Review – You The Manager

Website: www.youthemanager.co.uk
Price: £5 per team. Transfers are 50p for 12 but are available for £3 in total if pre-paid at registration.
Private Leagues: Yes

Strengths

* Massive prize money
* Simple, no fuss scoring system
* No more transfer windows

Weaknesses

* You pay for transfers
* Transfer windows can be frustrating if you suffer injuries
* No cap on players per club leads to block defences
* Transfer windows can restrict appeal as a private league game

Game Rules

Select 11 players in a 4-3-3 formation to a budget of £60 million. Once underway, managers get 15 transfers per season and, new for the 2008-09 season, there are no transfer windows restricting when these can be used although the first transfers cannot be made until September 1st. Depending on how you registered your team and whether you paid for transfers in advance, these transfer will cost 50p each.

The scoring system is pretty standard and simple to understand. All players earn 2 points for starting a match and 1 for appearing as sub. Assists or Key Contributions score 3 points while all players are deducted 1 point for a booking and 3 for a red card. Keepers get 5 points for a clean sheet while Defenders get 4. Goals conceded deduct 1 point from both Keepers and Defenders.

Points from goals scored depend on position. Keepers get 10 points, Defenders 8, Midfielders 6 and Forwards 4.

There are also 2 points awarded for players earning the man of the match award in the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Teams score points from matches played in English Premier League, League Cup and the FA Cup.

Review

You the Manager is an online game available from a number of sources the Daily Mirror newspaper and Soccer World magazine are just two examples of publications who have adopted this as their game. Along with the Sun Dream Team, this game is very much the favourite competition for multi-entrant managers that is, those managers who invest in a large number of teams. As a result you’ll see some familiar names in the top 100 managers fighting it out season after season. Make no mistake about it, register a team in You The Manager and you’re up against a group of managers who can, in many ways, can be labeled as the “Pro” Fantasy Football managers. Managers who register hundreds of teams in order to chase the prize money. For these guys Fantasy Football is more than just a game – it’s a major investment. With £275,000 in prize money here, including a top prize of £100,000, that investment can often pay off.

That kind of prize money may make this game a dream for those with a wad of cash to invest in Fantasy Football. For those looking to dabble in a couple of teams however, the reality is you’ll either need mad skillz or a big dollop of luck to even get a sniff of the top prize.

At least for the 2008-09 season transfer windows have been removed. This previously gave a helping hand to multi-entrant managers since it meant that transfers only needed attention in specific weeks of the season. Now you can benefit from being “hands on” with transfers over the season – a much harder task when you’ve hundreds of teams to look after.

Another move that won’t please the multi-entrant is the decision by the game to cap the number of players you can have from each side. Previously there has been no restriction. Now however, you’re limited to 3 players per team. That certainly limits the ability to “block out” areas of your lineup with players from just one team.

As far as the scoring system is concerned, this has been changed in recent seasons with the points for clean sheets and key contributions nudged up. They’ve also introduced points for man of the match awards in the Daily Mirror – not a great addition it must be said.

The fact that managers have to pay not only for registration, but also for each transfer, continues to make this game unappealing, particularly to more casual fantasy managers. If you register online you can save money and pay £8 for registration with all transfers free. Otherwise it’s a £5 registration fee per side with all transfers costing 50p each. If you’re not bothered about competing for cash prize, there are certainly better, free options elsewhere for your private league.

For solo play, there are also better options available. The removal of the transfer windows has increased the appeal of this game but again, if you’re not looking to chase prize money or aren’t interested in laying down a sizeable sum to register multiple teams, then there are better options elsewhere for your solo kicks. Fantasy League’s Premiership Classic for example, which offers a series of competitions for a similar registration fee.

There’s little doubt that You The Manager has plenty of positives – not least the prize money. The cost of transfers is a drawback but then, as is the dominance of the multi-entrant managers who throw in over a hundred teams in pursuit of the big prize. If you’re not interested in competing with Fantasy Football’s high rollers, then perhaps this isn’t the game for you.