We took a first look at Player Manager back in December with chapped lips, frozen fingers and the frustration of a postponed Premier League. The big freeze ripped through the fixture list and stalled our “hands-on” review. Freshly defrosted in time for Spring however, I’ve spent the last couple of Gameweeks hitting the game hard in order to run the rule over this new Fantasy Football arrival.
As we revealed in our earlier Preview – this game takes a unique stance on the Fantasy theme. The “Player Station” is at the core of Player Manager, with the auto-auction carried out on deadline, key to your Gameweek fortunes. Unlike other Fantasy Games, it’s this list of players that decides the eleven that represents you in a given Gameweek. You can’t directly pick your team, you can only allocate ranks and maximum bids to players and sit back and wait for the deadline day auction to do its thing. It quickly becomes obvious then that learning the intricacies and strategies of this process is more vital than mastering the basic Fantasy ruleset on show.
This can be a double-edged sword. Player Manager can feel detached from the player selection process – at first it almost feels too much out of your control. While adding bids and ranks to your player list has a direct influence on your starting XI, you can find yourself hankering after direct control.
The flipside to this is that this game generates it’s own unique level of anticipation once the 11.30am Gameweek deadline passes. Scanning your lineup once the auction has taken place to discover that top targets have been grabbed offers an immediate sense of satisfaction even before a ball has been kicked. The other major bonus is that your Player Station list can be used to generate any number of teams – so you can create multiple teams to enter multiple leagues from just one master list of bids and ranks for no additional effort. That, in a nutshell, is the real beauty of this concept.
The game has improved iteratively since launch and recent steps to mark injured and suspended players and remove them from the auto allocation pool is a major improvement. Previously Player Manager could dish out injured players to fill in the gaps left by the auction – a source of much frustration which, thankfully, now looks a thing of the past. Ironically, the astute Fantasy Manager can use this to their advantage – with Player Manager red tagging injured players, last minute team news can come into play and those up to speed and armed with fresh knowledge can grab some auction bargains.
Player Manager allows you to enter Solo Leagues of 5,10 or 15 players, with each entry costing 10 credits costing £1 each. With an initial stake of 150 credits or £15, I’ve been able to more than double that in a couple of Gameweeks – and that’s someone who is a total newbie to the game and still selects Matt Taylor in the Scout Picks. The fact I’ve enjoyed success so quickly, suggests that, despite the apparently complexity, Player Manager can be grasped easily and success can come quickly.
I also profited from the “Double Up” mechanic – an element of the game that is perhaps more difficult to grasp and likely to be ignored by new players. That’s a real shame, as it can be key to fetching decent winnings.
The “Double Up” basically challenges the player to back his median score across all their teams for that Gameweek. If that score beats the median score for all managers in their chosen Double Up league, the stake is… guess what? Doubled. You can choose to enter 50, 100 or 150 credit leagues – clearly then, if you’ve the balls to back yourself, it’s a quick way of raking in credits.
There’s nothing like success to help fuel continued play and Player Manager will quickly hook you in once you feel you’ve unlocked it’s secrets and strategies. Maybe the same auction tactics won’t work every week, maybe luck plays a part but, if you earn some winnings early on, you’ll almost certainly come back to try your luck again.
Continued play reveal some minor frustrations. The lack of active Managers in the game can cause league entries to be refunded, simply because leagues can’t be filled. The site itself is also not without issues. A Flash based affair – it suffers from the occasional glitch and can be a little unwieldy at times.
Some processes need tightening, feedback increased and improved – managers need assurances that they are under control of their path through the game, even when the auction temporarily wrestles this back.
Look beyond these issues and there’s not doubt that Player Manager has huge potential. The auction process works well and streamlines player selection over multiple team entries. When you get it right and see many of your top targets across your teams on a Saturday morning, the warm fuzz of anticipation is a new and welcome sensation that very few Fantasy games can produce. That’s only bettered once the points start ticking as the live scoring commentary rolls, and finally of course, when the credits are dished out 48-hours later.
Undoubtedly, more players need to experience this game and the concept is certainly deserving of increased attention. Player Manager has a part to play in this recruitment drive by ironing out wrinkles and opening more friendly arms to new players, but there is plenty to gain from diving in right now. Player Manager feels different enough to warrant a place alongside traditional Fantasy Football efforts and the rewards feel tangible and within reach. Making this game part of your Saturday morning ritual can literally pay off and it has the potential to become a permanent fixture.
Player Manager and Fantasy Football Scout will be launching a new Scout League tournament, running from Gameweek 31 until the end of the season. Player Manager are donating £400 of prizes, split amongst three winners. Full details on this will be published next week, so if you fancy that and want to use Gameweek 30 to familiarise yourself with the game, you can get involved right here.
