Who remembers playing their first Championship Manager? I do. It was 97/98 on PC. Back in the day we only had one computer in the house which my dad used for his business dealings so getting him to agree to let me play champ on it was bloody difficult.
Every Sunday I'd ask for a few hours on it to which he'd usually reply, "If you wash my car AND CUT THE GRASS".....so there I was outside in the freezing cold cleaning his car inside and out and trying desperately not to run over the lawn mower cable. It was worth it when I sat down in that leather chair.97/98 was great. All you really had to do was start a new game, pick a team, select the players and boom! Off you went on an emotional journey and hours of fun.
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| A simpler time..... |
During a match all you had was a commentary bar letting you know what was happening, The gameplay was fast and uncomplicated, and whilst time consuming it didn't really matter as a youngster. I had all the time in the world. The developers of the game must have known what it was destined to become because when you went to save your game after an 8-hour binge it used to politely remind you to change your pants! A very welcome prompt indeed.
Myself and a few school mates used to print out our results and show each other in class. The dedication was immense.
The "problems" only started when you were no longer a teenager and had evolved into a fully fledged adult. Make no mistake about it, this "game" is addictive. I remember once during a PD class in secondary school our teacher had his laptop on the desk. Once he'd assigned us a project he played champ for the rest of the lesson! What a fucking hero. Who needs Personal Development anyway? Maybe this was actually the start of people ignoring each other to stare at a screen?
As I got older and my responsibilities grew larger I would find myself dismissing the idea of adulthood and instead bury myself in a champ session. Of course any game is a form of escapism from the tribulations of life, that's why we like them. This was my go-to. Break up with a girl, champ sesh. Get in trouble at school, champ sesh. Argument with my mum about the state of my bedroom.....you guessed it, 12 hours of Championship Manager.
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| Before the 3d Match Engine... |
Fast forward to 2010 (ish). At the age of 26 I'd come home from a job I hated, load the laptop up and watch these addictive tiny dots (3d match engine) roam around my screen all evening providing pleasure and pain in equal measures. Meanwhile any girlfriend would be completely ignored, and if she dared ask me to do the washing up after an away loss against Northampton she'd better get ready for an answer she isn't going to like. I didn't care, I was invincible. It's a real surprise then that eventually me and my mate (who I can't name for legal reasons) ended up single twenty-something's with not much going for us. At least we had each other and our trusty FM.
Whilst we can't blame Football Manager for all our failings, we can certainly point the index finger at it and wag it a little. In a way it's like a drug, the highs and lows, the sheer elation, turmoil, mood swings. The only difference is you can't be arrested for buying FM and there's no rehab facility available that I know of. (By the way, how epic would it be to have a rehab facility for Footie Manager? It would be the first rehab Lindsay Lohan hasn't been to, unless she too suffered from FM addiction). You never know what someone is hiding.
These modern FM's are crazy. The amount of detail they put into the game is staggering. It's not just click and play anymore. You can't jump on for 10 minutes and play a couple of matches before dinner.
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| A picture of my best friends....FM17 |
Now you have to be a tactical genius, you have to talk to and compromise with your players if they're unhappy, you have to be able to handle the press when they talk shit about you. You have to win constantly otherwise you get threats from the board and the fans turn against you. It's ridiculous. It's basically become a 24/7 job. The "dots" have morphed into "real" people who you have to forge a working relationship with in order to be successful. Somehow many of us are willing to place virtual relationships above the importance of our real life ones? How insane is that?
For me, the addiction stage has passed. I'm grateful for that but I still think about the glory days of binning off sixth form to try and win the Champions League with Peterborough. Nowadays I only play on a Wednesday evening and yes, a network game with that mate of mine. We've definitely reigned it in a bit though. I no longer care that much about a hard loss or injustice but every so often it retains the ability to get you in a mood to where you have to sometimes take a break before smashing up your computer . Fair do's for that, it makes you buy the next one.
Age has made me diplomatic in defeat. Instead of, "Don't fucking talk to me" it's now, "I'm just off out for a walk, do you need anything from Sainsbury's?" I'll go and sulk for a bit and then it's over. Generally it's easier to remind yourself what a dick you are if you're getting angry about a fictional game. Luckily, our girlfriends are actually happy to let us play once a week but I found out they secretly text each other taking the piss out of us. We can handle that. It still means something if you win a trophy or rebuild a squad from the ground up.
I'd like to thank Champ/FM for being such a part of my growing years. For good and for bad it's been a constant present during the tumultuous years.
Advice for the next generation of gamers? Enjoy it but don't ever let it become too important otherwise you'll be single at 29, eating chips right off the bathroom floor.
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