It’s that time of the year again when I cocoon myself away from the real world and tell little dots on the screen what to do, and whether I’m proud of them or not. Yes, Football Manager 09 from Sports Interactive and SEGA is out, I’ve been playing it for a week and I’ve got to say I’m beginning to enjoy it. It is much tougher than previous years, and honestly there are quite a few bugs in the match engine. However, everything else is practically flawless, and you really are sucked into this alternate universe. Thankfully SI release Football Manager just when Cork City FC’s season is over, giving me something to do for a few months!
I started a game with French Ligue 2 academy side En Avant de Guingamp, origin of players like Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda before they moved on to bigger and better things. I’m continuing in a similar vein, trying to sign the best youth players and as a result dominating the U18s league… at the detriment of my senior team who have for 2 seasons now flirted with the relegation zone, dragging themselves out at the last minute like the teases they are. And by teases, I mean bastards. It must look bizarre to see someone literally biting their nails and shaking while tiny imaginary men kick a tiny imaginary ball around a tiny imaginary field because they might get pretend-relegated; but this year’s new 3D view of the game seems to have at least given Trina some enjoyment of watching my failures in a much more realistic way.
So why bother, if it’s just stressful? Well…
EAG beat PSG 5-3 on Penalties!
Guingamp through on penalties to the Coupe de France Final
Yes, signing Toldo at 38 Years old was inspired!
Only in football (manager) can fairy tales can come true!
I’ve gotten the game working almost flawlessly in Wine on Ubuntu, there’s some instructions over on WineHQ, its essentially just a case of installing DirectX and running an activation program by command line instead of double clicking it. Hopefully SI will work next year on having it 100% Wine Platinum!
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Tags: football, football manager, games, guingamp, linux, pc games, wine