heres a new great manager game for the ones interested

http://www.anco.co.uk/playermanager/home.php

Ive just bought it personaly think its great


downloading patch 3 hours : ).

5 minutes...;)

Can you tell me more about this game?

hold on I have a very good read me tells everything

the game is by the mighty programmer Steve Screech (Kick Off)

These are his word for Player Manager 2003 :

Player Manager 2002-2003

Blood sweat and tears. This product has been a true labour of love
for the two of us. The two of us being myself Steve Screech and my
partner in this particular crime Anthony Kyne. This game has been
written oven quite a long period of time but not in one stretch,
there have been breaks and delays that at the time we could have done
without but with hindsight may have allowed the gameplay to settle
down somewhat and for ideas to develop a little more fully. This game
doesn't pretend to be as statmungus and 100% accurate to real life
as Championship Manager but instead is aimed at a more personal style
of game where the emphasis is on the relationship of the players and
manager and also on your tactical awareness. The beauty of the game
is that you can see in as much detail as you want exactly what is
happening on the field of play. There are some things that really do
not translate well to figures and stats, for example when i was
managing Leigh RMI of the conference i had a young player that
whenever i brought him on as a substitute he would just worry the
opposition defence, he would harry and chase and generally create
mischief without scoring a sack full of goals or anything like that.
This would be very difficult to accurately portray in figures alone
so we feel that there really is no substitute for watching the game
as it happens and being able to see everything rather than what
somebody else has deemed you SHOULD see. Ok well enough of this blah
and onto some examples and hints and tips that we've come up with
during our exhaustive testing and tuning sessions.

Firstly lets deal with those tactics......
From our experience as you progress through the game you'll need to
tune and tweak your tactics at fairly regular intervals. Even when
things are going fine there are usually areas where you might want to
improve a little here and there. Ok back to my experiences with my
Leigh team. Starting in the conference i couldn't try anything too
complex as the players just aren't up to it. I found it best to try
and lock up the defence with a back 4 or 5 initially to stem the flow
of goals and from there work forward and attempt to tune up the rest
of the team as i went along. After a degree of consistencey was
attained then i could be a little more progressive. The more you get
to understand the capabilities of the players you have the easier it
is to set up a tactic that will suit them. After a couple of seasons
in the conference i felt confident enough to progress to my prefered
3 across the back formation allowing me to pack a little more punch
into the midfield and so on. At first the tactic designer may appear
to be a little simplistic but you will soon realise that even the
slightest changes can produce quite dramatically different results.
Left click and drag allows players to make specific runs both
defensive and attacking. This is indicated by the white chalk lines
on the tactical display. Right click and drag allows players to feed
specific areas of the field or even particualr players and this is
indicated by the red chalk lines. There are some special instructions
that can be handed out to players and these work as follows.....

Longball: This is self explanitary so i won't insult your intelligence
by even going there!

Distribute: This attempts to get your player to lay the ball off as
quickly as possible. Not good for slowing the game down but certainly
helps to get moves flowing. Some players will naturally do this
anyway but for those who don't this instruction helps.

Byeline Crossing: This will make your player try and make driving
runs down to the byelines before cutting the ball back or crossing.

Early Crossing: This will try and make your player angle balls in
diagonally across the box.

Hold Position: This will attempt to curb a players instinct to wander
out of position and get dragged about. Instead he will try and follow
his tactical instructions far more closely.

Battle: This can be used to get a player to chase and harry a little
more. Some players will be naturally combative but there are some
that need more than a little persuasion to get stuck in. This
instruction should help along those lines.

Take Them On: A player with this instruction will play a far more
blinkered game making him far more selfish. Not something you'd
really want to give to a defender but something that works well some
times with wingers and forwards.

Freerole: This works in differnt ways with different types of
players. A forward with a freerole will try and find gaps in the
opposition defensive lines and attempt to exploit what he finds
whereas a midfielder with it will look for space in the middle of the
park. A winger would tend to look for space down the flanks but again
this is not one that would be to well suited to defenders.

A players prefered role will effect how a player approaches his game.
If you were to play a defender upfront he would act in a different
way than a forward etc so bare this in mind and it will allow for
even more tactical variety.

Ok well thats enough about those for now, there are a lot of
subtleties to be played around with in there so time instead to move
on to the players and their abilities.....

Left, Right & Centre: This is where a player feels most at home. If
you play a player in an area other than where he feels most comfy
then his performance will be effected. For instance a winger with
Right and Centre can play fine in those positions but put him on the
left and you'll find that his tendency will be to cut back onto his
right foot rather than whipping in crosses with his left. These
skills are not set in stone however. Sometimes you will see a player
that you will feel could fill a particular specialised role ie an
attacking midfielder needed to play behind the front two or right
wing back but he is not comfy in those areas. A player can gain more
confidence in these areas by either playing there on a repeated basis
or by specialist training.

Skills: These are the basic abilities that your players will have.
Shooting, Passing, Tackling, Ball Control, Dribbling, Keeping,
Deadball & Heading. These will slowly improve through training and
experience. Here are a couple of examples of how these abilities
work.....
Shooting is a players shooting brain, a player with better shooting
will attempt to shoot more often across the keeper and will strike
his shots a lot cleaner. Someone with lower shooting ability will
often snatch at his shots and place them poorly.
Deadball is a players ability at striking freekicks and corners etc.
A player with higher deadball ability will be able to curl the ball
more and have a much higher degree of accuracy than someone with
lesser ability. Deadball works in conjunction with other abilities
like passing and shooting to gain even greater effect.

Physical Attributes: It's one thing having the ability but it's quite
another to get into a position where you can use those skills. A
midfielder is of little use if he is too easily disposessed and a
defender is no good if his opponent need only knock the ball past him
to beat him. All the players in the game have Pace, Agility, Power,
Stamina, Resilience, Vision and Composure. This is how they work....
Pace is how quick a player is across the ground.
Agility is how sharply players can turn and move. A player with High
Pace and Agility will move quicker than one with only high Pace.
Power is a players physical presence. A player with high power will
hit the ball harder and also be tougher to knock off the ball.
Stamina is the rate at which a player tires through a game. As a
player tires his pace and resilience will suffer as well as his
skills.
Resilience is how well a player can ride challenges without getting
hurt.
Vision is how aware of the players around him a player is. Vision in
conjunction with passing will allow a player to spray balls around
the park and low vision in a forward will make him more blinkered.
Composure is how comfortable on the ball a player is. Someone with
low composure may panic on the ball and make mistakes because his is
rushing but someone with high composure will put his foot on the ball
and be calm. A forward with high composure will react far better at
one on one situations.

As well as these attributes, players have differing levels of
Aggression. Aggression is how a player controls his inner demons!
A player that has been skinning him time and time again goes past
him yet again, aggression might just make that player do something
that he'll regret in the dressing room, possibly sooner than he would
like!

Intelligence is something that will effect most things that players
will do. A player with low intelligence will drift out of position
easily and make foolish decisions and risks.

Consistency is how often a player can play to his potential. A player
with low Consistency will under perform frequently. Consistency is
something that i demanded of Leigh RMI team at an early stage. I
prefered a player to play at a consistent level even if it was poorer
that someone with better skills in theory but less consistent. This
way i knew exactly what i had on the field at any one time, i tended
to use the inconsistent characters as substitutes etc but that was my
method and everybody has a differnt style of management.

Fitness, Match Fitness and Fatigue. These all effect the performance
of a player. If a player is less than 80% fit he won't be allowed to
play in a competative match. Match Fitness increases as a player gets
more games under his belt. A player with low Match Fitness will be
rusty for a few games until he gets back into the swing of things.
Fatigue is both physical and mental and if allowed to build up too
much can be quite debilatating. Youngsters playing too often can become
mentally fatigued and burnt out if over used and older players can
just become thoroughly jaded through over use. Over training also can
fatigue players some older players so maybe it is best to let players
who suffer like this skip training.

Morale, Confidence and Complacency. Low Morale will effect a players
performance as will a lack of confidence. A spell in the reserves can
sometimes help to increase confidence as will a one on one chat with
a player so long as you carefully choose your words! Complacency can
dilute a players performances after a while so a spell on the
bench or some home truths might buck a players ideas up.

After playing the game for a while you'll notice that each player is
an individual. They have their ways of dealing with things, their own
friends, their own enemies even their own ways of celebrating. two
players who may look identical with their abilities side by side can
play totally differently from each other. Some players will gel your
team together even though they don't appear on paper to be that
special, and rarely is it that the most expensive player is your most
vital, often it is that ageing defender you brought in on a free from
Bristol Rovers or something like that.

this is how it continues.......



Player Talks: This will probably be an increasingly used facility the
more you play the game. You can build up a player or you can destroy
one in here. By telling some home truths you may be able to shake a
player out of a rut he's been stuck in, maybe a forward who just
isn't producing the goods that he was earlier in the season or possibly
a defender who feels he has his place guaranteed. By praising a
player you might be able to avert a personal crisis or an imminent
transfer request. By reading the riot act you can bring a player
crashing down but don't expect him to like it. You can also fine
players in here if necessary. Maybe a fine for a stupid suspension or
if a player has been causing trouble around the club. In player talks
you can set a players price too but be warned that if you over do it
and put a silly price on his head it may well effect the player.

Ok well enough of the details for a while and i'll give some examples
of what i found when i played my longest stretch of the game to date,
some 11 seasons with the Leigh RMI team. It took me my first 4
seasons to escape from the evil clutches of the conference. The first
season was spent trying to establish some kind of consistency and
shape. Using simplistic tactics i was able to gain a mid table
position after languishing at the depths for a fair part of the
season. Finding a regular goalscorer was a major problem. In the
second i was able to push on with the base that i'd created the year
before and ended up sneaking into the play offs via a late run. I
failed in the play off final against Stevenage after being an early
goal up and it was a gutting experience but i took heart from the
knowledge that i'd sorted out a front line that could score with some
degree of frequency. Season three saw a far greater degree of
consistency again and with my strike force firing on all cylinders i
was up fighting for that automatic promotion place for most of the
season but with a fairly settled side in place for the majority of
the time some complacency began to creep into our game, we'd leak
late goals too often and begin slipping up before we'd put a
team to the sword. In the end we had to be content with a play off
spot once again but failed to even make the final this time.
Despondent i went into season 4 determined to make it my last in this
accursed division. It was. I romped home with some 5 games left to
play and began pondering life in the 3rd division. How would we cope.
Well the gap between the 3rd division and the conference wasn't a
problem for the Leigh team and with a couple of well placed signings
we managed to squeeze into the 3rd automatic promotion slot. leigh
had arrived in the big time, well sort of. Season 6 and we were in
division 2, it seemed a long time ago we were playing part time
football. There was fair bit of culture shock now as we struggled to
find our feet for a while. Players who once could be depended on to
do a job were now just not up to the task anymore at this level.
Tactics changed and signings were made and it took most of the season
to adjust to the new surroundings. A mid table finish was a fair
reflection of our season.The following season, my seventh saw us
build upon our previous season and we snuck into that final promotion
slot again, by the skin of our teeth allbeit but promoted we were.
Season 8 was again culture shock time as we struggled to stay afloat
in the 1st division. A lot of player trading was done with some old
faces released and new players on bigger wages coming in. Some
players that were key to my team left me during the season for bigger
things and this caused a lot of reshuffling but i was put into a
position where i had no choice really. A lower half of mid table had
to suffice but i learned from this season and during the close season
brought Michael Duberry into the club on a Bosman. This one signing
although absolutely destroying our wage structure was key to the
success that we were to enjoy the following season. Our previous top
wage earner was Richard Cresswell who was on some 3 grand a week.
Duberry coined in some 35 grand a week. Cresswell didn't mind however
as he had a clause in his contract that guarnateed his wages would be
brought inline with the highest earner thus in one signing i had
added almost 70 grand to the weekly wage bill. Fortunately because we
had progressed up the leagues and not slipped down them our wage bill
was slight so this wasn't quite as crippling as it sounds. Our second
season in division one and my ninth in all saw us strong from start
to finish of the season and we were only pipped for the 1st division
on the last day of the season by Fulham. The captaincy of Michael
Duberry shone through during this season and made such a difference.
He held things together and ran the defence with great authority.
Cresswell netted some 37 goals during the course of the season too
and these two players played a major part in our rise to the promised
land. Season 10 and Leigh RMI are now a premier league outfit. This
was one hard hard hard season. There were times when i wondered where
our next goal was coming from. The gulf between the nationwide and
the premier league was immense. Cresswell never found his feet and
Duberry was left isolated and chasing shadows. Our chairman was
concerned with our form and members of the board thought that i'd
taken the club as far as i could. Rock bottom of the Premier league
in january and with the immenent transfer window closure who would
have thought that ageing Kenny Miller from Wolves would be our
saviour. We re worked our tactics for the umpeenth time that season,
slotted Kenny in and the goals started going in again, not exactly
flowing, more stuttering in but in they went none the less. We
finished 2 places above the drop zone come may and we'd survived our
baptism of fire..just. Season 11 saw us lose some familiar faces as
we had our midfield ripped out of us thanks to Everton and Manchester
Utd taking their pick of my talent. Season 11 saw us also say
farewell to Michael Duberry whos wage demands for the forthcoming
season proved to be too outrageous. This is where i am now as i write
this, i doubt if Kenny Millar will do the business again this season,
his early form on his arrival couldn't be maintained. I've a new
french forward called Martin Gagnier in who in theory looks superb
but has yet to score in our opening ten games...
During these 11 seasons i am yet to win a cup at all, failing when it
counts and suffering some embarassing defeats. Thats Leigh RMI for
you!

Ok well enough of that and back to a few more pointers on the game.

Computer Managers: These guys can be a pain in the neck as they
learn. They learn from their mistakes and they learn and analyse from
yours too. You may find that you can start the season well, and more
than ever in this game that can be crucial because as soon as you
show a weakness then it will be pounced upon and other managers will
catch onto this. Your opposite numbers will experiment with tactics
and formation variations until they find something that works well
for them and don't expect them to keep a constant formation during
a game either as they will be for ever tinkering and adjusting as the
course of the game twists and turns.

Training: You can help to mould players by carefully using training.
An inconsistent player can be turned around over a period of time for
example. There are various general areas of training that can be worked
on. You can develop a players ability to play on the left,right or
centre of the park. You can change the players prefered role or at
least attempt to meaning that he will end up thinking in a different
way on the field. A winger and a playmaker may both be midfielders
but they both think about the game in a totally different way. You
can also train players in Finishing, Keeping, Distribution, Movement,
Strength, Teamwork and Interception. Finishing takes care of not only
shooting but other aspects of a strikers game like composure and
agility. Interception is helpful for the defensive side of a players
game and Distribution is for his passing and general awareness.
Teamwork training helps a player to attain levels of consistancy and
increase his workrate. You can also elect to play a training game
that will pit your fisrt eleven against your second string. This is
very usefully for assessing trialists and adjusting tactics.

Agents: Each player in the game has an agent. These agents will
promote their players and push them to better themselves. By clicking
on the players agent you will be able to see an overview of his
character and also see other clients under his wing. An agent can
affect the way a player reacts during contract and transfer talks so
beware.

YTS Players: Often during the close season you will find YTS players
joining your club. These players are shown in green. You can play
them in the first team or reserve team but you cannot train them
specifically ,not until you have offered them proffesional terms.
They will stay until they reach 18 years of age and then if they
have not been offered a full time contract by then they will leave
your club.

Televised Games: Although there is nothing to indicate which games
are televised and which aren't it's not to difficult to sus out the
single game on the friday night and the single game on the sunday
afternoon are just that. In a televised game all things are
intensified, the same and joy are much greater as the game is played
out to a much wider audience. Win well on the T.V and morale will be
high, get crushed and things won't look too good at all.

The Internet Challenge: Shortly after this game is released there will be
available a internet challenge where you can send up your team and
challenge another player to a game.After the game is played you will
receive a breakdown of the game and your scores and points will be
logged. This way we can keep a log of the all time top player manager
teams. Can you beat the mighty Leigh RMI?? yes you can!

In Game Controls: There are some handy keys to remember when you are
playing the game..

F cycles through the 3 game speeds.
U fast forwards to the end of the half or will stop at a sending off
or injury.
H fast forwards to next goal.
+ & - zooms in or out of the action.
F1 or F12 calls for a substitute or change.
F2 Replay
F5 Ball trace on / off
F6 Name toggle
1 & 2 View cycle
< & > Sound Volume down & up

Steve Screech 24/10/02

ohhhh and ;)

lol

I think it is better than total club manager cause you can see every thing youve thought of going on the field in 3d mode.