Iain Macintosh

The Football Manager Guide to Football Management

If you are looking for hints on how to play the computer game Football Manager than jog on pal this book is not for you. This book is aimed at those who wish to be a football manager or coach, especially those who think that they can do better than their team’s current manager. I am not sure I can better my team’s manager as Pep Guardiola has a somewhat excellent reputation.

For those of us who need guidance to be on the road to fame fortune and football best pick this book up as it has plenty of help and wit. Iain Macintosh has written a book that is full of helpful entertainment, sorry, help, so that you too can rise to the dizzy heights of managing your own club.

With chapters that cover the important things in football such as tactics, training and first impressions, all the important things. As with most clubs there is always the much vaunted youth policy and with wit a chapter telling you to manage a youth policy or at least pillage a lower league team for all their young talent. While taking a neat side swipe at the Premier League’s youth academies and league and also mentions those who have no margin for error.

This is a fantastic and fun book that should be on every football fan’s book especially those that think they can do the job any way. There are plenty if laugh out moments in the book, along with a ‘did you know?’, in every chapter. So as well as having a laugh at what a manager has to do, but there is also plenty to learn throughout the book.

This is a book for all football fans that like a semi-serious but fun book.… (altro)

A satisfying, above-average book covering some of the more interesting aspects of the Championship Manager/Football Manager video game phenomenon. I was hoping/expecting something like Fever Pitch, bringing to mind 'Confessions of a FM Addict' or something, but for the most part it's actually a sort of retrospective looking back on how the games developed and their impact in general. It feels a bit unfulfilling at times, and some of the chapters fall short.

But for the most part it is entertaining stuff for long-time fans, who will no doubt nod their heads in agreement at some of the stories offered up here. My own FM story is actually more of a curse. Whilst I played as Barcelona back when they had Javier Saviola up front, and as Paris Saint-Germain when they had Ronaldinho, I am a Manchester United fan and always ended up playing as the Reds. I signed some great players but unfortunately, in real life these players - the top players who in my game would win Ballon d'Ors and the like (e.g. Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Sergio Agüero and Eden Hazard) - always signed for United's rivals in real life (the first three to Man City, Hazard to Chelsea). Recognising the curse, when I play the game now I mostly rely on youth players and regenerated players to supplement my squad. Whilst I know this is silly, on some level I like to believe this helps my club in real life.

Anyway, the book is particularly good at invoking feelings of nostalgia for those who have played the game's instalments year after year. It reminds us of Championship Manager/Football Manager legends like Cherno Samba, Tonton Zola Moukoko, Freddy Adu and Kennedy Bakircioglu, and even includes a particularly interesting chapter comprising of interviews with these players. It's funny how many footballers play the game, and how rueful and self-deprecating they are that they are not as good in real life.

I was hoping for more comprehensiveness regarding in-game legends, and many of my favourites from down the years are not even mentioned, including Freddy Guarín, Andrés D'Alessandro, Hélder Postiga, Kim Källström, Magne Hoseth, Mido, Taribo West, Robert Earnshaw, Anthony Vanden Borre, Igor Akinfeev, Belözoglu Emre and Víctor Hugo Aristizábal. I could go on. Football Manager Stole My Life is not a perfect book, but it is a nice tribute to the games and dedicated fans will enjoy the trip down memory lane.… (altro)