PLAYING GUIDE

At the start of the game you will be able to choose your team.

SPONSORSHIP

At the start of each season you will be offered Sponsorship. The maximum is 50,000 per division (i.e. Division 1 = 200,000). If you reject a sponsor thechances of another offer depends on your managerial rating (MR). A MR of 100 will give you a 75% chance of another offer whilst a MR of 50 will give you a 50% chance. If your MR is 25% or less you will get no more offers.

MANAGEMENT RECORD

This is a record of your achievements. Success points are earned from your final league position at the end of a season and from Cup match success. Your Managerial rating is an average of your success points per season and is out of 100.

LOAD/SAVE GAME

Before each match you will have the chance to save or load a game. This allows you to stop the game and continue another time and will allow you to work your way up the league. save/Load instructions are given in the machine instructions.

THE MATCH

(See team selection controls for details of how to pick the team)

1. TEAM DISPLAY

This is shown in three sections for your defence, Midfield and Attack. Each team is shown with the players in their playing positions. The four paired slots on each screen show the man to man marking of players. That is players in slots horizontally next to each other on a screen will mark each other during the match action.

The slot at the top of the screen contains your reserve players and can be rolled through to select them.

2. PLAYERS SKILL

(See Players Attributes)

The skill of individual players affects the match action significantly. In the man to man marking, players with higher skill will tackle more effectively and dribble the ball more successfully past opponents of lesser skill.

For each half of the match, all of the players in the twelve marking zones are compared with their opponents players and, with a random factor thrown in, the highest value player will start a new playing action sequence in possession of the ball. If the difference between the two players is close, no action sequence will occur. Thus you can influence the whereabouts of the start of attacks and the likely number of them by the way you match the skill of your players up against the opponents with the man to man marking.

NB. If the marking players are close in skill they will probably neutralise each other. If the skills are significantly different, the highest will probably win and start an attack at the goal with the ball at his feet. A player marking free space will probably start an attack from there, as the game has him as marking a skill rating 2 players.

Playing players out of position e.g. Defender playing in midfield will play as if they have a skill rating of only 2.

The Goalkeeper's skill is a measure of his ability to save shots.

3. FORMATION

There are twelve possible zones in which you can place your outfield players. these are depicted by the four playing slots for outfield players on each of the three team selection screens. thus you can play in many formations i.e. 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-4 etc. Since your team will play in the positions you choose you can decide to play defensively, attacking, with wingers, down the middle or however you wish.

The team selection slots are directly over the area of the pitch which the player in that slot will play when the action starts. any player on the horizontally adjacent slot will mark him during play and will play in the same zone. Players will also cover areas of the pitch next to their own is there is no player covering that area. Note that this zoning of players allows you to spot the performance of individual players because you can identify them by their position.

4. OPPONENTS

The skill of your opponent's players will depend on who you are playing against. If you progress through the Cup you will play more skilful teams as you advance. Top league teams will also be stronger opponents than lowly teams.

FITNESS

Playing a match will affect your players fitness. They will pick up knocks during play and may be injured.

6. FULL TEAM

You must pick eleven players before you will be allowed to end team selection. You will then be required to pick two substitutes. The substitutes may be brought on and the team formation changed at half time.

7. PLAYING STYLES

During the extra training part of the game, you can modify the playing style of your team. The effect of this is visible during the match action. Thus your team will use close or long passing, or high passes as you have selected. Note that different opponents will also use varying styles.

8. THE ACTION

Each half of the match will consist of several action sequences (See playing skill for details of how each action sequence starts). Each sequence continues until either the ball is out of play, a goal is scored or the goalkeeper saves a shot.

The match action allows you to see the result of your actions. the skill of the players you have selected and how you have positioned them will visibly affect what happens!

9. THE HOME TEAM

The home team will always start the match playing from left to right.

10. HALF TIME

At half time you can bring on substitutes and alter your team formation. this can be useful, I'll give you an example:

In one match I noticed that my team was doing badly in midfield and I was one down at half time. I moved one midfielder over to mark the opponents most successful midfield player and moved another out to the wing to give some width to the midfield play. I also moved an attacker out on to the wing. the extra width in midfield allowed my team to get round their strongest midfield players and my attacking winger's crosses brought 4 goals in the second half and my team won 4-1.

MATCH RESULTS

After your match either:

a) the other league results and league table will be shown.
b) the result of your cup match shown.

INJURY REPORT

This displays a list of your injured players. Players with a fitness value less than 50% are injured and unfit to play. Players will accumulate knocks when playing in matches in matches, and possibly sustain long term injuries. Players will recover their fitness gradually when rested from match play.

FINANCE

This shows the profitability of your club. If your club has a negative bank balance, you will be sacked.

Gate receipts are dependent on who was playing at home. If you are successful as a team your home receipts will rise. Cup success also produces high gate receipts.

Player Buy/Sell is a total transfer Market trading.

Player wages are dependent on the skill of your players and the number of them. In other words a lot of highly skilled players will cost a lot in wages.

Overheads are a record of the fixed costs that are incurred by your club.

Profit is measured weekly.

All financial values are higher as you rise up the divisions.

SELL PLAYERS

All of your players are listed during the sell player routine so you can check your squad. you will be able to sell a player if you wish and an offer up to his displayed value will be made for him if you do. If you reject the offer you will have to wait until the following week to try again. Remember you are paying wages for all players in your squad, even if they are not picked to play. Also if you have less than thirteen players you cannot make up a team and the game will be forfeited.

BUY PLAYER

Up to three players will be for sale. You may bid for any of them. The higher you bid, the more chance of purchase. You may even be able to buy them for less than their value. the SQUAD TOO BIG message means you must sell a player before any more will be offered for sale.

EXTRA TRAINING

This feature allows you to modify the way your players pass the ball. It is an advanced feature and is best left unaltered until you have got used to the game play and watched a lot of matches.

Passing Height allows you to increase/decrease the height of passes. Basically high passes will produce a kick and rush style which can help to, say, bypass a weak midfield. Low passing will lead to closer play.

Passing Length allows you to increase/decrease the length of passes. Short passes will suit a highly skilled team that dribbles well. Long passing maysuit a side with wingers.

The tips on passing height and length above are just a guide and you will be able to develop your own technique to suit your own team and style of play. You will see the effect of your passing style on the pitch.

If you get the PERFECTED message it means you have reached the maximum or minimum length or height and more of the same extra training will not have an added effect.

THE SEASON

You will play all of the other teams in your division once and play through the cups as far as you progress. Promotion and Relegation at the end of the seasonis three up and three down.

SUCCESS

The aim of the game is to be a successful as possible and try and win the treble of League and two cups. However, the game is designed to be enjoyable enough for you to play as long as you like.

PLAYERS ATTRIBUTES

Players have 5 attributes which are shown in the various displays:

NAME - The players name is shown;

SKILL - In the ranges 3 to 9. This affects his play during the match. A players out of position e.g. a defender in attack, or a midfield player playing in goal will play with a skill value of 2.

FITNESS - Out of 100. This is reduced by playing in a match as the players receives knocks or injuries. A player who is rested in the reserves will recover some of his fitness. A player with a fitness value of less than 50 is too badly injured to play.

POSITION - G, D, M, A. As follows:

G Goalkeeper
D Defender
M Midfield Player
A Attacker.

These are the players correct playing positions. Not a player playing out of position is less effective (See Skill above). Playing positions are easy to identify on the team selection screen. The goalkeepers slot is over the goal. defenders slots are on the same screen as the Goalkeeper. midfielders slots are shown in the middle pitch backdrop.

VALUE - 30 000 to 360 000. This is directly affected by the players skill and the division you are playing in. It will affect his transfer market purchase and sale price.