Some people change jobs, move house or argue with their family because of football. And some almost lose a marriage over a computer game.
The book that named the obsession
In 2013, to mark the game’s 20th anniversary, Iain Macintosh, Kenny Millar and Neil White released the book “Football Manager Stole My Life: 20 Years of Beautiful Obsession”. The title says it all: a “beautiful obsession” that has earned armchair managers real jobs, brought fame to obscure players and, often, caused serious arguments at home.
British singer Robbie Williams became one of the most cited cases ever. In public comments that became famous, he confessed to getting hooked again after snapping the game disc because he felt he had crossed the line: “Ayda was warned what would happen but I don’t think she was prepared… But two days later I ordered the game on Amazon again… Ayda will be delighted.”
A honeymoon watching the Bulgarian second division
In the book, the authors gather even more extreme cases. There is the account of a fan who booked his honeymoon in Bulgaria just so he could watch PFC Nesebar, of the Bulgarian second division, live, simply because it was the team he managed in the game.
In another case, the wife of a compulsive player hid the game CD from him twice, accusing him of “loving the game more than her”. It ended in divorce. The irony of ironies: with the money he saved on rent, he bought a new computer and the latest version of Football Manager. His next girlfriend did not like it either and started hiding the game herself, because his hogging of the computer stopped her playing Farmville.
“Me or CM”
In Portugal, José Chieira, Sports Interactive research coordinator since 1994, told the newspaper Público an episode that sums up the dilemma. One of his contributors did exemplary coverage of the Portuguese lower divisions, until he got a girlfriend. “I remember the secret life he led because living with CM was not easy. Finally, that moment of truth came: ‘Me or CM’. From the way he told us his decision, literally in tears, I knew right away he had chosen married life.”
Pedro Torrié, an IT worker from Porto who has played every version since CM1, back on floppy disks, was luckier: “Even my girlfriend plays, double the addiction at home.” But he admits that the late afternoons with friends, with dinner in the middle of the games, stretched “almost until morning. And this was during the school year.”
The 35 divorces no one can confirm
Since then, a widely repeated figure has circulated, although no official source confirms it: Football Manager has supposedly been cited in at least 35 divorce cases in England alone. True or exaggerated, the number has become part of the game’s folklore, just like the warning FM itself shows to those who play for hours on end: “Remember to phone work to extend your sick leave.”
More than a decade after the original article, the warning still holds. For anyone about to open the new edition promising themselves “this time I will control myself”, history teaches one thing: Football Manager has no end, and that is exactly what makes it dangerous.
Read also
