures then can be attributed directly to Steve McClaren being caught dead in the proverbial on-coming headlights and freezing. He’s afraid to take risks and make mistakes, so he’s going (more or less) with what is safe and thanks to his tactical naivety, England are suffering.

But remember, England are not as good as we think, and Macca is under tremendous amounts of pressure. For this alone I respect him more than when I did last week, before England had lost to Russia.

Man Management Skills

My assistant manager in FM 08 who takes charge of team talks cites ‘fans’ as a never-failing motivator for players. It’s useful, perhaps, but I wonder what it takes for someone to motivate his players? SAF does it, Wenger does it, Mourinho did it, and Rafa does it for big occasions.

A big chunk of football management is about extracting 100% from the players available to you. That, combined with tactical aptitude allowed Mourinho to win the Champions League with Porto. That same combination allowed Hiddink to beat England in Moscow (with below-average players).

McClaren – from his days at Middlesbrough and his time with England – is not getting the best out of his players. You need a ball-buster, someone the players look up and respect. I’m not going out on a limb here when I say that Martin O’Neill would command more respect than Steve McClaren and while Steve Coppell probably wouldn’t, he’d earn it in the dressing room. Can Macca? I’m sure they ‘respect’ him, but there’s a difference between how players respect Fergie and Mourinho and how they respect Macca.

To sum it up, FM 08 is a kickass game And England’s problems can be summed up like this:

• Not enough quality talent in England
• Steve McClaren is tactically average, risk-averse and an average man-manager

Questions?

Hi. My name is Ahmed Bilal, and I’m a recovering Football Manager addict.

At this point, some of you may think this as non-serious. That leads me to assume that you’ve never actually played a version of Football Manager (I’ve been playing FM 08 over the weekend, but more on that later) – either that or you watch football for the men, in which case Kickette (hey V!) might be an appropriate (if immediate) reroute for you.

For many (include a blogging celebrity-in-making (I kid you not)) footie fans, Football Manager is a real danger, a scourge on our personal (and professional lives), systematically breaking down defences until all you can think about is the glory of England beating Italy 5-4 in the World Cup 2010 semi-final or England handing out a thumping (without the requisite goals) 1-0 defeat to France in the Euro 2012 final (a game won as much by kicking Henry off the pitch as by attacking football). I may have just turned 25, and I may be a professional blogger and marketing consultant, but I’m also a guy who loves football and would give just about anything (a few days of my life? no problem!) to see my team win something (as things stand, my team will have trouble making it to Euro 2008).

The new FM 08 – in case you haven’t bought it or downloaded it through a torrent yet – has the following (significant) improvements in my view:

• International football – well done, I must say.
• Much brighter screens – love the new colours.

and…

that’s about it. Damn, 3 days of playing it straight and all I’ve noticed is that the screen is unusually bright for a FM incarnation. Perhaps when I delve into club football (imagine managing Rooney and Tevez), or take the leap of playing FM via network, I’ll learn more. For now, you’re welcome to add what you think is new to FM 08.

Right now, it’s taking every ounce of self-control to not fire it up and have another go at it – must resist…

Cup Confidence and why I’m not convinced

Written by Dennis.

Today I downloaded the Football Manager 2008 demo. As you might expect, I took control of the club I support, Arsenal, and tried to get to know some of the newly introduced features in the game. All’s good until I discover I’m expected to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup. What?!

I’m not saying it’s something Arsenal aren’t capable of. It’s just, if I was a real life gaffer I wouldn’t expect to be told this. Maybe a ‘we would like you to do well in the cups you’re entered’ would suffice, you know, but being told to reach a specific round of a cup competition just isn’t right for a whole bunch of reasons. In trying to be as realistic as possible SI have added something unnecessary and if you think about it, unrealistic also.

Knockout competitions are a completely different cup of tea to the league. You can bow out of a cup so easily. The opposition you face are random. So while one season you might do a Millwall and get an easy run to the final, on another you might be forced to do battle with the league champions in the opening round. In the league injuries are less of an excuse simply because a league is spanned out over a number of games. Injuries might cost you the odd game or two but are rarely to be blamed for a seasonal failure. Now let’s say you have an injury crisis on your hands meaning your best players are all out for a couple of weeks, miss the cup game and you’re knocked out as a result. As I say, it’s quite easy to bow out knockout style.

Let’s face it, it doesn’t take much, so much so that a lot of the time the best team competing might not necessarily win. Few consider the Champion’s League to decide the best team in Europe and I’m among them. I get the impression however that if you are on paper the strongest side in a cup you might be expected to win it and none of the above will be taken into account. It is after all but a small part of a bigger feature in the game and I can’t see that the greatest deal of thought will be put into it.

That’s not a criticism per se, all I’m saying is it might be seen as a small feature which shouldn’t be that complicated and that’s where I’m worried, because it is complicated and for something as small as cup expectations, a lot needs to be taken into account, too much for it to be necessary. That serves to back up my initial worries – if SI realized how much they’d have to think about this feature, would they have even included it? I think not.

In regard to league position expectations (which aren’t specific anyway unless being league champions is the demand) some of the same intelligence is needed but less so, even then. Because it’s, as I’ve explained, so easy to be knocked out in a cup, there has to be more importance given to factors that could’ve counted in you being beaten. For the most part, that’s injuries and opposition. But that it’s a knockout competition and that all it takes to go out is one or more games should be considered also. You might just suffer a bad performance on the day.

How will they affect your position as manager I wonder? Cup success is something after all that’s rarely taken much into account. I’m not against the very occasional overly ambitious chairman demanding glory at every level but that doesn’t happen too often – even Abramavich doesn’t want Champion’s League success every season, though it’s something he wants to add to the Chelsea trophy cabinet long term. But say Arsenal had a bad day at the races and were doing well in the league but lost out at an early stage in all the cups it were entered? In real life, it would be disappointing but not a good enough reason to sack somebody. I wonder how expectations would fare if I was the best club in the world, for instance. Might I be expected to win all and if so, what would be the consequences for slipping up in but one of these areas?

I’m not completely against the idea of cups affecting your safety, though their role should be small. If you have a bad season in the league, say, you can make up for this by doing well in the cups. I like that idea, that’s cool.

To round up then, I’m only speculating. To make a full judgment would require that I experiment extensively, something I can’t do yet because the demo only lasts for half a season. Another time maybe I’ll do a part two. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the problems I’ve talked about popped up, that SI might underestimate the importance of such a small addition, effectively a part of a bigger addition. A suggestion would be to tone it down because cup expectations are very rarely placed on a manager. However, to assess and then reassess expectations before and after each cup game wouldn’t be too bad a thought, while taking into account the factors I’ve mentioned.

Just one of many reasons while I might wait until Christmas to get my copy so that potential problems like this (and some won’t merely be potential) are ironed out by that period in a patch. Be sure to tune in for more grievances I have with the demo at a later date.