Football Manager Is More Than A Game

It's true to say that Football Manager is the best football simulation on the scene providing hours, sometimes days, of fun for anybody who's ever dreamed of taking a shot at being a boss. But what about using the brilliant engine and database as a tool to research and test your queries about the real game.

Many people now are taking to using FM as their first choice research tool ahead of internet sites and if you ever delved into the depths of the game, you can see why.

Want to know how good that youngster from Uruguay who has been linked with your club is? FM 2007 is as good a place to start as any. It's known that lots of managers refer to the game for help, stats and information.

With over 300,000 real players and members of staff in FM 2007, not to mention comprehensive accurate player and competition histories - this 'game' contains the largest football database that is available to the public.

We posted the question in the SI Games forums to find out how existing players get more from FM 2007 than just a management simulation…

Whenever Man United are linked with a new player (practically every day) I check out their attributes on FM. I must have looked at every midfielder on the database, seeing as anyone who has even dreamed of playing in midfield is supposedly on their way to Old Trafford.
(red&white army)

I have used FM in the past to play out forthcoming matches, setting everything up (ie. players/formations) as accurately as possible and then using the results for betting purposes. Has been very successful at times!
(Jack O' Sullivan)

Knowledge of English geography - for my last game, I started in Conference North, with an Ordnance Survey map of the UK, and insisted on finding the town for every away game I played. Very informative, especially to an American!
(Amaroq)

I'm constantly making people in the pub think I'm a football maniac because when they ask who someone used to play for it's me that answers without fail as the only FM player. It's also interesting looking at the competition histories on the game.
(poyplemonkeys)

Whatever team I play with I research both their history and geography. As I tend to play as a roving manager, starting in the lowest leagues, it's led me all over the world from Croatia to Brazil.
(Shivers)

Impressing people with my knowledge of youth players around the world and capacity of European stadiums… Yes sad I know!
(Laxly)

Visit the thread for more ways in which people use Football Manager