Fifteen Things You Never Knew About Football Manager

Blog FM recently delved into the Football Manager archives to root out some hidden bits of information. Now we can reveal the fifteen things that you never knew about Football Manager in all their glory.

1. Contrary to popular belief, the body visible on the front of the Football Manager 2007 box is not Jose Mourino. It is, in fact, Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe President. Mugabe is a big fan of the Football Manager series and often plays as his favourite team, Crewe Alexandra.

2. The ‘chants’ provided for the game during matches were recorded using members of the National Opera. When you are connected to the internet, information from your game is sent to the SIGames website, and for every match you play, the National Opera company recieve 2p in royalties.

3. Freddy Adu is actually an April-fools prank gone wrong. Adu, a made up player by a Football Manager researcher, was added to the database a few years go for a joke. Since then, SIGames have paid off a number of American newspapers and, following Adu’s popularity in Britain, our own tabloids so that they would report on the ‘teenage wonderkid’ who doesn’t actually exist.

4. The most popular team to manage on Football Manager 2007 is Chelsea, closely followed by Doncaster Rovers. 70% of gamers choose Chelsea, while 28% prefer Doncaster. The following 2% are made up of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Barnet.

5. British Prime Minister Tony Blair once missed an election night due to a heavy session of Football Manager. ‘I nearly got Hartlepool promoted to the Premiership…’ he later recalled.

6. The official term for people who quit and reload a game after losing is ‘gwabawookararies’.

7. Other games produced by SIGames include Out of the Park Baseball and Knitting Action 2007.

8. Footballers who play Football Manager include Didier Drogba and Andrew Cole. Despite playing as himself, Cole says he never picks his computer counterpart. ‘Let’s face it, I’m old and past it. I always sign Adu. What a player he is! Funny thing though, I’ve never actually seen any footage of him play in real life…’, he reportedly told someone once.

9. The only team in Football Manager with no name is ‘                                                    ‘.

10. The oldest player you can sign in Football Manager 2007 is former Tottenham Hotspur ’star’ Chris Waddle. Waddle’s demands include a minimum release clause of £20 and a bag of twiglets once a month.

11. It is possible to go a whole season undefeated with any team by using the nickname facility. If you nickname David Beckham ‘George Forman Grill’, a new comment option will be available when interacting with other managers. If you select this (‘I think (Opponents Manager) smells of poo’) then you will win your next game by at least twelve goals. *Note: this does not work if you sign any goalkeeper under the age of 34 or if your first name is George).

12. The first person to test the final version of the latest Football Manager release is Nelson Mandela, who insists a copy of the game is handed to him personally before the launch.

13. In Football Manager 2005 a common bug would result in Thierry Henry retiring during an actual match. Normally, by about half time, the Frenchman would simply refuse to come out for the second half, and after the game a message would appear to confirm that Henry had retired and moved to Canada to become a fish farmer.

14. The Chuckle Brothers once paid £30,000 to appear in the game under the pseudonym of ‘The Neville Brothers’.

15. The most popular skin in Football Manager 2007 is the ‘BoyZone skin 07′ created by former Boyzone frontman, Ronan Keating.