Talking about Football Manager 2010

Tough economic times meant that it took me a while to get the spare cash to purchase Football Manager 2010, but I eventually managed and played one full season of testing, as I always do before starting the "real" game. I felt sad that I only managed to purchase the game about one month after it got released, but it made me value the importance of enjoying a product to its complete value: I kept playing FM2009 even though I did not update this blog anymore and I managed to end my Andria challenge pretty well, in the Italian First Division, battling for a spot in the European Cups.

I first started Football Manager 2010 with Newcastle United, one of my all time favorite teams - the same I started to manage back in 1996 when I played the first game in the series (named Championship Manager back then) and I realized that it's always better to manage a lower-league, low profile club - I never liked to grab a top club like Manchester United, like Real Madrid or AC Milan, but instead I love to grab a low division club, strive to find the best players for that level and slowly make my way to the top spot, with the plan of challenging European glory...

With Newcastle United was a bit different - being new with Football Manager 2010 I didn't do all the things right, especially tactics-wise I was a complete failure (and only after a few months into the season I fount the "Advanced" button on the team instructions, to set up the Corners...) I failed miserably to go up to the Barclay's Premier League and I almost got myslef fired after a poor finish at number 9.

What I didn't like about the game was the fact that each time I managed to score, just seconds afterwards most of the teams would score back and tie the game - that drove me mad and I couldn't find any solution to this problem, even though I tried changing tactics immediately after a goal, substituting players and whatnot. I don't really like the new tactics menu because I was used with the previous one, but I do understand that a change was needed and, even though in theory the game got a lot easier with the highlighting of the most important stats for the players on specific positions, I do realize that it gets even harder to create the perfect tactic for Football Manager 2010.

And that will be the quest with my new challenge, alongside many others, like promoting to the first division (this time I will start in England with a low profile English club, most likely in the Blue Square) and becoming a glorious manager. I consider myself a newcomer to Football Manager 2010 since I have only played it for several hours, I have no shortlists of players, no tactics - nothing. I will be a real manager this time and I hope you'll enjoy the ride.

Also, I will focus more on "story telling" aka my challenge rather than tons of posts with tactics, lists of players and so on. I doubt that I could provide much value with my sub par scouts, anyways :)

I will set up the game right away and start playing my new Football Manager challenge - remember to check back soon to find out everything about it and I hope you'll find the stay as enjoyable as you did in the past with Andria.