Football Manager 2005 Arrives

Thanks to GamePay, the UK Royal Mail, and our own fine US Postal workers, my copy of Football Manager 2005 (FM2005) arrived today (now yesterday as this gets posted fairly late), only a week after it shipped. Not too bad, but is it worth the wait?

The manual is as tick as can clocking in at 60 some odd pages, but being a veteran of the Championship Manager series (CM) that was more or less what I expected. Gamers new to the series may be in for a shock – FM2005 is not a casual Sunday affair. I have never been what I would call an expert when it comes to CM, but I do my best. I am sure I will eventually read the entire manual, FAQs, and of course the obligatory message boards (already doing the message board thing) to try to get the most out of the game.

On to the game … not so much, but you will see why if in a minute.

To get things started right, I dove right in and decided to start a new game; selected several leagues (England, Argentina, Mexico, MLS, and the like) and made a decision to start off unemployed. In retrospect I am not sure if that was such a hot idea since the only manager job opening was for DC United, which I applied for, but I was unsuccessful in my bid for my first job.

After simulating a few days, I decided to go on “holiday” and have the game auto apply for jobs. The first one to be available was for San Jose, but once again I was unsuccessful. I simmed until late July (my game started in February) and still do not have a job in hand.

Enough is enough. My first experience with the game did not live up to my expectations. Is it too much to ask for a job? Then again why would anyone hire an obscure manager from America? Maybe I need to read the manual to see if I did something wrong. Not enough lower level clubs? No idea. I think I will just call it a night and start over tomorrow, this time selecting a club to manage instead of waiting for the game to let me play.

OK, OK. I know I suck. I do not even get to the important stuff like the match engine. There is always another day.

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