The pleasures of playing football are easy enough to understand. It’s a great sport and if you’re any good you get a shed load of cash, the sexual attentions of fake blonde women, and a mock Tudor house full of 132″ plasma TVs.

There’s nothing not to like about being a footballer. It’s a part-time job which you might do little more than around twenty hours a week.

But being a manager is an entirely different gig. It occupies their every waking hour. While many say it’s the best job in football after being a player, I’m not sure that Zola and Tony Mowbray would say that this week. The pressure it puts on them at times seems unbearable.

Mowbray, a tough, hard-boiled Teessider visibly aged by 10 years in the last 9 months managing Celtic. After the midweek thumping by St Mirren he looked more like someone suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder than a man who had just lost a mere football game. Admittedly it was Celtic’s worst result for 30 years and it ended any remote hopes of the Parkhead club might have harboured about catching Rangers but hey, its only football lads. No-one died. You’d not have guessed that from Mowbray’s demeanour though. Yet he had been a successful manager in Scotland before at Hibernian, this wasn’t unknown territory to him. He knew the league and how massive the Celtic job is but that knowledge did nothing to ease the visible strain on him. Fortunately, with features like a quarry, Mogga has never relied on his chiselled good looks in life but seeing his haggard face would make anyone question why anyone would want to do such a job if this is what it reduces a strong man to.

Down in London, Franco Zola has gone from the beatific, smiling chap to a man who looks weighed down by the burden of the task at West Ham. With head in hands and grey hair suddenly very visible, during the Stoke game he looked more like a man who had witnessed some terrible disaster rather than just a football team losing by the odd goal. Where is the pleasure in that?

Wenger this season has looked like a man in physical pain, rocking to and fro on the bench, clutching himself, his large padded coat looking more and more like a straitjacket.

As a manager you often get little credit when the side wins but all of the blame when they lose. If you blow your own trumpet, Mourinho style, you’re accused of being arrogant and insufferable, if you don’t you’re accused of being too nice. If you don’t show emotion, Sven-style, you’ll be accused of not caring, if you are emotional, Keegan style, you’ll be accused of being blinkered by emotions.

You’re likely only to be in the job for an average of four seasons and yet are supposed to care about the club as though you’d stood on the terraces for 50 years. If it looks like you don’t care 100% you’ll suffer the wrath of blinkered judgemental fans who seem unable to believe that the employees of a football club do not care as much about it as the supporters do. Some fans have exaggerated distorted expectations for their clubs and are ridiculously impatient for success. So as a manager you end up being judged against a standard you know is completely inappropriate.

If you’re a realist and tell the fans the truth that it’s very unlikely you’ll win anything – they’ll accuse you of not having ambition. If you say you are going to win something, you’ll be ridiculed as deluded as soon as you fail.

To add insult to injury, unless you’re a top dog, you’ll probably get paid worse than some of the more rubbish players you have to manage. Even if you do well, a bad start the following season can see you out of the door. Such capital that you build up at a club is soon dissipated by a few poor results. The board knows it can’t sack the players so it’s easier to sack you instead. The only comfort is that one you’re out of a job, due to the high turnover; you’re likely to benefit from someone else’s sacking soon enough.

Even a manager of Wenger’s achievements has had calls for his head this season and is clearly showing major stress this season, squatting on the touchline with head in hands. It looks like torture. Who looks at that and thinks to themselves, you know what, I fancy doing that. Do new managers think it won’t happen to them?

Even having been successful and being really good at your job doesn’t insure you against a barrage of insults and criticism, often from stupid fans who know sod all about football but nonetheless think they know more than a manager who has won titles, cups and major trophies. These find their way onto phone-ins and witter on about players and managers not having passion. Passion is everything for these people though they don’t really mean passion, they mean running around a lot and maybe shouting a bit too. That shows you care apparently.

If you’re Rafa, Ancelloti, Mancini et al, it must be galling to get a slagging from people as though you have achieved nothing in the game and are some clueless idiot who is deliberately messing things up. You must feel like lashing out – telling the dumb as fans to come and have a go if they think it’s so bloody easy.

The only exception to this is the extraordinary Alex Ferguson. He’s 68. Sixty eight. Think about that. The oldest living Glaswegian, Fergie looks 10 years younger, seems full of vitality and energy and doesn’t just cope with the pressure but seems to thrive on it. Clearly being the most successful manager in the history of football tends to relieve you of a lot of the stress of having to prove yourself, but Ferguson actually seems to love being under pressure; he seems to enjoy it. It’s keeping him young. But he is a rare exception.

Who would be a manager? A masochist it would seem.

Some of you may be too young to remember the Commodore 64 computer from the 1980′s, but for soccer fans such as myself who had time to kill, it was the best way to play soccer games on a home computer that sold millions around the world.

The C64 wasn’t a ZX Spectrum, which had plenty of classic soccer games too, but the games were pretty addictive. So, I decided to go back into the archives and to share some of them with you.

Here’s my selection of the top 7 games (all of which are now playable online in your browser):

1. International Soccer. This game was a classic and one of the best soccer action games ever released on the C64. The graphics, at the time, were cutting edge (don’t laugh). And after playing the game for some time, players figured out ways to bounce the ball on the player’s head and walk the ball into the goal. This game was so successful that a basketball version was released which had practically the same graphics except you would play with your hands and shoot into a hoop.
2. Tracksuit Manager. I never owned this game when it was released in Europe in 1989, but playing it now it seems like one of the best football management games ever released. It’s easy to use and puts you right into managing England during a World Cup tournament.
3. Football Manager II. When the game was released in 1988 as a sequel to the first Football Manager programmed by Kevin Toms, Your Sinclair magazine rated it an eight out of 10 and said that watching a match on the game was fascinating. Some newbies may disagree, but there’s no disagreeing that the game definitely pushed the envelope at the time in terms of football management simulations and is worth a trip down memory lane.
4. Footballer Of The Year. Any game that features penalty kicks at it’s center is a winner for me because it makes the game so easy to understand and a joy to play. Plus the soundtrack by renowned Commodore 64 musician Ben Daglish is a true pleasure.
5. Super Cup Football. This game must have been an early inspiration for the very successful Sensible Soccer, which is quite different than the majority of soccer games because your angle is viewed from directly above the field, looking down on the players.
6. The Footballer. It’s such a simple game that it must have been programmed in the BASIC language, but sometimes less is more as this one can become quite addictive after you get a hang of how the game works.
7. The Double. This one is particularly sensitive and, to be blunt, a pain in the arse to set up but once you get through the initial few screens and you’ve selected your team, it seems quite realistic and you can watch your own team play a match in a game that features some very retro graphics except they weren’t retro at the time!

Be sure to bookmark this page and when you have some downtime at home or work, go back in time and play these classic soccer games on the Commodore 64. Enjoy.

Based on current form, who would you say is the best football manager in the Premier League right now? Consider what players he has at his disposal and what he’s getting out of them. Vote now.

Depending where you live in this crazy world, it might be almost impossible to find soccer-related gifts in your local stores whether it’s for you or your loved ones. But the Internet is a great aggregator, bringing you a treasure trove of choices. Here are ten recommended soccer items to add to your wish list whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other holiday:

1. Inverting The Pyramid: The History Of Football Tactics. The first-ever comprehensive history of football tactics has already been critically acclaimed after being named to the short list for Sports Book Of The Year Award in England. Written by Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson, the book is a must-read for fans interested in tactics. Order it today.
2. Boot slippers. Yes, slippers that look like football boots in the colors of Liverpool, Manchester United and other clubs and even countries like Argentina. They’re the perfect accompaniment for those early Saturday mornings when you watch the Premier League with coffee in hand.
3. England home shirt. With Fabio Capello having kicked England up the backside, now’s the time to fit yourself into a stylish England home shirt with being snickered at by those football fans who support Brazil, Italy or Argentina.
4. Bloody Confused. The book by Chuck Culpepper is fast becoming a must-have in the collections of soccer fans who follow the Premier League. Bloody Confused tells the true story of how an American sports journalist moves to England and falls in love with the fascinating game as well as an unlikely club. Order the book today. Or listen to my interview with Culpepper.
5. Fulhamerica T-shirt. With Clint Dempsey leading the charge, the number of Americans at Craven Cottage are dwindling but the American love affair with Fulham is still alive and well. Support Dempsey and the memories of Americans McBride, Bocanegra and Johnson with the Fulhamerica T-shirt.
6. Real soccer scarf. There’s something about football scarves that has more of an appeal than replica football shirts. Maybe it’s the tradition. Or perhaps it’s the pleasure of wearing something so comfortable wrapped around your neck or face in your club colors? Whatever the psychological reason, a scarf is a wonderful gift — especially those from Ruffneckwear that are high quality, made from the best materials and delivered with great customer service.
7. Worldwide Soccer Manager. Everton announced last week that they signed a deal to use Football Manager (aka Worldwide Soccer Manager in the States) to scout players, such is the value and authenticity placed on this game. Go one up on real football managers by ordering the game yourself.
8. Show your true colors. Every follower of the Premier League needs to have a replica jersey of a favorite team or a club you admire. Instead of searching around the Internet from store to store, the EPL Talk Shop offers the widest selection of Premier League shirts for all 20 EPL clubs. Visit the shop to browse the selection of shirts.
9. Slingbox. It’s incredible that I don’t hear Slingbox mentioned that many times in soccer circles. It should be on the tis of the tongues of most soccer fans. Simply, it allows you to watch your TV set from anywhere around the world. So if you’re on the road, at work, on vacation or in a different room in your house and you have access to your computer or Blackberry, you can log into your TV and watch live games as if you’re there — or watch games you’ve taped on DVR. The possibilities are mindblowing. Read my review of it from Euro 2008, or go ahead and learn more details about buying it.
10. EPL Talk T-Shirt. If you’ve enjoyed reading EPL Talk during the past year and you want to show your support, please order an official EPL Talk T-shirt. The shirt reads “For Hardcore Soccer Nuts Only: EPL Talk” and features an image of several players in a defensive wall covering their crown jewels. The shirt is 100% cotton, made by Hanes (excellent quality) and will soon be a collector’s item (only a few shirts remain before they’re all gone forever). Size L. Order today for $15.99 delivered to your door (in the United States).

Visit more holiday and Christmas gift ideas for soccer fans including stocking stuffers, gift certificates and soccer gear for you and your loved ones.

Football Manager ruins lives. It doesn’t care whether it’s your marriage, your grades, your health or your job. It doesn’t care if it’s your best friend’s birthday or even your own. It’s the cheating girlfriend or the 12-inch meat feast pizza of the computing world, we know it’s bad for us but we can’t stop going back for more. It can be the last thing you think of at night and the first thing you think of in the morning. It’s the drug they don’t warn you about at school and its back and ready to reap havoc on our social lives like never before. Or since the previous installment was released last November.

Ok that was a bit dramatic but it isn’t too far from the truth. One of my friends had to throw his copy into the nearby canal because it was distracting him from his University dissertation. This year’s edition looks to be the best yet, with a host of new features including a 3D match engine. EPL TALK will give you an insight into Football Manager 2009 next week with an exclusive interview with someone associated with the game, so until then, why not relay your best all-time Championship/Football Manager moments:

Simple Criteria:

Most Memorable Achievement:
Best 11:
Best Buy:
Worst Buy:

Here are mine:

Most Memorable Achievement: Starting in the lower leagues has never really appealed to me but I do love the challenge of taking teams from smaller nations to glory on the biggest stage. On CM 01/02 I took over PSV Eindhoven and despite finishing second in the Dutch League to Ajax, I won the Champions League 1-0 against Real Madrid with a Mark Van Bommel strike in his last game for the club before he moved on to Juventus for £20m. I used that money to buy Dirk Kuyt from Utrecht, goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli from Roma and Pablo Aimar, who was out of favour at Valencia, and proceeded to win the next 3 league titles, 2 more Champions League victories, 2x European Super Cup, 2x World Club Championships, 1 Dutch Cup and went 67 games unbeaten in domestic competition. It all fell apart though when I sold Aimar for £40m to Lazio and replaced him with 34 year old Zinedine Zidane, who was clearly over the hill.

Best 11: PSV CM01/02: Ivan Pelizzoli; Michael Lamey, Kevin Hofland, Wilfred Bouma, Mike Zonneveld; Arjen Robben, Johann Vogel, Pablo Aimar, John De Jong; Mateja Kezman, Dirk Kuyt

Best Buy: Playing with a friend on CM 97/98, I was Arsenal and he was Manchester United, we challenged ourselves to buy a striker from the lower league or reserves of a team and turn them in to a star. He went for Sean Divine for £300,000 and who failed to score in his first 15 games. I spent £60,000 on Robbie Keane from the Wolves reserves. He scored 10 goals in 13 games and I sold him 6 months later for £9m.

Worst Buy: On CM 98/99 I was desperate for some extra fire power for my Arsenal team to give one last final push for the title. As transfer deadline day approached I weighed up my options and decided, with 2 hours to go, that Ariel Ortega was the man for me. Some quick-fire bargaining with Valencia saw me pay £15m, £4m more than I wanted to, but I was happy I had got my man. He scored once in the final 17 games of the season and I lost out on the title to Manchester United once again.

The long anticipated launch of Football Manager 2009 is almost here. The new game will be available Friday, November 14. Here’s the official trailer for FM09:

One of the most addictive computer games is, without a doubt, Football Manager. Bad news for the wife and girlfriend. Football Manager 2009 is scheduled for release in Europe on November 14, 2008.

Here’s a preview of the new game as well as a trailer with plenty of interviews:

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Thanks to The Offside for the tip.

If you want to take a walk down memory lane or you’re interested in seeing what all of the fuss is about, you can now play an online version of the original Football Manager game.

This revolutionary game runs on an online emulator so it looks, feels and plays like the 1982 version of the game on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. The game was programmed by Kevin Toms, who was interviewed in an early episode of the EPL Talk Podcast.

One of the reasons why the game is so beloved is because it’s so simple to play and to understand.

Enjoy the game.

In 1982, when Kevin Toms launched the original Football Manager simulation game, it was a seismic event that allowed football supporters, for the first time, to experience what it was like to be in the manager’s hot seat.The role of a manager and football simulation games have changed a lot since then, but at the heart of all of the games, they’re still incredibly addictive. Like a drug dealer hooking his customers on illegal substances, here are five free samples of the best football simulation games available online:

1. Soccer Manager. Their owners call their site “The world’s best free online soccer manager game,” and they may be right. This highly addictive game allows you to pick your favorite club and play against fellow fans from around the world. The concept of the game is pretty straightforward so it’s easy to get started. The design and navigation could be improved to make the experience more intuitive, but overall this is definitely a winner.
2. Hattrick. The granddaddy of online football simulation games is celebrating 10 years in existence and is nearing the one million mark in the number of registered players. It’s been a while since I’ve played this one, but it was easy to use and the type of game you could easily spend tons of quality time on. Hattrick has an international flavor about it, which isn’t surprising considering that it was developed in Sweden and has 44 different language versions.
3. Power Soccer. This Java-based game works best on a Windows machine with a broadband connection. I’m running Leopard on a Macbook so I had difficulty getting the game to work, but from what I saw, this looks like it could keep soccer fans up through the night — not only from the constant loading of files, but also from hours of playing the game.
4. AMFA Manager. This browser based simulation game is unique in that it’s currently playing the 1981/1982 season. Since all of the team names and players are fictitious, the game developers decided to pick a fictitious year for the start of the game which was 1954 and it’s been evolving since then.
5. Football Superstars and Football Manager Live. These two different games are tied for fifth place for a few good reasons. One, both games are not yet available but are scheduled to launch this summer. Two, they both look like they could be massive hits and may revolutionize the industry. And three, I couldn’t find any other games to fill the fifth place spot and a blog post entitled “4 Best Online Football Games” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Needless to say, Football Superstars and Football Manager Live both hold much promise and will be devoured by football fans as soon as they’re available online.

What’s been your experience with online football simulation games and are you addicted to any of the ones mentioned above? Share your opinion by clicking the comments link below.

I have seen the future of online football gaming and its name is Football Superstars.

Since the launch of the original Football Manager game in 1982 (developed by Kevin Toms; interviewed here), the world of football games for computers and video game consoles has made huge advancements both in terms of graphics and playability. Over the years, classic football games have been developed such as Sensible Soccer, Championship Manager, Pro Evolution Soccer, FIFA, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer.

This summer, a totally new concept for a video game will be unveiled. Created by a company named CyberSports, the Football Superstars game puts you into a virtual world where you control the destiny of your online character.

Playing the Massively Multi-player Online game (MMOG), you can play in virtual matches online against other people around the world. The key differentiator is that you only get to control your player. The remaining players on your team and the opposition are each played by a different person online. The exception are the goalkeepers, which will be controlled by artificial intelligence.

If you’ve played Second Life before, imagine that but set in a world of football. Imagine yourself training to become a team player and then honing your skills and talent. Or, outside of the daily grind of football practices and matches, how about impressing the honeys?

The game is intended to be free to download. It’s scheduled for a summer 2008 release, but don’t be surprised if it’s late summer before the bugs are all worked out. Meanwhile, the PR campaign is scheduled to launch in September.

Depending on how the game plays, this has the potential to be bigger than MyFootballClub, the online initiative that purchased a non-league football club that’s now owned by football fans from around the world. One of the biggest benefits of Football Superstars is that it’ll hopefully break the monotony of the same old video games from EA (FIFA) and Konami (PES), where the same formula is used year after year. All that improves are the graphics and the options, but the basic concept is the same. It’s much too predictable.

If you’re interested in Football Superstars, register for the game today so you can be notified when it’s launched. Or visit the Football Superstars website for more details.