My journey into coaching (through video games)
I never really had an interest in football at a young age. I came from a family with no sporting background and little interest in watching sport on TV; least of all football. So looking back it’s always seemed strange to me how I developed a passion for the sport that I’ve never really been able to shake, whether that’s watching, playing and ultimately coaching.
As far as I can remember, everything kicked off with the World Cup in Mexico in 1986. I was 9 years old and while I’m not sure I watched any matches, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a huge event, both in the country and in the school playground, where Panini Stickers were massive. I may not have loved football back then, but I did love stickers and didn’t want to be left out of the latest school trend.
Looking back, those stickers, that tournament; and dare I say it, Diego Maradona’s Hand of God, were the trigger for my first foray into football video games. It all started with Match Day 2 on the ZX Spectrum, which was very much the Fifa of its day and the best playable experience of the sport available at the time. My main memory of the game is how everything seemed to move in slow motion, which you would probably think was really frustrating, but in reality, it just meant every shot on goal created a tension that is unmatched by today’s games.
Match Day 2 was swiftly followed by Emlyn Hughes International Soccer as the playable game of choice, but soon just playing alone wasn’t enough. I needed to be able to pick teams, tactics, play league seasons etc. which is where Football Manager 2 and Tracksuit Manager ignited my love of coaching. Both complemented each other perfectly, Football Manager 2 providing a brilliant (for its time) visual representation of the match, while Tracksuit Manager went for a text based play by play. Whatever the game and the method of representing a match, both nailed it, keeping you on the edge of your seat for every game!
These early football games were the spark that lit the fire for my interest in the sport. I started trying to join in more in the playground, picked a team to support (Liverpool) and began watching games on TV; and it was here where football became forever burned into my psyche, due to the tragic events at Hillsborough in 1989 when 97 Liverpool fans needlessly lost their lives at the FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest. That moment, watching the game as I lay on the living room floor at my grandparents, chin propped up on my elbows, tears streaming down my face as the realisation of what was unfolding hit me, will never be forgotten.
From that point on, football felt like it was a part of my soul, it was the only sport I cared about both in the real world and the virtual one. When the next World Cup came around in 1990, I was completely invested. Football has been an ever present in my life from those early years in childhood into my adult life and persists today. My ZX Spectrum was swiftly replaced with an Atari ST, where I played Microprose Soccer, Dino Dini’s Goal and Sensible Soccer to death! The hours sunk into those games paled in comparison to one other though…Championship Manager 93. The progenitor to today’s Football Manager series revolutionised football management games and swallowed my life whole from that point onwards.
Life though has has many twists and turns; and as relationships form, marriages happen and children arrive, time becomes a precious commodity. With the increased realism and complexity of the (now) Football Manager series and even FIFA, football video games have lost their appeal for me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the sport in other ways. As my children have got older and shown an interest in football, I’ve scratched my Football Manager itch by becoming the coach for my daughter’s team. I’m four years into the job and while I rarely have to deal with the press, it comes with it’s own joys and challenges.
Football and video games will forever be linked; and while I may shy away from the complexity of modern representations of the sport I love, games like Rocket League have given me a new way to enjoy playing. Maybe in retirement, I’ll be able to return to Football Manager and give it the attention the game deserves, using my real world experience as a coach to take a non-league club to the pinnacle of the sport. Until then, I look forward to Mario Strikers: Battle League and a visit to Wembley to watch Liverpool play in another FA Cup Semi-Final and to pay my respects to those we lost 33 years ago.
