145: Premier Manager 3

Number 145
(24 points)
Premier Manager 3
1995: 86 (12.0)
1996: 89 (12.0)

Football management on computers go back as far as the ZX81, but Premier Manager 3 showed the evolution of the genre into the micromanagement of every aspect of a football club.

Starting in the fifth tier of the English football pyramid, your task is to develop your team and make it into the Football League. You can control many aspects of running the football club, from picking the team and setting tactics, all the way to negotiating with sponsors and developing your stadium. The ability to modify your team's tactics, down to individual players, set it apart from other football management simulations of the time, and although it has arguably since been eclipsed by further developments in the genre, it was the most comprehensive game of its type on the Amiga.

I don't know why someone like me, who has a great affinity for football and loves normal football games, can never get into management sims. I think my problem is down to the tactics, as I really don't have the patience to tinker with individual players and formations on a game-by-game basis. I once played a whole season of Championship Manager and managed to get Liverpool relegated, so that tells you something. Anyway, from reading the review in Amiga Power, this game seems to be even more obsessed with tactics fiddling than most, so it wouldn't be for me, and I'm sure there are better games released since.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Premier Manager 3 (1994)(Gremlin)(Disk 1 of 2)[cr PDX]
Premier Manager 3 (1994)(Gremlin)(Disk 2 of 2)
Premier Manager 3 (1994)(Gremlin)(AGA)(Disk 1 of 3)[cr PDX]
Premier Manager 3 (1994)(Gremlin)(AGA)(Disk 2 of 3)
Premier Manager 3 (1994)(Gremlin)(AGA)(Disk 3 of 3)