Arsenal, for example, are simply called 'London'. Sadly, lack of licences means that teams don't always have their correct names. The top two leagues from England, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany are all available to choose, meaning if you feel like a change from the drudgery of cold wet balls slapping your thigh during the good old English winter, you and your genius can scarper to the south of France. It's not just the Premier League that gets to sample your managerial greatness. Alternatively, if you're a typical shouty lower league Yorkshireman who prefers to just repeatedly scream 'Get yer bloody foot in!' over and over again, then there's even a slot for you. If you fancy being a Jose Mourinho-style media magnet, then simply choose that particular brand, and away you go. On paper, however, a game that looks much like a slightly colourful spreadsheet and doesn't even allow you to control things out on the pitch, seems about as exciting as a lifetime of accounting.īut Real Football: Manager Edition – shockingly, a managerial spin-off of the sublime Real Football 2008 – not only proves that this brand of gaming genius can offer up a tonne of excitement, but even be more exciting than forcing your overpaid winger to cut inside and lash a left foot strike right into the top corner of the old onion bag.Īfter an ample loading screen to initiate the game, you're prompted to enter all your details, including your own specific style of management. Look how many chubby managers hang around the top leagues, after all.

Which might explain the popularity of football management titles. But as you hit your early 30s, and your beer gut hangs quite impressively over your jeans, you have to admit the opportunity might have passed.

Many of us still harbour dreams of being spotted playing for our local pub teams on a Sunday morning, and being thrust into the starting line-up for a local derby against our biggest rivals.

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