THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABSE



FOOTBALL MANAGER



PUBLISHER

Addictive Games



ADDRESS

7A Richmond Hill, Bournemouth. BH2 6HE.



AUTHOR

Kevin Toms



YEAR

1982



DESCRIPTION

Very early and BASIC football management simulation



INLAY CARD TEXT

There are three main parts to the game.  On first loading, the

game will start at part 1.  When restoring a previsouly saved

game it will restart at part 2.  The following notes will guide

you through the various parts of the game.



  Part 1 - Starting the game

a) When your name is requested, type your full name as team

manager.

b) No matter which team you choose to manage, you will start in

Division 4.  If your favourite isn't in the 64 included, choose

any as you will be able to change the name later on.

c) Start at the beginner's level and progress as you become more

skillful.

d) You may have noticed (h=copy) in the bottom right of the

screen.  When this is displayed, entering h will give a hard copy

of what is on screen on your ZX printer.  DO NOT use this option

unless you have a printer connected.



  Part 2 - The main game

This consists of five phases.



  Phase 1 - Optional actions

a) Sell or list players - a list of players in your squad is

displayed. See "Important notes - Player attributes".  If you now

select a player to be sold, a team will make you an offer for

him.  Note that if you refuse the offer there is a risk that

interested clubs will no longer want to buy him.  You will see

why!



b) Obtain a loan - You may increase your bank loan up to your

credit limit as follows:



   Your division     Credit limit

        1             1 000 000

        2               750 000

        3               500 000

        4               250 000



c) Change team or player names - first you have the option to

change team names.  If taken, the teams are displayed by

division.  You may change any team names including your own. 

Take care not to duplicate an existing team name.  Colour control

codes may be included to give your team name a colour.  This is

done by pressing CAPS SHIFT and SYMBOL SHIFT together to give an

E cursor, then pressing CAPS SHIFT and one of the number keys

0,1,2,3,4,5 to set the colour (black to green) shown above the

keys, then typing the team name.  



Next you have the option to change player names.  If taken, you

can type your own choice of player names or perhaps even make

yourself player/manager!



d) Saving the game - to save the game to be continued at a later

time, take the KEEP option.  Now prepare your tape recorder to

record on a blank tape and press any key to commence saving. 

After about three and a quarter minutes the computer will ask you

if you want to play some more. Type yes to continue where you

left off or no to stop the game.



  Phase 2 - Playing a match

a) Team attributes.

Energy, Morale, Defence, Midfield and Attack have a minimum value

of 1 and maximum 20.  They are calculated as follows:



  Energy is the average energy rating of all the players picked

to play in your team.

  Morale is 10 at the start of the season and increases when you

win and decreases when you lose.

  Defence is the total skill rating of all the defenders picked

to play in your team.

  Midfield is the total skill rating of all the midfielders

picked to play in your team.

  Attack is the total skill rating of all the attackers picked

to play in your team.  

b) You may select your team - see "Important notes - Player

attributes".  

c) The match highlights are shown in 3D graphics.  The home

team always plays from left to right and you play in the colours

you chose at the start of the game.  The team with the best

attributes will often win, but there is always a chance of shock

results or giant killings, just like real football. 



  Phase 3 - Result of match

Note that your home gate money increases when you win and

decreases when you lose.  Your away gate money depends on the

quality of your opponents.



  Phase 4 - Weekly bills

a) Wage bill - the higher your division and the greater the total

skill of your players, the higher the wage bill.

b) Loan interest - is 1% of your outstanding bank loan.

c) Weekly balance - is the profit or loss for the week.



  Phase 5 - The transfer market

a) You are given the option of bidding for a player.  The more

you bid in relation to his value, the more chance you have of

purchasing him.  If your bid fails, the value of the player will

increase.

b) If the "No players for sale" message appears, you will have

to sell one of your squad in order to regain access to the

transfer market.



The five phases are repeated until 15 league matches and all your

FA Cup matches have been played.  Then the game moves to Part 3.



  Part 3 - End of season

a) The final league table is printed.

b) Your league success money, which is in relation to how high

you are up in the league, is allocated to you and displayed.

c) The top three teams are promoted, and the bottom three are

relegated from your division.

d) A new managerial rating is calculated for you depending on

your success so far.

e) New skill and Energy ratings are generated for all your

players.

f) The new season starts at Part 2.



  Important Notes

Restoring a saved game.

a) Load the program from your tape using LOAD "".  The program

will restart at Part 2.



Player Attributes

When players are listed, several details are shown.

a) Defender, Midfield player or Attacker - is indicated by an

inverse video D, M or A respectively in the far left hand column.

b) Player's name

c) Player's number - used when selecting the player for various

purposes.

d) Skill rating - highest is 5, lowest is 1.

e) Energy - in the range 1 to 20.  The energy rating of each

player reduces by one for each match he plays in.  It will

increase by 10 if he does not play in a match.  Part of the skill

of the game is in resting the right players to increase their

energy without doing too much harm to the skill ratings of the

complete team.

f) Value in  - relates directly to the skill rating of the player

and the division your team is in.

g) Picked to play, Injured, Available for selection - indicated

by p,i and yellow space respectively in the far right-hand

column.  NB: Injured players cannot be selected to play.





SEQUELS/PREQUELS

Football Manager 2 and (I think) 3 were released.



SCORES RECEIVED:

Unknown by me



URLs:

ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/spectrum/snaps/games/by-letter/f/foo

tball.zip

ftp://ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/f/football.zip

ftp://ftp.gui.uva.es/pub/sinclair/games/f/football.zip



GENERAL FACTS:



CHEATS:

Press the BREAK key and mess about with the BASIC.



NOTES:

Has a very nostalgic feel to it (i.e. really shows its age now).

The term "3D graphics" in the inlay card is used very loosely.

