If you’re a Football Manager fan, you’ve no doubt been dreaming about this day. For years you’ve been waiting, longing, wishing in misty-eyed hope that the world’s favourite and longest running football manager series would receive the MMO treatment, allowing you to play against managers from across the world. Well dream no more, as that day is today.

After countless months of beta testing, Sports Interactive’s first foray into the world of MMO gaming has finally been unleashed on the world. A hybrid of the Football Manager series and eBay, this massively multiplayer online managerial experience allows you to create a football team and enter one of several highly populated servers and experience the thrills of football management as you attempt to prove to the world that you are the greatest virtual manager on the planet.

Purists be warned: this isn’t Football Manager quite as you know it. The first difference between this and Football Manager 2009 is that Football Manager Live doesn’t feature its cousin’s flashy new 3D engine, instead sticking to the series’ old 2D perspective. Much of the hardcore micromanagement of the single player series has been stripped out and replaced by more streamlined and community-driven features, with the result likely to irk hardcore FM purists, but delight the majority of less demanding fans.

Setting up a team is simplicity itself. You begin by selecting a team and stadium name, after which you can use an intuitive kit creation process to define the colours and patterns of your team’s home and away shirts. Next up is a quick and easy squad creation process. You can either select your players manually (by ploughing through an exhaustive list of real world players and handpicking each one) or let the game do all the hard work for you by auto-generating a squad.

A stringent initial wage budget restricts the type of players you can start out with, and it’s unlikely you’ll have many recognisable names on your first team sheet. Instead, you’ll find yourself trying to mould a collection of solid journeymen, bruisers and has-beens into a well-oiled footballing outfit that’s more Jossy’s Giants than the Galácticos. Flashier players like Gerrard, Ronaldo and Kaka are tantalisingly out of reach until you amass enough cash to woo them to your club’s banner.

One of the most striking differences between Football Manager Live and the Football Manager series is the RPG vein that runs through this online offering. As well as your own personal managerial prowess, you must learn a series of skills that unlock tactical options and bonuses. You begin the game by selecting a specialist skill that enables you to unlock certain skills and perks more quickly.

Opt to specialise in the Club Doctor skill category and your players will heal in less time, while the Fast Learner skill speeds how quickly you learn new skills. Talent Spotter is ideal if you’re a bargain hunter looking for that next up-and-coming kid you can boldly (and probably misguidedly) proclaim as the new Pele, Maradona, Zidane (delete as appropriate). Rounding off your options are the Strictly Business ability (financial boosts), Tracksuit Manager (improved coaching skills) and Blackboard Manager, which speeds your ability to learn new tactical tricks.

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