5 Must Own Classic Football Manager Games For £4.68

by Chappers  10/08/2013 | 10:55 7 Posted in Best Stuff, Hype n News, Must Buys, Opinion 

I am about to give you 5 reasons to cheer up your FM 2013 blues, if you don’t own it already it’s now available from £10, but I’m going to give you 5 ways that you can spend even more time locked away pressing that space bar and keep you ticking over until November when 2014 comes out.

You don’t even know the best part yet, it’s all free, well next to free.

Let me tell you how I got to this, for the last few weeks I have been relentlessly loading up old FM saves, clicking space bar a few times than systematically getting bored and turning it off, this ain’t right, we need some fresh enthusiasm and I think I have the cure.

I just bought 5 awesome classic games online from Amazon (which by the way is far cheaper than anywhere online or off) and like a kid at Christmas I just can’t wait for the postman to come in the morning to drop them off, I got’em all for under a tenor including delivery, there’s some real classics here that are sure to sit in my collection for years to come.

For those who prefer playing on a PC/Mac

First up is the legendary Championship Manager 01/02, this has to be the most played game in football management game in history and for me has never been bettered.

Though compared to the previous release there wasn’t too many new features or additions apart from player masking being an optional extra, it was the gameplay itself that really got fans purring.

A game that is leaps and bounds above everything else for one reason alone, the balance between fun and football simulation was utter perfection and this alone set Championship Manager 01/02 apart from every other game in its class.

There was just enough ‘depth’ to the game and the right blend of tactical, transfer and skill was required to get through a season, which you could do at your own pace or super-fast if you wanted to hop through the years quickly.

For those who prefer a retro and no ‘faff’ management game, CM is by far the best instalment over the last 20 years and a must for every Football Manager fans’ collection.

You can get your hands on Championship Manager here from £1.65.

Next up is Football Manager 2005, what a game this was. With 158 divisions and 51 countries to choose from it was first game to also feature the media interaction element that is common-place in the more recent games.

Another awesome new feature of the 2005 version was the ability to start unemployed, this gave the user the ability to ‘play the field’ and possibly holiday for a number of days, months or seasons until the right job came up. Something that I thought really enhanced the options of the game.

Football Manager 2005 was the first FM to really have a smooth match engine, it was stripped right back and is a lot more predictable with dodgy players doing dodgy stuff and better players being more reliable from 4 yards.

You can get Football Manager 2005 from £0.71p here.

Console gamers

LMA Manager 2006 is the perfect accompaniment for the console gamer in need of a football management fix. Though the match engine and graphics are not on a par with its PC counterparts, they are plenty good enough for a console.

It’s retro feel coupled with a really cool menu system and a feature that I really liked in the ‘progression bar’, rather than seeing loads of arrows on FM you get one overall bar that shows the players progression in an easily manageable way makes this the best console option for those who like a pad in their hands.

Though the game didn’t get massively good reviews  these were because all were comparing it with FM on the PC, you simply can’t do that and for me this was massively unfair on this game, trust me its brilliant and will keep you entertained for hours.

You can buy LMA Manager 2006 here for 1p, yep that is one pence.

Second up for you console gamers is FA Premier League Football Manager 2000, though its available on PC and Playstation I reckon the console game is by far the better proposition.

LMA offers the player some awesome options and ways to build and manage your squad, think of all the players at the heights of their careers that you could sign, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, a young David Beckham?  That is enough to get the juices going and this is a great way of turning back the years and building a team that can only dream of bringing Wayne Rooney through the youth set up.

Like LMA Manager, this game is available from 1p, obviously you need to pay postage but that don’t count!

You can buy it here.

The Wildcard

I know it’s not really a ‘classic’ game yet but I had to throw this one in just for what it ‘meant’ to the Football Manager series, for me it is also the best FM since 2005 and one that I hope SI look into for the next release.

Football Manager 2011 is awesome, it just is, it’s the one that I spent the most time playing and one that has been lost by me in the transition from PC to Mac a few years ago, I just bought it, I cannot wait for this game, I will have a bear come next weekend when i smell, am pale and have no blood left in my fingers because this is going to be my life for the next week or more.

I can’t believe that its available on Amazon for £2.30, what a result.

Pretty much every review site out there gave this game a 9/10, most notably for its longevity and they are spot on.

For me the mix of classic old school players like Beckham, Ronaldinho and even the likes of Mark Viduka is a lure that I can’t resist, if you like Football Manager, any of the series, you have to own this game.

I feel like I just stole this game for £2.30 from here.

By my reckoning that’s 5 awesome games for a combined £4.68, what more could you want. I reckon that works out at less than 1p an hour for the enjoyment you will get out of all these, try going down the cinema with a chick for that!

I hope you enjoy the games, let me know if you buy them!