FOOTBALL MANAGER REVISITED
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The original Football Manager was one of the early games released for the ZX Spectrum written by Kevin Toms and published by Addictive Games way back in 1982.  I found it strangely addictive, and played it a lot in the early eighties.  What was unusual about it was that it was written entirely in BASIC and had no protection whatsoever, so anyone could break into it and see how it was written.

Move forward 30 years, and I came across it on the World of Spectrum website.  In a fit of nostalga I downloaded it into an emulator and started playing once again.  I then wondered if I could remember how to write Spectrum BASIC, and yes it slowly came back.  So I started to "improve" the original game, and Football Manager Revisited was born!

I think I've crammed a lot of new features in, which are listed below.  The only things I've removed from the original game are the Copy screen and Save game options, as these seem redundant in the days of emulators with memory dump files.

I would like to thank Kevin Toms for the hours of fun playing the original game, and I hope you enjoy this enhanced version of the old classic.


The Great Glen
July 2012

PS Since July 2012 I have created FMR 2013-14, FMR 2014-15 and FMR 2015-16 all with more features and countries. 



FMR 2012-13 MAIN ENHANCEMENTS TO THE ORIGINAL GAME:
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1. Leagues from around the world can be played, with varying numbers of teams in the divisions - 8,10,12,16,18,20.  The number is set for each country and cannot be changed whilst playing. (Resigning allows the user to change country)

2. There's a proper set of fixtures, so each team plays everyone else once (in the 16,18 or 20 team leagues) or twice (in the 8,10 or 12 team leagues).  The original game selected the "Other Matches" at random.

3. There's now the promotion play offs at the end of the season.

4. The number of players has doubled from 24 to 48.  The original players are still there, but I've added the current National ones.

5. Each team now has a kit colour (any Spectrum colour except green).  If the home and away kits clash, the away team will play in either black or white.  (Also, white verses yellow is not allowed, as the pitch lines must be one of these two colours.  Again, the away team would change to black.)

6. Players can now be booked or sent off (reported after the match highlights) and each player accumulates disciplinary points, with a one match suspension at 5 points.  The points and suspensions are shown on the players listing screen.

7. Players can become injured during a match, and substituted.  The substitutes can influence the match result. Insurance compensation is awarded for long term injuries.

8. There's a new main menu option to improve team morale - at a cost.  In the original game, once you lost a couple of matches and the team morale plummeted, it was near impossible to win a game to increase it, particularly on the harder skill levels.  Now there's two options. (a) Throw a party for the players (each time this is used, the effect is less) or (b) offer the players a win bonus to motivate their performance (the bonus doubles each time it is used).

9. The transfer window now closes 3/4 way through the season, to prevent selling your best players at the end of the season.

10. Sponsorship deals are now offered providing an income for a specified number of matches.  The sponsor is shown on screen for home games, and maybe the opposition has one too when you're playing away.

11. In mid-season, matches can be postponed due to bad weather.  This allows players to increase their energy levels, but they still need paying.

12. The FA Cup draw is more realistic.  In the original game, there was only a choice of 8 opponents from a pre-determined division each round.  Now you could face a Premier League team from the 3rd round onwards (country dependent)!

13. There's a main menu option to display all your fixtures / results (including Cup results) and the league table.

14. The "Weekly Bills" screen has been greatly expanded, showing every transaction during the week.

15. There's some training options for the team, to improve energy levels, skills or both - at a cost, naturally.

16. There is now an option to skip the match highlights and go straight to the calculated result.(Boring!)

17. A collection of random events have been introduced, some positive but most negative, that affect different aspects of the game such as finances, team morale etc.

18. The managed team's scorers are shown at the end of each match, and stats are kept of appearances and goals for each player. Just for information.  Attackers score more than defenders, and goalkeepers don't score at all.

19. There is also a training progress statistic for each player, which shows how close the players are to reaching the next skill level if skills training is operating.

20. Bought players now refuse to move on for at least 4 matches, to avoid the unrealistic immediate sale with instant profit situations in the original game.

21. Player transfers can now affect team morale.

22. There are penalty shoot outs in play off games and cup replays!

23. The recent form (last 4 matches) of each team is shown with the league table.

24. There is a half time team talk screen, which does affect the second half.

25. The teams change ends at half time.

26. The team formation is shown, which affects how many players are shown in the match sequences (can be 2, 3 or 4 instead of the standard 3).

27. Goalkeepers are now shown in the match highlights.

28. There's an option to send all or just the weakest players on a pre-season training camp to improve them - at a cost.

29. There is a playing style selection ranging from very defensive to very attacking.  An attacking style increases the chances of highlights, but also for the opposition as your team leaves gaps at the back...

30. 'Player of the Season' and Golden Boot awards are given at the end of the season.

31. There's a short-term emergency player loan option if you cannot field a full team through injuries and/or suspensions.

33. The time is now shown in the match sequences so that you have an idea how long is left.

34. The match highlights now have crosses from the wings as well as shots.

35. One player per match can be played out of position to cover a weak area, provided that he is good enough.  His skill level will drop by one or two levels of course, and may not fully recover when he returns to his usual position so use with care!

36. Community/publicity work can be undertaken (eg players visiting a local hospital) which increases the fanbase but can reduce morale and energy if the players are asked too frequently.

37. A graph is shown of your league position through the season to date.

38. Manager career stats are kept which do not reset when you change clubs.

39. Private health care can be taken out to reduce players' injury recovery time.

40. The biggest win and worst defeat are now shown on the club status screen.


FMR 2013-14
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Extra features:

1. The match highlights have been speeded up by about 30% by using some machine code routines.

2. The extra training sessions now have 3 intensity levels which affect not only the training results but also the team morale.

3. There's now a Manager of the Month award each month (every 4 games), which is saved in the Manager's Career stats.

4. Two more countries have been added to the database.  Leagues can now have any even number of teams between 8 minimum and 20 maximum.

5. There are 30 questions from the media that you can be asked (pre-match, post match, transfers in/out etc) and the answers can affect the fanbase and team morale.

6. Sometimes a club will offer a player exchange option as well as one for sale.

7. Up to 3 friendly matches can be played each season.  These can be profitable (particularly against a top team) if cash is tight, but players could get injured or sent off.  (A friendly match does not count as the suspended game for a player, and the only game stats affected by the match are players' energy and disciplinary points).

8. The Manager can attend Board meetings, where an opinion will be given on club finances and team performance.  If cash is low, they may offer some additional funds (but never more than once in a season).

9. A visit can be made to the Medical Treatment Room, to see how long players will be unavailable through injury.  They may or may not be happy to see you.

10. All the division's results and fixtures for the season can be viewed (excluding cup games).

11. There are 4 team commitment levels to choose from each match - higher levels may reduce the number of highlights for the opposition as your team wins more tackles, but they are more likely to pick up cards from the referee.

12. The Manager Rating calculation has been improved.  It's now 80% last season's performance and 20% from previous seasons to reflect that achievements in years gone by become less important.  It also produces a rating comment from the Board of Directors.

13. The longest unbeaten run has been added to the Manager's Career stats.

14. The match highlights order is now less predictable and the match clock has been refined.

15. The game has been made slightly harder for all skill levels.

16. The club can be fined by the FA for a poor disciplinary record.

17. A financial summary is provided at the end of the season.

18. Player values are now recalculated weekly to reflect the training progress.

19. Other clubs may ask to loan a player from your club.

20. There's now 50% more sponsors than in last year's version.

21. There's more variety to the random events.

22. You decide the discount offered for season tickets.


FMR 2014-15
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1. The training plan routine has been redesigned.  Instead of the four plans and three intensity levels, there is now a percentage of players' time allocated to energy, defence, midfield and attack which are adjustable in 5% increments. The overall total of which determines the cost (if any) and the positive/negative effect on team morale.

2. The league database viewer routine has been amended so that the fixture set number is changed by the cursor keys rather than by inputting the number directly. This makes it easier to scroll through the sets.

3. Divisions within a country can now be different sizes.  Each division can have any even number of teams from 8 to 20.

4. Three new countries (Chile, South Korea and Switzerland) have been added to the database, making 21 countires in all.

5. The Database has been updated with promotions and relegations from the 2013-14 season.

6. A new away match options screen has been added to the main menu which lets the Manager decide how and when to travel to away matches. These have varying costs, but can benefit team morale.

7. Reserve teams have been included the lowest leagues of the appropriate countries (Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland).  These teams cannot get promoted, but note that the parent team could get relegated into the same division, as this is not practical to avoid in the game.  Please also note that you cannot manage a Reserve team.

8. Reduced the skill penalty for players returning from a temporary position change by half to make thie repositioning function more usable.

9. Fixed the bug in sponsorship deals which could offer a 14 match deal when the season was only 13 games long.

10. A bug has been fixed in the change team name routine where it asked if there were any more changes twice.  Its also now possible to select no local rivals which wasn't possible previously.

11. Fixed a bug which called the sponsorship and other start of season screens twice if the season started with a cup game.


FMR 2015-16
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1.	Three new countries added to the database, making 24 in total - the country selection screen in now split into two pages.

2.	The playing style can now be adjusted at half time in addition to the team talks.

3.	A scout can be hired to provide extra player transfer options, but will take a basic salary and a sales commission.

4.	There's now a crowd (3 sizes) shown in the match highlights!

5.	Players and the crowd celebrate goals and promotions etc.

6.	A new publicity option has been added for players to post video selfies online - this is very popular with the fans, but less so with the players.

7.	An extra option has been added to boost team morale by giving the players the afternoon off, but the reduced fitness training may impact on their energy levels.

8.	Appeals to the FA can be made for players that have been sent off, as referees do get it wrong sometimes.

9.	The progress graph screen has been greatly speeded up.

10.	The 'skill penalty' for player repositions has been reduced by 40% to make it usable for longer.

11.	Extra time is now played in appropriate matches.

12.	The club can be taken over, which may result in extra funds being invested if they are low, or possibly a sacking if performance has been poor.

13.	Ten more media questions have been added relating to specific events, making 40 questions in total.

14.	There is now a restriction on the number of reserve teams that can be input when changing team names so that there is always at least 8 non-reserve teams present in the lowest league.

15.	There is now a minimum of 9 players required in the squad, so sales will be refused if less than 9 would remain.

16.	The club now will be fined if you don't field 11 players, as it creates a bad impression of the game.

17.	The promotion/play-off/relegation code has been rewritten to properly ignore reserve teams and as a consequence the identification of promoted and relegated teams is now faster.

18.	Fixed a bug where attending a directors meeting before the season started caused the sponsorship and other start of season screens to be skipped.

19.	Fixed a bug where if a player was at your club on loan at the end of the season, he became a permanent player.
