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ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2018

Entry 24th November 2018: Post 01: Spectrum - Football Manager


Spectrum - Football Manager

So I am going through these Spectrum tapes that some kid compiled 
by copying games and I came across this football management game 
that turned out to be quite brilliant. The game had been obviously 
edited because he had renamed the Gunners as Arses. So funny. I 
set too acquiring the formal game together with a couple of other 
Spectrum football titles of the same era. Turns out you can save 
the game anyway so you customise to your hearts content. As you do.

Football Manager was created by a guy called Kevin Toms and was 
released in 1982 by Addictive Games. It gave birth to the whole 
football management genre and was further developed into a series 
of later versions 2 and World Cup edition. They were ported to 
various other systems though failed at version 3 without Tom's 
being involved by that stage.

Evidently Toms wrote the game in BASIC on a Video Genie. It was 
converted for the ZX80/81 when Toms created the video title label 
Addictive Games. When it was ported to the Spectrum it included 
animated match highlights.

It really is a mini marvel given that it covers most of the bases 
that became standard in most football management style games. In 
truth it covers way more than say even FIFA. The biggest flaw for 
me is the size of the goal which doesn't actually have a goalkeeper. 
You can't even select a goalkeeper. So strange.

Beside that it is a classic game and one that seems to have skipped 
past me.

I do show both the Commodore 64 versions and the Amstrad one. The 
animations get better but little else in truth. I still prefer the 
original if I am honest. The C64 version came with the expansion 
pack which I didn't try.

I also found a football management game on an old Anglia PD disk 
but sadly it bombed out on both the Win3.1 and Win98 machines. Even 
tried it in a Win95 computer. No luck sadly.

Nothing for it in the end but to fire up Sensi World of Soccer.. 
still the best football management game ever made.

PS The original game is in colour. Just demonstrating on a black
and white TV. So the pitch was actually green.

Spectrum - Football Manager


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Last updated 24th November 2018

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