A couple of months ago we stumbled across a Monday night game across the river at Aveley. The game was in the Championship Manager Cup, a trophy for the Ryman’s League teams. Eidos had kindly sponsored the trophy, which on a good day we see 150 people paying to watch a cup tie.

The cup final, played in March was won by Ryman’s League One side Leatherhead who beat Wealdstone from the league above on penalties. But you may have missed some significance in the whole Championship Manager story. Let me take you back to the beginning. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin.

Once upon a time there was a young man called Kevin Toms. Some of you (probably those over the age of 35) will have known his product very well indeed. To others the name will mean nothing, but I bet if you a) Own a PC, PSP, Playstation, X-Box or Wii, b) love football and c) do not have a demanding wife/partner you will have heard of Championship Manager.  

Probably only rivalled by RedTube.com as the most fun you can have on your own with a PC, Championship Manager gives us all an opportunity to be Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho or Gianfranco Zola (unfortunately the “alleged” nocturnal activities of a certain manager cannot be recreated in the current versions of the game), starting with the lowest of the lows and rising to the top.

My record was taking Grays Athletic to the Champions League final in my 27th year on the game. So who is this Kevin, and what relevance does it have to the game? Well, Kevin Toms developed the first ever football manager simulation game for the ZX Spectrum back in the very early 1980′s.  

In the game everyone the opportunity to manager a team, and watch the game unfold in pure two dimensional unadulterated by advertising green graphics. Want to see what kept us in our bedrooms for so long at the time without a staple through their naval? Well you can still play a version of the game by clicking here.

And we are very lucky to have tracked Kevin down. In the cyber word it actually wasn’t that hard. A simple Uncle Google search for “Kevin Toms + Football Manager” returned as the top item a blog by the man himself.

So we fired up our old ZX Spectrum with its rubber keys and posed some questions to one of the pioneers of the computer age.

Original Football Manager

Morning Kevin. It’s great to finally meet a man who kept me away from so much of my homework when I was at school. Was Football Manager the best fun a teenage boy could have on their own in the bedroom in the early 80′s?

The best pure fun perhaps! I think maybe it did what it was supposed to do, created a world in people’s imagination that they could take part in.

There was really nothing else like it at the time. Flight Simulator was the only real strategy game at the time so what inspired you to write the game in the first place?

I loved creating all sorts of games as a kid, and for some reason always wanted to crack creating a football management game. It was not easy.

Bill Gates apparently put little “cookies” or deliberate bugs in some of his earlier coding. Did you put in any little bugs so that people could cheat to win the league?

Never, I am too much of a games design purist. I want the game to be a game I can play and enjoy myself, with no significant advantage over other players. That is my ideal.

When did you first realize that you had a hit on your hands?

Quite quickly, the first orders came in quickly, but probably when the big chain stores started stocking thousands was the real point that I knew.

There were some other big games out at the same time. Did you ever think about putting Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy in the game as players?

No, but who do they play for?

When I was in game earlier this week I counted six different football manager style games available for the PC. Do you look at the current crop of games such as Championship Manager and think “I started this craze?”

Uh yes, it seems to be so.

As I travel a lot I would be lost without my PSP with my record breaking Grays Athletic teams progress. Do you play any of the  Championship Manager games yourself?

No, I am too busy writing a game to play much.

What are you up to nowadays? Are you still involved in the computer industry and programming, sorry, software development?

Most of the time I do two main things. I am a Software Architect helping big companies with business systems, and I am writing a Football Manager game of my own for the iPhone.

Was the original game written in Basic? What is the equivalent complexity in comparing languages such as PHP or .net today? (I could go on about Agile technologies as well just to show off)

Yes, it was. A strategy game is not suited to assembler programming like Space Invaders! PHP is similar. .net is not a language in itself, it’s a framework you can target with different languages, including Visual Basic!

At the time the place to get your software was in the high street chains such as Woolworths and WH Smiths. How did you go about marketing your product initially?

By placing quarter page ads in computer games magazines. By writing a good description of the game. By using real letters of players in the advertising, and by attending computer games shows.

The Spectrum was the biggest selling home electronics item of the early 1980′s and was the brain child of inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. Did you ever meet Sir Clive? Did he thank you for increasing the sales of the Spectrum almost single handedly?

Yes, I did but at an event that was nothing to do with computers. I shook his hand and spoke to him, I doubt he had any idea who I was.

Nowadays piracy is a massive issue for software houses as the internet is essentially an un-policed ghetto. How much of a concern was this back in the 1980′s especially when the dual tape deck was brought out enabling “tape to tape” copying of software?

It was depressing at times. The Amiga version had sales pirated out of existence. At the point I first started at the beginning of 1982, piracy was unknown.

You must be a football fan to have gone into so much detail. So what team do you follow?

I follow a number of teams from places I have live. Originally Torquay United and I still watch their progress.

Football Manager 2010

The current range of PC games are pretty comprehensive – in fact perhaps a little too detailed to really enjoy all elements. What do you see the future of online football management games? What other features could be brought in?

It’ll get more like PC and console games. The network will converge with the desktop.

After playing the game for a year or so I felt that I could manage anyone. In fact when Ron Greenwood announced he was stepping down as England manager in 1982 I wrote to Jim’ll Fix It and asked if he could fix it for me to be the next national team manager quoting my Football Manager experience. Did you watch football in a different way after the game came out?

Yes, and ever since. I have a more analytical view, and when I have coached or managed teams it has helped.

It is an inside joke at some clubs how players today play games such as EA and PES as themselves. How did it feel that real life footballers used to play the game to manage themselves?

An honour.

Did any players ever get in contact to convince you to make their online profile better?

No.

These days the likes of EA Sports use some of the world’s best players to advertise their product. In the age before agents, did you ever approach a player to endorse the game?

No.

And as soon as we had started our dial up line dropped out and our connection was dropped. We seriously encourage you to try out Kevin’s original game by clicking here and for those of you with an iPhone, keep an eye out in the Apps store for his new project once it is ready.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

All football fans are likely to have seen many matches where they wondered just what the players were doing. Weak offence, sloppy teamwork, a general lack of motivation… you had to wonder just what the manager of the team had been doing. Certainly if you’d been the manager, you could have done better than that.

Now, you have the chance to prove it. In Online Football Manager, you can enter football leagues from all over the world, take control of your favourite team, and make all the decisions a team manager usually makes: tactics, formation, line-up, buying and selling players, all is possible. 100,000 football fans of all ages across the globe already actively play the game every day.

Participating is simple, all you have to do is sign up, choose your league and team, and make your decisions. Every night a match is played, and based on the results you can choose to adapt your tactics. Is your next opponent FC Barcelona? Playing it safe might be wise. Aggressive tactics may do better against teams with a weak defence, but is it worth the risk of injuries and suspensions? You be the judge.

While logging in daily is not necessary, doing so will let you take quick actions such as buying newly available players, replacing players who have become exhausted and need to rest, and giving bench players a chance to shine to increase their morale. If all else fails, you can even put your team through a special training camp to give them the boost they need to be victorious.

Signing up for Online Football Manager is completely free, but there is also the option to purchase a Season Ticket for a small fee to gain access to additional options. Examples are the option to scout players abroad, expanding the team’s stadium, and watching every match live as it happens including commentary from a football commentator. It’s as if you’re right there in the stadium!

Simple to learn but hard to master, Online Football Manager provides a long-lasting challenge for all who aspire to take their favourite real-life football team to the top. No matter your age, nationality or team preference, all football fans will find something to enjoy. Take up the mantle of football manager today, and show the world how champions are made!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This is not a shameless plug for one of the sponsors. I started playing this game well before I started writing for Soccerlens.com. Online Football Manager (OFM) is one of the greatest interactive online football games on the web today. It’s simple, easy to learn, and best of all its free!

For anyone looking to learn more about players and tactical elements of the world’s game, continue to read up on Soccerlens and then click on over to www.onlinefootballmanager.co.uk, for a great way to interact with other wanna-be Jose Mourinho’s.

Ever dreamed of managing your home club or maybe one of Europe’s Giants? Well, on OFM, you can become the gaffer of Scunthorpe United or Manchester United, AC Milan or AC Cesena. The teams and leagues are many and hail from far and wide. Take the helm of your favorite team from England to Spain, Peru to Argentina, Russia or Japan. Unlike some manager simulation games online, the squad lists are always being updated with the team’s actual players. So, instead of managing an Arsenal squad with first-teamers with names like Tony Smith and John Wright, you can choose to play Robin Van Persie up front with Adebayor.

With OFM you are in the driver’s seat of your club. You make all the calls that determine whether the fans will be cheering you on as the next “Special One” or booing you off the pitch like Sam Allardyce at St. James Park. Once a team has offered you a contract with a weekly budget, you are responsible for signing on sponsors, training your players, selecting your formation, your first team and substitutes. Pick a captain who is a veteran and performs well even when the rest of the team is not. Select who’s taking corners, free kicks and the ever important kicks from the spot.

Ever wish that the transfer window was open all the time? On OFM it is. At any time during the season each manager in the league can put his own players up for sale on the Transfer List. The game even randomly offers players of varying ability from other nation’s leagues just to give each league a little foreign spicing up (No ridiculous Sepp Blatter quotas either)! You can even make bids to the other managers in the league for their players. Just don’t expect to buy Cristiano Ronaldo for anywhere near his estimated value. Part of the game involves a manager being a shrewd business man, trying to sell his disfavored players for far more than they are worth and buying players for as little as the other manager will take. You’ll find yourself anxiously waiting, hoping that you can raise enough money before the next guy does and beat him to the signature of an Aguero or a Yakubu.

A manager gets to pick his staff, which can include trainers, physios, doctors, lawyers and even a spy, who will let you know what your opponents are up to. Trainers are definitely important as they help your selected players gain ability points each gameday. Train the young bucks as they gain ability much faster. There’s nothing like having a Theo Walcott or a Bojan Krkic showing up the big dogs after a bit of training. Doctors help them recover from the hard knocks received during a game, cutting down the number of days they would be out of contention. Lawyers can help you battle the FA and get those red card suspension days reduced.

When it comes time to start the season, nothing matters more than picking the right formation for the players on your squad and the right tactics to suit that formation. If your squad has got a lot of talent in the midfield, choose a 4-5-1 or a 3-5-2, and opt for tactics which will favor your midfielders’ abilities. If you are heavy on talent up front, go with a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 and Get Wide! If you are so blessed with the problem of having to decide where to play Ronaldinho, Messi, Henry and Eto’o, you can even play a 4-2-4 and play it forward with the Long Ball.

This, in conjunction with the tactical selections of your opponent, will determine the outcome of your matches (thus, the importance of hiring a spy!). Every day a game will be played and you can see the results including goalscorers, bookings and injuries and watch as your team rises to the top of the table. If success doesn’t come quickly, don’t be afraid to experiment with your formations and tactics and discover which best suit your squad.

If you want to give yourself an extra advantage, sign up for OFM Season Tickets, which give you access to special functions like developing your stadium, hiring a commercial manager who can help you get more funds for transfers, and most importantly you can hire a Scout. This is one of the most fun aspects of the game because with the right financial management you can build an amazing team, drafting your favorite stars. Send your scout to a country in Europe looking for a player of a certain age, position, ability and see who pops up!

The other great thing about purchasing Season Tickets is the access to special leagues. Take the reigns of the English National Team and show the FA why they should have picked you over ‘Cabbage Man’ Capello, or participate in a league table comprised of the Champions League teams. My personal favorite is the Fantasy League. I love starting from scratch and putting together a dream team. The team I’m currently fielding is amazing and is as follows:

1 Reina
2 Puyol
3 Milito
4 Evra
5 Cristiano Ronaldo
6 Gattuso (c)
7 Fabregas
8 Sneijder
9 Ibrahimovic
10 Tevez
11 Toni

Subs: Utaka, Quaresma, Daniel Alves, Drenthe, Kameni
Playing a 3-4-3 Wide

Get your friends signed up and battle it out to see who’s got what it takes to be champions! Whenever I come up against one of my friends it’s like a derby day and the trash talk flies. I challenge you to season of the most authentic and fun football management around. My manager name is Thierry Henry the King and I’ll see you out on the web-based pitch.

Click here to go to Online Football Manager.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Update: The league’s full, thanks for joining. Remember, you can still sign up for OFM and play one of the best online football manager games around.

I’ve setup the Soccerlens Premier League over at Online Football Manager (OFM), and all you OFM fans reading Soccerlens are welcome to hop on board and take up one of the 19 available teams (I’ve already picked Manchester United – what did you expect?).

The competition runs for less than 2 months (I think) so it’s an excellent chance to beat your fellow SL readers, win a shirt and boost your OFM rankings all at the same time.

How to join the Soccerlens Premier League:

1. Log in / Sign up to OFM – if it’s a new account then you can move to step 3 directly.
2. If you’re already playing in a league and don’t have a spare subaccount, I would suggest becoming a Premium Season Ticket Holder – it allows you to setup 3 subaccounts (so you can have four versions of yourself running across OFM) and one of those subaccounts can be used for the Soccerlens Premier League, I’m sure.
3. Select ‘England’ as your region through the Manager control centre (for new accounts and new subaccounts).
4. Find ‘Soccerlens Premier League‘ and join up. You can also search for it through the search box on the left.
5. Click ‘join’ and follow the instructions.

See you on OFM – I’ll be tracking the progress of the league in the SL forum and by posting regular updates in the Online Football Manager section of the blog, so stay tuned.

For help with OFM, make sure you read the comments sections of this two articles:

OFM – 2 weeks later
Cracking the OFM code

Readers are welcome to send in their own article on OFM tactics, although I’ll try to put one up by tomorrow.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

If you haven’t already, go on and sign up for OFM.

I think I’ve finally figured out how to win in OFM (online football manager).

There were several strategies mentioned in the comments section of the previous report but I think that:

• you need to develop your own strategy based on the players you have
• you should adapt your strategy to suit your opponents (and conditions – home vs away)
• you should watch what the league toppers are doing and learn from them

Right now I’m using a 3-4-3 formation, ‘Hard’ style of play, passing game (overall tactics), +1 offensive mentality (one behind extremely offensive), man-to-man defensive tactics, offside trap off and pressing on. Defenders are set to ‘stay back’, midfielders ‘support attackers’ and the attackers are set to ‘attack only’.

I’m playing Arsenal and I adopted the above strategy after losing 0-3 at home to Chelsea. Result? 5 games, 5 wins, 21 goals scored, 0 conceded. From outside the top 10 back into the top 6 and gunning for 4th spot (although only half the season is left).

I took the 3-4-3 formation from the team that beat me last (Chelsea), but the rest has been part intuition and part learning experience.

It also helps to train your players like crazy buggers, although someone must explain to me how Manchester United have several players with 100 on some of their ratings – can training improve you that much or is there something else going on that I’ve missed?

All in all, it’s more fun once you learn to win and start playing with the big boys (who are usually way more experienced than you).

I’d be interested in hearing more from regular OFM users on their strategies on playing the game. And if you aren’t playing OFM yet, I suggest you sign up today – easily one of the best online football games around.

Also see: Previous articles on Online Football Manager.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Ok guys, I need help.

For the last 2 weeks or so, I’ve been playing OFM – online football manager – and to be honest, I haven’t been able to crack the system.

I’m more used to the Fifa 07 type games, where you have to go on and win the game yourself. Football Manager I learned eventually, although the detailed tactics and training routines were a bit beyond me – how the hell do people find time for stuff like that?

Anyway, OFM is a fun game, although if you stick to one league at a time the game becomes a bit slow as it’s time-based (1 real day = 1 week of game time), so the better option is to create sub accounts and join other leagues. That requires you to purchase tickets, although those are quite cheap and IMO if you enjoy the management interface (I did) then getting the tickets and setting up multiple accounts to participate in different leagues at the same time is the way to go.

So, back to my initial question – any SL readers who are actively playing OFM? If so, shed any light on the tactics for me, I’ll be grateful.

And for those of you who want to play OFM, sign up here.

Please limit the conversation in the comments to OFM – if you want to suggest other footy management games, contact me and I’ll review them if possible.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

As football fans we follow our club(s) very closely and it’s a natural consequence that we have strong opinions about how things should be done – tactics, transfers, formations, etc.

It’s easy to pit your skills against the computer in games like Fifa 07, Pro Evolution Soccer or Football Manager, but the real test comes when you have to put your money where your mouth is and go up against real people managing clubs just like you.

Short of the real thing (boy would it be good to be manage a club for real or what?), the best thing I’ve found so far is Online Football Manager.

I’m going to test OFM out over the next couple of weeks and bring you more updates. From what I’ve seen in my early testing, it is impressive and addictive.

If anyone is already a user I’d be really interested in hearing their comments on OFM.

And if you haven’t so far, make sure you give OFM a spin.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News