http://www.goal-kick.net/forums/index.php?showforum=77 - Head over here, and tell us about your site in the making, and we’ll see what we think. Alas, I’m afraid that would mean you’d have to register on oru forums, but not everything comes easy eh?

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So, we’re into the realm of 3D. Not a 3D engine, but merely a 3D render of the same match engine. Thank God for that. The match engine is good, it’s like FM 2008’s but with the bugs ironed out, such as the corner trick. I’ll put this down to the extensive testing it had in FM:Live. Though I’ve yet to work out what the arrows do? Again, please feel free to enlighten me. However, the match experience, I’ve had a look at some things at both small clubs and big clubs, and the assistant feedback seems inaccurate, fussy or a combination of both. I appreciate it’s helpful for those that needs more in depth analysis without the time to do it. However, so much more could have been done with this feature. I’ll take a couple of examples.

‘Michael Johnson is much used to playing at a higher tempo than he is today…’ Ok, thanks Mr. Assistant, but, and it’s a big but, the assistant doesn’t suggest what to do about it. Higher the tempo and ruin the rhythm of the other 10 players? Sub him off and lose a tactical substitution later on? Leave him to stick it out and try and improve his all-round game. More useful feedback is something along the lines of ‘Michael Johnson is mis-placing a lot of long balls today…’ So you’d know to reduce his passing to a shorter length, instead of the conflicting information. After all, it’s your assistant, they should be assisting, not confusing. I appreciate that management is all about decisions, but it is your decision to heed his advice or otheriwse, so it should be clearer.

Other than the matchday experience, what has changed really? A couple of small things here and there, the new transfer system seems similar to the old one despite us being assured they ‘ripped out all the old code’, what they fail to mention is that they probably put most of it back. Alas, there are some nice touches - the game is not a disaster by any means, just feels a let down after the promised ‘Che Guevara’ revolution. I like the decimal ratings for players - they help to differentiate between average performances. I like the distance running and comments on how the players are playing ‘lacking confidence’ etc. This can help to shape team talks. The more information available, the better. I’m a stickler for stats though, but the one I would like to see return is the goals/90 minutes stat which ironically we saw in my least favourite game, CM4 and haven’t seen since. I feel it’s the most important stat for strikers - as it takes into account minutes on the pitch, rather than just starts or sub appearances.

So, the game has a couple of nice touches to it, but perhaps it is due to it being a first draft of the gold code that we are feeling a touch flat. There will be a patch on release day I’m informed and that should help to relieve some of the bugs being reported, although as usual I find the games run a lot smoother after the final patch in February, and I won’t be kicking off with FM 2009 till Christmas. I’ve no need to, FM 2008 has me hooked. More to the point, the graphical element is probably why.

I’m not a fan of either default skin, I prefer the FM 2008 one to the FM 2009 one, but I feel that they should have taken huge hints from the Bluu skin created for FM 2008 and done something similar, it’s the only skin I’ve used for FM 2008, before it I used the default, and now going back is like taking a graphical trip back the 90s having seen hi-definition mastery. So, get to christmas, and hopefully sitting in my stocking will be a shiny new copy (though with the credit crunch perhaps a used one) of FM 2009, ready to be graphically polished, and patched up before I embark on my journey. Till then, onwards we go with Hinckley on FM 2008!

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In this month’s edition we are delighted to interrogate Uncle Sam – Sortitoutsi admin from across the pond who’s a whizz when it comes to the tactical side of ’soccer’; Kazzy – Throw-In renaissance-man; Niniev – FM-View ‘technical help’; JordanC – GetSacked podcast maestro/another yank who actually knows a thing or two about ’soccer’; and JC – founder of the panel and general scene whore.

So, after we’ve successfully insulted at least one of them and established that America is actually quite alright really, let’s get on with the interrogation!

1. Welcome all. Firstly we’ll get underway with the warm-up. What did FM08 give you in terms of enjoyment? How high does it rank in the grand scheme of FM/CM games and what have your greatest achievements in the game been?

JC: It doesn’t really rank up that high for me, to be quite honest. Anyone who’s been on the forums enough this year wil noticed that I’ve pretty much shied away from the entire FM sections. It’s not that that I don’t want to post in it, it’s more to do with the fact that I’ve nothing to post about. I haven’t had any great save games, any great players and no hidden gems to brag about.

My only real achievement in this year’s installment was taking Vauxhall Motors from a Media Prediction of being relegated from the Blue Square South, to 4 points off the promotion playoff (with a little help from a certain 40-year-old called Paolo Di Canio).

Niniev: FM08 for me was a disappointment. I knew when it came out it was planned to be an interim measure while FML and 09 was developed, but with the bugs that we had stopped me from enjoying it as much as previous games.

For me my greatest achievement happened recently - I actually managed to finish a 2nd season.

As for the games ranking, it would rate lowest in the FM games for me as I feel that there was areas that they should have concentrated on which got left to the side.

JordanC: As a lot of people know from listening to the podcast, I’m a relative newbie when it comes to the lifetime of the FM/CM series - I’ve only started playing the game since FM07! Being that I’m so active now creating content and getting involved with online FM communities, it’s a testament to how enjoyable I found FM08. While I must admit there were some faults with the game, I think some of the nay-sayers towards this year’s release may still not realize how accurate and in-depth the game actually is - for every bug, there’s a hundred things that are done astonishingly well.

As far as achievements, I really don’t play the game with that sort of goal in mind. Sure, it’s great to take a Conference-level side to Champions League glory within a decade, but I revel more in being able to understand the game play mechanisms better and achieve optimal decision-making. With all the small additions being added over the years that allow you to interact on a much more detailed level, it makes for a great study to find the most effective means to accomplish certain objectives. I’d play the same save for 2-3 seasons over and over again in the attempt to improve on my methods, hopefully doing better than last time out.

Kazzy: FM08 for me was a bit of hot and cold. There would be spells when I’d really get into it and other times where certain little things would frustrate me. I’d still rate it as the best in the series due to the advances made from, for example FM05, but my favourite was FM07. Leading Rangers to an unprecedented 10-in-a-row and a number of European trophies is my greatest FM achievement.

Uncle Sam: Well, I’m fairly new to the FM series. I didn’t start playing until FM 2005 since, frankly, the game is not as popular as I would like it to be here. The part of the game that I enjoy the most are the tactical challenges and I believe FM 2008 was another great step in that area. It offered new challenges for the gamer and It got me excited about where the game is going in the future.

2. Starting with FM05 and working towards FM09, it is quite obvious that SI are heading down a ‘realism’ route. A few members on the community have been a little discontented about this and have a view that the game should go back to being a game rather than a simulation and become more enjoyable. Do you share this view?

JC: Simulators sell well though, and that’s what the aim is always from a business end: to sell units. Look at the top sims, just for a moment. Microsoft Flight Simulator, Gran Turismo, SimCity, The Sims, Harvest Moon, Trauma Center, Civilisation, Alpha Centauri.. I mean, I could go on with the list for a while (mostly just listing Sid Meier and Will Wright-led games, but I digress), and SI just want to add Football Manager to that list of great simulators. Yes, the majority of us can go “Oh but I’d rather have a fun game than one that I can’t win in”. Well, the truth is simple.

Consider this. You’re stuck in a relegation dogfight. Your team isn’t the best on paper. Will you win? Going by the tale of the tape, no, but unless you have a good mind for tactics and analyse your opponent’s trends and players to the full extent, you’ll rarely get an upset. It’s how it works in real life, so that’s how it is in the game. You can’t turn around and demand fun from real life. Was Keegan and Curbishley having fun with their jobs when they were losing matches and having board members undermining their positions? You bet your ass they weren’t. It’s just how it goes.

Niniev: For me I prefer a more realistic game and can’t wait for it to be closer to a real life game than a sim - if I wanted a sim I would get FIFA manager or similar.

I want to feel that I am the manager actually doing something not pushing a few buttons and looking at the fanciest graphics.

JordanC: I can understand why part of the community is being disenfranchised a little based on SI’s development of the game, but it really boils down to the overall reason why each individual user is playing FM. There are many that just enjoy taking over their favorite team, signing their favorite players from around the world and operating in a more “fantasy” realm. The realism route you speak about obviously goes against this more “casual” style of gameplay as SI’s goals lean toward making FM the most accurate simulation of real-life football management.

I share the viewpoint that realism is a necessity in the gameplay. For the same reason why I have never used cheat codes on console games in the past, I don’t get any enjoyment out of beating a game when I have not justifiably earned that credit. Although it may be more difficult to win or even understand a lot of the nuances, I prefer that vagueness and actually enjoy losing if it means I’m learning something in the process. SI’s main goal in conjuction to these “realism” aspects should be to make sure there’s some type of logical transparency (a topic concerning FML I talk about ad nauseum) so that all decision-making junctures have the most sound effects and can be seen with some basic common sense. I think most of the aforementioned “casual” users are not being turned off by the game because of it’s depth, it’s just that it becomes very difficult to understand exactly what the effects of every aspect of the gameplay has with each other on your overall success.

Kazzy: Let’s face it, no computer game (at least for the foreseeable future) will ever truly replicate a given experience. I mean, if you put a pilot in front of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X, I’m pretty sure they’d tell you it’s absolutely f’all like flying a real aeroplane. However, that doesn’t immediately make it a bad game. For many of us, FM is the closest we’ll get to actually managing a football team. If you look at the market at the moment, there are so many other football management “simulations” (and I use that word in the loosest possible sense) such as FIFA Manager, Premier Manager and Championship Manager. Football Manager is by far the most realistic and I think SI would disappoint a lot of people if they dumbed down their game to appeal to a bigger audience. If people don’t find the game enjoyable, I’m sure one of the above options will allow them to win a bit easier.

Uncle Sam: To an extent. It is a game and the buyers need to be able to enjoy it. Obviously reality is suspended when someone plays FM because it’s not very realistic that I am the manager of Manchester United. But I would much rather SI move toward a simulation than an arcade-style game because beating Real Madrid 11-0 with Burnley is not really a game I would be very interested in playing.

3.With SI having two separate games in FM-Live and FM09, which are you most enticed by? And on a similar vein, in 6 months time after it’s released, will FML still be able to attract a wide array of players, or will it falter after the ‘honeymoon period’ do you think?

JC: FM Live… It won’t work beyond the initial 6 months, I feel. Yes, it does have a market audience, but what can I get out of it that doesn’t involve me shelling out £70 (what’s that in Euro?) a year on a subscription that I won’t use? I’m in college with a pretty lame internet connection, I can’t even play a game of cards online, let alone run a real-time football manager sim.

I’m most enticed by Football Manager 2009, but judging on my performances on the 08 installment, I really don’t know whether I’ll be parting with my cash on it.

Niniev: Having been on the Beta of FML for about 10 months I’ve seen it develop and I feel that FML will be a success as the game worlds they have are filling up quickly.

With FM09 there is a core group of people who will buy it - thats why its consistently one of Europe’s top 5 selling computer game brands.

There will be no problem with FML/FM09 as 2 separate brands for one reason:

With FML having driven new work on FM09 in terms of the game engine and looks they have been able to test new feature with over 1000 people and tune it till it works perfectly before adding it onto the FM09 system.

This means for us as the player will be able to see new features tested quicker and more efficiently and bring us a better game!

JordanC: Well, I’m a moderator for the new “Fowler” gameworld on FML, have been playing the beta since March and haven’t touched FM08 since then… so it’s easy to see which title I’m more enticed by. Although FML isn’t as in-depth as its standalone partner, I’m more enamored by it just due to the fact that you’re matching wits with 1000 other actual human beings. While in FM08/09 you’re competing against a programmed AI counterpart that will eventually show patterns and exploits, humans are much more dynamic in their approach and it would provide a never-ending need to adapt counter strategies in order to achieve optimal gameplay.

Maybe it’s blasphemy to say this being so involved with FML, but I really don’t think it will be a massive success at all and will probably end up achieving a cult-like status amongst a nice core group of users in the 30-50k range (which is miniscule in the MMO landscape). The game already has some negative perceptions against casual users, some being unfounded though, but one of the primary faux-pas’ SI has made involves the optimism that community spirit will be maintained well solely by the users. FML still relies heavily in that department by user-created content and it’s a crux of the game that will engross people in playing it often. Although you may be taking a bit of the creative element out of the game, I believe SI should have went more in the route of hardcoding these aspects into the gameplay just so it’s success won’t be determined by this user factor. We see how the scene generally becomes lazy and ambivalent when creating content for the community, so why should SI rely heavily on this?

Kazzy: As a student and a Scotsman, I’m naturally tight and as such, the subscription fees in FML do not appeal to me. I’ve been told that the game is very good and I’ll probably end up buying a short-term subscription but I don’t think I’ll persist with it. However, I do think SI have played it a very smart game with the insurgence in popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online games such as World of Warcraft. Combining this proven format with the world’s most popular sport and the combined smarts of the FM team can only reap results for SI.

Uncle Sam: Me personally, I have never been much of an online gamer. I have tried it with other games, and I just didn’t get a lot out of it. But there are a lot of people who enjoy online gaming and I believe FML will appeal to those who wanted more out of the online aspect of Football Manager.

4. What are your thoughts on FM09’s new features? Do you feel SI are taking the game in the right direction?

JC: There is no right or wrong direction. What’s wrong for some is right for others. The game doesn’t need critical acceptance, it has one of the biggest fanbases already as it stands. It doesn’t need to expand it to be a market success.

With the 3D engine, I can see 2 problems already, and I’ll be more than happy to outline them.

Hard disk space: how much room will it take up on my hard drive? Failing that, if I know that I won’t be using it, will I get the option to leave it on the disc and not install it?
Graphics: How will it effect the kit icons in the Info screen? How will it reflect when taken to 3D? Will the 3D players be wearing their real-life kits (for the licensed leagues, obviously) and will we be able to make full 3D detailed kits for other teams who haven’t had that priviledge?

The Assistant Manager: It’s about time he was given something moderately useful to do. He was by-and-large ignored in FM08 when his first features were properly introduced and hopefully he’ll play a prominent part in preparing for matches, rather than be just a coach with priviledges.

Press Conferences: I really am enticed by this, but again it could have a flaw. Will the questions be in any way as repetitive as last year? A lot of people complained about being asked the same question over and over before each and every monotonous matchup, and I really hope that the SI team has done their homework on this area.

I can’t really comment on the others, I haven’t been keeping up with new and pressing developments as much as I can.

Niniev: I can’t wait.

New transfer system, 3D engine, new interaction with staff and players and the regen system being overhauled.

It seems that this year they have listened to the people on the SI.com forums and have complimented a lot of what we want to see and hopefully this means we can actually get a game we want to see without all the usual hilarious “I’ve bought the game, when is the first patch out?”.

JordanC: I’m psyched by a lot of the new features, but mostly the unheralded ones. While the most talked about one is the new 3d representation of the match engine, I don’t believe it will have that major of an impact towards the way I play the game. It’s the little things that shore up the gameplay that I’m most interested in. Take fractional match ratings for example (which has been in FML for a while) - now I’m able to more accurate assess my player’s performance from game to game as a 6.6 and 7.4 is a drastic difference than having just a vague 7 listed.

Being able to train specific PPMs, a completely rewritten transfer market model, transfer rumors, trial days, improved contract negotiations & finances, etc. All these little aspects create a more logical approach the gameplay that I revel in diving into figuring out how each affect one another and your overall success as a manager. As long as they’re implemented in a way that makes sense and doesn’t open up glaring exploits with the AI decision making, I think this a great step forward from FM08 and can easily be the best version ever created.

Kazzy: For the first time since SI introduced the 2D Match Engine for FM05, I am genuinely excited to see how the new game plays. A lot of people won’t be happy with the 3D engine but it’s the only real way SI could go to strive for more realism. As I mentioned earlier, I think SI’s movement towards realism is the best way for them to go. I’m also liking the new interaction with the press by way of press conferences. Now we can have our own little Fergie hissy fits and storm out!

Uncle Sam: Obviously the big addition is the 3D match engine. I think it’s going to make matchday a lot more intriguing. While I’ve never had a problem with the circles moving about the pitch, this takes the games themselves to a whole new level. I’m pretty excited about it personally.

The assistant manager feedback is something I have been hoping to see added for a long time now. Hopefully it will help some managers get a better understanding of why their tactics are failing at a given time. I doubt it would be fair to expect miracles from it in this version, but as the feature evolves I believe it will be one of the more useful ones in the game.

I’m also interested to see how the Press Conferences feature works. Another neat little addition to make matchday seem more real.

All in all, I love the direction SI is going. What you see is a company not resting on their laurels. They could probably easily just re-release the same game every year with a new database and profit but they are actively seeking to improve the game in whatever ways they can. In my opinion every fan FM should be excited about the future of the Football Manager series.

5. Here’s the bit you lot have been waiting for: the shameless plugging. Go on - bore us with what your site has planned for the new game. Get it over and done with…

Niniev: With the release of FM09 we are doing a complete overhaul of our mainsite and are introducing features that I really want to tell you but I will get shot if I do.

We will also be releasing new forum skins to complement the mainsite as well.

On top of that we are building one of the best gfx teams and writing staff who from the moment the demo comes out will be utilising that so that when 09 comes out we will have as much content out as we can.

JordanC: FM-Britain http://www.fm-britain.co.uk always seems to be the site that gets excluded from the discussion of the scene and while we sometimes get off on that fact despite having over 20,000 members, our model of operation is inherently different than most. Our top priority is creating strategical & tactical articles/guides that are the most in-depth and most insightful you’ll find anywhere. Our staff actually enjoys long detailed discussions about FM, sharing ideas, learning, putting our collective heads around issues and bundling that all up for the general public to digest.

Our Tactics Bible, Tactial Theorems & Frameworks, Communication & Psychological Warfare series which has been heralded for FM07/08 is being edited and some parts completely rewritten so it can be prevalent for the FM09 release. Most of us have been included in SI’s “Dream Team”, currently beta testing the new game and in constant contact with it’s developers, so we believe we’ll have the best head start in getting this content out to the public as quickly as possible. (don’t bother asking us about it before Nov. 14, we’re contractually unable to do so!)

FM-Britain’s FML First Season Guide is being written and fully completed as we speak. Written by yours truly, it’s a massive 14 part series that will dive into every aspect of gameplay you’ll encounter the first season on FM Live. It’s not a “newbie” user guide though - it will discuss concepts and strategies you can break apart and digest that will give you a proper perspective to all decisions and directions you’ll take in FML giving you a much better understanding of the gameplay. Check out the first three parts at http://www.fm-britain.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=8291

The Get Sacked! Podcast of course will go into a more active direction now with FML and FM09 around the corner so expect a nice hour-long show almost every week from November forward. For those that haven’t listened, definitely check out our old episodes up at http://www.getsacked.net - we cover a wide array of topics and always provide very useful information on FM strategies as well as throwing some humor into the mix. Between myself, Millie, wwfan, leroy1883, crazy gra, Law Man, zagallo and the rest of the Tactical Think Tank, you’re always going to get interesting and informative discussion from the mouths of the FM-Britain staff.

Kazzy: Sorry to disappoint you but we are currently keeping our cards close to our chests. We’re having a lot of discussion within the staff team about the future and we are pretty close to bringing the site and taking it in a new direction. More soon so watch this space…

Uncle Sam: Well, we’re in a bit of a transition phase over at sortitoutsi.net. Rob and Q. have taken over for SmithJurd (who we want to thank for his years of service). Rob has done a fantastic job building FM-portal and very few people worked as hard as Q. did on their database update. His was the most extensive I found and it was the only one I used on FM 2008. Right now the guys are evaluating where the site is at and establishing the vision they have, but based on their past exploits I’m very excited about what the two have planned.

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2008/9 Season

After our fairly decent first half of the season (despite the poor form in November and December), we set out to finish as high as possible in the league (a top half finish was still realistic) and have a good run in the cup.

4th Round 2nd Leg:
Date: 3/1/09
Opponent: Murcia (a)
Score: 1-1
Scorer(s): Aranburu 55
Comments: Another bad performance, which the fans weren’t happy about, but we progressed on away goals which was the main thing.

5th Round 1st Leg:
Date: 7/1/09
Opponent: Getafe (h)
Score: 1-0
Scorer(s): Stancu 35
Comments: A win at last! Our first win since October. A better performance but can still do better, much better.

Date: 11/1/09
Opponent: Numancia (h)
Score: 0-1
Scorer(s): N/A
Comments: Oh dear. A defeat to one of the teams around us and they go above us in the league.

5th Round 2nd Leg:
Date: 14/1/09
Opponent: Getafe (a)
Score: 2-1
Scorer(s): Prieto 41 (pen)
Comments: Another bad performance and we were lucky to go through. Through on away goals again.

Date: 18/1/09
Opponent: Malaga (h)
Score: 3-1
Scorer(s): Stancu 57, 81 - Birindelli 87
Comments: A league win, finally and an important one at that. Malaga are in the relegation zone so this is important as it pulls us away from them.

Quarter-Final 1st Leg:
Date: 21/1/09
Opponent: Recreativo (h)
Score: 2-4
Scorer(s): Mota 81 - Ansotegi 84
Comments: Shite. 0-4 down after 80 minutes. Mota and Ansotegi pull two goals back to give us a glimmer of hope for the second leg.

We really are in poor form at the moment so I’ve decided to change things tactically. I’ve gone from 4-1-3-2 to 4-2-3-1. We’ll see how it goes…

Date: 25/1/09
Opponent: Deportivo (a)
Score: 2-2
Scorer(s): o.g 68 - Vaughan 90
Comments: A much better performance than has been shown in recent weeks, despite being 2-0 down. Deportivo are another side who are around us, so a point away from home is decent, at least they don’t gain any ground on us.

Our second game using the new formation and we knew if we were to progress, we’d need to score three without reply, or at least four if we conceded. So it was all about being patient for the first half.

Quarter-Final 2nd Leg:
Date: 28/1/09
Opponent: Recreativo (a)
Score: 1-6
Scorer(s): Stancu 42, 45, 57, 71 - Ansotegi 87 - Gari 90
Comments: Absolutely unreal! Stancu’s two goals just before half-time gave us great hope, but I certainly didn’t expect that. We were 0-3 up but then they scored, which meant they were heading through, but then Stancu hit one from about 25 yards to put us back in front. Excellent! We face Betis in the semi’s.

We tried doing some business during the transfer window, but didn’t manage to conclude any deals. One of my scouts found Mateo Musacchio, a young centre back at River. I was hoping to get a deal done for the summer, but they rejected my first bid, so I’ll keep working on that one. We tried signing Nordin Amrabat on loan from Everton for the rest of the season, but there were a host of clubs interested in him and he eventually went to divisional rivals Espanyol. After failing to sign Amrabat, I tried signing Adel Taarabt from Tottenham, but that deal dragged on and couldn’t be completed before the deadline. We also tried to sign Danny Guthrie on loan from Liverpool to provide competition to Aranburu, but he went to went to West Ham on loan instead.

Never mind, I think we have enough quality in the squad to keep us up. I just hope we don’t get a major injury crisis.

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2008/9 Season

Results:
August:
Mallorca 2 - 3 Real Sociedad
Malaga 1 - 4 Real Sociedad
September:
Real Sociedad 2 - 2 Espanyol
Real Sociedad 2 - 0 Deportivo
Atletico Madrid 3 - 0 Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad 0 - 3 Real Betis
October:
Real Sociedad 3 - 0 Zaragoza
Real Sociedad 1 - 1 Racing
Real Sociedad 4 - 0 Osasuna
Murcia 1 - 1 Real Sociedad
November:
Recreativo 1 - 0 Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad 0 - 1 Barcelona
Real Madrid 2 - 1 Real Sociedad
December:
Villarreal 3 - 1 Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad 2 - 2 Sevilla
Real Sociedad 1 - 4 Valencia
Athletic Bilbao 3 - 3 Real Sociedad

We made an excellent start on our return to La Liga, winning three of our first four games. Back to back 3-0 defeats brought us back down to earth though. An unbeaten October saw us stay in the top half. No win in eight games and a tough run has followed since though. We were unlucky against unbeaten Barca I thought and probably could have snatched a point. We conceded inside the first minute of that game though, after Bojan scored. The Real Madrid game was another game where we were unlucky. They scored the opener just seconds into the second half through Robinho, but we replied just after the hour mark. We managed to hold out (and possibly could have scored ourselves) until Mikel scored six minutes from time. Although Villarreal’s win seems convincing against us, we had plenty of chances but just didn’t take them, whereas they did. We just edged the game against Sevilla in terms of chances and possession and looked like we had thrown a point away when Kone scored with six minutes to go, but David Vaughan (in for the injured Mota) got his second with just a minute to go to rescue a point. Although Valencia dominated from start to finish against us, it was 1-1 up until the 76th minute, but then Villa and Zigic ran riot and we were well beaten. The Basque derby was a cracker! Either team could have won it. We went behind early after Martinez scored a brilliant long range effort. Aranburu replied just before the half-hour mark though and then set up Walter to put us 2-1 up before half time. Bilbao replied just six minutes into the second half and then went ahead with just over fifteen minutes remaining. Gari equalised with nine minutes remaining and the remaining time was played with both sides attacking and looking for the win. Neither team could find the winner and the points were shared.

I’m pleased with the league situation so far, despite the recent poor form. We’re well clear of the relegation (at the moment) and can still push for a top half finish.

Copa del Rey Results:
2nd Round:
Real Sociedad 2 - 1 Cadiz
3rd Round:
Granada 0 - 4 Real Sociedad
4th Round 1st leg:
Real Sociedad 0 - 0 Murcia

The first leg against Murcia was extremely poor. We didn’t really create any clear cut chances, which is disappointing against La Liga’s bottom team. We could have had the tie sown up in the first leg, if we actually put in a good performance. Not to be though, so we have to go to Murcia and get a result.

Trademark said he had doubts over my defence and he’s been proved right so far. We have conceded far too many goals and that will be something which will need to be addressed in January, if not the summer. Luckily I haven’t had any major injury crisis yet, because as Jay mentioned, I have a fairly small squad. I may bolster the squad with a couple of new faces in January, we’ll have to wait and see.

Bogdan Stancu started the season brilliantly and was the main reason for our excellent form at the start. But he hasn’t scored in the last six games he’s played in and has been injured for the last two.

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Distance Running

For those statistic obsessed Football Managers, we have a new number to the spreadsheet that greets us everytime we load up the game. This time we can see the distance that your players are running within each game. The feature will probably do more for player selection then anything, now we will be able to present the evidence to the players who just aren’t trying enough within the team and replace them, I like it and it will certainly make it easier for me to make decisions about substitutes during the game or see in which areas of the field your players are getting run about too much, causing them to tire.

Improved Team Reports

Team reports have been something that I have found useful since their introduction in 2008, especially when you first arrive at a new club, you can see at a glimpse where you team needs improving and the up and coming players you should keep hold of. But now you assistant manager will be able to give you more information then that, he can even suggest players for you to buy now. But is this taking the games AI involvement with the manager too far? I will have to play with it before I truly know what I am talking about, but I feel that this is starting to bridge the gap between you playing the game and you just following a series of instructions to success. Indeed it probably does happen in real life that assistant manager will be able to suggest players though so maybe not all bad and hopefully all this will rely on the quality of you assistant manager.

Award History

Awards that you team get will now be stored so that you can look back and marvel about how good you have done over the years. A new feature that will help you gloat to your mates or analyse how players have done over the years. But I think just a little bit of window dressing, good implementation but nothing that will change the way we play.

Returning from holiday

More options then you can shake a stick at, now if you play the game in holiday mode? I don’t understand why you would (when was the last time you seen Alex Ferguson taking a break during the seasons proceedings?) You can now apply for jobs in certain leagues instead of applying for everything (although you still get this option). The only way I would find this useful for myself is when I have been sacked or resigned from a club, it can tire when you have to endlessly hit continue or when going on holiday, it returning you with a approach from MK Dons after you have won the Premiership and World Cup 5 times in a row with Millwall and San Marino. I can now narrow it down to a particular league my skills will be best utilised within, but again another one of those features that will just come in handy.

Improved Player Ratings

An addition that has come from the Football Manager Live development, player ratings during games will have decimal points, for the die hard statisticians another good introduction. Once again it will help improve the decision making during games, it can be so hard when you are looking at ratings and two players have a 7 but you need to replace one and for a long time now FM has been crying out for the difference between a good 7 performer and a bad 7. Because if your team is winning you will more then likely or not see alot of 7’s in your side and miss a weaker link in the side and quickly lose your hold on a game.

Pick Your Feeder Team

At last you will be able to ask for a specific club to be linked with in this years game. As you have had to do so far, you will still need to get gain the boards confidence before they give you such powers, but now you won’t have to rely on the luck of the draw to get to the teams such as Crewe who have a great youth policy. But also teams abroad and teams you want to loan players to it would make more sense for the big clubs to give their players better experience playing for the better clubs.

Ask if a player is loanable

You have been able for some time put in enquiries of the availability to buy certain players, but now you can find out if you can loan players. I think a fantastic addition for the lower league managers, as when I am in the lower divisions I will go through team upon I will go through team upon team to see if I can loan one of their youngsters. Enquiring will make negotiations much quicker and easier. Or those players who are hardly playing in the first team, but would fit in fantastic for yours despite that tight budget.

Improved Stadium Expansions

Football Manager strangely has always expanded the stadium during new seasons, this would rarely happen in the upper leagues, causing you to lose money as seats are unavailable during construction and it takes that much longer. SI have made expansions quicker and more realistic by allowing the workmen in after the last home game of the season.

No More B Teams

Now the B teams will be separate entities in themselves, B teams are mostly associated with management in Spain and now the B teams will be regarded just as affiliations of the giant teams, I am guessing this is what happens already in the real world. I don’t know what difference this will make as this is as much information as I have got and I have no clue how this will play out in the game. Will you now have to loan you first team players to the B teams or will you still be able to drop them up and down like a reserve team? Only SI has the answer.

Rules Fully Shown

Just a little bit of house keeping for SI, making sure are gaming experience is as real as possibly can be. Rules will now be displayed for individual competitions such as the French ‘Joker’ Rule. Can anyone actually tell me what this is?

The game is looking better and better each time you see it, a fine balance between new features and the improvement of the old ones. I am really getting excited now about the new game and have high hopes that it will definitely live up to being one of the best games SI have ever made.

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2008/9 Season

After being promoted to the Primera Division last season, my main aim for this season is just to avoid relegation. The board gave me around £4.5m to spend, but I managed to get quite a bit more after adjusting the budget.

Distel Zola’s arrival was already confirmed in January last season. He will be back up (for now) to the returning Mikel Alonso (after his loan spell at Bolton). Nacho Gonzalez was never going to be a good enough back up in the top division so I set out to find a new back up ‘keeper. Brad Jones was transfer listed and was signed for £850k. I scored a lot of goals last season, so I didn’t think my attack needed much improving. I did need a back up to Gari though, someone who could hold the ball up and after seeing Stapes’ thread, I signed Walter for £400k from San Jose. He looks to have the potential to do that job very well in the future. I needed a back up right back after Gerardo was released at the end of his contract. Allesandro Birindelli was without a club and will add experience to my young squad. I was struggling to find a new left winger and David Vaughan won’t be able to cut it in the top division week in week out. One of my scouts found 18 year old Sergio Mota whilst scouting Brazil and he looks a good young player. My supporters are too happy about it though for some reason, neither was ex-player Darko Kovacevic. My final signing of the summer was a central defender. I was looking for a young player who would be ready for regular first team football in a season or two. One of my scouts found Sidnei and he was signed for £5.75m.

Not much change in the squad from last season. 6 new faces through transfers and Balenziaga and Zurutuza were both promoted from the B team. Mikel Alonso also returned from his loan.

This is the starting eleven that I will head into the new season with:

As you can see, almost the same as last season, but I think we have enough quality to avoid relegation and possibly push for midtable.

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Real Sociedad
2007/8 Season

2007/8 Season

After being knocked out of the cup and then a couple of poor performances following that, we managed to go through February unbeaten, winning three of our five games. March was a little average. We gave away a 2-1 lead at home to Cadiz in the last minute, lost two and won three. It was towards the end of March that Skoubo started to hit form when Stancu was out (again). He managed to score 10 goals in 8 games. We won six of those games and were promoted with three games remaining after a 4-1 home win over Celta. We managed to secure first place a week later with a 4-2 home win over Castellon.

We managed to remain unbeaten at home throughout the season, winning 18 of our 21 home games.

I’m pleased with the amount of goals we are scoring, but we will have to improve defensively next season if we’re going to survive in La Liga.

Most of the eleven picks itself. The one position which had me thinking was Stancu’s partner. Gari started more games than Skoubo, but Skoubo scored some vital goals at the business end of the season, so he gets the vote over Gari for that reason. As you can probably see from the screenshots of my best eleven the team is very young, a lot of the squad are in their early twenties. I don’t think I will have to change the squad dramatically to achieve my goal of survival next season, but we’ll wait and see what the summer transfer window brings and see if we can pick up any bargains.

Balance (as of May 2008): £6.34m

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Real Sociedad
2007/8 Season
January

Transfers

Not much activity in January involving us. Out-of-favour Gorka Larrea went to French side Sochaux for £400, 000 and Gaizka Garitano went to Gimnastic on loan for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, a deal was agreed for Distel Zola and he will join from Monaco in the summer.

Fixtures & Results

Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg
Atletico

0 (2)

Real Sociedad 1 (5)

(Markel 77)

We kicked the new year off with an excellent win away to Atletico in the cup. We had a lot of the ball but never really created too many chances, Atletico had double our shots. But we kept them out and managed to sneak one from a corner. We were helped by the injury to Aguero early on and then his replacement Mista was sent off just after half-time.

Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg
Real Sociedad 1

(Gari 37)

Espanyol

1

(Tamudo 12)

I was disappointed we couldn’t take a lead from the home leg into the away leg. We had plenty of chances but only managed the one.

League
Elche

1

(Noel-Williams 28)

Real Sociedad 1

(Skoubo 12)

The Elche game fell in the middle of the two games with Espanyol and we were very poor. We were dominated by a midtable side and were lucky to come away with a point.

Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg
Espanyol

4 (5)

(Coro 17 Valdo 22, 36 Riera 45)

Real Sociedad 3 (4)

(Skoubo 33 Gari 41 Prieto 82)

I thought we were the better team against Espanyol in the second half of the second leg after they led 4-2 at the break. We created plenty in the second half but left it too late to get another after Prieto pulled a goal back.

League
Numancia

3

(Brit 26, 66 Palacios 55)

Real Sociedad 1

(Ansotegi 71)

We were extremely poor in this game against one of our promotion rivals. That’s all that needs to be said.

League
Real Sociedad 1

(Ansotegi 55)

Sporting

0

Another poor performance, but we managed to knick a goal from a corner.

Squad

Xabi Prieto was probably our best performer during January, in what was an average month for us (certainly in the league anyway). He managed one goal and four assists.
Meanwhile, Stancu is back in training and made the bench for the Sporting game and was an unused sub. Our results should improve when he’s back.

Coming Up…

In February
Cordoba (Away)
Salamanca (Home)
Xerez (Away)
Sevilla Atletico (Home)
Granada (Away)

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Real Sociedad
2007/8 Season
July - December

Transfers

There wasn’t a great deal of activity over the summer, in or out. I felt I had a good enough squad to get promoted and had less than £100, 000 to spend anyway. I signed Krzysztof Krol on loan from Real Madrid as a back up to left back or centre back. That was the only deal I had planned until I had a £3m offer from St. Etienne for second choice goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. I accepted and replaced him with 36 year old Argentine Nacho Gonzalez on a free transfer. With a bit of money now in the bank, I decided I might as well use it to strengthen an area of the squad. I signed Bogdan Stancu for £625, 000. That meant I could send young striker Imanol Agirretxe out on loan to Eibar.

Fixtures & Results

[Screenshot]
As you can see from the screenshot the results have been good despite a bit of a shaky start where we were around mid-table for the first seven or eight games. Since the Cadiz defeat, things have really picked up, we’ve been in the top three promotion places since and have been on a nine game unbeaten run, winning eight of them. At the moment we’re sitting comfortable at the top of the league. [Screenshot] Bogdan Stancu has been out since the Ferrol game with strained knee ligaments and is expected to be out for another month, which is a blow.

The Atletico result in the cup was pleasing, although it could have been more. [Screenshot] Xabi Prieto missed a penalty late on which would have put us in a much better position going into the second leg, which is the first game of the new year. We did well to restrict Atletico to long range efforts and took our chances when they came, apart from the penalty of course! It would be good to go through into the next round, but promotion is my main concern this season.

Squad

[Screenshot]
Stancu has been without doubt the star man so far this season. 16 goals in 16 starts (one sub appearance) is brilliant. Those 16 goals also include three hatricks.
Xabi Prieto has also been outstanding. He has 15 assists (yes, most from corners!) But he has also chipped in with some important goals too.
Skoubo has scored some very important goals and most of his goals have come from the bench.
Gari has a decent tally too, but I wouldn’t want to rely on him too much to score the goals, he does tend to miss a lot of chances.
Ansotegi and Mikel Gonzalez have played most games at centre back with each other and have been solid there.

Coming Up…

In January
Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg vs Atletico Madrid (and possibly a 5th round tie)
Elche (Away)
Numancia (Away)
Sporting (Home)

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