COMPETITION - The Saved Game Challenge
Football Manager is well known amongst gamers as being one of the most time-consuming games around, and on the SI Forum grown men have held endless confessional threads whereby they admit the extent to which FM has at some stage consumed their social life entirely. (Click here to read an example)
So, fancy a short-term challenge and the chance of winning a goodie-bag into the bargain? Read on...
The gist is basically this - you download the file that we've posted on this page (it's a normal FM 2007 saved game file). Sift through the five challenges of varying difficulty, pick one that suits you, load up the game, take over as manager, and see if you can pull off that feet of FM excellence!
Understanding us so far? If not, full instructions appear below, but firstly onto the challenges themselves.
The date is March 9th 2007, the current English season is entering it's final furlong and clubs and fans all over the country are beginning to get what Sir Alex Ferguson likes to describe as 'squeaky bums'. But for five clubs this backside squeakiness has reached a maximum high, and the fans are looking to you to carry them over the finishing line following the departure of their current boss.
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Tottenham Hotspur - (Difficulty - ***)
Martin Jol's former team look shertain to shecure shome shilverware, but the Dutchman makes a shock departure from White Hart Lane. With Spurs sitting top of the Premier Division and making steady progress in both the Euro Cup and FA Cup fans are beginning to dream of an unlikely treble. One team looks likely to stand in their way though - London rivals Chelsea. Mourinho's men have games in hand on you in the league, and are still in the Euro and FA Cup themselves.
Your mission - To stave off both Chelsea and Arsenal and claim Spurs' first title for 46 years, and follow that up with either of the other two cups.
Added info - Burnley and Feyenoord await in each of the cups, and trips to Anfield and Stamford Bridge in the league mean the run-in won't be easy. Notable additions to the squad include Alan Smith and Leighton Baines, though Edgar Davids and Jermain Defoe have departed to pave the way.
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Luton Town - (Difficulty - *****)
Kenilworth Road is buzzing after an indifferent start to the season, Luton have got their act together and looked like promotion candidates in February. However, as so often is the case, a good FA Cup run has resulted in a dip in league form and The Hatters are currently lying in 12th spot. In a tight league you're only four points off a play-off spot and seven off automatic promotion - and best of all, you're about to play an historic FA Cup Quarter Final against Wigan Athletic.
Your mission - Now this is tough, but would ultimately cement your name as a Luton legend if you can pull it off. Get Luton back into the top flight by any means necessary and top that off by becoming the first club outside the top flight to win the FA Cup since West Ham in 1980.
Added info - Four games against Midlands clubs Birmingham, Wolves, Coventry and Stoke (all above you in the table), make for a treacherous run-in, so balancing your starting line-up between league and cup is a must. Brkovic has flown the nest, while veterans Don Hutchison and Bryan Hughes have joined the payroll.
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Stafford Rangers - (Difficulty - ***)
Eleven games remain, and Conference newbies Stafford find themselves in an unprecedented position. 4th in the table and just five points off top spot, the Rangers faithful are staring league football in the face for the first time in their history. But disaster strikes as prolific striker Guy Madjo picks up an injury that will rules him out for much of the remainder of the season.
Your mission - Inspire a team of part-timers to their greatest ever achievement without the services of their start striker - league football and back-to-back promotion campaigns are your goal.
Added Info - Madjo is missing for a month so he'll need replacing, but there are plenty of candidates in the reserve and youth teams. Your run-in, surprisingly, doesn't include games against any of the three teams above you, but every game is tricky at this stage of the season in the Conference.
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Leigh RMI - (Difficulty - *****)
Poor old Leigh, they're having a nightmare season down at Hilton Park. With nine games to go they've won just twice in their last eighteen games (though they have only got five wins all season), and are sitting ugly at the foot of the Conference North table. For the average of 236 people who have been turning up to watch Leigh week-in week-out, hope must have all but faded - until you come along that is!
Your mission - To achieve the unachievable - overturn a nine-point deficit to guide Leigh out of the bottom three to safety in the mere space of nine matches!
Added info - Your assessment is going to have to be quick as none of your squad is exactly setting the world alight. Put simply, where do you look? The reserves? The youth team? Who knows? But, wherever you look you'd better find something quickly.
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Accrington Stanley - (Difficulty - *)
You can't accuse Stanley of not having history or experience, though admittedly this is their first league campaign for 45 years. But ultimately, they may well be most famous for a certain milk advert in which Ian Rush advises a young boy to drink lots of the white stuff, or face up to a struggling career down at The Crown Ground. But, back in the big time Accrington started the season positively before the inevitable lack of resources saw them struggle. Now sitting one spot above the relegation places, they need one last ten-game push to secure their status for a second season.
Your mission - Survival is the word, staying in 22nd position is the target.
Added info - Striker Paul Mullin and Michael Reddy have forged a formidable partnership and keeping them in form is key. Elsewhere the squad is fairly slender so keeping players fit in the congested run-in is also vital for your survival hopes.
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Once you've picked your challenge here's a quick run-through of downloading, storage instructions for the file itself and how to enter the competition (it's all very simple):
1. Download the file
2. Save it to your Sports Interactive games file (usually C:My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2007/games)
3. Load up FM 2007 and click 'load game'
4. Load up the 'Saved Game 1' file.
5. Add yourself as a new manager and take over the club of your choice.
6. And you're ready to rock.
7. But don't forget to write your 500-word report on how the challenge went and send it in to us at myquestion@footballmanager.net. The most entertaining will be posted on the site and you'll be given a free FM goodie bag (deadline December 15th)
Remember - there's nothing to stop you taking over another team if you spy a challenge that tickles your fancy more, and good luck!
Discuss this story in the SI Games forums
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