Best Manager Ever

Since I have been home, I play a lot of my PS2. Well, really I just enjoy playing Fifa 06 in Manager Mode.

For those of you who have never played this before, it is really simple, you are a new manager starting out, you get to choose a team to sign with, then you choose a sponsor for your team (to get bonus money etc you need to be able to fulfil specific requirements) and then off you go. You get the players on your team and then you can buy and sell as much as your budget will allow you (and as many bids as they let you have!).

You have to organise the formation of your team, your starting 11, the subs and the reserves. You have to make sure that you are keeping everyone as happy as you can because otherwise if someone is injured or suspended, then the player in for them ends playing crap and you lose. Also, the more a player plays, the more expereienced they become. Getting the players young and on long contracts also keeps your slary costs down because the more expereinced players (providing they are decent) have a higher salary and they cost more to buy.

You can check on a players stats, how well they are doing, how they fit into your team, their morale etc and then in this way you know whether you should be selling them or putting them on loan or promoting or dropping them in rank on your team. It can take some getting used to when you start with a new team because you do not know the players, but once you know them, then you can have a great time.

As a manager you are ranked on how many things you have accomplised. When you start out you always have to have a loser team because no big team will risk you and then the board of the club will usually just want you to be in the top half or sometimes just avoid relagation LOL. If you are choosing a team in the 2nd devision, then you also have the chance of promotion with your team. That can also be quite fun.

As a manager you have to build up the team chemistry, the more and better they play, the higher it goes. Then you have to keep the fans happy and make sure you keep your job secuirty high or you will lose your job.

At the end of every season you can choose to stay with your club or to move on. I personally do prefer to try and stay, but then if you can move to a bigger club or you just do not like the club you are at, then you can bugger off.

This time I began my journey in the Bundesliga with FC Köln for no reason other than the fact that I had been to the stadium LOL. They were an okay team rated with 3 stars (you can have up to 5 depending on the quality of your players). Now, one must also remember that my game begins in 2006, so most of the players we know now are little babies. I wonder what really FCK 3 star because quite honestly, the only player I found to be making the team do anything at all is Lukas Podolski. We finished with an okay top half position and at the end of the season I left the club.

I so wanted to manage Stuttgart, only because it feels a bit stupid playing with my vfb controller and having another team, but sadly with little expereince, it was back to the same old clubs to choose from. I ended up at Hannover 96 for no real reason, I just went there. They were rated 3 star and so I went to try my luck.

Well, what a different team, full of a lot more potential than my last team. I have managed to be able to get a solid foundation going for the teamm and their greatness and build upon that. I have been there now for just a little over 3 seasons and while the team differs greatly from the original one I began with, there are still some of the original players as well as some fantastic new signings!

My constant and consistent back pairing for the past seasons (and continuing on now) of Vinícius and Mertesacker have been a solid rock. I have played around a lot with my midfield and finally settled on a 4-1-2-1-2 formation which means I have a CDM and a CAM. I came to settle on this after I went and poached Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich. They were not using him, so I took him and got a good bargain. I bet they are sorry now because I turned him into a great player. Mind you, he will score some goals and then the next thing you know the bloke is getting a red card. He is my captain now.

Not everything has been a success with players though. One time I got Gomez on loan from Stuttgart and he was so crap I gave up on him! Then again, later they had him up for loan again and I managed to convince them to sell him to me and I have not looked back, I made him great, but it was a bumpy start (he even came to me with no morale at all). And then there is Poldi, that ungrateful little shit. He was up for sale, my team was going well, we had won the Pokal and came 2nd and then 1st in the league and were playing in the CL and doing great, I bid for him and he told me my team was not good enough for him! HA! Then you know where he goes? Middlesbrough. WTF?! Honestly. They don't even play CL football and I know for sure they do not go winning the league. Oh god, some players are so weird. Well, anyway, he can go to hell I got Gomez and made him Mr Goalmachine and we win everything.

I have now won with 96 every trophy we can in our competition. I think there is 5 or so, but whatever, we have won it. We are the best and I am working on getting that last half a start to make us 5 stars. Actually, we are so close to it, but I just need a little bit more money to get the better staff in and we will get to 5. Then we really will be unstoppable.

Look out for me in the future. I am the best football manager there is ;-)