Although the matches themselves can be shown in full 3D glory, this renders them incredibly slow and jerky. If you forego this you'll come face to face with the brief Match option. This is rather comically presented on a pitch with little coloured 'pucks' sliding around, knocking a big ball between them, much like a game of Subuteo.

Accompanying this spectacle is potentially the most annoying noise you can imagine. A sound that can only be described as a wasp in a bottle drones away in the background while the occasional baying of hyenas breaks through. The only other option is the next-to-useless Results mode, in which you can only make tactical changes at half time. At least there's an option to turn the sound off.

Seeing as how management is the name of the game, most of the action takes place off the field. PM '99 offers the full quota of tactics and training to boost your team's performance to a higher level. Players can be bought and sold via an active transfer market and the stadium can be modified over time. These features are, sadly, very passé for this genre of game. Apart from this season's players and leagues nothing has changed. No clever new features to draw in the masses.

Beneath the irritating presentation and cumbersome interface, Premier Manager '99 is a fairly run-of-the-mill football management game. Sadly it carries this off with no panache whatsoever. With the appearance of Championship Manager 3 in the same month there can be no excuse to settle for second best. As is often the case in soccer, there can only be one winner and Premier Manager '99's name definitely isn't on the trophy.

Min specs: P166 32Mb RAM, 2Mb graphics card.