Meanwhile I encountered in my new Game two (or maybe just one) bugs:

Manager Name – Football Manager 2010 offers a new option of addressing managers by their name. While some may think this tiny feature suppose to address managers by their first name, what it actually does is addressing managers by their last name and then their first name.

Players Contracts – If you happen to play previous versions of Football Manager you probably known that sometimes there is a database error (array access out of bounds) that simply prints out the value of requested wage wrong (£90 per week).
Player Contracts Bug – Screenshot

Riz Remes from Sports Interactive team provided some information about this bug in Sports Interactive forums:

-This is not related to any player in particular, it seems to be some sort of a corruption of the screen data as you can see from the screenshots above (wage request is distorted, job type menu not available).
-This is a screen issue only, so just a cosmetic issue. The player will not accept the distorted wages and if you make a new contract offer the screen should be fine with normal wage request etc.
-If you encounter this early on when starting a new game, try to make a note of the things you did before this happened and see if you can get it to happen again from a new game and let us know if you can.

See ya, gonna play the demo!

The demo, per usual, comes in two versions: “Strawberry” and “Vanilla”.

Strawberry include:

• Quickstarts for the following countries: Brazil, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Wales.
• Language packs: Danish, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.
• Full assets: including player pictures, club logos, competition logos, etc for where we have the license. Full pitch textures, stadiums and sounds.

Download Links:

PC: (999MB / 1,046,493KB)

Download via Steam [What is Steam?]

Download via Game Shadow

Download via Worthplaying

Download via Fileplay

Download via Big Download

Download via Rapidshare (download is in multiple RAR format)

Download Torrent File [What is Torrent?]

Mac: (979MB / 1,002,840KB)
Download via Worthplaying

Download via Fileplay

Download Torrent File[What is Torrent?]

Vanilla include:

• Quickstarts for the following countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
• Language packs: English only
• Stripped assets: including no player pictures, club logs, competition logos, sounds, etc

Exclusively available through Mirror Football Vanilla Demo Download

Except the joy of being promoted, this phenomenon also had positive side effects. The players value tags jumped drastically as a result of the increased team reputation, what also resulted in enhancement of the resources at my possession. My wage budget was doubled, allowing me to adjust sums in order to buy players attached to other clubs. Yippee.

I decided not to fill the hole in my defense, and to give the first team shirt to last season rotation player Alessandro Larini. The big shoes of Rispoli were filled by two talented strikers – the first, his very team-mate from Atalanta named Fabio Zambalera whose speed and finishing ability gave him the highest price tag at my team (I guess reputation also had something to do with that); The second is also a natural fast striker but with much more experience – 26 year old, from Serie A team Catania – lethal Giovanni Longobardi. These two shall be given lots of playing time I’m afraid, because of a pre-season injury occured to my technical striker Gaetano Ferruggia. In addition to these two I also signed Gabriele Sanci, 18, from Juventus youth academy and a rising star from Moldova named Arthur Patras; I discovered the latter while checking Poli 1921, a Romanian team known for producing one of the bargains in the game – Gabriel Torje (just to satisfy your curiosity, French-side Toulouse bought him for £1.5M). Oh, and I also loaned a young goalkeeper from Atalanta to be my second goalkeeper, named Simone Colombi, let’s hope I won’t be forced to use him.

On the other side of the transfer curve I received repeated (gosh, NO MEANS NO!) transfers offers for my captain and right back – Michele Lestani, striker Sergio Ercolano (heading monster, he is) and my right winger Luca Piraccini. I wasn’t too impressed with those offers despite the highest one reaching £72K (bear in mind, these players value stood on 5 to 10 thousands just two months ago). My team financial status has worsen, however, and I do hope I’ll be able to hold onto these players at least until next season.

Furthermore, in a desperate try of improving the financial status I decided to release all U-19 and reserves players for free and pay £320K as compensation. It’s true that this is a high sum overall, and perhaps it was a mistake but when you look on the long run I was going to pay the very same amount of money through their wages, so I’d rather dispose them once and for all allowing my better players more training attention and generally less headache. The compensation sum decreased from the bank balance and not my transfer budget, so it’s all good, I guess.

Here is my squad; Whoever written first is usually the starting player but there are secondary positions that I didn’t write otherwise it was a complete mess.

GK: Enrico Rossi Chauvenet; Simone Colombi
DR: Michele Lestani; Jacopp Maria Mariani
DL: Silvio Novelli; Luca Buonocunto
DC: Alessandro Larini; Matteo Scarone
MR: Luca Piraccini; Gruter Andre
ML: Gabriele Venuti; Arthur Patras; Stefano Giola
MC: Andrea Bandiera, Andrea Campagnolo, Claudio Squadrani
AMC: Gabriele Sanci
FC: Fabio Zamblera, Giovanni Longobardi
ST: Sergio Ercolano, Gaetano Ferruggia

What enthused me to load up Football Manager again after a long period of inactivity, was the Champions League matches. This enthusiasm was tuned down immediately by the changing license ads and loading time of the game. I honestly believe that Sports Interactive should restore FM’s opening to what it used to be few years ago – a clickable badge and no more.

I clicked on the ‘New Game’ icon, and shortly after found myself facing colorful flags. The Italian leagues caught my attention, also with medium database so my machine won’t explode when FM sets up shortlists.

Then I was facing the biggest dilemma of starting a new game – who should I manage?
I already had in mind what type of game I’m looking for, thus, I searched for the club with the lowest estimated value and chose it with no seconds thoughts.

£50k, Serie C2/A side Mezzocorona (meaning in English: Mezzo/a – half, Corona – crown) is my first try of low league management in FM 08.

Mezzocorona was promoted from the Serie D last year, and play in the Serie C2 for the first time in the club history. Touted to finish 16th it was rather obvious that I’ll be facing a long, hard season.

With no money available, no scouts and a bank balance of £40k (which dropped drastically each month) I had to use the search function to find any adequate players. It felt wrong, because the LLM rules state that searching is unrealistic and thus off limits, but considering I offered trials to each of the players I signed, it somehow fell under the ‘OK’ category.

Alessandro Larini (Free)
Silvio Novelli (Free)
Jacopo Maria Mariani (Free)
Gabriele Venuti (Free)
Matteo Scarone (Free)
Gaetano Ferruggia (Free)
Gruther Andre (Free)
Marco Biffi (on loan from Atalanta)
Gabriele Zanon (on loan from Atalanta)
Federico Rispoli (on loan from Atalanta)
Sergio Ercolano (from Cavese for £1k)

Massimo Machi (to Cueno for £12k)

GK: Gabriele Zanon, Enrico Rossi Chauvent
DR: Michele Lestani, Matteo Scarone
DL: Silvio Novelli, Loca Bouncounto
DC: Marco Biffi, Alessandro Larini, Jacopo Maria Mariani
MR: Luca Piraccini, Luca Nizetto, Gruther Andre
ML: Gabriele Venuti, Stefano Giola
MC: Andrea Campagnolo, Claudio Squadrani, Andrea Bandiera, Giovanni Lavrendi
FC: Federico Rispoli, Gaetano Ferruggia, Sergio Ercolano

Serie C Cup

Each C side enters this competition in the group stage, and plays against opponents from different levels. There are twenty-two groups, five teams in each group.

It didn’t go very well, I lost all of my four matches (including a lost to a team that doesn’t play in a competitive league) and ended up 5th in my group. Luckily the board and supporters just wanted to enjoy the experience of participating.

One bizarre thing about this competition is that 2nd places do go up to the next level depends on the points and goals balance. I didn’t know that until it was too late.

PLD 4 / Won 0 / Drn 0 / Lst 4 / For 3 / Ag 8 / Pts 0

Serie C2/A

Oh, this was pure magic. At first I was struggling, a win here and there but then I went on 16 matches unbeaten run that placed me 1st. I remained there for the entire season and won the championship with a squad that predicted to see the Serie D again.

PLD 34 / Won 20 / Drn 8 / Lst 6 / For 55 / Ag 23 / Pts 68

Mezzocorona 4:2 Cueno

Two quick goals from Rispoli and Venuti from the spot made it 2-0 after 8 minutes. Cueno didn’t lose their heads though, Barbieri and Chiaria equalized 5 minutes from the break. Venuti added another one in the 66th minute, and I had to handle weird 4-2-4 and 2-3-5 formations from Cueno – throwing everything at my goal; It turned out to be two-edged sword and Rispoli scored on a counter his second to make it amazing 4:2.

I’m now participating a 3 teams group called the Serie C2 Super Cup; Competing against the champions of the other Serie C2 leagues.

The feature can be found easily, located on the profile of each player screen (with the exception of grey non-existent players), and can also be accessed by right-clicking on a player’s name. This feature has a direct effect on individual morale, and depends on the scenario can be used to rise-up a certain group confidence.

Talking to the press is a common act from any widely-known footballers and managers. In fact, during their periods we’re often introduced to diversity of human personalities, which we can accept, admire and sympathies with – but more likely to giggle and chuckle on. Take Chelsea for example, and the colorful personnel that usually stand in its head. Jose Mourinho had been a media-circus when managed Chelsea, his arrogance was inequivalent to any of the meek English managers at that time and thus the media choose to review his actions months after his sack. His inheritor, Avram Grant, is completely the opposite – yet he provides daily circus just as his former on the job.

Sports Interactive try of making the game interactive and realistic can only be admired, but should be taken into some degree of consideration. You won’t get the chance to snigger on Grant’s poor English, and not because such a pleasure requires a license agreement. The mixture and range of options is so immense, endless, that even the great brains out there cannot think of a better interface than what the game offers at this moment. Certainly, it should not be the focus of the game ( though unfortunately, real-life minds occasionally think otherwise), but a nice little touch that makes you smile/angry for a second due to its unbearable simplicity.

Through a simple observation one can effortlessly differ communication with the players in his possession, to other staff. “Talking” to your own players will give several criteria, depends on the scenario and actual facts: Recommendations, Form, Rest & Tutorship. Doing so with other players will give you this choice of discussions: Declare Interest, Admire, Admire Youngster, and Mark as Danger/Weakness on next game. Each of these has gradually increasing intensity of talk, and different effect.

These are some general tips I managed to compile from my own experiences, I’m sure they have some flaws and I highly-recommend on adopting the trial and error method.

+ Interaction concerns mainly players’ personalities. There are dozens of personalities, but overall the four most common ones are Balanced, Determined, Ambitious and Professional. The personality can be visible at times, but on the occasions it’s hidden I suggest checking mental attributes such as Determination, Influence and Work Rate to get a general idea of the personnel you’re about to comment.

+ The ‘PR’ icon suggests a player has reacted to a manager comment. While you can see your players’ reactions, the opponents’ ones are hidden. Generally, a good indicator of reaction is the morale change of the player.

+ When in doubt, always check the morale. Trying to decrease morale of a player that already has a ‘Very Poor’ confidence isn’t beneficial, and more than often dangerous.

+ It’s a simple common-sense; Try not to do the following (my mistakes are you experience, I admit) – asking for a staff recommendation from a player that has no favourite staff members, nor players; Criticizing/Praising players inconsistently to their form, average rating at the performances expected from them; Resting a player who doesn’t need resting, or looking forward to play competitive football; Declaring interest in higher reputation players, who considered to be unrealistic acquisitions;

+ You’ll make mistakes, and your talks will have mixed reactions. Use the notes system to monitor players’ responses. This way you won’t upset your players again over the same thing.

+ Age is an important factor. Don’t expect too much from your kids; A good way of checking for any ‘can’t stand the pressure’ youngsters is commenting on other clubs and by that receiving the ‘diverted media’ reaction.

For a further reading, I strongly recommend The Next Diaby immense guide of interactivity, called ‘Communication and Psychological Warfare’. It offers in-depth tips and assessments of this feature.

Manager

Funky Manager is unproven manager from a distant country, who likes to play a simple yet complicated 4-4-2 variations with a balanced playing mentality. Thorough, disciplined and with no sense of humor whatsoever – he is not a guy that you would like to meet in a dark corner street (mainly because there must be hell of a reason of why he should wander around there, instead tweaking his two tees).

Assistant Manager

Massimo Carli, or in shorten, MC. Young little assistant manager with great passion for kids, youngsters, reserves and other nonsense that serves no point despite what the guides say. Responsible for arranging friendly-matches, playing them and occasionally giving training reports. He’s fairly known for being a sniffy bastard that wanders around players, and assessing their morale – paradoxically, his very existence and monitoring should have demonstrated Heisenberg uncertainty principle, but that would be too realistic.

Coach

Marco Logafeld, whose name nobody actually knows but the author of this masterpiece. All personnel call him ‘coach’, even his wife. He has unexplained desire for movement – carriages, planes and flying couches are his special treat.

GK Coach

Lucio Bighellini, a name which everybody knows but no-one remember. In fact, nobody actually see him except of the goalkeepers, which is worrying considering the vast amount of money he’s getting. Recently invited to Ghost Whisperer.

Fitness Coach

Andrea Valli is actually the club nutritionist , telling the players how to eat healthy and exercise well. He’s famous for experimenting with new methods in his profession, trying to get the best out of players using natural medicines – inspired by Bob of ‘Fight Club’.

Physio

Michele Tomassini isn’t really a staff member, but the local male massage chair. It’s getting a monthly payment for keeping the men fit, their body relaxed and no injuries. It also has a lovely nickname amongst the players – Jigsaw.

“I’m very critical. Not only when it goes about game play in general, but especially when we talk about a match engine.
Yes, the FM match engine works better as there are less flaws and obvious bugs than in the CM match engine.

But.

There is something else that does not just measure in bugs and flaws.
The longer I’m playing the CM2008 demo there is something I can only describe as “fun factor” in watching the 3-D engine.
Okay, there are moments when playing FM when I stand up and cheer because I did won a cup, championship, promotion.

But.

In the CM2008 demo I had some moments just when I have seen a perfect header goal. Which is something I always have to guess in FM.
In CM2008 you can see the header.
BGS brought something back to the game that was always part of CM:

Emotion.

Bugs and flaws can be patched, but emotions is something more difficult to create.
You are on the right path.” – KUBI, administrator of LLMAddicted & Get Managing

The community is split on the question of whether a 3d match engine would be a good addition to the data sheet – some just love watching dots bouncing around after scoring a goal, others watch the commentary and use their FIFA-inspired imagination to keep up with the game. The real question is… Can Sports Interactive succeed in presenting a high-standard 3d match engine? Much popular games such as FIFA 08′ and Pro Evolution struggle, and they have much more experience than our newbie SI.

I played Total Club Manager 2005 (now FIFA Manager) and it was really shambolic to see that I win matches while watching the 3d engine, and lose when watching commentary (I didn’t tweak anything, so perhaps that’s the reason?). I do hope that this won’t be the case whenever Miles Jacobson decide it’s show-time.

As always though, we men want the perfect combination of knowledge (Football Manager) and beauty (FIFA Manager), but settling for comfort (the wife).

After a quick sniff through their research team website I found some interesting database-packs available there, so make sure you check them out if you fancy some exotic challenges in your current 08′ copy!

“I just want to know what the opinion here is. This version was awful on release. 8.01 made it usable but still many issues which made the game very difficult to enjoy. 8.02 seems to have added new issues. Now, teams are scoring 3 goals a game on average. This included a game between Rangers and Gretna that finished 11-1. I also see the board confidence problem when you lose a promotion playoff is not listed as being fixed….I hope it has!!!!!” – FM-Britain

(Editor note: It hasn’t, sorry buddy).

“i dont want to go on and on but i just carnt play 8.02 i just find it to unrealistic and very easy …
ive tried playing 8.01 for the last few days and it got my blood boiling it seems not matter who i have up front i have 25 shots on goal and score just once…
with the 8.02 i have 15 shots and score 5 …
so to an exstent i carnt play either and im sure im not the only one…
dont get me wrong i appreciate everything si have done over the years but for me this has to be the worst release yet…” – SI-Games

Sports Interactive programming crew do seem to be aware of the problem, asking for any constructive feedback on the goals ratio of 8.0.2 version.

However, despite finding such a major bug they don’t feel a 8.0.3 is needed – and their main goal will be FM 2009.