Forgive me today, but this post will probably appeal more to the British Male Readers of this here blog. You can keep reading, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you are suitably warned, I dunno, review a blog in the Fair Review Directory, or visit the blog there and leave a comment. Either’s good.
Right, now we’ve got rid of the “urgh…football” readers, I want to talk to you about the most exciting thing that happened this weekend.
I bought Football Football Manager 2007, to further destroy my social life beyond repair.
For those of you who are still reading, who have no interest in football, Football Manager is a game whereby you take control of a football team and you lead them to glory buy buying or selling players, training, tactics, media, psychological warfare and all sorts of jiggery pokery. To us, it is as addictive as heroin flavoured pringles. To the untrained eye, it’s glorified spreadsheet.
Right, one thing I like about it is how pretty the interface is now. There’s less words and numbers, more icons. I love the fact they have included stats now as a pagerank esque bar, rather than a number from 0-20, and all the club badges, logos and player faces just make things look at lot prettier.
The other thing I like is the rehauled scouting and media sections. I love calling Mourinho a toerag week after week from my lowly position, and the suggestions that your staff suggest on playing the game go down well.
The other thing I like is how much easier it is to play now. I don’t know whether it’s because I have been watching Colwyn Bay play or not, but switching them with Lancaster City, and putting them in the Conference North (they have the full Bay squad, and undeited), I am currently sitting on top of the league table, with a whopping +22 goal difference in November, largely because I play to the player’s strengths, rather than improving their weaknesses (That top tip is © Gary Finlay, Bay’s “Special One, and not in a bad way”).
Anyway, the reason for this entry is to ask you. Do you have any rituals when playing Football Manager?
Aled (my brother) asked me that question a few days ago when I was thumping Burton Albion. It’s odd, but I do. I cannot save the game following a defeat. If I want to end playing, I must win. I have the feeling that the success will carry over in it’s memory when I return to it at a later date. I never quit the game without saving though, which is painful, especially when I was playing as Cardiff, rock bottom of the Championship, and forever pulling defeats from the jaws of victory with my strikeforce of Jesper Blomqvist and Chris Kiwomya. I played for two hours without quitting.
“That’s stupid!” Aled said. I enquired him about his: He said he couldn’t watch the matches on the screen, he had to watch the matches in a mirror image. I said it was dumb.
He said it wasn’t dumb, as last year he lead Looprevil to the Pihsreimerp.
So, what are your rituals? Or is it just me?
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Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay.
oooh pretty! surely its FM 2008 this year thou?! im confussled as i thougth 2007 had already been relseased.. nehoooo
As far as rituals… HAS to be:
1. checking out the great unknowns from previous versions i found.. seeing if there still worth buying.
2. replacing my whole back room staff pretty much - no idea how easy it is now but its always been a sinch signing the best coashes etc etc
3. before the pitch i always watched the text at its fastest speed now i do that but with highlights in one half and match stats in the other - when not watching a highlight i flick between other stats!
4. When ever i’m in a match my mouse cursor always sits over my own teams logo… i don’t know why but ive done it ever since ive been playing the game!
I’m intrigued as to the longest game you’ve played? I had leeds for 11 seasons which i think had a game time of about 27 hours…. ridiculous but i won everything lots
I haven’t ever played Football manager but I recently bought Total Club manager and it’s just as addictive as heroin flavoured pringles. It did take me quite awhile to get used to all the intricacies of it all because it wasn’t quite so neatly done as Football manager.
I always play as Real Madrid or Bristol Rovers and cannot play any other teams..i think that classifies as a ritual albeit a slightly obsessive one. I am aiming to get rovers into the prem but it’s going to take quite a while…
19th October, Football Manager 2008, a date to remember. Its also the same day either Pro Evo or GTA 4 for the PS3 is released, with the other realised the week after.
From then on, I shall be put on the missing persons register and persumed dead becuase I won’t be doing anything else than lying on the sofa in my pants playing on the PS3 with my laptop along side.
Anywho, less ramblings. My rituals are much like Guy’s…
1) Resign or rescout young, cheap, south american which I had the game before.
2) Resign two new assistant managers, Alan Irvine from Everton and Mark Bowen from Blackburn.
3) Check which of the top players from around the world will be able to leave on a Bosman or cut price because they’re contract is up for renewal.
Rhys, I blame Mr Edwards for our addictions. He first lent me Championship Manager 96/97 season and I’ve been hooked ever since, buying every version on release day.
PS. Get a lightbox or summat similar for displaying the screen shots, a little light weight Java script which looks quite cool!
don’t you have to know loads about all the players to play it or are there little bars with strength speed and stamina in there!?
Ibahima Backayaro 96/97 anyone?
The social damage of Football Manager are irreversible. I had racked up an embarasing 9 days before Jpee’s Saved Game Modifier ruined the game database and I lost interest in the game.
My only rituals in the game where to constantly scope out all the best young Welsh players using the save game editor and get them all in my team, which lead Wales to two world cup wins and two confederation cup wins (with no cheating). I also enjoy modifying the stats of legendary players, which led Terry Sherringham to carrying on playing for AC Milan until he was 45 and break back into the England team for one last World Cup. David beckham carried on to about 39, with nearly 140 cap. Theirry Henry played till he was 37, playing over 150 games for France, scoring about 80 goals.
PS - A tip to get a player to stay in the game for as long as possible is to reduce their age when it comes to December and the end of the season. You will also want to keep their current ability up around 180-200. If this doesn’t make any sense download FMModifier.
Obviously once it has passed to December and the end of the season, whack your playes age back up and enjoy the fruits of a 50 year old Neil Readfern.
Munity: Neal Redfearn’s still playing! He plays for Bradford Park Avenue (or he did last season). I went to watch him when they played against the Bay. We won in the last minute so he can’t of been that brilliant
I can’t believe nobody’s picked up on the 2nd to last line of the post. Or was it not noteworthy?
I remember my brother having a really old basic football manager - it was pants, but seemed to keep him entertained for hours. I think it was for the Nintendo when it first came out.
i saw and noticed the 2nd to last line but due to the brains brilliant ability to understand any words as long as the first and last letter are in place it lost its effect. sorry dude!
Jsut to prvoe a pnoit tihs rlealy suhlodn’t be taht hrad to raed.
Mutiny.. thats just blatant cheating!
I once input a whole team of perfect players and trounced anything i came up against 7/8 nil.. it got a bit dull after a while. Back in the day the best cheat to do was increase the stadium size to about 90,000 and make sure the attendance was always about 90% - not really cheating but it brough in muchos money
I’m confused. What does heroin taste like and why would I want my chips to taste like that?
The only way Looprevil will win the Pihsreimerp is if they play champ manager and follow munity’s advice and cheat like Sresuocs do!