Just when you think it's safe to go out and buy a PlayStation, what happens? Codemasters go and bring out a decent football management sim. Doh! Play it and weep...
Gideon Kibblewhite

Sob! Some of us are trying to make something of our lives. Some of us actually want to get on with our careers, with our friends, with the washing up. Because of this, thousands of us have resisted the temptation to install a PC in our homes so we can't be seduced by evil games like Championship Manager 3.

It used to be so simple. Buy a PlayStation - don't get involved in the living death that's football management sim addiction. You could play a bit of Tekken or enjoy the odd round of golf, safe in the knowledge that there was no danger of getting hooked on a decent manage 'em up. It was possible, we were all told, to own a PlayStation and still have a life and marriage to speak of, because the little grey box couldn't handle all those stats. But now, thanks to those evil pushers at Codemasters, all that has changed. The PlayStation is no a longer safe console to use, because LMA Manager is among us...

Think of everything that's been bad about management sims on PlayStation. Where shall we start? Impossibly long loading times; reams and reams of menus; too many options or not enough; garish and difficult to read graphics; tricky navigation; poor controller systems; poor match footage; a lack of involvement for more than one player; a lack of games which can be completed in an hour or so... The list goes on, and Codemasters have used it to create a game that's well enough researched and designed to make sad bastards out of the coolest of us.