September 1 - An Addiction is Born

Brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer have got a lot to answer for. Exams have been failed, relationships have ended and social lives ruined thanks to them. On this day in 1992 they unleashed the first edition of Championship Manager, the annoyingly addictive football simulation computer game.

From the humble beginnings of their bedroom in Shropshire, the Everton-supporting Collyer brothers dreamed up the first edition of the game and got to work, producing what they promised to be ‘The Most Realistic Football Management Simulation Ever!’ Although the first edition did not include any real team or player names it began to pick up a strong following. To see how the game looked then see the clip below.

As time went on, future versions became bigger and better, as a real player database and leagues from across the world were added, as were additions such as media mind-games to make the game as all-encompassing as it is today. It soon became one of the best-selling PC games ever and lead to the creation of another best-seller, Football Manager, when the Collyer boys’ company Sports Interactive split with their publishing company Eidos.

Anyone who has ever played the game will know how addictive it can be. You tell yourself you’ll only play for half an hour but suddenly you notice you haven’t left your desk for nine hours as you find yourself on the cusp of promotion to the Premiership, with that Norwegian left-back you been tracking about to sign and simply can’t tear yourself away. Far too many girlfriends have heard the words “just one more game and I’ll turn it off darling…”

Another sign that you’re playing too much is when you forget where real life ends and the game begins. You suddenly remember that your team won’t really be challenging for the Champions League and Cherno Samba isn’t the best striker in Europe.

Now if you’ll excuse us we’ve got a League 1 play-off semi-final to get involved with. Hopefully we’ll be back tomorrow with a look at a modern-day legend. We’ll just play one more game first though.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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