Why we all love Football Manager

Now cult game Football Manager has come to the attention of academics from the University of Wolverhampton.

Dr Richard Medcalf, a principal lecturer, and Dr Gerald Griggs, a senior lecturer have carried out a study looking at the relationship between gamers and the football management game.

Their paper titled 'I never saw him play but we were the best of friends for years: A case study exploring the pseudoscience relationships of Football Manager bloggers' has been published.

The latest edition of the game produced by London-based Sport Interactive was released last week and its attention to detail of players' ability has meant it has one of the largest scouting set-ups in football.

For the uninitiated, In Football Manager a gamer can take over any professional club in an attempt to lead them to glory. But this isn't like FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, with their fancy graphics and elaborate stadiums.

There is no controlling players' movements with a joystick. Instead the gamer sets up their side's tactics, handle the finances and leave the players to it, to battle it out on the field.

Fans can call for you to be sacked and players can fall out with you over wage demands.

Gerald, aged 41, said: "It started with a chat in the car with Richard and when we went back to the office we had an in depth chat about the game.

"It was a deep conversation and we thought there may be something in it. We researched blogs on the game and found that players of Football Managers were speaking with deep affection for these players of which they never had met.

"They were talking nostalgically about triumphs and how certain players had brought them success we wrote the paper to try and understand what brought about the relationship."

During their study, which began last year Gerald, a Peterborough United fan and Richard, who supports Manchester United and Swindon Town, found stories of Football Manager players going to the extreme.

Gerald, a lecturer in PE and sports studies who has played the game since its transformation from Championship Manager, said: "I have a friend who is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter and he was becoming disillusioned about the way the club was being run.

"Out of frustration he sent an email to the club offering his services including screenshots of his achievements. Spurs were really cool about it and played along and replied to him politely declining his offer – it was on signed and headed paper.

"We found numerous examples of this and I think that is the game extending into real life.

"People have worn suits when they have got to the Champions League final and we saw an example of someone re-enacting the pre-match hand shake by 'shaking hands' with the door knob. There are a lot of hours put into the game."

The game series has also led to a book being written called 'Football Manager Stole My Life'.

It illustrates the obsession of 'armchair Mourinhos' with the game claiming it has led to 35 divorces in the UK.

Richard, a 30-year-old lecturer in sport and leisure, said: "I've experienced a chequered relationship with the Championship Manager and Football Manager series, epitomised by an addiction which has resulted in the irreversible loss of two playing discs in the past – deliberately snapped in half at times of high intensity work in the 'real world', and later purchased for a second time in celebration once I had navigated such obstacles.

"More recently, Adam Lallana followed me from Southampton to Valencia and then Inter Milan – the hero from the south coast who was winning Champions League titles in the world of FM, at the same time as playing Championship football in the 'real' world.

"When such a relationship becomes recognised by the player themselves, through being cited as one of their 'Favourite Personnel', and when managerial rivals cite that they think that 'the two of you could become friends', it is easy to see how reality can very easy become blurred."

However Richard's efforts to persuade £25 million Lallana to join Swindon Town proved trickier.

Richard added: "It turns out that the strength of our pseudosocial relationship couldn't overcome the reality of a £100k per week pay cut."